Browse dictionary
Showing 1-20 of 52 results in 52 entries
1. Backus–Naur, n. View full entry 1964
...a mode of formally describing the syntax of programming languages using a special notation; abbrev. BNFB....
2. bleep, n. View full entry 1953
...A thin, high-pitched blipping sound, spec. one made by electronic equipment....
3. Bloomfieldian, n. and adj. View full entry 1946
...An adherent of the linguistic theories of Bloomfield....
4. bunch, n.1 View full entry c1325
...A protuberance, esp. on the body of an animal; a hump on the back (of a human being, a camel, etc.); a goitre; a swelling, tumour....
5. burr, n.6 View full entry 1760
...A rough sounding of the letter r; spec. the rough uvular trill (= French r grasseyé) characteristic of the county of Northumberland, and found elsewhere as...
6. Chomskyan | Chomskian, adj. and n. View full entry 1965
...Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Noam Chomsky or his writings....
7. Firthian, adj. and n. View full entry 1961
...Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the British linguist John Rupert Firth (18901960) or his theories (see quots.)....
8. Franconian, n. and adj. View full entry 1593
...= Frank1. Now rare....
9. Grassmann, n. View full entry 1891
...see quot. 1960 and law17c....
10. Grelling, n. View full entry 1937
...Used attrib., absol., in the possessive, and coupled with that of L. Nelson, to designate the paradox of heterologicality, which Grelling and Nelson discovered and published...
11. hurr, v. View full entry 1398
...intr. To make or utter a dull sound of vibration or trilling; to buzz as an insect; to snarl as a dog; to pronounce a trilled r....
12. Irish, adj. (and adv.) and n. View full entry OE
...Of a person: native to Ireland; that is a citizen of Ireland; (also) descended from emigrants from Ireland to another country, esp. the United States or Australia (cf. Irish-American, ...
13. Jonesian, adj. View full entry 1951
...Used to designate the phonetic system or the system of classifying phonemes adopted by Daniel Jones. Hence as , an adherent or follower of Jones....
14. ˈJunian, adj. View full entry 1826
...Of or pertaining to the ‘Letters of Junius’, a series of letters which appeared in the Public Advertiser, 17681772, the authorship of which is one of the...
15. Lachmann, n. View full entry 1913
...Lachmann's law: the rule that in Latin, a short root-vowel in the present-tense stem of a verb is lengthened in the past participle if the present-tense stem ends in a voiced...
16. Libyan, adj. and n. View full entry 1592
...Of or pertaining to Libya, the ancient name of a large country in North Africa, or to the modern state of Libya. By some philologists used as a designation for the Berber...
17. Marrism, n. View full entry 1950
...The body of Marxist linguistic theories put forward by Marr and his followers (esp. I. I. Meshchaninov), in which language was regarded as monogenetic (with all languages developing from four elements, ...
18. Marrist, n. and adj. View full entry 1950
...A supporter or advocate of the linguistic theories proposed by Marr or his followers (see Marrism)....
19. mellow, adj. View full entry 1440
...Of fruit: ripe; soft, sweet, and juicy with ripeness. Also fig....
20. Mesopotamia, n. View full entry 1827
...Used as the type of a word which is long, pleasant-sounding, and incomprehensible (see quot. 1870). Hence used allusively of any speech which gives irrational or inexplicable comfort...
