ditto
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ditto
- /ˈdɪtəʊ/ UK
- /ˈdɪtoʊ/ US
- [ˈdɪɾoʊ] US
Rhymes with -ɪtəʊ
Where it comes from
First attested in 1625. From regional Italian ditto, variant of detto, past participle of dire (“to say”), from Latin dīcō (“to say, to speak”). Not related to English dittography.
The specific meaning of making copies of paper comes from ditto machine, a genericization from the brand name of a spirit duplicator.
noun dittos · dittoes
- That which was stated before, the aforesaid, the above, the same, likewise. [...] they entered a dismal-looking parlour, whose brick-red walls and ditto curtains were scantily lighted by a single lamp, though it was of the last new patent—[…]
- The ditto mark, 〃; a symbol, represented by two apostrophes, inverted commas, or quotation marks (" "), indicating that the item preceding is to be repeated.
- A suit of clothes of the same color throughout.
- A copy made by (run off by) a ditto machine (especially, a worksheet thus reproduced). Please run off twenty-four dittos of this assignment for my students.
- A copy; an imitation. "You've got to look good to feel good," she announces, a ditto of television slogans.
adverb
- As said before, likewise. The inflationary effect of injecting $1 billion into the economy could be dire; ditto the impact on the tumbling bolivar of treating foreign reserves as if they were the government's piggy-bank.
verb dittos · dittoing · dittoed
- To repeat the aforesaid, the earlier action etc. The Communists believed that Prakasam, the Prime Minister, never tried to check the bureaucracy but dittoed every action of the corrupt officials and police.
- To make a copy using a ditto machine. But they were all purple, Dittoed—worn, torn, stained with coffee.
interjection
- Used as an expression of agreement with what another person has said, or to indicate that what they have said equally applies to the person being addressed. I'm really busy today! —Ditto!
