cursiveadj.n.
/ˈkəːsɪv/, U.S. /ˈkərsɪv/ A. adj. Of writing: Written with a running hand, so that the characters are rapidly formed without raising the pen, and in consequence have their angles rounded, and separate strokes joined, and at length become slanted.
In ancient manuscripts the cursive style, showing some of these characteristics, is distinguished from the more formal uncial writing.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > handwriting or style of > [adjective] > cursive
running1575
tachygraphic1728
voluble1745
tachygraphical1764
cursive1784
Spencerian1883
current1891
joined-up1983
1784 in W. Fry New Vocab.
1837 H. Hallam Introd. Lit. Europe I. i. 70 Their complex system of abbreviations, which rendered the cursive hand-writing..almost as operose..as the more stiff characters of older manuscripts.
1844 G. S. Faber Sacred Cal. Prophecy (ed. 2) III. v. v. 164 The gradual invention and..general use of the cursive greek character.
1881 B. F. Westcott & F. J. A. Hort New Test. in Orig. Greek II. Introd. iii. 76 The Cursive MSS range from the ninth to the sixteenth centuries.
B. n.
A cursive character or manuscript.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > handwriting or style of > [noun] > cursive
written hand1580
joining-hand1583
join-handa1652
running-hand1741
demotic1782
cursive1861
joined-up writing1983
society > communication > writing > written text > [noun] > according to type of writing
pictograph1851
stenograph1856
cursive1861
minusculea1876
uncial1881
1861 F. H. A. Scrivener Introd. Crit. New Test. (1874) ii. 40 Colbert. 2844 or 33 of the Gospels, ‘the Queen of the cursives’, as it has been called.
1881 B. F. Westcott & F. J. A. Hort New Test. in Orig. Greek II. Introd. iii. 74 The Greek MSS of the New Testament are divided into two classes,..‘Uncials’ and ‘Cursives’, according as they are written in capital or minuscule characters.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1893; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1784