agger

English

Etymology

From Middle English agger (“heap, pile”), from Latin agger (“earthwork, rubble, rampart”), from ad- (“toward, towards”) + gerere (“to carry”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ædʒə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ædʒə(ɹ)

Noun

agger (plural aggers)

1. A double tide, particularly a high tide in which the water rises to a given level, recedes, and then rises again (or only the second of these high waters), but sometimes equally a low tide in which the water recedes to a given level, rises, and then recedes again
   • 1845, George Biddell Airy, Tides and Waves, page 375:

     The phænomenon of long continued high water or double high water in estuaries is, we believe, not uncommon. [...] The first high water appears to be considered by the Dutch, in common language, as the real high water, and the second is called the agger, but so little difference is there between them, that, in making the extensive series of simultaneous tide-observations proposed by Mr. Whewell, the agger was sometimes observed for high water.

   • 1969, United States. Naval Oceanographic Office, Navigation Dictionary, page 254:

     A double tide or agger is a high tide consisting of two maxima of nearly the same height, separated by a relatively small depression; or a low tide consisting of two minima separated by a relatively small elevation.

   • 2006, Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk, Handbook of Offshore Surveying:

     [page 62:] As can be seen [...], once the water has reached the lowest level, it remains low for some time. After rising slightly, it then drops again and a second low tide follows. Only then does the water rise quickly and the flood sets in. A slight rise like this followed by a drop is called an agger or a double tide. […] [page 279:] […] these 'overtones' may cause the phenomena of agger or double high water […]

2. (historical) Synonym of earthwork in ancient Roman contexts, particularly a defensive wall or mound.
   • 2012, Seth G. Bernard, “Continuing the Deabte on Rome's Earliest Circuit Walls”, in Papers of the British School at Rome, number 80, page 2:

     By the Augustan period, however, the old ashlar circuit with its earthen agger was beginning to be dismantled in some places.

Related terms

• agger nasi

Anagrams

• Gager, Garge, Grega, eggar, gager, regag

Chinese

Etymology

Deliberate misspelling of English agree.

Pronunciation

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some! Particularly: “Cantonese”

Verb

agger

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, Internet slang) to agree

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:agger.

Further reading

• Agger on The Encyclopedia of Virtual Communities in Hong Kong

Latin

Etymology

If not directly from aggerō (“carry towards”), from its root.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈaɡ.ɡer/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈad.d͡ʒer/,

Noun

agger m (genitive aggeris); third declension

1. earthwork, particularly defensive ramparts or bulwarks, dykes, dams, causeways, and piers
2. rubble or earth used or intended for such earthwork
3. (figurative) any rampart or defensive wall
   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico VII.22:

     Eruptionibus aggeri ignem inferebant

     By sorties they set fire to the ramparts

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Derived terms

• aggerō

Descendants

• French: ari (dialectal, Normandy)
• Italian: argine
• Piedmontese: àrgin
• Spanish: arce, arcén
• Venetian: àrzare, àrxen

References

• “agger”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “agger”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• agger in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to fortify the camp with a rampart: castra munire vallo (aggere)
    
• “agger”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “agger”, in Samuel Ball Platner (1929) Thomas Ashby, editor, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, London: Oxford University Press
• “agger”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin