Hypertext Webster Gateway: "archetype"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Archetype \Ar"che*type\ ([aum]r"k[-e]*t[imac]p), n. [L.
archetypum, Gr. 'arche`typon, fr. 'arche`typos stamped first
and as model; 'arche = 'archi + ty`pos stamp, figure,
pattern, ty`ptein to strike: cf. F. arch['e]type. See
{Arch-}, pref.]
1. The original pattern or model of a work; or the model from
which a thing is made or formed.
The House of Commons, the archetype of all the
representative assemblies which now meet.
--Macaulay.
Types and shadows of that glorious archetype that
was to come into the world. --South.
2. (Coinage) The standard weight or coin by which others are
adjusted.
3. (Biol.) The plan or fundamental structure on which a
natural group of animals or plants or their systems of
organs are assumed to have been constructed; as, the
vertebrate archetype.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
archetype
n : an original model on which something is patterned [syn: {original},
{pilot}]
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