† morphn.1
Obsolete. rare.
= morphew n.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of visible parts > skin disorders > [noun] > scurfy or scabby state or disease
scurfc1000
scabc1250
scallc1374
lepraa1398
morphoeaa1398
scalledness1398
morphewa1400
scabiesc1400
scale14..
scruff14..
shellsc1400
rove?c1450
scabnessc1450
scabbedness1483
scaldness1527
scurfinessa1529
scaledness1530
dandruff1545
skalfering1561
bran1574
room1578
reefa1585
scabbiness1584
scald1598
skilfers1599
scabiosity1608
scalliness1610
scaliness1611
furfur1621
morph1681
pityriasis1684
psoriasis1684
porrigo1706
scaly tetter1799
motley dandruff1822
scale-skin1822
parapsoriasis1903
dander-
1681 N. Grew Musæum Regalis Societatis i. §vi. i. 131 A Wilk..being burnt..and mixed with old Oil..is an admirable Remedy against Baldness and Morph of long standing.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
morphn.2
/mɔːf/, U.S. /mɔrf/ U.S. slang.
= morphine n.In quot. 1912: a person addicted to morphine.
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the world > matter > chemistry > organic chemistry > alkaloids > [noun] > morphine
morphine1817
morph1906
Ma1912
1906 H. Green At Actors' Boarding House 196 The old morph, y'know.
1912 Collier's 21 Sept. 20/2 White ‘dope fiends’, known in the vernacular of the police as ‘hops’, ‘cokes’, or ‘morphs’.
1926 J. Black You can't Win xii. 160 About a spoonful of water and some of their meager store of ‘morph’ were put in the tin box.
1956 H. Gold Man who was not with It viii. 65 No morph, no! I had really kicked that one, and would do my own traveling from now on.
1969 J. K. Baxter Coll. Poems (1980) 444 I think she must be well stoned On coke or morph.
2000 J. Goodwin Danny Boy i. 3 What you after, mate? I've got smack, morph, powder and amps,..and a bit of coke.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
morphn.3
/mɔːf/, U.S. /mɔrf/ Linguistics.
A discrete phonological unit representing a minimal and indivisible morphological entity, esp. considered as constituting the realization of a morpheme (see morpheme n. (b)); any of two or more possible realizations of a morpheme; an allomorph (allomorph n.2).Also with modifying word, as portmanteau morph, etc.: see portmanteau n. Compounds 2c.
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the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > morphology > morpheme > [noun] > morph or allomorph
morpheme alternant1942
allomorph1945
morph1947
allomorphy1955
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > morphology > morpheme > [adjective] > relating to morphs or allomorphs
morph1947
allomorphic1949
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > morphology > morpheme > [noun] > morph or allomorph > specific
portmanteau morph1947
1947 C. F. Hockett in Language 23 322 Recurrent partials not composed of smaller ones (-way) are alternants or morphs... Every utterance is composed entirely of morphs.
1948 P. K. Benedict in Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. 68 185 This nomenclature has obvious advantages from a systematic point of view, and might well be extended to morphology, with the ‘morph’ as the descriptive unit, and the ‘allomorph’ as the member of a morpheme.
1952 C. E. Bazell in E. P. Hamp et al. Readings in Linguistics II (1966) 274 The term morpheme..was used both for the narrower modern concept and for that of the morpheme-alternant or (in American usage) the morph.
1955 Trans. Philol. Soc. 1954 69 Synthetic classification of morphs is implied in the very procedure of defining their morphemic values. For it is on account of their membership in different substitution-classes (selections), that morphs are assigned their different morphemic values.
1960 Amer. Speech 35 218 He [sc. Hoenigswald] believes sound change to be due to nothing but complete borrowing of morphs between only sub-phonemically differing dialects.
1965 Language 41 420 The markers of case are almost always portmanteau morphs that are also involved in expressing other categories..of the noun phrase.
1972 Hiberno-Eng. Dial. Questionnaire 1 Some of the principal morphs found in polysyllables are..included in the questionnaire.
1992 Word 43 i. 63 The simplest way to establish genetic relationship is by identifying a large number of similar morphs (or allomorphs)..in similar environments in the languages.
Compounds
General attributive.
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1947 Language 23 337 Intonational morphs..are found spread through such morphs or morph-sequences as yes, I know, no, maybe, [etc.].
1953 C. E. Bazell Ling. Form ii. 22 The term [sc. morphophonemics] has also more recently been used for the study of morph-structure proper.
1962 H. M. Hoenigswald in F. W. Householder & S. Saporta Probl. Lexicogr. 107 Is it reasonable..to consider the sentence intonations of English on a par with the segmental morph-morphemes?
1964 E. Bach Introd. Transformational Gram. vi. 130 The P rules will operate to select the proper morph shapes and allophones.
1972 Archivum Linguisticum 3 49 There is a regular phonological rule in Nzema and Ahanta which voices certain morph-initial obstruents if they are preceded by a vowel or nasal consonant.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
morphn.4
/mɔːf/, U.S. /mɔrf/ Biology.
A variant form of an animal or plant produced by genetic differences; any of the distinct forms present in a polymorphic population. In later use also: each of the different forms exhibited by an animal or plant in the course of its life cycle.
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the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > heredity or hereditary descent > [noun] > occurrence of variant forms > individual
polymorpha1897
morph1955
1955 J. S. Huxley in Heredity 9 2 I propose to introduce the term morphism and its derivatives, morphic and morph.
1955 J. S. Huxley in Heredity 9 3 I restrict the term morphism to genetic polymorphism..in which (usually sharply distinct) genetic variants or morphs coexist in temporary or permanent balance within a single interbreeding population in a single spatial region.
