echo

A reflected sound that is heard again by its initial observer.

Noun

  1. A reflected sound that is heard again by its initial observer.
    • The babbling echo mocks the hounds. - c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio),...
    • To you I mourn; nor to the Deaf I ſing, / The Woods ſhall anſwer, and their Echo ring. - 1709 May, Alexander Pope, “Pastorals. Summer. The Second Pastoral, or Alexis.”, in Poetical Miscellanies: The Sixth Part. […],...
    • “Then what is your little trouble?” “My little trouble!” I felt that this sort of thing must be stopped at its source. It was only ten minutes to dressing-for-dinner time, and we could go on along these lines for hours....

    Hypernyms: reverberation

  2. An utterance repeating what has just been said.
  3. A device in verse in which a line ends with a word which recalls the sound of the last word of the preceding line.
  4. Sympathetic recognition; response; answer.
    • Fame is the echo of actions, resounding them. - 1642, Thomas Fuller, The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […], →OCLC:
    • Many kind, and sincere speeches found an echo in his heart. - 1878, Robert Louis Stevenson, Will o' the Mill:
  5. Something that reflects or hearkens back to an earlier thing.
    • The frustration with the political process that in the '60s led to the formation of resistance groups finds an echo in today's increasingly confrontational tactics. - 1991 February 4, Owen Shows, “Start Making Sense”,...
  6. An insignificant indirect result; a ripple.
  7. The displaying on the command line of the command that has just been executed.
  8. An individual discussion forum using the echomail system.
    • When someone asks an off-topic question […] they are usually quickly told to knock it off. You can't ask a question about modems in an echo devoted to local-area networks. - 1992, Dial in, page 9:
  9. Alternative letter-case form of Echo from the NATO/ICAO Phonetic Alphabet.
  10. A signal, played in the same manner as a trump signal, made by a player who holds four or more trumps (or, as played by some, exactly three trumps) and whose partner has led trumps or signalled for trumps.
  11. A signal showing the number held of a plain suit when a high card in that suit is led by one's partner.
  12. An antisemitic punctuation symbol or marking, ((( ))), placed around a name or phrase to indicate the person is Jewish or the entity is controlled by Jewish people; or repurposed or reclaimed to proudly declare one's Jewishness or solidarity with Jews.

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sweh₂gʰ-der. Proto-Hellenic *wākʰā́ Ancient Greek ἠχή (ēkhḗ) Proto-Indo-European *-ṓy Ancient Greek -ώ (-ṓ) Ancient Greek ἠχώ (ēkhṓ)bor. Latin ēchō Medieval Latin ēccōbor. Middle English eccho English echo From Middle English eccho, ecco, echo, ekko, from Medieval Latin ēccō, from Latin ēchō, from Ancient Greek ἠχώ (ēkhṓ), from ἠχή (ēkhḗ, “sound”). Possibly from the same Proto-Indo-European root as sough.

Forms

echoes echos echoe eccho

Derived

anechoic applaud to the echo cheer to the echo echoacousia echoback echo boomer echocardiogram echocardiography echocardiology echo chamber echoencephalography echoendoscope echoendoscopic echoendoscopy echoer echoey echogenic echogenicity echogram echograph echography echoic echoise echoism

Verb

  1. Of a sound or sound waves: to reflect off a surface and return; to reverberate or resound.
    • With each clap of thunder echoing from one high building to another the noise was terrific. - 1953 July, Allen Rowley, “First Impressions of American Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 493:

    Synonyms: ring

  2. Of a rumour, opinion, etc.: to spread or reverberate.
    • The sense that it takes outrageous fortune to get inoculated echoes here in the Bay Area, where pharmacies have canceled flu-shot clinics, doctors turn away pleading patients and health officials are reduced to telling...
  3. To reflect back (a sound).
    • Those peals are echoed by the Trojan throng. - 1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob...
    • The wondrous sound / Is echoed on forever. - 1827, John Keble, The Christian Year: Christmas Day:
  4. To repeat (another’s speech, opinion, etc.).
    • Sid echoed his father’s point of view.
    • ‘I want nothing.’ ‘Nor I,’ echoed Sydney. - 1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:
    • Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles, attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers. Others play with primes’ cultural associations. Still...
  5. To repeat its input as input to some other device or system.
    • The device that is to echo the characters should be optioned for echoplexing. - 1991, Martin D. Seyer, RS-232 made easy:
  6. To give the echo signal, informing one's partner about cards one holds.

Forms

echoes echoing echoed echoe eccho

Derived

echoable echoingly nonechoing outecho reecho unechoed unechoing