welter

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 19, 2010 is: welter • \WEL-ter\  • verb 1 : writhe, toss; also : wallow 2 : to become deeply sunk, soaked, or involved 3 : to be in turmoil Examples: Seasick passengers took to their cabins as the ship weltered upon the waves of the stormy sea. "No wonder you weltered about for years in depression, addiction, serial unemployment, fragmentation, futility." -- From Sarah Gabriel's 2009 memoir Eating Pomegranates Did you know? "Welter" can be used both as a noun (meaning "turmoil" or "chaos") and a verb. Which part of speech is older? The verb. It has been part of English since at least the 1300s, while the earliest uses of the noun date from the late 1590s. Both noun and verb have roots related to Dutch and Germanic terms meaning "to roll," and both have found a place in English literature. The verb helps demonstrate extreme despair in the early Arthurian legend Morte Arthure ("He welterys, he wristeles, he wrynges hys handes!"), and in 1837 Thomas Carlyle used the noun in The French Revolution ("I leave the whole business in a frightful welter: … not one of them understands anything of government"). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.