echo

plural echoes · plural echos · alternative echoe · alternative eccho

1. countableuncountableA reflected sound that is heard again by its initial observer.

   The babbling echo mocks the hounds.

   c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]

   3 more examples

   To you I mourn; nor to the Deaf I ſing, / The Woods ſhall anſwer, and their Echo ring.

   1709 May, Alexander Pope, “Pastorals. Summer. The Second Pastoral, or Alexis.”, in Poetical Miscellanies: The Sixth Part. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 732

   “Then what is your little trouble?” “My little trouble!” I felt that this sort of thing must be stopped at its source. It was only ten minutes to dressing-for-dinner time, and we could go on along these lines for hours. “Listen, old crumpet,” I said patiently. “Make up your mind whether you are my old friend Reginald Herring or an echo in the Swiss mountains. If you're simply going to repeat every word I say –”

   1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter X, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC

   Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.

   2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, pages 206–7

2. countableuncountableAn utterance repeating what has just been said.
3. countableuncountablecommunicationsA device in verse in which a line ends with a word which recalls the sound of the last word of the preceding line.
4. countablefigurativelyuncountableSympathetic recognition; response; answer.

   Fame is the echo of actions, resounding them.

   1642, Thomas Fuller, The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […], →OCLC

   1 more example

   Many kind, and sincere speeches found an echo in his heart.

   1878, Robert Louis Stevenson, Will o' the Mill

5. countablefigurativelyuncountableSomething that reflects or hearkens back to an earlier thing.

   The frustration with the political process that in the '60s led to the formation of resistance groups finds an echo in today's increasingly confrontational tactics.

   1991 February 4, Owen Shows, “Start Making Sense”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 28, page 11

6. countablefigurativelyuncountableAn insignificant indirect result; a ripple.
7. countableuncountablecomputingThe displaying on the command line of the command that has just been executed.
8. countableuncountablecomputingAn individual discussion forum using the echomail system.

   When someone asks an off-topic question […] they are usually quickly told to knock it off. You can't ask a question about modems in an echo devoted to local-area networks.

   1992, Dial in, page 9

9. countableuncountableinternational standardsAlternative letter-case form of Echo from the NATO/ICAO Phonetic Alphabet.
10. countableuncountablebridgeA signal, played in the same manner as a trump signal, made by a player who holds four or more trumps (or, as played by some, exactly three trumps) and whose partner has led trumps or signalled for trumps.
11. countableuncountablebridgeA signal showing the number held of a plain suit when a high card in that suit is led by one's partner.
12. countableuncountableAn antisemitic punctuation symbol or marking, ((( ))), placed around a name or phrase to indicate the person is Jewish or the entity is controlled by Jewish people; or repurposed or reclaimed to proudly declare one's Jewishness or solidarity with Jews.
13. abbreviationclippingcolloquialuncountablemedicineClipping of echocardiography.
14. abbreviationclippingcolloquialcountablemedicineClipping of echocardiogram.

    […] his echocardiogram had been read as normal. […] Joseph interrupted, "But my echo was normal. How could it be my heart?"

    2004, Francis V. Adams, Healing Through Empathy, page 66

present singular third person echoes · participle present echoing · participle past echoed · past echoed · alternative echoe · alternative eccho

1. intransitiveOf a sound or sound waves: to reflect off a surface and return; to reverberate or resound.

   With each clap of thunder echoing from one high building to another the noise was terrific.

   1953 July, Allen Rowley, “First Impressions of American Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 493

   Synonyms: ring

2. figurativelyintransitiveOf a rumour, opinion, etc.: to spread or reverberate.

   The sense that it takes outrageous fortune to get inoculated echoes here in the Bay Area, where pharmacies have canceled flu-shot clinics, doctors turn away pleading patients and health officials are reduced to telling panicked callers that they should practice good personal hygiene.

   2004 October 29, Marco R. Della Cava, “Vaccine shortage pricks tempers”, in Statesman Journal, volume 152, number 214, Salem, OR, page 2A

3. transitiveTo reflect back (a sound).

   The wondrous sound / Is echoed on forever.

   1827, John Keble, The Christian Year: Christmas Day

   1 more example

   Those peals are echoed by the Trojan throng.

   1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

4. figurativelytransitiveTo repeat (another’s speech, opinion, etc.).

   Sid echoed his father’s point of view.

   3 more examples

   ‘I want nothing.’ ‘Nor I,’ echoed Sydney.

   1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle

   Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles, attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers. Others play with primes’ cultural associations. Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving primes.

   2013 July-August, Sarah Glaz, “Ode to Prime Numbers”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4

   His views were echoed by The Economist, which feared that the effects of modernisation would be no more than “chromium-plated” inefficiency caused by unimaginative railway management and adverse union reaction.

   2023 March 8, David Clough, “The long road that led to Beeching”, in RAIL, number 978, page 43

5. transitivecomputingTo repeat its input as input to some other device or system.

   The device that is to echo the characters should be optioned for echoplexing.

   1991, Martin D. Seyer, RS-232 made easy

6. intransitivebridgeTo give the echo signal, informing one's partner about cards one holds.

1. Greekhuman sciencesAn oread, punished by Hera by losing her own voice and only being able to mimic that of others.
2. A number of places in the United States:
   1. An unincorporated community in Dale County, Alabama.
   2. An unincorporated community in Metcalfe County, Kentucky.
   3. A census-designated place in Rapides Parish, Louisiana.
   4. A township in Antrim County, Michigan.
   5. A township and minor city therein, in Yellow Medicine County, Minnesota.
   6. A minor city in Umatilla County, Oregon.
   7. An unincorporated community in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania.
   8. A populated place in Orange County, Texas.
   9. A census-designated place in Summit County, Utah, named after Echo Canyon.

      1 more example

      Experts say the smallest towns are especially vulnerable. And few places in Utah are as tiny or dry as Echo, a jumble of homes squeezed between a freight railroad and stunning red-rock cliffs. Echo was already struggling to hang on after the two cafes closed down. Then its spring-fed water supply hit critical lows this summer.

      2021 July 20, Jack Healy, Sophie Kasakove, “A Drought So Dire That a Utah Town Pulled the Plug on Growth”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 31 Jul 2021

   10. An unincorporated community in Wayne County, West Virginia.
3. astronomy60 Echo, a main belt asteroid.