Entertainment / Literature Glossary

Alter Ego: A literary character or narrator who is a thinly disguised representation of the author, poet, or playwright creating a work. Some scholars suggest that J. Alfred Prufrock is an alter ego fo . . . View Full Definition

Althing: The closest approximation the Icelandic Vikings had to a government/court system/police--a gathering of representatives from the local things to decide on policy, hear complaints, settle dis . . . View Full Definition

Alveolar: This adjective refers to any sound made by the tongue's approaching the gum ridge. Examples include the sounds /n/, /l/, /z/ and /s/.

Alveopalatal: This adjective refers to any sound made by the tongue's approaching the gum ridge and the hard palate. Examples include the consonant sounds found in the beginning of the words Jill, Chill, . . . View Full Definition

Amalgamated Compound: A word originally formed from a compound, but whose form is no longer clearly connected to its origin, such as the word not--originally compounded from Anglo-Saxon na-wiht (no whit').

Amanuensis: (from Latin, ab manus, 'by hand', plural amanuenses) A servant, slave, secretary, or scribe who takes dictation for an author who speaks aloud. Many works of literature--especially from Roma . . . View Full Definition

Ambiance: Loosely the term is equivalent to atmosphere or mood, but more specifically, ambiance is the atmosphere or mood of a particular setting or location. Ambiance is particularly vital to gothic . . . View Full Definition

Ambiguity: In common conversation, ambiguity is a negative term applied to a vague or equivocal expression when precision would be more useful. Sometimes, however, intentional ambiguity in literature c . . . View Full Definition

Amelioration: A semantic change in which a word gains increasingly favorable connotation. For instance, the Middle English word knight used to mean 'servant' (as German Knecht still does). The word grew t . . . View Full Definition

American Dream: A theme in American literature, film, and art that expresses optimistic desires for self-improvement, freedom, and self-sufficiency. Harry Shaw notes that the term can have no clear and fixe . . . View Full Definition

American English: The English language as it developed in North America, especially in terms of its diction and the spelling and grammatical differences that distinguish it from British English.

Americanism: An expression that is characteristic of the U.S.A. or one which first developed in America.

Ameslan: American Sign Language--a language composed of hand-signs for the deaf.

Amphibrach: In classical poetry, a three-syllable poetic foot consisting of a light stress, heavy stress, and a light stress--short on both ends. Amphibrachs are quite rare in English, but they can be f . . . View Full Definition

Amphimacer: A three-syllable foot consisting of a heavy, light, and heavy stress. Poetry written in amphimacers is called cretic meter. Amphimacer is rarely used in English poetry, but it is quite commo . . . View Full Definition

Amphisbaenic Rhyme: A poetic structure invented by Edmund Wilson in which final words in strategic lines do not rhyme in the traditional sense, but rather reverse their order of consonants and vowels to appear . . . View Full Definition

Amphitheater: An open-air theater, especially the unroofed public playhouses in the suburbs of London. Shakespeare's Globe and the Rose are two examples.

Anachronism: Placing an event, person, item, or verbal expression in the wrong historical period. In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Shakespeare writes the following lines: Brutus: Peace! Count the clock. . . . View Full Definition

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