different between distress vs hector

English

Etymology

The verb is from Middle English distressen, from Old French destrecier (“to restrain, constrain, put in straits, afflict, distress”); compare French détresse. Ultimately from Medieval Latin as if *districtiare, an assumed frequentative form of Latin distringere (“to pull asunder, stretch out”), from dis- (“apart”) + stringere (“to draw tight, strain”).

The noun is from Middle English distresse, from Old French destrece, ultimately also from Latin distringere.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??st??s/
• Rhymes: -?s

Noun

distress (countable and uncountable, plural distresses)

1. (Cause of) discomfort.
   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:distress.
2. Serious danger.
   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:distress.
3. (medicine) An aversive state of stress to which a person cannot fully adapt.
4. (law) A seizing of property without legal process to force payment of a debt.
5. (law) The thing taken by distraining; that which is seized to procure satisfaction.

   • If he were not paid, he would straight go and take a distress of goods and cattle.

   • The distress thus taken must be proportioned to the thing distrained for.

Derived terms

• distress signal

Antonyms

• (maladaptive stress): eustress

Related terms

• distrain
• district

Translations

Verb

distress (third-person singular simple present distresses, present participle distressing, simple past and past participle distressed)

1. To cause strain or anxiety to someone.

   Synonyms: anguish, harrow, trouble, vex, torment, tantalize, tantalise, martyr
2. (law) To retain someone’s property against the payment of a debt; to distrain.

   Synonym: distrain
3. To treat a new object to give it an appearance of age.

   Synonyms: age, antique, patinate

Translations

Further reading

• distress in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• distress in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• distress at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• disserts

English

Etymology

From Hector (“in Greek and Roman mythology, a character in Homer’s Iliad who is the greatest warrior of Troy”), from Late Middle English Hector (“warrior with the qualities of Hector”), from Latin Hect?r or Ancient Greek ????? (Hékt?r), from ????? (hékt?r, “holding fast”), from ????? (ékhein), present active infinitive of ??? (ékh?, “to have, own, possess; to hold”), from Proto-Indo-European *se??- (“to hold; to overpower”).

The verb is derived from the noun.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?h?kt?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?h?kt?/
• Rhymes: -?kt?(?)
• Hyphenation: hec?tor

Noun

hector (plural hectors)

1. Sometimes in the form Hector: a blustering, noisy, turbulent fellow; a blusterer, bully.

Translations

Verb

hector (third-person singular simple present hectors, present participle hectoring, simple past and past participle hectored)

1. (transitive) To dominate or intimidate in a blustering way; to bully, to domineer.

   Synonyms: terrorise, terrorize
2. (intransitive) To behave like a hector or bully; to bluster, to swagger; to bully.

   Synonym: huff

Alternative forms

• hectour (obsolete, rare)

Derived terms

Translations

References

Further reading

• hector in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

See also

• Not to be confused with hectare.

Anagrams

• Troche, orchet, rochet, rotche, tocher, troche