Search the Dictionary

Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



122 words match “ITALIAN”

SOCINIANISM n.
The tenets or doctrines of Faustus Socinus, an Italian theologian of the sixteenth century, who denied the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the personality of the Devil, the native and total depravity of man, the vicarious atonement, and the eternity of future punishment. His theory was, that Christ was a man divinely com…
SOLDO n.
A small Italian coin worth a sou or a cent; the twentieth part of a lira.
SOLID a.
, wanting wit, affect gravity, and go by the name of solid men. Dryden. The genius of the Italians wrought by solid toil what the myth-making imagination of the Germans had projected in a poem. J. A. Symonds.
SONOROUS a.
Impressive in sound; high-sounding. The Italian opera, amidst all the meanness and familiarty of the thoughts, has something beautiful and sonorous in the expression. Addison. There is nothing of the artificial Johnsonian balance in his style. It is as often marked by a pregnant brevity as by a sonorous amplitude. E. E…
STIACCIATO n.
The lowest relief, -- often used in Italian sculpture of the 15th and 16th centuries.
STIFF a.
hed; as, stiff behavior; a stiff style. The French are open, familiar, and talkative; the Italians stiff, ceremonious, and reserved. Addison.
SUBTILE a.
te; hence there is so much humor and so little wit in their literature. The genius of the Italians, on the contrary, is acute, profound, and sensual, but not subtile; hence what they think to be humorous, is merely witty. Coleridge. The subtile influence of an intellect like Emerson's. Hawthorne.
TAGLIONI n.
A kind of outer coat, or overcoat; -- said to be so named after a celebrated Italian family of professional dancers. He ought certainly to exchange his taglioni, or comfortable greatcoat, for a cuirass of steel. Sir W. Scott.
TERZA RIMA n.
A peculiar and complicated system of versification, borrowed by the early Italian poets from the Troubadours.
TESTOON n.
An Italian silver coin. The testoon of Rome is worth 1s. 3d. sterling, or about thirty cents. Homans.
THEATIN; THEATINE n.
One of an order of Italian monks, established in 1524, expressly to oppose Reformation, and to raise the tone of piety among Roman Catholics. They hold no property, nor do they beg, but depend on what Providence sends. Their chief employment is preaching and giving religious instruction.
TOLL v.
; to raise a tax. [R.] Well could he [the miller] steal corn and toll thrice. Chaucer. No Italian priest Shall tithe or toll in our dominions. Shak.
TORRICELLIAN a.
Of or pertaining to Torricelli, an Italian philosopher and mathematician, who, in 1643, discovered that the rise of a liquid in a tube, as in the barometer, is due to atmospheric pressure. See Barometer. Torricellian tube, a glass tube thirty or more inches in length, open at the lower end and hermetically sealed at th…
TRECENTO n.
The fourteenth century, when applied to Italian art, literature, etc. It marks the period of Dante, Petrarch, and boccaccio in literature, and of Giotto in painting.
TRUMPET n.
ly owes its name to "its external resemblance to the large speaking trumpet used on board Italian vessels, which is of the same length and tapering shape." Grove. -- Trumpet shell (Zoöl.), any species of large marine univalve shells belonging to Triton and allied genera. See Triton, 2. -- Trumpet tree. (Bot.) See Tru…
TUSCAN a.
ically designating one of the five orders of architecture recognized and described by the Italian writers of the 16th century, or characteristic of the order. The original of this order was not used by the Greeks, but by the Romans under the Empire. See Order, and Illust. of Capital.
ULTRAMONTANISM n.
ng the pope's supremacy; -- so used by those living north of the Alps in reference to the Italians; -- rarely used in an opposite sense, as referring to the views of those living north of the Alps and opposed to the papal claims. Cf. Gallicanism.
VALSALVIAN a.
Of or pertaining to Valsalva, an Italian anatomist of the 17th century. Valsalvian experiment (Med.), the process of inflating the middle ear by closing the mouth and nostrils, and blowing so as to puff out the cheeks.
VERMICELLI n.
orced through small cylinders or pipes till it takes a slender, wormlike form, whence the Italian name. When the paste is made in larger tubes, it is called macaroni.
VETTURA n.
An Italian four-wheeled carriage, esp. one let for hire; a hackney coach.
← Previous Page 6 of 7 Next →