impedimenta

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English

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin impedimenta, circa 1600. Compare impediment.[1]

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ɪmˌpɛdɪˈmɛntə/

Noun

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impedimenta

  1. Equipment intended for an activity that serves as more of a hindrance than a help, especially military baggage.
    • 1892, Julian Ralph, On Canada's Frontier:
      On the plains they will have horses dragging travoises, dogs with travoises, women and children loaded with impedimenta.
    • 1939 June, “Pertinent Paragraphs: A Surprise at Didcot”, in Railway Magazine, page 452:
      Dashing back to my compartment, I grabbed my impedimenta - what my companion thought of the maniac who alighted at a station only half-way to the first booked stop I don't know ! - got out, hurried under the subway, and was into my 10.45 comfortably before its departure.
    • 1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, page 20:
      Games impedimenta — hockey-sticks, boxing-gloves, a burst football, a pair of sweaty shorts turned inside out — lay all over the floor, and on the table there was a litter of dirty dishes and dog-eared exercise-books.
  2. plural of impedimentum

Synonyms

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References

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  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “impedimenta”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Latin

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Noun

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impedīmenta n

  1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of impedīmentum (hindrance, impediment, heavy baggage)

References

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  • impedimenta”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers