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Origin and history of gregarious


gregarious(adj.)

1660s, "disposed to live in flocks" (of animals), from Latin gregarius "pertaining to a flock; of the herd, of the common sort, common," from grex (genitive gregis) "flock, herd" (from reduplicated form of PIE root *ger- "to gather"). Of persons, "sociable," 1789. Related: Gregariously; gregariousness.

also from 1660s

Entries linking to gregarious


Gregory

masc. proper name, popular in England and Scotland by mid-12c. (Pope Gregory I sent the men who converted the English to Christianity), nativization of Late Latin Gregorius, literally "wakeful" (equivalent to Latin Vigilantius), from Greek gregorios, a derivative of gregoros "to be watchful," from PIE root *ger- (2) "to be awake" (source also of Sanskrit jagarti "he is awake," Avestan agarayeiti "wakes up, rouses"). At times confused with Latin gregarius (see gregarious).

*ger-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to gather." 

It might form all or part of: aggregate; aggregation; agora; agoraphobia; allegory; category; congregate; cram; egregious; gregarious; panegyric; paregoric; segregate.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit gramah "heap, troop;" Greek ageirein "to assemble," agora "assembly;" Latin grex "flock, herd," gremium "bosom, lap;" Old Church Slavonic grusti "handful," gramota "heap;" Lithuanian gurgulys "chaos, confusion," gurguolė "crowd, mass;" Old English crammian "press something into something else."

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    starling
    the European starling, a gregarious oscine passerine bird, Sturnus vulgaris, from Old English stærlinc "starling," with diminutive...
    manatee
    "sea-cow; gregarious, herbivorous aquatic mammal," originally in reference to the species which inhabit brackish waters in...
    contingent
    late 14c., "depending upon circumstances, not predictable with certainty, provisionally liable to exist," from Old French contingent or directly from Latin contingentem (nominative contingens) "happening; touching," in Medieval Latin "possible, contingent," present participle of
    riffraff
    also riff-raff, late 15c., "persons of disreputable character or low degree," from earlier rif and raf (Anglo-French rif et raf) "one and all, everybody; every scrap, everything," also "sweepings, refuse, things of small value" (mid-14c.), from Old French rif et raf, from rifler
    need
    Middle English nede, from Old English nied (West Saxon), ned (Mercian) "what is required, wanted, or desired; necessity, compulsion, the constraint of unavoidable circumstances; duty; hardship, emergency, trouble, time of peril or distress; errand, business," originally "violence
    twitterpated
    1942, apparently first attested in the Walt Disney movie "Bambi" (there also was a song by that name but it was not in the studio release of the film), a past-participle adjective formed from twitter in the "tremulous excitement" noun sense (1670s) + pate (n.2) "head" (compare fl
    heifer
    "young cow that has not had a calf," Middle English heifer, from Old English heahfore (West Saxon); Northumbrian hehfaro, heffera (plural), "heifer," of unknown origin, not found outside English. The first element seems to be heah "high," which is common in Old English compounds
    mortgage
    late 14c., morgage, "a conveyance of property on condition as security for a loan or agreement," from Old French morgage (13c.), mort gaige, literally "dead pledge" (replaced in modern French by hypothèque), from mort "dead" (see mortal (adj.)) + gage "pledge" (see wage (n.)). So
    escrow
    1590s, in law, "a writing fully executed by the parties, but put into the custody of a third person to hold until the fulfilment of some condition, when it is to be delivered to the grantee;" from Anglo-French escrowe, from Old French escroe "scrap, small piece, rag, tatter, sing
    convenience
    late 14c., "agreement, conformity, resemblance, similarity," also "state or condition of being suitable, adaptation to existing conditions," from Latin convenientia "a meeting together, agreement, harmony," from convenien-, present-participle stem of convenire "to come together,

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    Dictionary entries near gregarious

    • greens
    • Greenwich
    • greet
    • greeter
    • greeting
    • gregarious
    • Gregorian
    • Gregory
    • gremlin
    • Grenada
    • grenade
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