ANAGRAM


Meaning of ANAGRAM in English

I. ˈanəˌgram, -aa(ə)m noun

( -s )

Etymology: probably from Middle French anagramme, from New Latin anagramma, modification of Greek anagrammatismos, from anagrammatizein to transpose letters, from ana- + grammat-, gramma letter + -izein -ize — more at grammar

1.

a. : the change of one word or phrase into another by the transposition of its letters

b. : the word or phrase made by transposing the letters of another word or phrase

rebate is an anagram of beater

2. obsolete : mutation , transposition

3. anagrams plural but singular in construction : a game in which words are formed by rearranging the letters of other words or by arranging letters taken at random (as printed blocks from a stock)

II. transitive verb

( anagrammed ; anagrammed ; anagramming ; anagrams )

1. : anagrammatize

2. : to rearrange (the letters of a text) in order to discover a hidden message

3. : to attack (a transposition cipher) by moving a set of letters presumed to have related encipherments (as successive letters presumed to be from the same column of the transposition rectangle, or the letters from the same position in a number of messages) into position next to another such set, forming a tentative set of plaintext polygraphs, a promising juxtaposition being recognized by the formation of many common polygraphs and a probably wrong juxtaposition by the formation of improbable polygraphs

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.