masc. proper name, Old English Ælfræd, literally "elf-counsel," from ælf (see elf) + ræd "counsel" (see rede). Alfred the Great was king of the West Saxons 871-899. Related: Alfredian (1814).

transuranic element, 1957, named for Alfred Nobel (q.v.). With metallic element ending -ium.

1863, in reference to guns made at the armaments works in Essen, Germany, founded by German metallurgist Alfred Krupp (1812-1887).

1963, from French tiers monde, formulated 1952 by French economic historian Alfred Sauvy (1898-1990) on model of the third estate (French tiers état) of Revolutionary France; his first world (The West) and second world (the Soviet bloc) never caught on.

"line of a prehistoric track; alignment of natural and artificial features," 1922 [Alfred Watkins], apparently a variant of lea. Popular topic in Britain in 1920s-30s and again 1960s-70s.

"supercontinent of the late Paleozoic era," 1924, from Greek pan- "all" (see pan-) + gaia "earth" (see Gaia). First attested in German, 1920, in Alfred Wegener's "Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane" (but according to OED the word is not found in 1914 first edition).

1900, in reference to five prizes (in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace) established in the will of Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), Swedish chemist and engineer, inventor of dynamite. A sixth prize, in economics, was added in 1969. Related: Nobelist.

intelligence test, first published 1916 as a revision and extension of the Binet-Simon intelligence tests, from Stanford University (California, U.S.) + the name of French psychologist Alfred Binet, who devised the attempt at a scientific measurement of intelligence.

also life-style, 1929, from life (n.) + style (n.); originally a specific term used by Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler for "a person's basic character as established early in childhood;" broader sense "way or style of living" is by 1961.

also over-compensation, 1917 in the psychological sense, translating German überkompensation, from over- + compensation. A term used by Alfred Alder to denote exaggerated striving for power in those who have an inner sense of inferiority.