Jump to content

newt

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

[edit]
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
A male smooth newt (Lissotriton vulgaris)

Etymology

[edit]

From Middle English newte, newete, from rebracketing of Middle English an ewte as a newte (for similar misdivisions compare adder, nickname, apron, umpire, etc.). Middle English evete, eute, euete, ewte (“newt”), derives from Old English efete (“lizard; newt”). Doublet of eft.

Pronunciation

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

newt (plural newts)

  1. A small lizard-like amphibian in the subfamily Pleurodelinae that lives in the water as an adult.

Verb

[edit]

newt (third-person singular simple present newts, present participle newting, simple past and past participle newted)

  1. (transitive) To turn (someone) into a newt, especially by magic.
    • 2012, Jasper Fforde, The Last Dragonslayer, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 109:
      If you moved first and newted someone , you were a murderer.
  2. (by extension, informal, transitive) To (usually temporarily) expel a user from a MUD or similar system
    • 1998, Julian Dibbell, My Tiny Life: Crime and Passion in a Virtual World, Julian Dibbell, →ISBN, page 222:
      So instead Sredna [presumably an abbreviation of "Nosredna", one of the LambdaMOO wizards] newted Finn. She newted him, and though she did not specify the length of time for which he was to remain newted, it seemed clear enough that forever would be just fine with the wizards.
    • 2001, Jan Rune Holmevik, High Wired: On the Design, Use, and Theory of Educational MOOs, University of Michigan Press, →ISBN, page 140:
      If, after a period of newting, the person still refuses to adhere to proper conduct and […]

Synonyms

[edit]

Derived terms

[edit]

Translations

[edit]

See also

[edit]

Anagrams

[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=newt&oldid=84981902"