From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Ampersand \Am"per*sand\, noun [A corruption of and, per se and, i. e., & by itself makes and.] A word used to describe the character ?, ?, or &. --Halliwell.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: a punctuation mark (&) used to represent conjunction (and)
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
ampersand "&" {ASCII} character 38. Common names: {ITU-T}, {INTERCAL}: ampersand; amper; and. Rare: address (from {C}); reference (from C++); bitand; background (from {sh}); pretzel; amp. A common symbol for "and", used as the "address of" operator in {C}, the "reference" operator in {C++} and a {bitwise} {AND} operator in several programming languages. {UNIX} {shells} use the character to indicate that a task should be run in the {background}. The ampersand is a ligature (combination) of the cursive letters "e" and "t", invented in 63 BC by Marcus Tirus [Tiro?] as shorthand for the Latin word for "and", "et". The word ampersand is a conflation (combination) of "and, per se and". Per se means "by itself", and so the phrase translates to "&, standing by itself, means 'and'". This was at the end of the alphabet as it was recited by children in old English schools. The words ran together and were associated with "&". The "ampersand" spelling dates from 1837. {Take our word for it (http://www.takeourword.com/Issue010.html)}. (2000-10-28)
Define.com is a registered nonprofit corporation dedicated solely to the global public interest and the advancement of humanity. It belongs to all of us who have a desire to promote electronic democracy, science, creativity, imagination, reason, critical thinking, peace, race and gender equality, civil rights, equal access to education, personal liberty, free speech, animal rights, compassionate and nonviolent parenting, social and economic justice, global monetary reform, Secular Humanism, cognitive liberty and a permanent cessation of The War on Drugs.
Let's see what we can do if we put our heads together.
0