palimpsest

[pal-imp-sest]

See more synonyms for palimpsest on Thesaurus.com

noun

a parchment or the like from which writing has been partially or completely erased to make room for another text.

Origin of palimpsest

1655–65; < Latin palimpsēstus < Greek palímpsēstos rubbed again (pálin again + psēstós scraped, rubbed, verbid of psân to rub smooth)

Related formspal·imp·ses·tic, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for palimpsest

text, document, article, composition, palimpsest, diploma, paper, scroll, vellum, papyrus, sheepskin, pell

Examples from the Web for palimpsest

Contemporary Examples of palimpsest

In a figurative way, palimpsest refers to an object or place that reflects its own history.
The Thief of Words: Starling Lawrence
Jill Bialosky
October 11, 2013
Can you talk about how the palimpsest informs the structure of your novel?
The Thief of Words: Starling Lawrence
Jill Bialosky
October 11, 2013
Which, in such cases—the act or the utterance, the gesture or the text—is the palimpsest of other?
Why Contemporary Art Matters Now
Bernard-Henri Lévy
June 16, 2013

Historical Examples of palimpsest

His soul must be like a palimpsest with the record of nation on nation.
Dreamers of the Ghetto
I. Zangwill
I scanned a leaf particularly and saw that it was a palimpsest.
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Complete
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
Nature became for him a scroll, a palimpsest with daily mutations.
Green Fire
Fiona Macleod
A palimpsest, now in the church chest, formerly at east end of nave.
A Comprehensive History of Norwich
A. D. Bayne
He had corrected the palimpsest and recalled her as the Miss Webling whom he had met in London.
The Cup of Fury
Rupert Hughes

British Dictionary definitions for palimpsest

palimpsest

noun

a manuscript on which two or more successive texts have been written, each one being erased to make room for the next

adjective

(of a text) written on a palimpsest
(of a document) used as a palimpsest

Word Origin for palimpsest

C17: from Latin palimpsestus parchment cleaned for reuse, from Greek palimpsēstos, from palin again + psēstos rubbed smooth, from psēn to scrape

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 palimpsest

"parchment from which earlier writing has been removed to clear it for new writing," 1660s, from Latin palimpsestus, from Greek palimpsestos "scraped again," from palin "again" (see palindrome) + verbal adjective of psen "to rub smooth" (of uncertain origin).