Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The Japanese feudal military aristocracy.
- n. A professional warrior belonging to this class.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- The military class of Japan during the continuance of the feudal system there, including both daimios, or territorial nobles, and their vassals or military retainers, but more particularly the latter, or one of them; a military retainer of a daimio; a two-sworded man, or two-sworded men collectively. The samurai were both the soldiers and the scholars of Japan.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- In the former feudal system of Japan, the class or a member of the class, of military retainers of the daimios, constituting the gentry or lesser nobility. They possessed power of life and death over the commoners, and wore two swords as their distinguishing mark. Their special rights and privileges were abolished with the fall of feudalism in 1871. They were referred to as “a cross between a knight and a gentleman”.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a Japanese warrior who was a member of the feudal military aristocracy
- n. feudal Japanese military aristocracy
Etymologies
- From Japanese 侍 (さむらい, samurai). (Wiktionary)
- Japanese, warrior, from Old Japanese samurafi : sa-, pref. of unknown meaning + morafi, to watch, frequentative of mor-, to guard. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It's amazing that with such a large cast, not just of the title samurai but of the farmers they are defending as well, the actors and Kurosawa develop so many distinct and worthy portraits.”
“And the badge of their rank was the two-handed saber -- what we call the samurai sword, but that's the modified one.”
“Update: Peter Shapinsky’s comment about the users of violence and the relative flexibility of the term samurai are also interesting.”
“Seriously, if you like superheroes the leap to samurai is not such a huge one, and not to be all ‘men can only read manly comics’ but this is an extremely manly comic.”
Another Take on Getting Women to Read Comics: Getting Men to Read Manga » Comics Worth Reading
“Shichinin no samurai is better so why waste my time of lesser fair.”
kateelliott: 2008 Film Reviews: Not Such a Good Week, That Was
“Adorable One Coin samurai figures on sale here, 10 for $50.”
“The Liverputty team's enthusiams for all things samurai is so abundant that their appreciation of Hiroshi Inagaki's Samurai Trilogy has spilled over to the House Next Door: 1, 2 and 3.”
“Thank you! boat insurance online quote girls car accessories public domain samurai pictures”
“See mine, if you want to draw * very loose* parallels to the samurai, is too short to do anything but float gaily above my forehead.”
“The delicacy of the handwork was contrasted with 'samurai'-style jackets, sashed with oversized obi-belts, and featuring futuristic robot designs on the back, based upon”
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘samurai’.
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Brand Theft Auto
A marque list for cars--models or companies who've used common words as their name.
explorer, navigator, frontier, mustang, quest, cougar, sidekick, legend, legacy, ranger, voyager, civic and 266 more...
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Film
jidaigeki, samurai, Kurosawa, action, comedy, drama, Bergman, Buñuel, surreal, rotoscope, melodrama, Cinerama and 333 more...
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Realia from Everywhere
Culturally defined terms and expressions from the four corners of the world
fjord, mistral steppe, tornado, tsunami, polder, kiwi, koala, sequoia, Abominable Snowman, paprika, spaghetti, empanada and 299 more...
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strange plurals
words with unusual plurals - singular form being the plural form, obsolete formations without 's', etc.
shoon, crocket, crotchet, quare, aëtheogamous, binoculars, antelope, luggage, police, furniture, aircraft, macaroni and 32 more...
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The Medley of Me
A jumble of words, sometimes contradictory, that add up to me. I'll probably be adding to this list for some time, because I'm a very complex individual. ;P
male, long-haired, big-eyed, writer, artist, guitarist, songsmith, talespinner, pilot, wannabe barnstormer, gypsy, cuddlesome and 209 more...
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Logodaedalus' Lexical Locutionary
Discombobulating the illiterate since the middle of the last century.
adiaphora, agitprop, alliteration, apophthegm, autarky, bête noire, bezoar, biorhythm, braggadocio, canaille, confabulate, confrère and 332 more...
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European World Systems
europe, colonization, defense, barter, feudalism, gunpowder, technology, guns, domination, lords, monarchs, transition and 250 more...
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akmed13's Words
time, spaceship, quantum mechanics, time traveller, bezonkers, strakh, path integrals, gorbfest, amphigory, amber, bicycle, amphisbaena and 358 more...
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S is for Sweater Puppy
My S Words
secret agent, sweater puppy, skivvies, soda jerk, surly, space madness, sad sack, sadsack, scoundrel, scrabble, shaken teddy bear..., saucy and 181 more...
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grassdog's Words
schadenfreude, sanguine, nefarious, verisimilitude, antediluvian, salacious, obfuscate, plethora, cacophony, defenestration, vacillate, blasphemy and 478 more...
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spamdad's Words
lambic, weizenbock, bock, zymurgy, vade mecum, quotidian, sesquipedalian, eremite, sphragis, privation, aegis, sui generis and 275 more...
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WrightHandWords's Words
yclept, unction, prana, satya, abhyasa, vairagya, yoga, ashtanga, acronym, etymology, asana, widget and 286 more...
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gorgonglare's list
the best
zeppelin, ion, laconic, serendipity, cataract, saturnine, syzygy, cinnabar, bistro, lithium, paroxysm, scion and 694 more...
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Absolute Favorites 2
splash, flesh, blockbuster, acclimatize, stream, grim, lush, crystal, bonkers, viceversa, vox, impact and 45 more...
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speaking in tongues
schadenfreude, naïve, gnosis, sangfroid, capisce, flagrante delicto, lux, veritas, gravitas, coquette, panache, nom de plume and 73 more...
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Korniko's Words
quixotic, existential, archaic, black, cheap, laser, jungle, tropical, listed, festive, survey, blind and 87 more...
Tweets
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