on dit
See also: on-dit
English
Etymology
Borrowed from French on-dit (“they say; it is said”).
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ɒ̃ diː/
Noun
on dit (plural on dits)
- A flying report; rumour.
- 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], OCLC 21345056, page 93:
- Lady Marchmont was an object of her especial dislike; she feared her wit, and could not forgive her youth and beauty. Moreover, there was an interest in any on dit about one so much the rage; her looks, laces, and sayings, were equally invaluable as matters of gossip.
- 1922, Sinclair Lewis, “15”, in Babbitt:
- Though he is too modest to admit it, Lord Doak gives a cachet to our smart quartier such as it has not received since the ever-memorable visit of the Earl of Sittingbourne. Not only is he of the British peerage, but he is also, on dit, a leader of the British metal industries.
- 2015 July 3, Gaby Wood, “Harper Lee: The inside story of the greatest comeback in literature [print version: The curious case of Harper Lee, 4 July 2015, p. 6]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review), archived from the original on 7 July 2015:
- The ‘on dit’ at Lippincott was that she [author Harper Lee] only had one book in her […]
- It is a mere on dit.
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Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for on dit in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)
Anagrams
- tondi