Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 23, 2013 is: eupeptic \yoo-PEP-tik\ adjective 1 : of, relating to, or having good digestion 2 : cheerful, optimistic Examples: Warren's stockbroker offered some surprising eupeptic predictions about Warren's portfolio in spite of the sluggish economy. "For Ms Roach and her fellow digestion devotees nothing is too gross…. No human organ goes unprodded in this epic quest for eupeptic enlightenment." — From a book review in The Economist, May 4, 2013 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.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 22, 2013 is: palpate \PAL-payt\ verb : to examine by touch especially medically Examples: The veterinarian carefully palpated the dog's leg before informing the owner that the animal had suffered a mild sprain. "Kayla Preisler closed her eyes and Courtlynn Pulcini touched her fingers to her classmate's lids, gently palpating the area.… As part of their training, the students recently gave each other all sorts of tests, from audiology screening to eye exams." — From an article by Marie Therese Biebel in the Wilkes Barre Times-Leader (Pennsylvania), October 31, 2013 Did you know? "Palpate" has been part of the English language since at least the mid-19th century. It was probably coined from the preexisting noun form "palpation," which itself traces back to the Latin verb "palpare," meaning "to stroke or caress." Other descendants of "palpare" in English include "palpable," "palpitate," and a synonym of today's word, the verb "palp." Even "feel" itself is a distant cousin of "palpitate," as both words can be linked to the same ancient root word that gave Latin "palpare."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 21, 2013 is: scofflaw \SKAHFF-law\ noun : a contemptuous law violator Examples: The governor's office set up a database listing the names of scofflaws who hadn't paid their traffic fines. "For the reality of professional cycling in the [Lance] Armstrong years was that just about everyone was a scofflaws, that what Armstrong did was not an attempt to beat the system but rather a willingness to play by the system's demands." — From a film review by Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times, November 8, 2013 Did you know? In 1924, a wealthy Massachusetts Prohibitionist named Delcevare King sponsored a contest in which he asked participants to coin an appropriate word to mean "a lawless drinker." King sought a word that would cast violators of Prohibition laws in a light of shame. Two respondents came up independently with the winning word: "scofflaw," formed by combining the verb "scoff" and the noun "law." Henry Dale and Kate Butler, also of Massachusetts, split King's $200 prize. Improbably, despite some early scoffing from language critics, "scofflaw" managed to pick up steam in English and expand to a meaning that went beyond its Prohibition roots, referring to one who violates any law, not just laws related to drinking.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 20, 2013 is: ragout \ra-GOO\ noun 1 : well-seasoned meat and vegetables cooked in a thick sauce 2 : mixture, mélange Examples: The movie is an ill-conceived ragout of fantasy, science fiction, and old-fashioned romance. "Chef Tin Huynh is cooking up a menu of northern and southern Italian favorites—think pappardelle topped with pork ragout and balsamic-glazed octopus." — From a restaurant review by Bao Ong in Gotham Magazine, November 19, 2013 Did you know? If you need an English word that can refer to either a combination of food items or a random assortment of things, there's no shortage of options on the menu. If you're in the mood for a stew, there's "hodgepodge" (formerly "hotchpotch"), "olla podrida," or "gallimaufry." Perhaps you'd rather start with a palate cleanser, like "macédoine" or "salmagundi." We also have "gumbo" or "jambalaya," if Southern cooking is more your thing, or "smorgasbord" if you prefer words of Swedish descent. Then there's today's word, "ragout," which comes from French "ragoûter," meaning "to revive the taste," and ultimately from Latin "gustus," meaning "taste."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 19, 2013 is: vivacious \vuh-VAY-shus\ adjective : lively in temper, conduct, or spirit : sprightly Examples: The hostess was a pretty, vivacious woman with a knack for making people feel comfortable. "Jennifer Lawrence may be everyone's hilarious, exuberant spirit animal, but it turns out the Oscar-winning actress wasn't always vivacious and outgoing. In fact, she tells French magazine Madame Figaro, she suffered from social anxiety growing up." — From an article in the Huffington Post, November 19, 2013 Did you know? It's no surprise that "vivacious" means "full of life," since it can be traced back to the Latin verb "vivere," meaning "to live." The word was created around the mid-17th century using the Latin adjective "vivax," meaning "long-lived, vigorous, or high-spirited." Other descendants of "vivere" in English include "survive," "revive," and "victual"—all of which came to life during the 15th century—and "vivid" and "convivial," both of which surfaced around the same time as "vivacious." Somewhat surprisingly, the word "live" is not related; it comes to us from the Old English word "libban."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 18, 2013 is: midriff \MID-riff\ noun 1 : a body partition of muscle and connective tissue; specifically : the partition separating the chest and abdominal cavities in mammals : diaphragm 2 : the mid-region of the human torso 3 a : a section of a woman's garment that covers the midriff b : a woman's garment that exposes the midriff Examples: Even the store's winter line of clothing includes a number of midriff-baring tops, albeit paired with oversized cardigans or flannel shirts. "I especially liked one of Barbie's one-piece swimsuits with a hippie-era flower motif on the midriff." — From an article by Doug MacCash in the Times-Picayune (New Orleans), August 15, 2013 Did you know? "Midriff" is now most commonly encountered in the mid-torso or clothing-related senses. These senses are relatively young, having appeared, respectively, in the early 19th and mid-20th centuries. For most of its history, however, "midriff" has been used to refer to the diaphragm (a large flat muscle separating the lungs from the stomach area). The diaphragm sense has been with us since the earliest known use of "midriff" in Bald's Leechbook, an Old English medical manuscript that is believed to date back to the 9th century. The "riff" in "midriff" comes from Old English "hrif" ("belly, womb"). "Hrif" is akin to Old High German "href" ("womb") and probably also to Latin "corpus" ("body").

