excelsior

English

Excelsior packing material, also known as wood wool

Etymology

From Latin excelsior, comparative of excelsus (“high”). The name of the stuffing material was originally a trademark. As an exclamation, originating in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem Excelsior (1841), based on the New York state motto. Popularized in the comic book fandom by Marvel Comics editor Stan Lee, who chose the term to sign off his columns as it was an obscure term and would confound competing publishers who imitated his style.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɛkˈsɛl.si.ɔː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɛkˈsɛl.si.ɚ/, /ɪk-/

Adjective

excelsior (not comparable)

1. (archaic or poetic, rare) Loftier, yet higher, more elevated; ever upward.
   • 1865, Lizzie Doten, Poems from the Inner Life, page 154:

     There was with him a whole host of moral heroes, who, conscious of their power to win the victory , and quickened by the inspirations which they received from that higher state of being, were striving, by the excelsior movement of the soul, to attain to those glory-encircled heights from whence they could look calmly down upon the plane of their earthly existence.

   • 1890, Henry Brainard Kent, Graphic Sketches of the West, page 69:

     At this crisis, reverberating among the pines, rang out more distinctly the voice of the excelsior man , urging me to come on. "Oh! I'm all right down here," I answered, gasping for breath.

   • 2017 October 5, John Lister-Kaye, Song Of The Rolling Earth: A Highland Odyssey, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

     All we know for certain is that our tree, now approaching a hundred years old, was excelsior – loftier than any other ash in the vicinity.

2. (archaic or poetic, rare) More surpassing, more excelling.
   • 2004, Sean Astin, Joseph Layden, There and Back Again: An Actor's Tale : a Behind-the-scenes Look at the Lord of the Rings, →ISBN:

     It was clear from the first three paragraphs that the language employed by Mr Tolkien was excelsior. He was brilliant.

   • 2008 February 16, Paolo Mantegazza, Physiology of Love and Other Writings, University of Toronto Press, →ISBN, page 489:

     Without comparisons, the beautiful is neither felt nor understood, so that it is the excelsior of the normal type, it is the true + x; it is the splendour of the true.

   • 2016 July 12, Gerri Hirshey, Not Pretty Enough: The Unlikely Triumph of Helen Gurley Brown, Macmillan + ORM, →ISBN:

     ... many people feel that having plastic surgery is a kind of rebirth. I think she felt that every time she had it, it was reinventing herself. It was excelsior, it was higher, it was better.

Interjection

excelsior

1. (dated) Onward; a rallying cry for progress.
   • 1851, The Knickerbacker, page 236:

     ... and when the shout 'Excelsior!' echoed, up the oaken heights,
     Two hundred heels went thundering all at once, Four stairs at every jump

   • 1890, Berwickshire Naturalists' Club (Scotland)., History of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club: Instituted September 22, 1831, page 90:

     Adventurous spirits cried "Excelsior," but having had enough of climbing, with several friends we retraced our steps, and reached the farms, where little girls brought us plates of raspberries, currants, and cherries for a consideration.

   • 1894, May Emma Goldworth Kendall, Songs from Dreamland, page 69:

     The bishops cried: "Excelsior!" But the archbishop: "Stay!"

2. (fandom slang, especially comics) A greeting, farewell or acclamation.
   • 1993, Frank Mula, “The Last Temptation of Homer”, in The Simpsons, season 5, episode 9:

     MARTIN PRINCE: Finally, Bart's one of us!
     NERDS: Excelsior!

   • 2014 November 10, Matthew L. Williams, Truth Is, You're Still Dreaming, AuthorHouse, →ISBN:

     He makes a fake snorting noises with his nose and says “Excelsior to you too then, man” as he pushes up imaginary glasses on his face as if I'm the nerd.

   • 2018 April 1, Lonely Planet, Mark Andrew, Amy C Balfour, Sarah Baxter, Andrew Bender, Sara Benson, Alison Bing, Nate Cavalieri, Lisa Dunford, Tom Hall, Lonely Planet Experience USA, Lonely Planet, →ISBN, page 224:

     Comic-Con International in San Diego is the exemplar of the con experience. Hold your breath, prepare your Sonic Screwdriver or Batarang, and dive right in. Excelsior!

Noun

excelsior (uncountable)

2. (US printing, dated) The size of type between Norse and brilliant, standardized as 3-point.

   Synonym: (UK) minikin

3. (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, published 2001, page 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.

   • 1960, John Updike, 'Rabbit, Run', page 13:

     Working both [of them] at Kroll's then, she selling candy and cashews in a white smock with "Jan" stitched on her pocket and he lugging easy chairs and maple end tables around on the floor above, hammering apart packing crates from nine to five, the itch of the packing excelsior getting into his nose and eyes and making them burn.

   • 2015 March 31, Margalit Fox, “Gary Dahl, Inventor of the Pet Rock, Dies at 78”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Each Pet Rock came in a cardboard carrying case, complete with air holes, tenderly nestled on a bed of excelsior.

Translations

3-point type

• Dutch: kwart cicero
• French: diamant (fr)
• German: Brillant (de), Viertelcicero
• Italian: diamante (it)
• Spanish: diamante (es)

stuffing made of slender, curled wood shavings — see wood wool

Further reading

• “excelsior”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Latin

Etymology

excelsus (“elevated”, “lofty”) +‎ -ior (suffix forming adjectives’ comparative degrees)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɛkˈskɛɫ.si.ɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ekˈʃɛl.si.or]

Adjective

excelsior (comparative, neuter excelsius); third declension

1. comparative degree of excelsus

Declension

Third-declension comparative adjective.

	singular			plural
	masc./fem.	neuter		masc./fem.	neuter
nominative	excelsior	excelsius		excelsiōrēs	excelsiōra
genitive	excelsiōris			excelsiōrum
dative	excelsiōrī			excelsiōribus
accusative	excelsiōrem	excelsius		excelsiōrēs excelsiōrīs	excelsiōra
ablative	excelsiōre excelsiōrī			excelsiōribus
vocative	excelsior	excelsius		excelsiōrēs	excelsiōra