Related Searches
on Ask.com
easel - 4 dictionary results
ea⋅sel
[ee-zuh
l] 
–noun
| 1. | a stand or frame for supporting or displaying at an angle an artist's canvas, a blackboard, a china plate, etc. |
| 2. | Also called masking frame. Photography. a frame, often with adjustable masks, used to hold photographic paper flat and control borders when printing enlargements. |
Origin:
1625–35; < D ezel ass, easel (c. G Esel, OE esel ass) < VL *asilus, for L asellus, dim. of asinus ass 1
1625–35; < D ezel ass, easel (c. G Esel, OE esel ass) < VL *asilus, for L asellus, dim. of asinus ass 1
Related forms:
easeled, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
|
Link To easel
| ea·sel (ē'zəl) n. An upright frame for displaying or supporting something, such as an artist's canvas. [Dutch ezel, ass, from Middle Dutch esel, from Latin asellus, diminutive of asinus.] Word History: "A painter's ass" is not a phrase that immediately brings to mind an accessory to the artist's profession. But easel comes to us from the Dutch word ezel, meaning "ass, donkey." The Dutch word was eventually extended to mean "an upright frame for displaying or supporting something," in the same way that the English word horse has come to mean "a piece of gymnastic equipment with an upholstered body." Developments such as these illustrate the playfulness or wit that speakers often bring to language, here applying the name for one object to another with similar properties. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Easel
Ea"sel\, n. [D. ezel ass, donkey, hence, easel, or G. esel; akin to E. ass. See Ass.] A frame (commonly) of wood serving to hold a canvas upright, or nearly upright, for the painter's convenience or for exhibition. Easel picture, Easel piece, a painting of moderate size such as is made while resting on an easel, as distinguished from a painting on a wall or ceiling.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
Language Translation for : easel
Spanish:
caballete,
German:
die Staffelei,
Japanese:
画架
easel
1596, from Du. ezel "easel," originally "ass," from M.Du. esel, from L. asinus "ass" (see ass (1)); the comparison being of loading a burden on a donkey and propping up a painting or canvas on a wooden stand.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2009, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
