realadj.²n.²adv.

Brit.

/rɪəl/, U.S.

/ri(ə)l/

Forms: Middle English realle, Middle English riall, Middle English ryall, Middle English–1500s reale, Middle English–1600s reall, Middle English– real, 1800s rael (Manx English), 1800s– rale (Irish English and Australian), 1900s– reel (Australian); English regional 1800s– rale, 1800s– reeal (Yorkshire); U.S. regional 1700s– rale, 1800s raal, 1800s rele, 1800s– rael, 1800s– rail, 1800s– reel, 1900s– r'al, 1900s– rill; Scottish pre-1700 reale, pre-1700 reall, pre-1700 ryalle, pre-1700 1700s– real, 1800s rail, 1800s rel, 1800s– rael, 1800s– rale, 1900s– raal (north-eastern).

Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French real, reel; Latin realis.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman real and Middle French reel, real (French réel) (adjective) (in legal use) that concerns things and not people (1283), actual, concrete (early 14th cent. or earlier in Anglo-Norman), material, objective (c1370), that actually exists (c1485; in French also true, genuine, authentic (1688)), (noun) that which concerns things and not people (a1325; in French also real life, real things, real actions (collectively) (a1662)) and its etymon post-classical Latin realis (adjective) actual (4th cent.; frequently from 13th cent. in British sources), (in philosophy) that has an objective existence (frequently from 12th cent. in British sources), relating to or consisting of immovable property (frequently from 13th cent. in British sources), concerned with things (from 13th cent. in British sources), (noun) (in philosophy) realist (from 12th cent. in British sources; a1536 in Erasmus), piece of real property (1605 in the passage translated in quot. 1651 at sense B. 2b) < classical Latin rēs thing (see res n.¹) + -ālis -al suffix¹. Compare Old Occitan real (1245), Catalan real (1272), Spanish real (17th cent.), Portuguese real (1422), Italian reale (a1348). Compare later unreal adj.In sense A. 5 after French reel ( Descartes Géométrie iii, in Discours de la méthode (1637) 380). With real action at sense A. 7b compare post-classical Latin actio realis (from 1362 in British sources). The precise sense is uncertain in the following early instances of the word: ▸ 1440 Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 424 Real, realis.1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Aiv^v/2 Reall, realis.1598 J. Marston Scourge of Villanie To Perusers sig. B4 Some of his new-minted Epithets, (as Reall, Intrinsecate, Delphicke).

A. adj.²

I. That actually exists, or relates to this.

a. Having an objective existence; actually existing physically as a thing, substantial; not imaginary.

ΚΠ

a1400 (?a1325) Medit. on Supper of our Lord (Harl.) (1875) 33 (MED) Þys soper was real, as þou mayst here; Foure real þynges cryst made þere..Þe fyrst ys a bodly fedyng; Þe secunde ys hys dycyples fete wasshyng; Þe þred, yn brede hym self takyng; Þe fourþe, a sermoun of feyre makyng.

?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 21 (MED) Þe discrepacioun or discordance is only verbale, i. in worde, & noȝt reale [L. realis], i. in dede.

a1535 T. More Treat. Passion in Wks. (1557) 1337. 2 The very real thinges that is conteyned vnder both those fourmes, is one entiere bodye.

1596 T. Bell Suruey Popery iii. ix. 372 God..is the principall agent of the real and positiue entities thereof.

a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) v. iii. 309 Is there no exorcist Beguiles the truer Office of mine eyes? Is't reall that I see?

1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan iii. xxxiv. 210 That some such apparitions were not Imaginary, but Reall.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 310 Whereat I wak'd, and found Before mine Eyes all real, as the dream Had lively shadowd.

1706 D. Defoe Rev. 2 Mar. 108 The other Gentleman and his Man coming, and holding a real Candle up to Decide it, Affirm'd the Doctors Candle was Lighted.

1751 T. Smollett Peregrine Pickle IV. xcix. 74 That I might be a real ass, and champ thistles on some common.

1792 C. Smith Desmond III. xxii. 243 Never, my dear Bethel, did the most feverish dreams of fiction produce scenes more painful, or more terrific, than the real events to which I have been a witness.

1820 P. B. Shelley Prometheus Unbound i. i. 56 But from these create he can Forms more real than living man.

1859 S. Parkinson Treat. Optics i. viii. 127 A real visible object and its optical image differ in this respect.

1880 W. James in Atlantic Monthly 46 442/1 Like the dog in the fable that drops his real bone to snatch at its image, they drop the real causes to snatch at others.

1929 J. B. Priestley Good Compan. ii. v. 383 I'm a real person, not a vague, but attractive young man you've just imagined.

1969 W. H. Auden City without Walls 30 Where real toads may catch imaginary flies.

2004 D. Mitchell Cloud Atlas (U.K. ed.) 213 I looked closer, and saw real birds for the first time; swallows and martins.

b. Philosophy. Designating whatever is regarded as having an existence in fact and not merely in appearance, thought, or language, or as having an absolute and necessary, in contrast to a merely contingent, existence.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > materialism > [adjective] > of realism

real1603

realistic1843

1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 1079 It is not possible that the soule which is engendred after birth, should be framed to the maners and disposition of the parents before nativity; or else we must say..that the soule..was by similitude and resemblance, and yet was not, because as yet it had not a reall substance.

1645 A. Ross Philos. Touch-stone 6 You must first prove that accidents have any entity without their subjects, and then, that to have reall entity, and to subsist by it selfe; or, that essence and self-existence is all one.

1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding iii. iii. 194 And therefore the supposed real Essences of Substances, if different from our abstract Ideas, cannot be the Essences of the Species we rank Things into.

1701 J. Norris Ess. Ideal World I. iii. 150 An Hircocervus or any other Fictitious Being is true and real with respect to the Simple Essences or Natures.

1709 Ld. Shaftesbury Moralists iii. i. 181 Thought we own pre-eminent, and confess the reallest of Beings.

1797 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 79/1 Numberless absurdities, such as, that..forms or sensible qualities are real things independent of their subject and the sentient beings who perceive them.

1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. i. vi. §3 He [sc. Locke] admitted real essences, or essences of individual objects, which he supposed to be the causes of the sensible properties of those objects.

1857 W. Whewell Hist. Inductive Sci. (ed. 3) I. 343 The perfections are unquestionably real existences.

1893 F. H. Bradley Appearance & Reality (1897) xxvii. 552 The more that anything is spiritual, so much the more is it veritably real.

1907 E. M. Forster Longest Journey i. 1 It was philosophy. They were discussing the existence of objects. Do they exist only when there is someone to look at them? or have they a real existence of their own?

1989 Brit. Jrnl. Philos. Sci. 40 429 The world of the physical sciences is a world of entities endowed with the ‘real’ or primary qualities of mass, figure, motion, etc.

2. Actually existing or present as a state or quality of things; having a foundation in fact; actually occurring or happening. Also: expressing a subjective relation to a person; actual, significant; able to be grasped by the imagination. See also real life n., real world n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > existence > reality or real existence or actuality > [adjective] > real or actually existing as a quality of things

real1550

1550 T. Cranmer Def. Sacrament f. 81^v He speaketh not of any real and corporall conuersion of breade and wyne into Christes body and bludde, nor of any corporall and reall eating and drinkinge of the same.

1609 W. Shakespeare Louers Complaint in Sonnets sig. K3 His reall habitude gaue life and grace To appertainings and to ornament, Accomplisht in him-selfe, not in his case.

1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ iii. ii. §7 Time..denotes nothing real in its self existing..and so can argue nothing as to the real existence of things from all eternity.

c1689 M. Prior To Charles Montague 4 He can imagin'd pleasures find, To combat against real cares.

1726 Bp. J. Butler 15 Serm. ii. 27 Our inward Feelings, and the Perceptions we receive from our external Senses are equally real.

1753 H. Jones Earl of Essex iv. 41 My real Errors, and my seeming Crimes, Would weary Mercy, and make Goodness poor.

1795 W. Paley View Evidences Christianity (ed. 3) II. iii. ii. 303 The malady was real, the cure was real, whether the popular explication of the cause was well founded, or not.

1816 J. Wilson City of Plague ii. iii. 122 More terrible These sights and sounds from the disastrous sky Than all the real terrors of the Plague.

1879 H. James Confidence II. xxvii. 154 It was real to me, the wrong—and I have told you of the pangs and the shame which, for so many months, it has cost me!

1884 tr. H. Lotze Logic (1888) II. 208 We call..an event Real which occurs or has occurred, in contradistinction to that which does not occur.

1904 M. Beerbohm Let. 13 Apr. (1964) 161 All this sounds very ‘literary’ and sentimentalistic, but it is real enough to me.

1915 F. M. Hueffer Good Soldier iv. iv. 262 For that fact had suddenly slipped into place and become real for her as the niched marker on a whist tablet slips round with the pressure of your thumb.

1959 J. W. Krutch Human Nature & Human Condition ii. 33 A society in which everybody's psychological needs for material things are being constantly increased..is actually happier than one in which only real needs are met.

2004 H. Kennedy Just Law (2005) ii. 55 The new streamlined process could mean real injustice to innocent people.

†3. Philosophy. Relating or attached to the doctrine of the objective existence of universals (see realism n. 2). Opposed to nominal adj. 2. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1581 W. Fulke Reioynder Bristows Replie 271 Is there no diuision betweene secular, and spiritual, Nominal, & real, one sect & another?

1674 S. Butler Hudibras (new ed.) i. i. 10 Profound in all the Nominal And real ways beyond them all.

1683 R. Dixon Canidia iii. x. 73 Quiddities, Quoddities, Entities, Are Metaphysical Apprentices. Nominal, Real, Unasinous Colleagues, Projectors, Politicians, Intrigues.

1711 Ld. Shaftesbury Characteristicks II. v. 257 (margin) Moralists, Nominal, Real.

†a. gen. Relating to or concerned with things. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > existence > reality or real existence or actuality > [adjective] > real or relating to things

thingly?a1450

real1593

thingal1857

thingy1891

1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation 96 The most-endlesse altercations; being generally rather Verball, then reall, and more circumstantiall, then substantiall.

1620 T. Granger Syntagma Logicum 143 Logicke is a Rationall, not reall art.

1681 J. Ray Corr. (1848) 130 Making your discoveries and observations public, for..the advancement of real philosophy.

1697 tr. F. Burgersdijck Monitio Logica ii. xv. 64 A Real is when the Attribute of the Question is real; as, ‘is a Place a Superficies?’ or so.

1799 J. Ebers New & Compl. Dict. German & Eng. Lang. III. 3/2 A real Definition, a Definition that explains the Matter or the Notion of any Thing itself.

a1831 R. Whately Logic in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) I. 235/1 Those which are called real Definitions, viz. which unfold the nature of the thing.

1870 J. H. Newman Ess. Gram. Assent i. i. 8 Propositions..of which the terms stand for things external to us, unit and individual as..‘the earth goes round the sun’..; these I call real propositions, and their apprehension real.

b. Of written characters: representing things instead of sounds; ideographic. Now historical.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > writing > written character > [adjective] > ideogram

real1605

ideographic1822

ideographical1826

ideogrammatic1893

ideogrammic1929

1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Pp2 We vnderstand further, that it is the vse of Chyna, and the Kingdomes of the High Leuant, to write in Characters reall, which expresse neither Letters, nor words in grosse, but Things or Notions.

1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. i. iii. §5. 13 A Real universal Character, that should not signifie words, but things and notions.

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Character This Real Character is no Chimera; the Chinese and Japonese have already somewhat like it.

a1779 Bp. W. Warburton Wks. (1788) II. iv. iv. 308 Real characters of both kinds had, at different periods, been cultivated in China.

1967 R. H. Robins Short Hist. Linguistics v. 114 In the seventeenth century various people devised universal languages or ‘real characters’ as they were sometimes called.

†c. Consisting of actual things. Obsolete. rare.

ΚΠ

1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage vii. ix. 584 The ceremonies they vsed to them, were..verball prayers, reall offerings.

1614 S. Purchas Pilgrimage (ed. 2) ix. xiv. 912 The Colonie..haue not onely sent verball, but reall commendations of the place.

1660 H. Jeanes 2nd Pt. Mixture Scholasticall Divinity 222 His reward will be not only verball, but reall.

5. Mathematics. Of a number or quantity: having no imaginary part. Hence: relating to or involving such quantities or functions of them. Opposed to imaginary adj. 1c.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [adjective] > prime > real

real1668

possible1720

1668 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 3 686 In these Æquations, Reduction shall no wise profit, forasmuch as 'tis impossible, by aid thereof to change an Imaginary root into a real one, and the Converse.

1702 J. Harris New Short Treat. Algebra 86 He could find the Center of a Circle which would cut the Parabola in as many Points as the Equation had real Roots.

1729 Philos. Trans. 1727–8 (Royal Soc.) 35 526 The Roots a, b, c, d, e are real Numbers, positive or negative.

1841 Penny Cycl. XX. 150/2 Here a and b are meant to be real algebraical quantities, that is, reducible to positive or negative whole numbers or fractions.

1875 Encycl. Brit. I. 544/2 Every quadratic equation has always two roots, real or imaginary.

1957 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 855/1 This ‘Lebesgue integral’ is one of the great achievements of modern real analysis.

1965 E. M. Patterson & D. E. Rutherford Elem. Abstr. Algebra iii. 85 The real number a is called the real part of the complex number (a, b) and the real number b is called the imaginary part.

2001 S. Hawking Universe in Nutshell ii. 49 These are called Grassmann dimensions, because they are measured in numbers known as Grassmann variables rather than in ordinary real numbers.

6. Physics. Of an image: such that the light forming it actually reaches it, so that the image can be captured on a surface. Opposed to virtual adj. 5. Cf. image n. 3a.

ΚΠ

1692 W. Molyneux Dioptrica Nova 96 What is here Demonstrated concerning the Real Image of a Convex Glass may be accommodated to the Virtual Image of a Concave.

1747 B. Martin Philosophia Britannica I. 244 The same Parts of the Object and Image are on contrary Sides of the Axis in a concave Mirrour, where the Rays have a real Focus, or form a real Image.

a1764 J. Harris Treat. Optics (1775) i. 60 An object placed nearer a convex lens..than its principal focus..will have no real image.

1850 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 140 236 They are real images of the luminous body by whose light they are formed.

1886 Amer. Naturalist 20 90 By this means a bright luminous spot may be observed as real image in the tube of the instrument.

1922 J. A. Crowther Pract. Physics xxiv. 139 A most important method of finding the position of an image, whether real or virtual, is..the method of parallax.

2002 Pop. Photogr. Apr. 18/1 The viewfinder is a typical point-and-shoot real-image finder.

II. Relating to immovable property.

7. Law. Opposed to personal adj. 7.

a. Of or relating to specific things, esp. land; spec. relating to or consisting of the possession or ownership of immovable or ‘real’ property (see sense A. 7c and immovable adj. 3).Cf. real distress at distress n. 3b, real statute n. at statute n.¹ 3, real warrandice at warrandice n. 1b.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > possessions > [adjective] > real or immovable > connected with real property

real1434

1434 in C. B. Gunn Peebles Colleg. Ch. App. p. xvii And wyth a wand..he gave to the said Wilȝame..state ryalle of the said landis wyth the pertinence.

1467–8 Rolls of Parl. V. 578/2 Lands, Tenementez, and other Possessions..in demeane and reall possession.

1533 J. Bellenden tr. Livy Hist. Rome (1901) I. 12/22 Antenor..eftir the expulsioun of Euganis, tuke reall possession of all thare landis & gudis.

1625 C. Burges New Discouery Personal Tithes 48 How much should bee due, where no Custome, Composition real, or other sufficient Priuiledges takes place.

1666–88 G. Dallas Syst. Stiles (1697) 694 (heading) Real Rights.

1666–88 G. Dallas Syst. Stiles (1697) 797 Disposition..of certain Lands, Baronies, and others, in Real Warrandice of other Lands formerly Disponed.

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) Customs are said to be real; that is, they determine all Inheritances within their Extent.

1827 J. Bentham Rationale Judicial Evid. I. i. iv. 53 Real evidence, that which is afforded by a being belonging, not to the class of persons, but to the class of things.

1832 J. Austin Outline in Province Jurispr. p. xliv Real rights (property in things real, or real property) are rights which are inheritable.

1837 P. M. Beckwith tr. F. P. G. Guizot Gen. Hist. Europe iii. 89 Personal legislation, in contradistinction to real legislation, which is found upon territory.

1994 Times 31 Dec. (Weekend section) 2 The bishop laid the vicar's hands on the church door key with the words: ‘I do induct you into the real, actual and corporeal possession of this church.’

b. Of actions, pleas, etc.: for the recovery of a particular object or immovable (or ‘real’) property. Frequently in real action (now historical: see note at personal adj. 7a). Cf. also mixed adj.² 2a.In early use often placed after the noun, and with plural in -s.

ΘΚΠ

society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > action of courts in claims or grievances > [adjective] > other types of action or suit

real1444

popular1490

fat1644

pre-judicial1651

quantum valebant1827

prejudical1864

adjectician1880

prejudiciary1880

landmark1937

society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > action of courts in claims or grievances > [noun] > a lawsuit > other types of action

mort d'ancestora1325

trespass on the case1429

action of detinue1467

mortancestry1471

replevin1515

non-finding1525

nisi prius1533

faint action1542

interpleadera1558

improbationc1575

assize1577

assumpsit1586

transitory action1594

trover1594

suit of the King's peace1607

detinuea1626

quia timet1628

choke-baila1637

reprobator1672

spulyie1678

petitory action1681

proprium1695

restitution of conjugal rights1720

amicable suit1768

noxal action1774

real action1818

witness action1892

class suit1894

non-jury1897

foreclosure action1905

class action1910

derivative action1934

paternity suit1945

1444 Rolls of Parl. V. 112/1 It please the Kyng..yat yef any person..in any action ryall or personell..plede eny forein Plee..that suche issue in suche forein Plee be tried where the Writte is brought.

1448 in S. A. Moore Lett. & Papers J. Shillingford (1871) 139 Any action real, personall, and myxte, apon any person..shall be atte the sute of the seide Bysshop.

a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1905) i. 304 (MED) He..relesed to them and pardoned all accions reals and personels of eny maner cause.

