Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
"FREEMASONS" is a plural of: freemason. |
Date "FREEMASONS" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1749. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Satire | FREEMASONS, n. An order with secret rites, grotesque ceremonies and fantastic costumes, which, originating in the reign of Charles II, among working artisans of London, has been joined successively by the dead of past centuries in unbroken retrogression until now it embraces all the generations of man on the hither side of Adam and is drumming up distinguished recruits among the pre-Creational inhabitants of Chaos and Formless Void. The order was founded at different times by Charlemagne, Julius Caesar, Cyrus, Solomon, Zoroaster, Confucious, Thothmes, and Buddha. Its emblems and symbols have been found in the Catacombs of Paris and Rome, on the stones of the Parthenon and the Chinese Great Wall, among the temples of Karnak and Palmyra and in the Egyptian Pyramids -- always by a Freemason. Source: Devil's Dictionary. |
Literature | Freemasons In the Middle Ages a guild of masons specially employed in building churches. Called "free" because exempted by several papal bulls from the laws which bore upon common craftsmen, and exempt from the burdens thrown on the working classes. St. Paul's, London, in 604, and St. Peter's, Westminster, in 605, were built by Freemasons. Gundulph (bishop of Rochester), who built the White Tower, was a "Grand Master;" so was Peter of Colechurch, architect of Old London Bridge. Henry VII.'s chapel, Westminster, was the work of a Master Mason; so were Sir Thomas Gresham (who planned the Royal Exchange), Inigo Jones, and Sir Christopher Wren. Covent Garden theatre was founded in 1808 by the Prince of Wales in his capacity of "Grand Master." "Before the beginning of the 13th century the corporation of freemasons was not sufficiently organised to have had much influence on art." - J. Fergusson: Historic Archaeology, vol. i. part ii. chap. viii. p. 527. The lady Freemason was the Hon. Miss. Elizabeth St. Leger, daughter of Lord Doneraile, who (says the tale) hid herself in an empty clock-case when the lodge was held in her father's house, and witnessed the proceedings. She was discovered, and compelled to submit to initiation as a member of the craft. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonym: FREEMASONSSynonym: Fraternal organizations. (additional references) |
Crosswords: FREEMASONS |
| English words defined with "FREEMASONS": Commandery ♦ Freemasonic, freemasonry ♦ Grand lodge, Grand master ♦ masonic, masonry ♦ Past master ♦ So mote it be. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "FREEMASONS": Goose and Gridiron. (references) |
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| "FREEMASONS" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 50.00% of the time. "FREEMASONS" is used about 36 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (proper) | 50% | 18 | 82,615 |
| Noun (plural) | 50% | 18 | 82,615 |
| Total | 100.00% | 36 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "FREEMASONS"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||
German | Freimaurern. (various references) | ||||
Pig Latin | eemasonsfray | ||||
Misspellings | |
"FREEMASONS" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: freemson. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-e-f-m-n-o-r-s-s" | |
-1 letter: forenames. | |
-2 letters: anemoses, enframes, fearsome, foramens, forename, reseason, seasoner. | |
-3 letters: arenose, enamors, enframe, enserfs, farness, foamers, foramen, foreman, foremen, freeman, meaners, moaners, moreens, oarsmen, ramsons, ransoms, reasons, renames, seamers, senoras, senores, sermons, serosae. | |
-4 letters: ameers, arseno, arsons, enamor, enemas, enserf, erases, eroses, feases, femora, foamer, foeman, foemen, forams, formee, formes, fossae, frames, manors, manses. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-e-f-m-n-o-r-s-s" | |
+2 letters: fearsomeness, formalnesses. | |
+3 letters: freemasonries. | |
+4 letters: fearsomenesses, forestallments, formidableness. | |
+5 letters: comfortableness, ferromagnetisms, ferromanganeses, informativeness. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions: Internet 8. Translations: Modern | 9. Derivations 10. Anagrams 11. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
