▪ I. text, n.1
(tɛkst)
Also 4 tixte, tyxt(e, 4–5 tixt, 4–6 texte, (4, 7 (9 dial.) tex, 6 texe, 7 texed).
[a. F. texte, also ONF. tixte, tiste (12th c. in Godef.), the Scriptures, etc., ad. med.L. textus the Gospel, written character (Du Cange), L. textus (u-stem) style, tissue of a literary work (Quintilian), lit. that which is woven, web, texture, f. text-, ppl. stem of tex-ĕre to weave.]
1. a. The wording of anything written or printed; the structure formed by the words in their order; the very words, phrases, and sentences as written.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1634 Fyrst telle me þe tyxte of þe tede lettres. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1515 For to telle of þis teuelyng of þis trwe knyȝtez, Hit is the tytelet, token, & tyxt of her werkkez. c 1500 Melusine xii. 45 They delyuered to Raymondyn the ground that was gyuen to hym after the texte or tenour of hys lettres. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 65 b, For those wordes.., this is my body, Luther vnderstode barely and symply after the texte of the letter. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. iv. 240 The most of Plato's Followers..offering all kind of violence to his Text. 1720 Swift To Stella 138 Say, Stella, when you copy next, Will you keep strictly to the text? 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. II. liii. 326 Without venturing to propose alterations in the text of the Constitution. |
† b. Applied vaguely to an original or authority whose words are quoted.
Obs.| a 1400–50 Alexander 214 It be-tid on a tyme þe text me recordis, Þat þe mode kynge..farne out of toune. c 1400 Destr. Troy 4007 But truly I telle as þe text sais. |
c. fig. or in allusive use.
| c 1440 York Myst. xxv. 535 Hayll! texte of trewthe þe trew to taste. Hayll! kyng & sire. 1589 Warner Alb. Eng. vi. xxxi. 136 Ply Sir..your busie trade, you are besides the Tex. a 1635 Naunton Fragm. Reg. (Arb.) 23 It is not without the text, to give a short touch on the helps, and advantages of her reign. |
d. The wording adopted by an editor as (in his opinion) most nearly representing the author's original work; a book or edition containing this; also, with qualification, any form in which a writing exists or is current, as a
good text,
bad text,
corrupt text,
critical text,
received text.
| 1841 Myers Cath. Th. iii. §8. 26 Our present Received Text has been a growth—improved from many and various sources. 1845 Graves Rom. Law in Encycl. Metrop. II. 770/1 Hänel, the latest editor, has not inserted these seven constitutions in his text. 1870 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1877) II. App. 658 The text seems very corrupt. 1875 Scrivener Lect. Text N. Test. 7 The vast importance of preserving a pure text of the sacred writers. 1891 Athenæum 15 Aug. 219/1 No attempt has been made to settle the text. |
2. esp. The very words and sentences as originally written:
a. in the original language, as opposed to a translation or rendering;
b. in the original form and order, as distinguished from a commentary, marginal or other, or from annotations. Hence, in later use, the body of any treatise, the authoritative or formal part as distinguished from notes, appendices, introduction, and other explanatory or supplementary matter.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvii. 12 Dilige deum & proximum tuum, &c. Þis was þe tixte trewly..; Þe glose was gloriousely writen. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. Prol. (MS. Gg) 86 The nakede tixt in englis to declare. 1388 Wyclif Prol. xv. 57 This symple creature hadde myche trauaile,..to studie it [Latin Bible] of the newe, the text with the glose. a 1430 26 Pol. Poems xx. 1 The tixt of holy writ,..Hit sleeþ, but glose be among. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 406/1 Nowe cummeth Tyndale and..sheweth that the latine texte and the Greke may bee hys excuse and defence. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 179 margin, τί τῷ λογῷ sayth the Greeke text: Quidnam oratione, saith the Latine interpretation. 1700 Dryden Cymon & Iphig. 18 When his broad Comment makes the Text too plain. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones iii. iii, Coke upon Littleton, where the comment is of equal authority with the text. 1804 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1837) III. 25 As these accompaniments, or possibly the text are seldom read. 1859 Tennyson Vivien 679 And none can read the text, not even I; And none can read the comment but myself. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 256 There still remains an ambiguity both in the text and in the explanation. 1908 Athenæum 8 Aug. 147/3 All his references are to Arabic texts. |