1535 Act 27 Hen. VIII c. 26 §4 All actions realles, hereafter shalbe conueied, perpetrated, or sued for any landes.

1574 tr. T. Littleton Tenures (new ed.) f. 41 If the villaine be demaundant in an accion reall or plaintife in an action personell.

1603 G. Owen Descr. Penbrokshire (1892) 155 Pleas reall and mixt for landes are and must be sued at home.

1652 J. Gaule Πυς-μαντια 342 All matters or causes criminall, or reall.

1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. iii. 62/1 This is the Next Court, and is called the Common-Pleas:..Real Actions are pleaded in no other Court, nor Fines levied, or Recoveries suffered: none but Serjeants at Law plead in this Court.

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Writ Original Writs are those sent out of the High Court of Chancery to summon the Defendant in a Personal, or Tenant in a real Action, either before the Suit begins, or to begin the Suit thereby.

1768 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. III. 117 Real actions..which concern real property only.

1794 J. Vaillant tr. J. Dyer Rep. Cases III. 324b There are many precedents or essoins of the tenants at the next day after issue joined in real pleas.

1818 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. (ed. 2) III. 491 After a real action was barred by length of time.

1863 H. Cox Inst. Eng. Govt. ii. ix. 512 Real actions, brought for the specific recovery of freeholds.

1888 T. C. Williams in Law Q. Rev. 4 398 Mixed actions partook of the nature both of real and personal actions.

1928 Amer. Jrnl. Internat. Law 22 312 For the exercise of real actions in respect of real property, and for that of mixed actions to determine boundary and partition of common property.

c. Being or consisting of immovable property, such as land and anything erected on or attached to this. Frequently in real property. See also chattel real at chattel n. 4b, things real at thing n.¹ 12b, real estate n., and estate n. 11.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > possessions > [adjective] > real or immovable

unmovablec1390

unmoble?a1425

immovablec1449

real1605

1605 R. Mason Reasons Academie 93 The first estates, determine in time: and the second being reall estates, onely with time: and not before the ending of time.

1629 Vse of Law 53 in J. Doddridge Lawyers Light The other Tenants by Elegit, and by Wardship of Bodie and Lands, for all these are called Chattels Reall, and goe to the Executors and Administrators, and not to the heires, and are soleable and forfeitable as Leases for yeares are.

1641 Decay Trade 2 The price and measure of all our other meanes both personall and reall.

1644 G. Plattes in S. Hartlib Legacy (1655) 209 A present estate, either real or personal.

1668 J. Child Brief Observ. Trade 6 Securities of Lands and Houses [are] rendred indeed, such as we commonly call them, real securities.

1718 P. Haldane Case Forfeited Estates in Scotl. 33 Another Objection to this Bill..is, That it..cuts off their Real Securities, and leaves them on the uncertain and precarious Footing of Personal Rights.

1756 W. Toldervy Hist. Two Orphans IV. 265 The good gentleman at the Abbey, who has left you his real estate.

1791 Law Gramm. sig. Q2^v Of Real Property.

1827 T. Jarman Powell's Ess. Learning of Devises (ed. 3) II. 169 The word effects, without the word real, will not..comprehend land.

1842 H. J. Stephen New Comm. Laws Eng. II. 72 Things real comprise not only the land itself, but also such incorporeal rights also as issue out of or are connected with it.

1883 Wharton's Law-lexicon (ed. 7) at Invest When a trustee, executor, or administrator is not expressly forbidden to invest in real securities, in the United Kingdom.

1997 Calif. Lawyer July 11/2 (advt.) Save $150 on each of our CEB CD-ROMS, available now in four practice area collections:..Estate Planning, and Real Property.

III. That corresponds to or expresses what exists.

8. Corresponding to actuality; true. Frequently in real facts, real story.In quot. 1440 of a narrative: true, actual.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > [adjective]

soothc825

soothlyc888

soothfastc950

rightOE

lealc1330

verilya1340

veryc1386

truea1398

soothfulc1400

real1440

vray1460

trothlike1544

of verityc1550

verimenta1592

correct1705

truthful1781

truthy1848

unillusory1853

straight-up1910

1440 J. Capgrave Life St. Norbert (1977) l. 30 In þis story..I wil procede Of þis same seynt to telle þe lyf real, Both of his diete and eke of his wede.

1658 T. Carwell Labyrinthus Cantuariensis xv. 186 This is the true and real story of the Donatists proceedings.

1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding Contents (heading) Ideas of Substances are real, when they agree with the Existence of Things.

a1706 J. Evelyn Hist. Relig. (1850) I. i. 87 But, though we can neither see God, nor our souls, we may and can have a real idea of both, without a sensible vision.

1746 ‘F. de Biron’ tr. Adventures & Amours Marquis de Noailles I. 29 The Parties principally concerned thought it convenient to let the Public know the real story as I have here put it down.

1771 ‘N. Spencer’ Compl. Eng. Traveller 33/1 The above inscription may seem odd; but when attentively considered..contains a real estimate of the value, as well as the use of riches.

1809 Duke of Wellington in G. R. Gleig Life (1862) 702 The real fact is..I have eaten the King's salt.

1862 H. Spencer First Princ. i. ii. §11. 32 The impossibility of expanding our symbolic conception of self-creation into a real conception, remains as complete as ever.

1866 G. MacDonald Ann. Quiet Neighb. (1878) xiv. 287 Whether a story be real in fact or only real in meaning.

1913 Electric Railway Jrnl. 16 Oct. 829/1 Effective publicity to deal with questions of public relations and to consider the molding of public opinion by the presentation of real facts.

1965 Guardian 13 Oct. 2/7 The city's medical officer..said they were still in ‘square one’, and would stay there till they got some real facts.

2003 Snoop Apr. 84/1 A film that shows the real story of living life large in the 90s.

a. That is actually and truly such as its name implies; possessing the essential qualities denoted by its name; genuine, undoubted. Also as an intensifier: veritable.real live ——: see Phrases 1.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > foundation in fact, validity > [adjective] > accurately so named

rightOE

verya1300

verya1387

perfectc1387

propera1398

veritable1483

real?1505

dinkum1914

?1505 tr. P. Gringore Castell of Laboure (new ed.) sig. H.iiij Theyr labour gaue them an appetyt reall [Fr. vng appetit real].

1535 in J. Imrie et al. Burgh Court Bk. Selkirk (1960) 157 [Which sum shall be paid] with kyndnes and nocht with reall rigur [when John Mithag requires it].

1559 in J. Strype Ann. Reformation (1824) I. ii. App. vi. 401 Ecclesiasticall lawes made, cannot bynd the universall churche of Christe, without the reall assent..of the sea apostolike.

1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lxvii. 174 That which alone is materiall namely the reall participation of Christ..by meanes of this Sacrament.

1629 T. Hobbes tr. Thucydides Eight Bks. Peloponnesian Warre ii. 103 This is not now, rather a brauery of words..then reall truth.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost x. 413 Planets..real Eclips Then sufferd.

1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 275. ¶3 Homer tells us, that the Blood of the Gods is not real Blood, but only something like it.

1745 E. Haywood Female Spectator IV. xxiv. 334 The then Prime Minister..hated all who either had any real Merit, or were judged to have it.

1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 51 Pressing down the whole by the weight of a real monarchy.

1835 D. Crockett Acct. Col. Crockett's Tour 60 Folks need not go out of Boston to find rale hospitality.

1867 G. MacDonald Ann. Quiet Neighbourhood I. iv. 87 It was evidently real and not affected doubt.

1907 G. B. Shaw How he Lied in John Bull's Other Island 144 I hardly like to ask; but it would be a real kindness to us both.

1958 G. Greene Our Man in Havana (1962) 71 Thank you for coming, Mr. Wormold. You are a real friend.

2005 R. Hoban Come dance with Me xxiv. 131 Mary was so graceful, so nicely finished, a real pleasure to look at.

b. Esp. of a precious metal, stone, or similar material: natural, as opposed to artificial, imitation, or depicted.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > existence > materiality > [adjective] > natural or existing in nature

kindlOE

kindlyc1225

naturalc1390

kindlike1489

native1560

real1602

physiurgic1817

physioplastica1832

physiurgoscopica1832

1602 A. Munday in tr. 3rd Pt. Palmerin of Eng. li. f. 157 Labour not so artificially, in making me a witnesse of your counterfaited beauty, for I know you haue no reall perfections in you.

1684 R. Boyle Exper. Porosity of Bodies viii. 130 He had reduced..real Gold, to that degree of Fusibleness and subtlety, that..the finer part of the Metal would sweat through his Glasses.

1712 J. Gay Arachne in A. Pope Misc. Poems 91 A real Bull seems in the Piece to roar, And real Billows breaking on the Shore.

1745 D. Fordyce Dialogues conc. Educ. I. ii. 46 May we not look upon the ordinary Forms of Civility..as no more than Counters, which, tho' they may..amuse the Eye as much as real Gold, yet none but Fools are amused with them?

1798 Daily Advertiser (N.Y.) 1 Jan. (advt.) The most fashionable gold-ear-rings and pins to match, enriched with real pearls, Gold necklaces and ear-rings, faux-montres, lockets, medallions and chains.

1827 H. Steuart Planter's Guide (1828) Pref. 2 In removing Wood, for the purpose of creating Real Landscape, plants of a large size are necessarily employed.

1866 Galaxy 1 May 79 When he has already four walls, doors, windows, fireplace, all ‘real and proper’, as Mr. Swiveller says, why in the world should he put up pasteboard imitations of them?

1907 Yesterday's Shopping 847/2 Silk umbrellas... Real tortoiseshell crutch, gold mounted.

1964 F. Tuohy Ice Saints (1965) xxvi. 156 The shop windows were filled with the usual unrealities, plaster models of legs of pork..and in reaction to this [most people]..had armed themselves with something real to carry home: a loaf of bread..or a spray of pussy-willow.

2004 R. Weitz Rapunzel's Daughters i. 24 In a weave, purchased fake or real hair (often imported from Asia) is sewn in bunches to a woman's own hair or to netting sewn to her hair.

c. Music. Of a sequence or a fugal answer: transposed so as to preserve the intervals of the original melody or subject.

ΚΠ

1869 F. A. G. Ouseley Treat. Counterpoint xiv. 83 Counterpoint in more than four real parts, i.e. ‘parts which proceed together, and yet have each a different melody’.

1869 F. A. G. Ouseley Treat. Counterpoint xix. 160 A fugue with a subject, the answer to which gives every interval by exact and simple transposition, is called a real fugue.

1889 E. Prout Harmony v. §139 If..the quality of the intervals is exactly the same in the imitations as in the pattern, the sequence will be real, i.e. exact... A real sequence is much rarer than a tonal one.

1983 New Oxf. Compan. Mus. ii. 1665/2 Some sequences are ‘real’ in some of their repetitions.

10.

a. That is the actual thing or person; that properly bears the name. Cf. real horizon at horizon n. 3a, the real McCoy at McCoy n. 1

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > foundation in fact, validity > [adjective] > genuine, real

soothc888

soothlyc888

soothfastc1175

germanec1384

truea1398

sickera1400

upright?a1500

uncounterfeita1542

righteous1543

legitimate1551

truepennya1556

arrant1570

uncounterfeited1571

real1573

current1578

genuinal1599

unforged1610

unpretended1611

legitime1614

unabusinga1628

Lubish1632

genuine1639

undissembled1651

undissimulate1652

ingenuine1661

infallacious1677

real live1684

unfalsified1688

unmistaken1694

pukka1776

undissimulated1776

unassumed1818

uncynical1824

Simon Pure1834

sure-enough1837

unsimulated1840

straight-out1848

true blue1852

veritable1862

really (and) truly1864

authentic1868

true-metal1868

kosher1896

twenty-four carat1900

honest to goodness1905

echt1916

dinky-di1918

McCoy1928

twenty-two carat1962

right1969

1573 J. Bridges Supremacie Christian Princes 1055 Thus these sayinges and doinges of Samuell, were not the reall deposing of Saule from his Royall throne.

a1602 W. Perkins Godlie & Learned Expos. Epist. Iude (1606) 72/2 (margin) Gods iudgments are his real sermons.

a1631 J. Donne Poems (1650) 9 The Kings reall, or his stamped face.

1660 F. Brooke tr. V. Le Blanc World Surveyed 10 One of them to his thinking favoured very much his companion, and as he was about to follow them, his reall companion called him to come back.

1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I. (at cited word) The Rational, Real or True Horizon, is a Circle which encompasses the Earth exactly in the Middle, and whose Poles are the Zenith and Nadir.

1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth IV. 244 The bag..may rather be considered as a supplemental womb. In the real womb, the little animal is partly brought to perfection.

1813 Sporting Mag. 41 175 She went the real pace, having passed this extent of country in forty-five minutes.

1840 T. B. Macaulay in Edinb. Rev. Jan. 306 It was absurd to regard him as the real master of Hindostan.

1869 J. Ruskin Queen of Air §5 From the real sun, rising and setting;—from the real atmosphere [etc.].

1938 G. Greene in Spectator 24 June 1144/2 In this old faded picture the Holy Family rest before the genuine Sphinx and Judas comes with torchbearers to the real Garden of Olives.

1972 C. Mungoshi Setting Sun Rolling World i. 1 She isn't my mother and my real mother is not dead.

2006 A. Davies Goodbye Lemon i. 42 The tiger's real name was Arai but my mouth-breather boss, Fishman, called him Keith Richards.

b. That is actually present or involved (as opposed to apparent, ostensible, etc.).in real terms: see also Phrases 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > existence > reality or real existence or actuality > [adjective] > as opposed to apparent, spiritual, or intellectual

naturalc1487

authentical1593

substantial1597

real1607

unimaginary1608

authentic1664

1607 G. Chapman Bussy D'Ambois i. i. 5 No man riseth by his reall merit.

1641 T. Urquhart Epigrams iii. 47 Fortune doth withdraw her gifts from some, Whose real worth surpasseth theirs, on whom She hath bestowed them.

1663 Case Mary Carleton 105 Concerning the real worth of those Jewels, I shall have further occasion to speak presently.

1708 Boston News-let. 9 Apr. 2/2 The real Loss by moderate Computation is between 3 and 4000 pounds damage.

1716 A. Pope Corr. 18 Aug. (1956) I. 353 Whatever I write will be the real Thought of that hour.

1771 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) II. lix. 269 I doubt not, they delivered their real sentiments.

1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations I. i. v. 39 Labour, like commodities, may be said to have a real and a nominal price. Its real price may be said to consist in the quantity of the necessaries and conveniencies of life which are given for it; its nominal price, in the quantity of money.

1827 J. Bentham Rationale Judicial Evid. IV. ix. ii. vii. 644 There lurks the real reason at the bottom of the ostensible one.

1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. vii. 279 With regard to the real explanation of these effects, it may be shown [etc.].

1871 J. R. Lowell My Study Windows 249 An imperturbable perception of the real relations of things.

1929 Social Sci. Abstr. 23 The close similarity of the general price level..substantiates its use as a measure of ‘real income’.

1976 Glasgow Herald 26 Nov. 1/6 Real earnings have fallen in the past few years and there is no way we can agree to any further reduction in the purchasing power of our members.

1994 P. Ormerod Death of Economics (1995) vii. 144 Apart from the likely short-term impact on unemployment of such a policy stance, very low inflation means that the real value of debt is eroded very slowly.

2003 M. Belson On the Press i. 23 His real reason for leaving was that he had heard something that I had not heard.

11.

†a. Sincere, straightforward, honest. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > sincerity, freedom from deceit > [adjective]

aefauldOE

trueOE

true as steela1300

throlya1375

entirec1380

faithfula1382

entirelyc1400

single1519

sincere1533

sincere1539

simple-minded1556

Dunstable?1565

truthful?1567

single-hearted1574

single-minded1577

sound1580

downright1584

unaffected1592

real1597

plain-hearted1601

unartificial1603

free1619

honest1634

fair and square1636

round-dealing1642

wholehearted1657

down flata1663

well-designing1670

heart-whole1684

single-eyed1705

unsanctimoniousa1797

natural1825

bona fide1827

unfallacious1827

jannock1828

forthcoming1835

up and down1836

bonified1840

forthgoing1851

unhypocritical1854

forthright1855

upstanding1863

on the level1872

genuine1890

for real1954

upfront1967

1597 F. Bacon Ess. f. 3^v He that is onely reall had need haue exceeding great parts of vertue.

1630 tr. G. Botero Relations Famous Kingdomes World (rev. ed.) 51 The Dutch hath an honest and reall manner of dealing.

1659 R. Brathwait Panthalia 35 Madam, quoth she, my Expresses shall be short and real.

1686 tr. J. Chardin Trav. Persia 173 Supposing he should be real and sincere.

1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. i. 17 If his intentions were real.

1705 S. Centlivre Gamester i. i. 7 If I could believe thee real, my Joys would be compleat.

†b. True or loyal to another. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > morality > duty or obligation > recognition of duty > faithfulness or trustworthiness > fidelity or loyalty > [adjective]

holdc893

trueOE

leala1300

truefula1350

faithfula1375

true-hearted1465

liege1478

well-wishing1548

allegiant1556

vowed1560

lewtifull1563

whole-chested1576

devotious1583

devote1597

loyal-hearted1599

devoted1600

resolved1600

real1639

fidelious1650

liegeful1872

1639 L. Carlell Arviragus & Philicia ii. iv. sig. C2 When I seconded my propositions with tender of Philicia for his wife, and did engage my faith, I Iudged your kindnesse reall to my opinion.

1642 Earl of Clanricarde in T. Carte Hist. Duke of Ormonde (1735) III. 79 To haue a person soe full of worth and honour to be firme and reall to me.

1692 T. D'Urfey Marriage-hater Match'd i. i. sig. B Was your deceas'd Friend real to ye? are you sure there's no flaw In the Will?

c. Free from nonsense, affectation, or pretence; genuine. Also more generally: aware of, or in touch with, real life; down-to-earth.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > behaviour > unaffectedness or naturalness > [adjective]

natural1553

unaffecting1602

inartificial1665

unaffected1677

real1747

unpedantic1782

unpretentious1838

untheatric1858

unselfconscious1866

the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > lack of imagination > [adjective] > not romantic or idealized

unromantic1731

real1747

unideal1838

unromanticized1838

1747 H. Knight Being & Attrib. God i. i. 15 This, 'tis hoped, will make it appear a plain, real, and demonstrative argument, instead of its being..a privileg'd topick for obscurity and unintelligibleness.

1789 A. Bayly Alliance Musick, Poetry & Oratory ii. 330 Viz., a vile and obscure abbreviation of the Latin videlict, instead of which it is always better to use the real and plain English word namely.

1850 Ld. Tennyson Princess (ed. 3) Concl. 172 They hated banter, wish'd for something real.

1851 N. Hawthorne House of Seven Gables ix. 153 Phoebe's presence made a home about her... She was real!

1880 A. D. Whitney Odd or Even? xxxvi She had been so near real people who meant every bit of their lives.

1935 A. M. Lindbergh Let. 27 Feb. in Locked Rooms & Open Doors (1974) 255 That moment was real. It was the only thing that stood still in the whirlpool of shops, advertisements, cars, traffic signals, people, price tags, rags of conversation.

1961 Noble Savage Fall 12 He [sc. Seymour Krim] alludes to something called ‘direct writing’, and he finds that criticism gets in the way of his ‘truer, realer, imaginative bounce’.

2003 B. Wagner Still Holding iv. 310 The friend had been right—working at the hospice took her out of herself and put her in touch with what was real.

d. Of a period or event in a person's life: fully or profoundly experienced; particularly significant or memorable.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > particular time > [noun] > memorable or important

era1703

real1871

1871 E. Roland in Galaxy June 873/1 The moments when our ideals tread the earth and walk hand in hand with us are the most real moments of our lives.

1962 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 25 Feb. 32 The experience of being oneself which everyone at times feels is not only his own but perhaps the realest experience of living.

1987 J. Woodress Willa Cather (1989) xxiii. 502 It seemed that the most real and interesting parts of her life were the times she had spent with Roscoe in Wyoming.

2001 Pittsburgh Post-Gaz. (Nexis) 13 May e1 The realest moment in my relatively short life was watching one of my friends at the moment of his death.

e. In predicative use. Of a situation or event: serious, distressing, or dangerous. Frequently with get.

ΚΠ

1967 B. Glanville Artist Type iii. 67 Things were getting too real, I felt surrounded.

1991 Los Angeles Times 11 Aug. m6/5 You ask a whole lotta questions, and then when it get too real fo' you, you start hollerin'.

1996 C. Higson Getting Rid of Mr Kitchen ii. 19 Marriage is one thing, but babies... It was all becoming a bit too real. So I walked.

2002 CMJ New Music Rep. 25 Nov. 23/2 We don't want people to have this perception of us that while shit is real in the world, we're around here trying to play.

2013 Leatherneck July 65/1 Their [sc. the Marines] landing was uncontested. In the early hours of the following day, things got real.

†12. Essential, important. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > importance > [adjective] > essential or central

cardinal1440

material1603

primal1619

real1620

centrical1659

vital1659

essential1770

nucleal1826

key1832

pivotal1837

keystone1846

pivot1861

quintessential1901

central1902

core1962

the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > [adjective]

needfulOE

necessaryc1376

needfulc1390

necessairea1393

needfula1402

necessariousc1410

requisite1442

unlackablec1443

unsparablec1449

necessc1475

requise1477

needy1487

exigentc1508

of necessityc1515

essential1526

insacrificablea1603

peremptory1607

unspared1614

sine qua non1615

real1620

necessitous1637

needsomec1650

undispensable1658

vital1659

wanting1671

implemental1676

sine quo non1693

indispensable1696

indispensible1792

vital1822

unmissable1823

of the essence (of)1843

1620 Ld. Herbert Corr. in Life (1886) 349 This being the reallest,..I need not insist upon some less essential forms.

1699 P. Gordon Geogr. Anatomized (ed. 2) i. i. 2 As for other Narratives relating either to Countries themselves, or their Inhabitants, and which commonly swell up Geographical Tracts, we reckon them..rather the Fringes of Geography, than its real or essential Parts.

B. n.²

†1. = realist n. 1. Frequently in plural. Cf. nominal n. 1. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > scholasticism > [noun] > scholastic realism > adherent of

real1519

realist1547

1519 W. Horman Vulgaria viii. f. 93 The wey of the nomynallys and reals is dyuers.

1559 T. Paynell tr. Erasmus Complaint of Peace sig. Biij The Scotysse dothe fyghte with the Thomiste, the Nomynale with the Reale, and the Platonyst with the Peripatike.

1604 T. Wright Passions of Minde (new ed.) vi. 298 Those dissenting and contradicting Sectes of..Realles and Nominalles.

1655 tr. in T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. iii. 99 Ocham his Scholar, father of the Nominals, opposed Scotus the founder of the Reals.

1684 G. S. Anglorum Speculum 801 W. Ockham headed the Nominals against the Reals, followers of Scotus.

1711 tr. S. Werenfels Disc. Logomachys vi. 101 It's impossible to number up all the Elegancys of the Albertists, Occamists, Thomists, Scotists, Reals and Nominals.

1779 D. Williams tr. Voltaire Ignorant Philosopher xlix. 62 Of what importance is it to state, that our opinions should be those of the reals or of the nominals?

a. A real thing; something having (or conceived as having) a real existence. Frequently in plural.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > existence > reality or real existence or actuality > [noun] > a reality or a real thing or state of things

visagec1374

fact?1560

actuality1587

reality1613

real1615

realty1616

fact of lifea1806

ground truth1833

the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > metaphysics > ontology > [noun] > being or entity

body1587

ens1614

real1615

beënt1865

1615 T. Adams Blacke Devill 10 Deuils are not nominals, but reals; not imaginarie qualities, but afflicting spirites.

a1626 L. Andrewes Serm. (1856) I. 142 The names of His imposing; there is no surer place in logic than from them. His nominals be reals.

1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica 82 Hereunto we know not how to assent in the Generall, as having met with some whose Reals made good their representations.

a1834 S. T. Coleridge Lit. Remains (1838) III. 332 If we will confound actuals with reals.

1884 B. Bosanquet et al. tr. H. Lotze Metaphysic 60 A material of reality, a Real pure and simple, which in itself is neither this nor that, but the principle of reality for everything.

1925 J. E. Turner Theory of Direct Realism V. 53 The naïve realist..is practically a pluralist. He perceives reals rather than reality.

1992 Mod. Painters Spring 60/3 He is convinced that there is a Real behind the different religious traditions..all are affirming the same ultimate.

†b. A piece of real property (sense A. 7c). Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > possessions > [noun] > real or immovable property > a piece of

realty1567

real1651

1651 W. G. tr. J. Cowell Inst. Lawes Eng. i. x. 26 And so of imoveables and realls [L. immobilia vel realia] if aliened by the Husband in his lifetime.

3. With the. That which actually exists (contrasted with something abstract, imaginary, counterfeit, or otherwise insubstantial, or with something ideal).

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > existence > reality or real existence or actuality > [noun] > the reality as opposed to what is apparent

bodyc1384

truth1531

substance1533

person1548

effect1592

hypostasis1605

reality1620

reala1637

essence1646

hypostase1867

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > [noun] > reality > as actually existing

realitya1513

reala1637

a1637 B. Jonson Magnetick Lady iii. iii. 35 in Wks. (1640) III Shadowes have their figure, motion And their umbratile action from the reall.

1709 R. Gould Wks. I. 215 'Tis easie to believe those Fictions true Which the bold Greeks have so sublimely told; The Real here out does the feign'd of Old.

1759 J. Grainger in tr. Euripides Cyclops ii. i, in C. Lennox tr. P. Brumoy Greek Theatre III. 464 Custom..[had] given the poets full authority over the fabulous religion, which greatly differed from the real.

1800 S. T. Coleridge tr. F. Schiller Death Wallenstein v. 130 He..transform'd for me the real to a dream.

1844 E. B. Barrett Dead Pan in Poems II. 274 And the Real is His song.

1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin I. xv. 223 Thus ended the..ideal of life for Augustine St. Clare. But the real remained.

1870 J. H. Newman Ess. Gram. Assent i. v. 135 Religion has to do with the real, and the real is the particular.

1932 W. T. Stace Theory of Knowl. 332 Shareability of perception is what distinguishes the real from the unreal.

1988 G. Swift Out of this World 188 It's no longer easy to distinguish the real from the fake.

2003 M. R. Chvasta & D. L. Fassett Survivor Lessons 220 There is a tendency to mistake the possible for the real—to concretize that which, technically, is without existence.

4. Mathematics. A real number. Usually in plural.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [noun] > particular qualities > real

possibility1673

scalar1846

real1853

1853 W. R. Hamilton Elem. Quaternions ii. 58 We may agree to give the general name of scalars to all positive and negative numbers (that is to the reals of ordinary algebra).

1881 Amer. Jrnl. Math. 4 228 There may be no vector, and in that case we have the ordinary algebra of reals; or there may be only one vector, and in that case we have the ordinary algebra of imaginaries.

1940 W. V. Quine Math. Logic 273 Every bounded class of reals has a least bound.

1995 New Scientist 2 Sept. 38/1 The ‘reals’ are made up of all the familiar types of number, such as integers (which include zero, negative and positive whole numbers) and rationals, such as 453/5672.

2001 Bull. Symbolic Logic 7 424 In 1991 Wilkie proved the o-minimality of (R. exp): the expansion of the reals by the exponential function (and more recently by all Pfaffian functions).

C. adv.

1. Modifying an adjective: really, genuinely. Also more generally in later use: very, extremely (originally regional (esp. Scottish, Irish English, English regional (northern), and U.S.) and subsequently also colloquial).In early use properly an adjective qualifying the following phrase (‘good turn’, etc.), and only later apprehended as an adverb qualifying the adjective (‘good’, etc.). N.E.D. (1904) notes: ‘Not common in standard use in southern England except to some extent in the original construction.’

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > foundation in fact, validity > [adverb] > truly, genuinely

trulyc1225

truea1400

veritably1481

veritable1490

authentically1593

indeeda1616

genuinely1640

real1645

unpretendingly1701

honest to God1892

the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adverb] > very

tooc888

swith971

wellOE

fullOE

rightc1175

muchc1225

wellac1275

gainlya1375

endlyc1440

hard?1440

very1448

odda1500

great1535

jolly1549

fellc1600

veryvery1649

gooda1655

vastly1664

strange1667

bloody1676

ever so1686

heartily1727

real1771

precious1775

quarely1805

murry1818

très1819

freely1820

powerfula1822

gurt1824

almighty1830

heap1832

all-fired1833

gradely1850

real1856

bonny1857

heavens1858

veddy1859

canny1867

some1867

oh-so1881

storming1883

spanking1886

socking1896

hefty1898

velly1898

fair dinkum1904

plurry1907

Pygmalion1914

dinkum1915

beaucoup1918

dirty1920

molto1923

snorting1924

honking1929

hellishing1931

thumpingly1948

way1965

mega1966

mondo1968

seriously1970

totally1972

mucho1978

stonking1990

1645 J. Saltmarsh Opening Prynnes New Bk. 31 He need not go so far about, which when all is done, brings a soul, but at best, upon a probable, specious, or real coloured Argument.

1658 R. Allestree Pract. Christian Graces; or, Whole Duty of Man xiii. §35. 276 The reallest good turn that can be done from one man to another.

1718 J. Fox Wanderer No. 17. 116 An Opportunity of doing a real good Office.

1771 E. Griffith Hist. Lady Barton II. 283 The burning of three real good and substantial houses in this town.

1827 R. H. Froude Remains (1838) I. 448 Last Friday was a real fine day.

1845 J. B. Buckstone Green Bushes iii. ii. 43 Sure that's a mighty civil spoken boy, and it's rale grand Master George is with his big house in Dublin city, and his English sarvants in goold lace.

1885 G. Allen Babylon I. vi. 131 It looks real nice.

1887 ‘M. Wetheral’ Two North-country Maids xxv. 174 I was real put out to think how [etc.].

1901 M. Franklin My Brilliant Career xxviii. 238 Her face ain't got them freckles... It's reel wite.

1939 War Illustr. 28 Oct. 219/1 If I had not been on fire I could easily have shot down two more. It was real bad luck, but my pals accounted for three besides the one I hit.

1943 K. Tennant Ride on Stranger viii. 77 He's real clever.

1968 K. Weatherly Roo Shooter 111 It was real heavy going, and I must have dried the flamin' plugs and points twenty times.

1981 ‘J. Sturrock’ Suicide Most Foul viii. 151 That Bonaparte's rale wicked, ain't he?

2002 A. Bellin Poker Nation iv. 63 As Dad came up real close to him Ben upped his gun; he'd had it hidden behind the door.

2. colloquial and regional (chiefly North American and Australian). Modifying an adverb: really; very, extremely.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adverb] > very

tooc888

swith971

wellOE

fullOE

rightc1175

muchc1225

wellac1275

gainlya1375

endlyc1440

hard?1440

very1448

odda1500

great1535

jolly1549

fellc1600

veryvery1649

gooda1655

vastly1664

strange1667

bloody1676

ever so1686

heartily1727

real1771

precious1775

quarely1805

murry1818

très1819

freely1820

powerfula1822

gurt1824

almighty1830

heap1832

all-fired1833

gradely1850

real1856

bonny1857

heavens1858

veddy1859

canny1867

some1867

oh-so1881

storming1883

spanking1886

socking1896

hefty1898

velly1898

fair dinkum1904

plurry1907

Pygmalion1914

dinkum1915

beaucoup1918

dirty1920

molto1923

snorting1924

honking1929

hellishing1931

thumpingly1948

way1965

mega1966

mondo1968

seriously1970

totally1972

mucho1978

stonking1990

1856 Putnam's Monthly Mag. Aug. 125/2 When the select-men bound me out to Deacon Perkins after mother's funeral, I did feel real bad.

1892 A. Conan Doyle Adventures Sherlock Holmes x. 254 Oh yes, I know that I treated you real bad, and that I should have spoken to you before I went.

1893 H. A. Shands Some Peculiarities Speech Mississippi 52 Real down... Used by cultivated whites to mean exceedingly or extremely. A thing that is extremely nice is said to be real down nice.

1924 J. C. French Writing x. 290 Avoid: They live good in that camp (say live well), I sure will write real soon (say surely will, really soon).

1947 K. Tennant Lost Haven xix. 317 Everyone said she was lucky... Everything fell out ‘real nice’ for her.

1967 G. Jackson Let. 13 July in Soledad Brother (1971) 121 I felt real bad about that.

1975 D. Lodge Changing Places ii. 57 You and I must have lunch together real soon.

2006 A. M. Foley Having my Say xxx. 187 He planted them feet and swung that net around and tossed it so it would spread out and settle on the bottom. Then he snatched it real quick.

Phrases

P1. real live: (originally) having a real existence; actually existing; (now chiefly colloquial in weakened use) real, actual. Cf. real life adj.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > foundation in fact, validity > [adjective] > genuine, real

soothc888

soothlyc888

soothfastc1175

germanec1384

truea1398

sickera1400

upright?a1500

uncounterfeita1542

righteous1543

legitimate1551

truepennya1556

arrant1570

uncounterfeited1571

real1573

current1578

genuinal1599

unforged1610

unpretended1611

legitime1614

unabusinga1628

Lubish1632

genuine1639

undissembled1651

undissimulate1652

ingenuine1661

infallacious1677

real live1684

unfalsified1688

unmistaken1694

pukka1776

undissimulated1776

unassumed1818

uncynical1824

Simon Pure1834

sure-enough1837

unsimulated1840

straight-out1848

true blue1852

veritable1862

really (and) truly1864

authentic1868

true-metal1868

kosher1896

twenty-four carat1900

honest to goodness1905

echt1916

dinky-di1918

McCoy1928

twenty-two carat1962

right1969

1684 J. Kettlewell Serm. Death Lady Digby 15 Those neglected Graces..are more than Words, and are real live things, made visible to all in the excellency of her Practice.

1705 J. Toland tr. de la Créquinière Agreement Customs East-Indians with Jews 126 This Queen..caused many of them [sc. elephants] to be made of Wood, and to be plac'd at the Front of the Army..whereupon the Indians..were very much astonished, and their Horses were no less frighted, than if they had been real live Elephants.

1714 J. Purcell Treat. Cholick i. 46 It is usual to find real live Serpents a Foot long in the Kidneys of Wolves.

1847 J. M. Field Drama in Pokerville 14 A travelling menagerie..but varmints were ‘no whar’ in comparison with..real live actors.

1887 Fun 26 Oct. 175/1 A real live glass milk-jug..given to every lady that buys one pound of our two shilling Bohea.

1890 ‘W. A. Wallace’ Only a Sister 53 Rosemary had taken a great deal of trouble to catch ‘a real live’ philosopher.

1948 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 7 Mar. 25 An amiable alcoholic who keeps a real live chicken-eating geek in his garden.

2007 Sunday Herald (Glasgow) 17 June (Seven Days section) 3/1 It was also common practice to go for a hudgie on the back of a real live motorised vehicle.

P2. in real terms: (Economics) reckoned by purchasing power rather than monetary or nominal value; also in extended use.

ΚΠ

1942 J. R. Hicks Social Framework xv. 160 The cost-of-living index..covers a large part of the field which would be covered by the ideal index which we should desire to have for measuring the national income in real terms.

1964 J. Gould & W. L. Kolb Dict. Social Sci. 454/1 If a series of national product estimates for several years is divided by a price index, each year's national product being divided by the price index for that year, the resulting series is known as deflated or real national product, or national product in real terms.

1976 Canadian (Toronto) 1 May 8/3 NDP leader David Lewis..calculated that Canadian business receives about as much in federal subsidies as it pays in federal income tax—and thus contributes practically nothing, in real terms, to running the government.

1981 Sunday Times 26 Apr. 13/4 Despite an urgent maintenance and restoration programme, it [sc. the National Trust] is spending less in real terms on looking after its property than it was two years ago.

2002 C. Llewellyn-Smith Pop Life vii. 151 Even though unmarried people under the age of twenty-five were included in this definition of teenagers, in real terms this was twice the pre-war figure.

P3. will the real —— please stand up?: see to stand up 1e at stand v. Phrasal verbs 1.

P4. Originally and chiefly U.S. for real: real; in reality. Cf. for prep. 18a(b).

ΚΠ

1951 Billboard 9 June 92/1 (advt.) There's No Make-Believe about Williams Harvey. It's ‘for real’ in appeal, play and profits!

1954 W. M. Miller Conditionally Human (1963) 72 Don't worry, Richard. This time it's for real.

1957 New Yorker 21 Sept. 33/2 He said psychiatrists had been enthusiastic, patents have been applied for, and it's for real.

