ditto
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈdɪtəʊ/
ipa: /ˈdɪtoʊ/
ipa: [ˈdɪɾoʊ]
rhymes: -ɪtəʊ
Forms: form: dittos
form: dittoes
Etymology: First attested in 1625. From regional Italian ditto, variant of detto, past participle of dire (“to say”), from Latin dīcō (“I say, I speak”). Not related to English dittography or Italian dito (“finger”).
The specific meaning of making copies of paper comes from ditto machine, the brand name of a spirit duplicator.
Senses: examples: text: [...] they entered a dismal-looking parlour, whose brick-red walls and ditto curtains were scantily lighted by a single lamp, though it was of the last new patent—[…]
ref: 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIV, in Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 127:
text: […]a spacious table in the centre, and a variety of smaller dittos in the corners:[…]
ref: 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “Comprising a Brief Description of the Company at the Peacock Assembled; and a Tale Told by a Bagman”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC, page 134:
text: Well say he's got the constitution of a dinosaur, recuperative powers ditto. And as we both know, I'm a bright young medic with a miraculous touch. Well why then, when I returned, there wasn't a trace of that wound on his forehead. Not even a bruise. It was like he had never been injured.
ref: 1967, Star Trek, The Alternative Factor, season 1, episode 27, DeForest Kelley (actor):
text: The opening shot of "Crystal Skull" shows the playful side of director Steven Spielberg, who seems to have a weak spot for cute animals. See "AI Artificial Intelligence" for Exhibit A. Ditto for executive producer George Lucas. See "Return of the Jedi" for Exhibit B.
ref: 2008 May 22, “New 'Indiana' film whips up plenty of thrills”, in Hudson (MA) MetroWest Daily News:
text: He has created for himself a honed, primed-for-victory body and is working hard on a ditto mind.
ref: 2009 July 3, “Andy Murray: easy to admire, but can we learn to love him?”, in Times Online:
glosses: That which was stated before, the aforesaid, the above, the same, likewise.
examples: text: Please run off twenty-four dittos of this assignment, for my students.
text: Mr. Zappadia gave each student a ditto of a black-and-white cow.
ref: 2019, Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, Jonathan Cape, page 227:
glosses: A duplicate or copy of a document, particularly one created by a spirit duplicator.
examples: text: "You've got to look good to feel good," she announces, a ditto of television slogans.
ref: 1991, N. Romano-Benner with S. Murphy, “Convoking the muses of Cuenca”, in Americas, volume 43, number 1, page 6:
text: Last year, Argenta-Oreana blanked the Chiefs 23-0 in a second-round game Dee-Mack coach Jim McDonald said was "pretty much a ditto" of what transpired Saturday.
ref: 2003 November 9, “Argenta appears unfazed”, in Herald & Review:
text: The intent of the policy, she said, is "not to put everybody in a ditto environment," where all are expected to look and act exactly like all others.
ref: 2009 May 6, “Brunswick school hopes to be model for uniforms”, in Myrtle Beach Sun News:
glosses: A copy; an imitation.
synonyms: word: do.
word: do
glosses: The ditto mark, 〃; a symbol, represented by two apostrophes, inverted commas, or quotation marks (" "), indicating that the item preceding is to be repeated.
glosses: A suit of clothes of the same color throughout.
topics: education
glosses: Synonym of worksheet (“a sheet of paper or computerized document”).
synonyms: word: worksheet
extra: a sheet of paper or computerized document
Derived terms: dittohead
dittology
ditto master
ditto suit
ditto worksheet
suit of dittoes