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charactery

[kar-ik-tuh-ree, -tree]
noun
  1. the use of characters or symbols for the expression of meaning.
  2. characters or symbols collectively.
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Origin of charactery

First recorded in 1580–90; character + -y3
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for charactery

Historical Examples

  • II.125 charactery: "writing by characters or strange marks."

    The New Hudson Shakespeare: Julius Caesar

    William Shakespeare

  • Here is a shell; 'tis pearly blank to me, Nor mark'd with any sign or charactery– Canst thou read aught?

    Endymion

    John Keats

  • So in Keats: "Before high-piled books in charactery Hold like rich garners the full-ripen'd grain."

British Dictionary definitions for charactery

charactery

noun plural -teries archaic
  1. the use of symbols to express thoughts
  2. the group of symbols so used
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012