dexter
/ˈdɛks.tɝ/
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.60 in modern English
Meaning
adj
Right; on the right-hand side. (In heraldry, specifically the bearer's right, which is the viewer's left.)
noun
The right side (of a building, an equation, a heraldic shield [from the wearer's perspective], etc).
name
A surname originating as an occupation for a female dyer.
name
Any of a number of places in the United States and Canada, named for persons with the surname.
name
Any of a number of places in the United States and Canada, named for persons with the surname.
name
Any of a number of places in the United States and Canada, named for persons with the surname.
name
Any of a number of places in the United States and Canada, named for persons with the surname.
name
A male given name transferred from the surname.
Example Sentences
- "my Mothers bloud / Runs on the dexter checke, and this ſiniſter / Bounds in my fathers:"
- "Displaying his dexter palm, he exclaimed that there was a hand that never took a bribe; whereupon a smart auditor cried "How about the one behind your back?""
- "Clovis wiped the trace of Turkish coffee and the beginnings of a smile from his lips, and slowly lowered his dexter eyelid."
- "The shield was divided into five, with two coats of arms on the dexter side (the right-hand side from the point of view of the bearer of the shield)—London and Southampton—and three on the sinister side—Salisbury, Winchester and Portsmouth."
- "[…] the dexter lion being gorged […]"
- "Subtracting the second from the first, the third from the second and the first from the third successively, we obtain, after transposition, the following identities: — [several equations] But, the sinisters being exact differentials, the dexters are so. Consequently [...]"
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *deḱs-, dexter
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈdɛks.tɝ/
- British English: /ˈdɛks.tə/