c. That portion of the contents of a manuscript or printed book, or of a page, which constitutes the original matter, as distinct from the notes or other critical appendages. In first
quot. fig.| c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 333 And alle the wallys with colouris fyne Were peynted, bothe text and glose. 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. Annot., I haue..thought it best to set downe in Annotations, such thinges as in the text could not so commodiouslie be handled. 1778 Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry (1840) II. xxiii. 304 note, It is not immediately formed from the Troye-boke of Lydgate, as I have suggested in the text. 1848 Mill Pol. Econ. i. v. §8 (1876) 48 note, Consequently, as shewn in the text, her labourers suffered. 1859 Tennyson Vivien 669 Every marge enclosing in the midst A square of text that looks a little blot. |
† 3. a. spec. The very words and sentences of Holy Scripture; hence, the Scriptures themselves; also, any single book of the Scriptures.
Obs.| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 37 For in þe tyxte, þere þyse two [Poverty and Patience] arn in teme layde. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. iii. 129 Ich theologie þe tixt knowe. c 1420 ? Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1500 Fast by Doctryne, on that oon syde, As I remembre, sate Holy Texte. 1542–3 Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII, c. 1 §10 It shalbe lawfull to everye noble man..to reade..any texte of the Byble..so the same be doone quietlie. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. ii. 7 To heare with reuerence Your exposition on the holy Text. a 1668 Davenant Poems (1672) 329 Since Holy Text bids Faith to comprehend. |
b. A copy of the Scriptures, or of a book of the Scriptures;
spec. a volume containing the Gospels.
Obs. exc. Hist. (See also
textus.)
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 371 Iesus Crist apperede to Patrik, and took hym a staf, and þe text of þe gospel þat beeþ in þe contray in þe erchebisshops ward. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 4431 He bare a boke..Of gospelles..with perle and stanes preciouse Þat text richely semed arayde. Ibid. 6800 Þe text of wangels fell in þe water. c 1460 Oseney Regr. 174 Vppon the texte whee sware, both I and my wiffe. 1536 in Antiq. Sarisb. (1771) 201 Textus Evangeliorum. A Text after John, gilt with gold and having precious Stones and the relicks of dyvers saints. 1849 Rock Ch. Fathers I. iii. 297 The curious reader has only to look at that fine text, or book of the Gospels, bound in silver parcel-gilt, and jewelled. 1883 W. H. Rich-Jones Reg. St. Osmund I. 117 note, The ‘Text’, also called ‘Evangelarium’, was a complete copy of the four gospels. |
4. a. A short passage from the Scriptures,
esp. one quoted as authoritative, or illustrative of a point of belief or doctrine, as a motto, to point a moral, or
esp. as the subject of an exposition or sermon.
In early practice these texts or portions of the holy text were cited in Latin from the Vulgate, connecting this use with 2.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. iii. 339 Quod bonum est tenete, treuthe þat texte made! Ibid. xiii. 125 Pieres þe ploughman..no tixte ne taketh to meyntene his cause, But dilige deum and domine, quis habitabit, &c. 1528 Tindale Wicked Mammon 45 b, This texte is playner than that it neadeth to be expounded. 1579 Fulke Heskins' Parl. 527 The Sixtieth Chapter treateth vpon this text of S. Paule to the Hebrues: We haue an altar, &c. 1657 Heylin Hist. Ref. (1661) I. ii. iv. 38 The Art of opening, or rather of undoing a Text of Scripture (as the phrase is now) was usurped by all. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 46 ¶6 A meer Sermon Popgun, repeating and discharging Texts, Proofs, and Applications. 1782 Priestley Corrupt. Chr. II. viii. 125 The preacher..named and opened his text. 1894 J. T. Fowler Adamnan Pref. 10 A discourse for St. Columba's day on the text Exi de terra tua. |
b. A short passage from some book or writer considered as authoritative; a received maxim or axiom; a proverb; an adage; in later use,
esp. one used as a copy-book heading. Now
rare.
