cachet

cachet
\ \ [17] Cachet was a Scottish borrowing of a French word which originally meant ‘seal affixed to a letter or document’. In the 19th century this developed into the figurative ‘personal stamp, distinguishing characteristic’, which, through its use in the context of distinguished or fashionable people or things, has come to mean ‘prestige’. The original notion contained in the word is of ‘pressing’. It comes via the medieval French verb cacher ‘press’ from Latin coactāre ‘constrain’. This was a derivative of coact-, the past participial stem of cōgere ‘drive together’ (source of English cogent), a compound verb formed from con- ‘together’ and agere ‘drive’ (source of English act and a host of other derivatives from agent to prodigal).
\ \ Modern French cacher means ‘hide’, which is the source of cache ‘hoard’, borrowed by English in the 19th century.
\ \ Cf.⇒ CACHE, COGENT

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • cachet — [ kaʃɛ ] n. m. • 1464 « empreinte »; de cacher « presser » 1 ♦ Plaque ou cylindre d une matière dure gravée avec laquelle on imprime une marque (sur de la cire). ⇒ sceau. Cachet monté en bague, muni d un manche. Armes gravées sur un cachet.… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • cachet — CACHET. s. m. Un petit sceau avec lequel on ferme des lettres, des billets. Cachet bien gravé. cachet de chiffres. cachet d armes. Cachet, Se dit aussi, de l empreinte formée sur la cire avec le cachet. Le cachet est entier, rompu. On appelle… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • cachet — Cachet, m. acut. C est un petit seel particulier aux armes, et devises de chasque particulier, dont les lettres missives sont cachetées avec cire, lacre, ou autre chose gluante, Sigillum, quasi paruum signum. Parce qu en iceux cachets estoient… …   Thresor de la langue françoyse

  • cachet — 1630s, Scottish borrowing of Fr. cachet seal affixed to a letter or document (16c.), from O.Fr. dialectal cacher to press, crowd, from L. coactare constrain (see CACHE (Cf. cache)). Meaning evolving through (letter under) personal stamp (of the… …   Etymology dictionary

  • cachet — [ka shā′, kash′ā] n. [Fr < cacher: see CACHE] 1. a seal or stamp on an official letter or document: see also LETTRE DE CACHET 2. any sign of official approval 3. a) a mark or sign showing something is genuine, authentic, or of superior quality …   English World dictionary

  • Cachet — Cach et, n. [F. fr. cacher to hide.] A seal, as of a letter. [1913 Webster] {Lettre de cachet} [F.], a sealed letter, especially a letter or missive emanating from the sovereign; much used in France before the Revolution as an arbitrary order of… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Cachet — (fr., spr. Kaschäh), 1) Petschaft; 2) Siegel; daher Cachetiren, zusiegeln. Cachet volant (spr. Kaschäh wolang, fliegendes Siegel), ein Siegel, das auf dem obern Blatt Papier eines zu versiegelnden Briefs so ausgeschnitten ist, daß der Brief… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • cachet — m. cachet comprimé. voir pastilha, sagèu …   Diccionari Personau e Evolutiu

  • Cachet — (franz., spr. kaschä), Petschaft, Siegel, Gepräge, Stempel …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Cachet — (frz. Cascheh). Siegel; cachetiren, siegeln, das Siegel beidrucken …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

  • cachet — index earmark, label Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

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