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  1. sobriquet love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. An affectionate or humorous nickname.
  2. n. An assumed name.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A nickname; a fanciful appellation.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A familiar name for a person (typically a shortened version of a person’s given name).

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. An assumed name; a fanciful epithet or appellation; a nickname.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a familiar name for a person (often a shortened version of a person's given name)

Etymologies

  1. From French sobriquet ("nickname"), from Middle French soubriquet ("a chuck under the chin"). (Wiktionary)
  2. French, from Old French soubriquet, chuck under the chin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “Whereas my other contact has focused on the Shan tribes near the Chinese border, the Father of the White Monkey — the sobriquet comes from the nickname he has given his daughter, who often travels with him — works mostly with the Karen and other tribes in eastern Burma abutting Thailand, though the networks he operates have ranged as far as the Indian border.”

    Lifting the Bamboo Curtain

  • “We all know that the sobriquet is obsolete, but did one expect the Senate Majority Leader ever to say, in effect, that Senators are a collection of potted plants whose participation is unimportant to dealing with an “unprecedented financial crisis”?”

    Stromata Blog:

  • “It was Fuentes who coined the sobriquet "My Queen," Avila Beltrán told authorities after her arrest; the Mexican cop used his proceeds from the drug trade to send his wife on clothing and jewelry shopping sprees in Paris and the United States and to buy her seafront condominiums in Puerto Vallarta and other Pacific Coast resort towns.”

    Newsweek: Underworld Queenpin

  • “A sobriquet is a descriptive appellation, like Governor Jesse [the Body] Ventura, which geezers will fondly recall followed, by two generations, Marie [the Body] McDonald.”

    Simon & Schuster: No Uncertain Terms

  • “In a country where the sobriquet is usually the only name by which it is courteous or safe to address a man, and where it is invariably apt, few men are accorded two.”

    Laramie Holds the Range

  • “One member of the club, who asked not to be named, said that the sobriquet was a way of”

    British Blogs

  • “I think that's truly a french-canadian name...and it derives from a french "sobriquet".”

    languagehat.com: CANADIEN-ECOSSAIS.

  • “The eldest of the Amhas-draoi—a man who’d introduced himself with the one-word sobriquet Garrick—barely flickered an eyelid.”

    Simon & Schuster: Earl of Durkness

  • “By his story of the Frog he scaled the heights of popularity at a single jump and won for himself the 'sobriquet' of”

    Mark Twain, a Biography. Complete

  • “By his story of the Frog he scaled the heights of popularity at a single jump and won for himself the 'sobriquet' of The”

    Mark Twain, a Biography — Volume III, Part 2: 1907-1910

Show 10 more examples...

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘sobriquet’.

Comments

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  • Prolagus According to the Wordnik charts, jmp is right (except for very recent times). Unless he was referring to charcoal bricks. Dec 13, 2010

  • ruzuzu Ay, sí. Ah, oui. Monkey. Mar 11, 2010

  • bilby I see.

    I made that rhyme with say, by the way. Wheee! See? Mar 11, 2010

  • ruzuzu When you're wearing gold lamé, you can make monkey rhyme with whatever you like. Mar 11, 2010

  • bilby Does monkey rhyme with sobriquet? Mar 11, 2010

  • ruzuzu "Hip-shakin' shoutin' in gold lamé
    That's how he earned his regal sobriquet
    Then he threw it all away
    For a porcelain monkey.
    He threw it away for a porcelain monkey
    Gave it all up for a figurine
    He traded it in for a night in Las Vegas
    And his face on velveteen."

    From "Porcelain Monkey," a song about Elvis Presley, by Warren Zevon. Mar 11, 2010

  • sionnach I once knew a soubrette whose sobriquet was mata hari. Or maybe she was a vedette. Either way, that was her etiquette. Aug 13, 2009

  • sobriquet As for the Deerslayer, under the sobriquet of Hawkeye, he made his fame spread far and near, until the crack of his rifle became as terrible to the ears of the Mingos, as the thunders of the Manitou.
    -James Fenimore Cooper, The Deerslayer Aug 13, 2009

  • shevek I won't change my old mumpsimus for your new sobriquet! Jul 20, 2008

  • johnmperry It's usually soubriquet in my house! Jul 20, 2008

  • sionnach jmp: On what basis do you say it's "usually soubriquet"?

    Google yields 379,000 hits for "sobriquet" (which Wikipedia says is the correct French spelling), and just under 65,000 hits for "soubriquet".

    Perhaps you are thinking of the word soubrette? Jul 20, 2008

  • johnmperry usually soubriquet Jul 20, 2008

  • reesetee Joking, rmavis. But thanks. :-) Nov 7, 2007

  • rmavis they're called briquettes! Very close. Nov 7, 2007

  • reesetee Yeah, what are they called...? ;-> Sep 19, 2007

  • kad me too! Sep 19, 2007

  • reesetee This word always reminds me of those little charcoal bricks you use to barbecue. Sep 19, 2007

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‘sobriquet’ has been looked up 6143 times, loved by 38 people, added to 191 lists, commented on 17 times, and has a Scrabble score of 20.