Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A collection of various items, parts, or ingredients, especially one composed of diverse literary works.
  • noun A publication containing various literary works.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Miscellaneous; diversified
  • noun A mixture of various kinds; a combination of diverse objects, parts, or elements.
  • noun A diversified literary collection; a book or periodical publication containing compositions on various subjects.
  • noun Synonyms See mixture.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A mass or mixture of various things; a medley; esp., a collection of compositions on various subjects.
  • noun [Obs.] a woman who dealt in various fineries; a milliner.
  • adjective obsolete Miscellaneous; heterogeneous.

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

  • noun Miscellaneous items
  • noun A collection of writings on various subjects or topics; an anthology.

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

  • noun a collection containing a variety of sorts of things
  • noun an anthology of short literary pieces and poems and ballads etc.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin miscellānea, miscellanea; see miscellanea.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin miscellus ("mixed"), from misceō ("to mix").

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Examples

  • Magius, 1664 "; then, pell-mell, there were: _A curious and edifying miscellany concerning church bells_ by Dom Rémi Carré; another _Edifying miscellany_, anonymous; a _Treatise of bells_ by Jean-Baptiste Thiers, curate of Champrond and Vibraye; a ponderous tome by an architect named

    Là-bas Keene [Translator] Wallace 1877

  • I was distinguishing what was indisputably a mass-market phenomenon-opera and the fantasies spun off from opera that were the core of so-called miscellany programs-from the serious music written for a composer's pupils or the connoisseurs who patronized aristocratic salons.

    City Journal 2010

  • A miscellany is a collection of various literary productions kinds (poems, letters, essays, illustrations) gathered in a single volume, often united thematically rather than formally.

    The Millions 2009

  • Recall that the president requested $17.0 billion for DOE and $4.8 billion for the "miscellany" (for a subtotal of an additional $21.8 billion).

    Winslow T. Wheeler: The 2007 Defense Budget May Not Be What You Think 2008

  • This volume is condensed with many thoughts, and to some may seem more of a "miscellany" than what we intend it should be.

    Progressive Missions in the South and Addresses; With Illustrations and Sketches of Missionary Workers and Ministers and Bishops' Wives Sara J. Duncan 1906

  • Consequently, this book consists of two sections - an autobiographical account of Waldrop's life, followed by a kind of miscellany of Michael Revere's writings (essays, poetry, journals, etc.).

    Smoky Mountain News 2010

  • In my opinion, the "miscellany" approach practiced by most literary magazines -- by which the "best fiction available" is printed, with little or no indication of what makes it the "best" -- makes all too many of them useless; I can only make my way through a few of them, trying to find the "best" in a scattershot fashion, before I put them aside and conclude it just isn't worth my time (and sometimes money) to prospect for fiction in this way.

    Writing and Publishing 2010

  • "miscellany," or hodgepodge of prayers, poems and ritual law, probably written around the end of the 15th century.

    The Jewish Week (BETA) 2010

  • These songs gradually developed a concomitant form of dialogue styled saturæ, a term denoting "miscellany", and derived perhaps from the _Satura lanx_, a charger filled with the first-fruits of the year's produce, which was offered to Bacchus and Ceres. [

    English Satires Various 1885

  • This arena, inaccessible to the public for 145 years, now hosts a miscellany of events, from cancan dancers to choirs and theatre festivals.

    10 of the best arts venues in south London 2011

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