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2169 entries found
ither (adj., pron.)
Scottish dialectal form of other.
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Ithuriel's spear 
the image is from "Paradise Lost," and turns up in late 19c. literature. The weapon caused anything it touched to assume its true form. Ithuriel is an archangel in the poem. The name is older and appears to be Kabbalistic.
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ithyphallic (adj.)
1795, in reference to a type of meter used in ancient Greek poetry (earlier as a noun, "poem in ithyphallic meter," 1610s), from Latin ithyphallicus, from Greek ithyphallikos, from ithyphallos "phallus carried in the festivals," from ithys "straight, straight upward" + phallos "erect penis" (see phallus). Credited to Archilochus, the meter was that of the Bacchic hymns, which were sung in the rites during which such phalluses were carried. Thus, in Victorian times, the word also meant "grossly indecent" (1864) and sometimes was used in scholarly works in its literal sense of "with erect penis" (1837).
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itinerant (adj.)
1560s (attested in Anglo-Latin from late 13c.), from Late Latin itinerantem (nominative itinerans), present participle of itinerare "to travel," from Latin iter (genitive itineris) "a journey," from ire "go" (from PIE root *ei- "to go"). Originally in reference to circuit courts. As a noun from 1640s. Related: Itinerancy. Middle English had itineral "having to do with travel" (late 15c.).
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itinerary (n.)
mid-15c., "route of travel," from Late Latin itinerarium "account of a journey, description of a route of travel, road-book," noun use of neuter of itinerarius "of a journey," from Latin itineris "a journey," from ire "go" (from PIE root *ei- "to go"). By early 15c. it meant "record of a journey;" extended sense "sketch of a proposed route, list of places to be included in a journey" is from 1856.
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itinerate (v.)
"to travel from place to place," c. 1600, from Late Latin itineratus, past participle of itinerare "to travel" (see itinerant). Especially "to travel from place to place preaching" (1775). Related: Itinerated; itinerating.
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its (pron.)
neuter possessive pronoun; late 16c., from it + genitive/possessive ending 's (q.v.). "[A]t first commonly written it's, a spelling retained by some to the beginning of the 19c." [OED]. The apostrophe came to be omitted, perhaps because it's already was established as a contraction of it is, or by general habit of omitting apostrophes in personal pronouns (hers, yours, theirs, etc.).

The neuter genitive pronoun in Middle English was his, but the clash between grammatical gender and sexual gender, or else the application of the word to both human and non-human subjects, evidently made users uncomfortable. Restriction of his to the masculine and avoidance of it as a neuter pronoun is evidenced in Middle English, and of it and thereof (as in KJV) were used for the neuter possessive. In literary use, his as a neuter pronoun continued into the 17c. In Middle English, simple it sometimes was used as a neuter possessive pronoun (c. 1300).
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itself (pron.)
late 14c., from Old English hit sylf, from it + self. Since 17c. usually regarded as its self (thus its own self, etc.).
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itsy-bitsy (adj.)

"charmingly small," 1882, from itty (baby-talk form of little) and/or bitsy. Bitsy-itsy is recorded from 1875. Itty-bitty from 1849; tiddy-itty from 1852.

The fond old captain used to talk of her very much as if she were six months old, and fractions in teething, calling her his Peetums-keetums, his Pitsy-itsy-kitsy and such like, which annoyed the girl, .... ["M.B.," "John's Wife," in "Tales of the Day," 1861]
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itty (adj.)
1798, in a letter of Jane Austen, baby-talk form of little (adj.). Compare itsy-bitsy.
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