absit omen
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin absit omen (“may what is said not come true”, literally “may omen be absent”).
Pronunciation
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈæb.sɪt ˈoʊ.mn̩/
Interjection
- (rare) May what is said not come true. [First attested in the late 16th century.][1]
- 1908, Edward Harper Parker, Ancient China Simplified, Chapman & Hall, chapter XXII
- It was only after the younger branch annexed the elder in 679 that Tsin became powerful and began to expand; and it was only when a policy of "home rule" and disintegration set in, involving the splitting up of Tsin's orthodox power into three royal states of doubtful orthodoxy, that China fell a prey to Ts'in ambition. Absit omen to us.
- 1908, Edward Harper Parker, Ancient China Simplified, Chapman & Hall, chapter XXII
Usage notes
- Used as a mild invocation. Absit omen is several orders of magnitude rarer than omen.
References
- “absit omen” in Lesley Brown, editor, The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 9.
Anagrams
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.