excelsior
English
Etymology
From Latin excelsior, comparative of excelsus (“high”). The name of the stuffing material was originally a trademark.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ɛkˈsɛlsɪɔː/
Adjective
excelsior (not comparable)
- (archaic) Loftier, yet higher, more elevated; ever upward.
- More surpassing, more excelling.
Interjection
excelsior
- A greeting, farewell or acclamation, especially associated with comic book fandom and famous comic book writer Stan Lee.
Noun
excelsior (uncountable)
- (US printing, dated) The size of type between Norse and brilliant, standardized as 3-point.
- Synonym: (UK) minikin
- (Canada, US) Stuffing material (as for furniture and mattresses) made of slender, curled woodshavings, as a substitute for hair.
- Synonym: wood wool
- 1942, Elliot Paul, The Last Time I Saw Paris, Sickle Moon 2001, p. 91:
- These little mangers, with baby dolls representing Jesus, porcelean Josephs and Marys, wide-eyed cows of papier-mâché, and excelsior for straw, were purchased by pious parents for well-behaved children at Christmas-tide.
- 2015 March 31, Margalit Fox, “Gary Dahl, Inventor of the Pet Rock, Dies at 78”, in The New York Times, ISSN 0362-4331:
- Each Pet Rock came in a cardboard carrying case, complete with air holes, tenderly nestled on a bed of excelsior.
Translations
3-point type
|
stuffing made of slender, curled wood shavings
|
Further reading
- “excelsior”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Latin
Etymology
excelsus (“elevated”, “lofty”) + -ior (suffix forming adjectives’ comparative degrees)
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ekˈskel.si.or/, [ɛkˈs̠kɛɫ̪s̠iɔr]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ekˈʃel.si.or/, [ekˈʃɛlsior]
Adjective
excelsior (neuter excelsius); third declension
- comparative degree of excelsus
Declension
Third-declension comparative adjective.
| Number | Singular | Plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case / Gender | Masc./Fem. | Neuter | Masc./Fem. | Neuter | |
| Nominative | excelsior | excelsius | excelsiōrēs | excelsiōra | |
| Genitive | excelsiōris | excelsiōrum | |||
| Dative | excelsiōrī | excelsiōribus | |||
| Accusative | excelsiōrem | excelsius | excelsiōrēs | excelsiōra | |
| Ablative | excelsiōre | excelsiōribus | |||
| Vocative | excelsior | excelsius | excelsiōrēs | excelsiōra | |