1960 J. Kirkwood There must be Pony! xii. 95 A good guy; a movie cop..; a for-real cop.

2009 D. Leinweber Nerds on Wall Street vi. 137 With..the graying out of many generations of copies of the charts, it seemed to be time to write it up for real.

P5. colloquial (originally U.S.). it's been real: ‘it's been memorable’, ‘it's been an experience’; used as a farewell, with varying degrees of sincerity or irony, and sometimes simply as a formulaic phrase. Cf. sense A. 11d.

ΚΠ

1954 W. Morris Huge Season xi. 277 He stepped forward and bowed to Lou Baker, took her hand, kissed it. ‘Doll, it's been real.’

1958 E. W. Smith Treasury Maine Woods 294 I would almost prefer to settle for: ‘See ya, pal—it's been real,’ or the even more hideous and reprehensible, ‘G'by now’.

1984 Times 16 Apr. 24/2 Goodnight Plymouth. It's been real, lads.

1995 C. Higson Full Whack (1996) v. 34 Nice to have met you. It's been real.

2002 Electronic Gaming Monthly Mar. 50/3 It's time to wrap up another installment of Gaming Gossip. It's been real, yo.

P6. slang (originally U.S.). to get real: to be realistic or serious; to face facts; to abandon a naive, insincere, or erroneous opinion. Now frequently in imperative, used to suggest that an idea or statement is foolish, overly idealistic, or quite wrong.Cf. sense A. 11e.

ΚΠ

1969 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) 3 6 Get real, to tell the truth.

1980 Maledicta 3 ii. 222 The aggressiveness of the younger ass-bandit who wants to score in sex as a game is, in the older homosexual, taken as evidence he is a dizzy queen who doesn't know when to quit (how to live or when to die) and won't get real (face facts).

1987 K. Lette Girls' Night Out (1989) 89 ‘Shit, Jo. I didn't know he meant anything to you.’ ‘Get real. He doesn't.’

1993 Caves & Caving Winter 40/1 For those who feel that politics have no place in caving or other sporting activities—get real!

1998 C. Aherne et al. Royle Family Scripts: Series 1 (1999) Episode 4. 112 Denise: I'll tell you who else is gay. Dave: Who? Denise: Antony. Antony: Get real.

2002 Village Voice (N.Y.) 36/2 Again at war in the Middle East, the U.S. could decide to get real about investing in alternative fuels.

Compounds

C1.

a. real-hearted, real-minded, etc., adjectives.

ΚΠ

1648 J. Quarles Fons Lachrymarum 118 Come real-hearted Mourners, and incline Your ears to my sad story.

a1866 J. Grote Exam. Utilit. Philos. (1870) ii. 37 The more real-minded the philosopher is, and the less he is the mere echo of others.

1884 J. Parker Apostolic Life III. 66 Would..real-hearted men respect him now?

1992 Microelectronics Jrnl. 23 540/1 Modeling of k-way splits is reduced to a mathematical problem of mapping the maximum separation problem in a signed hypergraph into the maximum cut problem in a real-weighted graph.

b. real-looking, real-seeming, etc., adjectives.

ΚΠ

1830 T. Wade Jew of Arragon v. ii. 71 Oh! my king, My brain hath in the night been tortur'd By such a hideous real-seeming, dream, That, on my life! 'twas more than visionary.

1883 Cent. Mag. Jan. 441/2 What fantastic, yet real-seeming peculiarity can he have?

1948 E. Bowen et al. Why do I Write? 24 You and I, by writing a story, impose shape—on fictitious life, it's true, but on life that is real-seeming enough to be familiar and recognisable.

1991 R. Anderson Paper Faces xiv. 82 Dot hugged this doll... She said, ‘It's ever so real-looking, like a person except it's so titchy.’

2006 Time Out N.Y. 28 Sept. 101/2 All of Palminteri's scenes burn with a deft, torn-up rawness, as does much of this real-feeling film.

C2.

real account n. Accounting an account dealing with the material assets of a business, such as its property (cf. sense A. 7).

ΚΠ

1853 Janesville (Wisconsin) Gaz. 20 Aug. The method of opening and closing personal and real accounts.

1911 E. E. Spicer & E. C. Pegier Pract. Auditing iv. 116 Impersonal Accounts..may be subdivided into Nominal Accounts, which relate to profit or loss, and Real Accounts, which record assets.

2000 Jrnl. Business Ethics 25 303/2 It is in the periodic closing of these nominal accounts to the ‘real accounts’..that ‘capital accounting’ is formed.

real ale n. draught beer that has been brewed by traditional methods, and which has undergone secondary fermentation in the barrel; cask-conditioned beer.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > ale or beer > ale > [noun] > other ales

strawberry ale1523

red ale1557

sixteens1584

bottle ale1586

hostler ale1590

Pimlico1609

eyebright1612

quest-ale1681

hugmatee1699

Newcastle brown (ale)1707

pale ale1708

twopenny ale (or beer)1710

twoops1729

flux ale1742

pale1743

Ringwood1759

brown ale1776

light ale1780

blue cap1789

brown1820

India pale ale1837

Tipper1843

ostler ale1861

fourpenny ale1871

four-ale1883

ninepenny1886

Scotch1886

barley wine1940

IPA1953

light1953

real ale1972

1972 What's Brewing Oct. Mr A—— B——..is ripping out the keg taps and replacing them with real ale from wooden barrels.

1974 Good Beer Guide (CAMRA) 2 The real ale we are talking about has to stand up to three tests; in the way it is brewed, the way it is stored and the way it is served.

2004 K. Long Bad Mother's Handbk. (2005) vii. 157 It was a bit of an old gimmers' place, popular for Sunday lunches and real ale.

real books n. Education (chiefly British) a strategy for teaching children to read which advocates the use of books not written specifically for reading instruction; frequently attributive (also in singular).

ΚΠ

1990 Guardian 20 Mar. 21/2 The current interests appear to focus mainly on ‘look-say’ or ‘real books’ approaches.

1992 Appl. Linguistics 13 124 The swings from phonics to look-and-say to real books in the teaching of reading.

1998 T. Payne & E. Turner Dyslexia i. 3 Our view is that real-book methods, used properly in combination with other methods, including phonics, are very appropriate means for dyslexic children to learn to read.

2005 Times Educ. Suppl. (Nexis) 24 June 23 I am not a dedicated advocate of look-and-say, real books, analytic phonics or any of the other methods that have also been hailed as magic solutions.

real coffee n. coffee made from ground coffee beans, as opposed either to a substitute or (now esp.) to instant coffee.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > drink > coffee > [noun] > coffee by type of preparation

real coffee1877

drip coffee1895

cowboy coffee1915

café-filtre1922

caffè espresso1933

perc1936

Nescafé1938

espresso1945

instant1954

Nescaff1962

cafe Americano1964

filtre1966

Nes1967

Americano1973

espresso macchiato1976

caffè ristretto1977

ristretto1980

espresso ristretto1983

half-caf1990

1877 H. Ruede Jrnl. 13 June in Sod-house Days (1937) 99 Most people out here don't drink real coffee, because it is too expensive... So rye coffee is used a great deal—parched brown or black according to whether the users like a strong or mild drink.

a1911 D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) II. ix. 219 The coffee, boiled with the milk, was real coffee, too.

1964 L. Deighton Funeral in Berlin iv. 281 Could you find us a little cup of real coffee?

1974 N. Freeling Dressing of Diamond 201 ‘Where's the patrol, Gilbert?’ ‘Be back any minute.’ ‘Then you might make us some real coffee.’

1998 Gay Times Aug. (Classified Ads section) 28/2 Beer, cats, country walks, food, friends, real coffee, jazz, reading, vegetarian food. Mid 30s M seeks younger M with subversive SOH.

† real composition n. Law Obsolete a binding agreement or contract, esp. one relating to lands or real property.

ΚΠ

c1460 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Oseney Abbey (1907) 145 (MED) With the consent..of lorde William..was i-maade A Reall composicion bytwene vs and the person þere..that þe saide person..have owre porcion þere.

a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1906) ii. 579 (MED) The bisshop decreid his ordeynyng and prouision to be a riall composicion to the parties.

1766 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. II. iii. 28 A real composition is when an agreement is made between the owner of the lands, and the parson or vicar,..that such lands shall for the future be discharged from payment of tithes, by reason of some land or other real recompence given to the parson, in lieu..thereof.

1794 T. H. Shaw Law Tithes vii. 256 A real composition if it can be shewed, may be a sufficient discharge of the Tithes of such lands.

real fire n. a (domestic) fire that burns solid fuel such as wood or coal, esp. in an open grate, as contrasted with a gas or electric fire or other source of heat.In early use probably not a fixed collocation.

ΚΠ

1873 Warren Republican (Williamsport, Indiana) 20 Nov. 4/4 A pale gaslight and the heat of a register is..about as much like a real fire as the moonshine of a panorama is like real moonlight.

1927 San Antonio (Texas) Light 2 Jan. Fortunate is the mother who can have a real fire on her hearth.

1989 A. Aird 1990 Good Pub Guide 36/2 Real fires, friendly service and pub cat.

2015 N.Z. Herald (Nexis) 19 Apr. Clean burning, gas-fired models are the easiest outdoor fireplaces to use and maintain. But if you want a real fire, consider a wood burner, chimenea, firebowl, fire pit or brazier.

real man n. (also with capital initials) originally U.S. a man who fulfils traditional expectations of masculinity in his behaviour, attitudes, or appearance; a virile or masculine man.

ΘΚΠ

the world > people > person > man > [noun] > virile man

manc1330

real man1872

he-man1885

man's mana1896

virilist1910

cocksman1916

macho1943

Marlboro Man1957

macho man1959

man1963

1872 Titusville (Pa.) Morning Herald 23 Sept. But society is full of shams shoddy and tinsel. The real man puts on no airs at all and the real lady none.

1922 E. O'Neill in Hearst's Internat. Mar. 47/1 It was..aisy for a rale man with guts to him, the like of me.

1926 Times-Signal (Zanesville, Ohio) 17 Oct. It's out here in the lonely places that you get the real-man type. There's nothing sissy about it.

1935 G. Blake Shipbuilders vi. 166 Leslie was glad to pass from these landlubberly excesses down to the engine-room where the real men in their dungarees were happy in their battle with the fretful complications of a huge power unit.

1982 B. Feirstein Real Men don't eat Quiche ii. 13 In the past, it was easy to be a Real Man. All you had to do was abuse women, steal land from Indians, and find some place to dump the toxic waste.

