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  1. excelsior love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Slender, curved wood shavings used especially for packing.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Loftier; more elevated; higher: the motto of New York State, hence sometimes called the Excelsior State.
  2. n. The trade-name of a fine quality of wood-shavings, used as stuffing for cushions, beds, etc., and as a packing material.
  3. n. A printing-type, now known as 3-point—about 24 lines to the inch. It is too small for letters, but is used for characters of music, piece fractions, and border decorations. See type, 8.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. archaic Loftier, yet higher; ever upward
  2. n. An originally trademarked name for stuffing material (as for furniture and mattresses) made of slender, curled wood shavings, as a substitute for hair.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. More lofty; still higher; ever upward.
  2. n. A kind of stuffing for upholstered furniture, mattresses, etc., in which curled shreds of wood are substituted for curled hair.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. thin curly wood shavings used for packing or stuffing

Etymologies

  1. From Latin excelsior, comparative of excelsus ("high"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Originally a trademark. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “And by that time Heppie had the crate in the wood-box, and the excelsior was a black and smoking mass at the kitchen end of the grounds.”

    The Window at the White Cat

  • “He knows how to work with outdated packing material like the thinly curled wood shavings known as excelsior and how to carve commercial deer mounts into shapes for wild antelopes and oryxes.”

    NPR Topics: News

  • “This introduces a possible danger from fire, in case the hot stove plate should come into direct contact with inflammable packing material such as excelsior or paper.”

    Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Household Science in Rural Schools

  • “His motto was "excelsior" in whatever he engaged, and in farming he realized success.”

    History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880. Vol. 2 (of 2) Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens

  • “Still onwards, "excelsior," the pines were more straight and lofty; there were patches of wild myrtle on the ground, some in white blossom; and we looked down upon the flat roofs of villages below, an appearance so strange to us after the round domes of the south country.”

    Byeways in Palestine

  • “In the evolution of the birds and other animals, the cry of "excelsior" has been followed literally as well as theoretically and, with a few exceptions, the highest in each class have not only risen above their fellows in intelligence and structure, but have left the earth and climbed or flown to the tree-tops, making these their chief place of abode.”

    The Log of the Sun A Chronicle of Nature's Year

  • “I suppose one little leader must wave its little tail and cry "excelsior" to the others.”

    A Woman Rice Planter

  • “It was hard climbing on account of the steepness of the acclivity, its rocky character, and the thick network of bushes and brambles in many places; but "excelsior" was our motto in all our mountaineering, and we allowed no surmountable difficulties to daunt us.”

    Birds of the Rockies

  • “Beulah, I have written 'excelsior' on my banner, and I intend, like that noble youth, to press forward over every obstacle, mounting at every step, until I, too, stand on the highest pinnacle, and plant my banner where its glorious motto shall float over the world.”

    Beulah

  • “The lesson might perhaps have been given, and Miss Furnival might have imparted to Mr. Staveley her idea of "excelsior" in the matter of love-making, had not Mr. Staveley's mother come into the room at that moment.”

    Orley Farm

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hypernyms (3)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. wadding
  1. packing
  1. packing material

same context (23)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. syringing
  2. eggplant
  3. barley sugar
  4. era
  1. beeldar
  2. chipperee
  3. enough
  4. sailcloth
  1. prairie-grass
  2. succotash
  3. sawdust
  4. applesauce
  1. papermache
  2. spume
  3. bubblegum
  4. cheesecloth
  1. thistledown
  2. ay
  3. aenea
  4. rice-straw
  1. anacondas
  2. nonfood
  3. disagreeableness

reverse dictionary (8)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. slivering-machine
  1. wood-broney
  1. ash
  1. ash-candles
  1. excelsior
  1. fraxin
  1. kite-key
  1. mattress

tags (4)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. weirdnet
  1. fun to say
  1. vccvccvvc
  1. type

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Comments

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  • fbharjo also see excelsior--1 Mar 15, 2013

  • danama “Excelsior” is the most parodied of Longfellow’s poems. Indeed it is almost a parody of itself. For Longfellow, “Excelsior” meant “higher and higher,” as the youth struggles upward only to die without gaining his objective. Longfellow wrote the poem in 1841, inspired by the New York State seal, which bore a shield with a rising sun and the motto Excelsior.
    Oliver Wendell Holmes thought that “the repetition of the aspiring exclamation…lifts every stanza a step higher,” but Irvin Cobb thought the exclamation should be “Bonehead!” Harvard students used to sing a song, and maybe still do, with each stanza ending in “Upidee!” and lines laced with “la la’s.” Bret Harte wrote a parody in which each stanza ended with “Sapolio!” – the name of a soap.
    —Best Remembered Poems, Martin Gardner
    Mar 14, 2013

  • vanishedone I know it from Longfellow, who according to Wikipedia got it from the seal of New York. WeirdNet clearly has less lofty ideas. Sep 27, 2008

  • whichbe I think Stan Lee from Marvel Comics used this word often. Sep 27, 2008

  • shevek I did a double take when I read this definition. Apparently it comes from a trademark. Sep 26, 2008

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‘excelsior’ has been looked up 3034 times, loved by 3 people, added to 37 lists, commented on 5 times, and has a Scrabble score of 18.