- assent (v.)
- c.1300, from O.Fr. assentir (12c.), from L. assentare "to agree with," freq. of assentire, from ad- "to" + sentire "to feel, think" (see sense). The noun is c.1300, from O.Fr. assent, a back-formation from assentir.
- aye (1)
- "assent," 1570s, perhaps a variant of I, meaning "I assent;" or an alt. of M.E. yai "yes," or from aye (2) "always, ever."
- approve
- mid-14c., "to attest (something) with authority," from O.Fr. aprover (Fr. approuver), from L. approbare "to assent to as good, regard as good," from ad- "to" + probare "to try, test something (to find if it is good)," from probus "honest, genuine" (see prove). The meaning extended late 14c. to "show (something) to be good," then to "assent to (something) as good" (early 15c.), especially in ref. to authorities, parliaments, etc.
- om
- mystical word in Hinduism, Buddhism; an utterance of assent, 1788.
- approbate
- late 15c. (v.), from pp. adj. (early 15c.), from L. approbatus, pp. of approbare "to assent to as good" (see approve).
- prorogue
- early 15c., "to prolong, extend," from O.Fr. proroger (14c.), from L. prorogare, lit. "to ask publicly," from pro "before" + rogare "to ask" (see rogation). Perhaps the original sense in L. was "to ask for public assent to extending someone's term in office." Meaning "to discontinue temporarily" is attested from mid-15c.
- plebiscite
- "direct vote of the people," 1860 (originally in ref. to Italian unification), from Fr. plébiscite (1776 in modern sense), from L. plebiscitum "a decree or resolution of the people," from plebs (gen. plebis) "the common people" + scitum "decree," properly neuter pp. of sciscere "to assent, vote for, approve," inchoative of scire "to know" (see science). Used earlier (1533) in a purely Roman historical context.
- satire
- late 14c., "work intended to ridicule vice or folly," from L. satira "satire, poetic medley," earlier satura, in lanx satura "mixed dish, dish filled with various kinds of fruit," lit. "full dish," from fem. of satur "sated" (see saturate). First applied in literary sense to a collection of poems on a variety of subjects by Ennius. In classical L., a poem which assailed the prevailing vices, one after another. Altered in L. by infl. of Gk. satyr, on mistaken notion that the form is related to the Gk. satyr drama (see satyr).
"Satire (n.) - An obsolete kind of literary composition in which the vices and follies of the author's enemies were expounded with imperfect tenderness. In this country satire never had more than a sickly and uncertain existence, for the soul of it is wit, wherein we are dolefully deficient, the humor that we mistake for it, like all humor, being tolerant and sympathetic. Moreover, although Americans are 'endowed by their Creator' with abundant vice and folly, it is not generally known that these are reprehensible qualities, wherefore the satirist is popularly regarded as a sour-spirited knave, and his every victim's outcry for codefendants evokes a national assent." [Ambrose Bierce, "Devil's Dictionary," 1911]
For nuances of usage, see humor.