2005 T. Hall Salaam Brick Lane viii. 170 Real men watch football. Snooker's for poofters.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	real
释义	realn.³ Brit. /reɪˈɑːl/, U.S. /reɪˈɑl/, /riˈɑl/ Inflections: Plural (in senses 1 and 2) reals; (in sense 3b) reais Brit. /reɪˈʌɪs/, U.S. /reɪˈaɪs/. Forms: 1500s–1600s reall, 1600s– real, 1700s reaus (plural), 1900s– reais (in sense 3b, plural). Origin: A borrowing from Spanish. Etymon: Spanish real. Etymology: < Spanish real (1495), use as noun of real real adj.¹, so called on account of its being a coin minted for the king. Compare post-classical Latin realis (1292 in a British source), Middle French real (1363; French réal ), reale (1580; French †réale ), Portuguese real (1339). In sense 3b after Brazilian Portuguese real. Compare earlier rial n.¹In the plural form reais after the Portuguese plural form reais (also réis ). In real of plate at sense 1(a) after Spanish real de plata (see plate n.). 1. In Spain and Spanish-speaking countries: a small silver coin and money of account (no longer in general use). (a) More fully real of plate. A former Spanish coin, the real de plata (largely circulated in the United States until c1850, and in Mexico until 1897), equal to an eighth of a dollar (see also quot. 1976). Cf. rial n.¹ 2a, rial of plate at rial n.¹ 2b, and medio real at medio n. Now chiefly historical. (b) The former Spanish monetary unit, the real (de) vellon (not current as a coin), equal to a quarter of a peseta. Cf. vellon n. Now historical.The real of plate was formerly known in the northern U.S. as a Mexican shilling (Mexican n. and adj. Compounds 3) or Spanish shilling, and in the south as a levy (levy n.²). See also bit n.² 10. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > money > standards and values of currencies > [noun] > specific monetary units or units of account > specific Spanish maravedi1540 real1558 society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > foreign coins > [noun] > Spanish coins > silver > real de plata rial1508 rial of plate1555 real1558 royal of plate1559 royal1587 platea1593 1558 W. Ward tr. G. Ruscelli Secretes Alexis of Piemount f. 116^v You shall put to it these thinges folowinge,..Syluer heaten, or Siluerfoile, the weight of a Spanish Reall, Sal Armoniacke, waying three times as much, Salte Peter the weighte of fiue Realles. 1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage viii. x. 655 Euery Indian payeth tribute to the King [of Spain] twelue Realls of Plate. 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 97 The Muscovites..carry them [sc. Rixdollers] to the Mint, as they do also Spanish Reals. 1705 S. Sewall Diary 1 Jan. (1973) I. 516 I admitted it: gave him 3 Reals. 1761 Ann. Reg. 1760 89 All they owed to the crown..which does not amount to less than sixty millions of reals. 1817 T. R. Malthus Ess. Princ. Population (ed. 5) II. iii. xii. 489 The highest price in 1790 was 109 reals vellon. 1850 B. Taylor Eldorado II. xiii. 84 The money..was paid to me in quarter-dollars, reals, and medios, which it took me more than an hour to count. 1882 Harper's Mag. Mar. 545/1 At the third and least objectionable the price of rooms was at the exceedingly reasonable figure of two reals a night. 1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 385/2 She began it [sc. the building of a Franciscan nunnery] with one hundred reals (one pound sterling) lent her by a devotee, and it was completed in fourteen years by voluntary gifts. 1976 A. Parades Texas-Mexican Cancionero Gloss. Real. Formerly a coin worth one-eighth of a peso or 12½ centavos... The coin no longer exists, but the real still is used as a unit of monetary value in some parts of Mexico and the southwestern United States. 2005 M. Chaplan Urban Treasure Hunter ii. 23 Among their recoveries have been coins and artifacts from both the pre- and post-Civil War eras. Currently, their key finds are old Spanish reals. 2. real of eight n. = piece of eight n. at piece n. 16b. Cf. rial of eight at rial n.¹ 2c. Now historical. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > foreign coins > [noun] > Spanish coins > silver > Spanish dollar royal of plate1559 piastre1592 rial of eight1598 piece of eight1606 royal of eight1606 real of eight1612 rial1640 plate-piece of eight1680 cob1681 cross-dollar1689 duro1777 1612 T. Shelton tr. M. de Cervantes Don-Quixote: Pt. 1 i. ii. 14 It being all one to me to be paid my Money in 8 single Reals, or to be paid the same in one Real of eight. a1665 K. Digby Jrnl. Voy. to Mediterranean (1868) 38 4 French vessels, whereof one..had still a hundred thousand reals of eight abord her. 1703 tr. C. de Renneville Coll. Voy. Dutch E.-India Company 248 Of all the Money that is coyned in Spain, only the Reals of eight are only current in India. 1745 ‘R. Thompson’ Atalantis Reviv'd II. 223 To appear the more Brilliant at this Feast, he ordered Blue Liveries to be made for all his Servants, and instead of Lace, he had solid Reals of Eight on their Cloaths. 1780 W. Lothian Hist. United Provinces Netherlands i. 91 The Flemings did not interfere in the quarrel, but bought some cloves, at the rate of thirty-five reals of Eight, for a barre weighing five hundred and fifty pounds. 1817 J. Mill Hist. Brit. India I. i. ii. 31 The prize money, which was estimated at 100,000l. and 240,000 reals of eight. 1875 S. A. Drake Nooks & Corners New Eng. Coast xvii. 275 Hunt, the greatest thief of them all, kidnaped in this very harbor of Plymouth, in the year 1614, twenty-four of those silly savages, and sold them in Spain for reals of eight. 1939 Monumenta Nipponica 2 360 We see him lending sums of money varying from 20 to 300 reals of eight to the natives. 2001 P. H. Kratoska S.E. Asia ix. 259 More than 40% profit was sometimes made on the reals-of-eight which were used for trading in Asia. 3. a. A former Portuguese coin and monetary unit; = rea n. 1. Now historical.Largely restricted in English to discussions of the currency (as opposed to particular denotations of value), as no one-real coins were minted after 1580. Over the course of the 18th cent., the milreis became the de facto principal unit with the real a one-thousandth part of it. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > money > standards and values of currencies > [noun] > specific monetary units or units of account > specific Portuguese rea1555 milreis1589 real1688 1688 tr. G. de Magalhães New Hist. China x. 136 The Copper Money of China is round, and generally about the bigness of a Portuguese Real and a half. 1828 H. Parnell Observ. Paper Money, Banking, & Overtrading (ed. 2) 72 The French livre has been reduced to a seventy-fourth of its original value; the Spanish maravedi to less than a one-thousandth; and the Portuguese real has suffered still more. 1920 W. H. Moreland India at Death of Akbar ii. 58 At the beginning of the sixteenth century the Portuguese real was worth about 0.27 or 0.28 of a penny, but by the year 1600 its value had fallen to 0.16d. b. The principal monetary unit of Brazil since 1994, equal to 100 centavos; a coin or note of this value. Cf. rea n. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > money > standards and values of currencies > [noun] > specific monetary units or units of account > specific Central and South American milreis1589 boliviano1872 cordoba1913 lempira1931 cruzeiro1942 Guarani1943 inti1985 real1994 1994 Daily Tel. 10 May 16/8 President Itamar Franco of Brazil announced yesterday that a new currency, the real, will be introduced on July 1. 1998 D. Kulick Travesti ii. 75 That contact sold her five liters of silicone at a price of thirty reais each. 2000 Marie Claire July 53/3 For Maite, the carnival is just a way of getting a few extra reals. 2004 D. Salvatore in V. Alexander et al. Monetary Units & Hard Pegs ii. 35 One way to resolve its international competitiveness problem would be for Argentina to tie the peso to the Brazilian real. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022). † realadj.¹n.¹ Forms: Middle English reale, Middle English realle, Middle English reyall, Middle English–1600s reall, Middle English–1700s real, 1500s–1600s reyal; Scottish pre-1700 reale, pre-1700 reall, pre-1700 realle, pre-1700 reaw. Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French real. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman real, reial and Middle French real royal, also worthy of a king (12th cent. in Old French; compare regiel (880)), (as noun) partisan of the king, king's man (12th cent.) < classical Latin rēgālis regal adj. Compare Old Occitan reial (12th cent.), real (c1300), Catalan reial , †real (14th cent.), Spanish real (13th cent.), Portuguese real (13th cent.; 11th cent. as rial ), Italian reale (a1321). Compare rial adj., rial n.¹, royal adj., royal n., and also regal adj.The Anglo-Norman word is also found as an element in place names, as Rewley (1289, Oxfordshire). Obsolete. A. adj.¹ 1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a monarch, royalty, or (by extension) the nobility, esp. with regard to power, wealth, or dignity; (also) befitting a monarch. Cf. regal adj. 1, 2 and suit real at suit n. 7a(b). ΘΚΠ society > authority > [adjective] > of or relating to regal or princely authority reala1325 regal?c1400 regnal1612 thrononicala1626 basilical1652 regalian1700 basilic1727 the mind > attention and judgement > beauty > splendour > [adjective] > magnificent lordlylOE richc1275 prouda1300 noblec1300 gloriousc1315 reala1325 rialc1330 stouta1350 solemnc1386 royalc1400 pompousc1425 statelyc1425 lordlike1488 magnific1490 of state1498 magnificenta1530 pompatic1535 magnificala1538 princely1539 gorgeous?1542 regal1561 superbious?1566 surly1566 splendent1567 heroical1577 superbous1581 sumptuous1594 pompatical1610 pompal1616 fastidious1638 grand1673 splendid1685 grandific1727 grandiose1818 splendiferous1827 splendacious1843 magnolious1863 the mind > emotion > pride > ostentation > splendour, magnificence, or pomp > [adjective] wlonkOE kine-wurtheOE reala1325 rialc1330 royalc1400 wlonkfulc1400 statelyc1415 pompousc1425 imperial?1435 pontificalc1440 sumptuous1472 magnific1490 magnificenta1530 statelike1534 pompatic1535 magnificala1538 princely1539 portly1548 regal1561 queen-like?1571 haughty1585 portlike1587 Minerva-like1598 lustrous1605 pompatical1610 pontificial1613 commandinga1616 pompal1616 grand1622 splendid1624 pontifician1629 regifical1656 queenly1791 presidential1804 angeliferous1837 slashing1854 sultanesque1862 pageanted1902 society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > sovereign ruler or monarch > [adjective] reala1325 rialc1330 principala1382 royalc1405 princely?a1510 monarchical?1573 monarchal?1585 monarchic1604 monarchial1788 majestarian1847 sovereignly1884 society > society and the community > social class > nobility > rank > royalty > [adjective] > kingly > relating to king reala1325 rialc1330 royalc1405 kingly1417 a1325 Statutes of Realm (2011) xi. 64 Ant hoe þat habbez reale chartres sullen ben iiuged bi hoere chartres. c1330 (?c1300) Guy of Warwick (Auch.) l. 3879 A real [Fr. real] pauiloun he þer seye. 1397 Rolls of Parl. III. 379/1 I..restreyned my Lord of his fredom and toke upon me..Power Reall. a1464 J. Capgrave Abbreuiacion of Cron. (Cambr. Gg.4.12) (1983) 153 The qween held a real Cristmasse aftir at Walingford. a1500 (?a1425) tr. Secreta Secret. (Lamb.) 56 (MED) Þey haue ordeyned þat hir kyng onys yn þe ȝeer appere yn his real [a1500 Ashm. in kyngly] apparel byfore his poeple. 1577 E. Hellowes tr. A. de Guevara Chron. 109 He edified the reall palace named Neptunus. 1630 J. Taylor Wks. 250 Thy Reall vertues alwaies, calls true hearts. 1641 Let. found at White-hall in Phœnix Britannicus (1731) 277 There be two things in which the People expect to be satisfied, Religion and Justice; nor can it be done by any little Acts, but by real and kingly Resolutions. 1706 D. Defoe Jure Divino xi. 32 Such Princes rule by real Right Divine. 2. Of a thing: befitting a monarch; sumptuous, fine, beautiful, noble, excellent. Cf. royal adj. 1. ΚΠ c1330 (?c1300) Amis & Amiloun (Auch.) (1937) l. 1519 (MED) A real fest þai gan to hold. c1330 Sir Orfeo (Auch.) (1966) l. 356 (MED) A castel he siȝe, Riche & real [a1500 Harl. noble, c1500 Ashm. ryall] & wonder heiȝe. a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 866 (MED) Þe mayde melior ful mekly him brouȝt a ful real rose and redly it him takes. a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 55 (MED) Londoun is a real and a riche citee vppon Temse. c1425 Myrour to Lewde Men & Wymmen (Harl.) (1981) 96 (MED) This breed is..ful of vertu and soþfastnes, a mete ryal of all manere delices & gode sauoures. a1500 (?a1425) tr. Secreta Secret. (Lamb.) 96 (MED) Þanne fallys to hym a reale willy vertu [L. virtus regia voluntaria] and he ressayues anoþer gouernance to fulfillen xl ȝeer. 3. Of a person: having the rank of monarch; royal, regal, kingly; majestic. Cf. royal adj. 4b. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > giving > liberal giving > [adjective] custyeOE room-handeda1200 largea1225 free?c1225 plenteousc1350 bounteousc1374 liberalc1384 free-hearteda1398 ungnedea1400 royalc1405 opena1425 plentifula1475 profuse?a1475 ungrighta1475 lavishc1475 almifluent1477 prodigous1477 frank1484 bountiful1508 largifluent?a1525 munificent1565 magnificent1577 largeous1583 munifical1583 magnifical1586 free-handed1592 frolic1593 open-handed1593 magnific?1594 prodigal1595 goodwillya1598 communicativea1602 real1602 prodig1605 unniggard1605 generous1615 open-hearteda1617 large-handeda1628 unniggardly1628 fluent1633 profusive1638 numerous1655 largifical1656 insordid1660 unsparing1667 dispensive1677 expensive1678 wasteful1701 flush1703 unboundeda1704 genteel1741 munific1745 magnifique1751 ungrudginga1774 unstinting1845 brickish1860 flaithulach1876 princely1889 outgiving1896 sharing1922 two-handed1929 a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 2143 (MED) Þe real emperour of rome þanne redli him thonked. c1550 Clariodus (1830) iii. 281 Clariodus..schippit in and all the reall sorte. 1602 J. Marston Hist. Antonio & Mellida ii. sig. D Then whome I knowe not a more..pretious, reall, magnanimous, bountious. B. n.¹ A royal person; a noble person of royal blood. ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > social class > nobility > rank > royalty > [noun] > royal person(s) > prince athelingOE princea1350 realc1440 riala1450 serenissimo1665 serenissime1881 c1440 (?a1400) Morte Arthure 597 (MED) The kynge of Cyprys on þe see þe Sowdane habydes, With all þe realls of Roodes. c1475 (c1399) Mum & Sothsegger (Cambr. Ll.4.14) (1936) i. 91 Reffusynge þe reule of realles kynde. c1475 (c1399) Mum & Sothsegger (Cambr. Ll.4.14) (1936) iii. 301 Whanne realles remeveth..And carieth ouere contre þer comunes dwelleth. a1530 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Royal) viii. 105 Gyve ony male Off reaw[ly]s fundyn be Worth to have that realte. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online December 2021). realadj.²n.²adv. Brit. /rɪəl/, U.S. /ri(ə)l/ Forms: Middle English realle, Middle English riall, Middle English ryall, Middle English–1500s reale, Middle English–1600s reall, Middle English– real, 1800s rael (Manx English), 1800s– rale (Irish English and Australian), 1900s– reel (Australian); English regional 1800s– rale, 1800s– reeal (Yorkshire); U.S. regional 1700s– rale, 1800s raal, 1800s rele, 1800s– rael, 1800s– rail, 1800s– reel, 1900s– r'al, 1900s– rill; Scottish pre-1700 reale, pre-1700 reall, pre-1700 ryalle, pre-1700 1700s– real, 1800s rail, 1800s rel, 1800s– rael, 1800s– rale, 1900s– raal (north-eastern). Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French real, reel; Latin realis. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman real and Middle French reel, real (French réel) (adjective) (in legal use) that concerns things and not people (1283), actual, concrete (early 14th cent. or earlier in Anglo-Norman), material, objective (c1370), that actually exists (c1485; in French also true, genuine, authentic (1688)), (noun) that which concerns things and not people (a1325; in French also real life, real things, real actions (collectively) (a1662)) and its etymon post-classical Latin realis (adjective) actual (4th cent.; frequently from 13th cent. in British sources), (in philosophy) that has an objective existence (frequently from 12th cent. in British sources), relating to or consisting of immovable property (frequently from 13th cent. in British sources), concerned with things (from 13th cent. in British sources), (noun) (in philosophy) realist (from 12th cent. in British sources; a1536 in Erasmus), piece of real property (1605 in the passage translated in quot. 1651 at sense B. 2b) < classical Latin rēs thing (see res n.¹) + -ālis -al suffix¹. Compare Old Occitan real (1245), Catalan real (1272), Spanish real (17th cent.), Portuguese real (1422), Italian reale (a1348). Compare later unreal adj.In sense A. 5 after French reel ( Descartes Géométrie iii, in Discours de la méthode (1637) 380). With real action at sense A. 7b compare post-classical Latin actio realis (from 1362 in British sources). The precise sense is uncertain in the following early instances of the word: ▸ 1440 Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 424 Real, realis.1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Aiv^v/2 Reall, realis.1598 J. Marston Scourge of Villanie To Perusers sig. B4 Some of his new-minted Epithets, (as Reall, Intrinsecate, Delphicke). A. adj.² I. That actually exists, or relates to this. 1. a. Having an objective existence; actually existing physically as a thing, substantial; not imaginary. ΚΠ a1400 (?a1325) Medit. on Supper of our Lord (Harl.) (1875) 33 (MED) Þys soper was real, as þou mayst here; Foure real þynges cryst made þere..Þe fyrst ys a bodly fedyng; Þe secunde ys hys dycyples fete wasshyng; Þe þred, yn brede hym self takyng; Þe fourþe, a sermoun of feyre makyng. ?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 21 (MED) Þe discrepacioun or discordance is only verbale, i. in worde, & noȝt reale [L. realis], i. in dede. a1535 T. More Treat. Passion in Wks. (1557) 1337. 2 The very real thinges that is conteyned vnder both those fourmes, is one entiere bodye. 1596 T. Bell Suruey Popery iii. ix. 372 God..is the principall agent of the real and positiue entities thereof. a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) v. iii. 309 Is there no exorcist Beguiles the truer Office of mine eyes? Is't reall that I see? View more context for this quotation 1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan iii. xxxiv. 210 That some such apparitions were not Imaginary, but Reall. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 310 Whereat I wak'd, and found Before mine Eyes all real, as the dream Had lively shadowd. View more context for this quotation 1706 D. Defoe Rev. 2 Mar. 108 The other Gentleman and his Man coming, and holding a real Candle up to Decide it, Affirm'd the Doctors Candle was Lighted. 1751 T. Smollett Peregrine Pickle IV. xcix. 74 That I might be a real ass, and champ thistles on some common. 1792 C. Smith Desmond III. xxii. 243 Never, my dear Bethel, did the most feverish dreams of fiction produce scenes more painful, or more terrific, than the real events to which I have been a witness. 1820 P. B. Shelley Prometheus Unbound i. i. 56 But from these create he can Forms more real than living man. 1859 S. Parkinson Treat. Optics i. viii. 127 A real visible object and its optical image differ in this respect. 1880 W. James in Atlantic Monthly 46 442/1 Like the dog in the fable that drops his real bone to snatch at its image, they drop the real causes to snatch at others. 1929 J. B. Priestley Good Compan. ii. v. 383 I'm a real person, not a vague, but attractive young man you've just imagined. 1969 W. H. Auden City without Walls 30 Where real toads may catch imaginary flies. 2004 D. Mitchell Cloud Atlas (U.K. ed.) 213 I looked closer, and saw real birds for the first time; swallows and martins. b. Philosophy. Designating whatever is regarded as having an existence in fact and not merely in appearance, thought, or language, or as having an absolute and necessary, in contrast to a merely contingent, existence. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > materialism > [adjective] > of realism real1603 realistic1843 1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 1079 It is not possible that the soule which is engendred after birth, should be framed to the maners and disposition of the parents before nativity; or else we must say..that the soule..was by similitude and resemblance, and yet was not, because as yet it had not a reall substance. 1645 A. Ross Philos. Touch-stone 6 You must first prove that accidents have any entity without their subjects, and then, that to have reall entity, and to subsist by it selfe; or, that essence and self-existence is all one. 1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding iii. iii. 194 And therefore the supposed real Essences of Substances, if different from our abstract Ideas, cannot be the Essences of the Species we rank Things into. 1701 J. Norris Ess. Ideal World I. iii. 150 An Hircocervus or any other Fictitious Being is true and real with respect to the Simple Essences or Natures. 1709 Ld. Shaftesbury Moralists iii. i. 181 Thought we own pre-eminent, and confess the reallest of Beings. 1797 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 79/1 Numberless absurdities, such as, that..forms or sensible qualities are real things independent of their subject and the sentient beings who perceive them. 1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. i. vi. §3 He [sc. Locke] admitted real essences, or essences of individual objects, which he supposed to be the causes of the sensible properties of those objects. 1857 W. Whewell Hist. Inductive Sci. (ed. 3) I. 343 The perfections are unquestionably real existences. 1893 F. H. Bradley Appearance & Reality (1897) xxvii. 552 The more that anything is spiritual, so much the more is it veritably real. 1907 E. M. Forster Longest Journey i. 1 It was philosophy. They were discussing the existence of objects. Do they exist only when there is someone to look at them? or have they a real existence of their own? 1989 Brit. Jrnl. Philos. Sci. 40 429 The world of the physical sciences is a world of entities endowed with the ‘real’ or primary qualities of mass, figure, motion, etc. 2. Actually existing or present as a state or quality of things; having a foundation in fact; actually occurring or happening. Also: expressing a subjective relation to a person; actual, significant; able to be grasped by the imagination. See also real life n., real world n. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > existence > reality or real existence or actuality > [adjective] > real or actually existing as a quality of things real1550 1550 T. Cranmer Def. Sacrament f. 81^v He speaketh not of any real and corporall conuersion of breade and wyne into Christes body and bludde, nor of any corporall and reall eating and drinkinge of the same. 1609 W. Shakespeare Louers Complaint in Sonnets sig. K3 His reall habitude gaue life and grace To appertainings and to ornament, Accomplisht in him-selfe, not in his case. 1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ iii. ii. §7 Time..denotes nothing real in its self existing..and so can argue nothing as to the real existence of things from all eternity. c1689 M. Prior To Charles Montague 4 He can imagin'd pleasures find, To combat against real cares. 1726 Bp. J. Butler 15 Serm. ii. 27 Our inward Feelings, and the Perceptions we receive from our external Senses are equally real. 1753 H. Jones Earl of Essex iv. 41 My real Errors, and my seeming Crimes, Would weary Mercy, and make Goodness poor. 1795 W. Paley View Evidences Christianity (ed. 3) II. iii. ii. 303 The malady was real, the cure was real, whether the popular explication of the cause was well founded, or not. 1816 J. Wilson City of Plague ii. iii. 122 More terrible These sights and sounds from the disastrous sky Than all the real terrors of the Plague. 1879 H. James Confidence II. xxvii. 154 It was real to me, the wrong—and I have told you of the pangs and the shame which, for so many months, it has cost me! 1884 tr. H. Lotze Logic (1888) II. 208 We call..an event Real which occurs or has occurred, in contradistinction to that which does not occur. 1904 M. Beerbohm Let. 13 Apr. (1964) 161 All this sounds very ‘literary’ and sentimentalistic, but it is real enough to me. 1915 F. M. Hueffer Good Soldier iv. iv. 262 For that fact had suddenly slipped into place and become real for her as the niched marker on a whist tablet slips round with the pressure of your thumb. 1959 J. W. Krutch Human Nature & Human Condition ii. 33 A society in which everybody's psychological needs for material things are being constantly increased..is actually happier than one in which only real needs are met. 2004 H. Kennedy Just Law (2005) ii. 55 The new streamlined process could mean real injustice to innocent people. †3. Philosophy. Relating or attached to the doctrine of the objective existence of universals (see realism n. 2). Opposed to nominal adj. 2. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1581 W. Fulke Reioynder Bristows Replie 271 Is there no diuision betweene secular, and spiritual, Nominal, & real, one sect & another? 1674 S. Butler Hudibras (new ed.) i. i. 10 Profound in all the Nominal And real ways beyond them all. 1683 R. Dixon Canidia iii. x. 73 Quiddities, Quoddities, Entities, Are Metaphysical Apprentices. Nominal, Real, Unasinous Colleagues, Projectors, Politicians, Intrigues. 1711 Ld. Shaftesbury Characteristicks II. v. 257 (margin) Moralists, Nominal, Real. 4. †a. gen. Relating to or concerned with things. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > existence > reality or real existence or actuality > [adjective] > real or relating to things thingly?a1450 real1593 thingal1857 thingy1891 1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation 96 The most-endlesse altercations; being generally rather Verball, then reall, and more circumstantiall, then substantiall. 1620 T. Granger Syntagma Logicum 143 Logicke is a Rationall, not reall art. 1681 J. Ray Corr. (1848) 130 Making your discoveries and observations public, for..the advancement of real philosophy. 1697 tr. F. Burgersdijck Monitio Logica ii. xv. 64 A Real is when the Attribute of the Question is real; as, ‘is a Place a Superficies?’ or so. 1799 J. Ebers New & Compl. Dict. German & Eng. Lang. III. 3/2 A real Definition, a Definition that explains the Matter or the Notion of any Thing itself. a1831 R. Whately Logic in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) I. 235/1 Those which are called real Definitions, viz. which unfold the nature of the thing. 1870 J. H. Newman Ess. Gram. Assent i. i. 8 Propositions..of which the terms stand for things external to us, unit and individual as..‘the earth goes round the sun’..; these I call real propositions, and their apprehension real. b. Of written characters: representing things instead of sounds; ideographic. Now historical. ΘΚΠ society > communication > writing > written character > [adjective] > ideogram real1605 ideographic1822 ideographical1826 ideogrammatic1893 ideogrammic1929 1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Pp2 We vnderstand further, that it is the vse of Chyna, and the Kingdomes of the High Leuant, to write in Characters reall, which expresse neither Letters, nor words in grosse, but Things or Notions. View more context for this quotation 1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. i. iii. §5. 13 A Real universal Character, that should not signifie words, but things and notions. 1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Character This Real Character is no Chimera; the Chinese and Japonese have already somewhat like it. a1779 Bp. W. Warburton Wks. (1788) II. iv. iv. 308 Real characters of both kinds had, at different periods, been cultivated in China. 1967 R. H. Robins Short Hist. Linguistics v. 114 In the seventeenth century various people devised universal languages or ‘real characters’ as they were sometimes called. †c. Consisting of actual things. Obsolete. rare. ΚΠ 1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage vii. ix. 584 The ceremonies they vsed to them, were..verball prayers, reall offerings. 1614 S. Purchas Pilgrimage (ed. 2) ix. xiv. 912 The Colonie..haue not onely sent verball, but reall commendations of the place. 1660 H. Jeanes 2nd Pt. Mixture Scholasticall Divinity 222 His reward will be not only verball, but reall. 5. Mathematics. Of a number or quantity: having no imaginary part. Hence: relating to or involving such quantities or functions of them. Opposed to imaginary adj. 1c. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [adjective] > prime > real real1668 possible1720 1668 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 3 686 In these Æquations, Reduction shall no wise profit, forasmuch as 'tis impossible, by aid thereof to change an Imaginary root into a real one, and the Converse. 1702 J. Harris New Short Treat. Algebra 86 He could find the Center of a Circle which would cut the Parabola in as many Points as the Equation had real Roots. 1729 Philos. Trans. 1727–8 (Royal Soc.) 35 526 The Roots a, b, c, d, e are real Numbers, positive or negative. 1841 Penny Cycl. XX. 150/2 Here a and b are meant to be real algebraical quantities, that is, reducible to positive or negative whole numbers or fractions. 1875 Encycl. Brit. I. 544/2 Every quadratic equation has always two roots, real or imaginary. 1957 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 855/1 This ‘Lebesgue integral’ is one of the great achievements of modern real analysis. 1965 E. M. Patterson & D. E. Rutherford Elem. Abstr. Algebra iii. 85 The real number a is called the real part of the complex number (a, b) and the real number b is called the imaginary part. 2001 S. Hawking Universe in Nutshell ii. 49 These are called Grassmann dimensions, because they are measured in numbers known as Grassmann variables rather than in ordinary real numbers. 6. Physics. Of an image: such that the light forming it actually reaches it, so that the image can be captured on a surface. Opposed to virtual adj. 5. Cf. image n. 3a. ΚΠ 1692 W. Molyneux Dioptrica Nova 96 What is here Demonstrated concerning the Real Image of a Convex Glass may be accommodated to the Virtual Image of a Concave. 1747 B. Martin Philosophia Britannica I. 244 The same Parts of the Object and Image are on contrary Sides of the Axis in a concave Mirrour, where the Rays have a real Focus, or form a real Image. a1764 J. Harris Treat. Optics (1775) i. 60 An object placed nearer a convex lens..than its principal focus..will have no real image. 1850 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 140 236 They are real images of the luminous body by whose light they are formed. 1886 Amer. Naturalist 20 90 By this means a bright luminous spot may be observed as real image in the tube of the instrument. 1922 J. A. Crowther Pract. Physics xxiv. 139 A most important method of finding the position of an image, whether real or virtual, is..the method of parallax. 2002 Pop. Photogr. Apr. 18/1 The viewfinder is a typical point-and-shoot real-image finder. II. Relating to immovable property. 7. Law. Opposed to personal adj. 7. a. Of or relating to specific things, esp. land; spec. relating to or consisting of the possession or ownership of immovable or ‘real’ property (see sense A. 7c and immovable adj. 3).Cf. real distress at distress n. 3b, real statute n. at statute n.¹ 3, real warrandice at warrandice n. 1b. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > possessions > [adjective] > real or immovable > connected with real property real1434 1434 in C. B. Gunn Peebles Colleg. Ch. App. p. xvii And wyth a wand..he gave to the said Wilȝame..state ryalle of the said landis wyth the pertinence. 1467–8 Rolls of Parl. V. 578/2 Lands, Tenementez, and other Possessions..in demeane and reall possession. 1533 J. Bellenden tr. Livy Hist. Rome (1901) I. 12/22 Antenor..eftir the expulsioun of Euganis, tuke reall possession of all thare landis & gudis. 1625 C. Burges New Discouery Personal Tithes 48 How much should bee due, where no Custome, Composition real, or other sufficient Priuiledges takes place. 1666–88 G. Dallas Syst. Stiles (1697) 694 (heading) Real Rights. 1666–88 G. Dallas Syst. Stiles (1697) 797 Disposition..of certain Lands, Baronies, and others, in Real Warrandice of other Lands formerly Disponed. 1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) Customs are said to be real; that is, they determine all Inheritances within their Extent. 1827 J. Bentham Rationale Judicial Evid. I. i. iv. 53 Real evidence, that which is afforded by a being belonging, not to the class of persons, but to the class of things. 1832 J. Austin Outline in Province Jurispr. p. xliv Real rights (property in things real, or real property) are rights which are inheritable. 1837 P. M. Beckwith tr. F. P. G. Guizot Gen. Hist. Europe iii. 89 Personal legislation, in contradistinction to real legislation, which is found upon territory. 1994 Times 31 Dec. (Weekend section) 2 The bishop laid the vicar's hands on the church door key with the words: ‘I do induct you into the real, actual and corporeal possession of this church.’ b. Of actions, pleas, etc.: for the recovery of a particular object or immovable (or ‘real’) property. Frequently in real action (now historical: see note at personal adj. 7a). Cf. also mixed adj.² 2a.In early use often placed after the noun, and with plural in -s. ΘΚΠ society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > action of courts in claims or grievances > [adjective] > other types of action or suit real1444 popular1490 fat1644 pre-judicial1651 quantum valebant1827 prejudical1864 adjectician1880 prejudiciary1880 landmark1937 society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > action of courts in claims or grievances > [noun] > a lawsuit > other types of action mort d'ancestora1325 trespass on the case1429 action of detinue1467 mortancestry1471 replevin1515 non-finding1525 nisi prius1533 faint action1542 interpleadera1558 improbationc1575 assize1577 assumpsit1586 transitory action1594 trover1594 suit of the King's peace1607 detinuea1626 quia timet1628 choke-baila1637 reprobator1672 spulyie1678 petitory action1681 proprium1695 restitution of conjugal rights1720 amicable suit1768 noxal action1774 real action1818 witness action1892 class suit1894 non-jury1897 foreclosure action1905 class action1910 derivative action1934 paternity suit1945 1444 Rolls of Parl. V. 112/1 It please the Kyng..yat yef any person..in any action ryall or personell..plede eny forein Plee..that suche issue in suche forein Plee be tried where the Writte is brought. 1448 in S. A. Moore Lett. & Papers J. Shillingford (1871) 139 Any action real, personall, and myxte, apon any person..shall be atte the sute of the seide Bysshop. a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1905) i. 304 (MED) He..relesed to them and pardoned all accions reals and personels of eny maner cause. 1535 Act 27 Hen. VIII c. 26 §4 All actions realles, hereafter shalbe conueied, perpetrated, or sued for any landes. 1574 tr. T. Littleton Tenures (new ed.) f. 41 If the villaine be demaundant in an accion reall or plaintife in an action personell. 1603 G. Owen Descr. Penbrokshire (1892) 155 Pleas reall and mixt for landes are and must be sued at home. 1652 J. Gaule Πυς-μαντια 342 All matters or causes criminall, or reall. 1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. iii. 62/1 This is the Next Court, and is called the Common-Pleas:..Real Actions are pleaded in no other Court, nor Fines levied, or Recoveries suffered: none but Serjeants at Law plead in this Court. 1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Writ Original Writs are those sent out of the High Court of Chancery to summon the Defendant in a Personal, or Tenant in a real Action, either before the Suit begins, or to begin the Suit thereby. 1768 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. III. 117 Real actions..which concern real property only. 1794 J. Vaillant tr. J. Dyer Rep. Cases III. 324b There are many precedents or essoins of the tenants at the next day after issue joined in real pleas. 1818 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. (ed. 2) III. 491 After a real action was barred by length of time. 1863 H. Cox Inst. Eng. Govt. ii. ix. 512 Real actions, brought for the specific recovery of freeholds. 1888 T. C. Williams in Law Q. Rev. 4 398 Mixed actions partook of the nature both of real and personal actions. 1928 Amer. Jrnl. Internat. Law 22 312 For the exercise of real actions in respect of real property, and for that of mixed actions to determine boundary and partition of common property. c. Being or consisting of immovable property, such as land and anything erected on or attached to this. Frequently in real property. See also chattel real at chattel n. 4b, things real at thing n.¹ 12b, real estate n., and estate n. 11. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > possessions > [adjective] > real or immovable unmovablec1390 unmoble?a1425 immovablec1449 real1605 1605 R. Mason Reasons Academie 93 The first estates, determine in time: and the second being reall estates, onely with time: and not before the ending of time. 1629 Vse of Law 53 in J. Doddridge Lawyers Light The other Tenants by Elegit, and by Wardship of Bodie and Lands, for all these are called Chattels Reall, and goe to the Executors and Administrators, and not to the heires, and are soleable and forfeitable as Leases for yeares are. 1641 Decay Trade 2 The price and measure of all our other meanes both personall and reall. 1644 G. Plattes in S. Hartlib Legacy (1655) 209 A present estate, either real or personal. 1668 J. Child Brief Observ. Trade 6 Securities of Lands and Houses [are] rendred indeed, such as we commonly call them, real securities. 1718 P. Haldane Case Forfeited Estates in Scotl. 33 Another Objection to this Bill..is, That it..cuts off their Real Securities, and leaves them on the uncertain and precarious Footing of Personal Rights. 1756 W. Toldervy Hist. Two Orphans IV. 265 The good gentleman at the Abbey, who has left you his real estate. 1791 Law Gramm. sig. Q2^v Of Real Property. 1827 T. Jarman Powell's Ess. Learning of Devises (ed. 3) II. 169 The word effects, without the word real, will not..comprehend land. 1842 H. J. Stephen New Comm. Laws Eng. II. 72 Things real comprise not only the land itself, but also such incorporeal rights also as issue out of or are connected with it. 1883 Wharton's Law-lexicon (ed. 7) at Invest When a trustee, executor, or administrator is not expressly forbidden to invest in real securities, in the United Kingdom. 1997 Calif. Lawyer July 11/2 (advt.) Save $150 on each of our CEB CD-ROMS, available now in four practice area collections:..Estate Planning, and Real Property. III. That corresponds to or expresses what exists. 8. Corresponding to actuality; true. Frequently in real facts, real story.In quot. 1440 of a narrative: true, actual. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > [adjective] soothc825 soothlyc888 soothfastc950 rightOE lealc1330 verilya1340 veryc1386 truea1398 soothfulc1400 real1440 vray1460 trothlike1544 of verityc1550 verimenta1592 correct1705 truthful1781 truthy1848 unillusory1853 straight-up1910 1440 J. Capgrave Life St. Norbert (1977) l. 30 In þis story..I wil procede Of þis same seynt to telle þe lyf real, Both of his diete and eke of his wede. 1658 T. Carwell Labyrinthus Cantuariensis xv. 186 This is the true and real story of the Donatists proceedings. 1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding Contents (heading) Ideas of Substances are real, when they agree with the Existence of Things. a1706 J. Evelyn Hist. Relig. (1850) I. i. 87 But, though we can neither see God, nor our souls, we may and can have a real idea of both, without a sensible vision. 1746 ‘F. de Biron’ tr. Adventures & Amours Marquis de Noailles I. 29 The Parties principally concerned thought it convenient to let the Public know the real story as I have here put it down. 1771 ‘N. Spencer’ Compl. Eng. Traveller 33/1 The above inscription may seem odd; but when attentively considered..contains a real estimate of the value, as well as the use of riches. 1809 Duke of Wellington in G. R. Gleig Life (1862) 702 The real fact is..I have eaten the King's salt. 1862 H. Spencer First Princ. i. ii. §11. 32 The impossibility of expanding our symbolic conception of self-creation into a real conception, remains as complete as ever. 1866 G. MacDonald Ann. Quiet Neighb. (1878) xiv. 287 Whether a story be real in fact or only real in meaning. 1913 Electric Railway Jrnl. 16 Oct. 829/1 Effective publicity to deal with questions of public relations and to consider the molding of public opinion by the presentation of real facts. 1965 Guardian 13 Oct. 2/7 The city's medical officer..said they were still in ‘square one’, and would stay there till they got some real facts. 2003 Snoop Apr. 84/1 A film that shows the real story of living life large in the 90s. 9. a. That is actually and truly such as its name implies; possessing the essential qualities denoted by its name; genuine, undoubted. Also as an intensifier: veritable.real live ——: see Phrases 1. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > foundation in fact, validity > [adjective] > accurately so named rightOE verya1300 verya1387 perfectc1387 propera1398 veritable1483 real?1505 dinkum1914 ?1505 tr. P. Gringore Castell of Laboure (new ed.) sig. H.iiij Theyr labour gaue them an appetyt reall [Fr. vng appetit real]. 1535 in J. Imrie et al. Burgh Court Bk. Selkirk (1960) 157 [Which sum shall be paid] with kyndnes and nocht with reall rigur [when John Mithag requires it]. 1559 in J. Strype Ann. Reformation (1824) I. ii. App. vi. 401 Ecclesiasticall lawes made, cannot bynd the universall churche of Christe, without the reall assent..of the sea apostolike. 1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lxvii. 