| c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 177 He yaf nat of that text [v. rr. tixt, texte] a pulled hen That seith that hunters beth nat hooly men. c 1386 [see textual 1]. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iv. ii. 168 Societie (saith the text) is the happinesse of life. 1592 ― Rom. & Jul. iv. i. 22 What must be shall be. Fri. That's a certaine text. 1862 Sat. Rev. 8 Feb. 156 ‘Recreation is good for mind and body’, as the worn-out governess writes for a text at the top of her pupil's copy-book. |
c. fig. The theme or subject on which any one speaks; the starting-point of a discussion; a statement on which any one dilates.
| 1605 Shakes. Lear iv. ii. 37 No more; the text is foolish. 1706 E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 18 The grand Text they hold forth upon is the Behaviour of their Lieutenants. 1821 Scott Kenilw. xi, Is it fit for a heretic horse-boy like thee, to handle such a text as the Catholic clergy? 1847 Tennyson Princess Prol. 108 Then the Maiden Aunt Took this fair day for text, and from it preach'd An universal culture for the crowd. 1870 J. Baldwin Brown Eccl. Truth 249 A fact is a text from another book, also of God's writing. |
5. Short for
text-hand. Also
attrib. See also
church-text,
german text.
chapel-text, an elaborated kind of church-text.
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 42 Faire as a text B. in a Coppie booke. 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry iv. v. (1611) 199 He beareth Gules, three Text Esses, or. 1633 Ford Love's Sacr. v. i, There shall be writ in text, Thy bastarding the issues of a prince. 1740 Dyche & Pardon, Text,..sometimes..means a large sort of writing. 1825 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 10 Their names are baith down in round text in the deevils doomsday beuk. 1904 Daily Chron. 23 June 4/6 Burns wrote a fine, bold hand..as big as Cromwell's or Bismarck's—what is called in Scotland ‘half-text’. |
6. The words of a song;
= testo.
7. attrib. (see also sense 5) and
Comb., as
text-bill,
text-copy,
text-critic,
text-critical adj.,
text-criticism,
text editing vbl. n.,
text-figure,
text-frequency,
text-monger,
text-mongering vbl. n. and
ppl. adj.,
text-motto,
text-processing ppl. adj. and
vbl. n.,
text processor,
text-quoter,
text-quoting ppl. adj.,
text-source,
text tape,
text-transmission,
text-verse;
text-blindness, word-blindness;
text-cut,
-engraving,
-picture, an illustration occupying a space in the text of a book;
ˈtext-diˌvider, a preacher who didactically ‘splits up’ his text; so
ˈtext-diˌviding;
text editor, a machine that permits the user to alter text using a keyboard; also, a program or component for modifying text held in a computer or processor, in accordance with a user's instructions;
text-ink, ink used for the text of a manuscript or book;
text linguistics [G.
textlinguistik] (see
quot. 1977); hence
text linguist;
text paper, a newspaper containing serious articles;
text-title, a half-title, at the beginning of the text of a book. See also
text-book, -hand, -letter, etc.
