idiom
Definitions
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WordNet 3.6
- n idiom the style of a particular artist or school or movement "an imaginative orchestral idiom"
- n idiom a manner of speaking that is natural to native speakers of a language
- n idiom an expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up
- n idiom 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","it has been said that a language is a dialect with an army and navy"
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Interesting fact: The idiom "pillar of salt" means to have a stroke, or to become paralyzed and dead.
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- Idiom A combination of words having a meaning peculiar to itself and not predictable as a combination of the meanings of the individual words, but sanctioned by usage; as, an idiomatic expression; less commonly, a single word used in a peculiar sense. "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.""Sometimes we identify the words with the object -- though by courtesy of idiom rather than in strict propriety of language."
- Idiom An expression conforming or appropriate to the peculiar structural form of a language. "Some that with care true eloquence shall teach,
And to just idioms fix our doubtful speech." - Idiom Dialect; a variant form of a language.
- Idiom The phrase forms peculiar to a particular author; as, written in his own idiom . "Every good writer has much idiom ."
- Idiom 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.""By idiom is meant the use of words which is peculiar to a particular language.""He followed their language [the Latin], but did not comply with the idiom of ours."
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
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- n idiom A mode of expression peculiar to a language; a peculiarity of phraseology; a phrase or form of words approved by the usage of a language, whether written or spoken, and often having a signification other than its grammatical or logical one. See idiotism, 1.
- n idiom The genius or peculiar cast of a language; hence, a peculiar form or variation of language; a dialect.
- n idiom Synonyms Dialect, Diction, etc. See language.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
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- n Idiom id′i-um a mode of expression peculiar to a language, a peculiar variation of any language, a dialect
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Quotations
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“As advertising blather becomes the nation's normal idiom, language becomes printed noise.”
Etymology
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
F. idiome, L. idioma, fr. Gr. 'idi`wma, fr. 'idioy^n to make a person's own, to make proper or peculiar; fr. 'i`dios one's own, proper, peculiar; prob. akin to the reflexive pronoun o"y^ o'i^ 'e`, and to "eo`s 'o`s, one's own, L. suus, and to E. so,
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
Fr.,—L.,—Gr. idiōma, peculiarity—idios, one's own.
Usage
In literature:
My scarcity of English denies me the power of doing her justice in that language, but you know the Scottish idiom.
"Stories of Authors, British and American" by Edwin Watts Chubb
Every artist has his idiom or characteristic style.
"The Gate of Appreciation" by Carleton Noyes
They remain in the structure of the street and the idiom of the language.
"What I Saw in America" by G. K. Chesterton
Certainly he spoke now with a commonness of idiom and accent he was usually at pains to conceal.
"Merry-Garden and Other Stories" by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
I believe a similar idiom is used by the natives of the Sandwich isles.
"In Eastern Seas" by J. J. Smith
Please, in current idiom, cut it out.
"Otherwise Phyllis" by Meredith Nicholson
She had a rich musical voice, with just enough of foreign accent and idiom to add to the charm of her oratory.
"History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I"
The idiom of the Italian language is appropriate here.
"Great Pianists on Piano Playing" by James Francis Cooke
This meaning is in harmony with Hebrew idiom.
"The Doctrines of Predestination, Reprobation, and Election" by Robert Wallace
It is in the transfer of the idiom and costume that the difficulty and consequent failure lie.
"The Book-Collector" by William Carew Hazlitt
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In poetry:
Again the traffic lights that skim thy swift
Unfractioned idiom, immaculate sigh of stars,
Beading thy path—condense eternity:
And we have seen night lifted in thine arms.
Unfractioned idiom, immaculate sigh of stars,
Beading thy path—condense eternity:
And we have seen night lifted in thine arms.
"To Brooklyn Bridge" by Harold Hart Crane
He asked himself, poor moron, because he had
Nobody else to ask. The others went right on
Talking about form, talking about myth
And the (so help us) need for a modern idiom;
The verseballs among them kept counting syllables.
Nobody else to ask. The others went right on
Talking about form, talking about myth
And the (so help us) need for a modern idiom;
The verseballs among them kept counting syllables.
"The host, he says that all is well" by Howard Nemerov
In news:
Late night coffee for those post-Pickford/Idiom discussions.
The Monitor's language columnist takes issue with President Obama's use of a gambling idiom in his State of the Union message.
Some of us believe that Duke Ellington was America's greatest composer, even though he wrote in an idiom that many people then (and now) do not consider serious enough—jazz.
XyEnterprise's Contenta to Integrate with Idiom WorldServer.
Has reached agreement with Zenith Electronics Corp. Idiom digital rights management content security software.
Most non- Salafi Islamists, despite their use of Islamic idiom, infuse political ideas that originated in Europe into their ideologies.
Mark Siegel's experience in the graphic novel idiom is long, deep and informed by international strains and precepts.
After not hearing it "for AGES" (the all caps are all hers) she keeps running into the idiom "to tease out.
What is the Oldest Known Idiom.
Jazz musicians Grace Kelly and Jason Palmer, acclaimed as two who are now ushering in the future of the idiom, perform in the 2011 Lake George Jazz.
From our idioms to our videogames to our sex shops, the King James Bible's influence is everywhere.
Long a Chicago fixture, Million's fourth release as leader, Poetic Necessities (Blujazz), shows off his talents as a triple threat: a fine pianist with a feel for the bop idiom.
A composition laced with jazz and blues idioms and an all-African-American cast, " Porgy and Bess" –– an opera based on DuBose Heyward's 1925 novel, Porgy –– was peerless when it debuted 75 years ago.
Admiral Mike Mullen Helpfully Illustrates the Idiom 'Good Soldier.
An oft quoted idiom states that variety is the spice of life.
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In science:
The se definitions embody idioms which are useful in strategic programming.
Typed Generic Traversal With Term Rewriting Strategies
In typed strategic rewriting, strategy extension is a programming idiom to create generic strategies.
Typed Generic Traversal With Term Rewriting Strategies
Also, the overall setting of S ′ γ , especially the restriction to a basically first-order, many-sorted setting, rules out s everal powerful programming idioms, e.g., higher-order functions.
Typed Generic Traversal With Term Rewriting Strategies
The idea is that a reader familiar with the standard idiom of quantum mechanics but unaccustomed to the language of ’qubits’ and ’gates’ will learn about quantum information science while learning about quantum random walks and their fascinating behavior.
Quantum random walks - an introductory overview
We develop three new algorithms under the most common generation idioms: recursion (Section 2), succession rules (Section 3), and efficient sequential generation (Section 4).
Generating All Partitions: A Comparison Of Two Encodings
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