174 That which alone is materiall namely the reall participation of Christ..by meanes of this Sacrament. 1629 T. Hobbes tr. Thucydides Eight Bks. Peloponnesian Warre ii. 103 This is not now, rather a brauery of words..then reall truth. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost x. 413 Planets..real Eclips Then sufferd. View more context for this quotation 1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 275. ¶3 Homer tells us, that the Blood of the Gods is not real Blood, but only something like it. 1745 E. Haywood Female Spectator IV. xxiv. 334 The then Prime Minister..hated all who either had any real Merit, or were judged to have it. 1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 51 Pressing down the whole by the weight of a real monarchy. View more context for this quotation 1835 D. Crockett Acct. Col. Crockett's Tour 60 Folks need not go out of Boston to find rale hospitality. 1867 G. MacDonald Ann. Quiet Neighbourhood I. iv. 87 It was evidently real and not affected doubt. 1907 G. B. Shaw How he Lied in John Bull's Other Island 144 I hardly like to ask; but it would be a real kindness to us both. 1958 G. Greene Our Man in Havana (1962) 71 Thank you for coming, Mr. Wormold. You are a real friend. 2005 R. Hoban Come dance with Me xxiv. 131 Mary was so graceful, so nicely finished, a real pleasure to look at. b. Esp. of a precious metal, stone, or similar material: natural, as opposed to artificial, imitation, or depicted. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > existence > materiality > [adjective] > natural or existing in nature kindlOE kindlyc1225 naturalc1390 kindlike1489 native1560 real1602 physiurgic1817 physioplastica1832 physiurgoscopica1832 1602 A. Munday in tr. 3rd Pt. Palmerin of Eng. li. f. 157 Labour not so artificially, in making me a witnesse of your counterfaited beauty, for I know you haue no reall perfections in you. 1684 R. Boyle Exper. Porosity of Bodies viii. 130 He had reduced..real Gold, to that degree of Fusibleness and subtlety, that..the finer part of the Metal would sweat through his Glasses. 1712 J. Gay Arachne in A. Pope Misc. Poems 91 A real Bull seems in the Piece to roar, And real Billows breaking on the Shore. 1745 D. Fordyce Dialogues conc. Educ. I. ii. 46 May we not look upon the ordinary Forms of Civility..as no more than Counters, which, tho' they may..amuse the Eye as much as real Gold, yet none but Fools are amused with them? 1798 Daily Advertiser (N.Y.) 1 Jan. (advt.) The most fashionable gold-ear-rings and pins to match, enriched with real pearls, Gold necklaces and ear-rings, faux-montres, lockets, medallions and chains. 1827 H. Steuart Planter's Guide (1828) Pref. 2 In removing Wood, for the purpose of creating Real Landscape, plants of a large size are necessarily employed. 1866 Galaxy 1 May 79 When he has already four walls, doors, windows, fireplace, all ‘real and proper’, as Mr. Swiveller says, why in the world should he put up pasteboard imitations of them? 1907 Yesterday's Shopping 847/2 Silk umbrellas... Real tortoiseshell crutch, gold mounted. 1964 F. Tuohy Ice Saints (1965) xxvi. 156 The shop windows were filled with the usual unrealities, plaster models of legs of pork..and in reaction to this [most people]..had armed themselves with something real to carry home: a loaf of bread..or a spray of pussy-willow. 2004 R. Weitz Rapunzel's Daughters i. 24 In a weave, purchased fake or real hair (often imported from Asia) is sewn in bunches to a woman's own hair or to netting sewn to her hair. c. Music. Of a sequence or a fugal answer: transposed so as to preserve the intervals of the original melody or subject. ΚΠ 1869 F. A. G. Ouseley Treat. Counterpoint xiv. 83 Counterpoint in more than four real parts, i.e. ‘parts which proceed together, and yet have each a different melody’. 1869 F. A. G. Ouseley Treat. Counterpoint xix. 160 A fugue with a subject, the answer to which gives every interval by exact and simple transposition, is called a real fugue. 1889 E. Prout Harmony v. §139 If..the quality of the intervals is exactly the same in the imitations as in the pattern, the sequence will be real, i.e. exact... A real sequence is much rarer than a tonal one. 1983 New Oxf. Compan. Mus. ii. 1665/2 Some sequences are ‘real’ in some of their repetitions. 10. a. That is the actual thing or person; that properly bears the name. Cf. real horizon at horizon n. 3a, the real McCoy at McCoy n. 1 ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > foundation in fact, validity > [adjective] > genuine, real soothc888 soothlyc888 soothfastc1175 germanec1384 truea1398 sickera1400 upright?a1500 uncounterfeita1542 righteous1543 legitimate1551 truepennya1556 arrant1570 uncounterfeited1571 real1573 current1578 genuinal1599 unforged1610 unpretended1611 legitime1614 unabusinga1628 Lubish1632 genuine1639 undissembled1651 undissimulate1652 ingenuine1661 infallacious1677 real live1684 unfalsified1688 unmistaken1694 pukka1776 undissimulated1776 unassumed1818 uncynical1824 Simon Pure1834 sure-enough1837 unsimulated1840 straight-out1848 true blue1852 veritable1862 really (and) truly1864 authentic1868 true-metal1868 kosher1896 twenty-four carat1900 honest to goodness1905 echt1916 dinky-di1918 McCoy1928 twenty-two carat1962 right1969 1573 J. Bridges Supremacie Christian Princes 1055 Thus these sayinges and doinges of Samuell, were not the reall deposing of Saule from his Royall throne. a1602 W. Perkins Godlie & Learned Expos. Epist. Iude (1606) 72/2 (margin) Gods iudgments are his real sermons. a1631 J. Donne Poems (1650) 9 The Kings reall, or his stamped face. 1660 F. Brooke tr. V. Le Blanc World Surveyed 10 One of them to his thinking favoured very much his companion, and as he was about to follow them, his reall companion called him to come back. 1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I. (at cited word) The Rational, Real or True Horizon, is a Circle which encompasses the Earth exactly in the Middle, and whose Poles are the Zenith and Nadir. 1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth IV. 244 The bag..may rather be considered as a supplemental womb. In the real womb, the little animal is partly brought to perfection. 1813 Sporting Mag. 41 175 She went the real pace, having passed this extent of country in forty-five minutes. 1840 T. B. Macaulay in Edinb. Rev. Jan. 306 It was absurd to regard him as the real master of Hindostan. 1869 J. Ruskin Queen of Air §5 From the real sun, rising and setting;—from the real atmosphere [etc.]. 1938 G. Greene in Spectator 24 June 1144/2 In this old faded picture the Holy Family rest before the genuine Sphinx and Judas comes with torchbearers to the real Garden of Olives. 1972 C. Mungoshi Setting Sun Rolling World i. 1 She isn't my mother and my real mother is not dead. 2006 A. Davies Goodbye Lemon i. 42 The tiger's real name was Arai but my mouth-breather boss, Fishman, called him Keith Richards. b. That is actually present or involved (as opposed to apparent, ostensible, etc.).in real terms: see also Phrases 2. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > existence > reality or real existence or actuality > [adjective] > as opposed to apparent, spiritual, or intellectual naturalc1487 authentical1593 substantial1597 real1607 unimaginary1608 authentic1664 1607 G. Chapman Bussy D'Ambois i. i. 5 No man riseth by his reall merit. 1641 T. Urquhart Epigrams iii. 47 Fortune doth withdraw her gifts from some, Whose real worth surpasseth theirs, on whom She hath bestowed them. 1663 Case Mary Carleton 105 Concerning the real worth of those Jewels, I shall have further occasion to speak presently. 1708 Boston News-let. 9 Apr. 2/2 The real Loss by moderate Computation is between 3 and 4000 pounds damage. 1716 A. Pope Corr. 18 Aug. (1956) I. 353 Whatever I write will be the real Thought of that hour. 1771 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) II. lix. 269 I doubt not, they delivered their real sentiments. 1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations I. i. v. 39 Labour, like commodities, may be said to have a real and a nominal price. Its real price may be said to consist in the quantity of the necessaries and conveniencies of life which are given for it; its nominal price, in the quantity of money. View more context for this quotation 1827 J. Bentham Rationale Judicial Evid. IV. ix. ii. vii. 644 There lurks the real reason at the bottom of the ostensible one. 1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. vii. 279 With regard to the real explanation of these effects, it may be shown [etc.]. 1871 J. R. Lowell My Study Windows 249 An imperturbable perception of the real relations of things. 1929 Social Sci. Abstr. 23 The close similarity of the general price level..substantiates its use as a measure of ‘real income’. 1976 Glasgow Herald 26 Nov. 1/6 Real earnings have fallen in the past few years and there is no way we can agree to any further reduction in the purchasing power of our members. 1994 P. Ormerod Death of Economics (1995) vii. 144 Apart from the likely short-term impact on unemployment of such a policy stance, very low inflation means that the real value of debt is eroded very slowly. 2003 M. Belson On the Press i. 23 His real reason for leaving was that he had heard something that I had not heard. 11. †a. Sincere, straightforward, honest. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > sincerity, freedom from deceit > [adjective] aefauldOE trueOE true as steela1300 throlya1375 entirec1380 faithfula1382 entirelyc1400 single1519 sincere1533 sincere1539 simple-minded1556 Dunstable?1565 truthful?1567 single-hearted1574 single-minded1577 sound1580 downright1584 unaffected1592 real1597 plain-hearted1601 unartificial1603 free1619 honest1634 fair and square1636 round-dealing1642 wholehearted1657 down flata1663 well-designing1670 heart-whole1684 single-eyed1705 unsanctimoniousa1797 natural1825 bona fide1827 unfallacious1827 jannock1828 forthcoming1835 up and down1836 bonified1840 forthgoing1851 unhypocritical1854 forthright1855 upstanding1863 on the level1872 genuine1890 for real1954 upfront1967 1597 F. Bacon Ess. f. 3^v He that is onely reall had need haue exceeding great parts of vertue. 1630 tr. G. Botero Relations Famous Kingdomes World (rev. ed.) 51 The Dutch hath an honest and reall manner of dealing. 1659 R. Brathwait Panthalia 35 Madam, quoth she, my Expresses shall be short and real. 1686 tr. J. Chardin Trav. Persia 173 Supposing he should be real and sincere. 1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. i. 17 If his intentions were real. 1705 S. Centlivre Gamester i. i. 7 If I could believe thee real, my Joys would be compleat. †b. True or loyal to another. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > morality > duty or obligation > recognition of duty > faithfulness or trustworthiness > fidelity or loyalty > [adjective] holdc893 trueOE leala1300 truefula1350 faithfula1375 true-hearted1465 liege1478 well-wishing1548 allegiant1556 vowed1560 lewtifull1563 whole-chested1576 devotious1583 devote1597 loyal-hearted1599 devoted1600 resolved1600 real1639 fidelious1650 liegeful1872 1639 L. Carlell Arviragus & Philicia ii. iv. sig. C2 When I seconded my propositions with tender of Philicia for his wife, and did engage my faith, I Iudged your kindnesse reall to my opinion. 1642 Earl of Clanricarde in T. Carte Hist. Duke of Ormonde (1735) III. 79 To haue a person soe full of worth and honour to be firme and reall to me. 1692 T. D'Urfey Marriage-hater Match'd i. i. sig. B Was your deceas'd Friend real to ye? are you sure there's no flaw In the Will? c. Free from nonsense, affectation, or pretence; genuine. Also more generally: aware of, or in touch with, real life; down-to-earth. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > behaviour > unaffectedness or naturalness > [adjective] natural1553 unaffecting1602 inartificial1665 unaffected1677 real1747 unpedantic1782 unpretentious1838 untheatric1858 unselfconscious1866 the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > lack of imagination > [adjective] > not romantic or idealized unromantic1731 real1747 unideal1838 unromanticized1838 1747 H. Knight Being & Attrib. God i. i. 15 This, 'tis hoped, will make it appear a plain, real, and demonstrative argument, instead of its being..a privileg'd topick for obscurity and unintelligibleness. 1789 A. Bayly Alliance Musick, Poetry & Oratory ii. 330 Viz., a vile and obscure abbreviation of the Latin videlict, instead of which it is always better to use the real and plain English word namely. 1850 Ld. Tennyson Princess (ed. 3) Concl. 172 They hated banter, wish'd for something real. 1851 N. Hawthorne House of Seven Gables ix. 153 Phoebe's presence made a home about her... She was real! 1880 A. D. Whitney Odd or Even? xxxvi She had been so near real people who meant every bit of their lives. 1935 A. M. Lindbergh Let. 27 Feb. in Locked Rooms & Open Doors (1974) 255 That moment was real. It was the only thing that stood still in the whirlpool of shops, advertisements, cars, traffic signals, people, price tags, rags of conversation. 1961 Noble Savage Fall 12 He [sc. Seymour Krim] alludes to something called ‘direct writing’, and he finds that criticism gets in the way of his ‘truer, realer, imaginative bounce’. 2003 B. Wagner Still Holding iv. 310 The friend had been right—working at the hospice took her out of herself and put her in touch with what was real. d. Of a period or event in a person's life: fully or profoundly experienced; particularly significant or memorable. ΘΚΠ the world > time > particular time > [noun] > memorable or important era1703 real1871 1871 E. Roland in Galaxy June 873/1 The moments when our ideals tread the earth and walk hand in hand with us are the most real moments of our lives. 1962 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 25 Feb. 32 The experience of being oneself which everyone at times feels is not only his own but perhaps the realest experience of living. 1987 J. Woodress Willa Cather (1989) xxiii. 502 It seemed that the most real and interesting parts of her life were the times she had spent with Roscoe in Wyoming. 2001 Pittsburgh Post-Gaz. (Nexis) 13 May e1 The realest moment in my relatively short life was watching one of my friends at the moment of his death. e. In predicative use. Of a situation or event: serious, distressing, or dangerous. Frequently with get. ΚΠ 1967 B. Glanville Artist Type iii. 67 Things were getting too real, I felt surrounded. 1991 Los Angeles Times 11 Aug. m6/5 You ask a whole lotta questions, and then when it get too real fo' you, you start hollerin'. 1996 C. Higson Getting Rid of Mr Kitchen ii. 19 Marriage is one thing, but babies... It was all becoming a bit too real. So I walked. 2002 CMJ New Music Rep. 25 Nov. 23/2 We don't want people to have this perception of us that while shit is real in the world, we're around here trying to play. 2013 Leatherneck July 65/1 Their [sc. the Marines] landing was uncontested. In the early hours of the following day, things got real. †12. Essential, important. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > importance > [adjective] > essential or central cardinal1440 material1603 primal1619 real1620 centrical1659 vital1659 essential1770 nucleal1826 key1832 pivotal1837 keystone1846 pivot1861 quintessential1901 central1902 core1962 the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > [adjective] needfulOE necessaryc1376 needfulc1390 necessairea1393 needfula1402 necessariousc1410 requisite1442 unlackablec1443 unsparablec1449 necessc1475 requise1477 needy1487 exigentc1508 of necessityc1515 essential1526 insacrificablea1603 peremptory1607 unspared1614 sine qua non1615 real1620 necessitous1637 needsomec1650 undispensable1658 vital1659 wanting1671 implemental1676 sine quo non1693 indispensable1696 indispensible1792 vital1822 unmissable1823 of the essence (of)1843 1620 Ld. Herbert Corr. in Life (1886) 349 This being the reallest,..I need not insist upon some less essential forms. 1699 P. Gordon Geogr. Anatomized (ed. 2) i. i. 2 As for other Narratives relating either to Countries themselves, or their Inhabitants, and which commonly swell up Geographical Tracts, we reckon them..rather the Fringes of Geography, than its real or essential Parts. B. n.² †1. = realist n. 1. Frequently in plural. Cf. nominal n. 1. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > scholasticism > [noun] > scholastic realism > adherent of real1519 realist1547 1519 W. Horman Vulgaria viii. f. 93 The wey of the nomynallys and reals is dyuers. 1559 T. Paynell tr. Erasmus Complaint of Peace sig. Biij The Scotysse dothe fyghte with the Thomiste, the Nomynale with the Reale, and the Platonyst with the Peripatike. 1604 T. Wright Passions of Minde (new ed.) vi. 298 Those dissenting and contradicting Sectes of..Realles and Nominalles. 1655 tr. in T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. iii. 99 Ocham his Scholar, father of the Nominals, opposed Scotus the founder of the Reals. 1684 G. S. Anglorum Speculum 801 W. Ockham headed the Nominals against the Reals, followers of Scotus. 1711 tr. S. Werenfels Disc. Logomachys vi. 101 It's impossible to number up all the Elegancys of the Albertists, Occamists, Thomists, Scotists, Reals and Nominals. 1779 D. Williams tr. Voltaire Ignorant Philosopher xlix. 62 Of what importance is it to state, that our opinions should be those of the reals or of the nominals? 2. a. A real thing; something having (or conceived as having) a real existence. Frequently in plural. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > existence > reality or real existence or actuality > [noun] > a reality or a real thing or state of things visagec1374 fact?1560 actuality1587 reality1613 real1615 realty1616 fact of lifea1806 ground truth1833 the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > metaphysics > ontology > [noun] > being or entity body1587 ens1614 real1615 beënt1865 1615 T. Adams Blacke Devill 10 Deuils are not nominals, but reals; not imaginarie qualities, but afflicting spirites. a1626 L. Andrewes Serm. (1856) I. 142 The names of His imposing; there is no surer place in logic than from them. His nominals be reals. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica 82 Hereunto we know not how to assent in the Generall, as having met with some whose Reals made good their representations. a1834 S. T. Coleridge Lit. Remains (1838) III. 332 If we will confound actuals with reals. 1884 B. Bosanquet et al. tr. H. Lotze Metaphysic 60 A material of reality, a Real pure and simple, which in itself is neither this nor that, but the principle of reality for everything. 1925 J. E. Turner Theory of Direct Realism V. 53 The naïve realist..is practically a pluralist. He perceives reals rather than reality. 1992 Mod. Painters Spring 60/3 He is convinced that there is a Real behind the different religious traditions..all are affirming the same ultimate. †b. A piece of real property (sense A. 7c). Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > possessions > [noun] > real or immovable property > a piece of realty1567 real1651 1651 W. G. tr. J. Cowell Inst. Lawes Eng. i. x. 26 And so of imoveables and realls [L. immobilia vel realia] if aliened by the Husband in his lifetime. 3. With the. That which actually exists (contrasted with something abstract, imaginary, counterfeit, or otherwise insubstantial, or with something ideal). ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > existence > reality or real existence or actuality > [noun] > the reality as opposed to what is apparent bodyc1384 truth1531 substance1533 person1548 effect1592 hypostasis1605 reality1620 reala1637 essence1646 hypostase1867 the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > [noun] > reality > as actually existing realitya1513 reala1637 a1637 B. Jonson Magnetick Lady iii. iii. 35 in Wks. (1640) III Shadowes have their figure, motion And their umbratile action from the reall. 1709 R. Gould Wks. I. 215 'Tis easie to believe those Fictions true Which the bold Greeks have so sublimely told; The Real here out does the feign'd of Old. 1759 J. Grainger in tr. Euripides Cyclops ii. i, in C. Lennox tr. P. Brumoy Greek Theatre III. 464 Custom..[had] given the poets full authority over the fabulous religion, which greatly differed from the real. 1800 S. T. Coleridge tr. F. Schiller Death Wallenstein v. 130 He..transform'd for me the real to a dream. 1844 E. B. Barrett Dead Pan in Poems II. 274 And the Real is His song. 1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin I. xv. 223 Thus ended the..ideal of life for Augustine St. Clare. But the real remained. 1870 J. H. Newman Ess. Gram. Assent i. v. 135 Religion has to do with the real, and the real is the particular. 1932 W. T. Stace Theory of Knowl. 332 Shareability of perception is what distinguishes the real from the unreal. 1988 G. Swift Out of this World 188 It's no longer easy to distinguish the real from the fake. 2003 M. R. Chvasta & D. L. Fassett Survivor Lessons 220 There is a tendency to mistake the possible for the real—to concretize that which, technically, is without existence. 