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English - 10 dictionary results
Eng⋅lish
[ing-glish or, often, -lish] 
–adjective
| 1. | of, pertaining to, or characteristic of England or its inhabitants, institutions, etc. |
| 2. | belonging or pertaining to, or spoken or written in, the English language. |
–noun
| 3. | the people of England collectively, esp. as distinguished from the Scots, Welsh, and Irish. |
| 4. | the Germanic language of the British Isles, widespread and standard also in the U.S. and most of the British Commonwealth, historically termed Old English (c450–c1150), Middle English (c1150–c1475), and Modern English (after c1475). Abbreviation: E |
| 5. | English language, composition, and literature as offered as a course of study in school. |
| 6. | a specific variety of this language, as that of a particular time, place, or person: American English; Shakespearean English. |
| 7. | simple, straightforward language: What does all that jargon mean in English? |
| 8. | Sports. (sometimes lowercase )
|
| 9. | Printing. a 14-point type of a size between pica and Columbian. |
| 10. | a grade of calendered paper having a smooth matte finish. |
–verb (used with object)
| 11. | to translate into English: to English Euripides. |
| 12. | to adopt (a foreign word) into English; Anglicize. |
| 13. | (sometimes lowercase) Sports. to impart English to (a ball). |
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To English
| Eng·lish (ĭng'glĭsh) adj.
[Middle English, from Old English Englisc, from Engle, the Angles.] Eng'lish·ness n. Word History: English is derived from England, one would think. But in fact the language name is found long before the country name. The latter first appears as Englaland around the year 1000, and means "the land of the Engle," that is, the Angles. The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes were the three Germanic tribes who emigrated from what is now Denmark and northern Germany and settled in England beginning about the fourth century A.D. Early on, the Angles enjoyed a rise to power that must have made them seem more important than the other two tribes, for all three tribes are indiscriminately referred to in early documents as Angles. The speech of the three tribes was conflated in the same way: they all spoke what would have been called *Anglisc, or "Anglish," as it were. By the earliest recorded Old English, this had changed to Englisc. In Middle English, the first vowel had already changed further to the familiar (ĭ) of today, as reflected in the occasional spellings Ingland and Inglish. Thus the record shows that the Germanic residents of what Shakespeare called "this sceptered isle" knew that they were speaking English long before they were aware that they were living in England. |
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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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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English
Eng"lish\, a. [AS. Englisc, fr. Engle, Angle, Engles, Angles, a tribe of Germans from the southeast of Sleswick, in Denmark, who settled in Britain and gave it the name of England. Cf. Anglican.] Of or pertaining to England, or to its inhabitants, or to the present so-called Anglo-Saxon race. English bond (Arch.) See 1st Bond, n., 8. English breakfast tea. See Congou. English horn. (Mus.) See Corno Inglese. English walnut. (Bot.) See under Walnut.English
Eng"lish\, n. 1. Collectively, the people of England; English people or persons. 2. The language of England or of the English nation, and of their descendants in America, India, and other countries. Note: The English language has been variously divided into periods by different writers. In the division most commonly recognized, the first period dates from about 450 to 1150. This is the period of full inflection, and is called Anglo-Saxon, or, by many recent writers, Old English. The second period dates from about 1150 to 1550 (or, if four periods be recognized, from about 1150 to 1350), and is called Early English, Middle English, or more commonly (as in the usage of this book), Old English. During this period most of the inflections were dropped, and there was a great addition of French words to the language. The third period extends from about 1350 to 1550, and is Middle English. During this period orthography became comparatively fixed. The last period, from about 1550, is called Modern English. 3. A kind of printing type, in size between Pica and Great Primer. See Type. Note: The type called English. 4. (Billiards) A twist or spinning motion given to a ball in striking it that influences the direction it will take after touching a cushion or another ball. The King's, or Queen's, English. See under King.English
Eng"lish\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Englished; p. pr. & vb. n. Englishing.]1. To translate into the English language; to Anglicize; hence, to interpret; to explain. Those gracious acts . . . may be Englished more properly, acts of fear and dissimulation. --Milton. Caxton does not care to alter the French forms and words in the book which he was Englishing. --T. L. K. Oliphant. 2. (Billiards) To strike (the cue ball) in such a manner as to give it in addition to its forward motion a spinning motion, that influences its direction after impact on another ball or the cushion. [U.S.]
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : English
Spanish:
inglés,
German:
englisch,
Japanese:
英国 (人) の
English
1. n. obs. The source code for a program, which may be in any language, as opposed to the linkable or executable binary produced from it by a compiler. The idea behind the term is that to a real hacker, a program written in his favorite programming language is at least as readable as English. Usage: mostly by old-time hackers, though recognizable in context.
2. The official name of the database language used by old the Pick Operating System, actually a sort of crufty, brain-damaged SQL with delusions of grandeur. The name permitted marketroids to say "Yes, and you can program our computers in English!" to ignorant suits without quite running afoul of the truth-in-advertising laws.
Jargon File 4.2.0
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English (1)
"people or speech of England," O.E. Englisc, from Engle (pl.) "the Angles," one of the Gmc. groups that overran the island 5c., supposedly so-called because Angul, the land they inhabited on the Jutland coast, was shaped like a fish hook (but how could they know this from the ground?). The term was used from earliest times without distinction for all the Gmc. invaders -- Angles, Saxon, Jutes (Bede's gens Anglorum) -- and applied to their group of related languages by Alfred the Great. In pronunciation, "En-" has become "In-," but the older spelling has remained. Meaning "English language or literature as a subject at school" is from 1889.
English (2)
"spin imparted to a ball" (as in billiards), 1860, from Fr. anglé "angled," which is similar to Anglais "English."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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English
1. (Obsolete) The source code for a program, which may be in any language, as opposed to the linkable or executable binary produced from it by a compiler. The idea behind the term is that to a real hacker, a program written in his favourite programming language is at least as readable as English. Usage: mostly by old-time hackers, though recognisable in context.
2. The official name of the database language used by the Pick operating system, actually a sort of crufty, brain-damaged SQL with delusions of grandeur. The name permits marketroids to say "Yes, and you can program our computers in English!" to ignorant suits without quite running afoul of the truth-in-advertising laws.
["Exploring the Pick Operating System", J.E. Sisk et al, Hayden 1986].
[The Jargon File]
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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English
see body English; in plain English.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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