First attested in 1625. From regionalItalianditto, variant ofdetto, past participle ofdire(“to say”), fromLatindīcō(“I say, I speak”). Not related toEnglishdittography orItaliandito(“finger”).
The specific meaning of making copies of paper comes fromditto machine, the brand name of aspirit duplicator.
ditto (pluraldittosordittoes)
- That which was stated before, theaforesaid, theabove, thesame,likewise.
1831,L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIV, inRomance and Reality. […], volume I, London:Henry Colburn andRichard Bentley, […],→OCLC,page127:[...] they entered a dismal-looking parlour, whose brick-red walls andditto curtains were scantily lighted by a single lamp, though it was of the last new patent—[…]
1967,Star Trek,The Alternative Factor, season 1, episode27,DeForest Kelley (actor):Well say he's got the constitution of a dinosaur, recuperative powersditto. And as we both know, I'm a bright young medic with a miraculous touch. Well why then, when I returned, there wasn't a trace of that wound on his forehead. Not even a bruise. It was like he had never been injured.
2008 May 22, “New 'Indiana' film whips up plenty of thrills”, inHudson (MA) MetroWest Daily News:The opening shot of "Crystal Skull" shows the playful side of director Steven Spielberg, who seems to have a weak spot for cute animals. See "AI Artificial Intelligence" for Exhibit A.Ditto for executive producer George Lucas. See "Return of the Jedi" for Exhibit B.
2009 July 3, “Andy Murray: easy to admire, but can we learn to love him?”, inTimes Online:He has created for himself a honed, primed-for-victory body and is working hard on aditto mind.
- (US, informal) Aduplicate orcopy of adocument, particularly one created by aspirit duplicator.
Please run off twenty-fourdittos of this assignment, for my students.
- (by extension) Acopy; animitation.
1991, N. Romano-Benner with S. Murphy, “Convoking the muses of Cuenca”, inAmericas, volume43, number 1, page 6:"You've got to look good to feel good," she announces, aditto of television slogans.
2003 November 9, “Argenta appears unfazed”, inHerald & Review:Last year, Argenta-Oreana blanked the Chiefs 23-0 in a second-round game Dee-Mack coach Jim McDonald said was "pretty much aditto" of what transpired Saturday.
2009 May 6, “Brunswick school hopes to be model for uniforms”, inMyrtle Beach Sun News:The intent of the policy, she said, is "not to put everybody in aditto environment," where all are expected to look and act exactly like all others.
- The ditto mark,〃; asymbol, represented by twoapostrophes, inverted commas, orquotation marks (" "), indicating that the item preceding is to berepeated.
- Synonyms:(abbreviation, dated)do.,(abbreviation, rare)do
- (historical, in theplural) A suit of clothes of the same color throughout.
- (education, uncommon)Synonym ofworksheet(“a sheet of paper or computerized document”).
the aforesaid
- Bulgarian:същото (bg)(sǎštoto),горното (bg)(gornoto)
- Czech:detto (cs)
- Dutch:(pleaseverify)dito (nl),(pleaseverify)idem (nl),(pleaseverify)idem dito (nl),(pleaseverify)dito dito,d:o(abbreviation)
- Finnish:edelläsanottu,yllämainittu,ylläoleva (fi)
- French:idem (fr),dito (fr)
- German:dito (de)
- Hebrew:כנ״ל,אותו דבר
- Hungarian:dettó (hu),úgyszintén (hu)
- Italian:detto (it),predetto (it),idem (it),come sopra,soprascritto (it),idem come sopra
- Polish:jak wyżej,to samo (pl)
- Portuguese:dito (pt),de acordo (pt),idem (pt)
- Russian:то же самое (ru)(to že samoje)
- Slovak:detto,taktiež
- Spanish:ídem (es)
- Swedish:dito (sv),d:o(abbreviation)
- Vietnamese:như trên,nt (vi)
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Translations to be checked
ditto (notcomparable)
- As said before,likewise.
2004 January 15, “Smash and grab”, inThe Economist[1]:The inflationary effect of injecting $1 billion into the economy could be dire;ditto the impact on the tumbling bolivar of treating foreign reserves as if they were the government's piggy-bank.
March 11 2022, David Hytner, “Chelsea are in crisis but there is no will to leave club on their knees”, inThe Guardian[2]:Some of the players were concerned about what the future held for them – given that one of the measures involved Chelsea not being able to operate in the transfer market or offer new contracts.Ditto many members of staff.
ditto (third-person singular simple presentdittos,present participledittoing,simple past and past participledittoed)
- (transitive) Torepeat the aforesaid, the earlier action etc.
- Synonyms:ape,echo
1989, K. K. N. Kurup,Agrarian struggles in Kerala:The Communists believed that Prakasam, the Prime Minister, never tried to check the bureaucracy butdittoed every action of the corrupt officials and police.
- (US) To make a copy using aditto machine.
1966 March,Thomas Pynchon, chapter 3, inThe Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.:Bantam Books, published November 1976,→ISBN,page55:But they were all purple,Dittoed—worn, torn, stained with coffee.
1976 April 26, Jil Clark, Julia Penelope, Susan Wolfe, “The Politics of Language”, inGay Community News, page 8:I was going to join a commune of my friends. I sort of issued a declaration of independence which Idittoed up and put in everybody's mail box in the department.
(transitive) To repeat the aforesaid, the earlier action etc
ditto
- Used as an expression of agreement with what another person has said, or to indicate that what they have said equally applies to the person being addressed.
I'm really busy today! —Ditto!
1871 December 27 (indicated as1872),Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “Tweedledum and Tweedledee”, inThrough the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, London:Macmillan and Co.,→OCLC,page82:"Besides, ifI'm only a sort of thing in his dream, what areyou, I should like to know?" "Ditto," said Tweedledum. "Ditto,ditto!" cried Tweedledee.
ditto (notcomparable)
- dated spelling ofdito
From olderItalianditto.Doublet ofdiktum.
ditto
- ditto
ditto
- ditto
ditto m (pluraldittos)
- obsolete spelling ofdito
ditto (feminineditta,masculine pluraldittos,feminine pluraldittas)
- obsolete spelling ofdito
ditto
- obsolete spelling ofdito
