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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. The beginning or opening words of the text of a medieval manuscript or early printed book.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. ‘(Here) beginneth’: the first word in a preliminary formula common in medieval manuscripts and early printed books, introducing the title or name of the work or of the preface or other part of it: as, “Incipit preambulum”; “Incipit prologus in libellum qui dicitur Promptorius Parvulorum,” etc. Compare explicit, verb
  2. n. The introductory words of a book or section of a book. Compare explicit, n.

Wiktionary

  1. n. The first few words of a text, especially its first line.

Etymologies

  1. From Latin, third person sing. present tense of incipere, to begin; see inception.

Examples

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Comments

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  • seancroft –noun
    1. the introductory words or opening phrases in the text of a medieval manuscript or an early printed book.
    2. Music. the first words of a chanted liturgical text, as that of a Gregorian chant or certain medieval motets.

    -dictionary.com Jan 31, 2009

‘incipit’ has been looked up 1682 times, loved by 1 person, added to 15 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 11.