AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com regalia • plural noun [treated as sing. or pl.] the emblems or insignia of royalty, especially the crown, sceptre, and other ornaments used at a coronation. • the distinctive clothing worn and ornaments carried at formal occasions as an indication of status: the Bishop of Florence in full regalia. — origin mid 16th cent. (in the sense ‘royal powers’): from medieval Latin, literally ‘royal privileges’, from Latin, neuter plural of regalis ‘regal’. — usage The word regalia comes from Latin ! and is, technically speaking, the plural of regalis. However, in the way the word is used in English today it behaves as a collective noun, similar to words like staff or government. This means that it can be used with either a singular or plural verb (the regalia of Russian tsardom is now displayed in the Kremlin or the regalia of Russian tsardom are now displayed in the Kremlin), but it has no other singular form. Pronunciation available online: www.askoxford.com Source: Oxford Dictionary of English www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780198610571 Useful links from around OUP Celebrating the new edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary Find out about OUP's Online Products: www.oup.com/online Launching September 2007 Oxford Language Dictionaries Online: www.oxfordlanguagedictionaries.com Special offer disgo and busbi USB keys - preloaded with a 30 day trial of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary: www.clever-stuff.ie We hope you have enjoyed your word of the day. However, if you wish to be removed from the mailing list please visit: www.askoxford.com/contactus/email Copyright © Oxford University Press 2008