PATTER
Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language
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1998
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© Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language 1998, originally published by Oxford University Press 1998. (Hide copyright information)
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PATTER [From Latin
Paternoster Our Father (the name of a common Christian prayer), used as a verb meaning ‘to gabble, recite quickly’, then as a noun for any gabbling ritual or routine].
1. Rapid, fluent speech that may or may not make sense or be sincerely intended, like someone going meaninglessly through a ritual learned by heart.
2. The stylized
LINGO of salesmen, hucksters, sideshow barkers, conjurors, and comedians: ‘Nothing up my sleeve, ladies and gentlemen, nothing down my trousers, and we take the bunny rabbit like so, you see—everybody see?—and—hey presto! No more bunny rabbit!’
3. Stylized
DIALOGUE, such as the rehearsed routines of stand-up comics, one of whom is the straight man, the other the funny man.
4. Especially in
GLASGOW in Scotland, words used with skill:
Ah like yur patter,
Jimmy—yur patter runs like watter. Someone fluent and garrulous, whether sincere or otherwise, is a
patter merchant. From this usage, the term has been extended to Glasgow dialect, often called
the patter. See
BLARNEY,
NONSENSE,
RAP.
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Norway Lauches First Fridtjof Nansen Frigate
Magazine article from: Sea Power; 8/1/2004; ; 347 words
; The first Fridtjof Nansen-class frigate for the Royal Norwegian...Construcciones Navales Ferrol shipyard. The Fridtjof Nansen is the first of five new Aegis frigates...following the launch ing ceremony for the Fridtjof Nansen there was a keel -laying ceremony...
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Raffi Hovannisian Awarded Fridtjof Nansen Gold Medal
Newspaper article from: Armenian Reporter, The; 6/18/2005; 700+ words
; ...humanitarian and Nobel peace laureate Fridtjof Nansen. NCI members, Heritage party...Movsisian, executive director of the Nansen Foundation. Asserting that it is impossible to talk about Fridtjof Nansen and Raffi Hovannisian without...
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Fridtjof Nansen's matches: carried by the Norwegian explorer during his ill-fated attempt to become the first man to reach the North Pole.(FROM THE collection)
Magazine article from: Geographical; 9/1/2009; 700+ words
; ...could be the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen, who had set off three years earlier...cheered until we were hoarse'. Nansen and his companion hadn't reached...Born in 1861, by the age of four, Nansen was a proficient skier, and by...
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Fridtjof Nansen.(Briefs)(Royal Norwegian Navy introduces Fridtjof Nansen into service)(Brief Article)
Magazine article from: Journal of Electronic Defense; 7/1/2004; 580 words
; The Fridtjof Nansen (F310), the first of five Aegis-equipped ships under the Royal Norwegian Navy's frigate program, was launched on June 3...
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U.S. EMBASSY'S OFFICE OF DEFENSE COOPERATION DELIVERS PROPERTY TO FRIDTJOF NANSEN ORPHANAGE
News Wire article from: US Fed News Service, Including US State News; 5/27/2008; 558 words
; ...ceremony with Mr. Ruben Markosian, Director of the Fridtjof Nansen Orphanage here May 21. The event recognized the delivery...three northeastern Armenian villages this summer. The Fridtjof Nansen Orphanage was founded in 2000, and has had 150 children...
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 "The Mail on Sunday (London, England)")
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What an Arctic waste; COLD COMFORT: Jasper Britton as explorer Fridtjof Nansen in the 'punishing exercise' Fram.
Newspaper article from: The Mail on Sunday (London, England); 4/20/2008; 700+ words
; ...titlefrom the ship built by explorer Fridtjof Nansen. Frozen into pack ice, it wassupposed to drift to the North Pole. Nansen never got there, though his efforts...again, he returns to the subject of Nansen having to share a doublebear-fur...
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Travel Etc: Grand tours; A New Year's greeting from the ice Writers' adventures in literature. This week: Arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen sees in 1895 with Norwegian punch and aurora borealis
Newspaper article from: The Independent on Sunday; 12/29/2002; 700+ words
; In 1895, Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930), a Norwegian Arctic...and Scott, though the latter ignored Nansen's advice, consequently costing him...four men their lives in the Antarctic. Nansen spent three years adrift in the Arctic...
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Lockheed Martin Delivers First MK 41 Launcher to Royal Norwegian Navy; Launchers to Be Installed Aboard Norway's Fridtjof Nansen Class Frigates.
PR Newswire; 12/19/2003; 700+ words
; ...delivered the first MK 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) module for installation aboard the Royal Norwegian Navy's Fridtjof Nansen frigate, the first of five ships in its class. Under a contract signed in June 2000 between Lockheed Martin and...
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El viajero. (los viajeros noruegos Roald Amundsen y Fridtjof Nansen viajaron por lugares frígidos)(TT: The traveller) (TA: the Norwegian travellers Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen travelled through frigid places)
Magazine article from: Tribuna de Actualidad; 3/31/1997; 403 words
; ...descubre el paso del Noroeste y localiza el polo magntico Norte, y en 1910 descubre el polo sur y vuela a travs del Artico. Nansen ve Groenlandia en 1882, y atraviesa su casquete glacial en el 1888 y la cuenca rtica en 1893. Noruegos ambos, adquirieron...
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New Frigate Designed For Norwegian Navy Moves Full Speed Ahead With Lockheed Martin System; Lockheed Martin's Integrated Weapon System for Fridtjof Nansen F 310 Passes Critical Design Review with Flying Colors.
PR Newswire; 3/14/2002; 700+ words
; ...computing suite and communications equipment designed to give the Nansen-class frigates advanced anti-submarine, anti-surface...radar and Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile system, the Norwegian Nansen-class frigate will offer the world's most advanced anti...
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Fridtjof Nansen
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of World Biography
Fridtjof Nansen The Norwegian polar explorer, scientist, and statesman Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930) was a pioneer of oceanography...vital force in the League of Nations. Fridtjof Nansen was born on Oct. 10, 1861, on an...
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Nansen, Fridtjof
Book article from: Water:Science and Issues
Nansen, Fridtjof Norwegian Arctic Explorer and Oceanographer 1861–1930 The science of oceanography was in its infancy in 1893 when Fridtjof Nansen, a 32-year-old Norwegian, purposely allowed his ship, the Fram...
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Nansen passport
Book article from: The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
Nansen passport a document of identification issued to stateless people after the First World War, named after the Norwegian arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen (1861–1930), who was responsible for its issue. He received...
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refugee
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
...In 1921 the League of Nations appointed Fridtjof Nansen its high commissioner for refugee work...International Labor Organization and the Nansen International Office for Refugees took charge. Nansen effected repatriation wherever possible...
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Vidkin Quisling
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of World Biography
...League of Nations. Quisling helped Fridtjof Nansen on his humanitarian missions in the USSR and Armenia from 1922 to 1925. Nansen was a renowned explorer, zoologist...early success, in some part, to Nansen's friendship. In the late 1920s...
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