gothic

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“
"The last time the American newspaper business got this gothic was 1765, just after the first gothic novel, Horace Walpole's 'The Castle of Otranto,' was published, in London, and, in an unrelated development, Parliament decided to levy on the colonies a new tax, requiring government-issued stamps on pages of printed paper-everything from indenture agreements to bills of credit to playing cards".

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Definitions (11)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

  1. Pertaining to the Goths; as, Gothic customs; also, rude; barbarous.
  2. Of or pertaining to a style of architecture with pointed arches, steep roofs, windows large in proportion to the wall spaces, and, generally, great height in proportion to the other dimensions -- prevalent in Western Europe from about 1200 to 1475 a. d. See Illust. of Abacus, and Capital.
  3. The language of the Goths; especially, the language of that part of the Visigoths who settled in Moesia in the 4th century. See Goth.

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (8)

  1. a style of architecture developed in northern France that spread throughout Europe between the 12th and 16th centuries; characterized by slender vertical piers and counterbalancing buttresses and by vaulting and pointed arches
  2. a heavy typeface in use from 15th to 18th centuries
  3. extinct East Germanic language of the ancient Goths; the only surviving record being fragments of a 4th-century translation of the Bible by Bishop Ulfilas
  4. characterized by gloom and mystery and the grotesque
  5. as if belonging to the Middle Ages; old-fashioned and unenlightened
  6. of or relating to the Goths
  7. of or relating to the language of the ancient Goths
  8. characteristic of the style of type commonly used for printing German

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Examples (50)

  • He was active in his native Bamberg and Leipzig, as well as Nuremberg, where he was a town councillor, and considered himself to be a pious scientist.Images from three Stephan Brechtel manuscripts are seen above:University of California, Berkeley, Bancroft Library UCB 021 in German gothic humanist script at the Digital Scriptorium.Columbia University, New York, Rare Book and Manuscript Library Plimpton MS 300, a paper and parchment manuscript; also at the Digital Scriptorium.BSB Cod.icon.
  • Elaine Menge is the master of a deliciously creepy style of suburban gothic, and we are delighted to feature her new story, “Perpetual Care,” on our cover this month. —  AHMM,March2006
  • The author, Rebecca Brand, writes smoothly and plays well with the conventions of the gothic, which isn't too surprising when one realizes Ms. Brand is a pseudonym for Suzy McKee Charnas, who obviously enjoyed writing the book. —  F ;SF - vol 093 issue 03 - September 1997
  • In a standard modern gothic, a meek, inexperienced woman comes to an austere locale, gets scared, and finds romance. —  F ;SF; - vol 097 issue 06 - December 1999
  • The authors saw 30 Days of Night as an opportunity to steer the genre back to its roots and away from the gothic, affected vampires that had taken over their favourite monsters. —  SomethingWickedSFandHorrorMagazine#5
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