archetype : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: archetype	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for archetype
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
archetype n something that serves as a model or a basis for making copies; "this painting is a copy of the original" Synonym(s): original, archetype, pilot
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Archetype \Ar"chetype\ ([aum]r"k[esl]t[imac]p), n. [L. archetypum, Gr. 'arche`typon, fr. 'arche`typos stamped first and as model; 'arche = 'archi + ty`pos stamp, figure, pattern, ty`ptein to strike: cf. F. arch[82]type. See {Arch-}, pref.] 1. The original pattern or model of a work; or the model from which a thing is made or formed. The House of Commons, the archetype of all the representative assemblies which now meet. --Macaulay. Types and shadows of that glorious archetype that was to come into the world. --South. 2. (Coinage) The standard weight or coin by which others are adjusted. 3. (Biol.) The plan or fundamental structure on which a natural group of animals or plants or their systems of organs are assumed to have been constructed; as, the vertebrate archetype.