Word Relish

ruly: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-09-04T19:42:00.000+08:00

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The Word of the Day for September 4 is:

ruly \ROO-lee\ adjective
: obedient, orderly

Example sentence:
Concert organizers worried that rambunctious fans might get out of hand, but the crowd was surprisingly ruly.

Did you know?
You're probably familiar with "unruly," meaning "not readily controlled or disciplined." Have you ever wondered, "Is there a 'ruly' too?" If so, did it seem to you that such a word should exist? A little over 150 years ago, someone apparently followed that same thought process, creating "ruly" by dropping the prefix from "unruly." Whoever did so probably thought the coinage was a new one, but that's not quite the case. There had once been another "ruly" with much the same meaning as the modern term, but it had been out of use for over 200 years. Ultimately, "ruly" and "unruly" come from "reuly," a Middle English word meaning "disciplined." "Reuly" in turn comes from Middle English "reule," a predecessor of "rule."

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insinuate: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-09-03T19:27:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for September 3 is:

insinuate \in-SIN-yuh-wayt\ verb
1 a : to introduce (as an idea) gradually or in a subtle, indirect, or covert way *b : to impart or suggest in an artful or indirect way : imply
2 : to introduce (as oneself) by stealthy, smooth, or artful means

Example sentence:
Caleb wouldn't openly accuse Trudy of lying, but he wasn't above insinuating it.

Did you know?
The meaning of "insinuate" is similar to that of another verb, "suggest." Whether you "suggest" or "insinuate," you are conveying an idea indirectly. But although these two words share the same basic meaning, each gets the idea across in a different way. When you "suggest," you put something into the mind by associating it with other ideas, desires, or thoughts. You might say, for example, that a book's title suggests what the story is about. "Insinuate," on the other hand, usually includes a sense that the idea being conveyed is unpleasant, or that it is being passed along in a sly or underhanded way.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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pillory: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-09-03T10:11:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for September 2 is:

pillory \PILL-uh-ree\ noun
1 : a device formerly used for publicly punishing offenders consisting of a wooden frame with holes in which the head and hands can be locked
*2 : a means for exposing one to public scorn or ridicule

Example sentence:
"Whenever [Charlie Brown] stepped onto a baseball field, the mound turned into a pillory, the boos and catcalls flying at him with the speed of a fastball." (Robert Seltzer, _San Antonio Express-News_, February 26, 2006)

Did you know?
In days gone by, criminals who got caught might well have found themselves in the stocks (which held the feet or both feet and hands) or a pillory. Both of those forms of punishment -- and the words that name them -- have been around since the Middle Ages. We latched onto "pillory" from the Anglo-French "pilori" (which has the same meaning as our English term), but the exact origins of the French term are uncertain. For centuries, "pillory" referred only to the wooden frame used to hold a ne'er-do-well, but by the early 1600s, folks had turned the word into a verb for the act of putting someone in a pillory. Within a century, they had further expanded the verb to cover any process that led to as much public humiliation as being pilloried.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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stipulate: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-09-01T19:25:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for September 1 is:

stipulate \STIP-yuh-layt\ verb
1 : to make an agreement to do something : contract
*2 : to specify (something) as a condition or requirement (as of an agreement or offer)

Example sentence:
The lease stipulates that the tenant's failure to pay rent by the end of the month may result in eviction.

Did you know?
Like many terms used in the legal profession, "stipulate" has its roots in Latin. It derives from "stipulatus," the past participle of "stipulari," a verb meaning "to demand a guarantee (as from a prospective debtor)." "Stipulate" has been a part of the English language since the 17th century. In Roman law, oral contracts were deemed valid only if they followed a proper question-and-answer format; "stipulate" was sometimes used specifically of this process of contract making, though it also could be used more generally for any means of making a contract or agreement. The "specify as a condition or requirement" sense of the word also dates from the 17th century, and it is the sense that is most often encountered in current use.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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tyro: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-31T21:29:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for August 31 is:

tyro \TYE-roh\ noun
: a beginner in learning : novice

Example sentence:
A reviewer described the new photography manual as "a clear explanation of the basics, ideal for tyros but too elementary for seasoned shutterbugs."

Did you know?
The word "tyro" is hardly a newcomer to Western language. It comes from the Latin "tiro," which means "young soldier," "new recruit," or more generally, "novice." The word was sometimes spelled "tyro" as early as Medieval Latin, and can be spelled "tyro" or "tiro" in English (though "tyro" is the more common American variant). Use of "tyro" in English has never been restricted to the original "young soldier" meaning of the Latin term. Writers in the 17th and 18th centuries wrote of tyros in various fields and occupations. Herman Melville used "tyro" to refer to men new to whaling and life at sea. More recently, _The New York Times Book Review_ and _Rolling Stone_ used the noun attributively (that is, directly before another noun), referring to a "tyro sleuth" and a "tyro director," respectively.

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protean: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-30T20:21:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for August 30 is:

protean \PROH-tee-un\ adjective
1 : of or resembling Proteus in having a varied nature or ability to assume different forms
*2 : displaying great diversity or variety : versatile

Example sentence:
Bradley has made the most of the space in his tiny apartment by selecting furniture pieces that are protean, such as storage cubes that double as extra seats.

Did you know?
Proteus was the original master of disguise. According to Greek mythology, the grizzled old shepherd of Poseidon's sea creatures possessed the gift of prophecy but didn't like to share his knowledge. Proteus would escape those who wanted to question him by changing his shape. The only way to get a straight answer from him was to sneak up behind him during his midday nap and hold onto him (while he frantically changed from shape to shape) until he eventually revealed what he knew. The adjective "protean" describes anyone or anything that is as mutable and adaptable as the mythological shepherd.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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berate: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-29T20:22:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for August 29 is:

berate \bih-RAYT\ verb
: to scold or condemn vehemently and at length

Example sentence:
I quit my job after my boss berated me for addressing a letter incorrectly.

Did you know?
"Berate" and one sense of the verb "rate" can both mean "to scold angrily or violently." This sense of "rate" was first recorded in the 14th century, roughly a century before the now more familiar sense meaning "to estimate the value of." We know that "berate" was probably formed by combining "be" and the older sense of "rate," but the origins of "rate" itself are somewhat more obscure. We can trace the word back to the Middle English form "raten," but beyond that things get a little murky. It's possible that "rate," and by extension "berate," derives from the same ancient word that led to the Swedish "rata" (meaning "to find blame, despise") and earlier the Old Norse "hrata" ("to fall, stagger"), but this is uncertain.

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stagflation: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-28T20:15:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for August 28 is:

stagflation \stag-FLAY-shun\ noun
: persistent inflation combined with stagnant consumer demand and relatively high unemployment

Example sentence:
In the '70s, when the economy slid into stagflation, many college graduates had difficulty landing the high-paying jobs they had expected.

Did you know?
"Stagflation" is a portmanteau, that is, a word that blends two others (in this case, "stagnation" and "inflation"). The first documented use of the word appeared in 1965 in the writing of British politician Iain Macleod, who wrote, "We now have the worst of both worlds -- not just inflation on the one side or stagnation on the other, but both of them together. We have a sort of 'stagflation' situation." Macleod is often credited with coining the term, and his linguistic invention was quickly embraced by economists in the United States, who used it to refer to the period of economic sluggishness and high inflation that affected the country in the 1970s.

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objet trouve: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-27T20:17:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for August 27 is:

objet trouve \AWB-zhay-troo-VAY\ noun
: a natural or discarded object found by chance and held to have aesthetic value

Example sentence:
The museum's latest show, which features objets trouves, is a dramatic change from last year's exhibition of medieval religious art.

Did you know?
"Objet trouve" comes from French, where it literally means "found object." The term entered English during the early 20th century, a time when many artists challenged traditional ideas about the nature of true art. Surrealists and other artists, for instance, held that any object could be a work of art if a person recognized its aesthetic merit. "Objet trouve" can refer to naturally formed objects whose beauty is the result of natural forces as well as to man-made artifacts (such as bathtubs, wrecked cars, or scrap metal) that were not originally created as art but are displayed as such.

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auriferous: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-26T20:16:00.000+08:00

The Word of the Day for August 26 is:

auriferous \aw-RIF-uh-russ\ adjective
: containing gold

Example sentence:
The discovery of an auriferous region in California sparked the famous gold rush of 1849.

Did you know?
Students in chemistry class learn that the chemical symbol for gold is "Au." That symbol is based on "aurum," the Latin word for the element. In the 17th century, English speakers coined "auriferous" by appending the "-ous" ending to the Latin adjective "aurifer," an offspring of "aurum" that means "containing gold" or "producing gold." (The "-fer" is from "ferre," a Latin verb meaning "to produce" or "to bear.") Not surprisingly, "auriferous" is a term that shows up in geological contexts. Some other descendants of "aurum" include "aureate" ("of a golden color" or "marked by grandiloquent style"), "auric" ("of, relating to, or derived from gold"), and the noun "or" ("the heraldic color gold or yellow").

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parabolic: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-25T20:14:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for August 25 is:

parabolic \pair-uh-BAH-lik\ adjective
1 : expressed by or being a parable : allegorical
*2 : of, having the form of, or relating to a parabola : of, having the form of, or relating to a curve formed by the intersection of a cone with a plane parallel to a straight line in its surface

Example sentence:
Astronomers have determined that the comet follows a parabolic orbit.

Did you know?
The two distinct meanings of "parabolic" trace back to the development of Late Latin and New Latin. Late Latin is the Latin language used by writers in the third to sixth centuries. In that language, the word for "parable" was "parabola" -- hence, the "parable" sense of "parabolic." New Latin refers to the Latin used since the end of the medieval period, especially in regard to scientific description and classification. In New Latin, "parabola" names the same geometrical curve as it does in English. Both meanings of "parabola" were drawn from the Greek word for "comparison": "parabole."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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crambo: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-24T20:18:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for August 24 is:

crambo \KRAM-boh\ noun
: a game in which one player gives a word or line of verse to be matched in rhyme by other players

Example sentence:
According to his early letters, James Boswell, friend and biographer of English lexicographer Samuel Johnson, was a keen crambo player.

Did you know?
We've called the game "crambo" since at least 1660, but it was originally dubbed "crambe." The now-obsolete word "crambe" literally meant "cabbage," but it was rarely used for the leafy plant. Instead, it was used figuratively (in reference to a Latin phrase meaning "cabbage repeated or served up again") for things that were overused or repeated. The game, which was popular in the 17th and 18th centuries, began with one player picking a word. A second player then tried to guess it by asking questions. For example: "I know a word that rhymes with 'bird.'" "Is it ridiculous?" "No, it is not absurd." "Is it a part of speech?" "No, it is not a word." And so on, until the word was guessed.

