Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A book printed before 1501; an incunable.
- noun An artifact of an early period.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A book printed in the infancy of the art of printing. See
incunabula , 3. - noun In entomology, a cocoon.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A work of art or of human industry, of an early epoch; especially, a book printed before a. d. 1500.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
book , single sheet, or image that wasprinted — not handwritten — before the year 1501 in Europe.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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May 9th, 2008 4: 10 pm ET even the terorist believe that obama is a man of peace, love, honesty, unlike war monger macain, who believe that you have to bomb to make people agree incunabulum
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Obviously the Guamans are not bitter or have heard of Rev. Wrong – do they have TV in Guam?? incunabulum
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Atreideshawk in reply to a comment from incunabulum
McCain Calls On United Nations To Condemn Russia's "Unacceptable" Aggression 2009
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It is an incunabulum- a book printed in Europe before 1501.
Archive 2008-02-01 2008
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It is an incunabulum- a book printed in Europe before 1501.
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He took a small box out of his satchel, and, opening it, carefully produced a book of exquisite make, an incunabulum which had been carefully illuminated to look as if it had been hand-produced.
Hanique, Part I 2005
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He took a small box out of his satchel, and, opening it, carefully produced a book of exquisite make, an incunabulum which had been carefully illuminated to look as if it had been hand-produced.
Archive 2005-07-01 2005
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Although, as some may remember, my partner's late mother used to walk off with everything including the cream pitcher and the butter dish, insisting "they want you to - they charge for it!" incunabulum (love the name, btw!) -- I'm guessing you have never waited tables.
Blog updates 2009
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The show will revolve around Caravaggio's famous Lute Player, an incunabulum of Baroque portraiture of musicians.
Art Knowledge News 2009
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With his famous Lute Player, one of the highlights of the Städel's exhibition, Caravaggio had created the incunabulum of Baroque portraiture of musicians, a work enthusiastically received by his successors.
Art Knowledge News 2009
whichbe commented on the word incunabulum
Early printed book; early version of a thing. (from Phrontistery)
May 25, 2008
malechi commented on the word incunabulum
A book printed before the 16th century; artwork from an early period
"'It's a long story, Sergeant. A few months ago we had a rare book stolen from this room. A beautiful old Tier Buch -- a book of animals -- an incunabulum.'"
--Carey Magoon, I Smell the Devil
I attended an antiques fair a few months ago in upstate New York. There were many old books there -- though not as old as incunabula. The aroma of musty, falling-apart books invokes the past like nothing else, I think. Nostalgia stinks?
December 8, 2008
reesetee commented on the word incunabulum
Also see incunabula.
December 8, 2008
joan_w commented on the word incunabulum
Merriam-Webster says it comes from the Latin term for "bands holding a baby in the cradle."
May 17, 2010