macte
/ˈmakteɪ/Chiefly literary
exclamation
Expressing approval, encouragement, or good will: ‘all praise to you!’, ‘well done!’, ‘bravo!’; ‘good luck!’.
- Especially in various Latin exclamations and expressions: macte animo noun ‘be honoured for your spirit, bravo!’. macte virtute noun also macte nova virtute ‘be honoured for your courage, well done!’..
Origin
Late 16th century; earliest use found in Gabriel Harvey (c1552–1631), scholar and writer. From classical Latin macte, vocative of mactus honoured, extolled (used, frequently in fixed phrases, with estō may you be, either expressed or implicit), probably the past participle of an unrecorded verb *magere, cognate with magnus great.