Oxford english dictionary book words9/20/2023 Never thought I would own the complete set, pricey as it is, though I used to dream about it, especially when I was studying poetry in grad school, exploring language at the level of the word, the syllable, the glorious etymologies. It sprawls, in fact, and I’m having fun with it. I feel a poem coming on….Īll this gets jotted down in my notebook because I just inherited from a beloved aunt a complete 20-volume set of the Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition – definitely NOT the “compact” nor the “concise” versions. I like the way it sounds – almost counter-intuitive. Even so, the idea of “compact memory” intrigues me. Hale: “The Humane Nature.hath a more fixed, strong, and compact memory of things past than the Brutes have.” Since “the Brutes” can’t talk, I’m not sure how Mr. The word was used in 1676 by someone named M. “Compact” – from the Latin compactus, past participle of compingere meaning to put together closely ( com+ pangere = to make fast, to fasten.) Used as an adjective = Having the parts so arranged that the whole lies within relatively small compass, without straggling portions or members nearly and tightly packed or arranged not sprawling, scattered, or diffuse.
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