Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 11, 2013 is: nimiety • \nih-MYE-uh-tee\ • noun : excess, redundancy Examples: Nathan is possessed of a nimiety of get-rich-quick schemes, combined with a paucity of common sense. "Despite the nimiety of blue lighting and an issue over microphone levels, this was a wonderfully gentle evening of poignant country and folk poetry set to simple melodies that go round and round in your brain." - From a concert review by Jon Bennett in The Bristol Post, March 18, 2013 Did you know? There's no scarcity of English words used for too much of a good thing-words like "overkill," "plethora," "superfluity," "surfeit," "surplus," and "preponderance." In fact, you might just feel that "nimiety" itself is a bit superfluous. It's true that we've never used the word excessively, though it has been part of our language for nearly 450 years. (We borrowed it from Late Latin "nimietas," a noun taken, in turn, from the Latin adjective "nimius," meaning "excessive.") But though "nimiety" is far from overused, it does turn up occasionally and can be considered a valid addition to any writer or reader's vocabulary. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 10, 2013 is: ferrule • \FAIR-ul\ • noun 1 : a ring or cap usually of metal put around a slender shaft (as a cane or a tool handle) to strengthen it or prevent splitting 2 : a usually metal sleeve used especially for joining or binding one part to another (as pipe sections or the bristles and handle of a brush) Examples: "A band of metal called a ferrule is glued onto the end of the pencil where a recess has been cut, while at the same time a plunger presses an eraser plug into the ferrule. When the glue dries, everything is bliss." - From an article by Steve Ritter in Chemical & Engineering News, December 16, 2002 "Making a brush is as simple as knotting and gluing bristles to the handle, and holding them in place by slipping a tight metal ferrule over the bond between bristle and handle." - From a post at swatchgirl.com on May 15, 2013 Did you know? "Ferrule" is a word for a simple metal band or cap of great versatility. The ferrule is ubiquitous. It is the cap at the end of a cane or crutch, a chair or table leg; it is the point or knob at the hub of an umbrella; it fits together tubes and pipes and binds paintbrush handles to bristles and pencils to erasers. In Middle English this universal thingamajig was called a "verrel." That word commonly referred to the strengthening bands or rings of iron used to prevent the splitting or wear of the wooden shafts of implements. The name evolved from Middle French "virelle" and Old French "virol" and ultimately from Latin "viriola," meaning "small bracelet." The "f" spelling of today's "ferrule" was influenced by "ferrum," the Latin word for "iron." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 9, 2013 is: glade • \GLAYD\ • noun : an open space surrounded by woods Examples: "Whenever they got a glimpse of the sun in an open glade they seemed unaccountably to have veered eastwards." - From J.R.R. Tolkien's 1954 book The Fellowship of the Ring "On the surface-sylphs and a poet in a moonlit glade before a ruined abbey-'Sylphides' looks quaint, a study in preciosity; but the lovely construction of its dances renders its poetry fresh." - From a review by Alastair Macaulay in The New York Times, November 4, 2013 Did you know? We know that "glade" has been with us since at least the early 1500s, though the word's origins remain a bit of a mystery. "Glade," which originally was often used not just to indicate a clearing in the woods but one which was also filled with sunlight, may come from the adjective "glad." In Middle English, "glad" also meant "shining," a meaning that goes back to the word's Old English ancestor, "glæd." "Glæd" is akin to Old High German "glat" ("shining, smooth") and Old Norse "glathr" ("sunny"). It may also be a relative of Old English "geolu," the ancestor of the modern English word "yellow." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 8, 2013 is: unbeknownst • \un-bih-NOHNST\ • adjective : happening or existing without the knowledge of someone specified Examples: Unbeknownst to Caroline, we all chipped in to have a large bouquet of flowers delivered to her office for her birthday. "Although his wife was well aware of their excessive spending habits, Travis was the one who paid the bills-and he often used credit cards to cover them unbeknownst to Vonnie." - From an article by Penny Wrenn on Forbes.com, October 9, 2013 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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 7, 2013 is: albeit • \awl-BEE-it\ • conjunction : conceding the fact that : even though : although Examples: Troy has finally landed a role in a Broadway play, albeit as a minor character. "Earth is an afterthought-just one of the 'nine realms,' albeit the one with Natalie Portman." - From a movie review by Jake Coyleap in The Daily Commercial (Leesburg, Florida), November 7, 2013 Did you know? Speakers of Middle English formed "albeit" from a combination of "al" ("all, completely") with "be" and "it," creating this word which literally means "although it be." Use of "albeit" seemed to drop off a bit in the 19th century, but in the middle of the 20th century several usage commentators observed that the "archaic" word was making a comeback. The "archaic" descriptor was not entirely apt; "albeit" may have become less common for a while but it never really went out of use. It is true, however, that use of "albeit" has increased considerably since the 1930s, judging by evidence in Merriam-Webster's files. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 6, 2013 is: hibernaculum • \hye-ber-NAK-yuh-lum\ • noun : a shelter occupied during the winter by a dormant animal (as an insect or reptile) Examples: "The affliction has spread and stands to threaten major bat hibernacula to the south and west." - From an article by Curtis Runyan in Nature Conservancy, Winter 2009 "The Game Commission estimates that close to 100,000 bats hibernated in Long Run Mine as recently as two years ago, making it the largest hibernaculum in the state then." - From an article by Mary Ann Thomas in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, October 28, 2013 Did you know? If you're afraid of snakes or bats, you probably won't enjoy thinking about a hibernaculum, where hundreds, even thousands, of these creatures might be passing the wintry months. Other creatures also use hibernacula, though many of these tend to be a bit inconspicuous. The word "hibernaculum" has been used for the burrow of a woodchuck, for instance, as well as for a cozy caterpillar cocoon attached to a wintry twig, and for the spot in which a frog has buried itself in the mud. Hibernacula are all around us and have been around for a long, long time, but we have only called them such since 1770. In case you are wondering, "hibernate" didn't come into being until the second decade of the 19th century. Both words come from Latin "hibernare," meaning "to pass the winter." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 5, 2013 is: quibble • \KWIB-ul\ • verb 1 : to evade the point of an argument by caviling about words 2 a : cavil, carp b : bicker 3 : to subject to minor objections or criticisms Examples: There always seemed to be one person at the meeting who wanted to quibble over the fine points rather than focus on the larger plan. "I could quibble about some points in the job search section but the author is so generous with her advice and samples that I'd rather not pick at the little things." - From an article by Amy Lindgren in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, November 9, 2013 Did you know? "Quibble" can also be a noun meaning "an evasion of or shift from the point" or "a minor objection or criticism." Both forms of the word arrived in English in the mid-17th century. Presumably (though not certainly) "quibble" originated as a diminutive of a now obsolete word, "quib," which also meant "quibble." In fact, although language experts may quibble over this, there is a possibility that "quib" can be traced back to the plural of the Latin word "qui," meaning "who," which was often used in legal documents. If so, that makes "quibble" a very distant cousin of the English word "who." