Olympiadn.

Brit.

/əˈlɪmpɪəd/,

/əˈlɪmpɪad/, U.S.

/oʊˈlɪmpiˌæd/,

/əˈlɪmpiəd/

Forms: Middle English–1500s Olimpias, Middle English–1600s Olympias, 1500s Olympiade, 1500s–1600s Olimpiade, 1500s– Olympiad, 1600s Olympyad. Plural Middle English Olympiadiz, Middle English Olympyades, Middle English–1600s Olympiades, 1500s Olimpiades, 1600s– Olympiads. Also with lower-case initial.

Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French Olympiade; Latin Olympiad-, Olympias.

Etymology: < Middle French Olympiade Olympic Games, period of four years between Olympic Games (second half of the 13th cent. in Old French) and its etymon classical Latin Olympiad-, Olympias (genitive Olympiados , Olympiadis ) Olympic Games, period of four years between Olympic Games < ancient Greek Ὀλυμπιάδ- , Ὀλυμπιάς Olympic festival, in Hellenistic Greek also period of four years between Olympic Games < Ὀλυμπία Olympia (see Olympian adj.²) + -άς -ad suffix¹.The Latin word is found glossed several times in Old English; compare:OE Antwerp Gloss. (1955) 70 Olimpias, fif wintra fæc.OE Aldhelm Glosses (Brussels 1650) in L. Goossens Old Eng. Glosses of MS Brussels, Royal Libr. 1650 (1974) 340 Olympiade : i. quinquennio, fif gera fæc. Olympiade ducentesima lx. septima : twam hundredum & seofen & sixtigum fiftene geares getel. In forms Olimpias, Olympias immediately after the Latin and Greek nominative singular forms.

1. Greek History. A period of time (usually four or five years) reckoned from one celebration of the ancient Olympic Games to the next. Later, more widely: a division of time, an era. Also Olympiad era.Originally used by the ancient Greeks as a way of computing time, 776 b.c. being taken as the first year of the first Olympiad.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > period > year > [noun] > period of specific number of years

hendecadOE

a week of yearsa1382

weekc1384

Olympiada1387

lustre1387

yearc1425

millenary1551

prenticeship1553

septenary1576

lustrum1590

quinquennal1590

seventy1590

septimane1603

quinquennie1606

threescore (years) and tena1616

duodecad1621

quinquennium1621

jubilee1643

quadrenniala1646

chiliad1653

septennary1659

septennium1660

triennial1661

millennium1664

tetraëterid1678

octennial1679

duodenary1681

quadrennium1779

septenniad1836

quinquenniad1842

milliad1843

tricentenary1846

triennium1847

vicennium1847

bimillenary1850

lustration1853

sexennium1858

septennate1874

quinquennial1877

pentad1880

sexennate1898

aeon1960

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1872) IV. 277 (MED) Þe Grees bygynneþ þe ȝere wiþ Olympias.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 122^v Þe grees..clepid þe firste fiue ȝere þe firste olympias.

c1450 (?a1422) J. Lydgate Life Our Lady (Durh.) iii. 19 (MED) In the yere by computacion Fourty and two of Octouian..and of Olympyades, In the hundred nynty yere and thre.

?1533 G. Du Wes Introductorie for to lerne Frenche sig. Ffii The grekes were wont to reken by Olimpiades, whiche ben four yeres.

1598 G. Chapman in C. Marlowe & G. Chapman Hero & Leander (new ed.) v. sig. K Now was bright Hero weary of the day, Thought an Olympiad in Leanders stay.

1649 Famous Trag. King Charles I iv. 35 Meane men must rise, Every Olympiad of time.

a1682 Sir T. Browne Christian Morals (1716) i. 22 Let Ephemerides not Olympiads give thee account of his mercies.

1737 Gentleman's Mag. Feb. 76/1 And from that Period to the first Olympiad there were 328 years.

1792 R. Bage Man as he Is II. xlviii. 196 I saw the light in the 94th Olympiad, the very day that Alexander the Great won the battle of Arbela.

1819 Ld. Byron Proph. Dante iii. 158 Not Hellas can unroll Through her olympiads two such names.

1876 W. Smith Dict. Greek & Rom. Antiq. 835/1 A new Olympiad aera..came into use under the Roman emperors.

1906 J. London Apostate in When God laughs & Other Stories 810 It marked an era. It was a machine Olympiad, a thing to date from.

1916 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 46 272 Julius Africanus..affirms that the deluge of Ogyges happened just 1,020 years before the first Olympiad.

1997 Hesperia 66 202 The administration of the Olympic Games was reorganized in the 75th Olympiad.

a. Greek History. In singular and †plural = Olympic Games n. 1a. Also figurative.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > match or competition > [noun] > series of, as public spectacle > in ancient world > specific

Olympiada1456

Nemean games1559

Panathenaea1578

Pythian games1579

Olympian Gamesa1586

Olympic Games1597

Isthmian games1603

Pythic games1603

Capitoline games1609

Olympics1621

Panathenaics1678

Nemean festival1844

a1456 (a1402) J. Trevisa tr. Gospel of Nicodemus (BL Add.) f. 94^v (MED) Some tyme þe Greekes maden Ioustes and tournamentes and oþer pleyes of maystryes and of strenkeþe oones in fyve yere vnder þe hille called Olympias and cleped þe playes Olympias.

c1487 J. Skelton tr. Diodorus Siculus Bibliotheca Historica v. 382 Whiche maner of fayttis, thus ordeyned by his former instytucion, were callyd Olympiades.

