excelsior
/ɛkˈsɛlsɪɔː
/noun
1Used in the names of hotels and products to indicate superior quality: they stayed at the Excelsior...
- The news of the fabulous wealth of the Klondike creeks had broken only in mid-July, when the steamers Excelsior and Portland reached San Francisco and Seattle, respectively, with the first miners who had ‘struck it rich.’
- Meanwhile, you're theoretically defending the Excelsior, which rarely defends itself for some reason, and its shields are made of laughter and kisses.
- The group has bought the Excelsior, takes over the Grumpy Mole in December, owns the Loaded Hog, Shooters and is setting up a club in the old Money Club Building next door.
2 [mass noun] North American Softwood shavings used for packing fragile goods or stuffing furniture.The roots are rolled tightly, like a cigarette, in excelsior and plastic to keep the roots moist until planting time....
- Then I demonstrate with some materials in front of the class, capturing their attention by telling them, ‘There's a little puppy in this excelsior.’
- For instance, my dream is to wrap myself as a birthday present, pack myself in excelsior and ship myself to Greenland - collect!
Origin
Late 18th century (as an exclamation): from Latin, comparative of excelsus, from ex- 'out, beyond' + celsus 'lofty'.
- flick through
- flicky
- flier
- flight
- flight attendant
- flight bag
- flight capital
- flight case
- flight control
- flight crew
- flight deck
- flight engineer
- flight envelope
- flight feather
- flightily
- flightiness
- flight jacket
- flightless
- flightlessness
- flight lieutenant
- flight line
- flight log
- flight number
- flight path
- flight plan