Excalibur en · PROPN
Pronunciation
- /ɛksˈkæ.lɪ.bɚ/
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
From Middle English Excalaber, from Old French Escalibor, Escaliborc, prothetic form of Calliborc, alteration of Calibourne, from Medieval Latin Caliburnus (Geoffrey of Monmouth, ca. 1136), influenced by calibs (“steel”) (for chalybs), alteration of Old Welsh Caledbulch (compare modern Caledfwlch), compound of caled (“hard”) and bwlch (“cleft, crack”). Related to the Irish legendary sword Caladbolg, literally ‘hard-belly’, i.e. ‘voracious’.
Meanings
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(qualifier:Arthurian legend) The legendary sword of King Arthur, having magical properties.
Until recently, suppression of ethnicity has perhaps been the leading characteristic of the trend of thought of these Jewish intellectuals. Some, like Noam Chomsky and I. F. Stone, have been considered by some Jews to be so suppressed—or at least so overcompensating for their being Jewish—as to be regarded as anti-Semitic on some issues. Such men flaunt their universalism like Excaliburs of truth and objectivity.
1974, Stephen D. Isaacs, Jews and American Politics, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, Inc., →ISBN, page 53:And we would see fish swimming among the tall bulrushes that rose like Excaliburs out of the lake.
1998, Imogen Stubbs, “The Undiscovered Road: Northumberland”, in Dea Birkett, Sara Wheeler, editors, Amazonian: The Penguin Book of Women’s New Travel Writing, Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 228:You and I, we are not alone, and our screwdrivers are our flashing Excaliburs as we sally forth to make small parts of the fragmented world whole again.
2017, James May, The Reassembler, Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN, page 19:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excaliburs | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Translations (25)
fr Excalibur (Legendary sword) · br Kaledvoulc'h (Legendary sword) · ca Excàlibur (Legendary sword) · ru Экска́либур (Legendary sword) · ja エクスカリバー (Legendary sword) · mk Екска́либур (Legendary sword) · th เอกซ์แคลิเบอร์ (Legendary sword) · eo Ekskaliburo (Legendary sword) · it Excalibur (Legendary sword) · la Caliburnus (Legendary sword) · th ดาบเอ็กซ์คาลิเบอร์ (Legendary sword) · cs Excalibur (Legendary sword) · pl Excalibur (Legendary sword) · kw Calesvol (Legendary sword) · ko 엑스칼리버 (Legendary sword) · enm Excalaber (Legendary sword) · mr एक्सकॅलिबर (Legendary sword) · el Εξκάλιμπερ (Legendary sword) · ar إِكْسْكَالِيبُر (Legendary sword) · pt Excalibur (Legendary sword) · he אקסקליבר (Legendary sword) · pl Ekskalibur (Legendary sword) · cy Caledfwlch (Legendary sword) · cmn 王者之劍 /王者之剑 (Legendary sword) · es Excálibur (Legendary sword)