ampersand

plural ampersands · alternative obsolete amperzand

1. The symbol &, used to represent the conjunction and or (dated) the Latin conjunction et (and).First known use late 18th c.

   The ampersand character in many logics acts as an operator connecting two propositions.

   5 more examples

   The Letter commonly called Ipse and and ampuse and viz &. is a corruption of a^([sic]) per se and: spoken very quick; they used formerly it seems to put a single Greek α, for a contraction of and, & so this was a per se and.

   [1777 August–September (date written), Hester Lynch Thrale, edited by Kath[e]rine C[anby] Balderston, Thraliana: The Diary of Mrs. Hester Lynch Thrale (Later Mrs. Piozzi) 1776–1809, volume I (1776–1784), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, published 1942, →OCLC, page 145

   I luock'd oot for an antient, vvell jointered, ſuperanuated Dovvager—a conſumptive, toothleſs, ptiſical, vvealthy vvidovv—or a ſhreeveled, cadaverous, neglected piece of deformity, i' the ſhape of an eezard, or an apperſiand—or in ſhort, any thing—any thing that had the ſiller [silver]—the ſiller—for that was the North ſtar of my affection; […]

   1781 (first performance), Charles Macklin, The Man of the World, a Comedy, […], Dublin: [s.n.], published 1785, →OCLC, Act III, page 36

   At length, having tried all the hiſtorians from great A, to amperſand, he perceives there is no eſcaping from the puzzle, but by ſelecting his ovvn facts, forming his ovvn concluſions, and putting a little truſt in his ovvn reaſon and judgment.

   1795, [Samuel Jackson] Pratt, “Letter XXI. To the same [i.e., the Honourable Mrs. B.].”, in Gleanings through Wales, Holland and Westphalia, with Views of Peace and War at Home and Abroad. […], volume I, London: […] T[homas] N[orton] Longman, and L[eonard] B[enton] Seeley, […], →OCLC, page 311

   He was a little more severe than usual on Jacob Storey's Z's, of which poor Jacob had written a pageful, all with their tops turned the wrong way, with a puzzled sense that they were not right "somehow." But he observed in apology, that it was a letter you never wanted hardly, and he thought it had only been put there "to finish off th' alphabet, like, though ampus-and (&) would ha' done as well, for what he could see."

   1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “The Night-School and the Schoolmaster”, in Adam Bede […], volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book second, page 119

   Of all the types in a printer's hand, / Commend me to the Amperzand, / For he's the gentleman, (seems to me) / Of the typographical companie. / O my nice little Amperzand, / My graceful, swanlike Amperzand, / Nothing that Cadmus ever planned / Equals my elegant Amperzand!

   1869 April 17, Scandula Exoluta [pseudonym], “&”, in Punch, or The London Charivari, volume LVI, London: […] Bradbury, Evans, and Co., printers, […], →OCLC, page 153, column 2

   Synonyms: ampassy, epershand

present singular third person ampersands · participle present ampersanding · participle past ampersanded · past ampersanded

1. raretransitiveTo add an ampersand (“the symbol &”) to (a text).

   The Thames & Severn and Wilts & Berks Canals had quite a lot in common apart from location and ampersanded names.

   1976, D. D. Gladwin, “Success and Failure”, in The Waterways of Britain: A Social Panorama, London: B[radley] T[homas] Batsford, →ISBN, page 76

   5 more examples

   After "Ampersanding" [section heading] Here's the DHGR version. […] Now every HiRes command is preceded by an Ampersand, but further changes are needed to access the 16 colors of DHGR, make use of the 560 horizontal points across the screen, and to center the principal image on the screen.

   1986, William H. DeWitt, “Programming in Double HiRes”, in Theron Shreve, editor, HiRes/Double HiRes Graphics for the Apple IIc and Apple II Family, New York, N.Y.; Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, section 2 (Choosing and Using Graphics Software), page 152

   […] Oscar Hammerstein [II] and Richard Rodgers both realized they were no longer simply lyric-librettist and composer. They were ampersanded and suddenly the most celebrated team on Broadway.

   1995, Stephen Citron, “Hammerstein 1943–1945”, in The Wordsmiths: Oscar Hammerstein 2nd and Alan Jay Lerner (The Great Songwriters Series), New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 164

   We even get to see the "Erie & Lackawanna" (for some reason, Pentrex likes to add ampersands to railroads that aren't ampersanded—in many of their NS steam tapes they call the railroad "Norfolk & Southern").