4. Mathematics. A real number. Usually in plural. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [noun] > particular qualities > real possibility1673 scalar1846 real1853 1853 W. R. Hamilton Elem. Quaternions ii. 58 We may agree to give the general name of scalars to all positive and negative numbers (that is to the reals of ordinary algebra). 1881 Amer. Jrnl. Math. 4 228 There may be no vector, and in that case we have the ordinary algebra of reals; or there may be only one vector, and in that case we have the ordinary algebra of imaginaries. 1940 W. V. Quine Math. Logic 273 Every bounded class of reals has a least bound. 1995 New Scientist 2 Sept. 38/1 The ‘reals’ are made up of all the familiar types of number, such as integers (which include zero, negative and positive whole numbers) and rationals, such as 453/5672. 2001 Bull. Symbolic Logic 7 424 In 1991 Wilkie proved the o-minimality of (R. exp): the expansion of the reals by the exponential function (and more recently by all Pfaffian functions). C. adv. 1. Modifying an adjective: really, genuinely. Also more generally in later use: very, extremely (originally regional (esp. Scottish, Irish English, English regional (northern), and U.S.) and subsequently also colloquial).In early use properly an adjective qualifying the following phrase (‘good turn’, etc.), and only later apprehended as an adverb qualifying the adjective (‘good’, etc.). N.E.D. (1904) notes: ‘Not common in standard use in southern England except to some extent in the original construction.’ ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > foundation in fact, validity > [adverb] > truly, genuinely trulyc1225 truea1400 veritably1481 veritable1490 authentically1593 indeeda1616 genuinely1640 real1645 unpretendingly1701 honest to God1892 the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adverb] > very tooc888 swith971 wellOE wellOE fullOE rightc1175 muchc1225 wellac1275 gainlya1375 endlyc1440 hard?1440 very1448 odda1500 great1535 jolly1549 fellc1600 veryvery1649 gooda1655 vastly1664 strange1667 bloody1676 ever so1686 heartily1727 real1771 precious1775 quarely1805 murry1818 très1819 freely1820 powerfula1822 gurt1824 almighty1830 heap1832 all-fired1833 gradely1850 real1856 bonny1857 heavens1858 veddy1859 canny1867 some1867 oh-so1881 storming1883 spanking1886 socking1896 hefty1898 velly1898 fair dinkum1904 plurry1907 Pygmalion1914 dinkum1915 beaucoup1918 dirty1920 molto1923 snorting1924 honking1929 hellishing1931 thumpingly1948 way1965 mega1966 mondo1968 seriously1970 totally1972 mucho1978 stonking1990 1645 J. Saltmarsh Opening Prynnes New Bk. 31 He need not go so far about, which when all is done, brings a soul, but at best, upon a probable, specious, or real coloured Argument. 1658 R. Allestree Pract. Christian Graces; or, Whole Duty of Man xiii. §35. 276 The reallest good turn that can be done from one man to another. 1718 J. Fox Wanderer No. 17. 116 An Opportunity of doing a real good Office. 1771 E. Griffith Hist. Lady Barton II. 283 The burning of three real good and substantial houses in this town. 1827 R. H. Froude Remains (1838) I. 448 Last Friday was a real fine day. 1845 J. B. Buckstone Green Bushes iii. ii. 43 Sure that's a mighty civil spoken boy, and it's rale grand Master George is with his big house in Dublin city, and his English sarvants in goold lace. 1885 G. Allen Babylon I. vi. 131 It looks real nice. 1887 ‘M. Wetheral’ Two North-country Maids xxv. 174 I was real put out to think how [etc.]. 1901 M. Franklin My Brilliant Career xxviii. 238 Her face ain't got them freckles... It's reel wite. 1939 War Illustr. 28 Oct. 219/1 If I had not been on fire I could easily have shot down two more. It was real bad luck, but my pals accounted for three besides the one I hit. 1943 K. Tennant Ride on Stranger viii. 77 He's real clever. 1968 K. Weatherly Roo Shooter 111 It was real heavy going, and I must have dried the flamin' plugs and points twenty times. 1981 ‘J. Sturrock’ Suicide Most Foul viii. 151 That Bonaparte's rale wicked, ain't he? 2002 A. Bellin Poker Nation iv. 63 As Dad came up real close to him Ben upped his gun; he'd had it hidden behind the door. 2. colloquial and regional (chiefly North American and Australian). Modifying an adverb: really; very, extremely. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adverb] > very tooc888 swith971 wellOE wellOE fullOE rightc1175 muchc1225 wellac1275 gainlya1375 endlyc1440 hard?1440 very1448 odda1500 great1535 jolly1549 fellc1600 veryvery1649 gooda1655 vastly1664 strange1667 bloody1676 ever so1686 heartily1727 real1771 precious1775 quarely1805 murry1818 très1819 freely1820 powerfula1822 gurt1824 almighty1830 heap1832 all-fired1833 gradely1850 real1856 bonny1857 heavens1858 veddy1859 canny1867 some1867 oh-so1881 storming1883 spanking1886 socking1896 hefty1898 velly1898 fair dinkum1904 plurry1907 Pygmalion1914 dinkum1915 beaucoup1918 dirty1920 molto1923 snorting1924 honking1929 hellishing1931 thumpingly1948 way1965 mega1966 mondo1968 seriously1970 totally1972 mucho1978 stonking1990 1856 Putnam's Monthly Mag. Aug. 125/2 When the select-men bound me out to Deacon Perkins after mother's funeral, I did feel real bad. 1892 A. Conan Doyle Adventures Sherlock Holmes x. 254 Oh yes, I know that I treated you real bad, and that I should have spoken to you before I went. 1893 H. A. Shands Some Peculiarities Speech Mississippi 52 Real down... Used by cultivated whites to mean exceedingly or extremely. A thing that is extremely nice is said to be real down nice. 1924 J. C. French Writing x. 290 Avoid: They live good in that camp (say live well), I sure will write real soon (say surely will, really soon). 1947 K. Tennant Lost Haven xix. 317 Everyone said she was lucky... Everything fell out ‘real nice’ for her. 1967 G. Jackson Let. 13 July in Soledad Brother (1971) 121 I felt real bad about that. 1975 D. Lodge Changing Places ii. 57 You and I must have lunch together real soon. 2006 A. M. Foley Having my Say xxx. 187 He planted them feet and swung that net around and tossed it so it would spread out and settle on the bottom. Then he snatched it real quick. Phrases P1. real live: (originally) having a real existence; actually existing; (now chiefly colloquial in weakened use) real, actual. Cf. real life adj. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > foundation in fact, validity > [adjective] > genuine, real soothc888 soothlyc888 soothfastc1175 germanec1384 truea1398 sickera1400 upright?a1500 uncounterfeita1542 righteous1543 legitimate1551 truepennya1556 arrant1570 uncounterfeited1571 real1573 current1578 genuinal1599 unforged1610 unpretended1611 legitime1614 unabusinga1628 Lubish1632 genuine1639 undissembled1651 undissimulate1652 ingenuine1661 infallacious1677 real live1684 unfalsified1688 unmistaken1694 pukka1776 undissimulated1776 unassumed1818 uncynical1824 Simon Pure1834 sure-enough1837 unsimulated1840 straight-out1848 true blue1852 veritable1862 really (and) truly1864 authentic1868 true-metal1868 kosher1896 twenty-four carat1900 honest to goodness1905 echt1916 dinky-di1918 McCoy1928 twenty-two carat1962 right1969 1684 J. Kettlewell Serm. Death Lady Digby 15 Those neglected Graces..are more than Words, and are real live things, made visible to all in the excellency of her Practice. 1705 J. Toland tr. de la Créquinière Agreement Customs East-Indians with Jews 126 This Queen..caused many of them [sc. elephants] to be made of Wood, and to be plac'd at the Front of the Army..whereupon the Indians..were very much astonished, and their Horses were no less frighted, than if they had been real live Elephants. 1714 J. Purcell Treat. Cholick i. 46 It is usual to find real live Serpents a Foot long in the Kidneys of Wolves. 1847 J. M. Field Drama in Pokerville 14 A travelling menagerie..but varmints were ‘no whar’ in comparison with..real live actors. 1887 Fun 26 Oct. 175/1 A real live glass milk-jug..given to every lady that buys one pound of our two shilling Bohea. 1890 ‘W. A. Wallace’ Only a Sister 53 Rosemary had taken a great deal of trouble to catch ‘a real live’ philosopher. 1948 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 7 Mar. 25 An amiable alcoholic who keeps a real live chicken-eating geek in his garden. 2007 Sunday Herald (Glasgow) 17 June (Seven Days section) 3/1 It was also common practice to go for a hudgie on the back of a real live motorised vehicle. P2. in real terms: (Economics) reckoned by purchasing power rather than monetary or nominal value; also in extended use. ΚΠ 1942 J. R. Hicks Social Framework xv. 160 The cost-of-living index..covers a large part of the field which would be covered by the ideal index which we should desire to have for measuring the national income in real terms. 1964 J. Gould & W. L. Kolb Dict. Social Sci. 454/1 If a series of national product estimates for several years is divided by a price index, each year's national product being divided by the price index for that year, the resulting series is known as deflated or real national product, or national product in real terms. 1976 Canadian (Toronto) 1 May 8/3 NDP leader David Lewis..calculated that Canadian business receives about as much in federal subsidies as it pays in federal income tax—and thus contributes practically nothing, in real terms, to running the government. 1981 Sunday Times 26 Apr. 13/4 Despite an urgent maintenance and restoration programme, it [sc. the National Trust] is spending less in real terms on looking after its property than it was two years ago. 2002 C. Llewellyn-Smith Pop Life vii. 151 Even though unmarried people under the age of twenty-five were included in this definition of teenagers, in real terms this was twice the pre-war figure. P3. will the real —— please stand up?: see to stand up 1e at stand v. Phrasal verbs 1. P4. Originally and chiefly U.S. for real: real; in reality. Cf. for prep. 18a(b). ΚΠ 1951 Billboard 9 June 92/1 (advt.) There's No Make-Believe about Williams Harvey. It's ‘for real’ in appeal, play and profits! 1954 W. M. Miller Conditionally Human (1963) 72 Don't worry, Richard. This time it's for real. 1957 New Yorker 21 Sept. 33/2 He said psychiatrists had been enthusiastic, patents have been applied for, and it's for real. 1960 J. Kirkwood There must be Pony! xii. 95 A good guy; a movie cop..; a for-real cop. 2009 D. Leinweber Nerds on Wall Street vi. 137 With..the graying out of many generations of copies of the charts, it seemed to be time to write it up for real. P5. colloquial (originally U.S.). it's been real: ‘it's been memorable’, ‘it's been an experience’; used as a farewell, with varying degrees of sincerity or irony, and sometimes simply as a formulaic phrase. Cf. sense A. 11d. ΚΠ 1954 W. Morris Huge Season xi. 277 He stepped forward and bowed to Lou Baker, took her hand, kissed it. ‘Doll, it's been real.’ 1958 E. W. Smith Treasury Maine Woods 294 I would almost prefer to settle for: ‘See ya, pal—it's been real,’ or the even more hideous and reprehensible, ‘G'by now’. 1984 Times 16 Apr. 24/2 Goodnight Plymouth. It's been real, lads. 1995 C. Higson Full Whack (1996) v. 34 Nice to have met you. It's been real. 2002 Electronic Gaming Monthly Mar. 50/3 It's time to wrap up another installment of Gaming Gossip. It's been real, yo. P6. slang (originally U.S.). to get real: to be realistic or serious; to face facts; to abandon a naive, insincere, or erroneous opinion. Now frequently in imperative, used to suggest that an idea or statement is foolish, overly idealistic, or quite wrong.Cf. sense A. 11e. ΚΠ 1969 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) 3 6 Get real, to tell the truth. 1980 Maledicta 3 ii. 222 The aggressiveness of the younger ass-bandit who wants to score in sex as a game is, in the older homosexual, taken as evidence he is a dizzy queen who doesn't know when to quit (how to live or when to die) and won't get real (face facts). 1987 K. Lette Girls' Night Out (1989) 89 ‘Shit, Jo. I didn't know he meant anything to you.’ ‘Get real. He doesn't.’ 1993 Caves & Caving Winter 40/1 For those who feel that politics have no place in caving or other sporting activities—get real! 1998 C. Aherne et al. Royle Family Scripts: Series 1 (1999) Episode 4. 112 Denise: I'll tell you who else is gay. Dave: Who? Denise: Antony. Antony: Get real. 2002 Village Voice (N.Y.) 36/2 Again at war in the Middle East, the U.S. could decide to get real about investing in alternative fuels. Compounds C1. a. real-hearted, real-minded, etc., adjectives. ΚΠ 1648 J. Quarles Fons Lachrymarum 118 Come real-hearted Mourners, and incline Your ears to my sad story. a1866 J. Grote Exam. Utilit. Philos. (1870) ii. 37 The more real-minded the philosopher is, and the less he is the mere echo of others. 1884 J. Parker Apostolic Life III. 66 Would..real-hearted men respect him now? 1992 Microelectronics Jrnl. 23 540/1 Modeling of k-way splits is reduced to a mathematical problem of mapping the maximum separation problem in a signed hypergraph into the maximum cut problem in a real-weighted graph. b. real-looking, real-seeming, etc., adjectives. ΚΠ 1830 T. Wade Jew of Arragon v. ii. 71 Oh! my king, My brain hath in the night been tortur'd By such a hideous real-seeming, dream, That, on my life! 'twas more than visionary. 1883 Cent. Mag. Jan. 441/2 What fantastic, yet real-seeming peculiarity can he have? 1948 E. Bowen et al. Why do I Write? 24 You and I, by writing a story, impose shape—on fictitious life, it's true, but on life that is real-seeming enough to be familiar and recognisable. 1991 R. Anderson Paper Faces xiv. 82 Dot hugged this doll... She said, ‘It's ever so real-looking, like a person except it's so titchy.’ 2006 Time Out N.Y. 28 Sept. 101/2 All of Palminteri's scenes burn with a deft, torn-up rawness, as does much of this real-feeling film. C2. real account n. Accounting an account dealing with the material assets of a business, such as its property (cf. sense A. 7). ΚΠ 1853 Janesville (Wisconsin) Gaz. 20 Aug. The method of opening and closing personal and real accounts. 1911 E. E. Spicer & E. C. Pegier Pract. Auditing iv. 116 Impersonal Accounts..may be subdivided into Nominal Accounts, which relate to profit or loss, and Real Accounts, which record assets. 2000 Jrnl. Business Ethics 25 303/2 It is in the periodic closing of these nominal accounts to the ‘real accounts’..that ‘capital accounting’ is formed. real ale n. draught beer that has been brewed by traditional methods, and which has undergone secondary fermentation in the barrel; cask-conditioned beer. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > ale or beer > ale > [noun] > other ales strawberry ale1523 red ale1557 sixteens1584 bottle ale1586 hostler ale1590 Pimlico1609 eyebright1612 quest-ale1681 hugmatee1699 Newcastle brown (ale)1707 pale ale1708 twopenny ale (or beer)1710 twoops1729 flux ale1742 pale1743 Ringwood1759 brown ale1776 light ale1780 blue cap1789 brown1820 India pale ale1837 Tipper1843 ostler ale1861 fourpenny ale1871 four-ale1883 ninepenny1886 Scotch1886 barley wine1940 IPA1953 light1953 real ale1972 1972 What's Brewing Oct. Mr A—— B——..is ripping out the keg taps and replacing them with real ale from wooden barrels. 1974 Good Beer Guide (CAMRA) 2 The real ale we are talking about has to stand up to three tests; in the way it is brewed, the way it is stored and the way it is served. 2004 K. Long Bad Mother's Handbk. (2005) vii. 157 It was a bit of an old gimmers' place, popular for Sunday lunches and real ale. real books n. Education (chiefly British) a strategy for teaching children to read which advocates the use of books not written specifically for reading instruction; frequently attributive (also in singular). ΚΠ 1990 Guardian 20 Mar. 21/2 The current interests appear to focus mainly on ‘look-say’ or ‘real books’ approaches. 1992 Appl. Linguistics 13 124 The swings from phonics to look-and-say to real books in the teaching of reading. 1998 T. Payne & E. Turner Dyslexia i. 3 Our view is that real-book methods, used properly in combination with other methods, including phonics, are very appropriate means for dyslexic children to learn to read. 2005 Times Educ. Suppl. (Nexis) 24 June 23 I am not a dedicated advocate of look-and-say, real books, analytic phonics or any of the other methods that have also been hailed as magic solutions. real coffee n. coffee made from ground coffee beans, as opposed either to a substitute or (now esp.) to instant coffee. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > drink > coffee > [noun] > coffee by type of preparation real coffee1877 drip coffee1895 cowboy coffee1915 café-filtre1922 caffè espresso1933 perc1936 Nescafé1938 espresso1945 instant1954 Nescaff1962 cafe Americano1964 filtre1966 Nes1967 Americano1973 espresso macchiato1976 caffè ristretto1977 ristretto1980 espresso ristretto1983 half-caf1990 1877 H. Ruede Jrnl. 13 June in Sod-house Days (1937) 99 Most people out here don't drink real coffee, because it is too expensive... So rye coffee is used a great deal—parched brown or black according to whether the users like a strong or mild drink. a1911 D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) II. ix. 219 The coffee, boiled with the milk, was real coffee, too. 1964 L. Deighton Funeral in Berlin iv. 281 Could you find us a little cup of real coffee? 1974 N. Freeling Dressing of Diamond 201 ‘Where's the patrol, Gilbert?’ ‘Be back any minute.’ ‘Then you might make us some real coffee.’ 1998 Gay Times Aug. (Classified Ads section) 28/2 Beer, cats, country walks, food, friends, real coffee, jazz, reading, vegetarian food. Mid 30s M seeks younger M with subversive SOH. † real composition n. Law Obsolete a binding agreement or contract, esp. one relating to lands or real property. ΚΠ c1460 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Oseney Abbey (1907) 145 (MED) With the consent..of lorde William..was i-maade A Reall composicion bytwene vs and the person þere..that þe saide person..have owre porcion þere. a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1906) ii. 579 (MED) The bisshop decreid his ordeynyng and prouision to be a riall composicion to the parties. 1766 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. II. iii. 28 A real composition is when an agreement is made between the owner of the lands, and the parson or vicar,..that such lands shall for the future be discharged from payment of tithes, by reason of some land or other real recompence given to the parson, in lieu..thereof. 1794 T. H. Shaw Law Tithes vii. 256 A real composition if it can be shewed, may be a sufficient discharge of the Tithes of such lands. real fire n. a (domestic) fire that burns solid fuel such as wood or coal, esp. in an open grate, as contrasted with a gas or electric fire or other source of heat.In early use probably not a fixed collocation. ΚΠ 1873 Warren Republican (Williamsport, Indiana) 20 Nov. 4/4 A pale gaslight and the heat of a register is..about as much like a real fire as the moonshine of a panorama is like real moonlight. 1927 San Antonio (Texas) Light 2 Jan. Fortunate is the mother who can have a real fire on her hearth. 1989 A. Aird 1990 Good Pub Guide 36/2 Real fires, friendly service and pub cat. 2015 N.Z. Herald (Nexis) 19 Apr. Clean burning, gas-fired models are the easiest outdoor fireplaces to use and maintain. But if you want a real fire, consider a wood burner, chimenea, firebowl, fire pit or brazier. real man n. (also with capital initials) originally U.S. a man who fulfils traditional expectations of masculinity in his behaviour, attitudes, or appearance; a virile or masculine man. ΘΚΠ the world > people > person > man > [noun] > virile man manc1330 real man1872 he-man1885 man's mana1896 virilist1910 cocksman1916 macho1943 Marlboro Man1957 macho man1959 man1963 1872 Titusville (Pa.) Morning Herald 23 Sept. But society is full of shams shoddy and tinsel. The real man puts on no airs at all and the real lady none. 1922 E. O'Neill in Hearst's Internat. Mar. 47/1 It was..aisy for a rale man with guts to him, the like of me. 1926 Times-Signal (Zanesville, Ohio) 17 Oct. It's out here in the lonely places that you get the real-man type. There's nothing sissy about it. 1935 G. Blake Shipbuilders vi. 166 Leslie was glad to pass from these landlubberly excesses down to the engine-room where the real men in their dungarees were happy in their battle with the fretful complications of a huge power unit. 1982 B. Feirstein Real Men don't eat Quiche ii. 13 In the past, it was easy to be a Real Man. All you had to do was abuse women, steal land from Indians, and find some place to dump the toxic waste. 2005 T. Hall Salaam Brick Lane viii. 170 Real men watch football. Snooker's for poofters. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.³1558adj.¹n.¹a1325adj.²n.²adv.a1400
随便看	frightened for frightened of frightenedly frightener frighteners frightening frighteningly frightens frighter frightful frightfuler frightfulest frightfuller frightfullest frowsting frowsts frowsty frowy frowy-stuff frowystuff frowze frowze-tower frowzetower frowzier frowziest

realn.3

† realadj.1n.1

realadj.2n.2adv.

Phrases

Compounds

realn.³

† realadj.¹n.¹

realadj.²n.²adv.