palimpsest
Use Palimpsest in a sentence
ɪmpˌsɛst noun
a parchment or the like from which writing has been partially or completely erased to make room for another text.
Origin:
1655–65; < Latin palimpsēstus < Greek palímpsēstos rubbed again (pálin again + psēstós scraped, rubbed, verbid of psân to rub smooth)
1655–65; < Latin palimpsēstus < Greek palímpsēstos rubbed again (pálin again + psēstós scraped, rubbed, verbid of psân to rub smooth)
Related forms
pal·imp·ses·tic, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To palimpsest
Collins
World English Dictionary
palimpsest (ˈpælɪmpˌsɛst) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | a manuscript on which two or more successive texts have been written, each one being erased to make room for the next |
| —adj | |
| 2. | (of a text) written on a palimpsest |
| 3. | (of a document) used as a palimpsest |
| [C17: from Latin palimpsestus parchment cleaned for reuse, from Greek palimpsēstos, from palin again + psēstos rubbed smooth, from psēn to scrape] | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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00:10
Palimpsest
is always a great word to know.
So is zedonk. Does it mean:
| the offspring of a zebra and a donkey. |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
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).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
The pebble lag above the exposure surface is a transgressive palimpsest deposit.
Covering its surface is an intricate palimpsest of characters and pictures, some of them dating back more than a millennium.
Each year adds another layer to this palimpsest of obsessions.
Haynes has produced a dizzying palimpsest of images and styles, in which his subject appears in the form of six different people.
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