Adjacent Words

Uncle definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

UN'CLE, n. [L. avunculus.] The brother of one's father or mother.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the brother of your father or mother; the husband of your aunt [ant: aunt, auntie, aunty]
2: a source of help and advice and encouragement; "he played uncle to lonely students"

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin avunculus mother's brother; akin to Old English ?am uncle, Welsh ewythr, Latin avus grandfather Date: 14th century 1. a. the brother of one's father or mother b. the husband of one's aunt 2. one who helps, advises, or encourages 3. — used as a cry of surrender <was forced to cry uncle> 4. capitalized Uncle Sam

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a the brother of one's father or mother. b an aunt's husband. 2 colloq. a name given by children to a male family friend. 3 sl. esp. hist. a pawnbroker. Phrases and idioms: Uncle Sam colloq. the federal government or citizens of the US (will fight for Uncle Sam). Uncle Tom derog. a Black man considered to be servile, cringing, etc. (from the hero of H. B. Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1852). Etymology: ME f. AF uncle, OF oncle f. LL aunculus f. L avunculus maternal uncle: see AVUNCULAR

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Uncle Un"cle, n. An eldery man; -- used chiefly as a kindly or familiar appellation, esp. (Southern U. S.) for a worthy old negro; as, ``Uncle Remus.'' [Colloq.] Plain old uncle as he [Socrates] was, with his great ears, -- an immense talker. --Emerson.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Uncle Un"cle, n. [OE. uncle, OF. oncle, uncle, F. oncle, fr. L. avunculus a maternal uncle, dim. of avus a grandfather; akin to Lith. avynas uncle, Goth. aw? grandmother, Icel. [=a]i great grandfather.] 1. The brother of one's father or mother; also applied to an aunt's husband; -- the correlative of aunt in sex, and of nephew and niece in relationship. 2. A pawnbroker. [Slang] --Thackeray. My uncle, a pawnbroker. [Slang] Uncle Sam, a humorous appellation given to the United States Government. See Uncle Sam, in Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(uncles) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. Someone's uncle is the brother of their mother or father, or the husband of their aunt. My uncle was the mayor of Memphis... A telegram from Uncle Fred arrived... N-FAMILY; N-TITLE

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

un'-k'l (dodh, "beloved," "uncle," "relation").

See RELATIONSHIPS, FAMILY.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

Mine uncle's; a necessary house. He is gone to visit his uncle; saying of one who leaves his wife soon after marriage. It likewise means a pawnbroker's: goods pawned are frequently said to be at mine uncle's, or laid up in lavender.

Moby Thesaurus

aunt, auntie, blood brother, brethren, brother, bub, bubba, bud, buddy, country cousin, cousin, cousin once removed, cousin twice removed, daughter, father, first cousin, foster brother, frater, grandnephew, grandniece, granduncle, great-aunt, great-uncle, half brother, kid brother, mother, nephew, niece, nuncle, nunks, nunky, second cousin, sis, sissy, sister, sister-german, sistern, son, stepbrother, stepsister, unc, uncs, uterine brother