Adjacent Words

palimpsest definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a manuscript (usually written on papyrus or parchment) on which more than one text has been written with the earlier writing incompletely erased and still visible

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Latin palimpsestus, from Greek palimps?stos scraped again, from palin + ps?n to rub, scrape; akin to Sanskrit ps?ti, babhasti he chews Date: 1825 1. writing material (as a parchment or tablet) used one or more times after earlier writing has been erased 2. something having usually diverse layers or aspects apparent beneath the surface <Canada…is a palimpsest, an overlay of classes and generations — Margaret Atwood>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a piece of writing-material or manuscript on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for other writing. 2 a monumental brass turned and re-engraved on the reverse side. Etymology: L palimpsestus f. Gk palimpsestos f. palin again + psestos rubbed smooth

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Palimpsest Pal"imp*sest, n. [L. palimpsestus, Gr. ? scratched or scraped again, ? a palimpsest; ? again + ? to rub, rub away: cf. F. palimpseste.] A parchment which has been written upon twice, the first writing having been erased to make place for the second. --Longfellow.