anagram

Definitions

  • WordNet 3.6
    • v anagram read letters out of order to discover a hidden meaning
    • n anagram a word or phrase spelled by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
  • Interesting fact: Anagrams amused the ancient Greeks, Romans and Hebrews, and were popular during the Middle Ages.
    • n Anagram ăn"ȧ*grăm Literally, the letters of a word read backwards, but in its usual wider sense, the change of one word or phrase into another by the transposition of its letters. Thus Galenus becomes angelus; William Noyattorney-general to Charles I., and a laborious man) may be turned into I moyl in law.
    • v. t Anagram To anagrammatize. "Some of these anagramed his name, Benlowes, into Benevolus."
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
  • Interesting fact: Monday is the only day of the week that has an anagram, dynamo.
    • n anagram A transposition of the letters of a word or sentence, to form a new word or sentence: thus, Galenus is an anagram of angelus. Dr. Burney's anagram of Horatio Nelson is one of the happiest, Honor ext a Nilo (Honor is from the Nile).
    • n anagram A word formed by reading the letters of one or more words backward; a palindrome: thus, evil is an anagram of live.
    • anagram To form into an anagram.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
  • Interesting fact: Hydroxydesoxycorticosterone and hydroxydeoxycorticosterones are the largest anagrams.
    • n Anagram an′a-gram a word or sentence formed by rewriting (in a different order) the letters of another word or sentence: as, 'live' = 'evil,' 'Quid est veritas? = 'Est vir qui adest,' and 'Florence Nightingale' = 'Flit on, cheering angel.'—Many pseudonyms are merely anagrams, as 'Voltaire' = 'Arouet l. i.'—that is, 'Arouet le jeune (the younger).'—adjs. Anagrammat′ic, Anagrammat′ical
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Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
F. anagramme, LL. anagramma, fr. Gr. 'ana` back, again + gra`fein to write. See Graphic
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
Gr. ana, again, graph-ein, to write.

Usage

In literature:

Except the work issued under the alias "Karl Redan," or the anagrams, "C.O.
"Contemporary American Composers" by Rupert Hughes
Lucius Barettus is an anagram for the real name Albertus Curtius.
"The Story of Eclipses" by George Chambers
He announced this also by an anagram, and waited till it should become a crescent, which it did.
"The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 11" by Various
Anagrams, De Morgan, I, 138.
"A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume II (of II)" by Augustus de Morgan
Although the name was a manifest anagram of Gazul, the public were gulled.
"Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 380, June, 1847" by Various
She was the lady of the anagram celebrity, "Reveal, oh, Daniel," and "Never so mad a lady.
"Notes and Queries, Number 78, April 26, 1851" by Various
Thy genius calls thee not to purchase fame In keen Iambics, but mild Anagram.
"Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, Number 358, August 1845" by Various
Intellectual pastimes, as authors, anagrams, billiards, chess, and many games with playing cards, are generally helpful.
"The Home Medical Library, Volume II (of VI)" by Various
It is much like anagrams, this ordering of matter in an essay.
"English: Composition and Literature" by W. F. (William Franklin) Webster
He announced this also by an anagram, and waited till it should become a crescent, which it did.
"Pioneers of Science" by Oliver Lodge
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In news:

You identify the words from their anagrams .
kunc.org
I seem to recall that at the time somebody pointed out that this is an anagram of "monster hoax by Sir Peter S".
economist.com
Instead of requiring attorneys to guess possible keywords from millions of documents, Anagram allows legal professionals to choose keywords from a pre-organized list containing every word in the document collection.
metrocorpcounsel.com
Zipper (The others can be anagrammed into the names of cities: Rome, Paris, Chester.).
usatoday.com
Even if you don't know a rebus from an anagram or a double-entendre from a pun, you have no doubt noticed Frank W Lewis's cryptic crossword puzzle each week on the last page of the magazine.
thenation.com
What do Polish readers think of Richard Zimler's depiction of ghetto life in 'The Warsaw Anagrams'.
latimes.com
Six years ago, though, the music reached a frenetic standstill, a treadmill churn of jackknifing beats and bass riffs like endless anagrams of the same doom-blare notes.
villagevoice.com
Messages found in team anagrams.
espn.go.com
AP Photo/Gerry BroomeTyler Zeller and the Tar Heels just need to have fun out there, according to their team anagram.
espn.go.com
Before he knew it, he was up all night studying dictionaries, playing solo games against himself, and unscrambling anagrams for kicks.
wpr.org
You'll be given anagrams of the remaining four letters.
ktep.org
"Ars Magna ," which means "great art" in Latin, is an anagram of the word "anagrams".
pbs.org
Released in 1993 by Anagram Records.
kexp.org
On-air challenge: This week's puzzle is called "Anagram K-pers".
kunc.org
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Related words