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Webster 1828 Edition


Pabulum

PABULUM

,
Noun.
[L.]
1.
Food; aliment; that which feeds.
2.
Fuel; that which supplies the means of combustion.

Definition 2024


pabulum

pabulum

English

Noun

pabulum (plural pabula or pabulums)

  1. Food or fodder, particularly that taken in by plants or animals.
  2. Material that feeds a fire.
  3. (figuratively) Food for thought.
  4. Bland intellectual fare; an undemanding diet of words.
    • 1907, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter VIII”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:
      At her invitation he outlined for her the succeeding chapters with terse military accuracy ; and what she liked best and best understood was avoidance of that false modesty which condescends, turning technicality into pabulum.

See also


Latin

Etymology

From pā(scō) (I nourish) + -bulum, or directly from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂-dʰlom (*peh₂- + *-dʰlom).

Pronunciation

  • (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈpaː.bu.lum/, [ˈpaː.bʊ.ɫũ]

Noun

pābulum n (genitive pābulī); second declension

  1. food, nourishment, sustenance
    • c. 37 BCE – 30 BCE, Virgil, Georgicon 4.265
      [] ultro / hortantem et fessas ad pabula nota vocantem
      [] freely / calling them and exhorting the weary insects to eat their familiar food.
  2. (of animals) fodder, pasture
  3. (figuratively) nourishment for the mind, food for thought

Inflection

Second declension.

Case Singular Plural
nominative pābulum pābula
genitive pābulī pābulōrum
dative pābulō pābulīs
accusative pābulum pābula
ablative pābulō pābulīs
vocative pābulum pābula

Synonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

References