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assail: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-23T20:13:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for August 23 is:

assail \uh-SAIL\ verb
: to attack violently with blows or words

Example sentence:
When Harriet came home and found her son riding his tricycle in the road, she tore into the house and assailed the babysitter for her irresponsibility.

Did you know?
"Assail" comes from an Anglo-French verb, "assaillir," which itself traces back to the Latin verb "assilire" ("to leap upon"). "Assilire" combines the prefix "ad-" ("to, toward") with the Latin verb "salire," meaning "to leap." When "assail" was first used in the 13th century, it meant "to make a violent physical attack upon." By the 1500s, English speakers were using the term to mean "to attack with words or arguments."

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quiescent: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-22T20:18:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for August 22 is:

quiescent \kwy-ESS-unt\ adjective
*1 : marked by inactivity or repose : tranquilly at rest
2 : causing no trouble or symptoms

Example sentence:
The storm was over, and the quiescent waters betrayed no sign of yesterday's turbulence.

Did you know?
"Quiescent" won't cause you any pain, and neither will its synonyms "latent," "dormant," and "potential," at least not immediately. All four words mean "not now showing signs of activity or existence." "Latent" usually applies to something that has not yet come forth but may emerge and develop, as in "a latent desire for success." "Dormant" implies a state of inactivity similar to sleep, as in "their passions lay dormant." "Potential" applies to what may or may not come to be. "A potential disaster" is a typical example. "Quiescent," which traces to the Latin "quiescere" (meaning "to become quiet" or "to rest"), often suggests a temporary cessation of activity, as in "a quiescent disease" or "a summer resort quiescent in wintertime."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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plenitude: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-21T20:17:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for August 21 is:

plenitude \PLEN-uh-tood\ noun
1 : the quality or state of being full : completeness
*2 : a great sufficiency : abundance

Example sentence:
The resort offers a plenitude of entertainment options for families traveling with children.

Did you know?
"Plenitude" was first recorded in English during the 15th century and ultimately comes to us from "plenus," the Latin word for "full." "Plenus" has also given us "plenty," which in turn influenced a variation on "plenitude": "plentitude." Some usage commentators have objected to "plentitude," but it has been in use since the early 1600s and has appeared in the works of such writers as Henry James and Sir Walter Scott. Both words are used in the same sorts of contexts, but "plentitude" is not used as frequently as "plenitude."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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chiliad: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-20T20:24:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for August 20 is:

chiliad \KILL-ee-ad\ noun
1 : a group of 1000
*2 : millennium

Example sentence:
Many people feared that widespread technical glitches would create chaos at the start of the new chiliad.

Did you know?
What's the difference between a chiliad and a millennium? Not much: both words refer to a period of 1000 years. While "millennium" is more widely used, "chiliad" is actually older. It first appeared in 1598 and was originally used to mean "a group of 1000," as in "a chiliad of errors." "Millennium" didn't make its way into written English until the 1630s. Not surprisingly, both words trace back to roots that mean "thousand." "Millenium" comes from the Latin "mille," and "chiliad" is a descendent of the Greek "chilioi."

*Indicates the sense illustrated by the example sentence.

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virescent: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-19T20:14:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for August 19 is:

virescent \vuh-RESS-unt\ adjective
*1 : beginning to be green : greenish
2 : developing or displaying the condition of becoming green due to the development of chloroplasts in plant organs (as petals) normally white or colored

Example sentence:
Buds formed on the bare trees, infusing the stark branches with a slight virescent tint.

Did you know?
"Virescent" first appeared in English in 1826. It derives from the present participle of "virescere," a Latin verb meaning "to become green" and a form of another verb, "virere," meaning "to be green." "Virere" also gave us another adjective meaning green, "verdant," only the route to that adjective takes a stop at the Old French "verdoier" ("to be green"). "Virescent" has seen occasional general use, as when Thomas Hardy wrote, in his 1881 novel _A Laodicean_, of "[t]he summer ... tipping every twig with a virescent yellow." But it is nowadays found most frequently in scientific contexts, especially those pertaining to botany.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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benison: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-18T20:10:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for August 18 is:

benison \BEN-uh-sun\ noun
: blessing, benediction

Example sentence:
The travelers stopped at the tiny country church and sought the benison of the priest before continuing their arduous journey.

Did you know?
"Benison" and its synonym "benediction" share more than a common meaning; the two words come from the same root, the Latin "benedicere," meaning "to bless." ("Benedicere" comes from the Latin "bene dicere" -- "to speak well of" -- a combination of the Latin "bene," meaning "well," and "dicere," to say.) Of the two words, "benediction" is more common today, but "benison" has a longer history in English. Records show that "benison" has been used in our language since the 14th century. "Benediction" didn't appear in print until nearly a century later.

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phishing: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-17T20:13:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for August 17 is:

phishing \FISH-ing\ noun
: a scam by which an e-mail user is duped into revealing personal or confidential information which the scammer can use illicitly

Example sentence:
The widespread use of electronic banking and financial transactions has prompted the FTC to crack down on cyber crimes, such as phishing.

Did you know?
"Phishing" is one of the many new computer-related terms that have found their way into the general lexicon over the past decade or so. Its "ph" spelling is influenced by an earlier word for an illicit act: "phreaking." Phreaking involves fraudulently using an electronic device to avoid paying for telephone calls, and its name is suspected of being a shortening of "phone freak." A common phishing scam involves sending e-mails that appear to come from banks requesting recipients to verify their accounts by typing personal details, such as credit card information, into a Web site that has been disguised to look like the real thing. Such scams can be thought of as "fishing" for naive recipients.

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rankle: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-16T20:43:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for August 16 is:

rankle \RANK-ul\ verb
: to cause irritation or bitterness in

Example sentence:
Rae Ann?s snooty attitude and rude behavior rankled me, but I smiled to hide my irritation.

Did you know?
The history of today's word is something of a sore subject. When "rankle" was first used in English, it meant "to fester," and that meaning is linked to the word's Old French ancestor, a noun that was spelled "raoncle" or "draoncle" and meant "festering sore." Etymologists think the Old French noun derived from "dracunculus," a diminutive form of "draco," which is the Latin word for "serpent" and the source of the English word "dragon." The transition from serpents to sores apparently occurred because people thought certain ulcers or tumors looked like small serpents.

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peripatetic: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-15T20:43:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for August 15 is:

peripatetic \pair-uh-puh-TET-ik\ adjective
1 capitalized : Aristotelian
2 a : of, relating to, or given to walking *b : moving or traveling from place to place : itinerant

Example sentence:
Rodney was a peripatetic journalist for several years until he bought a house and started writing for the local paper.

Did you know?
Are you someone who likes to think on your feet? If so, you've got something in common with the followers of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. Not only a thinker and teacher, Aristotle was also a walker, and his students were required to walk along beside him as he lectured while pacing to and fro. Thus it was that the Greek word "peripatetikos" (from "peripatein," meaning "to walk up and down") came to be associated with Aristotle and his followers. By the way, the covered walk in the Lyceum where Aristotle taught was known as the "peripatos" (which can either refer to the act of walking or a place for walking).

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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refluent: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-14T20:19:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for August 14 is:

refluent \REH-floo-unt\ adjective
: flowing back

Example sentence:
There are some lakes in Louisiana that appear to be formed by the refluent waters of the Mississippi River.

Did you know?
"Refluent" was first documented in English during the 15th century, and it can be traced back to the Latin verb "refluere," meaning "to flow back." "Refluere," in turn, was formed from the prefix "re-" and the verb "fluere" ("to flow"). Other "fluere" descendants in English include "confluent" ("flowing together"), "fluent" and "fluid" (both of which share the earliest sense of "flowing easily"), "circumfluent" ("flowing around"), and even "affluent" (which first meant "flowing abundantly"). "Refluent" even has an antonym derived from "fluere" -- "effluent," meaning "flowing out."

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phalanx: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-13T20:19:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for August 13 is:

phalanx \FAY-lanks\ noun
1 : a body of heavily armed infantry in ancient Greece formed in close deep ranks and files; broadly : a body of troops in close array
2 plural phalanges : one of the digital bones of the hand or foot of a vertebrate
3 *a : a massed arrangement of persons, animals, or things b: an organized body of persons

Example sentence:
The police commissioner had to maneuver through a phalanx of reporters before he could make his way into the building.

Did you know?
The original sense of "phalanx" refers to a military formation that was used in ancient warfare and consisted of a tight block of soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder, several rows deep, often with shields joined. The word "phalanx" comes from the Greeks, though they were not the only ones who used this formation. The Greek term literally means "log" and was used for both this line of battle and for a bone in a finger or toe. The word and its senses passed into Latin and then were adopted into English in the 16th century. These days, a "phalanx" can be any arranged mass, whether of persons, animals, or things, or a body of people organized in a particular effort.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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erudite: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-12T20:14:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for August 12 is:

erudite \AIR-uh-dyte\ adjective
: possessing or displaying extensive knowledge acquired chiefly from books : learned

Example sentence:
The university hosted an informative lecture given by an erudite scholar of Cold War history.

Did you know?
"Erudite" derives via Middle English "erudite" from Latin "eruditus," the past participle of the verb "erudire," meaning "to instruct." A closer look at that verb shows that it is formed by combining the prefix "e-," meaning "missing" or "absent," with the adjective "rudis," which means "rude" or "ignorant" and is also the source of our word "rude." We typically use the word "rude" to mean "discourteous" or "uncouth" but it can also mean "lacking refinement" or "uncivilized"; someone who is erudite, therefore, has been transformed from a roughened or uninformed state to a polished and knowledgeable one through a devotion to learning.

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inspissate: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-11T20:16:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for August 11 is:

inspissate \in-SPISS-ayt\ verb
: to make thick or thicker

Example sentence:
"Letting citizens sue polluters ... would only inspissate the logjam of litigation." (_The New York Times_, August 5, 1985)

Did you know?
"Inspissate" is ultimately derived from Latin "spissus" ("slow, dense") and is related to Greek "spidnos" ("compact") and Lithuanian "spisti" ("to form a swarm"). When it appeared an English in the 17th century, "inspissate" suggested a literal thickening. Francis Bacon, for example, wrote in 1626 that "Sugar doth inspissate the Spirits of the Wine, and maketh them not so easie to resolue into Vapour." Eventually "inspissate" was also used metaphorically. Clive Bell once wrote of "parties of school children and factory girls inspissating the gloom of the museum atmosphere." There is also an adjective "inspissate," meaning "thickened in consistency" or "made thick, heavy, or intense," but that word is used even less frequently than the somewhat rare verb.

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maitre d': M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-10T20:14:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for August 10 is:

maitre d' or maitre d' \may-truh-DEE\ noun
: maitre d'hotel, headwaiter

Example sentence:
The maitre d' ushered the couple to a private table at the back of the restaurant.

Did you know?
"Maitre d'" is short for "maitre d'hotel," which comes from French and literally means "master of the house." "Maitre d'hotel" was first used in English in the 16th century for a head butler or steward of a household, before it was adapted to refer to the head of a dining-room staff around the middle of the 19th century. (For the record, the plural of "maitre d'hotel" is "maitres d'hotel," whereas the plural of "maitre d'" is "maitre d's.") We began dropping the "hotel" of "maitre d'hotel" about 50 years ago. At first, the abbreviated form was considered slang, but today "maitre d'" is widely used in American English and is accepted as a standard American use.

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transpontine: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-09T20:47:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for August 9 is:

transpontine \trans-PAHN-tyne\ adjective
*1 : situated on the farther side of a bridge
2 British : situated on the south side of the Thames

Example sentence:
Bella recommended a transpontine restaurant for our evening rendezvous, so we took a cab across the East River from our hotel in Manhattan and met her in Queens.

Did you know?
Usually the prefix "trans-," meaning "across," allows for a reciprocal perspective. Whether you're in Europe or America, for example, transoceanic countries are countries across the ocean from where you are. But that's not the way it originally worked with "transpontine." The "pont-" in "transpontine" is from the Latin "pons," meaning "bridge," and the bridge in this case was, at first, any bridge that crossed the River Thames in the city of London. "Across the bridge" meant on one side of the river only -- the south side. That's where the theaters that featured popular melodramas were located, and Victorian Londoners first used "transpontine" to distinguish them from their more respectable "cispontine" ("situated on the nearer side of a bridge") counterparts north of the Thames.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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aught: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-08T21:58:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for August 8 is:

aught \AWT\ pronoun
1 : anything
*2 : all, everything

Example sentence:
"Xury said it was a lion, and it might be so for aught I know." (Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe)

Did you know?
"If you know aught which does behove my knowledge / Thereof to be inform'd, imprison't not / In ignorant concealment," Polixenes begs Camillo in Shakespeare's _The Winter's Tale_, employing the "anything" sense of "aught." Shakespeare didn't coin the pronoun "aught," which has been a part of the English language since before the 12th century, but he did put it to frequent use. Writers today may be less likely to use "aught" than were their literary predecessors, but the pronoun does continue to turn up occasionally. "Aught" can also be a noun meaning "zero," and for a while the phrase "the aughts" was bandied about as a proposed label for the decade that began in the year 2000.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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scaramouch: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-07T20:19:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for August 7 is:

scaramouch \skair-uh-MOOSH\ noun
1 capitalized : a stock character in the Italian commedia dell'arte that burlesques the Spanish don and is characterized by boastfulness and cowardliness
2 a : a cowardly buffoon *b : rascal, scamp

Example sentence:
My great uncle was an untrustworthy old scaramouch.

Did you know?
In the commedia dell'arte, Scaramouch was a stock character who was constantly being cudgeled by Harlequin, which may explain why his name is based on an Italian word meaning "skirmish," or "a minor fight." The character was made popular in England during the late 1600s by the clever acting of Tiberio Fiurelli. During that time, the name "Scaramouch" also gained notoriety as a derogatory word for "a cowardly buffoon" or "rascal." Today not many people use the word (which can also be spelled "scaramouche"), but you will encounter it while listening to Queen's ubiquitous rock song "Bohemian Rhapsody," in the lyric "I see a little silhouetto of a man / Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the fandango?"

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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turbid: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-06T20:19:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for August 6 is:

turbid \TER-bid\ adjective
1 *a : thick or opaque with or as if with roiled sediment b : heavy with smoke or mist
2 a : deficient in clarity or purity : foul, muddy b : characterized by or producing obscurity (as of mind or emotions)

Example sentence:
With alarm and dismay, Evelyn saw that the turbid floodwaters had started seeping into her kitchen.

Did you know?
"Turbid" and "turgid" (which means "swollen or distended" or "overblown, pompous, or bombastic") are frequently mistaken for one another, and it?s no wonder. Not only do the two words differ by only a letter, they are often used in contexts where either word could fit. For example, a flooded stream can be simultaneously cloudy and swollen, and badly written prose might be both unclear and grandiloquent. Nevertheless, the distinction between these two words, however fine, is an important one for conveying exact shades of meaning, so it's a good idea to keep them straight.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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peruse: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-06T04:32:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for August 5 is:

peruse \puh-ROOZ\ verb
1 a : to examine or consider with attention and in detail : study b : to look over or through in a casual or cursory manner
*2 : read; especially : to read over in an attentive or leisurely manner

Example sentence:
Dmitri perused the menu while we waited for a table.

Did you know?
"Peruse" has long been a literary word, used by such famous authors as Shakespeare, Tennyson, and Thomas Hardy, and it tends to have a literary flavor even in our time. "Peruse" can suggest paying close attention to something, but it can also simply mean "to read." The "read" sense, which is not especially new and was in fact included in Samuel Johnson's 1755 dictionary, has drawn some criticism over the years for being too broad. Some commentators have recommended that "peruse" be reserved for reading with great care and attention to detail. But the fact remains that "peruse" is often used in situations where a simple "read" definition could be easily substituted. It may suggest either an attentive read or a quick scan.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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nomenclator: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-04T20:12:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for August 4 is:

nomenclator \NOH-mun-klay-ter\ noun
1 : a book containing collections or lists of words
*2 : one who gives names to or invents names for things

Example sentence:
Within days of her promotion, Jenna found herself in the role of nomenclator, trying to name the company?s newest product.

Did you know?
"Nomenclator" means "name caller" in Latin (from "nomen," meaning "name," and the verb "calare," meaning "to call"). In ancient Rome, the nomenclator's job was to call out or whisper the names of people as they approached a candidate during a political rally. Whether the idea was to make the politician look good, as though he himself remembered everyone personally, or simply to apprise him of more names than he was ever expected to remember himself is open to question. What's quite certain is that in modern times the job title names one who creates new names for things. "Nomenclator" is applied especially to those who help create a "nomenclature" -- a system of terms for a particular discipline.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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Walter Mitty: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-03T20:28:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for August 3 is:

Walter Mitty \wawl-ter-MITT-ee\ noun
: a commonplace unadventurous person who seeks escape from reality through daydreaming

Example sentence:
"Many readers seem to be Walter Mittys, content to experience danger vicariously." (James Kelly, _Time Magazine_, August 19, 1985)

Did you know?
The original "Walter Mitty" was created by humorist James Thurber, who wrote the famous story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." In Walter's real life, he is a reticent, henpecked proofreader befuddled by everyday life. But in his fantasies, Walter imagines himself as various daring and heroic characters. Thurber's popular story, which was first published in _The New Yorker_ in 1939, was later made into a movie. Walter Mitty has since become the eponym for dreamers who imagine themselves in dramatic or heroic situations.

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deliquesce: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-02T20:21:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for August 2 is:

deliquesce \del-ih-KWESS\ verb
*1 : to dissolve or melt away
2 : to become soft or liquid with age or maturity -- used of some fungal structures (as the gills of a mushroom)

Example sentence:
Someone forgot to put the butter back in the refrigerator, instead leaving it to deliquesce on the kitchen counter.

Did you know?
"Deliquesce" derives from the prefix "de-" ("completely, away") and a form of the Latin verb "liquere," meaning "to be fluid." Things that deliquesce, it could be said, turn to mush in more ways than one. In scientific contexts, a substance that deliquesces absorbs moisture from the atmosphere until it dissolves in the absorbed water and forms a solution. When plants and fungi deliquesce, they lose rigidity as they age. When "deliquesce" is used in non-scientific contexts, it is often in a figurative or humorous way to suggest the act of "melting away" under exhaustion, heat, or idleness, as in "teenagers deliquescing in 90-degree temperatures."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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august: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-08-01T20:12:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for August 1 is:

august \aw-GUST\ adjective
: marked by majestic dignity or grandeur

Example sentence:
Mr. Lee's bearing was always august and stately, and he drew respectful glances wherever he went.

Did you know?
"August" comes from the Latin word "augustus," meaning "consecrated" or "venerable," which in turn is related to the Latin "augur," meaning "consecrated by augury" or "auspicious." In 8 B.C. the Roman Senate honored Augustus Caesar, the first Roman emperor, by changing the name of their month "Sextilis" to "Augustus." Middle English speakers inherited the name of the month of August, but it wasn't until the mid-1600s that "august" came to be used generically in English, more or less as "augustus" was in Latin, to refer to someone with imperial qualities.

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obtain: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-31T20:14:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for July 31 is:

obtain \ub-TAYN \ verb
*1 : to gain or attain usually by planned action or effort
2 : to be generally recognized or established : prevail

Example sentence:
The experiment was designed to obtain more accurate data about weather patterns.

Did you know?
"Obtain," which was adopted into English in the 15th century, comes to us via Anglo-French from the Latin "obtinere," meaning "to take hold of." "Obtinere" was itself formed by combination of "ob-," meaning "in the way," and the verb "tenere," meaning "to hold." If you have the kind of memory that holds on to etymological sources, you will likely remember that we featured another descendent of "tenere" just days ago. For those whose memories have a less tenacious grip, we'll remind you now that the featured word was "untenable" (and that "tenacious" was also mentioned as a relative).

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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verdigris: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-30T20:14:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for July 30 is:

verdigris \VER-duh-greess\ noun
: a green or bluish deposit especially of copper carbonates formed on copper, brass, or bronze surfaces

Example sentence:
It seems like every building on campus features some combination of brick, ivy, and verdigris.

Did you know?
"Green of Greece" -- that is the literal translation of "vert de Grece," the Anglo-French phrase from which the modern word "verdigris" descends. A coating of verdigris forms naturally on copper and copper alloys such as brass and bronze when those metals are exposed to air. (It can also be produced artificially.) The word "verdigris" has been associated with statuary and architecture, ancient and modern, since it was first used in the 14th century. Some American English speakers may find that they know it best from the greenish blue coating that covers the copper of the Statue of Liberty.

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null: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-29T20:10:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for July 29 is:

null \NULL\ adjective
*1 : having no legal or binding force : invalid
2 : having no value : insignificant
3 : of, being, or relating to zero

Example sentence:
The entertainer's contract will be rendered null and void if he should miss more than five appearances during the year.

Did you know?
English borrowed "null" from the Anglo-French "nul," meaning "not any." That word, in turn, traces to the Latin word "nullus," from "ne-," meaning "not," and "ullus," meaning "any." "Null" often pops up in legal and scientific contexts. It was originally used in Scottish law and still carries the meaning "having no legal or binding force." In math, it is sometimes used to mean "containing nothing"; for example, the set of all whole numbers that are divisible by zero is the "null set" (that is, there are no numbers that fit that description). But "null" also has some more general uses. We often use it with the meaning "lacking meaning or value" (as in "by the time I heard it, the news was null").

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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quisling: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-28T20:13:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for July 28 is:

quisling \KWIZ-ling\ noun
: one who commits treason : collaborator

Example sentence:
The country is ruled by a puppet government composed of quislings.

Did you know?
Vidkun Quisling was a Norwegian army officer who in 1933 founded Norway's fascist party. In December 1939, he met with Adolf Hitler and urged him to occupy Norway. Following the German invasion of April 1940, Quisling served as a figurehead in the puppet government set up by the German occupation forces, and his linguistic fate was sealed. Before the end of 1940, "quisling" was being used generically in English to refer to any traitor. Winston Churchill, George Orwell, and H. G. Wells used it in their wartime writings. Quisling lived to see his name thus immortalized, but not much longer. He was executed for treason soon after the liberation of Norway in 1945.

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untenable: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-27T20:13:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for July 27 is:

untenable \un-TEN-uh-bul\ adjective
*1 : not able to be defended
2 : not able to be occupied

Example sentence:
The contractor made the untenable demand that all work be paid for up front, at which point we decided to take our business elsewhere.

Did you know?
"Untenable" and its opposite "tenable" come to us from Old French "tenir" and ultimately from Latin "tenere," both of which mean "to hold." We tend to use "untenable" in situations where an idea or position is so off base that holding on to it is unjustified or inexcusable. One way to hold on to the meaning of "untenable" is to associate it with other "tenere" descendants whose meanings are associated with "holding" or "holding on to." "Tenacious" ("holding fast") is one example. Others are "contain," "detain," "sustain," "maintain," and "retain."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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zydeco: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-26T20:12:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for July 26 is:

zydeco \ZYE-duh-koh\ noun
: popular music of southern Louisiana that combines tunes of French origin with elements of Caribbean music and the blues and that features guitar, washboard, and accordion

Example sentence:
Thanks to delicious food and live zydeco every night, the new restaurant is a big success.

Did you know?
You might say that the lively form of music known as zydeco is full of beans, etymologically speaking. Legend has it that the word "zydeco" originated in the lyrics of _Les Haricots Sont Pas Sales_, a popular Cajun dance tune. Loosely translated, the song's title means "the beans are not salty," and when spoken in French Creole, "les haricots" (French for "beans") sounds something like "zydeco." "Zydeco" first appeared in print in 1960 and has been used to describe this kind of music ever since.

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caducity: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-25T20:13:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for July 25 is:

caducity \kuh-DOO-suh-tee\ noun
1 : senility
*2 : the quality of being transitory or perishable

Example sentence:
"Awareness of death -- a vivid realization of the caducity of life and its joys and miseries -- provides the strongest motive for metaphysics." (F. Gonzalez-Crussi, _The New Yorker_, November 1, 1993)

Did you know?
"Caducity" derives by way of the French "caduc," meaning "transitory," from the Latin "caducus," meaning "tending to fall," a product of the verb "cadere," meaning "to fall." Words that share the "cadere" root with "caducity" include "accident," "coincide," "cadaver," and "chance." "Caducity" usually refers to the fleeting or perishable nature of something. More specifically, it can refer to the perishable nature of cognitive abilities and can be used as a synonym of senility. Both senses of the word first appeared in English in the second half of the 18th century.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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monocracy: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-24T20:14:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for July 24 is:

monocracy \muh-NAH-kruh-see\ noun
: government by a single person

Example sentence:
After years of subjugation, the citizens of the country rose up against the oppressive monocracy.

Did you know?
In society's search for the best kind of government, the suffix "-cracy" (which means "form of government" and traces to the Greek "kratos," meaning "strength" or "power") has worn many hats. "Monocracy" pairs "-cracy" with a descendant of "monos," meaning "alone" or "single." The suffix also underlies other governmental terms including "democracy" ("government by the people"), "aristocracy" ("government by a small privileged class"), "theocracy" ("government by divine guidance"), "ochlocracy" ("government by the mob"), and "gerontocracy" ("rule by elders").

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extirpate: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-23T20:48:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for July 23 is:

extirpate \EK-ster-payt\ verb
1 *a : to destroy completely : wipe out b : to pull up by the root
2 : to cut out by surgery

Example sentence:
By insisting that he has a plan to extirpate crime and corruption in our cities, the governor might have bitten off more than he can chew.

Did you know?
If we do a little digging, we discover that "extirpate" finds its roots in, well, roots (and stumps). Early English uses of the word in the 16th century carried the meaning of "to clear of stumps" or "to pull something up by the root." "Extirpate" grew out of a combination of the Latin prefix "ex-" and the Latin noun "stirps," meaning "trunk" or "root." The word "stirp" itself remains rooted in our own language as a term meaning "a line descending from a common ancestor."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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panoptic: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-22T20:18:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for July 22 is:

panoptic \pan-OP-tik\ adjective
: being or presenting a comprehensive or panoramic view

Example sentence:
At the top of the mountain is a sightseeing point that provides climbers with a panoptic view of the surrounding valleys.

Did you know?
The establishment of "panoptic" in the English language can be attributed to two inventions known as panopticons. The more well-known panopticon was conceived by the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in 1787. Bentham's panopticon was a circular prison with cells arranged around a central tower from which guards could see the inmates at all times. The other panopticon, also created in the 18th century, was a device containing pictures of attractions, such as European capitals, that people viewed through an opening. Considering the views that both inventions gave, it is not hard to see why "panoptic" (a word derived from Greek "panoptes," meaning "all-seeing") was being used by the early 19th century.

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moot: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-21T20:10:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for July 21 is:

moot \MOOT\ adjective
1 a : open to question : debatable b : subjected to discussion : disputed
*2 : deprived of practical significance : made abstract or purely academic

Example sentence:
Since the team would have lost anyway, it's a moot point whether the umpire?s call was right or not.

Did you know?
"Moot" derives from "gemot," an Old English name for a judicial court. Originally, "moot" named either the court itself or an argument that might be debated by one. By the 16th century, the legal role of judicial moots had diminished, and the only remnant of them were "moot courts," academic mock courts in which law students could try hypothetical cases for practice. Back then, "moot" was used as a synonym of "debatable," but because the cases students tried in moot courts were simply academic exercises, the word gained the second sense, "deprived of practical significance." Some commentators still frown on using "moot" to mean "purely academic," but most editors now accept both senses as standard.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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disinformation: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-20T20:18:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for July 20 is:

disinformation \dis-in-fer-MAY-shun\ noun
: false information deliberately and often covertly spread (as by the planting of rumors) in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth

Example sentence:
The writer's latest book examines the effects of propaganda and disinformation during the Cold War.

Did you know?
In 1939, a writer describing Nazi intelligence activities noted, "The mood of national suspicion prevalent during the last decade ... is well illustrated by General Krivitsky's account of the German 'Disinformation Service,' engaged in manufacturing fake military plans for the express purpose of having them stolen by foreign governments." Although the Nazis were accused of using disinformation back in the 1930s, the noun and the practice are most often associated with the Soviet KGB. Many people think "disinformation" is a literal translation of the Russian "dezinformatsiya," which means "misinformation," a term the KGB allegedly used in the 1950s to name a department created to dispense propaganda.

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indomitable: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-20T09:57:00.000+08:00

The Word of the Day for July 19 is:

indomitable \in-DAH-muh-tuh-bul\ adjective
: incapable of being subdued : unconquerable

Example sentence:
Molly has always admired the indomitable spirit of her great-grandparents, who endured many hardships when they emigrated from Ireland.

Did you know?
The prefix "in-" means "not" in numerous English words (think of "indecent," "indecisive," "inconvenient," and "infallible"). When "in-" teamed up with the Latin "domitare" ("to tame"), the result was a word meaning "unable to be tamed." "Indomitable" was first used in English in the 1600s as a synonym of "wild," but over time its sense of untamability turned from a problem to a virtue. By the 1800s, "indomitable" was being used for people whose courage and persistence helped them to succeed in difficult situations.

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garderobe: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-18T20:16:00.001+08:00

garderobe \GAR-drohb\ noun
1 : a wardrobe or its contents
2 : a private room : bedroom
*3 : privy, toilet

Example sentence:
"On our tour of Castle Rushen, begun in 1200 and enhanced over the years, [caretaker Ian] McKinlay made sure to point out the garderobe -- because nature calls, even in a castle...." (Gemma Tarlach, _Milwaukee Journal Sentinel_, July 25, 2004)

Did you know?
"Garderobe" entered the English language in the 15th century and continues in use to this day, though its frequency has diminished significantly since the 19th century. Originally, its primary duty was to provide English speakers with a word for a room or closet in which to store clothing. Later, by extension, it was used for private bedrooms and bathrooms. Today you are most likely to encounter the word in a description of an old castle, such as our example sentence. "Garder," the French word for "guard" on which "garderobe" is based, has also served English well by directly contributing to the formation of such words as "award," "guard," "regard," and, yes, "wardrobe."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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binary: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-17T20:16:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for July 17 is:

binary \BYE-nuh-ree\ adjective
*1 : compounded or consisting of or marked by two things or parts
2 a : relating to, being, or belonging to a system of numbers having 2 as its base b : involving a choice or condition of two alternatives (as on-off or yes-no)

Example sentence:
Brass is a binary alloy, having the two metallic elements copper and zinc.

Did you know?
"The animals went in two by two, the elephant and the kangaroo...." It was a binary parade of sorts that went into Noah's ark "for to get out of the rain" -- the critters were represented in pairs. If you recall those partnered beasts, you'll remember the etymology of "binary," because it traces to the Latin "bini," which translates as "two by two." Although "binary" can be used for anything with two parts, it is now used especially in relation to computers and information processing. Digital computers use the binary number system, which includes only the digits 0 and 1, to process even complex data. In binary form, for instance, the word "HELLO" looks like this: 1001000 1000101 1001100 1001100 1001111.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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onomastics: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-16T20:23:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for July 16 is:

onomastics \ah-nuh-MAS-tiks\ noun
1 a : the science or study of the origins and forms of words especially as used in a specialized field b : the science or study of the origin and forms of proper names of persons or places
*2 : the system underlying the formation and use of words especially for proper names or of words used in a specialized field

Example sentence:
Dr. Donn will be presenting a paper at the conference on the onomastics used in naming towns during the early Republic.

