Norma
name, noun ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A norm.
- 2 A template.
- 3 A square for measuring right angles.
- 1 A female given name originating as a coinage.
"I wish I could remember that girl's Christian name. Something connected with a song...Thora? Speak to me, Thora, Thora, Thora. Something like that, or Myra? Myra, oh Myra my love is all for thee... Norma? Or do I mean Maritana? Norma - Norma Restarick. That's right, I'm sure."
- 2 An inconspicuous constellation of the southern sky, said to resemble a carpenter's square. It lies south of the constellations Scorpius and Centaurus.
Example
More examples"I wish I could remember that girl's Christian name. Something connected with a song...Thora? Speak to me, Thora, Thora, Thora. Something like that, or Myra? Myra, oh Myra my love is all for thee... Norma? Or do I mean Maritana? Norma - Norma Restarick. That's right, I'm sure."
Etymology
Coined name of an imaginary Celtic priestess in Bellini's opera Norma (1831). Sometimes explained as Latin norma (“pattern, model”), or as a feminine form of Norman.
Named by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1763. From Latin norma (“a carpenter's square”).
Borrowed from Latin norma. Doublet of norm.