Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A book printed before 1501; an incunable.
- n. An artifact of an early period.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A book printed in the infancy of the art of printing. See incunabula, 3.
- n. In entomology, a cocoon.
Wiktionary
- n. A book, single sheet, or image that was printed — not handwritten — before the year 1501 in Europe.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A work of art or of human industry, of an early epoch; especially, a book printed before a. d. 1500.
Etymologies
- From Latin incūnābula ("cradle, origin"), from in- + cūnābula ("cradle"). (Wiktionary)
- New Latin incūnābulum, from sing. of Latin incūnābula, swaddling clothes, cradle : in-, in; see in-2 + cūnābula, cradle, infancy (from cūnae, cradle; see kei-1 in Indo-European roots). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Obviously the Guamans are not bitter or have heard of Rev. Wrong – do they have TV in Guam?? incunabulum”
“May 9th, 2008 4: 10 pm ET even the terorist believe that obama is a man of peace, love, honesty, unlike war monger macain, who believe that you have to bomb to make people agree incunabulum”
“Atreideshawk in reply to a comment from incunabulum”
McCain Calls On United Nations To Condemn Russia's "Unacceptable" Aggression
“It is an incunabulum- a book printed in Europe before 1501.”
“He took a small box out of his satchel, and, opening it, carefully produced a book of exquisite make, an incunabulum which had been carefully illuminated to look as if it had been hand-produced.”
“Although, as some may remember, my partner's late mother used to walk off with everything including the cream pitcher and the butter dish, insisting "they want you to - they charge for it!" incunabulum (love the name, btw!) -- I'm guessing you have never waited tables.”
“The show will revolve around Caravaggio's famous Lute Player, an incunabulum of Baroque portraiture of musicians.”
“With his famous Lute Player, one of the highlights of the Städel's exhibition, Caravaggio had created the incunabulum of Baroque portraiture of musicians, a work enthusiastically received by his successors.”
“Some good club news (2) incunabulum wrote: I haven't been yet, but I have hear ...”
“Which one should I actually go to? "incunabulum, I'm eaten with people who did number 5.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘incunabulum’.
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The Latin Doctor is Greek to me
Biology Students, Gladiators, Devil Dogs & Harry Potter
et tu, semper fidelis, carpe diem, cui bono, pons asinorum, limbus, e pluribus unum, sine qua non, quidnunc, lacus oblivionis, quincunx, experimentum crucis and 128 more...
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Another 250 Spelling Words
Another range of words from the intermediate to the advanced speller's level.
cherimoya, parthenogenesis, sommelier, bupkis, kichel, voulge, indivisibility, retiarius, sewellel, vihuela, ossature, jalfrezi and 238 more...
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The Bindery
A list of bookbinding terms and phrases, for assembling new or repairing/reassembling old books.
perfect binding, animal glue, spine, textblock, polyvinyl acetate, double-fan adhesi..., board, backing, rounding, bone, book cloth, pasteboard and 270 more...
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phrontistery - i
from phrontistery.info
izzat, izzard, ixiodic, izard, ivresse, ixora, ivorist, ivoride, ivorine, iulus, iulan, ithomiid and 510 more...
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Originventory
Beformitables; previousness, past-referents, and origins.
erstwhile, formication, quondam, atavistic, umquhile, yestreen, hesternal, hesternopothia, pridian, ere, retrophilia, ante mortem and 72 more...
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Metawords
Talking about talking, writing about writing, etc.
epizeuxis, tautological, aptote, bibliophagist, parataxis, scriptorium, aposiopesis, variorum, chantefable, boustrophedon, psellism, adoxography and 51 more...
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malechi's list
peculiar, obscure, quirky, obsolete
cynosure, roun, clinquant, sprezzatura, cavil, salubrious, incunabulum, susurrus, scuppernong, coryza, arsiversie, gobemouche and 1 more...
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jaradgiese's Words
paronomasia, ostensible, insouciant, sobriquet, burlesque, insalubrious, apotheosis, hyperbole, connubial, felicity, florid, conurbation and 642 more...
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Vega's Logophile Dictionary
Words I've heard/read in use, words being learnt, words that I want to eventually use in everyday language, words that are high-brow and elitist and scholarly and obscure, words that display the wo...
parsimonious, torpor, recalcitrant, plebeian, vitriol, gumption, augur, aestival, celerity, diaphanous, farrago, nonpareil and 287 more...
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Is it morning yet?
coterie, lexeme, counterbalance, forthright, pigtail, ponytail, french-braid, barrette, listless, counsel, sitting duck, dead duck and 268 more...
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quotato's Words
prospicience, appoggiatura, actually, thrum, nisus, univocal, eschatology, concupiscible, penury, psychedelic, vapid, braggadocio and 107 more...
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xyzprincess's Words
crabwise, virtu, peripatetic, idyll, trencherman, equivocate, flummery, hoi polloi, pixilated, albatross, wangle, bodacious and 170 more...
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summer words 2009
how many words can I make mine this summer?
largess, hoyden, catholic, fornicatress, quean, slattern, bildungsroman, sybaritic, descresent, nodus, frittle, callipygian and 529 more...
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TheLastGoodNameLeft
The Last Good Words Left
ephemera, gammon, errata, ellipses, octopi, heteronormative, polyp, intersectionality, theses, california, halfback, fullback and 555 more...
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the omnibus
preponderance, idioglossia, acumen, heteronym, flux, anacoluthon, metonymy, impetus, constellation, exegesis, revelatory, cloistered and 877 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for incunabulum.

joan_w Merriam-Webster says it comes from the Latin term for "bands holding a baby in the cradle." May 17, 2010
reesetee Also see incunabula. Dec 8, 2008
malechi A book printed before the 16th century; artwork from an early period
"'It's a long story, Sergeant. A few months ago we had a rare book stolen from this room. A beautiful old Tier Buch -- a book of animals -- an incunabulum.'"
--Carey Magoon, I Smell the Devil
I attended an antiques fair a few months ago in upstate New York. There were many old books there -- though not as old as incunabula. The aroma of musty, falling-apart books invokes the past like nothing else, I think. Nostalgia stinks? Dec 7, 2008
whichbe Early printed book; early version of a thing. (from Phrontistery) May 24, 2008