article

Less common meanings

5. 5
   partnouncountable

   One distinct part of something made up of several parts.

   The last article of the beetle's antenna is longer than the others.

   Under the microscope, the students counted the articles of the beetle's antenna, each one linked to the next by a tiny joint.

   Note

   Zoologists still use it for the segments of jointed appendages, as when each chelicera is said to have two articles. Eighteenth-century writers stretched it freely: William Paley has "each article of human duty," and Erasmus Darwin writes of "the different articles which compose the blood," where we would say components.

6. 6
   real thingnounabbreviationellipsis

   Ellipsis of genuine article.

   UsageUsed as the article, short for the genuine article, when the meaning is clear from context.

   Note

   A clipped idiom: drop genuine from the genuine article, and the article alone still means the authentic thing rather than the copy. The full phrase can also be praise for something excellent, much like the bomb. In casual speech, context decides whether a speaker means "the real one" or "the best one."

7. 7
   set outverbtransitive

   To state something in separate, distinct points or particulars.

   Similaritemize, specify, enumerate, list, detail

   Note

   Here the emphasis falls on itemizing, setting things out point by point. Jeremy Taylor's The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living imagines a man whose "errors and follies were articled against him," listed one by one until he "would seem vicious and miserable." With against, the phrasing leans toward the accusing verb. Without it, it simply means spelling out particulars. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Jeremy Taylor wrote The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. ccel.org
   • The work contains both quoted phrases in a hypothetical description of a man's accumulated faults. ccel.org
8. 8
   bind apprenticeverbtransitive

   To bind someone as an apprentice by a formal contract known as articles.

   The guild required masters to article their apprentices under strict terms.

   He articled the orphan to a shipwright in the coastal town.

   UsageUsually in the passive with to: he was articled to a lawyer.

   Similarapprentice, indenture, bind

   Note

   In Sabine Baring-Gould's The Vicar of Morwenstow (1876), the boy "was articled to a lawyer." A 1948 Railway Magazine profile has Mr. Nokes articled to a surveyor and made partner "at the expiration of his articles." The contract itself is the plural noun, articles.

9. 9
   personnounderogatorydatedcountable

   A person or individual, referred to dismissively or contemptuously.

   He was a cunning article who always got exactly what he wanted.

   "You dateless article," stormed his father, leaving Bennett to realise in his laconic way that he was, and probably always would be, a disappointment to Dad.

   2001, Lynne Walker, “Classical: Musical portrait of the artist as a young man”

   UsageUsually with an adjective that does the judging: a slippery article, a cunning article.

   Similarcustomer, character, specimen, type

   Note

   Calling someone an article treats them like a mere object, and that is where the sting lies. A father's "You dateless article," hurled at his son, shows the insult surviving in family scolding.

10. 10
    topicnoundatedcountable

    The subject matter or concern under consideration.

    This last article perhaps will hardly be believed.

    1722, H[enry] F[oe] [pseudonym; Daniel Defoe], A Journal of the Plague Year

    a very great revolution that happened in this article of good breeding

    1711, [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “TUESDAY, July 17, 1711”

    Similarsubject, matter, topic, question, issue

    Note

    An older way to name the point at issue: in The Spectator in 1711, Joseph Addison writes of a "very great revolution" in "this article of good breeding." The word often takes of plus a topic. It can also stand alone for a point just raised, as in Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year: "This last article perhaps will hardly be believed." Today matter or point does the job. Source

    Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • Article has an older sense meaning subject matter or concern. en.wiktionary.org
    • Joseph Addison wrote the quoted passage in The Spectator in 1711. upload.wikimedia.org
    • The Addison quotation has the stated wording. upload.wikimedia.org
    • Daniel Defoe wrote A Journal of the Plague Year. gutenberg.org
    • The quoted words occur in the novel and refer back to a preceding point without an of phrase. gutenberg.org
11. 11
    accuseverbobsolete

    To accuse or charge someone by presenting a formal list of accusations.

    Note

    A courtroom verb that has fallen out of use, it often took against. The Manning of the Navy Act of 1793 makes a merchant captain under convoy who disobeys signals "liable to be articled against in the High Court of Admiralty." The charges were drawn up as itemized articles, the same structure as the sections of a legal document. Today one would simply say charge. Source

    Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

    • Article was a legal verb meaning to accuse through formal articles. en.wiktionary.org
    • The cited navy-manning legislation dates from 1793. en.wikipedia.org
    • It concerns the captain of a merchant ship sailing under convoy who disobeys the convoy commander's signals or instructions. api.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de
    • The legislation contains the quoted wording and names the High Court of Admiralty. api.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de
    • Formal accusations were drawn up as itemized articles. culturepk.org.uk
    • Article also denotes a section of a legal document. en.wiktionary.org
12. 12
    young womannounobsoletecountable

    A young woman or girl; an obsolete slang usage, often coarse in tone.

    Note

    Slang that sizes a woman up like merchandise. She is a prime article the way goods on a shelf are, which turns the "object" meaning into a verdict on a person. It keeps rough company, alongside a devilish good piece and a hell of a goer, and its tone is leering rather than fond. Being obsolete, it suits period dialogue; in modern prose it reads as both dated and demeaning. Source

    Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Historical slang uses 'prime article' for a handsome girl. gutenberg.org
    • The historical entry pairs 'prime article' with 'a devilish good piece' and 'a hell of a goer'. gutenberg.org
13. 13
    nounobsolete

    A precise point in time; a particular moment.

    each article of time

    1634, William Habington, Castara

    This fatal news coming to Hick's Hall upon the article of my Lord Russell's trial, was said to have had no little influence on the jury and all the bench to his prejudice.

    1683, John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 13 July 1683]”

    Note

    Latin articulus already meant a point of time, and English once borrowed that meaning too. John Evelyn's diary for 1683 has fatal news arriving "upon the article of my Lord Russell's trial," just as it was under way. William Habington writes of "each article of time" in Castara (1634). The sense is obsolete, and modern English says moment or juncture. Source

    Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • Latin articulus meant a point in time or moment. en.wiktionary.org
    • English article derives through French from Latin and historically had the time-point sense. en.wiktionary.org
    • Evelyn's diary entry for 1683 contains the quoted phrase about news arriving during Lord Russell's trial. gutenberg.org
    • William Habington wrote 'each article of time' in Castara. upload.wikimedia.org
    • Castara was first published in 1634. en.wikipedia.org