Word Meanings - ALLITERATION - Book Publishers vocabulary database

The repetition of the same letter at the beginning of two or more words immediately succeeding each other, or at short intervals; as in the following lines: - Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheaved His vastness. Milton. Fly o'er waste fens and

Additional info about word: ALLITERATION

The repetition of the same letter at the beginning of two or more words immediately succeeding each other, or at short intervals; as in the following lines: - Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheaved His vastness. Milton. Fly o'er waste fens and windy fields. Tennyson. Note: The recurrence of the same letter in accented parts of words is also called alliteration. Anglo-Saxon poetry is characterized by alliterative meter of this sort. Later poets also employed it. In a somer seson whan soft was the sonne, I shope me in shroudes as I a shepe were. P. Plowman.

Related words: (words related to ALLITERATION)

• SUCCEEDANT
  Succeeding one another; following.
• EARTHLY-MINDED
  Having a mind devoted to earthly things; worldly-minded; -- opposed to spiritual-minded. -- Earth"ly-mind`ed*ness, n.
• EARTH FLAX
  A variety of asbestus. See Amianthus.
• WASTEL
  A kind of white and fine bread or cake; -- called also wastel bread, and wastel cake. Roasted flesh or milk and wasted bread. Chaucer. The simnel bread and wastel cakes, which were only used at the tables of the highest nobility. Sir W. Scott.
• EARTHDIN
  An earthquake.
• WASTETHRIFT
  A spendthrift.
• OTHERGUISE; OTHERGUESS
  Of another kind or sort; in another way. "Otherguess arguments." Berkeley.
• SHORT-WITED
  Having little wit; not wise; having scanty intellect or judgment.
• BIGGEST
  , superl. of Big.
• FOLLOWING EDGE
  See ABOVE
• WASTEBOARD
  See 3
• WORDSMAN
  One who deals in words, or in mere words; a verbalist. "Some speculative wordsman." H. Bushnell.
• SHORT CIRCUIT
  A circuit formed or closed by a conductor of relatively low resistance because shorter or of relatively great conductivity.
• EARTHSTAR
  A curious fungus of the genus Geaster, in which the outer coating splits into the shape of a star, and the inner one forms a ball containing the dustlike spores.
• EARTHBRED
  Low; grovelling; vulgar.
• SHORT-HANDED
  Short of, or lacking the regular number of, servants or helpers.
• SHORTHEAD
  A sucking whale less than one year old; -- so called by sailors.
• EARTHBANK
  A bank or mound of earth.
• SUCCEEDER
  A successor. Shak. Tennyson.
• LETTERER
  One who makes, inscribes, or engraves, alphabetical letters.
• ALKALI WASTE
  Waste material from the manufacture of alkali; specif., soda waste.
• NOTOTHERIUM
  An extinct genus of gigantic herbivorous marsupials, found in the Pliocene formation of Australia.
• CHURCHLINESS
  Regard for the church.
• FRIENDLINESS
  The condition or quality of being friendly. Sir P. Sidney.
• LORDLINESS
  The state or quality of being lordly. Shak.
• OVERWASTED
  Wasted or worn out; Drayton.
• ISOGEOTHERMAL; ISOGEOTHERMIC
  Pertaining to, having the nature of, or marking, isogeotherms; as, an isogeothermal line or surface; as isogeothermal chart. -- n.
• SMOTHER
  Etym: 1. To destroy the life of by suffocation; to deprive of the air necessary for life; to cover up closely so as to prevent breathing; to suffocate; as, to smother a child. 2. To affect as by suffocation; to stife; to deprive of air by a thick
• ISOTHEROMBROSE
  A line connecting or marking points on the earth's surface, which have the same mean summer rainfall.
• BLACK LETTER
  The old English or Gothic letter, in which the Early English manuscripts were written, and the first English books were printed. It was conspicuous for its blackness. See Type.
• STEELINESS
  The quality of being steely.
• CHILLINESS
  1. A state or sensation of being chilly; a disagreeable sensation of coldness. 2. A moderate degree of coldness; disagreeable coldness or rawness; as, the chilliness of the air. 3. Formality; lack of warmth.
• ANOTHER-GUESS
  Of another sort. It used to go in another-guess manner. Arbuthnot.
• SOUTHERNLINESS
  Southerliness.