excursus
(ɛkˈskɜːsəs)
Pl. excursus, after Lat.; now usually excursuses.
[a. L. excursus, n. of action f. excurrĕre lit. ‘to run out’: see excur and cf. excursion n.]
1. The Lat. word is used by editors of the classics to signify: A detailed discussion (usually in the form of an appendix at the end of the book, or of a division of it) of some point which it is desired to treat more fully than can be done in a note. Hence occas. applied to a similar appendix in other works.
| 1803 Ann. Rev. I. 527/2 This subject is considered in the first excursus of the 8th book [in Heyne's Homer]. Ibid. 535/2 Of those excursus which relate to the historical illustration of the poet. 1858 Sat. Rev. V. 536/1 The volume is closed by two carefully-written excursus. 1861 M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 30 They..should be read as excursuses to accompany his text. 1878 W. H. Simcox in Academy 594/3 He adds..a series of excursuses on the leading ideas of the Epistle. |
2. A digression in which some incidental point is discussed at length.
| 1845 Athenæum 11 Jan. 48 We shall quite bewilder..our readers by this excursus. 1876 C. M. Davies Unorth. Lond. 384 He concluded a most interesting excursus by dwelling on the prospects of Church extension. 1882 A. W. Ward Dickens vi. 160 The excellent description of a winter journey..with an excursus on inns in general. |