MORRIS

Morris, Gouverneur Morris

(noun) United States statesman who led the committee that produced the final draft of the United States Constitution (1752-1816)

Morris, Robert Morris

(noun) leader of the American Revolution who signed the Declaration of Independence and raised money for the Continental Army (1734-1806)

Morris, William Morris

(noun) English poet and craftsman (1834-1896)

Morris, Esther Morris, Esther Hobart McQuigg Slack Morris

(noun) United States suffragist in Wyoming (1814-1902)

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

The surname has converged from several origins; see Morris.

Proper noun

Morris

A male given name from Old French, a medieval form of Maurice.

An English and Scottish patronymic surname.

An Irish surname, an anglicization of Ó Muirghis (“descendant of Maurice”).

A Welsh patronymic surname, an anglicization of Meurig (“Maurice”).

A male given name from surnames.

A city, the county seat of Grundy County, Illinois.

A city, the county seat of Stevens County, Minnesota; named for railroad official Charles A. Morris.

A town in Manitoba; named for Canadian politician Alexander Morris.

A town in Alabama; named for early pioneer Mae Morris.

A city in Oklahoma.

A town in Wisconsin.

A town in Connecticut; named for Revolutionary War officer James Morris III.

An unincorporated community in Georgia, United States; named for James Morris, a son of a railroad agent.

An unincorporated community in Indiana.

A town and village in New York; named for Gen. Jacob Morris, son of Declaration of Independence signatory Lewis Morris.

An unincorporated community in Pennsylvania.

An unincorporated community in Nicholas County, West Virginia; named for a local family.

A ghost town in Kanawha County, West Virginia.

A type of folk dance originating in England.

Synonym: morris dance

A former make of British motor car.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Morris is the 62nd most common surname in the United States, belonging to 318,884 individuals. Morris is most common among White (73.59%) and Black (20.08%) individuals.

Etymology 1

Noun

morris (plural morrises)

(weapons) A type of pike.

A morris dance.

Verb

morris (third-person singular simple present morrises, present participle morrising, simple past and past participle morrised)

To perform morris dancing.

Etymology 2

Noun

morris (plural morrises)

A marine fish with a very slender, flat, transparent body, now generally believed to be the young of the conger eel or some allied fish.

Source: Wiktionary


Mor"ris, n. Etym: [Sp. morisco Moorish, fr. Moro a Moor: cf. F. moresque, It. moresca.]

1. A Moorish dance, usually performed by a single dancer, who accompanies the dance with castanets.

2. A dance formerly common in England, often performed in pagenats, processions, and May games. The dancers, grotesquely dressed and ornamented, took the parts of Robin Hood, Maidmarian, and other fictious characters.

3. An old game played with counters, or men, which are placed angles of a figure drawn on a board or on the ground; also, the board or ground on which the game is played. The nine-men's morris is filled up with mud. Shak.

Note: The figure consists of three concentric squares, with lines from the angles of the outer one to those of the inner, and from the middle of each side of the outer square to that of the inner. The game is played by two persons with nine or twelve pieces each (hence called nine-men's morris or twelve-men's morris). The pieces are placed alternately, and each player endeavors to prevent his opponent from making a straight row of three. Should either succeed in making a row, he may take up one of his opponent's pieces, and he who takes off all of his opponent's pieces wins the game.

Mor"ris, n. Etym: [So called from its discoverer.] (Zoöl.)

Definition: A marine fish having a very slender, flat, transparent body. It is now generally believed to be the young of the conger eel or some allied fish.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

27 April 2024

GREAT

(adjective) remarkable or out of the ordinary in degree or magnitude or effect; “a great crisis”; “had a great stake in the outcome”


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Coffee Trivia

Coffee has initially been a food – chewed, not sipped. Early African tribes consume coffee by grinding the berries together, adding some animal fat, and rolling the treats into tiny edible energy balls.

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