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PRESTIGE

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 307 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PRESTIGE , See also:

influence and authority exercised by See also:reason of sigh reputation. It is one of the few words which have gained a meaning See also:superior to that of See also:original usage. The word in See also:French, from which it has been borrowed by See also:English, as in Latin praestigium or praestigiae, meant jugglers' tricks, deceit, imposture, and so is found in the 16th See also:century. The Latin -tands for praestrigium, from praestringere, to bind or fasten tight, hence to blindfold; others derive from praestinguere, to darken, obscure, deceive. The word was at first generally used as See also:foreign and italicized; thus the New English See also:Dictionary quotes See also:Sir See also:Walter See also:Scott (See also:Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk, 1815) for the earliest example in English of the See also:modern usage, " See also:Napoleon needed the dazzling See also:blaze of decisive victory to renew the See also:charm or prestige . . . once attached to his name and fortunes." Other words derived from praestigium through the French retain the original meaning of juggling or See also:conjuring (see See also:PRESTIDIGITATION).

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