excelsior
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Latin excelsior, comparative of excelsus (“high”). The name of the stuffing material was originally a trademark.
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
excelsior (not comparable)
- (archaic) Loftier, yet higher, more elevated; ever upward.
- More surpassing, more excelling.
Interjection[edit]
excelsior
- A greeting, farewell or acclamation, especially associated with comic book fandom and famous comic book writer Stan Lee.
Noun[edit]
excelsior (uncountable)
- (US printing, dated) The size of type between Norse and brilliant, standardized as 3-point.
- Synonym: (UK) minikin
- (Canada, US) Stuffing material (as for furniture and mattresses) made of slender, curled woodshavings, as a substitute for hair.
- Synonym: wood wool
- 1942, Elliot Paul, The Last Time I Saw Paris, Sickle Moon 2001, p. 91:
- These little mangers, with baby dolls representing Jesus, porcelean Josephs and Marys, wide-eyed cows of papier-mâché, and excelsior for straw, were purchased by pious parents for well-behaved children at Christmas-tide.
Translations[edit]
3-point type
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Further reading[edit]
- “excelsior”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
Latin[edit]
Etymology[edit]
excelsus (“elevated”, “lofty”) + -ior (suffix forming adjectives’ comparative degrees)
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ekˈskel.si.or/, [ɛkˈs̠kɛɫ̪s̠iɔr]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ekˈʃel.si.or/, [ekˈʃɛlsior]
Adjective[edit]
excelsior (neuter excelsius, positive excelsus); third declension
Declension[edit]
Third-declension comparative adjective.
Number | Singular | Plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Case / Gender | Masc./Fem. | Neuter | Masc./Fem. | Neuter | |
Nominative | excelsior | excelsius | excelsiōrēs | excelsiōra | |
Genitive | excelsiōris | excelsiōrum | |||
Dative | excelsiōrī | excelsiōribus | |||
Accusative | excelsiōrem | excelsius | excelsiōrēs | excelsiōra | |
Ablative | excelsiōre | excelsiōribus | |||
Vocative | excelsior | excelsius | excelsiōrēs | excelsiōra |
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 4-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives
- English terms with archaic senses
- English interjections
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- American English
- en:Printing
- English dated terms
- Canadian English
- English terms with quotations
- English genericized trademarks
- Latin words suffixed with -ior
- Latin 4-syllable words
- Latin terms with IPA pronunciation
- Latin terms with Ecclesiastical IPA pronunciation
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin comparative adjectives