palimpsest - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

pal·imp·sest

Audio Help [pal-imp-sest] Pronunciation Key

–noun

a parchment or the like from which writing has been partially or completely erased to make room for another text.

[Origin: 1655–65; < L palimpséstus < Gk palímpséstos rubbed again (pálin again + pséstós scraped, rubbed, verbid of psân to rub smooth)

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—Related forms

pal·imp·ses·tic, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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palimpsest

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

pal·imp·sest Audio Help (pāl'ĭmp-sěst') Pronunciation Key
n.

A manuscript, typically of papyrus or parchment, that has been written on more than once, with the earlier writing incompletely erased and often legible.
An object, place, or area that reflects its history: "Spaniards in the sixteenth century . . . saw an ocean moving south . . . through a palimpsest of bayous and distributary streams in forested paludal basins" (John McPhee).

[Latin palimpsēstum, from Greek palimpsēston, neuter of palimpsēstos, scraped again : palin, again; see k^wel-¹ in Indo-European roots + psēn, to scrape.]

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
palimpsest

"parchment from which earlier writing has been removed to clear it for new writing," 1661, from L. palimpsestus, from Gk. palimpsestos "scraped again," from palin "again" (see palindrome) + verbal adj. of psen "to rub smooth" (of unknown origin).

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

palimpsest
noun
a manuscript (usually written on papyrus or parchment) on which more than one text has been written with the earlier writing incompletely erased and still visible

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Palimpsest

Pal"imp*sest\, n. [L. palimpsestus, Gr. ? scratched or scraped again, ? a palimpsest; ? again + ? to rub, rub away: cf. F. palimpseste.] A parchment which has been written upon twice, the first writing having been erased to make place for the second. --Longfellow.

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palimpsest

palimpsest was Word of the Day on January 2, 2000.

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