Did you know?
The original word for the science of naming was "onomatology," which was adopted from French in the mid-19th century. About a century later, however, people began referring to the science as "onomastics," a term based on the Greek verb "onomazein" ("to name"). Like many sciences, onomastics is itself composed of special divisions. An onomastician might, for example, study personal names or place names, names of a specific region or historical period, or even the character names of a particular author, like Charles Dickens.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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distrait: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-15T20:44:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for July 15 is:

distrait \dih-STRAY\ adjective
: apprehensively divided or withdrawn in attention : distracted

Example sentence:
Professor Aguilar noticed that Sheldon was often distrait during her lectures, so she pulled him aside one day after class to ask if anything was wrong.

Did you know?
"Distrait" is a somewhat literary word with an unusual history. Borrowed from Anglo-French, it was used in the 15th century in a sense very close to that of "distraught," which means "deeply agitated or troubled." (Both words are ultimately from the Latin adjective "distractus.") Later, during the 18th century, "distrait" appears to have been borrowed again from French in a milder sense closer to "preoccupied" or "distracted." Another peculiarity of the word is that it tends to be treated in English as if it were still a French word: it has a feminine variant, "distraite," like a French adjective, and it is pronounced as if French. It can still suggest agitation, but not as strongly as "distraught"; more often it means simply "mentally remote."

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pilgarlic: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-14T20:23:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for July 14 is:

pilgarlic \pil-GAR-lik\ noun
1 a : a bald head *b : a bald-headed man
2 : a man looked upon with humorous contempt or mock pity

Example sentence:
"Ever since I became a pilgarlic," Dale explained, "I've believed that bald is beautiful!"

Did you know?
The Latin word for "hair" -- "pilus" -- has given us a number of words: "depilation" ("the removal of hair by chemical or mechanical means"), "pilose" ("covered with soft hair"), and "pelage" ("the hairy covering of a mammal"). "Pilgarlic" also has ties to "pilus," although the person who first used the word in the 16th century was probably thinking about cloves, not Latin roots. "Pilgarlic" comes from the supposed resemblance between a bald head and peeled garlic -- "pilled garlic," in British dialect. The verb "pill" comes in part from the Old English "pilian" ("to peel"), which is thought to trace back to "pilus."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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libertine: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-13T20:22:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for July 13:

libertine \LIB-er-teen\ noun
1 usually disparaging : a freethinker especially in religious matters
*2 : a person who is unrestrained by convention or morality; specifically : one leading a dissolute life

Example sentence:
The writer was portrayed in the film as a libertine who relied heavily on the vices of drinking and gambling.

Did you know?
The word "libertine," which originally meant "freedman" when it appeared in 14th-century English, traces to the Latin "libertus," a term that in Roman antiquity identified a slave who had been set free. By the late 1500s, "libertine" had been extended to religious and secular freethinkers; Shakespeare used it to refer to anyone who follows his or her own inclinations. By 1600, though, the term had come to imply that an individual was a little too unrestrained, especially in moral situations. And yes, the Latin root of "libertine" is "liber," the ultimate source of our word "liberty."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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herald: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-13T05:04:00.001+08:00

herald \HAIR-uld\ verb
1 : to give notice of : announce
2 a: to greet especially with enthusiasm : hail b : publicize
*3 : to signal the approach of : foreshadow

Example sentence:
The first robin heralded the arrival of spring.

Did you know?
The exact origin of "herald" is uncertain, but it is thought to derive from Germanic roots. Specifically, etymologists believe that "herald" developed from an assumed Frankish compound whose first component is akin to the Old High German "heri-," meaning "army," and whose second component is akin to the Old High German word "waltan," meaning "to rule." When "herald" first appeared on the scene in the 14th century, it referred to an official at a tournament of arms whose duties included the making of announcements. The verb forms, extending the "announcement" idea, soon followed.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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reprise: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-11T20:32:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for July 11 is:

reprise \rih-PREEZ\ noun
*1 : a recurrence, renewal, or resumption of an action
2 a : a musical repetition b : a repeated performance : repetition

Example sentence:
The argument was a reprise of a long-standing disagreement.

Did you know?
When "reprise" was first adopted into English in the 15th century, it referred to a deduction or charge made yearly out of a manor or estate (and was usually used in the plural form "reprises"). It probably won't surprise you, then, to learn that "reprise" comes from an Anglo-French word meaning "seizure, repossession, or expense." Eventually, "reprise" came to refer to any action that was repeated or resumed. A later sense, borrowed from modern French, applies to specific types of repetition in musical compositions and was eventually generalized to describe any subsequent and identical performance. It's possible, for example, to have a reprise of a television program or a book.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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fraught: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-10T20:16:00.000+08:00

The Word of the Day for July 10 is:

fraught \FRAWT\ adjective
*1 : full of or accompanied by something specified -- used with with
2 : causing or characterized by emotional distress or tension : uneasy

Example sentence:
The doctor warned her patient that the experimental procedure was fraught with problems.

Did you know?
"The drowmound was so hevy fraught / That unethe myght it saylen aught." That verse, written in the 14th-century poem "Richard Coer de Lion," says that a large ship (a dromond) was so heavily loaded that it could barely sail. That's the first instance we have on record of the adjective "fraught." The word came to Middle English from the Middle Dutch or Middle Low German noun "vracht," which meant "load" and which is also the source of the word "freight." Middle English also possessed a noun "fraught" that meant "load" and a verb "fraughten" that meant "to load" (meanings still retained in Scottish English by "fraught," the verb and noun). For centuries, "fraught" continued to be used only of loaded ships, but its use was eventually broadened.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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tincture: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-09T20:23:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for July 9 is:

tincture \TINK-cher\ noun
1 : color, tint
2 a : a characteristic quality : cast *b : a slight admixture : trace
3 : a solution of a medicinal substance in an alcoholic solvent

Example sentence:
Mabel's stories contain just the right tincture of macabre humor to be enjoyed by readers young and old alike.

Did you know?
"Tincture" derives from the same root as "tint" and "tinge" -- the Latin verb "tingere," meaning "to moisten or dip." "Tincture" specifically derives via Middle English from the Latin "tinctus," the past participle of "tingere." When the word first appeared in English in the 14th century, "tincture" referred to a coloring matter or dye, but by the 17th century the word had acquired a number of additional meanings, including "a slight infusion or trace of something." "Tinge" and "shade" are two other words referring to color that can be used the same way. "Tincture" can also refer, among other things, to the colors used in a coat of arms or an herbal or medicinal solution.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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cavil: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-08T20:18:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for July 8 is:

cavil \KAV-il\ verb
: to raise trivial and frivolous objection

Example sentence:
It may seem petty to cavil at minor flaws given the film's excellence as a whole, but the ending did seem to lack some credibility.

Did you know?
"You must be joking!" That's just one of the things you might be tempted to exclaim if you found yourself quarreling with a caviler -- and you'd be right, etymologically speaking at least. "Cavil" derives from the Latin verb "cavillari," meaning "to jest" or "to raise silly objections," which in turn derives from the Latin noun "cavilla," meaning "raillery." In case you're wondering, "cavil" is not related to the adjective "cavalier" ("marked by or given to offhand and often disdainful dismissal of important matters"). "Cavalier," which is also a noun for a gentleman trained in arms and horsemanship, traces back via Middle French to the Late Latin "caballarius," meaning "horseman."

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antithetical: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-07T20:18:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for July 7 is:

antithetical \an-tuh-THET-ih-kul\ adjective
1 : constituting or marked by the rhetorical contrast of ideas by means of parallel arrangements of words, clauses, or sentences
*2 : being in direct and unequivocal opposition

Example sentence:
Your suggestion is completely antithetical to my morals and beliefs.

Did you know?
"Antithetical" and "antithesis" entered English in the 16th century. Their etymological paths pass through Late Latin and ultimately lead to Greek (the Greek words "antitithenai" and "antithesis" mean "to oppose" and "opposition," respectively). The oldest sense of the English "antithesis" refers to a language pattern that contrasts parallel ideas, as in "action, not words" or "they promised freedom and provided slavery." "Antithetical" can mean "constituting or marked by such language patterns." For example, you could say "The phrase 'action, not words' is an antithetical construction." It is more common in current use, however, for "antithesis" to mean "the exact opposite" and for "antithetical" to mean "directly opposite."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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waddy: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-06T20:13:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for July 6 is:

waddy \WAH-dee\ noun, West
: cowboy

Example sentence:
"The cowboy of today is a sort of sophisticated waddy, driving trucks, flying airplanes and applying scientific resources to successful ranching." (Willard H. Porter, _Chicago Tribune_, July 3, 1988)

Did you know?
It's easier to rope a wild mustang than to round up the origin of "waddy." Some folks claim it comes from "wadding" (the material used in stuffing or padding) because waddies were once extra hands hired to fill in when extra cowhands were needed. But other evidence suggests that "waddy" originally referred to a cattle rustler, a usage that wouldn't support the "wadding" theory. There is also an Australian "waddy" meaning "stick" or "club," but definitive evidence of a connection between the Australian and American words remains elusive. All researchers can say with certainty is that "waddy" has been used to name a cowboy since at least the late 19th century.

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palmy: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-05T20:21:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for July 5 is:

palmy \PAH-mee\ adjective
*1 : marked by prosperity : flourishing
2 : abounding in or bearing palms

Example sentence:
"In Beaufort Road was a house, occupied in its palmier days, by Mr Shorthouse, a manufacturer of acids." (J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter, July 1964)

Did you know?
The palm branch has traditionally been used as a symbol of victory. It is no wonder then that the word "palm" came to mean "victory" or "triumph" in the late 14th century, thanks to the likes of Geoffrey Chaucer. Centuries later, Shakespeare would employ "palm" to create a new synonym for "triumphant" or "flourishing." His coinage is found in the tragedy _Hamlet_ when the character Horatio speaks of the "palmy state of Rome / A little ere the mightiest Julius fell."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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sycophant: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-04T20:09:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for July 4 is:

sycophant \SIK-uh-funt\ noun
: a servile self-seeking flatterer

Example sentence:
"I can't stand sycophants," said Rosemary, "so if you want that promotion, do your best and let your work speak for itself."