1956 J. S. Huxley in Proc. Royal Soc. B. 145 319 Kettlewell..has shown how the melanic morph of the Peppered Moth, Biston betularia,..enjoys a cryptic advantage in industrial areas.
1968 R. D. Martin tr. W. Wickler Mimicry in Plants & Animals vi. 61 Both sexes [of Ityraea nigrocincta] have two morphs, a green form and a yellow form.
1970 Nature 26 Sept. 1368/1 In the autumn the parthenogenetic viviparous morphs of the aphid give birth to nymphs which develop into males and oviparous females.
1978 Watsonia 12 137 The morphs [of Spergula arvensis] differ in the nature of the seedcoat..and in the glandular hairiness of the stems and leaves.
1983 J. R. S. Fincham Genetics xviii. 534 So long as a given morph is few in number compared with the capacity of its preferred niche it will be favoured by selection.
1992 M. Ingrouille Diversity & Evol. Land Plants 143 The thrum morph has a short style, anthers at the top of the corolla tube and produces large pollen.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
morphn.5
/mɔːf/, U.S. /mɔrf/ 1. The action, process, or technique of changing one image into another by morphing (morphing n.); an instance of this.
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1991 Adweek (U.S.) (Nexis) 4 Mar. The ad uses a new computer-generated technique—‘morphs’—in which images are metamorphosized in real time.
1992 Times 23 Dec. 10/5 The vampire's transformation is drenched in blood, as if to cancel out the effortless skill of his ‘morph’ from man to beast.
1993 Times 30 Oct. (Mag.) 18/1 This film..would record each day of her life in a still image to be run together to make a continual morph effect.
1995 Sci. Amer. Apr. 80/2 In a computerized transmutation..known as a morph..a forbidding Leonardo transforms into a smiling Mona Lisa.
2. An image or character created by morphing.
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1982 T. Hart et al. Take Hart 2 You'll find all the familiar faces..of Morph, Auggie the dinosaur, Bookworm and of course..Mr Bennett.]
1992 Daily Tel. 16 Mar. 30/7 The ‘morphs’ have a photo-realistic appearance, because the computer transforms shadows and reflections.
1995 Denver Post 22 Jan. f10/5 ‘Remake’..is a short novel about the new cyber Hollywood where morphs of past stars in past films are replacing the film industry.
2000 M. Albo Hornito 125 He has huge hands and holds them out, heavily, cutting the air in a manly manner, like a morph of surfer and father.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
morphv.
/mɔːf/, U.S. /mɔrf/ 1.
a. transitive. To alter or transform (a computerized image) by morphing (morphing n.); to change (an image) smoothly into another using computer animation techniques.
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1982 Re; Killing Umbers in net.games.rogue (Usenet newsgroup) 15 Sept. A staff of polymorph can help too if you morph him into something ‘easy’.
1991 Computer Pictures (Nexis) Apr. Every object in the scene..can be animated. 3-D objects can be scaled, squashed even morphed into other objects.
1993 New Scientist 13 Mar. 20/3 The characters can be transformed or ‘morphed’ on screen. For example, when Mario tells lies to a viewer, his nose can be made to grow like Pinocchio's.
1995 Daily Tel. 10 Feb. 20/3 A restless camera..rushes through the passages of a lakeside sand-castle..or ‘morphs’ a rural landscape into a magical garden inhabited by unicorns.
b. intransitive. To undergo transformation by morphing.
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1998 Church Times 22 May 14/4 The Mother Teresa ‘nun-bun’ site, at which a picture of the nun morphs into pastry said to bear her likeness.
2. In extended use.
a. intransitive. To undergo transformation as if by morphing.
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the world > time > change > change to something else, transformation > be transformed [verb (intransitive)]
wortheOE
awendOE
golOE
turnc1275
changec1300
runc1384
to run into ——c1384
fare1398
writhea1400
transmewc1400
returnc1475
transume1480
convert1549
transform1597
remove1655
transeate1657
transmute1675
make1895
metamorphose1904
shapeshift1927
metamorphize1943
metamorphosize1967
morph1992
1992 i-D July 27/1 Behind the screen are performers, actors and operatic singers, who ‘morph’ in and out of these virtual worlds.
1993 Spin Apr. 44/3 Industrial is about as nebulous a term as you can find for a genre of music that's constantly morphing.
1994 Guardian 31 Aug. i. 1/2 A series about a group of teenagers able to ‘morph’ into crime-fighting Power Rangers.
2000 Times 12 Jan. i. 2/7 As the session proceeded my suspicion grew that we were hallucinating and Keith Hill would morph into a big grey squid.
b. transitive. To change (a person or thing) into something different, esp. though a series of rapid transitional phases.
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the world > time > change > change to something else, transformation > transform [verb (transitive)]
wendOE
forshapeOE
workOE
awendOE
makec1175
turna1200
forwenda1325
change1340
shape1362
transmewc1374
transposec1380
puta1382
convertc1384
exchangea1400
remue?a1400
makea1425
reduce?a1425
removec1425
resolvea1450
transvertc1450
overchangec1480
mew1512
transmutea1513
wring1524
reduct1548
transform1556
innovate1561
metamorphose1576
transume1579
metamorphize1587
transmove1590
transchangea1599
transfashion1601
deflect1613
fordo1624
entail1628
transmutate1632
distila1637
to make much (also little, something, nothing, etc.) of1637
transqualify1652
unconvert1654
simulate1658
spend1668
transverse1687
hocus-pocus1774
mutate1796
fancy1801
to change around1871
metamorphosize1888
catalyse1944
morph1996
1996 Face Sept. 199/1 Her compulsive exercising and surgery to morph her body into whatever shape is required..point to her need to belong.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
> see also
also refers to : -morphcomb. form
<
n.11681
n.21906n.31947n.41955
n.51991v.1982see also