vogue · noun — the prevailing fashion or style. It carries an Arena rating of 1678, earned across 19 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, vogue ranks #856 of 17,153 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #1,019 of 17,137 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,061 of 17,137 for Most Elegant Words, #2,142 of 17,153 for Most Ingenious Words.
vogue is pronounced /vəʊɡ/.
Why “vogue” is a great word
The prevailing fashion, style, or popularity at a particular time, from Middle French vogue ('wave, course of success'), from voguer ('to row, sway, set sail'), from Old Saxon wogōn ('to sway, rock'), from Proto-Germanic *wagōną ('to sway, fluctuate') and *weganą ('to move, carry, weigh'), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- ('to move, go, transport'); first attested in English in 1565. The modern dance style is named after Vogue magazine. Unlike a 'trend,' which merely indicates a direction, or a 'fad,' which is intense but ephemeral, a vogue is the settled weather of an era—the precise cut of a suit that defines a decade, the turn of phrase that fills every conversation, the shared aesthetic lens through which a society briefly agrees to see the world. It is a collective dream so total it feels, for its duration, like reality, before the quiet, insistent tide of consensus inevitably begins its slow recession.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
First attested in 1565. Borrowed from Middle French vogue (“wave, course of success”), from Old French vogue, from voguer (“to row, sway, set sail”), from Old Saxon wogōn (“to sway, rock”), var. of wagōn (“to float, fluctuate”), from Proto-Germanic *wagōną (“to sway, fluctuate”) and Proto-Germanic *wēgaz (“water in motion”), from Proto-Germanic *weganą (“to move, carry, weigh”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to move, go, transport”) (compare way). Akin to Old Saxon wegan (“to move”), Old High German wegan (“to move”), Old English wegan (“to move, carry, weigh”), Old Norse vaga (“to sway, fluctuate”), Old English wagian (“to sway, totter”), German Woge (“wave”), Swedish våg (“wave”). More at wag. The dance derives its name from Vogue magazine.
noun
- The prevailing fashion or style.e.g.“Miniskirts were the vogue in the '60s.”
- Popularity or a current craze.e.g.“Hula hoops are no longer in vogue.”
- A highly stylized modern dance that evolved out of the Harlem ballroom scene in the 1960s.
- A cigarette.e.g.“Will you take a varder at the cartz on the feely-omi in the naf strides: the one with the bona blue ogles polarying the omi-palone with a vogue on and a cod sheitel.” — 1997, James Gardiner, Who's a Pretty Boy Then?, page 137:
verb
- To dance in the vogue dance style.
- To light a cigarette for (someone).e.g.“Vogue me up.”
name
- A fashion and lifestyle magazine.
- A hamlet in St Day parish, east of Redruth, Cornwall, England (OS grid ref SW7242).
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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