Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The fourth letter of the Latin and English alphabets. It is rarely spelled out, being usually represented by the simple character. See D, 1.
  • A verb-prefix of Latin origin, expressing in Latin, and hence with modifications in modern speech, various phases of the original meaning ‘from, away from, down from.’
  • In some words a reduced form of the original Latin prefix dis-, Latin de- and dis- being in Old French and Middle English more or less merged in form and meaning (see dis-). See defer, deface, defame, decry, etc.
  • A French preposition, found in English only in some French phrases, as couleur de rose, or in proper names, as in Simon de Montfort, Cæur de Lion, De Vere, etc., either of Middle English origin, or modern and mere French.
  • A Latin preposition, meaning ‘from’ or ‘of,’ occurring in certain phrases often used in English: as, de novo, anew; de facto, of fact; de jure, of right.
  • A form of -d, -d, or -ed, -ed in older English, as in solde, tolde, fledde, etc., now extant only in made, the (contracted) preterit and past participle of make. See -ed, -ed.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun from (operator), this is (operator)
  • verb Northumbrian To do.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a Mid-Atlantic state; one of the original 13 colonies

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French de.

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Examples

  • No está claro si el mundo se acabará o entraremos a una "nueva etapa de florecimiento espiritual", pero ¡de que se destruye, se destruye!

    Pseudohistoria: 2012, el fin del mundo se acerca (��Otra vez?) 2009

  • In his _Popius_ eam in ludibrium vertit, &c. Sed eximius Poeta neque in veteribus suæ ipsius linguæ, nedum Græcæ monumentis versatus, tantum scilicet de antiqua illa litera vidit, quantum _de Shakespearii_

    Notes and Queries, Number 50, October 12, 1850 Various

  • Describing the insolence of the actors, Gil Blas says, "Bien loin de traiter d'excellence les seigneurs, elles ne leur donnoient pas même _de la seigneurie_."

    Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 55, No. 344, June, 1844 Various

  • So far as the wholesale declaration of the illusoriness of physical evil -- the ravages and tortures of disease -- is concerned, the implicit belief extended to the pretensions of this creed to master all such ills is proof, if proof were wanted, of the success which rewards those who act on the maxim, "_de l'audace, toujours de l'audace_!"

    Problems of Immanence: studies critical and constructive Joseph Warschauer

  • Beauregard, the name became Toutant de Beauregard, the prefix _de_ having subsequently been dropped.

    As I Remember Recollections of American Society during the Nineteenth Century Marian Gouverneur

  • "Me go to massa grave, and de water come into me yeye; but me can't help it, massa, _de water will come into me yeye_."

    The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus American Anti-Slavery Society

  • While in St. Petersburg, she had given him money to buy some gift for Anna, so he planned to take both of them many beautiful things, and _une cave de parfums_ as a gift _de nez a nez_.

    Women in the Life of Balzac Juanita Helm Floyd

  • But in 1813 Baden joined the coalition, and since then that nation created of odds and ends (_de bric et de broc_) and always handsomely treated by us, had not ceased to take a leading part in the struggles against our country.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 "Baconthorpe" to "Bankruptcy" Various

  • If as _balayeur_ he could lay hands on a _morceau de pain_ or _de viande_, he bore it as before to our beds; but Jean was always called over to partake of the forbidden pleasure.

    The Enormous Room 1928

  • The book is dedicated to Lorillard Ronalds who, the author explains in a few French phrases, asked him to write something "_de très pure et de très chaste, pour une jeunesse, sans doute_."

    The Merry-Go-Round Carl Van Vechten 1922

  • In 2015, Catherine Nichols submitted proposals for a novel to agents and publishers under both her own name and a “homme de plume.”

    The Hazards of Writing While Female Helen Lewis 2019

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