Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An annual competitive festival of Welsh poets and musicians.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An assembly; a meeting: specifically applied to a national assembly or congress of bards and minstrels held periodically in Wales. The eisteddfod is a very ancient institution, but its modern form dates from about the twelfth century. It is designed to foster patriotism, to encourage the study of the Welsh language and literature, and to promote the cultivation of the ancient bardic poetry and music of the principality. Since 1819 an eisteddfod has been held almost every year. It usually attracts thousands of persons from all parts of the country, and lasts three or four days, which are devoted to orations and contests in poetry, singing, harping, etc.; and prizes are awarded, amid much enthusiasm and ceremony, to the successful competitors. The proceedings are conducted partly in Welsh and partly in English. Similar meetings are sometimes held in the United States by citizens of Welsh origin.
Wiktionary
- n. Any of several annual festivals in which Welsh poets, dancers, and musicians compete for recognition.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. An assembly or session of the Welsh bards; an annual congress of bards, minstrels and literati of Wales, -- being a patriotic revival of the old custom.
WordNet 3.0
- n. any of several annual Welsh festivals involving artistic competitions (especially in singing)
Etymologies
- From Welsh eisteddfod ("session"), from eistedd (“to sit”) + bod (“to be”) (be sitting). (Wiktionary)
- Welsh : eistedd, sitting, + bod, to be. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“More than 4,000 competitors from more than 50 countries are taking part in this year's eisteddfod, which is celebrating its 65th anniversary.”
“Perhaps it was just disappointment that caused what Amis later described as the “eisteddfod of hostility” that greeted its publication.”
“• Cardiff is the capital city - there is an additional focus on an eisteddfod in the capital.”
“It's also, weirdly, a formal, public celebration of spoken language, a kind of political eisteddfod.”
““I suppose by graduate bard you mean one who has gained the chair at an eisteddfod?” said the man in grey.”
“He said that he had himself won the prize for the best englyn on a particular subject at an eisteddfod at which Sir Watkin Williams Wynn presided, and at which Heber, afterwards Bishop of Calcutta, was present, who appeared to understand Welsh well, and who took much interest in the proceedings of the meeting.”
“A final decision on the future of the eisteddfod as an organisation had not yet been taken.”
“A Welsh choir, unless it was competing at an eisteddfod, really did not need to have someone stand in front of it beating time or forcing changes of volume or tempo.”
“For years she had been the leading contralto in chapel and for years she had brought home the solo prize for contraltos at every eisteddfod within a radius of twenty miles from Glynderi.”
“Scottish highland wrestle, or hideous prize fight with all their accompaniments of vice and brutality, may surely well spare the ridicule and contempt with which they visit the pleasant Welsh eisteddfod.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘eisteddfod’.
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250 More Spelling Words
More words for intermediate and advanced spellers.
melisma, dioecious, jejunity, sialogogue, zingiber, zendik, dithyramb, pneuma, kachina, agiotage, baedeker, sabulous and 238 more...
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Words with unusual spellings or pronu...
Herein are listed words with oddball spellings and words whose pronunciation does not reflect the spelling.
eleemosynary, Wednesday, colonel, posslq, zaqqum, qwerty, cinquefoil, qibla(h), minuscule, Cholmondeley, polyphloisboian, ptisan and 67 more...
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Eocene (Eosin) (Eoscene) (Eoseen) Eng...
Dawn Words in English
swefnum, swefna, secgan, goste, wealhstod, wald-swathu, hearpan, hwaet, leothcraeft, beorhtost, wyrd, dustsceawung and 131 more...
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Alles ganz verschieden
Listed various words that have come into my mind. Will edit them at some point - honestly.
dog-gold, shoulderlooker, mr. considering, the pigwoman, stevie is waiting, chingwybodganpwy, thelandscapeisstu..., couchsurfing, cappuccinodrinking, meat-eater, posher, mae rhaid i fi fynd and 581 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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Field Mass
for the same
fanon, armet, wether, filibuster, shadoof, shabrack, mai, sainfoin, sand-crack, panoply, guerdon, flunky and 233 more...
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trustknot's Words
codger, curmudgeon, amok, torpid, turgid, craven, crepuscule, twilight, spry, mot juste, dross, schadenfreude and 66 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (E)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
earthwork, easter egg, ebony, eclair, eclipse, effervescence, effigy, egret, elegant, elixir, ellipse, elude and 52 more...
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Favorite Foreign Words
cacahuatl, soixante, betelgeuse, tchotchke, tsetse, eau, que, aufgezeignet, xocoatl, quetzalcoatl, prosek, da and 82 more...
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By Hook or By Crook
From the book by David Crystal
cleek, cleeky, slew, lay-by, daylights, blurb, frequentness, beedom, cob, sociable, calash, bracteate and 28 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for eisteddfod.
Prolagus Almost as hard to pronounce as u felattd. Apr 3, 2008