| 1610 Histrio-m. v. 62 Capt. Sirrah, what set you up there? Bel. *Text-bills for plays. |
| 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. *Text-blindness. |
| 1775 Ash, *Textcopy,..a copy in text hand. |
| 1870 Magnusson tr. Asgrimsson's Lilja Introd. 27 Of no aid to the *text-critic of the present edition. |
| 1905 Expositor July 22 [The Syriac N.T.] is quite invaluable from a *text-critical point of view. |
| 1908 Q. Rev. July 70 Some centuries later *text-criticism arose. |
| 1897 Westm. Gaz. 8 Mar. 2/1 The first number..contains two excellent plates and numerous *text-cuts. |
| 1670 Eachard Cont. Clergy 53 Not by every bungler and ordinary *text-divider. |
| Ibid. 113 They have got..such a peculiar method of *text-dividing. |
| 1972 H. S. Stone Introd. Computer Organization & Structures ix. 208 Another important application of the linked list is *text editing. |
| 1975 Business Week 30 June 80 Vydec Corp...soon will add communications to its display *text editor. Xerox Corp. will announce the same capability for its automatic typewriter. 1983 I. Flores Word Processing Handbk. vi. 170 If the last word entered does not fit on this line, then the text editor removes that word from the line and puts it at the left of the next line. 1983 Your Computer Sept. 21/1 The M100 runs a full Microsoft BASIC interpreter, appointment scheduler, address filer, text editor and communications utility. |
| 1894 Daily News 15 Nov. 6/2 Mr. Sheppard supplies a *text engraving of mad Margaret Nicholson. |
| 1938 British Birds XXXI. 359 The book is illustrated..by good, if rather infrequent *text figures and a coloured plate. 1963 T. G. E. Powell in Foster & Alcock Culture & Environment vi. 169 My thanks are also due to Miss Frances Lynch for preparing the text-figure drawings. |
| 1942 M. Joos in Language XVIII. 33 The Dewey count gives us a statistical picture of *text frequencies; the Twaddell count of list frequencies. 1962 P. S. Ray in F. A. Rice Study of Role of Second Languages in Asia, Africa & Latin Amer. (Center for Applied Linguistics) 92 ‘Text frequency’ compares two lexical forms in their repetitions within a body of discourse. |
| 1511 in Rel. Ant. I. 318 To make *texte ynke. |
| 1977 Language LIII. 248 For generative *text-linguists, this means that the grammar must actually generate (all and only) possible well-formed texts of the language. |
| 1973 W. O. Hendricks Essays on Semiolinguistics & Verbal Art ii. 53 See Fries..for a discussion of the theme-rheme distinction in *text linguistics. 1977 Language LIII. 247 The rapidly growing school of ‘text-linguistics’... The general belief shared by these scholars is that the ‘natural domain’ of linguistic theory consists of discourses, or texts, rather than sentences. However,..this belief is not what distinguishes text-linguistics from other discourse-oriented..trends in linguistics. Ibid. 248 Text-linguistics differs from these approaches in its interpretation of the claim that texts are the natural domain of linguistics. |
| 1883 W. S. Lilly in Contemp. Rev. Feb. 228 He is speaking of *textmongers. |
| 1884 ― Anc. Relig. & Mod. Th. 285 St. Augustine..is speaking of *textmongering. |
| 1880 Warren Book-plates xi. 122 The *text-motto occurring on Pickheimer's book-plate. |
| 1961 Guardian 30 Jan. 18/2 All possible steps will be taken to make the future of the ‘Daily Herald’ as a *text paper more secure. 1977 Times 5 Sept. 12/6 Tabloid papers sell better than serious text papers. |
| 1905 Daily Chron. 7 July 3/3 It has nearly twenty full-page plates, and a great many *text pictures. |
| 1968 Jrnl. Assoc. Computing Machinery XV. 8 (heading) Computer evaluation of indexing and *text processing. 1980 Lebende Sprachen XXV. 10/2 Other texts..can probably be dealt with more efficiently by an extended text-processing system, than by machine translation as such. 1983 G. Leech et al. in Trans. Philol. Soc. 28 We may..proceed now to consider the kinds of text-processing that can be performed, using a computer corpus as a database. |
| 1970 Technical Disclosure Bull. XIII. iv. 9 A flow chart for a text collection program which operates to collect lines of text for a *text processor is described. 1980 Daily Tel. 23 Apr. 3 (Advt.), If you have bought or are about to buy a small computer or text processor, you need Cave Tab to ensure you make the most of it. |
| a 1837 D. M{supc}Nicoll Wks. 94 This *text-quoting vagabond. |
| 1947 A. Einstein Music in Romantic Era xvi. 265 Shakespeare..was no more novel as a *text-source for Italian opera than was Sir Walter Scott..or Victor Hugo. 1978 Early Music Oct. 609/1 What is described as a ‘text source’, the 1545 King's Primer, is also used. |
| 1970 A. Cameron et al. Computers & O.E. Concordances 18 The first thing of course is the production of *text tapes and the printing thereof. |
| 1881 H. Bradshaw in Bibliographer Dec. 6/2 The *text-title of Tindale's New Testament of 1534–5, as reproduced by Mr. Fry. |
| 1908 Q. Rev. July 74 The common accidents of *text-transmission. |
Add:
[1.] e. Short for
text-book n. 2.
