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idiom

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idiom


  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Idiom  \Id"i*om\,  n.  [F.  idiome,  L.  idioma,  fr  Gr  ?,  fr  ?  to 
  make  a  person's  own  to  make  proper  or  peculiar;  prob.  akin 
  to  the  reflexive  pronoun  ?,  ?,  ?,  and  to  ?,  ?,  one's  own  L. 
  suus,  and  to  E.  so.] 
  1.  The  syntactical  or  structural  form  peculiar  to  any 
  language;  the  genius  or  cast  of  a  language. 
 
  Idiom  may  be  employed  loosely  and  figuratively  as  a 
  synonym  of  language  or  dialect,  but  in  its  proper 
  sense  it  signifies  the  totality  of  the  general  rules 
  of  construction  which  characterize  the  syntax  of  a 
  particular  language  and  distinguish  it  from  other 
  tongues.  --G.  P.  Marsh. 
 
  By  idiom  is  meant  the  use  of  words  which  is  peculiar 
  to  a  particular  language.  --J.  H. 
  Newman. 
 
  He  followed  their  language  [the  Latin],  but  did  not 
  comply  with  the  idiom  of  ours  --Dryden. 
 
  2.  An  expression  conforming  or  appropriate  to  the  peculiar 
  structural  form  of  a  language;  in  extend  use  an 
  expression  sanctioned  by  usage,  having  a  sense  peculiar  to 
  itself  and  not  agreeing  with  the  logical  sense  of  its 
  structural  form  also  the  phrase  forms  peculiar  to  a 
  particular  author. 
 
  Some  that  with  care  true  eloquence  shall  teach,  And 
  to  just  idioms  fix  our  doubtful  speech.  --Prior. 
 
  Sometimes  we  identify  the  words  with  the  object  -- 
  though  be  courtesy  of  idiom  rather  than  in  strict 
  propriety  of  language.  --Coleridge. 
 
  Every  good  writer  has  much  idiom.  --Landor. 
 
  It  is  not  by  means  of  rules  that  such  idioms  as  the 
  following  are  made  current:  ``I  can  make  nothing  of 
  it.''  ``He  treats  his  subject  home.''  Dryden.  ``It 
  is  that  within  us  that  makes  for  righteousness.'' 
  M.Arnold.  --Gostwick 
  (Eng.  Gram.  ) 
 
  3.  Dialect;  a  variant  form  of  a  language. 
 
  Syn:  Dialect. 
 
  Usage:  {Idiom},  {Dialect}.  The  idioms  of  a  language  belong  to 
  its  very  structure;  its  dialects  are  varieties  of 
  expression  ingrafted  upon  it  in  different  localities 
  or  by  different  professions.  Each  county  of  England 
  has  some  peculiarities  of  dialect,  and  so  have  most  of 
  the  professions,  while  the  great  idioms  of  the 
  language  are  everywhere  the  same  See  {Language}. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  idiom 
  n  1:  a  manner  of  speaking  that  is  natural  to  native  speakers  of  a 
  language  [syn:  {parlance}] 
  2:  the  usage  or  vocabulary  that  is  characteristic  of  a  specific 
  group  of  people;  "the  immigrants  spoke  an  odd  dialect  of 
  English";  "he  has  a  strong  German  accent"  [syn:  {dialect}, 
  {accent}] 
  3:  the  style  of  a  particular  artist  or  school  or  movement;  "an 
  imaginative  orchestral  idiom"  [syn:  {artistic  style}] 
  4:  an  expression  whose  meanings  cannot  be  inferred  from  the 
  meanings  of  the  words  that  make  it  up  [syn:  {idiomatic 
  expression},  {phrasal  idiom},  {set  phrase},  {phrase}] 




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