NOUN-INCORPORATION
NOUN-INCORPORATION. A term in WORD-FORMATION for the creation of a compound in which a noun is incorporated into a verb as its first element: baby-sit, house-hunt, sleep-walk. Such forms go back at least to the Middle Ages, as with backbite (c.1300) to bite someone on or behind the back. They are often nonce or stunt usages, sometimes with a touch of humour: backseat-drive, ballroom-dance. They generally have two sources: (1) BACK-FORMATION: eavesdrop from eavesdropper; kidnap from kidnapper; mass-produce from mass production; window-shop from window-shopping. (2) The conversion of a noun-noun compound to use as a verb: fingerprint, as in fingerprinting suspects; scent-mark, as in: ‘How often a cat scent-marks varies according to how old it is’ (BBC WildLife, Jan. 1989).
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Back-formation , BACK-FORMATION. The creation of one WORD from another by removing rather than adding an element: laze from lazy; gruntled from disgruntled. Such word… he lay on his back , back / bak/ • n. 1. the rear surface of the human body from the shoulders to the hips: he lay on his back ∎ the corresponding upper surface of an ani… Open Shop , Open Shop Formation , for·ma·tion / fôrˈmāshən/ • n. 1. the action of forming or process of being formed: the formation of the Great Rift Valley. 2. a structure or arrange… Shopping Malls , MALLS, SHOPPING. The rapid, post–World War II ascendancy of the shopping center—of which malls are the largest and most important type—represented th… Aback , a·back / əˈbak/ • adv. 1. archaic toward or situated to the rear: the little strip of pasture aback of the house. 2. Sailing with the sail pressed ba…
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NOUN-INCORPORATION