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paraphernal

 - 2 dictionary results

par⋅a⋅pher⋅na⋅lia

  [par-uh-fer-neyl-yuh, -fuh-neyl-]
Use paraphernal in a Sentence
–noun
1. (sometimes used with a singular verb) equipment, apparatus, or furnishing used in or necessary for a particular activity: a skier's paraphernalia.
2. (used with a plural verb) personal belongings.
3. (used with a singular verb) Law. the personal articles, apart from dower, reserved by law to a married woman.
Origin:
1470–80; < ML paraphernālia (bona) a bride's goods, beyond her dowry, equiv. to LL paraphern(a) a bride's property (< Gk parápherna, equiv. to para- para- 1 + phern() dowry, deriv. of phérein to bear 1 + -a neut. pl. n. suffix) + L -ālia, n. use of neut. pl. of -ālis -al 1

Related forms:
par⋅a⋅pher⋅na⋅lian, par⋅a⋅pher⋅nal  [par-uh-fur-nl] , adjective

Synonyms:
1. appointments, appurtenances, accouterments, trappings. 2. effects.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Word Origin & History

paraphernalia 
1651, "a woman's property besides her dowry," from M.L. paraphernalia (short for paraphernalia bona "paraphernal goods"), neut. pl. of paraphernalis (adj.), from L.L. parapherna "a woman's property besides her dowry," from Gk. parapherna, neut. pl., from para- "beside" + pherne "dowry," related to pherein "to carry" (see infer). Meaning "equipment, apparatus" is first attested 1791, from notion of odds and ends.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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