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Glite Dictionary
Mark Twain

Mark Twain

41 3.2
A name used by the American writer Samuel Clemens, author of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
  • proper noun
  • /mɑrk tweɪn/
: Mark Twain
  • Next year, 2010, will mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens).
  • Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer
  • Mark Twain House & Museum
  • Mark Twain's writings

One of my favourite quotes of all time is by Mark Twain, and it's called the travel quote.

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Examples

  • Mark Twain wrote that the coldest winter he ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.

    Escape from Alcatraz (1979)

  • Hannibal and Springfield have long tried to capitalize on their most famous residents: Mark Twain and Abraham Lincoln.

    Academic text (2005)

  • Welcome to the complete works of Mark Twain.

    The Adventures of Mark Twain (1985)

  • And so, I give you Mark Twain.

    The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944)

  • I have great memories of my dad reading Mark Twain books to me and talking about them.

    Blog text (21)

  • Welcome to Mark Twain's Notebook.

    The Adventures of Mark Twain (1985)

  • As a child, I loved the works of Mark Twain, including Huckleberry Finn.

    Blog text (17)

  • Mark Twain said, "Irreverence is basically the champion of liberty, "if not its only defender."

    Man of the Year (2006)

  • "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn."

    Blog text (17)

  • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, is a classic tale of adventure and friendship.

Synonyms

Samuel Langhorne Clemens
vsMark Twain
1 6.1

The real name of the American writer Mark Twain

is the pen name used by the author in published works

Surface Forms

Mark Twain main

Morphology

Mark + Twain

This is a proper name and a pen name (Samuel Clemens); the meanings or identity cannot be inferred from the constituent words 'Mark' and 'Twain' (which here do not carry the authorial sense). Proper names and pseudonyms are arbitrary and language-specific, so a B1 learner who only knows the individual words would not be able to derive the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Mark Twain is a pen name from Samuel Clemens's time as a river pilot on the Mississippi. One popular story says boatmen would call mark twain to mean two fathoms, a safe depth for their boats, so he chose that name and it now brings to mind river life and his American stories.