palimpsest •\ˈpa-ləm (p) -ˌsest, pə-ˈlim (p) -\• noun a manuscript (usually written on papyrus or parchment) on which more than one text has been written with the earlier writing incompletely erased and still visible The word palimpsest has appeared in 17 New York Times articles in the past year, including on April 20 in the Opinion piece "Victor Hugo on the Ballot" by Robert Zaretsky: Long before his death in 1885, Hugo had become France's four-letter word for revolutionary purity. This reputation was set in motion by Hugo's ferocious opposition to Napoleon III, who had overthrown France's Second Republic in 1851 and revived his uncle's empire and dictatorship. From various places of exile - Brussels, London, the Channel Islands - Hugo vilified France's ruler as "Napoleon le Petit" - to distinguish him from "Napoleon le Grand" - in prose and poetry. Sarkozy, in turn, has frequently been described as "Sarko le Petit." These early salvos were little more than rehearsals for "Les Misérables." Begun more than 20 years earlier, and titled "Misères," Hugo's novel became over time a palimpsest for his sharpening social and political concerns. In the wake of Napoleon's coup, Hugo yoked the work to the fate of Revolution's trinity of values - liberty, equality and fraternity - in his own time. Though the novel revolves - as much as anything stuffed with dozens upon dozens of often numbing digressions can revolve - around the failed workers' revolt of 1832, Hugo's concern was the lot of the laboring poor in 1862. Learn more about the word "palimpsest" and see usage examples across a range of subjects on the Vocabulary dictionary.