1589 R. Greene Menaphon 85 If he conquer, then Samela triumphs, as if she had been chiefe victor in the Olympiades.

1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. ii. xxiii. §5. 576 These Olympiads... To tell the great solemnitie of them, and with what exceeding great concourse of all Greece they were celebrated, I hold it a superfluous labour.

a1727 I. Newton Chronol. Anc. Kingdoms Amended (1728) i. 47 This Breviary seems to have contained nothing more than a short account of the Victors in every Olympiad.

1840 E. A. Poe Tales of Grotesque & Arabesque II. 17 The wreath of victory in the foot race—a wreath which it is evident he must obtain at the celebration of the next Olympiad.

1896 Scribner's Mag. Apr. 436/2 Hundreds of victors of past Olympiads:—boxers, pentathletes, wrestlers, pancratists, runners.

1913 F. A. M. Webster Olympian Field Events i. i. 7 We have certain proof that it [sc. javelin throwing] was a part of the Pentathlon in the Ancient Olympiads.

1977 Jrnl. Hellenic Stud. 97 16 This no doubt partly accounts for the well-known string of Spartan victories in running events at the early Olympiads.

2000 World Almanac & Bk. Facts (Electronic text) The first Olympiad is said to have consisted merely of a 200-yd foot race near the small city of Olympia.

b. = Olympic Games n. 1b; (also) a period of four years between these Games.

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society > leisure > sport > match or competition > [noun] > types of

all comersc1450

after-gamea1500

fore-game1594

revenge1616

plate1639

set-to1743

return match1753

bye1754

scrub-race1791

anybody's game (also race, match)1826

return1834

barney1843

bonspiel1858

handicap1861

pennant1865

home-and-home1868

benefit match1871

run-off1873

international1877

American tournament1878

Grand Prix1879

single1884

friendly1885

all-comers1889

pair1890

championship1893

round robin1894

replay1895

Olympiad1896

junior varsity1902

lightning tournament1903

rematch1903

road trip1903

pickup1905

freestyle1906

marathon1908

test1908

Derby1909

scrimmage1910

eliminator1911

twosome1911

triala1914

quadrangular1916

slug-fest1916

varsity match1921

needle contest1922

curtain jerker1923

needle match1923

open1926

needle fight1927

knock-out1928

shirt1930

masters1933

pro-amateur1934

tune-up1934

World Cup1934

pro-am1937

state1941

sizzler1942

runathon1943

mismatch1954

run-out1955

match-up1959

squeaker1961

triple-header1961

Super Bowl1967

invitational1968

needle game1970

major1976

slobberknocker1986

society > leisure > sport > match or competition > [noun] > series of, as public spectacle > specific

May games1531

game1636

victorial1657

natal games1728

gathering1828

Olympiad1896

Olympian Games1896

Winter Olympic Games1908

winter game1924

Winter Olympics1924

Olympics1925

spartakiad1928

Winter Olympiad1928

Summer Olympics1931

paraplegic games1953

Paralympics1954

Paralympic Games1955

Special Olympics1968

worlds1984

iron man1985

1896 Cent. Mag. Nov. 42/1 The Stadion is not the only enduring token that will remain to Athens of her inauguration of the new Olympiads.

1935 Encycl. Sports, Games & Pastimes 440/2 The next Olympiad, as the games came to be called, was held at Stockholm [in 1912].

1994 Swimming Times Sept. 14/1 With the 3 Olympics under her belt so far and with the '96 Games, she would become one of a very select band to make 4 Olympiads.

c. A national or international competition held (usually regularly) in a particular game or skill, such as mathematics, bridge, or chess; a public celebration of achievement in some activity at which awards or prizes are given. Also with modifying word, and in weakened use.

ΚΠ

1957 W. Perelman tr. S. Flohr Twelfth Chess Tournament of Nations 5 The first [Chess] Olympiad was held in London in 1927,..when 16 countries took part.

1967 Listener 17 Aug. 213/2 Sixth-form specialisation is indeed producing diminishing returns: is the flight from maths and science compensated for by the winning of a mathematical Olympiad?

1989 Blitz Feb. 15/2 When I played Korchnoi at the Olympiad, about ten minutes before the start of play I'm sure my heartbeat was at least a hundred and thirty.

1996 Independent 18 Sept. 15/4 Hundreds are ringing in, eager to compete in a sort of trivia olympiad in which the winner wipes out all.

2002 AP Worldstream (Electronic text) 4 Apr. Lysistrata is part of the Cultural Olympiad, a four year festival accompanying the Athens 2004 Olympic Games that features a variety of events.

3. In extended use: an activity in which a remarkable level of attainment is reached, or which is indulged in to excess.

ΚΠ

1991 Premiere Dec. 81/2 There were tales of heroic self-indulgence: cocaine olympiads, ballistic tirades, parades of bimbos.

1993 Men's Health Oct. 30/3 After a monumental sexual olympiad he finally had to take a breather.

Derivatives

† Olympiadic adj. Obsolete rare of or relating to an Olympiad or Olympiads (sense 1).Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > period > year > [adjective] > of or relating to specific number of years

millenary1604

triennal1611

Olympiadical1638

decennal1648

decennial1656

tricennial1656

octodesexcentenary1677

sexmillennial1690

sexmillenary1728

quinquennial1746

milliary1753

decennalian1794

millennial1807

chiliadal1816

enneaeteric1846

chiliadic1854

decennary1855

sexcentenary1864

millennian1873

tricentenary1882

tricentennial1883

Olympiadic1890

postmillennial1977

1890 Cent. Dict. Olympiadic, or pertaining to an Olympiad—Olympiadic era.

† Olympiadical adj. Obsolete rare = Olympiadic adj.

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