| [1881 Westcott & Hort New Testament in Greek Introd. §20 We agreed to commence the formation of a manual text for our own use.] 1955 G. Bowen Wool Away! vi. 75, I trust that the experting as set out in this text will be a practical guide and help to all. 1978 J. Updike Coup (1979) iv. 134 Candy was hugging her mold-colored notebooks and big Ec text with its slick cover of smiling blue. 1989 Network (Imperial Coll.) 21 Sept. 6/1 He is the author of two standard texts on Herbivory and Plant Ecology. |
[2.] d. Linguistics. (A unit of) connected discourse whose function is communicative and which forms the object of analysis and description.
Cf. text-frequency,
linguistics (sense 7 below).
| 1935 A. Gardiner in Atti del III Congresso Internazionale dei Linguisti 347, I wish to extend its meaning to anything which has been either written or spoken. When once this standpoint has been grasped, it is impossible to fail to see what de Saussure was aiming at in his distinction. Take any sentence, any bit of ‘text’. 1964 M. A. K. Halliday in Proc. 9th Internat. Congress of Linguists 302 It is part of the task of linguistics to describe texts; and all texts, including those, prose and verse, which fall within any definition of ‘literature’, are accessible to analysis by the existing methods of linguistics. 1973 P. Hartmann in Petöfi & Rieser Stud. Text Gram. p. x, The linguistic construct ‘text’ denotes the structure and the manifestation of linguistic objects observed in verbal communication. 1979 A. Garcia-Berrio in J. S. Petöfi Text vs Sentence I. 24 The concept of Text is extremely useful to linguistic theory in general... It breaks the usual scheme of linguistic units seen as a mere additive progression and based on the lineal character of speech. 1983 Brown & Yule Discourse Analysis i. 9 The problems encountered with the notion of ‘text’ as the verbal record of a communicative act became a good deal more complex when we consider what is meant by spoken ‘text’. |
▸ An area of printed or written words on a page (as opposed to images or white space); (now also) data in the form of words or alphabetic characters,
esp. as processed, stored, or displayed by electronic means.
| 1859 Tennyson Vivien 869 Every marge enclosing in the midst A square of text that looks a little blot. 1923 Yorkshire Post 17 Dec. 6/8 A continuous alternation of pictures and those pieces of text that are, one believes, known as captions. 1963 IBM Jrnl. Res. & Devel. 7 337/2 If it is desired to translate the text with the aid of a microglossary, the text is preceded by a tag specifying the pertinent field. 1971 R. Brewer Approach to Print ii. 37 Regard the composition of text as a ‘pre-process procedure’. 2000 Big Issue 4 Sept. 45/2 At present we are learning to..produce the printed page by creating text boxes and importing text. |
▸
= text message n.| 1990 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald-Jrnl. 12 Jan. a11/5 The newspaper telecomm system..works like a computer bulletin board system... You can send texts to our system, and you can even send messages to me. 1997Cost of SMS Calls UK & Overseas? in uk.telecom (Usenet newsgroup) 10 Sept. Can anyone tell me how much it costs..to send an SMS text from the UK to a Vodafone whilst roaming on, say, the D2 network in Germany? 1998 G. Cantrell Out of Broom Closet? i. 13 After several nights of browsing the posted texts the messages began to make a lot of sense. I returned to those bulletin boards many times. 2005A. Lasen in L. Hamill & A. Lasen Mobile World ii. 47 The British injury claims firm..announced to more than 2,000 of its workers that they were going to be sacked by sending texts to their company mobile phones. |
▸
textphone n. Telecomm. (
orig. and chiefly
Brit.) a device developed to perform the function of a telephone for the deaf or hard of hearing, having a keyboard and a small screen for typing and receiving messages.
