magnum
[mag-nuh m]
- a large wine bottle having a capacity of two ordinary bottles or 1.5 liters (1.6 quarts).
- a magnum cartridge or firearm.
Show More
- (of a cartridge) equipped with a larger charge than other cartridges of the same size.
- (of a firearm) using such a cartridge.
- Informal. unusually great in power or size: a magnum spotlight; a magnum dosage.
Show More
Origin of magnum
1780–90; < Latin, neuter of magnus large; in reference to firearms, orig. used as a trademark by the Smith and Wesson Co.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
kettlejarpotcratepacketvesseldishstoragebowlcartonjugpailutensilvasecapsulesackpouchboxtankpackageExamples from the Web for magnum
Contemporary Examples
Catalogue, published by Flammarion (2014), includes photographs from the Magnum Photos archives and text by Éric Hazan.
Magnum came into being as a cooperative only two years after the conclusion of World War II.
Magnum is an entrusted brand, with an irrefutably global reach.
Nagrani started out selling socks with designs ranging from a shirt on Magnum, P.I. to Winston Churchill.
But the raw believability of, say, Magnum photography has been done for.
Historical Examples
It is his magnum opus in literature, and exhibits wide and laborious research.
The Grand Old ManRichard B. Cook
But you must learn the dictation; the great book, the magnum opus, it is there.
The Leopard WomanStewart Edward White
I'll give you a dinner at the Bertolini to-night, and you may have the magnum of any vintage you like.
The Lure of the MaskHarold MacGrath
Say, Jack, how much brighter the world looks after a magnum!
The Lure of the MaskHarold MacGrath
It has the punch of that .44 Magnum you're presently carrying.
RevolutionDallas McCord Reynolds
magnum
- a wine bottle holding the equivalent of two normal bottles (approximately 52 fluid ounces)
Show More
Word Origin
C18: from Latin: a big thing, from magnus large
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
Word Origin and History for magnum
n.
1788, "bottle containing two quarts of wine or spirits," from Latin magnum, neuter of magnus "great in size" (see magnate). Registered 1935 by Smith & Wesson Inc., of Springfield, Massachusetts, as the name of a powerful type of handgun.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper