morsel

  • 1Morsel — Mor sel, n. [OF. morsel, F. morceau, LL. morsellus, a dim. fr. L. morsus a biting, bite, fr. mordere to bite; prob. akin to E. smart. See {Smart}, and cf. {Morceau}, {Mordant}, {Muse}, v., {Muzzle}, n.] 1. A little bite or bit of food. Chaucer.… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 2morsel — (n.) late 13c., a bite, mouthful; small piece, fragment, from O.Fr. morsel (Mod.Fr. morceau) small bite, portion, helping, dim. of mors a bite, from L. morsus biting, a bite, neuter pp. of mordere to bite (see MORDANT (Cf. mordant)) …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 3morsel — index iota, minimum Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …

    Law dictionary

  • 4morsel — [n] tiny piece bait, bit, bite, chunk, crumb, cut, delicacy, drop, fraction, fragment, grain, hunk, lump, mouthful, nibble, nosh, part, sample, scrap, segment, slice, snack, soupçon, taste, tidbit, treat; concepts 457,458,831,835 Ant. lot …

    New thesaurus

  • 5morsel — ► NOUN ▪ a small piece of food; a mouthful. ORIGIN Old French, little bite …

    English terms dictionary

  • 6morsel — [môr′səl] n. [OFr, dim. of mors < L morsum, a bite, piece < pp. of mordere, to bite: see MORDANT] 1. a small bite or portion of food 2. a small piece or amount; bit 3. a tasty dish vt. to divide into or distribute in small portions …

    English World dictionary

  • 7morsel — noun ADJECTIVE ▪ choice, delicious, juicy, tasty (all often figurative) ▪ a juicy morsel of gossip ▪ little, tiny …

    Collocations dictionary

  • 8morsel — mor|sel [ˈmo:səl US ˈmo:r ] n [Date: 1200 1300; : Old French; Origin: mors bite , from Latin mordere; MORDANT] a very small amount of something, especially a small piece of food = ↑scrap morsel of ▪ a morsel of bread ▪ a morsel of scandal ▪ …

    Dictionary of contemporary English

  • 9morsel — noun (C) 1 a small piece of food (+ of): a morsel of bread | tasty morsels 2 morsel of hope/wisdom/gossip etc a small amount of hope etc: That s the best morsel of scandal we ve had for ages …

    Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • 10morsel — [13] Etymologically, a morsel is a piece ‘bitten’ off. The word comes from Old French morsel, a diminutive of mors ‘bite’. This in turn goes back to Latin morsus, a derivative of the same base as the verb mordēre ‘bite’. Other English words from… …

    The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins