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Origin   /ˈɔrədʒən/   Listen
noun
Origin  n.  
1.
The first existence or beginning of anything; the birth. "This mixed system of opinion and sentiment had its origin in the ancient chivalry."
2.
That from which anything primarily proceeds; the fountain; the spring; the cause; the occasion.
3.
(Anat.) The point of attachment or end of a muscle which is fixed during contraction; in contradistinction to insertion.
Origin of coordinate axes (Math.), the point where the axes intersect. See Note under Ordinate.
Synonyms: Commencement; rise; source; spring; fountain; derivation; cause; root; foundation. Origin, Source. Origin denotes the rise or commencement of a thing; source presents itself under the image of a fountain flowing forth in a continuous stream of influences. The origin of moral evil has been much disputed, but no one can doubt that it is the source of most of the calamities of our race. "I think he would have set out just as he did, with the origin of ideas the proper starting point of a grammarian, who is to treat of their signs." "Famous Greece, That source of art and cultivated thought Which they to Rome, and Romans hither, brought."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Origin" Quotes from Famous Books



... to East—from sunset to sunrise, or through the Under World, otherwise night—the Heart, which is material even in the tomb and cannot leave it, simply revolves, so that it can always rest on 'Ra' the Sun-God, the origin of all good; but that the Double, which represents the active principle, goes whither it will, the same by night as by day. If this be correct it is a warning—a caution—a reminder that the consciousness of the mummy does not rest but is to be ...
— The Jewel of Seven Stars • Bram Stoker

... obliterated by the Cape Cod canal, had its origin in Great Herring Pond in the Plymouth woods and flowed by a rather circuitous route into Buzzards Bay at a point near the present railroad bridge over ...
— Cape Cod and All the Pilgrim Land, June 1922, Volume 6, Number 4 • Various

... "Digit," formerly used in connection with eclipses, requires some explanation. The origin of the word is obvious enough, coming as it does from the Latin word Digitus, a finger. But as human beings have only eight fingers and two thumbs it is by no means clear how the word came to be used for twelfths of the disc ...
— The Story of Eclipses • George Chambers

... went out in the direction of the Rabbit Bank, the Prophet, during their walk, availing himself of her evident excitement to draw from her the history of its origin. Such a task, indeed, was easily accomplished, for this singular creature, in whom love of truth, as well as a detestation of all falsehood and subterfuge, seemed to have been a moral instinct, at once disclosed to him ...
— The Black Prophet: A Tale Of Irish Famine • William Carleton

... is true nobility, this is the right and perfect intermixture. The lieutenancy is yours, fair lord. Hold it not in contempt; it is the humble step which will lead to grandeurs more worthy of the splendor of an origin ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain


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