Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. One who is employed to take dictation or to copy manuscript.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A person whose employment is to write what another dictates, or to copy what has been written by another.
Wiktionary
- n. One employed to take dictation, or copy manuscripts
- n. A clerk, secretary or stenographer, or scribe.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A person whose employment is to write what another dictates, or to copy what another has written.
WordNet 3.0
- n. someone skilled in the transcription of speech (especially dictation)
Etymologies
- From Latin āmanuēnsis ("secretary"), from ab + manus, "by hand". (Wiktionary)
- Latin āmanuēnsis, from the phrase (servus) ā manū, (slave) at handwriting : ā, ab, by; see ab-1 + manū, ablative of manus, hand; see man-2 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Which amanuensis is a drunken, bankrupt village grocer, of whom my son-in-law is one of the defrauded creditors – Mr. L — having intrusted him with about forty pounds 'worth of the plantation rice, to sell on commission for him, which rice, indeed, was sold, but was never accounted for, and as the man is a bankrupt, never will be.”
“Paul's autograph salutation (so 1Co 16: 21; 2Th 3: 17), attesting that the preceding letter, though written by an amanuensis, is from himself.”
“Eight to five you never heard the word amanuensis and you never saw a cocklebur.””
“The amanuensis was a red-haired young man -- probably a colonial from one of the worlds of Rita's Veil, judging by his accent.”
“My amanuensis is a gentleman who acted as my aide-de-camp, and I beg you will acquaint his good father that he acquitted himself highly to my satisfaction, and showed himself deserving the stock from which he sprung.”
Memoirs and Correspondence of Admiral Lord de Saumarez, Vol. I
“Driven by the "very human desire for philosophical immortality," Bruno recites his life story to a young researcher, his "amanuensis," in a lab where he's being held for murder.”
The Washington Post: Review of Benjamin Hale's 'Evolution of Bruno Littlemore': Aping human love
“You were added to the list for one reason, John: you added the word "amanuensis" to my vocabulary.”
“In the screenshot above, I'm using YubNub to do a Google search for the word "amanuensis". posted by Jonathan at”
“Madison did perform a hugely important function as an "amanuensis," dutifully and painstakingly recording the convention proceedings in what historians today call an accurate and complete stenographic record, the best available.”
“To these people I have been a kind of amanuensis: they have dictated their stories to me and I have retold them.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘amanuensis’.
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Handy Words
List of words and phrases referring to the hand, hands, fist, or derivatives of the Latin manus, beginning with left-handed.
left-handed, double-fisted, fisticuffs, handy, right-handed, two-handed, manual, manumission, manuscript, manually, manustupration, manudiction and 164 more...
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Rare Words - A
Not just rare words, but thousands of RARE WORDS WITH DEFINITIONS.
If you want to see the definitions, too, go to
http://phrontistery.i...aba, abacinate, abactor, abaculus, abaft, abampere, abapical, abarticular, abasement, abasia, abask, abatis and 1214 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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250 Further Spelling Words
Another compilation of spelling words suitable for intermediate to advanced spellers.
venturi, aesir, affenpinscher, rottweiler, amanuensis, balletomane, sangfroid, yukata, capriccio, cuisse, heriot, psaltery and 236 more...
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wallace
Remington, Windsor, prorector, wen, aver, mottle, seltzer, tepee, lapidary, effete, sotto, presbyopia and 355 more...
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Tristram Shandy
souse, meet, sententious, propound, boot, casuistry, avoirdupois, akimbo, disport, lenity, succussation, sweetbread and 197 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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phrontistery - a
from phrontistery.info
aba, abacinate, abactor, abaculus, abaft, abampere, abapical, abarticular, abasement, abasia, abask, abatis and 1214 more...
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Steampunk
Words used quite often in steampunk
ansible, airship, chymical, valve, clockwork, dirigible, thaumaturgy, copper, bronze, difference engine, gear, rivets and 521 more...
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Trusty Assistants
right-hand man, amanuensis, moonshee, man Friday, PDA, famulus, aide, lieutenant, deputy, Man Friday, girl Friday, reading-boy and 25 more...
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doubtlessly reduntant
pedentive, pendentive, fantod, nonpareil, apposite, anfractuous, amanuensis, sherbet, erumpent, verdigris, styptic, tektitic and 24 more...
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All The Words
I enjoy collecting words, for I have no fear of them ever running out.
anacoluthon, defenestration, hypnopomp, hypnagogue, idioglossia, panopticon, tatterdemalion, abalone, caltrop, miasma, paroxysm, smalt and 491 more...
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word tank
a couple words
logolepsy, nefarious, quintessential, tintinnabulation, serendipity, rhapsody, palimpsest, panoply, mellifluous, imbue, loquacious, garrulous and 174 more...
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Mat8iou's interesting words
Words I've come across & want to remember.
bloviation, elginism, panegyric, infandous, boke, pangram, quine, pareto principle, panopticon, snib, escutcheon, bokeh and 129 more...
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Carlos' Words
monstropolous, absquatulate
triffid, calque, pinguid, refulgent, monstropolous, Seanchaí, clinquant, Chryselephantine ..., peavey, milium, swage, Burtillon, Burtil... and 263 more...
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New words
Words that are new to me.
autostrada, gimlet, clyster, gravida, skelped, nacreous, susurrus, intransigent, puissant, turbid, plangent, fungible and 99 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for amanuensis.

sionnach It's interesting that the "related words" function is not symmetric. alguacil shows up as being related to amanuensis, but amanuensis is not listed as being related to alguacil. Aug 12, 2011
sionnach
In Norway, amanuensis is an academic rank of a lecturer without a doctorate, and this title is going out of use. Førsteamanuensis (Norwegian for "first amanuensis") is the equivalent of associate professor. Dec 24, 2008
alguien What an ugly-looking word. That "nuen," in particular, is killing me. Mar 26, 2007