Definition:
A type of conversion (or functional shift) in which a noun is used as a verb or a verbal. Contrast with nominalization.
See also:
Examples and Observations:
- "I like your verbs that are things. I think I'm gonna sandwich after I sofa here for a bit."
(My Boys, 2007) - "If people choose to believe that I'm sitting here in my ivory tower, Howard Hughesing myself with long fingernails and loads of drugs, then I can't do anything about that."
(George Michael, quoted by S. Hattenstone in The Guardian, Dec. 5, 2009) - "Carol Burnett, no doubt about it, is a verb--transitive, active, reciprocal, irregular. To burnett is to affirm, to make funny, to dance, sing, cry, mug and gambol about in extravagant motion."
(Cyclops, "Ode to a Very Active Verb." Life, April 2, 1971) - "[Delia Smith] announced in 2003 that she was 'reciped out' and would instead be devoting her time to Norwich City football club, of which she is a director."
(Paul Revoir, "After Six Years, Delia Returns to TV." Daily Mail, Nov. 21, 2007) - "Through the ages, language mavens have deplored the way English speakers convert nouns into verbs. The following verbs have all been denounced in this century:
to caveat, to nuance, to dialogue, to parent, to input, to access, to showcase, to intrigue, to impact, to host, to chair, to progress, to contact
In fact, easy conversion of nouns to verbs has been part of English grammar for centuries; it is one of the processes that make English English. I have estimated that about a fifth of all English verbs were originally nouns. . . .
"If you make up a new verb based on a noun, like someone's name, it is always regular, even if the new verb sounds the same as an existing verb that is irregular. (For example, Mae Jemison, the beautiful black female astronaut, out Sally-Rided Sally Ride, not out Sally-Rode Sally Ride)."
(Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct. Morrow, 1994) - Calvin: I like to verb words.
Hobbes: What?
Calvin: I take nouns and adjectives and use them as verbs. Remember when "access" was a thing? Now it's something you do. It got verbed. . . . Verbing weirds language.
Hobbes: Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding.
(Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes) - "[Gordon] Brown's idea of thoroughly dialoguing British constitutional reforms before they are enacted is a communitarian idea at its best."
(A. Etzioni, "Two Cheers for Gordon." The Guardian, Oct. 5, 2007)
Pronunciation: VERB-ing
