Meaning of Nonpareil | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A person or thing that has no equal; a paragon.
   countable
2. The blue underwing or Clifden nonpareil (Catocala fraxini), a species of moth distributed across the Palearctic; also (obsolete) any of a number of moths of other species.
   countable, uncountable
3. In full nonpareil parrot: an eastern rosella, of species Platycercus eximius, a rosella (parrot) native to southeastern Australia.
   Australia, archaic, countable, uncountable
4. A painted bunting (Passerina ciris), a brightly-coloured finch native to North America.
   US, countable, uncountable
5. In full nonpareil apple: an apple tasting both sweet and tart which ripens very late in the season; also, the tree producing this fruit.
   archaic, countable, uncountable
6. Any of various types of small sweets.
   US, archaic, countable, uncountable
7. A small pellet of white or coloured sugar used as decoration on baked goods and candy.
   US, broadly, countable, dated, uncountable
8. A small, flat chocolate drop covered with such pellets of sugar, similar to a comfit.
   US, broadly, countable, uncountable
9. A caper (“pickled edible flower bud”) of the smallest size.
   US, broadly, countable, uncountable
10. A size of type between ruby and emerald (or, in the United States, between agate and minion), standardized as 6-point; (countable) a slug of this size.
    historical, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“My lord and master loves you. O, such love⟳ / Could be but recompens'd though you were crown'd / The nonpareil of beauty!”

“King John of France, once prisoner in England, came […] to see⟳ the Countess of Salisbury, the nonpareil of those times, and his dear mistress.”

“(a wren) crept or crawled, just like⟳ a true tree-creeper. I was, as I say⟳, quite close⟳, and watched it most attentively. It certainly—as far as good looking can settle⟳ it—did not assist itself with the wings. They remained close⟳ against the sides, or, if they moved at all, it was imperceptible to my eyes (which, by the way, are non-pareils).”

“I believe⟳ that letters which are less than a millimetre and a half (1/17 inch) high, will finally prove⟳ injurious to the eye. How little attention has hitherto been paid to this important subject is exemplified in the fact that even oculistic journals and books frequently contain⟳ nonpareil, or letters only a millimetre (1/25 inch) high.”

“A Handbook of Astronomy (cover⟳, brown leather, detached, 5 plates, antique letterpress long primer, author’s footnotes nonpareil, marginal clues brevier, captions small pica).”

CEFR level