1275–1325; Middle English < Middle French < Vulgar Latin *martellus, diminutive of Latin martulus, marculus hammer
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How “Life of Pi” anticipated 9/11 Topics: LA Review of Books, Life of Pi, yann martel, , Ang Lee, Fiction, Oscars News, , , This article originally appeared on the L.A.
From Salon • Apr. 28, 2013
The slim-faced martel had knocked ’em down to me because I nodded to en in my friendly way; and I had to pay for ’em too.
From Under the Greenwood Tree, or, the Mellstock quire; a rural painting of the Dutch school by Hardy, Thomas
The martel or mace, the battle-axe, the great double-edged two-handed sword must deal with follies; the rapier is no better against them than a wand, unless it be the rapier of ridicule.
From Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry by Pike, Albert
The whole story will have to go through Parliament House, and I shall be high-treasoned—as safe as houses—and be fined, and who'll pay for a poor martel!
From Desperate Remedies by Hardy, Thomas
Il martel d’argento rompe le porte di ferro, or— “A hammer of silver, as we see, Breaks the iron gates of poverty.”
From Legends of Florence Collected from the People, First Series by Leland, Charles Godfrey
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
