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prestige|prɛˈstiːʒ, -stiːdʒ; formerly also ˈprɛstɪdʒ| [a. F. prestige (16th c. in Littré) an illusion, esp. in pl. ‘deceits, impostures, delusions, iugling or cousening tricks’ (Cotgr.), in mod.F. illusion, magic, glamour, ad. L. præstigium a delusion, illusion, usually in pl. præstigiæ, illusions, juggler's tricks, for *præstrigium f. præstringĕre to bind fast (præstringere oculos to blindfold, hence, to dazzle the eyes): see prestringe.] †1. An illusion; a conjuring trick; a deception, an imposture. Usually pl. Obs.
1656Blount Glossogr. [from Cotgr.], Prestiges.., deceits, impostures, delusions, cousening tricks. 1661Justiciary Rec. (S.H.S.) I. 12 The Dittay does not condescend upon the Sorcery and prestiges whereby the Pannell did effectuat the particulars lybelled. 1753–4Warburton Princ. Nat. & Rev. Relig. v. Wks. 1788 V. 92 That faith..we are told, was founded on a rock, impregnable..to the sophisms of infidelity, and the prestiges of imposture! [1870M. D. Conway Earthw. Pilgr. vii. 99 Prestige is simply præstigium, deceit; and surely that is a dangerous weapon for a true cause to use. 1881Freeman in Life & Lett. (1895) II. 228 Prestige, you know, I always like to have a pop at; I take it it has never lost its first meaning of conjuring tricks.] 2. transf. Blinding or dazzling influence; ‘magic’, glamour; influence or reputation derived from previous character, achievements, or associations, or esp. from past success. [So in mod.F.]
[1815Scott Paul's Lett. (1839) 58 He [Napoleon] needed..the dazzling blaze of decisive victory to renew the charm, or prestige, as he himself was wont to call it, once attached to his name and fortunes. ]1829Westm. Rev. Oct. 397 The pleasure of these people does not consist in acting upon their maxims of ton among themselves, but in the effect of them on the inferior world. Dissipate the prestige, and you deprive them of the delight. 1837Fonblanque Eng. under Seven Administr. I. Introd. 7 The prestige of the perfection of the law was unbroken. 1838Mill A. de Vigny Diss. & Disc. (1859) I. 316 The prestige with which he [Napoleon] overawed the world is..the effect of stage-trick. 1845Ford Handbk. Spain i. 201 Such is the prestige of broad cloth. 1847Emerson Repr. Men, Shaks. Wks. (Bohn) I. 354 Had the prestige which hedges about a modern tragedy existed, nothing could have been done. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. xviii. 216 The prestige of the gun with a savage is in his notion of its infallibility. 1859Kingsley Misc. I. 11 She [Elizabeth] comes to the throne with such a prestige as never sovereign came since the days when Isaiah sang his pæan over young Hezekiah's accession. 1868M. Pattison Academ. Org. iv. 66 Balliol..can set off a prestige of long standing against a deficiency in the stipend. 1871L. Stephen Playgr. Eur. iii, In 1861..the prestige of the mountains was rapidly declining. 1878Gladstone Prim. Homer viii. 112 Aidōs..means honour, but never the base-born thing in these last times called prestige. 1898Sir W. Harcourt in Daily News 9 May 8/6 People talk sometimes of prestige... I am not very fond of the word. What I understand by prestige is the consideration in which nations or individuals are held by their fellows. 3. attrib. or quasi-adj. (not clearly distinguishable from some of the examples listed in sense 4 below). Cf. prestigeful a., prestigious a. 2.