| 1989 Guardian (Nexis) 3 Nov. *Text phones... Donated by British Telecom the phones contain keyboard and visual display units. 1994 Capital (Annapolis, Maryland) 26 Jan. c11/3 (advt.) For Text Phone service please call us. 2004 P. Bishop Setting up & running Complementary Health Pract. ii. 39 You wouldn't necessarily want to invest in a textphone, but a fax might mean that any clients who are hearing impaired could get in contact with you. |
▪ II. text, n.2 rare—1.
[ad. L. textus tissue: see prec.] Texture, tissue.
| 1854 S. Dobell Balder xxviii, And, if she were..caught of morning mist, or the unseen Material of an odour, her pure text Could seem no more remote from the corrupt And seething compound of our common flesh. |
▪ III. text, v. Now
rare.
[f. text n.1] † 1. trans. To inscribe, write, or print in a text-hand or in capital or large letters. Also
fig. Obs.| 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe (1871) 15 A chronographical Latin table..in a fair text hand, texting unto us, how, in the sceptredom of Edward the Confessor, the sands first began to grow into sight at low water. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado v. i. 185 Yea and text vnder-neath, heere dwells Benedicke the married man. 1607 Dekker Wh. of Babylon Wks. 1873 II. 265 Vowes haue I writ so deepe,..So texted them in characters capitall, I cannot race them. c 1616 Fletcher & Massinger Thierry & Theod. ii. i, Condemn me for A most malicious slanderer, nay, texte it Upon my forehead. 1624 Heywood Gunaik. vii. 315 That such as..past.. might read them as perfectly and distinctly, as if they had beene texted in Capitall Letters. 1631 T. Powell Tom All Trades 1 The Scriveners at Temple-barre had no imployment, but..texting of Bills for letting of Chambers in Chancery-lane. 1639 Shirley Maid's Rev. iii. i, Would..every character [had] Been tex'd with blood! |
b. trans. To write in a text-hand upon.
c. intr. To write in text-hand.
| 1660 G. Tomlyn Patent Specif. No. 128 A new..way to text and flourish velumes and parchments in blacke and white. 1869 Lonsdale Gloss., Text, to write an engrossing hand or German text. 1884 [implied in texter]. |
† 2. a. intr. To cite texts.
b. trans. To cite a text at or against (a person).
Obs.| 1564–78 W. Bullein Dial. agst. Pest. (1888) 13 M...And how like you this texte? A. Texte how they will texte, I will trust none of them all. 1615 E. Hoby Curry-combe i. 11 When his wench told him that he kissed like a Clowter, he could text her with Labia Sacerdotis custodiunt sapientiam. |
▸
trans. Telecomm. To send (a text message) to a person, mobile phone, etc.; to send a text message to. Also
intr.: to communicate by sending text messages.
Cf. text message v.
| 1998Should I or shouldn't I? in alt.cellular.gsm (Usenet Newsgroup) 14 Mar. We still keep in touch..‘texting’ each other jokes, quotes, stories, questions, etc. 2000 Guardian 3 June (Weekend Suppl.) 26/1 One private school in Berkshire has just instituted a fine system for anyone caught texting in teaching-time. 2001 Publican Newspaper 4 June 5/6 Customers will be invited to text a message to a number given on the banner if they want to take part. 2001 Leicester Mercury (Electronic ed.) 31 July I texted my mother and my friends when I got my results. |