superscription
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle French superscription, or its source, Late Latin superscriptio, from superscribere.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]superscription (countable and uncountable, plural superscriptions)
- Something written (or engraved) on the surface, outside, or above something else; specifically, an address on a letter, envelope, etc.
- 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 19, lines 190–194:
- Hovv counterfeit a coin they are vvho friends / Bear in their Superſcription (of the moſt / I vvould be underſtood) in proſperous days / They ſvvarm, but in adverſe vvithdravv their head / Not to be found, though ſought.
- 1914 September – 1915 May, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Valley of Fear: A Sherlock Holmes Novel, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 27 February 1915, →OCLC:
- "Dear me, Mr. Holmes. Dear me!" said this singular epistle. There was neither superscription nor signature. I laughed at the quaint message; but Holmes showed unwonted seriousness.
- 1930, Pearl S. Buck, East Wind: West Wind, Moyer Bell, page 124:
- Its superscription was my name, and the name of the sender, my mother.
- 1983, Lawrence Durrell, Sebastian (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 1140:
- Schwartz glanced at the printed superscription on the envelope and grumbled as he put the envelope away in his overcoat pocket, to read at leisure.
- An editorial addition at the beginning, often indicating the authorship of a piece.
- 1911, Encyclopædia Britannica
- By a pure error, or perhaps through a confusion in the traditions, Achish the Philistine (of Gath, 1 Sam. xxi., xxvii.), to whom David fled, is called Abimelech in the superscription to Psalm 34.
- 1911, Encyclopædia Britannica
- The act of superscribing.