1934R. Benedict Patterns of Culture (1935) iv. 85 The Dionysian bent in the North American vision quest..did not usually have to make compromise with prestige groups and their privileges. 1937Time 16 Aug. 34/2 The cinema has a special category for what it calls ‘prestige pictures’. 1944W. S. Maugham Razor's Edge vii. 325 Though she didn't much care for them [sc. some modern paintings] she thought quite rightly that they would be a prestige item in their future home. 1949L. P. Hartley Boat xi. 156 If only they could all put off their company manners and change into their old clothes! But no; this was a prestige occasion. 1953Time 23 Mar. 104/2 A ‘prestige production’, in broadcasting circles, is a show that abounds in a specific type of intelligence. 1957Times Lit. Suppl. 8 Nov. 674/1 Serious books, normally prestige ware, had overnight changed into consumer goods, so that both conscience and bank-balance slept tight. 1958M. Argyle Relig. Behaviour viii. 85 Prestige suggestion, in which people change their opinion after being told that a prestige person holds a different one. 1961D. Jenkins Equality & Excellence viii. 175 Too many expensively educated young women aspire to careers as secretaries or receptionists in ‘prestige offices’. 1962Rep. Comm. Broadcasting 1960 92 in Parl. Papers 1961–2 (Cmnd. 1753) IX. 259 The occasional, highly-advertised prestige programme put on for the occasion of a Christian festival. 1967Word Study Mar. 3/2, I do find it difficult not to blame Miss Prouty at least a little bit..for rejecting usages so widely current in the prestige dialect that they are sanctioned even by her own textbook. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Jan. 37/2 (Advt.), Accommodation available in Toronto's finest small nursing home, central prestige location, single or double occupancy, with or without private bath. 1969Nature 29 Nov. 840/1 The Soviet Union still..seems to treat all scientific and technological progress (from sputniks to fish-spotting and from television sets to trans-continental pipelines) as primarily ‘prestige’ achievements. 1971E. Jones in J. Spencer Eng. Lang. W. Afr. 84 Yams are a kind of prestige crop and item of food in rural West Africa. 1974Times 20 Sept. 1/4 Aston Martin, one of Britain's prestige car companies. 1977Irish Times 8 June 13/6 (Advt.), Superb town residence in prestige location. 4. Comb., as prestige-object, prestige-principle, prestige-product, prestige-structure, prestige-value, prestige-word; prestige-hunting, prestige-ranking, prestige-rating vbl. ns.; prestige-bearing, prestige-building, prestige-conferring, prestige-conscious, prestige-marking adjs.; prestige advertising, advertising with the principal aim of furthering the prestige of the advertiser (rather than increasing sales, etc.).
1958P. Shore in N. Mackenzie Conviction 39 I.C.I. is not alone in this kind of prestige advertising. 1959Manch. Guardian 2 July 6/5, I doubt whether prestige advertising is important in recruiting university graduates. 1972Lebende Sprachen XVII. 46/2 Prestige advertising.
1949R. K. Merton Social Theory ii. v. 201 Pickpockets who..delight in mastering the prestige-bearing feat of ‘beating a left breech’. 1964R. A. Hall Introd. Linguistics 21 Prestige-bearing persons.
1965Economist 13 Nov. 723/1 A very different and very prestige-building new activity.
1961D. Jenkins Equality & Excellence viii. 151 Those prestige-conferring occupations which used to be reserved for those ‘of good family’.
1971Guardian 25 Sept. 8/1 Prestige-conscious companies like IBM and Alcan.
1930M. Mead Growing up in New Guinea iii. 29 But this is neither child labour nor idle prestige hunting on the part of the parents.
1957M. Joos Readings in Linguistics 376/2 The dialects and idiolects of higher prestige were more advanced in this direction [of phonetic drift], and their speakers carried the drift farther along so as to maintain the prestige-marking difference against their pursuers.
1955D. Chapman Home & Social Status iii. 42 The piano, which was formerly the principal prestige-object.
1939Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. Jan. 220 Concrete manifestations of the ‘prestige-principle’ at work.
1958Observer 25 May 16/2 To-day ‘culture’ is being marketed as a prestige-product.
1955T. H. Pear Eng. Social Differences i. 29 How far does their [sc. adolescents'] prestige-ranking of occupations resemble that made by adults? 1957Young & Willmott in ‘C. H. Rolph’ Human Sum vii. 140 An earlier national study of the prestige-ranking given to occupations by people who were predominantly non-manual workers. 1960New Left Rev. Sept.–Oct. 3/1 The changing patterns of prestige-ranking.
1954J. A. C. Brown Social Psychol. of Industry v. 140 The worker may be..upset when he is moved to another job at the same pay, but with a lower prestige-rating.
1949R. K. Merton Patterns of Influence iv, in Lazarsfeld & Stanton Communications Res. ii. 198 He begins his climb in the prestige-structure at a relatively high level.
1929L. D. White (title) The prestige value of public employment in Chicago. 1942Mind LI. 170 Mathematics has indeed, a tremendous prestige value. 1958Listener 21 Aug. 283/2 The two- or three-garage house, even the monster car itself, looked like losing its prestige value. 1967E. Short Embroidery & Fabric Collage iii. 68 A good patchwork quilt has a prestige value in keeping with the labour that goes into the making of it. 1972J. L. Dillard Black English vi. 233 The prestige value of more expensive toys, bicycles, and athletic equipment.
1964C. Barber Ling. Change Present-Day Eng. ii. 25 There are many men of the professional classes who, far from practising the sounds of R[eceived] P[ronunciation] and the prestige-words of R[eceived] S[tandard], are deliberately refusing to do so. 1964Eng. Stud. XLV. (Suppl.) 22 But very often there is a marked difference in tone between the foreign and the native terms, the former being felt as prestige-word, the latter as the plain terms. |