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talent
7 dictionary results for: talent
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
tal·ent       [tal-uhnt] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.a special natural ability or aptitude: a talent for drawing.
2.a capacity for achievement or success; ability: young men of talent.
3.a talented person: The cast includes many of the theater's major talents.
4.a group of persons with special ability: an exhibition of watercolors by the local talent.
5.Movies and Television. professional actors collectively, esp. star performers.
6.a power of mind or body considered as given to a person for use and improvement: so called from the parable in Matt. 25:14–30.
7.any of various ancient units of weight, as a unit of Palestine and Syria equal to 3000 shekels, or a unit of Greece equal to 6000 drachmas.
8.any of various ancient Hebrew or Attic monetary units equal in value to that of a talent weight of gold, silver, or other metal.
9.Obsolete. inclination or disposition.

[Origin: bef. 900; ME, OE talente < L talenta, pl. of talentum < Gk tálanton balance, weight, monetary unit]

1. capability, gift, genius. See ability.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
tal·ent       (tāl'ənt)  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
  1. A marked innate ability, as for artistic accomplishment. See Synonyms at ability.
    1. Natural endowment or ability of a superior quality.
    2. A person or group of people having such ability: The company makes good use of its talent.
  2. A variable unit of weight and money used in ancient Greece, Rome, and the Middle East.


[Middle English, inclination, disposition, from Old French, from Medieval Latin, from Latin, balance, sum of money, from Greek talanton; see telə- in Indo-European roots. Sense 3, Middle English, from Old English talente, from Latin talenta, pl. of talentum, from Greek talanton.]

tal'ent·ed adj., tal'ent·less adj., tal'ent·less·ness n.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
talent 
1292, "inclination, disposition, will, desire," from O.Fr. talent, from M.L. talenta, pl. of talentum "inclination, leaning, will, desire" (1098), in classical L. "balance, weight, sum of money," from Gk. talanton "balance, weight, sum," from PIE *tel-, *tol- "to bear, carry" (see extol). Originally an ancient unit of weight or money (varying greatly and attested in O.E. as talente), the M.L. and common Romanic sense developed from fig. use of the word in the sense of "money." Meaning "special natural ability, aptitude," developed c.1430, from the parable of the talents in Matt. xxv:14-30.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
talent

noun
1. natural abilities or qualities [syn: endowment
2. a person who possesses unusual innate ability in some field or activity 

U.S. Gazetteer - Cite This Source - Share This

Talent, OR (city, FIPS 72500) Location: 42.24013 N, 122.78096 W
Population (1990): 3274 (1438 housing units)
Area: 2.8 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 97540

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

Talent

Tal"ent\, n. [F., fr. L. talentum a talent (in sense 1), Gr. ? a balance, anything weighed, a definite weight, a talent; akin to ? to bear, endure, ?, L. tolerare, tollere, to lift up, sustain, endure. See Thole, v. t., Tolerate.]

1. Among the ancient Greeks, a weight and a denomination of money equal to 60 min[ae] or 6,000 drachm[ae]. The Attic talent, as a weight, was about 57 lbs. avoirdupois; as a denomination of silver money, its value was [pounds]243 15s. sterling, or about $1,180.

Rowing vessel whose burden does not exceed five hundred talents. --Jowett (Thucid.).

2. Among the Hebrews, a weight and denomination of money. For silver it was equivalent to 3,000 shekels, and in weight was equal to about 93? lbs. avoirdupois; as a denomination of silver, it has been variously estimated at from [pounds]340 to [pounds]396 sterling, or about $1,645 to $1,916. For gold it was equal to 10,000 gold shekels.

3. Inclination; will; disposition; desire. [Obs.]

They rather counseled you to your talent than to your profit. --Chaucer.

4. Intellectual ability, natural or acquired; mental endowment or capacity; skill in accomplishing; a special gift, particularly in business, art, or the like; faculty; a use of the word probably originating in the Scripture parable of the talents (--Matt. xxv. 14-30).

He is chiefly to be considered in his three different talents, as a critic, a satirist, and a writer of odes. --Dryden.

His talents, his accomplishments, his graceful manners, made him generally popular. --Macaulay.

Syn: Ability; faculty; gift; endowment. See Genius.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Talent

of silver contained 3,000 shekels (Ex. 38:25, 26), and was equal to 94 3/7 lbs. avoirdupois. The Greek talent, however, as in the LXX., was only 82 1/4 lbs. It was in the form of a circular mass, as the Hebrew name _kikkar_ denotes. A talent of gold was double the weight of a talent of silver (2 Sam. 12:30). Parable of the talents (Matt. 18:24; 25:15).

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