Definitions

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

  • noun The part of speech that is used to name a person, place, thing, quality, or action and can function as the subject or object of a verb, the object of a preposition, or an appositive.
  • noun Any of the words belonging to this part of speech, such as neighbor, window, happiness, or negotiation.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In grammar, a name; a word that denotes a thing, material or immaterial; a part of speech that admits of being used as subject or object of a verb, or of being governed by a preposition.

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

  • noun (Gram.) A word used as the designation or appellation of a creature or thing, existing in fact or in thought; a substantive.

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

  • noun grammar A word that can be used to refer to a person, animal, place, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality, or idea; one of the basic parts of speech in many languages, including English.
  • verb transitive To convert a word to a noun.

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

  • noun a content word that can be used to refer to a person, place, thing, quality, or action
  • noun the word class that can serve as the subject or object of a verb, the object of a preposition, or in apposition

Etymologies

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

[Middle English, name, noun, from Anglo-Norman, from Latin nōmen (translation of Greek onoma, name, noun); see nŏ̄-men- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Anglo-Norman noun, non, nom, from Latin nōmen ("name").

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Examples

  • Surely, in this instance, the plural noun "freshes" is not formed from any such singular noun as "_fresh_," but directly from the adjective, which latter does not seem to have been ever used as a singular _noun_.

    Notes and Queries, Number 37, July 13, 1850 Various

  • A noun signifying many, is called a _collective noun_, or _noun of multitude_; as, the _people_, the _army_.

    English Grammar in Familiar Lectures Samuel Kirkham

  • Find them, and give the reason.] [Footnote 2: When a noun is modified by both a genitive and an adjective, a favorite order of words is _adjective, genitive, noun_.] [Footnote 3: A modifying genitive often stands between a preposition and its object.] *****

    Latin for Beginners Benjamin Leonard D'Ooge 1900

  • Is the adjective skeevy somehow related to the slang noun for underwear, skivvies?

    The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004

  • Is the adjective skeevy somehow related to the slang noun for underwear, skivvies?

    The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004

  • That quality of crawling stealthily is the basis of the slang noun creep.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • That quality of crawling stealthily is the basis of the slang noun creep.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • That quality of crawling stealthily is the basis of the slang noun creep.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • That quality of crawling stealthily is the basis of the slang noun creep.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • Shvitz as a noun is a steambath, as Mr. el-Gamal said.

    Your Letters: Shvitzing; John Lennon 2010

Comments

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  • "...rather than any good action should walk through the world like an unappropriated adjective in an ill-arranged sentence, he is always willing to stand noun substantive to it himself."

    -- Walter Scott, "Rob Roy"

    July 8, 2011