atomy
Part of speech: noun
adj
Morphological type: derivation
Etymology: A variant of atomi, the plural of atomus (“hypothetical particle posited as an ultimate and indivisible component of matter; mote of dust in a sunbeam”) treated as a singular form. Atomus is derived from Latin atomus, from Ancient Greek ἄτομος (átomos, “indivisible”, adjective), from ᾰ̓- (ă-, prefix forming terms having an opposite sense) + τομ- (tom-) (stem of τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *temh₁- (“to cut”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming nouns of action or result). Doublet of atom.
Base: atom
Affixes: -y
Inflected forms:
form: atomy
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: atomies
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: more atomy
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most atomy
pos: adj
tags: superlative
Senses:
gloss: A tiny particle; an atom, a mote, a speck.
pos: noun
examples: Thou tellſt me there is murder in mine eye, / 'Tis pretty ſure, and very probable, / That eyes, that are the frailſt and ſofteſt things, / VVho ſhut their covvard gates on atomyes, / Should be called tyrants, butchers, murtherers.
[…] Hunger. It was prevalent everywhere. […] Hunger was shred into atomies in every farthing porringer of husky chips of potato, fried with some reluctant drops of oil.
gloss: A tiny particle; an atom, a mote, a speck.
pos: noun
examples: [T]hicker then in ſunne are Atomies, / Flew bullets, fier, and ſlaughtered dead mens cries.
Atomie. A mote flying in the ſunne.
[T]he crew / Seemed in that light, like atomies to dance / Within a sunbeam;— […]
Betwixt the close-set ivies came a broad / And solid beam of isolated light, / Crowded with driving atomies, and fell / Slanting upon that picture, from prime youth / Well-known well-loved.
The marvel is that man can smile dreaming his ghostly ghastly dream;— / Better the heedless atomy that buzzes in the morning beam!
gloss: A tiny particle; an atom, a mote, a speck.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
examples: Spayne then enamour'd with the Romane trull, / Calls all her forces, more then Atomies, / And tells Ill-fortunes ſtorie to the full; […]
It is as eaſie to count Atomies as to reſolue the propoſitions of a Louer: […]
atomie, […] a thing ſo ſmall that it cannot bée deuided.
Laſtly, it [an element] is the leaſt part or Atomie of that thing vvhich is made, or proceedeth from it.
And freely men confeſſe that this vvorld's ſpent, / VVhen in the Planets, and the firmament / They ſeeke ſo many nevv; they ſee that this / Is crumbled out againe to his Atomies. / 'Tis all in peeces, all coherence gone; […]
[C]ircumſtances are the atomies of policie, cenſure the being, action the life, but ſucceſſe the ornament.
Thinke not that all betvvixt the VVherpoole, and the Sprat, / I goe about to name, that vvere to take in hand, / The Atomy to tell, or to caſt vp the ſand; […]
[P]raiſe thy God, / O be not ſelfe-conceited, leaſt his rod / Doe bruiſe thee into Atomies;
gloss: A very small being; a mite.
pos: noun
tags: dialectal
figuratively
examples: O then I ſee Queene Mab hath bin vvith you: She is the Fairies mid-vvife, and ſhe comes in ſhape no bigger thẽ [then; i.e., than] an Agot ſtone, on the forefinger of an Alderman, dravvne vvith a teeme of little ottamie, ouer mens noſes as they lie aſleep: […]
Was there a "delicate atomy" of minute dimensions and pale complexion, he forthwith strutted a hardy Highlander.
"Hey!" he said, "why, it's Tom! I suppose you have come here to laugh at me, you spiteful little atomy?"
But why waste time fighting atomies who do not come up to your belly-button, Ben?
gloss: Made up of tiny particles.
pos: adj
examples: Things that flit in the sky or creep / In the atomy dust, or swarm in the deep, […]
gloss: Resembling a tiny particle; atomlike.
pos: adj
examples: Hour after hour we slopped along, by the roaring torrent, and under noble Lesser Alps which were clothed in rich velvety green all the way up and had little atomy Swiss homes perched upon grassy benches along their mist-dimmed heights.
Imagination can not paint a history with as many unturned leaves, with the print of the Creator fresh in fadeless colors, as that of the atomy speck, hurled through space, which we mortals call the world!— […]
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