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Sunday, July 23, 2006

euchre: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for July 23 is:

euchre \YOO-ker\ verb
1 : to prevent from winning three tricks in euchre
*2 : cheat, trick

Example sentence:
The report said that people in the community were being euchred out of their life savings by scammers presenting phony investment opportunities.

Did you know?
Euchre is a card game for four players that is played in tricks, or rounds, with a deck of 32 cards. Etymologists are not sure where we got the name for the game, though they do know that it first appeared in English in the mid-19th century. The first sense of the verb "euchre" arose from an action that takes place during the game: a player is "euchred" when an opponent blocks him or her from winning three or more tricks after making trump. Deception can often be key to a winning strategy, and sure enough it took almost no time at all for "euchre" to develop a sense meaning "cheat" or "trick."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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