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anagram - 6 dictionary results

an⋅a⋅gram

  [an-uh-gram] noun, verb, -grammed, -gram⋅ming.
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–noun
1. a word, phrase, or sentence formed from another by rearranging its letters: “Angel” is an anagram of “glean.”
2. anagrams, (used with a singular verb) a game in which the players build words by transposing and, often, adding letters.
–verb (used with object)
3. to form (the letters of a text) into a secret message by rearranging them.
4. to rearrange (the letters of a text) so as to discover a secret message.
Origin:
1580–90; prob. < MF anagramme < NL anagramma. See ana-, -gram 1

Related forms:
an⋅a⋅gram⋅mat⋅ic  [an-uh-gruh-mat-ik] , an⋅a⋅gram⋅mat⋅i⋅cal, adjective
an⋅a⋅gram⋅mat⋅i⋅cal⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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an·a·gram   (ān'ə-grām')   
n.  
  1. A word or phrase formed by reordering the letters of another word or phrase, such as satin to stain.
  2. anagrams (used with a sing. verb) A game in which players form words from a group of randomly picked letters.

[New Latin anagramma, from Greek anagrammatismos, from anagrammatizein, to rearrange letters in a word : ana-, from bottom to top; see ana- + gramma, grammat-, letter; see gerbh- in Indo-European roots.]
an'a·gram·mat'ic (-grə-māt'ĭk) adj., an'a·gram·mat'i·cal·ly adv.
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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Anagram

An"a*gram\, n. [F. anagramme, LL. anagramma, fr. Gr. ? back, again + ? to write. See Graphic.] Literally, the letters of a word read backwards, but in its usual wider sense, the change or one word or phrase into another by the transposition of its letters. Thus Galenus becomes angelus; William Noy (attorney-general to Charles I., and a laborious man) may be turned into I moyl in law.

Anagram

An"a*gram\, v. t. To anagrammatize.

Some of these anagramed his name, Benlowes, into Benevolus. --Warburton.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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anagram 
1589, from Fr. anagramme, from Gk. anagrammatizein "transpose letters," from ana- "up, back" + gramma (gen. grammatos) "letter."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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anagram

the transposing of the letters of a word or group of words to produce other words that possess meaning, preferably bearing some logical relation to the original. The construction of anagrams is of great antiquity. Their invention is often ascribed without authority to the Jews, probably because the later Hebrew writers, particularly the Kabbalists, were fond of them, asserting that "secret mysteries are woven in the numbers of letters." Anagrams were known to the Greeks and Romans, although known Latin examples of words of more than one syllable are nearly all imperfect. They were popular throughout Europe during the Middle Ages and later, particularly in France, where a certain Thomas Billon was appointed "anagrammatist to the king."

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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