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gesticulation
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English
Etymology
From Middle English gesticulation, from Latin gesticulatio.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /dʒɛˌstɪkjəˈleɪʃən/
Audio (General American): (file) - Rhymes: -eɪʃən
- Hyphenation: ges‧tic‧u‧la‧tion
Noun
gesticulation (countable and uncountable, plural gesticulations)
- The act of gesticulating, or making gestures to aid expression of thoughts, sentiments or passion.
- A gesture; a motion of the body or limbs when speaking, or in representing action or passion, and enforcing arguments and sentiments.
- 1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:
- In the eagerness of his gesticulations, first he knocked off my hat, then he knocked off Lessingham’s, then his own, then all three together […]
- 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann:
- It is commonly supposed that they communicated by sounds and tentacular gesticulations; this is asserted, for instance, in the able but hastily compiled pamphlet (written evidently by someone not an eye-witness of Martian actions) to which I have already alluded, and which, so far, has been the chief source of information concerning them.
- 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka, Eland, published 2019, page 193:
- The breeze had died away and the tree was now quite motionless save when William's statements required forcible gesticulations, which made it sway in a gentle nodding manner as though it were confirming every word the old sage uttered.
- (dated) An odd or fanciful motion.
- 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter IV, in The Last Man. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 115:
- I indulged in this meditation for a moment, and then again addressed the mourner, who stood leaning against the bed with that expression of resigned despair, of complete misery, and a patient sufferance of it, which is far more touching than any of the insane ravings or wild gesticulation of untamed sorrow.
Related terms
Translations
act of gesticulating
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References
- “gesticulation”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
Anagrams
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French
Etymology
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Perhaps from Latin gesticulatio?”) From gesticuler + -ation.
Pronunciation
Noun
gesticulation f (plural gesticulations)
Further reading
- “gesticulation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
- Dictionnaire Grand Larousse (in French), 1989, page 2175
- Albert Dauzat (1993), Dictionnaire étymologique et historique du français (in French), Larousse, →ISBN, page 338
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Middle English
Etymology
From Latin gesticulatio.
Noun
gesticulation (plural gesticulations)
- gesticulation
- 15th-century, Ranulf Higden, John Trevisa, William Caxton, John Malverne, Churchill Babington, Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden maonachi Cestrensis, volume 2 (quotation in Middle English; overall work in Middle English and Latin), Longmans, Green and Co., published 1865, page 307:
- That bulle was callede Apis, whiche was wonte to swymme ouer the floode callede Nilus, and to schewe thynges to comme thro his gesticulation
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Descendants
- English: gesticulation
References
- “gesticulation”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
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