Excelsior and wood wool

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Grammarist

Excelsior means higher, better, superior. Excelsior is derived from the Latin word excelsus, meaning high, elevated, lofty.  Excelsior is often used as a name for products to indicate high quality. Excelsior is also used as an exclamation, exhorting movement onward and upward, particularly popularized by the comic book author/artist Stan Lee. Excelsior is the motto of New York state.

In North America, excelsior is the term for shaved wood fibers used for packing delicate items. Excelsior was the brand name for this 1860s invention, eventually excelsior became the generic name for any brand of this packing material. In England, excelsior is known as wood wool.

Examples

Norton has agreed to immediately pay Excelsior Gold 50% of the recoverable gold value and defer haulage and processing charges until the final gold recovery is determined. (Proactive Investors Australia)

The Qatari group has also snapped up Milan’s Excelsior Hotel Gallia, which has been renovated by architect Marco Piva, and Rome’s InterContinental De La Ville hotel. (The Guardian)

The company received a total of $556,446 in Excelsior state tax credits for 2013 and 2014, said Laura Magee of Empire State Development. (The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

The brothers were, in fact, so good at their craft that they left in 1924 before the Galizis were busted to start their own company, Excelsior, which is now one of the world’s leading manufacturers of accordions. (The Washington Times)

Excelsior! As Stan Lee turns 93, here are our 20 best Stan the Man quotes (The Worcester Telegram)

The fragile, exquistely painted figures of the nativity story emerged from their careful wrappings of excelsior — fine, fragrant, curls of wood used to pad and protect them. (The Bangor Daily News)

A fun gift is created by gathering the ingredients for a favorite food, filling a basket with excelsior or dry natural material and artfully arranging the ingredients and recipe, with perhaps a new wooden spoon or utensil used in the preparation of the food. (The Deseret News)

One of the last steps is forming the bird around a wood wool and wire armature. (Modern Farmer Magazine)

“When I meet people and they ask me what I do, I have to judge whether or not to tell them that I am a taxidermist,” she explains, fiddling with a mink body she has fashioned from wire and wood wool. (The Guardian)