Did you know?
In ancient Greece, "sykophantes" meant "slanderer." It derives from two other Greek words, "sykon" (meaning "fig") and "phainein" (meaning "to show or reveal"). How did fig revealers become slanderers? One theory has to do with the taxes Greek farmers were required to pay on the figs they brought to market. Apparently, the farmers would sometimes try to avoid making the payments, but squealers -- fig revealers -- would fink on them, and they would be forced to pay. Another possible source is a sense of the word "fig" meaning "a gesture or sign of contempt (as thrusting a thumb between two fingers)." In any case, Latin retained the "swindler" sense when it borrowed a version of "sykophantes," but by the time English speakers in the 16th century borrowed it as "sycophant," the squealers had become flatterers.

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eupeptic: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-03T20:10:00.001+08:00

eupeptic \yoo-PEP-tik\ adjective
1 : of, relating to, or having good digestion
*2 : cheerful, optimistic

Example sentence:
"The generous outpouring of writings devoted to public libraries ... makes me positively eupeptic about the future of scholarship in this area." (E. A. Goedeken, _Libraries & Culture_, March 22, 2004)

Did you know?
"Eupeptic" first appeared around 1700 and was probably created from "eupepsia," a word meaning "good digestion." ("Eupepsia" was cooked up from "eu-," meaning "good," and "-pepsia," meaning "digestion," ingredients that are ultimately of Greek origin.) It seems reasonable that good digestion might enhance one's outlook on life -- and indeed, "eupeptic" can suggest a happy frame of mind as well as a happy digestive system. Along similar lines, someone with poor digestion might be cranky, and the antonymous counterparts of "eupeptic" and "eupepsia" -- "dyspeptic" and "dyspepsia" -- can suggest either indigestion or ill humor.

*Indicates the sense illustrated by the example sentence.

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jeopardy: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-02T20:08:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for July 2 is:

jeopardy \JEP-er-dee\ noun
*1 : exposure to or imminence of death, loss, or injury : danger
2 : the danger that an accused person is subjected to when on trial for a criminal offense

Example sentence:
Rather than risk placing his passengers in jeopardy, the pilot waited for the storm to pass before taking off.

Did you know?
Centuries ago, the Old French term "jeu parti" didn't mean "danger" but rather "an alternative" or, literally, "a divided game." That French expression was used for anything that represented an alternative viewpoint or gave two opposing viewpoints. "Jeu parti" passed into Anglo-French as "juparti," and from there it was borrowed into Middle English and respelled "jeopardie." At first, the English word was used to refer to the risks associated with alternative moves in the game of chess. Soon, however, the term came to be used more generally in the "risk" or "danger" sense that it has today.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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anchorite: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-07-01T20:07:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for July 1 is:

anchorite \ANG-kuh-ryte\ noun
: a person who lives in seclusion usually for religious reasons

Example sentence:
The anchorite spent most of his days in his small, bare cell, engaged in prayer and meditation.

Did you know?
The term "anchor" was being used for religious hermits about 450 years before "anchorite" came into common use in our language. The reclusive "anchor" and "anchorite" are both derived from the Late Latin "anachoreta," which, in turn, can be traced to the Greek "anachorein," meaning "to withdraw." Are they etymologically related to the kind of anchors you find on ships? Not exactly. The Latin root of sea-going "anchor,"
"anchora," probably influenced the spelling and pronunciation of the words that led to "anchorite" and the reclusive "anchor," but it is not a direct ancestor.

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unbeknownst: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-30T20:08:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for June 30 is:

unbeknownst \un-bih-NOHNST\ adjective
: happening or existing without the knowledge of someone specified

Example sentence:
Unbeknownst to Clarice, we had been planning a surprise baby shower for her for weeks.

Did you know?
"Unbeknownst" derives from "beknown," an obsolete synonym of "known." But for a word with a straightforward history, "unbeknownst" and its older and less common variant "unbeknown" have created quite a flap among usage commentators. Despite widespread use (including appearances in the writings of Charles Dickens, A.E. Housman, and E.B. White), the two words have been called everything from "obsolete" to "vulgar." Our evidence, however, shows that both can be considered standard.

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pococurante: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-29T20:09:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for June 29 is:

pococurante \POH-koh-kyoo-RAN-tee\ adjective
: indifferent, nonchalant

Example sentence:
At the ball, the snobbish debutante offended many would-be suitors by responding to their greetings in a pococurante manner.

Did you know?
The French writer Voltaire carefully named his characters in _Candide_ (1759) to create allegories. He appended the prefix "pan-," meaning "all," to "glossa," the Greek word for "tongue," to name his optimistic tutor "Pangloss," a sobriquet suggesting glibness and talkativeness. Then there is the apathetic Venetian Senator Pococurante, whose name appropriately means "caring little" in Italian. Voltaire's characters did not go unnoticed by later writers. Laurence Sterne used "Pococurante" in part six of _Tristram Shandy_, published three years after _Candide_, to mean "a careless person," and Irish poet Thomas Moore first employed the word as an adjective when he described Dublin as a poco-curante place in his memoirs of 1815.

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candidate: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-28T20:11:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for June 28 is:

candidate \KAN-duh-dayt\ noun
*1 : one that aspires to or is nominated or qualified for an office, membership, or award
2 : one likely or suited to undergo or be chosen for something specified
3 : a student in the process of meeting final requirements for a degree

Example sentence:
Voters will have several appealing candidates to choose from in this election.

Did you know?
When a person running for public office in ancient Rome greeted voters in the Forum, the center of judicial and public business, he wore a toga that had been whitened with chalk. As a result, the Latin word for someone seeking office came to be "candidatus," meaning literally "clothed in white." "Candidatus," in turn, comes from the adjective "candidus," meaning "white." "Candidatus" was adopted into English as "candidate" at the beginning of the 17th century.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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belie: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-27T20:10:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for June 27 is:

belie \bih-LYE\ verb
1 a : to give a false impression of b : to present an appearance not in agreement with
2 a : to show (something) to be false or wrong b : to run counter to : contradict
*3 : disguise

Example sentence:
Martin's easy banter and relaxed attitude belied his nervousness.

Did you know?
"What is a lie?" asked Lord Byron in Don Juan. He then answered himself: "'Tis but the truth in masquerade...." The history of "belie" illustrates a certain connection between lying and disguising. In its earliest known use, around A.D. 1000, "belie" meant "to deceive by lying." By the 1200s, it was being used to mean "to tell lies about," using a sense similar to that of the modern word "slander." Over time its meaning softened, shifting from an act of outright lying to one of mere misrepresentation, and by the early 1700s, the word was being used in the sense "to disguise or conceal." Nowadays, "belie" suggests giving an impression at variance with the facts rather than telling an intentional untruth.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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xeriscape: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-26T20:09:00.000+08:00

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The Word of the Day for June 26 is:

xeriscape \ZEER-uh-skayp\ noun, often capitalized
: a landscaping method developed especially for arid and semiarid climates that utilizes water-conserving techniques (as the use of drought-tolerant plants, mulch, and efficient irrigation)

Example sentence:
Jim is not green-thumbed, so when he relocated to Colorado, he really liked the low-maintenance xeriscape of his new home.

Did you know?
"Xeros" is the Greek word for "dry" that is the base for a handful of English words related to mainly dry printing ("xerography") and dry, or xerophilous, habitats and their plants. In the early 1980s, the Greek adjective was used to name a type of landscaping practiced primarily in the arid western regions of the United States. (The Water Department of Denver, Colorado, is credited with the word's coinage.) "Xeriscape," as it is called, uses plants that require little water and techniques that efficiently use water and reduce evaporation.

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fuliginous: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-25T20:13:00.000+08:00

The Word of the Day for June 25 is:

fuliginous \fyoo-LIJ-uh-nus\ adjective
1*a : sooty b: obscure, murky
2 : having a dark or dusky color

Example sentence:
London was a fuliginous city during the Industrial Revolution.

Did you know?
"Fuliginous" is a word with a dark and dirty past -- it derives from "fuligo," the Latin word for "soot." In an early sense (now obsolete), "fuliginous" was used to describe noxious bodily vapors once thought to be produced by organic processes. The "sooty" sense, which English speakers have been using since the early 1620s, can be used to describe everything from dense fogs and malevolent clouds to overworked chimney sweeps. "Fuliginous" can also be used to refer to something dark or dusky, as in Henry James' novel _The Ambassadors_, in which the character Waymarsh is described as having "dark fuliginous eyes."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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roorback: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-24T20:08:00.000+08:00

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The Word of the Day for June 24 is:

roorback \ROOR-back\ noun
: a defamatory falsehood published for political effect

Example sentence:
"The attacks on my character are nothing but roorbacks drummed up by my opponent," insisted the candidate.

Did you know?
If you think dirty politics are new, think again. In the midst of the 1844 presidential campaign between James K. Polk and Henry Clay, a letter was published in a newspaper in Ithaca, New York, claiming that a reputable witness (one Baron von Roorback) had, while traveling in Tennessee, come across 43 slaves owned by Polk and branded with his initials. The letter caused an uproar that threatened to derail Polk's campaign until it was discovered that the whole thing was a hoax supposedly perpetrated by the opposing party. Baron von Roorback didn't even exist. The incident proved a political boomerang; Polk won the election and the name "roorback" became a byword for political dirty tricks.

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lissome: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-23T20:07:00.000+08:00

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The Word of the Day for June 23 is:

lissome \LISS-um\ adjective
1 a : easily flexed *b : lithe
2 : nimble

Example sentence:
Even though she hasn't danced in years, Maggie still has the lissome body of a ballerina.

Did you know?
"Lissome" (sometimes spelled "lissom") is a gently altered form of its synonym, "lithesome." While "lissome" tends to be the more popular choice these days, the two words have similar pasts. They both appeared in the second half of the 18th century, and they both trace back to the much older "lithe" ("supple" or "graceful"), which first appeared in English during the 14th century and comes from an Old English word meaning "gentle." "Lissome" can also be an adverb meaning "in a supple or nimble manner," but this use is rare.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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cineast: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-22T20:09:00.000+08:00

The Word of the Day for June 22 is:

cineast \SIN-ee-ast\ noun
: a devotee of motion pictures; also : moviemaker

Example sentence:
Ralph and Tory met -- and fell in love -- at a film festival, and within a year the two cineasts were engaged to be married.

Did you know?
"Cineast" is a French borrowing that made its American premiere in the mid-1920s. The French spliced together "cine" and "-aste" to create "cineaste," a word for a filmmaker or movie director. "Cine" in French is just another word for "cinema," and "-aste" is a suffix that appears in words like "gymnaste" and "enthousiaste." "Cineaste" underwent several changes once it was established in English. Some writers anglicized its spelling, shortening "-aste" to "-ast" (although "cineaste" and "cineaste" are also still used). Others began to use "cineast" to mean "film buff," and that's the sense that is most common today.

