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Origin   /ˈɔrədʒən/   Listen
noun
Origin  n.  
1.
The first existence or beginning of anything; the birth. "This mixed system of opinion and sentiment had its origin in the ancient chivalry."
2.
That from which anything primarily proceeds; the fountain; the spring; the cause; the occasion.
3.
(Anat.) The point of attachment or end of a muscle which is fixed during contraction; in contradistinction to insertion.
Origin of coordinate axes (Math.), the point where the axes intersect. See Note under Ordinate.
Synonyms: Commencement; rise; source; spring; fountain; derivation; cause; root; foundation. Origin, Source. Origin denotes the rise or commencement of a thing; source presents itself under the image of a fountain flowing forth in a continuous stream of influences. The origin of moral evil has been much disputed, but no one can doubt that it is the source of most of the calamities of our race. "I think he would have set out just as he did, with the origin of ideas the proper starting point of a grammarian, who is to treat of their signs." "Famous Greece, That source of art and cultivated thought Which they to Rome, and Romans hither, brought."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Origin" Quotes from Famous Books



... Norse romance now offered to the reader, the tale of Eric and his deeds would be true; but the dream of Asmund, the witchcraft of Swanhild, the incident of the speaking head, and the visions of Eric and Skallagrim, would owe their origin to the imagination of successive generations of skalds; and, finally, in the fifteenth or sixteenth century, the story would have been written down with all ...
— Eric Brighteyes • H. Rider Haggard

... hair like a scrubbing-brush. When he made his debut, he was attired in a suit of blue drugget, with the pewter order of the parish of St. Clement on his bosom; and rumour declared that he owed his origin to half-a-crown a week, paid every Saturday. Mrs. Pilcher weighed about thirteen stone, including her bundle, and a pint medicine-bottle, which latter article she invariably carried in her dexter pocket, ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, Complete • Various

... they do not in themselves affirm the existence of a God, nevertheless appear to be one of the deepest and most fruitful sources of the belief in his reality, then we may legitimately say that the doctrine of human immortality does fall within the scope of natural theology. What then is its origin? How is it that men so commonly believe themselves to ...
— The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume I (of 3) • Sir James George Frazer

... introduced by Ovid as describing his origin, office and form: he was the ancient Chaos, or confused mass of matter before the formation of the world, the reduction of which into order and regularity, gave him his divinity. Thus deified, he ...
— Roman Antiquities, and Ancient Mythology - For Classical Schools (2nd ed) • Charles K. Dillaway

... some of our populous towns which can hardly be surpassed by an American camp- meeting; and I am not aware that any instance of superstitious imposture on the one hand, and superstitious credulity on the other, has had its origin in the United States, which we cannot more than parallel by the precedents of Mrs. Southcote, Mary Tofts the rabbit-breeder, or even Mr. Thorn of Canterbury: which latter case arose, some time after the dark ages ...
— American Notes for General Circulation • Charles Dickens


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