expedition

expedition
\ \ [15] The Latin verb expedīre originally had the rather mundane meaning ‘free one’s feet’ – from a snare, for example It was formed from the prefix ex- ‘out’ and pēs ‘foot’ (source of English pedal, pedestrian, etc and related to English foot). Its literal meaning was soon lost sight of, progressing via ‘extricate, liberate’ to ‘bring out, make ready’ and ‘put in order, arrange, set right’. The notion of ‘freeing’ something, enabling it to go forward without hindrance, is reflected in the verb’s English descendant expedite [17]. It also survives in the derived noun expedition, as ‘promptness, dispatch’; in the main, however, this has taken a different semantic route, via ‘sending out a military force’ to ‘long organized journey for a particular purpose’.
\ \ Cf.⇒ EXPEDITE, FOOT, PEDAL, PEDESTRIAN

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Expedition — Expedition …   Deutsch Wörterbuch

  • expédition — [ ɛkspedisjɔ̃ ] n. f. • XIIIe; lat. expeditio I ♦ 1 ♦ Vx Action d expédier (I, 1o) ce qu on a à faire. L expédition d une affaire. ⇒ achèvement, exécution. Admin. Le président du Conseil démissionnaire est chargé de l expédition des affaires… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Expedition 26 — Mission insignia Number of crew 6 Launch craft Soyuz TMA 01M, Soyuz TMA 20 Start 26 November 2010 04:46 UTC …   Wikipedia

  • Expedition — Ex pe*di tion, n. [L. expeditio: cf.F. exp[ e]dition.] 1. The quality of being expedite; efficient promptness; haste; dispatch; speed; quickness; as to carry the mail with expedition. [1913 Webster] With winged expedition [1913 Webster] Swift as… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • expedition — Expedition. s. f. v. Action par laquelle on expedie. Prompte expedition. Il se dit des depesches, des lettres qu on expedie, soit missives particulieres, soit ordres, instructions, memoires, soit actes de Justice. Ce Courrier attend ses… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • Expedition — may refer to: * A journey undertaken for a specific purpose, usually exploration and/or research *Military expedition * Expedition , the science fiction book by Wayne Douglas Barlowe. * Ford Expedition, a Ford Motor Company s large sports utility …   Wikipedia

  • Expedition — Sf std. (16. Jh.) Entlehnung. Entlehnt aus l. expedītio ( ōnis) Erledigung, Abfertigung, Feldzug , einem Abstraktum zu l. expedīre erledigen, losmachen, eigentlich den Fuß aus Fesseln befreien , einer Präfixableitung zu l. pēs (pedis) m. Fuß .… …   Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen sprache

  • expedition — et achevement, Confectio. Expedition et charge de conduire une armée, Ducatus. La chose sera de longue expedition, Longe res abibit, B. ex Vlp …   Thresor de la langue françoyse

  • expedition — UK US /ˌekspɪˈdɪʃən/ noun [U] FORMAL ► speed in doing something: »We will deal with your order with the greatest possible expedition …   Financial and business terms

  • expedition — early 15c., military campaign; the act of rapidly setting forth, from M.Fr. expédition (13c.) and directly from L. expeditionem (nom. expeditio), noun of action from pp. stem of expidere (see EXPEDITE (Cf. expedite)). Meaning journey for some… …   Etymology dictionary

  • expedition — [n1] journey; people on a journey campaign, caravan, cavalcade, company, crew, crowd, cruise, crusade, enterprise, entrada, excursion, exploration, explorers, fleet, jaunt, junket, mission, outing, party, patrol, peregrination, picnic, posse,… …   New thesaurus

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