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estival: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-21T20:08:00.000+08:00

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The Word of the Day for June 21 is:

estival \ESS-tuh-vul\ adjective
: of or relating to the summer

Example sentence:
On summer evenings, Carl would sit for hours on the porch enjoying the warmth of the estival breezes.

Did you know?
"Estival" and "festival" look so much alike that you might think they're very closely related, but that isn't the case. "Estival" traces back to "aestas," which is the Latin word for "summer" (and which also gave us "estivate," a verb for spending the summer in a torpid state -- a sort of hot-weather equivalent of hibernation). "Festival" also comes from Latin, but it has a different and unrelated root. It derives from "festivus," a term that means "festive" or "merry." "Festivus" is also the ancestor of "festive" and "festivity" as well as the much rarer "festivous" (which also means "festive") and "infestive," meaning "not merry, mirthless."

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purview: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-20T20:12:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for June 20 is:

purview \PER-vyoo\ noun
1 a : the body or enacting part of a statute b : the limit, purpose, or scope of a statute
*2 : the range or limit of authority, competence, responsibility, concern, or intention
3 : range of vision, understanding, or cognizance

Example sentence:
The court ruled that the student's T-shirt fell under the purview of the First Amendment.

Did you know?
You might guess that there is a connection between "purview" and "view," but the two words are not actually related. "Purview" comes from "purveu," a word often found in the legal statutes of 13th- and 14th-century England. These statutes, written in the Anglo-French, opened with the phrases "purveu est" and "purveu que," which translate literally to "it is provided" and "provided that." "Purveu" derives from "porveu," the past participle of the Old French verb "porveeir," meaning "to provide." "View" derives (via Middle English) from the past participle of another Anglo-French word, "veer," meaning "to see," and ultimately from the Latin "videre," also meaning "to see."

*Indicates the sense illustrated by the example sentence.

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shoestring: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-19T20:11:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for June 19 is:

shoestring \SHOO-string\ noun
1 : shoelace
*2 : a small sum of money : capital inadequate or barely adequate to the needs of a transaction

Example sentence:
For the first few years, Jillian and Georgia ran the business on a shoestring.

Did you know?
In earlier times, wandering peddlers offered townspeople a variety of items and trinkets, such as fabrics, embroidery materials, and even patent medicines. Another popular offering from these traveling salespeople was shoelaces. The fact that such vendors neither earned much money nor charged very much for their wares led to the connection of their literal shoestrings with a metaphorical application of "shoestring" to a very small amount of money. It's still not uncommon to hear of a business being operated on a shoestring (even if these days it's less likely that actual shoelaces are involved), but it's also possible to speak of "traveling on a shoestring" and even "gardening on a shoestring."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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resplendent: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-18T20:13:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for June 18 is:

resplendent \rih-SPLEN-dunt\ adjective
: shining brilliantly : characterized by a glowing splendor

Example sentence:
Zoo visitors excitedly snapped pictures of the peacock fanning his resplendent tail.

Did you know?
"Resplendent" has a lot in common with "splendid" ("shining, brilliant"), "splendent" ("shining, glossy"), and "splendor" ("brightness or luster"). Each of those glowing terms gets its shine from the Latin verb "splendere" ("to shine"). Etymologists believe "splendere" might also be related to Middle Irish "lainn," meaning "bright." "Splendent,"
"splendor," and "resplendent" first showed their lustrous senses in English during the 15th century, but "splendid" didn't show up until over 175 years later; its earliest known use dates from 1624.

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hawkshaw: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-17T20:09:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for June 17 is:

hawkshaw \HAWK-shaw\ noun
: detective

Example sentence:
Though she risked being late for an appointment, Amanda could not bring herself to set the book down until the novel?s hawkshaw had solved the mystery.

Did you know?
If you're a fan of mystery writing, you may have a favorite fictional detective. Perhaps it's Hercule Poirot (created by Agatha Christie), Lord Peter Wimsey (created by Dorothy L. Sayers), or Mike Hammer (created by Mickey Spillane). These and other famous sleuths from the mystery genre follow in the tradition of a fictional detective from the 19th century: Hawkshaw, a theatrical gumshoe introduced in the 1863 play _The Ticket of Leave Man_ by British dramatist Tom Taylor. "Hawkshaw" gained further popularity as a general term for a detective when the name was used for a character in a comic strip by American cartoonist Gus Mager.

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clandestine: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-16T20:07:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for June 16 is:

clandestine \klan-DES-tun\ adjective
: marked by, held in, or conducted with secrecy : surreptitious

Example sentence:
The commander ordered the clandestine flights over enemy territory to gather more information about the opposing forces.

Did you know?
In 1658, the English poet John Milton wrote of "clandestine Hostility cover'd over with the name of Peace." Three and a half centuries later we use "clandestine" in much the same way. The word is often used as a synonym of "secret" and "covert," and it is commonly applied to actions that involve secrecy maintained for an evil, illicit, or unauthorized purpose. It comes to us by way of Middle French from Latin "clandestinus," which is itself from "clam," meaning "secretly."

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anabasis: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-15T20:09:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for June 15 is:

anabasis \uh-NAB-uh-sis\ noun
*1 : a going or marching up : advance; especially : a military advance
2 : a difficult and dangerous military retreat

Example sentence:
In U.S. history class, we learned about General Sherman's famous anabasis through the South.

Did you know?
The first sense of "anabasis" follows logically enough from its roots. In Greek, the word originally meant "inland march"; it is derived from "anabainein," meaning "to go up or inland," which is formed by combining the prefix "ana-" ("up") and "bainein" ("to go"). The second and opposite sense, however, comes from an anabasis gone wrong. In 401 B.C., Greek mercenaries fighting for Cyrus the Younger marched into the Persian Empire only to find themselves cut off hundreds of miles from home. As a result, they were forced to undertake an arduous and embattled retreat across unknown territories. Xenophon, a Greek historian who accompanied the mercenaries on the march, wrote the epic narrative _Anabasis_ about this experience, and consequently "anabasis" came to mean a dramatic retreat as well as an advance.

*Indicates the sense illustrated by the example sentence.

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roister: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-14T20:09:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for June 14 is:

roister \ROY-ster\ verb
: to engage in noisy revelry : carouse

Example sentence:
Hugh didn't get much sleep last night because his neighbors were roistering until the wee hours of the morning.

Did you know?
As Hugo Williams asserts in _The Times Literary Supplement_ (November 15, 1991), roistering tends to be "funnier, sillier and less harmful than standard hooliganism, being based on nonsense rather than violence." Roisterers might be chagrined to learn that the word "roister" derives from a Middle French word that means "lout" or "boor" ("rustre"). Ultimately, however, it is from the fairly neutral Latin word "rusticus," meaning "rural." In the 16th century, the original English verb was simply "roist," and one who roisted was a "roister." Later, we changed the verb to "roister" and the corresponding noun to "roisterer."

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utmost: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-13T20:15:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for June 13 is:

utmost \UT-mohst\ adjective
1 : situated at the farthest or most distant point : extreme
*2 : of the greatest or highest degree, quantity, number, or amount

Example sentence:
Dustin has the utmost respect for his uncle, who returned to school after many years to attain his degree.

Did you know?
"Utmost" traces back to the Old English "utmest," a superlative adjective formed from the adverb "ut," meaning "out." "Utmest" eventually evolved into "utmost," perhaps influenced by the spelling of the word "most." Not surprisingly, the earlier sense of "utmost" carries the same meaning as "outermost." The second sense of "utmost," meaning "of the greatest or highest degree," first appeared in English in the 14th century but didn't see frequent use until almost 400 years later. A related word is "utter," meaning "absolute" or "total," as in the phrase "utter chaos"; it comes from Old English "utera," meaning "outer," and ultimately from "ut."

*Indicates the sense illustrated by the example sentence.

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succor: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-12T20:12:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for June 12 is:

succor \SUCK-er\ noun
*1 : relief; also : aid, help
2 : something that furnishes relief

Example sentence:
"The people lost all hope of succor, and fled to the mountains for refuge." (Mark Twain, _A Tramp Abroad_)

Did you know?
If you're in need of an explanation of the origins of "succor," we can help. Middle English speakers adapted "socour," the predecessor of "succor," from the Anglo-French "sucors," which essentially had the same meaning as our modern word. "Sucors," in turn, derives from the Medieval Latin "succursus," itself a derivative of the Latin verb "succurrere," meaning "to run to the rescue" or "to bring aid." That Latin verb was a composite of the prefix "sub-" (meaning "from below") and the verb "currere" (meaning "to run"). "Succor" has been saving the day in English (as both a noun and a verb) since at least the 13th century.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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wimple: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-11T20:12:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for June 11 is:

wimple \WIM-pul\ verb
*1 : to cover with or as if with a wimple : veil
2 : to ripple
3 chiefly Scottish : to follow a winding course : meander

Example sentence:
In Herman Melville's _Benito Cereno_, the author describes the sun as being "wimpled by ... low, creeping clouds."

Did you know?
"Wimple" is the name of the covering worn over the head and around the neck and chin by women in the late medieval period, as well as by some modern nuns. Its name is akin to Old Saxon "wimpal" and Middle Dutch "wimpel," both of which mean "veil" or "banner." Like the word "veil," "wimple" is also used as a verb meaning "cover" and was adopted by literary writers as a substitute for "ripple" and "meander," especially when writing about streams. "Over the little brook which wimpled along below towered an arch," James Russell Lowell once observed.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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Golconda: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-10T21:12:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for June 10 is:

Golconda \gahl-KAHN-duh\ noun
: a rich mine; broadly : a source of great wealth

Example sentence:
The junk bond market proved to be a Golconda for unscrupulous traders during the 1980s, many of whom amassed huge fortunes by trading such bonds to the unwary.

Did you know?
In the 16th century, Golconda was the capital of the Qutb Shahi kingdom in southern India, near modern Hyderabad. The city was home to one of the most powerful Muslim sultanates in the region and was the center of a flourishing diamond trade. Magnificent diamonds were taken from the mines in the hills surrounding Golconda, including Darya-e Nur (meaning "sea of light"), at 185 carats, the largest and finest diamond of the crown jewels of Iran. By the 1880s, "Golconda" was being used generically by English speakers to refer to any particularly rich mine, and later to any source of great wealth.