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 4, 2013 is: benefic • \buh-NEF-ik\ • adjective : producing good or helpful results or effects : beneficial Examples: Coach Reed is a strong proponent of the view that participation in sports has a benefic influence on young people. "The benefic properties of potassium hydrate have made it a commonly found element in many natural remedies." - From a press release from SBWire, July 15, 2013 Did you know? "Benefic" comes from Latin "beneficus," which in turn comes from "bene" ("well") and "facere" ("to do"). The word was originally used by astrologers to refer to celestial bodies believed to have a favorable influence, and it's still used in astrological contexts. "Benefic," "beneficent," and "beneficial" are all synonyms, but there are shades of difference. "Beneficial" usually applies to things that promote well-being (as in "beneficial treatment"), or that provide some benefit or advantage (as in "beneficial classes"). "Beneficent" means doing or effecting good (as in "a beneficent climate"), but in particular refers to the performance of acts of kindness or charity (as in "a beneficent organization")."Benefic," the rarest of the three, tends to be a bit high-flown, and it's mostly used to describe a favorable power or force. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 3, 2013 is: lacuna • \luh-KOO-nuh\ • noun 1 : a blank space or a missing part : gap; also : deficiency, inadequacy 2 : a small cavity, pit, or discontinuity in an anatomical structure Examples: The newly discovered Civil War documents will fill many lacunae in the museum's archives. "There are some peculiar lacunae in this volume, however. While Mr. Ellsworth-Jones quotes from earlier interviews (mainly via e-mail) that Banksy has dispensed over the years to others, he did not bother to submit his own e-mail questions…." - From a book review by Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times, February 8, 2013 Did you know? Exploring the etymology of "lacuna" involves taking a plunge into the pit-or maybe a leap into the "lacus" (that's the Latin word for "lake"). Latin speakers modified "lacus" into "lacuna," and used it to mean "pit," "cleft," or "pool." English speakers borrowed the term in the 17th century. It is usually pluralized as "lacunae," as in our example sentences, though "lacunas" is also an accepted variant plural. Another English word that traces its origin to "lacuna" is "lagoon," which came to us by way of Italian and French. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 2, 2013 is: inveigh • \in-VAY\ • verb : to protest or complain bitterly or vehemently : rail Examples: Several property owners wrote letters to the paper inveighing against the high property taxes that they are required to pay. "The anti-mine forces recruited personalities such as filmmaker and actor Robert Redford to inveigh against the project; companies such as Tiffany & Co. and Zale Corp. and dozens of others signed pledges to boycott the mine's products…." - From an article by James Greiff in the Anchorage Daily News, October 2, 2013 Did you know? You might complain or grumble about some wrong you see, or, for a stronger effect, you can "inveigh" against it. "Inveigh" comes from the Latin verb "invehere," which joins the prefix "in-" with the verb "vehere," meaning "to carry." "Invehere" literally means "to carry in," and when "inveigh" first appeared in English, it was also used to mean "to carry in" or "to introduce." Extended meanings of "invehere," however, are "to force one's way into," "attack," and "to assail with words," and that's where the current sense of "inveigh" comes from. A closely related word is "invective," which means "insulting or abusive language." This word, too, ultimately comes from "invehere." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 1, 2013 is: clochard • \kloh-SHAHR\ • noun : vagrant, tramp Examples: "Yesterday, the pope lunched at a soup kitchen … sitting down to table with 100 of the 2,000 clochards who regularly eat there." - From an article by Paddy Agnew in the Irish Times, December 28, 2009 "The character, played by Michel Simon, is an archetypal French clochard, a kind of Gallic version of Chaplin's Little Tramp, who, mourning his lost dog, tries to off himself by jumping in the Seine." - From an article by Stephen Heyman in The New York Times, September 15, 2013 Did you know? Why such a fancy French word for a bum? The truth of the matter is, nine times out of ten, you will find "clochard" used for not just any bum, but a French bum-even more specifically, a Parisian bum. And, sometimes, it's even a certain type of Parisian bum-a type that has been romanticized in literature and is part of the local color. Nevertheless, as français as this word (which comes from the French verb "clocher," meaning "to limp") may seem, its regular appearance in English sources since 1937 makes it an English word, too. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 30, 2013 is: lollapalooza • \lah-luh-puh-LOO-zuh\ • noun : one that is extraordinarily impressive; also : an outstanding example Examples: The device, which is due out this spring, is being touted as the lollapalooza of smart phones. "This drink, at $38 a glass in South Beach, is a real lollapalooza." - From an article by Malcolm Berko in NewsOK (Oklahoma), October 20, 2013 Did you know? Some readers may recognize "lollapalooza" as the name of an American music festival, now held annually in Chicago. Actually, the word "lollapalooza" has been around since at least the 1890s, though etymologists aren't sure where it comes from. Occasionally, it has been used as a gambling term for a made-up hand used to trick an inexperienced player-but primarily the term is used in a way very similar to "humdinger" and "doozy." It is spelled in a number of ways. "Lallapalooza," "lalapalooza," and "lollapaloosa" are among the variants, and in the past it was sometimes "lalapaloozer." Pulitzer prize-winning cartoonist Rube Goldberg may have contributed to the popularity of this term with "Lala Palooza," one of his cartoon characters from the 1930s. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 29, 2013 is: tomfoolery • \tahm-FOO-luh-ree\ • noun : playful or foolish behavior Examples: "Scott Ferber grew up one of three boys in a house with a strict mother who did not tolerate any tomfoolery." - From an article by Sarah Gantz in the Baltimore Business Journal, October 18, 2013 "People's success also signaled a shift in the overall tone of print journalism, away from the stentorian voice of Time, the literariness of The New Yorker, and the [New Journalism](/dictionary/new journalism) tomfoolery of New York and Esquire, to something looser, more image-saturated, and obviously market-friendly." - From an article by Jim Windolf in Vanity Fair, October 16, 2013 Did you know? In the Middle Ages, "Thome Fole" was a name assigned to those perceived to be of little intelligence. This eventually evolved into the spelling "tomfool," which, when capitalized, also referred to a professional clown or a buffoon in a play or pageant. The name "Tom" seems to have been chosen for its common-man quality, much like "Joe Blow" for an ordinary person or "Johnny Reb" for a soldier in the Confederate army, but "tomfoolery" need not apply strictly to actions by men. In Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables (1908), for example, Marilla Cuthbert complains of Anne: "She's gadding off somewhere with Diana, writing stories or practicing dialogues or some such tomfoolery, and never thinking once about the time or her duties." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 28, 2013 is: foison • \FOY-zun\ • noun 1 : archaic : rich harvest 2 : chiefly Scottish : physical energy or strength 3 : plural, obsolete : resources Examples: "Earth's increase, foison plenty, / Barns and garners* never empty; / Vines with clust'ring bunches growing, / Plants with goodly burden bowing.…" - From Shakespeare's 1623 play The Tempest "Thither the extremely large wains bring foison of the fields…." - From James Joyce's 1922 novel Ulysses [*"Garner" can refer to a building or a bin in which grain is stored. It is entered in Merriam-Webster's Unabridged.] Did you know? The definition of "foison" is amply supplied with labels; they appear at each of the definition's three senses, and they all suggest that it's unlikely that you'll come across "foison" in your general reading. The word did appear, however, in some reading material that was probably familiar to some of the Mayflower's pilgrims: the late 16th century sermons of Henry Smith. One of those sermons included the following: "Such a foison hath your alms, that by the blessing of God … it increases like the widow's meal…." "Foison" comes from Latin "fusion-, fusio," meaning "outpouring," which in turn comes from "fundere," meaning "to pour"-the same source as that of the words "profuse" and "refund," among others. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 27, 2013 is: divers • \DYE-verz\ • adjective : made up of an indefinite number greater than one : various Examples: "He is … descended from the issue of Dudleys who managed to escape Bloody Mary's ax as well as the divers other perils of Tudor England." - From an article by Christopher Buckley in the Architectural Digest, April 1989 "The tale that unfolds touches on such divers themes as a world-wide terror conspiracy, bioweapons, automated submarine drones, a Vatican spy, and even the lost kingdom of Atlantis." - From a book review by Gloria Feit in the Reviewer's Bookwatch, May 1, 2013 Did you know? Did you think we had misspelled "diverse"? We didn't! "Divers" is a word in its own right, albeit a fairly formal and uncommon one. Both words come from Latin "diversus," meaning "turning in opposite directions," and until around 1700 they were pretty much interchangeable-both meant "various" and could be pronounced as either DYE-verz (like the plural of the noun "diver") or dye-VERSS. Both words still carry the "various" meaning, but these days "divers" (now DYE-verz) is more likely to emphasize multiplicity (as in "on divers occasions"), whereas "diverse" (now dye-VERSS) usually emphasizes uniqueness. "Diverse" typically means either "dissimilar" (as in "a variety of activities to appeal to the children's diverse interests") or "having distinct or unlike elements or qualities" ("a diverse student body"). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 26, 2013 is: insuperable • \in-SOO-puh-ruh-bul\ • adjective : incapable of being surmounted, overcome, passed over, or solved Examples: Though it had appeared that the visiting team had an insuperable lead, the home team rallied to win in the end. "The project faced a perpetual lack of funding, constant bureaucratic delays, and, by the '30s, the near-insuperable hurdles of reconciling parts of Tolstoy's work (especially his religious writings) with the state's demands." - From a post by Sal Robinson on Melville House Press's MobyLives blog, October 21, 2013 Did you know? "Insuperable" first appeared in print in the 14th century, and it still means now approximately what it did then. "Insuperable" is a close synonym of "insurmountable." In Latin, "superare" means "to go over, surmount, overcome, or excel." The Latin word "insuperabilis" was formed by combining the common prefix "in-" (meaning "not" or "un-") with "superare" plus "abilis" ("able"). Hence "insuperabilis" meant "unable to be surmounted, overcome, or passed over," or more simply, "insurmountable." The word "insuperabilis" was later anglicized as "insuperable." Related words such as "superable," "superably," and even "superableness" have also found a place in English. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 25, 2013 is: dragon's teeth • \DRAG-unz-TEETH\ • noun 1 : seeds of strife 2 : wedge-shaped concrete antitank barriers laid in multiple rows Examples: The political analyst insisted that the government's policy was misguided and would only sow dragon's teeth by increasing poverty and discontent. "Assiduously sown by the Kremlin, the dragon's teeth of demagoguery, paranoia, xenophobia, anti-Westernism, intolerance, and obscurantism are bound to yield a toxic harvest when the regime falters or loses control outright." - From an article by Leon Aron, posted October 24, 2013 at american.com Did you know? In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne's child, Pearl, "never created a friend, but seemed always to be sowing broadcast the dragon's teeth, whence sprung a harvest of armed enemies, against whom she rushed to battle." In Hawthorne and elsewhere, "dragon's teeth" alludes to a story involving Cadmus, the legendary Phoenician hero reputed to have founded Thebes and invented the alphabet. The tale holds that Cadmus killed a dragon and planted its teeth in the ground. From the teeth sprang fierce armed men who battled one another until all were dead but five. These founded the noblest families of Thebes and helped build its citadel. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 24, 2013 is: exact • \ig-ZAKT\ • verb 1 : to call for forcibly or urgently and obtain 2 : to call for as necessary or desirable Examples: Although Jenny eventually succeeded, working full-time while taking a full college course load exacted a high toll from her. "Bullied in five straight meetings, by an average of 13.2 points, the Jets on Sunday exacted a measure of revenge that extended beyond the outcome. Aside from outplaying the Patriots, they outsmarted them." - From an article by Ben Shpigel in the New York Times, October 21, 2013 Did you know? "Exact" derives from a form of the Latin verb "exigere," meaning "to drive out, to demand, or to measure." (Another descendant of "exigere" is the word "exigent," which can mean "demanding" or "requiring immediate attention.") "Exigere," in turn, was formed by combining the prefix "ex-" with the verb "agere," meaning "to drive." "Agere" has been a very prolific source of words for English speakers; it is the ancestor of "agent," "react," "mitigate," and "navigate," just to name a few. Incidentally, if you are looking for a synonym of the verb "exact," you could try "demand," "call for," "claim," or "require." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 23, 2013 is: Svengali • \sven-GAH-lee\ • noun : a person who manipulates or exerts excessive control over another Examples: In her tell-all autobiography, the singer portrays her former husband/manager as an abusive and controlling Svengali. "Not long before, he'd met Harvey Dorfman, a gruff, Bronx-born sports psychologist who was destined to become the pitcher's Svengali. The famously confrontational Dorfman drilled his self-help dictums into Moyer's head." - From an article by Frank Fitzpatrick on philly.com, October 13, 2013 Did you know? In George du Maurier's 1894 novel Trilby, a young artist's model named Trilby O'Ferrall falls under the spell of Svengali, a villainous musician and hypnotist. Svengali trains Trilby's voice through hypnosis and transforms her into a singing star, subjugating her completely in the process. Svengali's maleficent powers of persuasion made such an impression on the reading public that by 1919 his name was being used generically as a term for any wickedly manipulative individual. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 22, 2013 is: forfend • \for-FEND\ • verb 1 : to ward off : prevent 2 : protect, preserve Examples: The fort functioned as a place of refuge where the settlers could forfend themselves from attack. "'Sir!' Scotty sounded genuinely indignant. 'You're not suggesting that I would let any piece of equipment aboard my ship fall into disrepair, are you?' 