pamphlet

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“
The wood-cut on the title of the pamphlet is an ass with a wreath of laurel round his neck.

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Definitions (13)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun An unbound printed work, usually with a paper cover.
  2. noun A short essay or treatise, usually on a current topic, published without a binding.

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Examples (50)

  • “Things merely ornamental are soon disregarded, and disregard can scarcely be borne when there is no internal support.” Another marked feature of the pamphlet is the extremely puritanical tendency of its sentiments. —  The Project Gutenberg eBook of Mary Wollstonecraft, by Elizabeth Robins Pennell
  • According to the author of the Monography , the pamphlet is the brochure masterpiece; and he himself is its most illustrious exponent. —  Balzac
  • Their purpose was to hold up “a true glass to behold the faces of Presbytery and Independency in, with the beauty, order, strength, of the one, and the deformity, disorder, and weakness of the other.” In other words, the pamphlet is a digest of everything that could be said against Independency and in favour of Presbyterianism. —  The Life of John Milton Vol. 3 1643-1649
  • The photo part of the pamphlet was arranged rather quickly through an advertising agency, board spokeswoman Victoria Mas said.
  • A lot of the footnotes I can't track down at all, possibly because most of the pamphlet is a couple of years old; many of the rest of the footnotes refer only to news reports rather than actual primary sources. —  Felix Salmon - All posts
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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English pamflet, from Medieval Latin pamfletus, from Pamphiletus, diminutive of Pamphilus, amatory Latin poem of the 12th century, from Greek pamphilos, beloved by all : pan-, pan- + philos, beloved.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from . Middle English pamflet, pamfilet, paunflet, first in Middle Latin (Anglo-Latin) panfletus (“panfletos exiguous,” ‘lean pamphlets’—Richard de Bury, Philobiblon, c. viii., a.d. 1344); origin unknown. The F. pamphlet, German pamphlet, D. Danish pamflet, Swedish pamflett, Russian Pamfletū, a pamphlet, usually a libel, are all from English The word has been variously referred—(1) to a supposed Old French *paume-fueillet, from paume, palm, hand, + fueillet, a leaf (as if ‘a leaf of paper held in the hand’); (2) to a supposed Middle Latin *pagina filata, ‘a threaded (sewed) leaf’; (3) to a supposed use of French par un fllet, ‘by a thread’; (4) to a supposed Old French *pamfllet, Middle Latin *pamphiletus, from Latin Pamphila, Greek Παμφίλη, a female historian of the 1st century, who wrote epitomes of history. These explanations are all untenable. A possible solution is found in (5) L. papyrus, paper, on the assumption that pamphlet, Middle Latin panfletus, represents a Middle Latin *pamphiletus for *pampiletus, literally ‘a little paper’ (cf. Spanish papeleta, a slip of paper, a paper case), with diminutive suffix -etus (E.et), from pampĭlus, supposed variant of pampĭrus, paper (cf. Middle Dutch pampier, paper), this being a nasalized form of Middle Latin papĭrus, papy̌rus, Latin papy̌rus (from Greek παπῡρος, sometimes παπῠρος), paper: see paper. For the nasalization (pap- later pamp-), cf. Old French pampilette for papilette, a spangle; Old French pompon, from Latin pepo(n-), a melon (see pumpion); English pamp, pamper, as related to pap, etc. Cf. also Middle Latin pampilus, panphinus, papilus, variants of Latin pampinus, a vine-leaf (see pampine, pampre); these may have affected the form and sense of pamphlet.
  2. from pamphlet, n.
 

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/ˈpæmflɛt/
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