anabasis
nounUK /əˈnæbəsɪs/
Etymology From Ancient Greek ἀνάβασις (anábasis, “a going up, an ascent”), from ἀναβαίνω (anabaínō), from ᾰ̓νᾰ- (ănă-, “up”) + βαίνω (baínō, “to go”). Compare typologically Proto-West Germanic *raisu (“a travel, journey”) (akin to Proto-Germanic *raizijaną (“to cause (someone, something) to rise; raise”)) (<< Proto-Indo-European *h₁rey- (“to rise, arise”)).
1
Historical A military march up-country, especially that of Cyrus the Younger into Asia.
- During the French anabasis to Moscow he entered our service, made himself a prodigious favorite with the whole imperial family, and even now is only in his twenty−second year.1838, Thomas de Quincey, The Avenger:
- ‘I have a feeling that if we follow a scent of spring on the air with sufficient eagerness we’ll come to a south without snow more quickly than we think. Thalassa, thalassa. This is what the Greeks called an anabasis.’ They looked at him as if he were barmy.1989, Anthony Burgess, Any Old Iron:
1 more example
- The Wordsworthian journey to the source […] is more of an amble than an anabasis or strenuous heroic quest.1989, Frederic Stewart Colwell, Rivermen, page 47:
2
Obsolete The first period, or increase, of a disease; augmentation.
- Antonyms
- catabasis, katabasis