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obstinate: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-09T20:05:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for June 9 is:
obstinate \AHB-stuh-nut\ adjective
*1 : perversely adhering to an opinion, purpose, or course in spite of reason, arguments, or persuasion
2 : not easily subdued, remedied, or removed

Example sentence:
As usual, Cassie remained obstinate in her opinion even though the facts were clearly stacked against her.

Did you know?
If you're obstinate, you're just plain stubborn. "Obstinate," "dogged," "stubborn," "pertinacious," and "mulish" all mean that someone is unwilling to change course or give up a belief or plan. "Obstinate" suggests an unreasonable persistence; it's often a negative word. "Dogged," which can be more positive, implies that someone goes after something without ever tiring or quitting, while "pertinacious" suggests a persistence that can be annoying. "Stubborn" indicates a resistance to change, which may or may not be admirable. Someone who displays a really unreasonable degree of stubbornness could accurately be described as "mulish."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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thimblerig: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-08T20:10:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for June 8 is:

thimblerig \THIM-bul-rig\ verb
*1 : to cheat by trickery
2 : to swindle by a trick in which a small ball or pea is quickly shifted from under one to another of three small cups to fool the spectator guessing its location

Example sentence:
The appraiser looked closely at the painting and then reluctantly told us that we had been thimblerigged into buying a worthless copy.

Did you know?
The game of thimblerig seems innocent enough. The thimblerigger places a seed under one of three thimbles. He or she deftly scoots the thimbles around on a table, then asks the player to bet on which one hides the seed. But thimbleriggers are masters of sleight of hand and can move and manipulate the seed unfairly -- so the guileless player doesn't stand a chance of winning. (The poor bettor is probably unaware that "rig" has meant "to manipulate or control usually by deceptive or dishonest means" since the 1800s.) When the same sham is played with nutshells, it's called a "shell game," and there's a related game played with cards known as "three-card monte."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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askew: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-07T20:09:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for June 7 is:

askew \uh-SKYOO\ adjective
: out of line : awry

Example sentence:
Jeff didn't realize that the bookshelf he had hung on the wall was slightly askew until he placed a pen on it and it rolled off the edge.

Did you know?
It's believed that "askew" was formed simply by attaching the prefix "a-" -- meaning, among other things, "in (such) a state or condition" -- to "skew." The word "skew," which derives via Middle English from Anglo-French "eschiver," meaning "to escape or avoid," can be a verb, adjective, or noun. But at the time of the first appearance of "askew" in English, in the middle of the 16th century, "skew" had only been established as a verb meaning "to take an oblique course or direction." At least one etymologist has suggested that "askew" might have been influenced by an Old Norse phrase, and that the same phrase might have also given us "askance." In the past, "askew" was used synonymously with "askance," as in, "She looked at me askew after my ill-timed joke."

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canard: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-06T20:12:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for June 6 is:

canard \kuh-NARD\ noun
1 a : a false or unfounded report or story; especially : a fabricated report *b : a groundless rumor or belief
2 : an airplane with horizontal stabilizing and control surfaces in front of supporting surfaces; also : a small airfoil in front of the wing of an aircraft that increases the aircraft's stability

Example sentence:
"Last week's storm," Chet declared, "showed us that the claim that lightning cannot strike the same place twice is nothing more than a canard."

Did you know?
In 16th-century France "vendre des canards a moitie" was a colorful way of saying "to fool" or "to cheat." The French phrase means, literally, "to half-sell ducks." No one now knows just what was meant by "to half-sell"; the proverb was probably based on some story widely known at the time, but the details have not survived. At any rate, the expression led to the use of "canard," the French word for "duck," with the meaning "a hoax" or "a fabrication." English speakers adopted this "canard" in the mid-1800s. The aeronautical sense of "canard," used from the early days of flying, comes from the stubby duck-like appearance of the aircraft.

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louche: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-05T20:08:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for June 5 is:

louche \LOOSH\ adjective
: not reputable or decent

Example sentence:
Her novels are populated by louche characters wasting their days in brothels and seedy bars.

Did you know?
"Louche" ultimately comes from the Latin word "luscus," meaning "blind in one eye" or "having poor sight." This Latin term gave rise to the French "louche," meaning "squinting" or "cross-eyed." The French gave their term a figurative sense as well, taking that squinty look to mean "shady" or "devious." English speakers didn't see the need for the sight-impaired uses when they borrowed the term in the 19th century, but they kept the figurative one. The word is still quite visible today and is used to describe both people and places of questionable repute.

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multifarious: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-04T20:10:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for June 4 is:

multifarious \mul-tuh-FAIR-ee-us\ adjective
: having or occurring in great variety : diverse

Example sentence:
John listed his multifarious interests and activities on his college application.

Did you know?
Dictionary makers have dated the first appearance of "multifarious" in print as 1593  and rightly so  but before that time another word similar in form and meaning was being used: "multifary," meaning "in many ways" and appearing (and disappearing) in the 15th century. Before either of the English words existed, there was the Medieval Latin word "multifarius" (same meaning as "multifarious"), from Latin "multifariam," meaning "in many places" or "on many sides." "Multi-," as you may know, is a combining form meaning "many." A relative of "multifarious" in English is "omnifarious" ("of all varieties, forms, or kinds"), created with "omni-" ("all") rather than "multi-."

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ameliorate: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-03T20:30:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for June 3 is:

ameliorate \uh-MEE-lee-uh-rayt\ verb
: to make better or more tolerable

Example sentence:
Access to clean water would ameliorate living conditions within the village.

Did you know?
"Ameliorate" traces back to "melior," the Latin adjective meaning "better," and is a synonym of the verbs "better" and "improve." When is it better to use "ameliorate"? If a situation is bad, "ameliorate" indicates that the conditions have been made more tolerable. Thus, one might refer to drugs that ameliorate the side effects of chemotherapy; a loss of wages ameliorated by unemployment benefits; or a harsh law ameliorated by special exceptions. "Improve" and "better" apply when what is being made better can be good or bad (as in "the weather improved" and "she bettered her lot in life"), and they should certainly be chosen over "ameliorate" when something good is getting better still ("he improved his successful program"; "she bettered her impressive scores").

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P.O. Box 281
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jocose: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-02T20:07:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for June 2 is:

jocose \joh-KOHSS\ adjective
*1 : given to joking : merry
2 : characterized by joking : humorous

Example sentence:
In the office, Ellie's lively, jocose personality keeps everyone smiling and upbeat.

Did you know?
When you need a word to describe something (or someone) that causes or is intended to cause laughter, you might pick "jocose" or a synonym such as "humorous," "witty,"
"facetious," or "jocular." Of those terms, "humorous" is the most generic and can be applied to anything that provokes laughter. "Witty" suggests cleverness and a quick mind, while "facetious" is a word for something that is not meant to be taken seriously. "Jocose" and "jocular" both imply a habitual waggishness and a fondness for joking.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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P.O. Box 281
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demulcent: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-06-01T20:13:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for June 1 is:

demulcent \dih-MULL-sunt\ adjective
: soothing

Example sentence:
The lozenges had a demulcent effect, and my sore throat was soon feeling much better.

Did you know?
"Demulcent" derives from the Latin verb "demulcere," meaning "to soothe." "Demulcere" in turn comes from a combination of the prefix "de-" and "mulcere," an earlier verb that also means "to soothe." As an adjective, "demulcent" often applies to the soothing nature of some medicines, but you can also use it to describe such things as a soothing voice or a soothing demeanor. The noun "demulcent" is used for a gelatinous or oily substance that is capable of soothing inflamed or abraded mucous membranes and protecting them from further irritation.

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wetware: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-05-31T20:09:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for May 31 is:

wetware \WET-wair\ noun
: the human brain or a human being considered especially with respect to human logical and computational capabilities

Example sentence:
With the right wetware at the helm, the company should be able to turn a sizeable profit.

Did you know?
When the computer terms "software" and "hardware" sprang to life in the mid-20th century, a surge of visions and inventions using the new technology immediately followed... along with a revival of the combining form "ware." An early coinage was "wetware," which began circuiting techie circles in the 1970s as a name for the software installed by Mother Nature (a.k.a. the brain). Other "ware" names for people and their noggins have made a blip in our language -- for example, "meatware" and "liveware" -- but none have become firmly established in the general lexicon like "wetware."

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gibe: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-05-30T20:02:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for May 30 is:

gibe \JYBE\ verb
: to utter taunting words

Example sentence:
The crowd began to gibe at the basketball player who kept missing free throws.

Did you know?
Confused about "jibe" and "gibe"? The distinction actually isn't as clear-cut as some commentators would like it to be. "Jibe" is used both for the verb meaning "to be in accord, agree" ("jibe with") and for the nautical verb and noun ("jibe the mainsail," "a risky jibe in heavy seas"). "Gibe" is used for the verb "to deride or tease" and the noun "a taunting remark." But "jibe" is a recognized variant of "gibe," so it also has taunting or teasing uses. "Gibe" has been used occasionally as a variant of "jibe," but this use is very rare, and many people consider it to be an error.

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hemidemisemiquaver: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-05-29T20:27:00.001+08:00

The Word of the Day for May 29 is:

hemidemisemiquaver \hem-ih-dem-ih-SEM-ih-kway-ver\ noun
: a musical note with the time value of 1/64 of a whole note : sixty-fourth note

Example sentence:
The pianist's fingers became a blur flying over the keys as she played the difficult hemidemisemiquavers of the allegro movement.

Did you know?
Hemidemisemiquavers are the fastest musical notes that are commonly played, and performing them well can stretch human technique to its limit. The term is mainly used in Britain, where eighth notes are called "quavers," sixteenth notes are called "semiquavers," and thirty-second notes are called "demisemiquavers." In the United States, "hemidemisemiquaver" is likely to be used humorously, occurring especially as a clever substitute for "moment" or "bit," as in "the concert ended not a hemidemisemiquaver too soon."

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impertinent: M-W's Word of the Day

2007-05-28T20:05:00.001+08:00

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The Word of the Day for May 28 is:

impertinent \im-PER-tuh-nunt\ adjective
1 : not pertinent : irrelevant
2 *a : not restrained within due or proper bounds especially of propriety or good taste b : given to or characterized by insolent rudeness

Example sentence:
Clearly offended, Susan refused to answer an impertinent question about her marriage.

Did you know?
English speakers adopted both "impertinent" and "pertinent" from Anglo-French in the 14th century. Both words derive from the present participle of the Latin verb "pertinere," meaning "to pertain." Initially, "impertinent" was used for things that are simply not relevant. Over time, it came to be used of things that are not only irrelevant but rudely or inappropriately so, and later for people who are just straight-out rude.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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