rebus
English
editEtymology
editFrom French rébus (“rebus (puzzle); ambiguity; word used in an oblique sense; unintelligible remark”), or directly from its probable etymon Latin rēbus, the ablative plural of rēs (“object, stuff, thing; issue, matter, subject, topic”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *reh₁ís (“goods; wealth”). The connection between the English word and its Latin etymon is unclear.
The following possibilities have been suggested, but according to the Oxford English Dictionary are problematic:[1]
- According to the French scholar Gilles Ménage (1613–1692) in Les origines de la langue françoise (The Origins of the French Language, 1650),[2] it is taken from the phrase de rebus quae geruntur (“concerning the things that are taking place”) which was used in 16th-century Picardy as the name for satirical writings on contemporary subjects containing picture-riddles that were composed for an annual carnival. However, the term rebus de Picardie is first attested later than the word rébus, and so could simply refer to rebuses popular in Picardy at the time.
- Alternatively, it could be from the phrase nōn verbīs sed rēbus meaning “not by words but by things”, but this “encounters difficulties in the chronology of the senses in French”.
Pronunciation
edit- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: rē'bəs, IPA(key): /ˈɹiːbəs/
Audio (Received Pronunciation): (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɹibəs/
- Rhymes: -iːbəs
- Hyphenation: re‧bus
Noun
editExamples (phonetic hint) |
---|
rebus (plural rebuses or (rare) rebusses or (hypercorrect, rare) rebi)
- An arrangement of pictures, symbols, and/or words representing phrases or words, especially as a word puzzle.
- 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, I.i:
- I back him at a Rebus or a Charade against the best Rhymer in the Kingdom—has your Ladyship heard the Epigram he wrote last week on Lady Frizzle's Feather catching Fire—
- (linguistics) A pictographic component of a compound character (e.g. sinograph) used to hint at the pronunciation of the compound.
- Hypernym: phonetic
- Coordinate term: determinative
- (specifically, heraldry) An arrangement of pictures on a coat of arms which suggests the name of the person to whom it belongs.
- Coordinate term: cant
- 2020 March 5, Hilary Mantel, “Salvage: London, Summer 1536”, in The Mirror & the Light, London: 4th Estate, →ISBN, page 122:
- The prior [Will Bolton] used to come out here to hunt in summer and recreate himself, and his rebus—a barrel or tun shot through with a crossbow bolt—is set into the garden walls.
Derived terms
editTranslations
edit
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See also
editVerb
editrebus (third-person singular simple present rebuses or rebusses, present participle rebusing or rebussing, simple past and past participle rebused or rebussed) (transitive, obsolete, rare)
- To represent (a phrase or word) as a rebus.
- To apply a rebus to (something).
- 1655, Thomas Fuller, “Section IV. To John Ferrars, of Tamworth Castle, Esquire.”, in The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI), subsection 34 (The Death of Archbishop Morton. A.D. 1500.), page 539:
- He [John Morton] was a learned man, and had a fair library, (rebussed with more in text and tun under it,) partly remaining in the possession of the late earl of Arundel.
References
edit- ^ “rebus, n.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2020; “rebus, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- ^ Gilles Ménage (1650) Les origines de la langue françoise [The Origins of the French Language], Paris: Chez Augustin Courbé, →OCLC.
Further reading
editAnagrams
editCrimean Tatar
editEtymology
editFrench rébus, from Latin rebus.
Noun
editrebus
Declension
editnominative | rebus |
---|---|
genitive | rebusnıñ |
dative | rebusqa |
accusative | rebusnı |
locative | rebusta |
ablative | rebustan |
References
editDanish
editNoun
editrebus c (singular definite rebussen, plural indefinite rebusser)
- rebus (puzzle)
Declension
editcommon gender |
Singular | Plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
nominative | rebus | rebussen | rebusser | rebusserne |
genitive | rebus' | rebussens | rebussers | rebussernes |
Estonian
editNoun
editrebus
French
editVerb
editrebus
- first/second-person singular past historic of reboire
Participle
editrebus m pl
Anagrams
editIndonesian
editEtymology
edit(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation
editVerb
editrêbus (active merebus, passive direbus, perfective passive terebus)
- (transitive) to boil (to cook in boiling water)
Adjective
editrêbus
- boiled (cooked in boiling water)
Derived terms
editItalian
editPronunciation
editNoun
editrebus m (invariable)
Related terms
editLatin
editNoun
editrēbus f
References
edit- rebus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
Malay
editAdjective
editrebus (Jawi spelling ربوس)
- boiled (food)
Verb
editrebus
- to boil (food)
Further reading
edit- “rebus” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.