'Heaven forfend, Scotty,' Kirk answered, successfully keeping the smile he wore from his voice." - From William Leisner's 2013 book Star Trek: The Original Series: The Shocks of Adversity Did you know? English speakers have been using "forfend" with the meanings "to forbid" and "to prevent" since the late 14th century, and the meaning "to protect" since the late 16th century. These days, however, the "forbid" sense is considered archaic; we only use it (as in our second example) in phrases like "heaven forfend" or "God forfend." "Forfend" comes from "for-" (an old prefix meaning "so as to involve prohibition, exclusion, omission, failure, neglect, or refusal") and Middle English "fenden" (a shorter variant of "defenden," meaning "to defend"). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 21, 2013 is: trumpery • \TRUMP-uh-ree\ • noun 1 : worthless nonsense 2 : trivial or useless articles : junk Examples: Moving to a new house has given me an excuse to toss out years of accumulated knickknacks and trumpery. "But there's so much trumpery on parade, including a relentless air of self-importance, that it's even hard to simply enjoy the performances of the two stars, who give more than the film deserves." - From a review by Walter Addiego in the San Francisco Chronicle, September 6, 2013 Did you know? "Trumpery" derives from the Middle English "trumpery" and ultimately from the Middle French "tromper," meaning "to deceive." (You can see the meaning of this root reflected in the French phrase "trompe-l'oeil"-literally, "deceives the eye"-which in English refers to a style of painting with photographically realistic detail.) "Trumpery" first appeared in English in the mid-15th century with the meanings "deceit or fraud" (a sense that is now obsolete) and "worthless nonsense." Less than 100 years later, it was being applied to material objects of little or no value. The verb phrase "trump up" means "to concoct with the intent to deceive," but there is most likely no etymological connection between this phrase and "trumpery." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 20, 2013 is: cubit • \KYOO-bit\ • noun : any of various ancient units of length based on the length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger and usually equal to about 18 inches (46 centimeters) Examples: The teacher explained that the ancient Egyptians did not measure things in feet and yards as we do but rather calculated measurements using the cubit. "This kind of marketing probably goes back to Biblical times. Some unemployed shoemaker near the Sea of West Hollywood is heading out to the beach in his ratty old shoes and a surfboard (4 cubits long) when his wife, Sandy, stops him." - From an article by Tony Bender in Devils Lake Journal (North Dakota), August 1, 2013 Did you know? The cubit is an ancient unit of length that may have originated in Egypt close to 5,000 years ago. "Cubit" can refer to various units used in the ancient world, the actual length of which varied from time to time and place to place, but which was generally equivalent to the length of the human arm from elbow to fingertip-roughly about a foot and a half. (Appropriately, the word's source is a Latin word meaning "elbow.") Starting with the Wycliffe Bible in 1382, "cubit" has been used as the English translation for the measurement known in Biblical Hebrew as the "ammah" and in Koine as the "péchus." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 19, 2013 is: phosphene • \FAHSS-feen\ • noun : a luminous impression due to excitation of the retina Examples: "One way to see phosphenes is to close your eyes and rub them with your palms or fingers…." - From Andrew Neher's 1990 book Paranormal and Transcendental Experience "At the event, visitors will draw blindfolded to allow the phosphenes (patterns) to emerge and will be encouraged to draw what they see using charcoal and ochre." - From an article in ENP Newswire, April 4, 2013 Did you know? Phosphenes are the luminous floating stars, zigzags, swirls, spirals, squiggles, and other shapes that you see when closing your eyes tight and pressing them with your fingers. Basically, these phenomena occur when the cells of the retina are stimulated by rubbing or after a forceful sneeze, cough, or blow to the head. The word "phosphene" comes from the Greek words "phōs" (light) and "phainein" (to show). "Phainein" is also a contributing element in such words as "diaphanous," "emphasis," "epiphany," and "phenomenon," among others. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 18, 2013 is: homologate • \hoh-MAH-luh-gayt\ • verb : to sanction or allow; especially : to approve or confirm officially Examples: The plea bargain between the district attorney and the defense must be homologated by a judge. "As Europe and the U.S. get closer in emissions regulations, the cost to homologate (legally certify) cars for both markets will drop." - From an automobile review by Dan Neil in the Los Angeles Times, September 18, 2009 Did you know? Who needs "homologate"? We have any number of words that mean "to officially approve something": "accredit," "affirm," "approbate," "authorize," "certify," "confirm," "endorse," "ratify," "sanction," "warrant," and "validate," for example. "Homologate," which has been around more than 400 years, has mostly been kept for special occasions; Scottish Law, for example, held that "a marriage contract, though defective in the legal solemnities, is held . . . to be homologated by the subsequent marriage of the parties." The beauty of "homologate" is that, etymologically speaking, it's an easy word, consisting as it does of the familiar Greek roots "homos," meaning "alike" or "same," and "logos," meaning "word" or "speech"-in other words, "saying the same thing," thus, "agreeing." So we need not agree with the Scottish bishop who in 1715 called it a "hard word." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 17, 2013 is: accolade • \AK-uh-layd\ • noun 1 a : a ceremonial embrace b : a ceremony or salute conferring knighthood 2 a : a mark of acknowledgment : award b : an expression of praise 3 : a brace or a line used in music to join two or more staffs carrying simultaneous parts Examples: The movie's special effects have drawn accolades from both fans and critics. "The feature-length film … debuts in New Orleans after a year of critical acclaim and awards on the festival circuit, as well as accolades from The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Oxford American, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Variety and more." - From an article by Alison Fensterstock in the Times-Picayune (New Orleans), October 16, 2013 Did you know? Accolade was borrowed into English in the 17th century from French. The French noun in turn derives from the verb accoler, which means "to embrace," and ultimately from the Latin term collum, meaning "neck." (Collum is also an ancestor of the English word collar.) When it was first borrowed from French, accolade referred to a ceremonial embrace that once marked the conferring of knighthood. The term was later extended to any ceremony conferring knighthood (such as the more familiar tapping on the shoulders with the flat part of a sword's blade), and eventually extended to honors or awards in general. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 16, 2013 is: conurbation • \kah-ner-BAY-shun\ • noun : an aggregation or continuous network of urban communities Examples: The conurbation is served by a sophisticated system of trains and subways. "He also questioned whether China needs more cities when most migration has been to the 70 biggest conurbations." - From an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 18, 2013 Did you know? When Sir Patrick Geddes, a Scottish biologist turned sociologist, sat down in 1915 to write Cities in Evolution, a work on urban planning, he needed a word. How should he refer to thickly populated regions consisting of a sprawling range of cities clustered together? "Some name, then, for these city-regions, these town aggregates, is wanted…. What of 'conurbations'?" he asked rhetorically early on in his work. For his coinage, Geddes combined "urbs" (the Latin word for "city," already familiar in "urban" and "suburb") with the Latin prefix "con-" ("together") and the English noun suffix "-ation." It turned out that his word suited English speakers just fine-we've been using it ever since. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 15, 2013 is: sporadic • \spuh-RAD-ik\ • adjective : occurring occasionally, singly, or in irregular or random instances Examples: Since the region only receives sporadic rainfall, it is not conducive to growing most crops. "His wife, Harriet, however, was a sweetie, a sculptress by occupation who displayed a sporadic enthusiasm for the history of the house, like a child who picked up a toy for a while then soon became bored once something more interesting came along." - From Kate Ellis' 2013 novel The Shadow Collector Did you know? "Sporadic" describes the distribution of something across space or time that is not frequent enough to fill an area or period, often in scattered instances or isolated outbursts (as in "sporadic applause"). The word comes from Medieval Latin "sporadicus," which is itself derived from Greek "sporadēn," meaning "here and there." It is also related to the Greek verb "speirein" ("to sow"), the ancestor from which we get our word "spore" (the reproductive cell of a fungus, microorganism, or some plants), hinting at the seeming scattered nature by which such cells distribute and germinate. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 14, 2013 is: gormless • \GORM-lus\ • adjective : lacking intelligence : stupid Examples: Her new assistant quickly proved himself to be completely gormless, forgetting to do half of the tasks she assigned to him and making a mess of the others. "And how many times have I stood up, precariously, trying to keep hold of my programme, glasses and coat, and pushed back hard against my seat, to have some gormless latecomers tread on my shoes on their way past without so much as a by-your-leave?" - From a commentary by Tim Walker in the Daily Telegraph (London), September 26, 2013 Did you know? "Gormless" began life as the English dialect word "gaumless," which was altered to the modern spelling when it expanded into wider use in the late 19th century. The origins of "gaumless" are easy to understand; the word derives from a combination of the dialect noun "gaum," meaning "attention" or "understanding," and the suffix "-less." "Gaum" also functions as a verb in some dialects, where it means "to pay attention to" and "to understand." An unrelated verb "gaum" means "to behave in a stupid or awkward manner." There's also a noun "gaum," meaning "a stupid doltish person." But none of these are as commonly used nowadays as "gormless," which itself is most frequently seen in British English. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 13, 2013 is: shard • \SHAHRD\ • noun 1 a : a piece or fragment of a brittle substance; broadly : a small piece or part : scrap b : shell, scale; especially : elytron 2 : fragments of pottery vessels found on sites and in refuse deposits where pottery-making peoples have lived 3 : highly angular curved glass fragments of tuffaceous sediment Examples: Julia was so startled that she dropped the bowl, and it shattered into china shards. "The machine stubbornly held together for much of the pounding, though shards of glass could be seen flying in different directions with a few of the swipes." - From an article by Tom Precious in the Buffalo News (New York), October 13, 2013 Did you know? "Shard" dates back to Old English (where it was spelled "sceard"), and it is related to the Old English word "scieran," meaning "to cut." English speakers have adopted the modernized "shard" spelling for most uses, but archeologists prefer to spell the word "sherd" when referring to the ancient fragments of pottery they unearth. Other specialized uses of the word "shard" include a sense referring to the thick front wings in beetles that protect a hind pair of wings and another sense used for the highly angular curved glass fragments of a type of volcanic rock formation. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 12, 2013 is: undergird • \un-der-GERD\ • verb : to form the basis or foundation of : strengthen, support Examples: "High school students need to understand the paradigms and traditions that undergird social and political institutions." - From a lesson plan at CNNfyi.com, July 3, 2001 "No one argues that a robust U.S. economy is needed to undergird an effective foreign policy." - From an editorial by Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post, October 9, 2013 Did you know? The English verb "gird" means, among other things, "to encircle or bind with a flexible band." When "undergird" first entered English in the 16th century it meant "to make secure underneath," as by passing a rope or chain underneath something (such as a ship). That literal sense has long since fallen out of use, but in the 19th century "undergird" picked up the figurative "strengthen" or "support" sense that we still use. "Gird" and consequently "undergird" both derive from the Old English "geard," meaning "enclosure" or "yard." "Gird" also gives us "girder," a noun referring to a horizontal piece supporting a structure. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 11, 2013 is: rectitudinous • \rek-tuh-TOO-duh-nus\ • adjective 1 : characterized by the quality of being honest and morally correct 2 : piously self-righteous Examples: The senatorial candidate's supporters insist that he is possessed of a rectitudinous character and a spotless record. "Hallie Foote is there, of course, excellent and rectitudinous as ever, playing a recent widow suddenly reconnected with her childhood flame." - From a theater review by Jesse Oxfeld in the New York Observer, September 17, 2013 Did you know? "Rectitudinous" comes to us straight from Late Latin "rectitudin-" (English added the "-ous" ending), which itself ultimately derived from the Latin word "rectus," meaning both "straight" and "right." (There are other "rectus" descendants in English, including "rectitude," of course, and "rectilinear," "rectangle," and "rectify.") When "rectitudinous" first appeared in print in 1897, it was in the phrase "notoriously and unctuously rectitudinous." Although "rectitude" often expresses an admirable moral integrity, "rectitudinous" has always had a less flattering side. It can suggest not only moral uprightness but also a displeasing holier-than-thou attitude. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 10, 2013 is: comprise • \kum-PRYZE\ • verb 1 : to include especially within a particular scope 2 : to be made up of 3 : compose, constitute Examples: The city developers' plans include a massive recreational complex that comprises a concert hall, four restaurants, two hotels and a theater. "One section of the report … concluded that cars built 10 or more years ago now comprise almost 40 percent of the U.S. vehicle fleet." - From an article by Ken Leiser in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 5, 2013 Did you know? "Comprise" has undergone a substantial shift in usage since first appearing in English in the 15th century. For many years usage commentators insisted that the usage of "comprise" meaning "to be made up of" (as shown in our first example) was correct and "comprise" meaning "to make up," as in our second example and in phrases like "the players who comprise the team" was not. (This disputed use is often used in passive constructions such as, "The album is comprised of ten classic songs.") Until relatively recently, this less-favored sense appeared mostly in scientific writing, but current evidence shows that it is now somewhat more common in general use than the word's other meanings. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 9, 2013 is: enormity • \ih-NOR-muh-tee\ • noun 1 : very large size 2 : the quality of great impact or importance Examples: The enormity of the crimes perpetrated by the dictatorial regime has only just begun to receive the international attention it deserves. "The gee-whiz enormity of the project wasn't lost on the dignitaries and hard-hatted utility crews who attended the tunnel-boring machine's unveiling." - From an article by Katherine Shaver in The Washington Post, April 10, 2013 Did you know? Although "enormity" has been used since the late 1700s to denote large size, this usage continues to be disparaged by various language commentators who argue that "enormity" should be reserved for senses related to "great wickedness." It is "enormousness," they insist (a hefty and considerably less common word), that should be used in reference to great size, despite the fact that, like "enormity," it too originally was used to denote wickedness or divergence from accepted moral standards. For better or worse, this proscription has been widely ignored by many English speakers, including professional writers. However one chooses to use them, "enormity" and "enormous" can both be traced back to the Latin "enormis," from the prefix "e-" ("out of") and "norma" ("rule," "pattern," or "carpenter's square"). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 8, 2013 is: mitigate • \MIT-ih-gayt\ • verb 1 : to cause to become less harsh or hostile 2 : to make less severe or painful Examples: Both engineers and government officials hoped that improvements to the public transportation system would help mitigate traffic congestion in the city. "Each house has a $39,000 geothermal system and $29,000 solar system. The upfront costs are mitigated in New York by federal and state tax credits and rebates that bring combined costs down to $32,600." - From an article by Michael Hill in the Albuquerque Journal, October 6, 2013 Did you know? Would it be correct to say, "His boyish appearance mitigated against his getting an early promotion"? Most usage commentators would say "no." They feel such examples demonstrate a long-standing confusion between "mitigate" and the look-alike "militate." Those two words are not closely related etymologically ("mitigate" descends from the Latin verb "mitigare, " meaning "to soften," whereas "militate" traces to "militare," another Latin verb that means "to engage in warfare"), nor are they particularly close in meaning ("militate" means "to have weight or effect"). The confusion between the two has existed for long enough that one commentator thinks "mitigate against" should be accepted as an idiomatic alternative to "militate," but if you want to avoid criticism, you should keep "mitigate" and "militate" distinct. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 7, 2013 is: bonhomie • \bah-nuh-MEE\ • noun : good-natured easy friendliness Examples: Kayla was worried that she wouldn't get along with her new roommates, but their bonhomie quickly put her at ease. "The discussions today were tinged by a history of difficult exchanges between Netanyahu and Obama. For all the supposed bonhomie of their first encounter at the airport, they have clashed on details and symbolism." - From an article by Massimo Calabresi at time.com, September 30, 2013 Did you know? English speakers borrowed "bonhomie" from the French, where the word was created from "bonhomme," which means "good-natured man" and is itself a composite of two other French words: "bon," meaning "good," and "homme," meaning "man." That French compound traces to two Latin terms, "bonus" (meaning "good") and "homo" (meaning either "man" or "human being"). English speakers have warmly embraced "bonhomie" and its meaning, but we have also anglicized the pronunciation in a way that may make native French speakers cringe. (We hope they will be good-natured about it!) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 6, 2013 is: plenipotentiary • \plen-uh-puh-TEN-shuh-ree\ • adjective 1 : invested with full power 2 : of or relating to a person invested with full power to transact any business Examples: "The generalissimo assured his allies that Stilwell had his full confidence and was vested with plenipotentiary powers." - From Frank McLynn's 2011 book The Burma Campaign: Disaster Into Triumph, 1942-45 "His knowledge of the Japanese language led to assignments in Japan for over 17 years in government and business, including the Canadian Embassy as Minister Plenipotentiary and Head of Chancery." - From a press release from Westport Innovations Inc. via PR Newswire, February 11, 2013 Did you know? The adjective "plenipotentiary" is typically used, as in our second example, after the noun it modifies in the ranking of diplomatic hierarchy. "Plenipotentiary" gets its power from its Latin roots: "plenus," meaning "full," and "potens," "powerful." When government leaders dispatch their ambassador plenipotentiary, minister plenipotentiary, or envoy plenipotentiary, they are not just sending an agent to deal with foreign affairs but one having full power to act on the behalf of his or her country and government. The word "extraordinary" is also found in titles of government representatives-sometimes in combination with "plenipotentiary" (as in "Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary")-to denote an agent assigned to a particular (or extraordinary) diplomatic mission. Both the adjective and the noun "plenipotentiary" (meaning "a person invested with full power to transact business") appeared in the mid-17th century. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 5, 2013 is: rubric • \ROO-brik\ • noun 1 : a rule especially for the conduct of a liturgical service 2 : heading, title; also : class, category 3 : an explanatory or introductory commentary; specifically : an editorial interpolation 4 : a guide listing specific criteria for grading or scoring academic papers, projects, or tests Examples: A stricter enforcement of anti-littering laws has been enacted under the rubric of downtown beautification. "Voters … have become increasingly sophisticated and knowledgeable about issues and personalities, thanks in large measure to the myriad sources of information available through outlets lumped together under the rubric 'social media.'" - From an article by Carl Golden in Asbury Park Press (New Jersey), September 25, 2013 Did you know? Centuries ago, whenever manuscript writers inserted special instructions or explanations into a book, they put them in red ink to set them off from the black used in the main text. (They used the same practice to highlight saints' names and holy days in calendars, a practice which gave us the term "red-letter day.") Ultimately, such special headings or comments came to be called "rubrics," a term that traces back to "ruber," the Latin word for "red." While the printing sense remains in use today, "rubric" also has an extended sense referring to any class or category under which something is organized. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 4, 2013 is: lade • \LAYD\ • verb 1 a : to load or be loaded (as with cargo) b : to put or place as a load especially for shipment c : to load heavily or oppressively 2 : to take up (a liquid) with or as if with a ladle or dipper Examples: "There were no pictures on the walls but here and there boughs laden with heavy-petalled flowers spread widely against them." - From Virginia Woolf's 1913 novel The Voyage Out "We all hold on to objects that are laden with our memories." - From a book review by Frederick J. Augustyn Jr. in Library Journal Reviews, October 1, 2013 Did you know? Most of us know "lade" in its past participle form "laden," as shown in our examples. Likely also familiar is the adjective "laden," best distinguished from the verb by its placement before nouns, as in "laden ships" or "a laden heart." (The adjective is also at work in hyphenated terms like "sugar-laden.") "Lade" has been in use for more than a millennium and formerly had a nominal counterpart: the noun "lade" meaning "load" or "cargo" dates from around the same time but hasn't been in use since the early 16th century. A few short decades after it faded from active use, the noun "lading" took on the same meaning. "Lading" is still in use and appears most often in "bill of lading"-a term referring to a document that lists goods being shipped and specifies the terms of their transport. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 3, 2013 is: kipper • \KIP-er\ • noun 1 : a male salmon or sea trout during or after the spawning season 2 : a herring or salmon cured by salting and smoking Examples: While vacationing in London, Kim enjoyed a fine breakfast of kippers and eggs. "It's a simple dish: smoked kipper from New York broiled with fans of red onion; buttery, large-curd scrambled eggs; and a square of golden hash browns topped with creamy caramelized onions." - From a restaurant review by Nicholas Boer in The San Francisco Chronicle, February 14, 2013 Did you know? Did you know? An American visiting Scotland once reported to The New York Times that "a kipper is prepared by taking a herring fresh (no more than 24 hours out of the water), plump, oily (15 percent or more fat content is best), soaking it in a saltwater brine and smoking it slowly over a fire composed of oak chips." This process of creating a kipper (called "kippering") goes back to at least the 18th century, but the word "kipper" dates all the way back to before the 12th century, when it was spelled "cypera" and was used specifically to mean "a spawning salmon." "Cypera" is related to the Old English word for copper ("coper") and may have been suggested by the salmon's color. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 2, 2013 is: eristic • \ih-RISS-tik\ • adjective : characterized by disputatious and often subtle and specious reasoning Examples: "Dialectical argument is a cooperative, two-sided truth-seeking art that requires a constructive and balanced attitude, whereas eristic dialogue is one-sided, quarrelsome, and antagonistic." - From Douglas Walton's 1999 book One-Sided Arguments "Does free speech tend to move toward the truth or away from it? When does it evolve into a better collective understanding? When does it collapse into … the pointless and eristic game of talking the other guy into crying 'uncle'?" - From an article by Mattathias Schwartz in the New York Times Magazine, August 3, 2008 Did you know? "Eristic" means "argumentative" as well as logically invalid. Someone prone to eristic arguments probably causes a fair amount of strife amongst his or her conversational partners. It's no surprise, then, that the word traces its ancestry back to the Greek word for "strife." "Eristic" and the variant "eristical" come from the Greek word "eristikos," meaning "fond of wrangling," from "erizein," "to wrangle," and ultimately from "eris," which means "strife." The adjective appeared in print in English in 1637. It was followed approximately 20 years later by the noun "eristic," which refers to either a person who is skilled at debates based on formal logic or to the art or practice of argument. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 1, 2013 is: vaporware • \noun\ • noun : a computer-related product that has been widely advertised but has not and may never become available Examples: Experts in the computer industry suspected that the vaporware being pushed by the software company was still full of bugs and would never hit the market. "Kickstarter makes no guarantees on the promises of creators, but is currently implementing policies meant to prevent vaporware and the negative press it kicks up." - From an article by J. Christian Walsh in the Louisville Eccentric Observer, October 24, 2012 Did you know? The practice of marketing products before they are available for sale is common to many industries, but especially the computer industry, where technological advancement is rapid and competition cutthroat. Unforeseen glitches occasionally result in the marketing of products that ultimately never see the light of day. Since the 1980s, such phantom computer products have been referred to by the word "vaporware," which is modeled after familiar computer terms such as "software" and "hardware." The word plays on the humorous notion of "vapors" being equated with rumors surrounding the development of a product that appears to be on its way but that never actually materializes. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 31, 2013 is: Demogorgon • \Dee-muh-GOR-gun\ • noun : a mysterious spirit or deity often explained as a primeval creator god who antedates the gods of Greek mythology Examples: "'Lotterman thinks I'm a Demogorgon,' he would say. 'You know what that is? Look it up-no wonder he doesn't like me.'" - From Hunter S. Thompson's novel The Rum Diary (begun 1959; published 1998) "Whenever Dylan or Donovan (oh God, still the memory-Donovan) held the car radio hostage or the dreaded triple-headed Demogorgon Peter, Paul and Mary blistered the eardrums and sank my soul-I remember my piercing outcry: 'It's archaic and horrible and I want it to stop.'" - From an article by Rex Murphy in The Globe and Mail (Canada), July 4, 2009 Did you know? Genealogia deorum gentilium is a laudable 14th-century genealogy of ancient mythological deities complied by Giovanni Boccaccio. In it Boccaccio writes about Demogorgon, a primordial heathen god shrouded in mystery. Thereafter, Demogorgon began to be conjured in Renaissance writings to invoke terror and dread. In Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, he is "Downe in the bottome of the deepe Abysse … Farre from the view of the Gods and heauens blis." In Paradise Lost, John Milton speaks of "the dreaded name Of Demogorgon." And Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus calls on Demogorgon in a summons for Mephistopheles. After the Renaissance, Demogorgon began to make fewer appearances in the English language, but he has by no means been forgotten. These days his name is sometimes used in a more generic way of something that is bizarre or monstrous. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 30, 2013 is: sere • \SEER\ • adjective : being dried and withered Examples: The sere winter garden gave no hint of the profusion of flowers that would bloom in the spring. "Where some people might see only a sere landscape and crumbling stacks of bricks, he sees a civilization that became increasingly hierarchical and income-stratified, held together by ritual that came unglued when a series of droughts left too many people with not enough food." - From an article by Jackie Jadrnak in the Albuquerque Journal News, September 15, 2013 Did you know? "Sere" has not wandered very far from its origins-it derives from the Old English word "sēar" (meaning "dry"), which traces back to the same ancient root that gave Old High German, Greek, and Lithuanian words for drying out and withering. The adjective "sere" once had the additional meaning of "threadbare," but that use is now archaic. The noun "sere" also exists, though it isn't common; its meanings are "a dry period or condition " or "withered vegetation." There are also three unrelated nouns spelled "sere." They refer to a claw or talon; a series of ecological communities; and a Hebrew [vowel point](/dictionary/vowel point). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 29, 2013 is: cornucopia • \kor-nuh-KOH-pee-uh\ • noun 1 : a horn-shaped container filled with fruit and grain emblematic of abundance 2 : an inexhaustible store : abundance Examples: The Web site contained a cornucopia of useful information. "A cornucopia of culture awaits the thousands of participants expected at the inaugural Fall Cultural Arts Showcase Sunday at the King Center for the Performing Arts." - From a review by Maria Sonnenberg in Florida Today, September 20, 2013 Did you know? "Cornucopia" comes from the Latin "cornu copiae," which translates literally as "horn of plenty." A traditional staple of feasts, the cornucopia is believed to represent the horn of a goat from Greek mythology. According to legend, it was from this horn that the god Zeus was fed as an infant. Later, the horn was filled with flowers and fruits, and given as a present to Zeus. The filled horn (or a receptacle resembling it) has long served as a traditional symbol in art and decoration to suggest a store of abundance. The word first appeared in English in the early 16th century; a century later, it developed the figurative sense of an overflowing supply. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 28, 2013 is: amaranthine • \am-uh-RANTH-un\ • adjective 1 a : of or relating to an amaranth b : not fading or dying : immortal 2 : being dark reddish purple Examples: "A grass path continued a slow ascent up the hill toward the column, running between two long rows of young but sturdy elms, which in this fine weather looked robust and amaranthine." - From J. P. Morrissey's 2002 novel A Weekend at Blenheim "At 37-years-old, most players accept they have reached their twilight years, yet goalkeepers can lead an almost amaranthine existence…." - From an article by Chris Tait in The Herald (Glasgow), April 2, 2012 Did you know? Long ago poets conceived of a flower that did not fade and christened it "amaranth." The appellation is rooted in the Greek words "amarantos," meaning "immortal" or "unfading," and "anthos," meaning "flower." The word "amaranthine" emerged as an adjective of the imaginary flower and subsequently of anything possessing its undying quality. "Amaranth" also names a real plant, an herb that some consider a weed and others grow for its colorful leaves and spikes of flowers. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 27, 2013 is: teetotaler • \TEE-TOH-tuh-ler\ • noun : one who practices or advocates teetotalism : one who abstains completely from alcoholic drinks Examples: The couple plans to use sparkling cider, rather than champagne, for the wedding toast because the bride's parents are teetotalers. "He travels often, but when in Milan, he can be found most Saturday nights at the nightclub Plastic dancing until dawn, although he is a strict teetotaler." - From an article by Derek Blasberg in the Wall Street Journal, September 9, 2013 Did you know? A person who abstains from alcohol might choose tea as his or her alternative beverage, but the word "teetotaler" has nothing to do with tea. More likely, the "tee" that begins the word "teetotal" is a reduplication of the letter "t" that begins "total," emphasizing that one has pledged total abstinence. In the early 1800s, ''tee-total'' and ''tee-totally'' were used to intensify ''total'' and ''totally'' much the way we now might say, ''I'm tired with a capital T.'' ''I am now … wholly, solely, and teetotally absorbed in Wayne's business,'' wrote the folklorist Parson Weems in an 1807 letter. "Teetotal" and "teetotaler" first appeared with their current meanings in 1834, eight years after the formation of the American Temperance Society. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 26, 2013 is: profligate • \PRAH-flih-gut\ • adjective 1 : wildly extravagant : very wasteful 2 : abandoned to vice and corruption : shamelessly immoral Examples: He earned quite a bit of money as a professional athlete, but squandered much of it on his profligate lifestyle. "Considering how creatively bankrupt and stylistically profligate this second installment of the franchise is, the new movie should really be called 'Insidious: Chapter 11.'" - From a movie review by Michael O’Sullivan in The Washington Post, September 13, 2013 Did you know? When a royal record keeper reported the "profligation of the knights" almost five centuries ago, he didn't mean the knights were wildly indulging in excesses; he meant they were thoroughly defeated in battle. There's nothing etymologically extreme there; the Latin verb "profligare," which is the root of both "profligate" and the much rarer "profligation" (meaning "ruin"), means "to strike down," "to destroy," or "to overwhelm." When the adjective "profligate" first appeared in print in English in the 1500s, it meant "overthrown" or "overwhelmed," but over time the word's meaning shifted to "immoral" or "wildly extravagant." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 25, 2013 is: prestidigitation • \press-tuh-dij-uh-TAY-shun\ • noun : sleight of hand, legerdemain Examples: Her career as a magician began with feats of prestidigitation and illusion performed for her high school's annual talent shows. "Mark Ruffalo plays a scruffy New York detective charged with bringing down the foursome, which has been recruited by some mysterious uber-magician to bamboozle the world with a series of high-profile crimes that appear to be acts of prestidigitation." - From a movie review by D. J. Palladino in the Santa Barbara Independent, June 5, 2013 Did you know? The secret to performing magic tricks is all in the hands-or at least, that's what is suggested by the etymologies of "prestidigitation" and its two synonyms "legerdemain" and "sleight of hand." The French word "preste" (from Italian "presto") means "quick" or "nimble," and the Latin word "digitus" means "finger." Put them together and-presto!-you've got "prestidigitation." Similarly, "legerdemain" was conjured up from the Middle French phrase "leger de main," which translates to "light of hand." The third term, "sleight of hand," involves the least etymological hocus-pocus; it simply joins "hand" with "sleight," meaning "dexterity." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 24, 2013 is: scintilla • \sin-TIL-uh\ • noun : a very small amount : spark, trace Examples: "Nobody but the cast and crew has even a scintilla of an idea of how things will actually end, but that hasn't stopped people from speculating, including us." - From an article by Tom Mendelsohn in The Independent (London), September 26, 2013 "Hunters say the wolves are depleting the native elk populations; ranchers fret their livestock is at risk. Both claims have a scintilla of truth in them, but are mostly overblown." - From an article by Mike Di Paola in Salon, September 3, 2013 Did you know? "Scintilla" comes directly from Latin, where it carries the meaning of "spark"-that is, a bright flash such as you might see from a burning ember. In English, however, our use of "scintilla" is restricted to the figurative sense of "spark"-a hint or trace of something that barely suggests its presence. Latin "scintilla" is related to the verb "scintillare," which means "to sparkle" and is responsible for our verb "scintillate" ("to sparkle or gleam," literally or figuratively). In an odd twist, "scintilla" underwent a transposition of the "c" and the "t" (a linguistic phenomenon known as metathesis) to create the Vulgar Latin form "stincilla," which is believed to be an ancestor of our word "stencil." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 23, 2013 is: skylark • \SKY-lahrk\ • verb 1 : to run up and down the rigging of a ship in sport 2 : frolic, sport Examples: "Tina could only sit with Sarah and Lynn and watch wistfully from a distance as the boys talked, joked and skylarked." - From Christopher Cummings' 2012 novel Cockatoo "There, again, just a short ways down the trail, is the dark-haired woman, camera to eye photographing the blonde boy skylarking with a stick." - From a blog post by Richard Bangs at The Huffington Post, August 8, 2013 Did you know? As far as we know, people were skylarking at sea before they were larking on land. "Skylarking" was originally a term used by seamen for their scampering about on the rigging of ships. The first known use of the word in print is from 1809, though the term was probably part of the sailor's vernacular before that. "Lark," meaning "to engage in harmless fun or mischief," isn't attested in writing until 1813. Whether or not the meanings of these words came about from the song and/or behavior of birds is uncertain. One theory of the verb "lark" is that it began as a misinterpretation of the verb "lake," which in British dialect means "to play or frolic." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.