   1998 March, S. S., “Videos [review of Classic Chicago Railroading]”, in E. Steven Barry, editor, Railfan & Railroad, volume 17, number 3 (volume 119, number 12, overall), Newton, N.J.: Carstens Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 56, column 3

   Tenement landlords were cruel and invisible, hiding behind their curlicued, ampersanded companies, their ornate windows in St Enoch Square, from where they served as the bleeders of slums.

   1999, Andrew O’Hagan, “Backlands”, in Our Fathers, London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN, page 97

   [H]ipster joints full of antlers and other pioneer accoutrements began to appear overnight. There was no visible attempt to work with the local historic context. Shops with ampersanded "anglo" names arrived (Jones & Smith? Smith & Wesson? Bear & Buck? I can't remember), and so did restaurants with generic settler and frontier decor.

   2015 June, Lindsay Brown, “When Hipsters Dream of the 1890s: Heritage Aesthetics and Gentrification”, in Andrew Loewen, editor, Briarpatch, volume 44, number 3, Regina, Sask.: Briarpatch Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 29, column 1

2. figurativelyraretransitiveTo associate (someone or something) with another person or thing; also, to associate (two or more persons or things) together; to add, to combine, to join.

   But those whom truest love hath ampersanded, / Will never find the marriage countermanded.

   1899, Horace Deluscar [pseudonym], “[Sonnets. Between Equals, Sweet is Equal Love.]”, in Deluscar’s Merris and Other Poems, London: Gay and Bird, […], →OCLC, page 146

   3 more examples

   Nice guys apparently don't finish last either, as witness the beauteous Jane. Just think, if she hadn't been ampersanded with Tarzan, the super-looking scion of the English upper-class would have been married to some ape.

   1975 September, Jerome Snyder, “… and …”, in U&lc: Upper and Lower Case, the International Journal of Typographics, volume 2, number 3, New York, N.Y.: International Typeface Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 15, column 1

   Timber skirtings, dado and picture rails are measured in linear metres and usually included with the measurement of wall finishings. All are based on room girths and be ampersanded to the dimensions established for wall plaster purposes (assuming the constant dimension approach is adopted). […] [D]ecoration items would normally be ampersanded to the measurement of eaves boarding when measuring roof finishes, to glazed doors when measuring internal doors and to radiators when measuring service installation.

   1996, A. D. Packer, “Internal Surface Finishes, Dry Linings, Partitioning and Suspended Ceilings”, in Building Measurement, Harlow, Essex: Addison Wesley Longman, →ISBN, page 116

   [T]wo complete floors were occupied by the law firm of Ritter Ritter Talmadge & Stokely. The first Ritter was my late grandfather, the two-term U.S. senator and one of the co-founders. The second Ritter was my father, the former congressman, unsuccessful Republican candidate for mayor, […] There would be no third Ritter ampersanded to this hallowed firm. The kind of law I pursued was not the kind of law my father cherished, because it didn't involve corporations, institutional pecksniffery, and obscenely large fees. My kind of law centered on little people caught on the criminal justice treadmill or stuck under the boot of indifferent bureaucracy.

   2004, Dick Cady, chapter 4, in The Executioner’s Mask, New York, N.Y.: M. Evans and Company, →ISBN, page 24

3. figurativelyintransitiverareTo move in a twisting or winding manner, like the curves of an ampersand; to meander, to twist, to wind.

   [A] squiggle in soot, a / summertime squiggle, maybe / ampersanded on a Monday?

   1989, Mike Doyle, “Can It Really be Monday?”, in Collected Poems 1951–2009, Victoria, B.C.: Ekstasis Editions Canada, published 2010, →ISBN, page 278

   2 more examples

   And I put my heels on the grass, and lifted up my weight with my hands, and ampersanded forwards that way until I got near the tree, when I took up my rifle, and made all ready.

   1853, [Thomas Chandler Haliburton], “The Witch of Eskisoony”, in Sam Slick’s Wise Saws and Modern Instances; or, What He Said, Did, or Invented. […], volume II, London: Hurst and Blackett, publishers, successors to Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 15

   In one ampersanding motion, he drew his sword and plunged it into the loquacious sack.

   2016, Gary Barwin, chapter 3, in Yiddish for Pirates […], Toronto, Ont.: Random House Canada, →ISBN, page 286