Maltese
editEtymology
editBorrowed from Italian rebus, from Latin rēbus.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editrebus m (plural rebus)
Polish
editEtymology
editBorrowed from French rébus. Doublet of raj (“paradise”).
Pronunciation
editNoun
editrebus m inan (diminutive rebusik)
- rebus (puzzle)
Declension
editDerived terms
editFurther reading
edit- rebus in Polish dictionaries at PWN
- Brückner, Aleksander (1927) “rebus”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish), Warsaw: Wiedza Powszechna
Romanian
editEtymology
editNoun
editrebus n (plural rebusuri)
Declension
editsingular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
nominative/accusative | (un) rebus | rebusul | (niște) rebusuri | rebusurile |
genitive/dative | (unui) rebus | rebusului | (unor) rebusuri | rebusurilor |
vocative | rebusule | rebusurilor |
Serbo-Croatian
editPronunciation
editNoun
editrébus m (Cyrillic spelling ре́бус)
Declension
editSwedish
editNoun
editrebus c
- a rebus; a kind of word puzzle
Declension
editDeclension of rebus | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | rebus | rebusen | rebusar | rebusarna |
Genitive | rebus | rebusens | rebusars | rebusarnas |
Synonyms
editRelated terms
editReferences
edit- Rebus in Svenska Akademiens ordlista öfver svenska språket (6th ed., 1889)
- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/iːbəs
- Rhymes:English/iːbəs/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- English terms with quotations
- en:Linguistics
- en:Heraldry
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English obsolete terms
- English rare terms
- Crimean Tatar terms derived from French
- Crimean Tatar terms derived from Latin
- Crimean Tatar lemmas
- Crimean Tatar nouns
- Danish lemmas
- Danish nouns
- Danish common-gender nouns
- Estonian non-lemma forms
- Estonian noun forms
- French non-lemma forms
- French verb forms
- French past participle forms
- Indonesian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Indonesian/bʊs
- Rhymes:Indonesian/bʊs/2 syllables
- Indonesian lemmas
- Indonesian verbs
- Indonesian transitive verbs
- Indonesian adjectives
- Italian 2-syllable words
- Italian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Italian/ɛbus
- Rhymes:Italian/ɛbus/2 syllables
- Italian lemmas
- Italian nouns
- Italian indeclinable nouns
- Italian countable nouns
- Italian masculine nouns
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin noun forms
- Malay lemmas
- Malay adjectives
- Malay verbs
- Malay verbs without transitivity
- ms:Cooking
- Maltese terms borrowed from Italian
- Maltese terms derived from Italian
- Maltese terms derived from Latin
- Maltese 2-syllable words
- Maltese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Maltese lemmas
- Maltese nouns
- Maltese masculine nouns
- Polish terms derived from Latin
- Polish terms derived from Proto-Italic
- Polish terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Polish terms borrowed from French
- Polish terms derived from French
- Polish doublets
- Polish 2-syllable words
- Polish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Polish/ɛbus
- Rhymes:Polish/ɛbus/2 syllables
- Polish lemmas
- Polish nouns
- Polish masculine nouns
- Polish inanimate nouns
- Romanian terms borrowed from French
- Romanian terms derived from French
- Romanian lemmas
- Romanian nouns
- Romanian countable nouns
- Romanian neuter nouns
- Serbo-Croatian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Serbo-Croatian lemmas
- Serbo-Croatian nouns
- Serbo-Croatian masculine nouns
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish common-gender nouns