Research topic:onomatopoeia

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onomatopoeia

The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature | 2003 | | © The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature 2003, originally published by Oxford University Press 2003. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

onomatopoeia, the formation of a word by an imitation of the sound associated with the object or action designated: as ‘hurlyburly’, ‘buzz’, ‘creak’. The term is also applied to the use of a combination of words to evoke by sound a certain image or mood, the most frequently quoted example being Tennyson's ‘murmuring of innumerable bees’.

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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "onomatopoeia." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 18 Dec. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "onomatopoeia." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (December 18, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-onomatopoeia.html

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "onomatopoeia." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved December 18, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-onomatopoeia.html

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Related entries from encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauruses

onomatopoeia
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition onomatopoeia [Gr.,=word-making], in language, the representation of a sound...flowers weep, And from the craggy ledge the poppy hangs in sleep. Onomatopoeia can also represent harsh and unpleasant sounds, as in Browning's...
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Book article from: Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language ONOMATOPOEIA. [Through LATIN from GREEK onomatopoiía making a name...ASSONANCE ; hence the alternative but more inclusive term ECHOISM . Onomatopoeia is common: (1) In children's stories: Only a bee tree goes...
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Encyclopedia entry from: International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences ...in Tzotzil Maya. Exceptions to this arbitrariness may exist in ethnobiological classification (see Berlin 1992) and onomatopoeia. The meaning of political and religious symbols, often charged with emotion, are likewise dependent on cultural contexts...
Plovers
Encyclopedia entry from: The Gale Encyclopedia of Science ...nest. Many species of birds have been named after their distinctive vocalizations, a practice known to etymologists as onomatopoeia. During their migrations and on their wintering grounds, many species of plovers appear predictably in large flocks in...
Sound
Book article from: -Ologies and -Isms ...waves. monotony dullness or uniformity, similar to that experienced from a repeated sound. — monotonous, adj. onomatopoeia the state or condition of a word formed to imitate the sound of its intended meaning, as rustle. — onomatopoeic...

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