pomaceous: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for October 17 is:

pomaceous \poh-MAY-shuss\ adjective
1 : of or relating to apples
*2 : resembling a pome

Example sentence:
"Her face was looking papery and translucent... but she still had nice legs, with the pomaceous calves of a Pittsburgh girl." (Michael Chabon, The New Yorker, April 1990)

Did you know?
"Pomaceous" was first planted in the English language by physician Edward Baynard when, in 1706, he advised, "Apples and pomaceous Juices, are the greatest Pectorals." ("Pectoral" is now a rarely used word for a food that helps digestion.) Since then, "pomaceous" has mainly been sown by botanists and poets. The word, which is ultimately derived from Late Latin "pomum" (meaning "apple"), was originally used of apples and things relating to apples, but later it was also applied to things that look like pears. (Pears, like apples, belong to the pome family.)

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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