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Exact historical dictionary sense

Surprise in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels surprise as noun. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913noun
Surprise

[F. surprise, fr. surprendre, surpris; sur over + prendre to take, L. prehendere. See Sur-, and Prehensile.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordsurprise
Part of speechnoun
Historical etymology[F. surprise, fr. surprendre, surpris; sur over + prendre to take, L. prehendere. See Sur-, and Prehensile.]
Selected historical definitionThe act of coming upon, or taking, unawares; the act of seizing unexpectedly; surprisal; as, the fort was taken by surprise.
Signed record IDwebster1913-surprise-noun-8bb0c9fbea57
Source locatorCIDE.S, paragraph 24700; Gutenberg eBook 668
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 668Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "surprise" is labeled noun. Its etymology is recorded as: "[F. surprise, fr. surprendre, surpris; sur over + prendre to take, L. prehendere. See Sur-, and Prehensile.]" The selected historical definition says: "The act of coming upon, or taking, unawares; the act of seizing unexpectedly; surprisal; as, the fort was taken by surprise."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

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adjective

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Webster 1913 exact recordverb

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[F. supporter, L. supportare to carry on, to convey, in LL., to support, sustain; sub under + portare to carry. See Port demeanor.]

Webster 1913 exact recordnoun

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[OE. sesoun, F. saison, properly, the sowing time, fr. L. satio a sowing, a planting, fr. serere, satum, to sow, plant; akin to E. sow, v., to scatter, as seed.]

Webster 1913 exact recordnoun

Story

[OE. storie, OF. estoire, F. histoire, fr. L. historia. See History.]

Webster 1913 exact recordadjective

Single

[L. singulus, a dim. from the root in simplex simple; cf. OE. & OF. sengle, fr. L. singulus. See Simple, and cf. Singular.]

Webster 1913 exact record

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