What Does ACME Mean?

We get this question a lot, here at ACME Labs.

• The dictionary definition is: "the top", or "the highest point", or just "perfection". This is straight from Greek. (Greek mythology also includes a nymph named Acme.)
• Apparently some early business school textbooks liked to use Acme as a business name in some of their examples.
• There's a story that the business school use is an acronym, standing for "A Company Manufacturing Everything". This is probably false etymology.
• Sears-Roebuck used Acme as one of their in-house brand names in the early 1900s, just like they use "Craftsman" today. For instance, take a look at this ad for an Acme anvil from the 1902 Sears catalog.
• Warner Brothers apparently took the name from Sears and used it for the mail-order company in the Wile E. Coyote cartoons.

Other pages of interest to the student of ACME:

• Other ACMEs on the Web
• The ACME Calendar
• The Illustrated Catalog of ACME Products