Margaret
proper nouncommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈmɑːɡɹɪt//
- United Kingdom//ˈmɑːɡəɹɪt//
- United Kingdom//-ət//
- United States//ˈmɑɹɡɹɪt//
- United States//ˈmɑɹɡəɹɪt//
A female given name from Ancient Greek.
proper noun
- 1
A female given name from Ancient Greek.
Margaret shall now be queen, and rule the king; But I will rule both her, the king, and realm.
Margaret, Marguerite - the pearl! the daisy! Oh name of romance and of minstrelsy, which brings the days of chivalry to mind, and the worship of flowers and ladies fair!
Fair as a summer dream was Margaret,— / Such dream as in a poet's soul might start, / Musing of old loves while the moon doth set: […]
Amongst us English, the name is a greater favourite than with any other nation: but we have played upon it, and abused it oftener too. In no language does Margaret sound sweeter or homelier than in ours: not so Mag, Maggie, Meg, Madge, Moggie, Peg, Peggy, and abominable Piggy, of which abridgements only the two first are defensible.
- 2
A river in southwestern Western Australia, presumed named for a cousin of John Garrett Bussell, founder of Busselton. See Margaret River.
- 3
A river in Kimberley region, Western Australia, named for its European discoverer's sister-in-law. See Margaret River.
- 4
A moon of Uranus, named for a character in Much Ado About Nothing.
Astronomers discovered nine small moons lying outside the orbit of Oberon (Francisco, Caliban, Stephano, Trinculo, Sycorax, Margaret, Prospero, Setebos, and Ferdinand) between 1997 and 2003.
The odd one out is Margaret, which travels in a "normal" prograde direction, though it has the most eccentric orbit of all the Uranian satellites.
[…]moons known to be moving in a prograde or direct orbit is Margaret, orbiting Uranus at an average distance of nearly nine million miles (14,845,000 km) in an orbit that currently exceeds all other Solar System moons in terms of eccentricity (0.7979).[…]Margaret takes about 4.6 Earth years to complete a single orbit of the planet.
Etymology
From the name of 3rd century Saint Margaret the Virgin, from Middle English Margaret, from Old French Margaret (French Marguerite), from Latin Margarita, from Ancient Greek μαργαρίτης (margarítēs, “pearl”), ultimately from an Indo-Iranian source. The same source, through folk etymology, has produced Old English meregrot (“pearl”, literally “stone or pebble of the sea”), related to Old Saxon merigrita, merigriota (“pearl”), Old High German merigrioz, equivalent to mer- + groat.
Forms
- plural
- Margarets
Margaret · A female given name from Ancient Greek.
margarita · A cocktail made with tequila, an orange-flavoured liqueur,…Margarita · A female given name from Ancient Greek.marge · To add margarine to.