Fwd: "pluripresence, n." - Word of the Day from the OED
Dave Monroe
against.the.dave at gmail.com
Thu Jul 2 20:37:42 CDT 2015
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Date: Thu, Jul 2, 2015 at 7:30 PM
Subject: "pluripresence, n." - Word of the Day from the OED
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Your word for today is: pluripresence, n.
pluripresence, n.
[‘ Presence in more than one place at the same time; spec. as an
attribute of saints.’]
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˌplʊərɪˈprɛzns/, /ˌplɔːrɪˈprɛzns/, U.S.
/ˌplʊrəˈprɛz(ə)ns/
Etymology: < pluri- comb. form + presence n., after omnipresence n.
Now rare.
Presence in more than one place at the same time; spec. as an
attribute of saints.
1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1773 I. 419 A. Toplady: ‘Does not
their invocation of saints suppose omnipresence in the saints?’
Johnson: ‘No Sir; it supposes only pluripresence.’
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iv. 496 What was more impolitic
than to reject the services of good soldiers, seamen, lawyers,
diplomatists, financiers, because they hold unsound opinions about the
number of the sacraments or the pluripresence of saints?
1860 Actress in High Life 369 Does he take you for a Popish saint,
endowed with pluripresence, and able to be in Andalusia, at Badajoz,
Elvas, and Alcantara, all at one time!
1865 W. E. H. Lecky Hist. Rationalism I. i. 80 The miracle of
trans~substantiation seems to destroy all the improbability of the
pluri-presence of a human body.
1996 B. W. Aldiss in Sci. Fiction Mar. 9 Pluripresence has been
universally adopted without that conceptual questioning which was once
a hallmark of good sf.
http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/146213
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