debouch: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for October 21 is:

debouch \dih-BOUTCH\ verb
1 : to cause to emerge : discharge
*2 : to march out into open ground : emerge, issue

Example sentence:
At their commander's signal, the soldiers debouched from the jungle into the dangerous open terrain.

Did you know?
"Debouch" first appeared in English in the 18th century. It derives from a French verb formed from the prefix "de-" ("from") and the noun "bouche" ("mouth"), which itself derives ultimately from the Latin "bucca" ("cheek"). "Debouch" is often used in military contexts to refer to the action of troops proceeding from a closed space to an open one. It is also used frequently to refer to the emergence of anything from a mouth, such as water passing through the mouth of a river into an ocean. The word's ancestors have also given us the adjective "buccal" ("of or relating to the mouth") and the noun "embouchure" (the mouthpiece of a musical instrument or the position of the mouth when playing one).

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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