In a few cases it represents Latin ex.Ī- prefixes were at length confusedly lumped together in idea, and the resultantĪ- looked upon as vaguely intensive, rhetorical, euphonic, or even archaic, and wholly otiose. had been reduced to a in the ancestor of Old French. In words from Romanic languages, often it represents reduced forms of Latin ad 'to, toward for' (see ad-), or ab 'from, away, off' (see ab-) both of which by about 7c. The money received from sales was put into a 'slush fund' and used to purchase luxuries for the crew that. This slush was once commonly skimmed and put into barrels to be sold in port. In nautical jargon, slush is the grease rendered from the salted meat cooked on board a ship. Such words sometimes were refashioned in early modern English as though the prefix were Latin ( accursed, allay, affright are examples). Definition: an unregulated fund often used for illicit purposes. Or it can be the Old English intensive a-, originally ar- (cognate with German er- and probably implying originally 'motion away from'), as in abide, arise, awake, ashamed, marking a verb as momentary, a single event.

Or it can be a reduced form of the Old English past participle prefix ge-, as in aware. It also can represent Middle English of (prep.) 'off, from,' as in anew, afresh, akin, abreast. In words derived from Old English, it commonly represents Old English an 'on, in, into' (see on (prep.)), as in alive, above, asleep, aback, abroad, afoot, ashore, ahead, abed, aside, obsolete arank 'in rank and file,' etc., forming adjectives and adverbs from nouns, with the notion 'in, at engaged in.' In this use it is identical to a (2). Prefix or inseparable particle, a conglomerate of various Germanic and Latin elements. GRANDILOQUENT: pompous or extravagant in language, style, or manner, especially in a way that is intended to impress.

Aloof def