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ANGLO-SAXON

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An⋅glo-Sax⋅on

  [ang-gloh-sak-suhn]
Use ANGLO-SAXON in a Sentence
–noun
1. an English person of the period before the Norman Conquest.
2. Old English (def. 1).
3. the original Germanic element in the English language.
4. plain and simple English, esp. language that is blunt, monosyllabic, and often rude or vulgar.
5. a person whose native language is English.
6. a person of English descent.
7. (in the U.S.) a person of colonial descent or British origin.
–adjective
8. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the Anglo-Saxons.
9. of or pertaining to Anglo-Saxon.
10. English-speaking; British or American.
11. (of words, speech, or writing) blunt, monosyllabic, and often vulgar.
Origin:
1605–15; based on NL, ML Anglo-Saxōnēs, Anglī Saxōnēs (pl.); from 10th cent., collective name for WGmc-speaking people of Britain (cf. OE Angulseaxan); see Angle, Saxon
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Old English

 
–noun
1. Also called Anglo-Saxon. the English language of a.d. c450–c1150. Abbreviation: OE
2. Printing. a style of black letter.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To ANGLO-SAXON
An·glo-Sax·on   (āng'glō-sāk'sən)
n.  

  1. A member of one of the Germanic peoples, the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes, who settled in Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries.

  2. Any of the descendants of the Anglo-Saxons, who were dominant in England until the Norman Conquest of 1066.

  3. See Old English.

  4. A person of English ancestry.

adj.  Of, relating to, or characteristic of Anglo-Saxons, their descendants, or their language or culture; English.
Old English  
n.  

  1. The English language from the middle of the 5th to the beginning of the 12th century. Also called Anglo-Saxon.

  2. Printing See black letter.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Cultural Dictionary

Old English

The English language from the fifth century until about 1150. In the fifth century, the Angles and Saxons of Germany settled in Britain and established their language in the southern part of the island — the region that was called “Angle-land,” or “England.” After 1150, the Norman French language introduced after the Norman Conquest influenced Old English, and Middle English developed.

Note: Old English resembles the language spoken in Germany in the same period and is impossible for a present-day user of English to read without training. Beowulf is written in Old English.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

Anglo-Saxon 
O.E. Angli Saxones, from L. Anglo-Saxones, in which anglo- is an adverb, thus lit. "English Saxons," as opposed to those of the Continent (now called "Old Saxons"). Properly in ref. to the Saxons of ancient Wessex, Essex, Middlesex, and Sussex. After the Norman-Fr. invasion of 1066, the peoples of the island were distinguished as English and French, but after a few generations all were English, and L. scribes, who knew and cared little about Gmc. history, began to use Anglo-Saxones to refer to the pre-1066 inhabitants and their descendants. When interest in O.E. writing revived c.1586, the word was extended to the language we now call Old English. It has been used rhetorically for "English" in an ethnological sense from 1832, and revisioned as Angle + Saxon.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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