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2058 entries found
hyperbaton (n.)
"figure of speech by which what should have been first according to the natural and grammatical order is put last, especially for the sake of emphasis," 1570s, from Greek hyperbaton, literally "overstepping," from hyper "over" (see hyper-) + bainein "to go, walk, step," from PIE root *gwa- "to go, come." Classical grammarians distinguish as many as seven kinds of it: Anastrophe, hysteron proteron, hypallage, synchysis, tmesis, parenthesis, and hyperbaton, strictly so called.
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hyperbola (n.)
curve formed by the intersection of a plane with a double cone, 1660s, from Latinized form of Greek hyperbole "extravagance," literally "a throwing beyond (others);" see hyperbole, which in English is the same word in its Greek garb. Perhaps so called because the inclination of the plane to the base of the cone exceeds that of the side of the cone.
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hyperbole (n.)
"obvious exaggeration in rhetoric," early 15c., from Latin hyperbole, from Greek hyperbole "exaggeration, extravagance," literally "a throwing beyond," from hyper- "beyond" (see hyper-) + bole "a throwing, a casting, the stroke of a missile, bolt, beam," from bol-, nominative stem of ballein "to throw" (from PIE root *gwele- "to throw, reach"). Rhetorical sense is found in Aristotle and Isocrates. Greek had a verb, hyperballein, "to throw over or beyond."
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hyperbolic (adj.)
1640s in rhetoric (iperbolical is from early 15c.), from Latin hyperbolic, from Greek hyperbolikos "extravagant," from hyperbole "extravagance," literally "a throwing beyond" (see hyperbole). Geometric sense is from 1670s, from hyperbola + -ic. Related: Hyperbolically.
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hyperborean (adj.)
"of or from the extreme north of the Earth," 1590s, from Late Latin hyperboreanus (adj.), from Latin hyperboreus, from Greek hyperboreos "pertaining to the regions of the far north," from hyper "beyond" (see hyper-) + Boreas, name of the god of the North Wind (see boreal).

The Hyperboreans (Greek Hyperboreoi) were an imagined northern people believed by the ancients to be distinguished by piety and happiness; their land being "beyond" (hence, out of reach of) the North Wind, it was thought to be a blissful paradise. Middle English had iperborie "the far north of the Earth" (mid-15c.).
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hypercritical (adj.)
c. 1600, from hyper- "over, exceedingly, to excess" + critical. Related: Hypercritically.
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hyperdrive (n.)
by 1951, an invented word used by science fiction writers to describe anything that can power a space craft faster than the speed of light, contra Einstein. From drive (n.) with the first element perhaps abstracted from hyperspace.
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hyperextend (v.)
1863, from hyper- "over, exceedingly, to excess" + extend. Related: Hyperextended; hyperextending; hyperextension.
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hyperglycemia (n.)
1875, from hyper- "over" + glycemia "presence of sugar in the blood."
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hyperinflation (n.)
1925 in the economic sense, from hyper- "over, exceedingly, to excess" + inflation. Earlier as a medical term in treatment of lung diseases.
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