widdershins: M-W's Word of the Day

****************************************************************
Add fireworks to your vocabulary by trying out a free trial
subscription to Merriam-WebsterUnabridged.com!
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/unabridged_sub.pl?refr=U_wod
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for July 11 is:

widdershins \WID-er-shinz\ adverb
: in a left-handed, wrong, or contrary direction : counterclockwise

Example sentence:
In the book, the members of the coven hold hands and dance widdershins around the fire.

Did you know?
By the mid-1500s, English speakers had adopted "widdershins" (which is from the Middle High German "wider," meaning "back against," and "sinnen," meaning "to travel") for anything following a path that is opposite to the apparent direction of the sun as it travels across the sky in the Northern Hemisphere (or opposite the direction of the movement of the shadow on a sundial or the hands on a clock). In its earliest known uses, "widdershins" was used to describe cases of bad hair in which unruly locks stood on end or fell the wrong way. But because many people in times past considered the widdershins direction to be "backwards," it has long been associated with magic, witchcraft, and, sometimes, the devil.

You Are Subscribed As: WORDFORTHEDAY.9879@BLOGGER.COM
To unsubscribe, change your e-mail address or to subscribe to the html
version of Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day, featuring audio
pronunciations, please visit:

http://www.startsampling.com/sm/wod/changeofaddress.iphtml

(c) 2006 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

Merriam-Webster, Inc.
47 Federal Street
P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA 01102

*mf mwt 071106 WORDFORTHEDAY.9879@BLOGGER.COM mf*

---
You are currently subscribed to mw-text as: WORDFORTHEDAY.9879@BLOGGER.COM
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-mw-text-3098039M@blast1.amperemedia.com