Old English
Also called Anglo-Saxon. the English language of a.d. c450–c1150. Abbreviations: OE, O.E.
Printing. a style of black letter.
Origin of Old English
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use Old English in a sentence
She did indeed go to Harvard, where she majored in English and delighted in reading Chaucer in Old English.
For Next AG, Obama Picks a Quiet Fighter With a Heavy Punch | Michael Daly | November 8, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHowever, the Old English "hund" later became "hound" but eventually was replaced by "dog," not a cognate.
Chapman, a common name now, was the Old English word for a general dealer.
Stories That Words Tell Us | Elizabeth O'NeillRunciman was the man who had charge of horses too, and comes from another Old English word, rouncy, "a horse."
Stories That Words Tell Us | Elizabeth O'NeillBut many surnames which are taken from the names of trades come from Old English words which are now seldom or never used.
Stories That Words Tell Us | Elizabeth O'Neill
It was called in early times the Chepe, and took its name from the Old English word ceap, "a bargain."
Stories That Words Tell Us | Elizabeth O'NeillThere is no evidence that he had any special interest in Old English studies.
The Translations of Beowulf | Chauncey Brewster Tinker
British Dictionary definitions for Old English
Also called: Anglo-Saxon the English language from the time of the earliest settlements in the fifth century ad to about 1100. The main dialects were West Saxon (the chief literary form), Kentish, and Anglian: Abbreviation: OE Compare Middle English, Modern English
printing a Gothic typeface commonly used in England up until the 18th century
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for 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.
Notes for Old English
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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