mongrel

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“
No wonder that Dorothy Thompson once referred to "that glorious and imperial mongrel, the English language" and that the poet Carl Sandburg once proclaimed: "The English language hasn't got where it is by being pure."

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Definitions (12)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun An animal or a plant resulting from various interbreedings, especially a dog of mixed or undetermined breed.
  2. noun A cross between different breeds, groups, or varieties, especially a mixture that is or appears to be incongruous.
  3. adjective Of mixed origin or character.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

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Examples

  • No wonder that Dorothy Thompson once referred to "that glorious and imperial mongrel, the English language" and that the poet Carl Sandburg once proclaimed: "The English language hasn't got where it is by being pure." —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol IX No 1
  • Nor was the one who followed them, never stopping, closing the gap between. —  The Boat of a Million Years
  • 'Your loyalty to this mongrel is well documented, Nangi-san.' —  The White Ninja
  • But even here the thoroughbred is often more highly prized than the mongrel, which is as tactful an outlet for racialism as any. —  An Autobiography
  • Carlos was a true mongrel, and gloried in it. —  The Legacy of Heorot
 

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Mongrel has been looked up 324 times, favorited once, listed 20 times, and commented on 9 times.

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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, probably from mong, mixture, from Old English gemang; see mag- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English also mungrel, mongril, mongrill, moungrel; from late Middle English mengrell for *mengerel, *mongerel, from mang, mong, a mixture (see mong), + -erel, a double diminutive (-er, -el), as in cockerel, pickerel, etc.
  2. Formerly also mungrel, moungrel; from mongrel, n.
 

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/ˈməŋgrɛl/
by American Heritage

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