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 17, 2013 is: pinnacle \PIN-ih-kul\ noun 1 : an upright architectural formation generally ending in a small spire 2 : a structure or formation suggesting a pinnacle; specifically : a lofty peak 3 : the highest point of development or achievement : acme Examples: Winning the national championship was the pinnacle of his career. "As the 792-foot-tall skyscraper was bathed in electric light, the news was transmitted from its pinnacle by Marconi wireless to a receiver on the Eiffel Tower." — From P.D. Smith's 2012 book City: A Guidebook for the Urban Age Did you know? "Pinnacle" is one of several words that aspire to both literal and figurative heights. Others include "summit," "peak," "climax," "apex," "acme," and "culmination." All of these can refer to the highest point of a mountain or structure, or the highest point attained or attainable over a person's lifetime, career, etc. When referring to part of a building, "pinnacle" describes a projection on top of a tower (as on a Gothic cathedral). The word derives via Anglo-French from Late Latin "pinnaculum," meaning "small wing," a diminutive of "pinna," meaning "wing or battlement." When used figuratively, "pinnacle" sometimes implies a dizzying and insecure height, such as that brought on by unexpected fame.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 16, 2013 is: glom \GLAHM\ verb 1 : take, steal 2 : seize, catch Examples: "She signed an affidavit of confession attesting she glommed more than $284,000, the company contends." — From an article by Frank Donnelly in the Staten Island Advance, September 15, 2008 "In reality, he's a crook who glommed clinic funds for everything from plane trips to theater tickets to $20,000 in takeout sushi." — From an editorial in the Daily News (New York), June 15, 2013 Did you know? It's a classic case of glomming: Americans seized on "glaum" (a term from Scots dialect that basically means "grab") and appropriated it as our own, changing it to "glom" in the process. "Glom" first meant "steal" (as in the purse-snatching, robber kind of stealing), but over time that meaning got stretched, resulting in figurative uses. Today we might say, for example, that a busy professional gloms a weekend getaway. "Glom" also appears frequently in the phrase "glom on to," which can mean "to appropriate for one's own use" ("glom on to another's idea"); "to grab hold of" ("glom on to the last cookie"); or "to latch on to" ("glom on to an opinion" or "glom on to an influential friend").

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 15, 2013 is: agrarian \uh-GRAIR-ee-un\ adjective 1 : of or relating to fields or lands or their tenure 2 a : of, relating to, or characteristic of farmers or their way of life b : organized or designed to promote agricultural interests Examples: Since buying their organic farm three years ago, Ken and Sheila have been gradually adjusting to an agrarian lifestyle. "Move Election Day to the weekend. While the first Tuesday in November worked for an agrarian, horse and buggy society, it's time to scrap it in the modern world." — From a column by R. Matthew Poteat in The Daily News Leader (Staunton, Virginia), November 9, 2013 Did you know? Today, an acre is generally considered to be a unit of land measuring 43,560 square feet (4,047 square meters). Before that standard was set, it's believed that an acre represented a rougher measurement—the amount of land that could be plowed in one day with a yoke of oxen. Both "acre" and today's word, "agrarian," derive from the Latin noun "ager" and the Greek noun "agros," meaning "field." (You can probably guess that "agriculture" is another descendant.) "Agrarian," first used in English in the 17th century, describes things pertaining to the cultivation of fields, as well as the farmers who cultivate them.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 14, 2013 is: wherewithal \WAIR-wih-thawl\ noun : means, resources; specifically : money Examples: If I had the wherewithal, I’d buy that empty lot next door and put in a garden. "It's unlikely the Cubs would have the wherewithal to make a winning bid, especially if the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers go all-in for Tanaka." — From an article by Patrick Mooney in the Comcast Sportsnet (Chicago), November 11, 2013 Did you know? "Wherewithal" has been with us in one form or another since the 16th century. It comes from "where" and "withal" (meaning "with"), and it has been used as a conjunction meaning "with or by means of which" and as a pronoun meaning "that with or by which." These days, however, it is almost always used as a noun referring to the means or resources one has at one's disposal—especially financial resources.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 13, 2013 is: divulge \dih-VULJ\ verb : to make (something, such as a confidence or a secret) known Examples: Patty would not divulge where she had hidden her Christmas presents. "Gov. Steve Beshear and Attorney General Jack Conway are warning consumers to beware of scam artists who might try to dupe them into divulging personal information on websites that mimic those where people can sign up for insurance policies."— From an Associated Press article in the Charlotte Observer, October 29, 2013 Did you know? It isn't vulgar to make known the roots of "divulge." The preceding sentence contains two hints about the origins of today's word. "Divulge" was borrowed into Middle English in the 15th century from Latin "divulgare," a word that combines the prefix "dis-," meaning "apart" or "in different directions," with "vulgare," meaning "to make known." "Vulgare," in turn, derives from the Latin noun "vulgus," meaning "mob" or "common people." As you have no doubt guessed, English "vulgar" is another word that can be traced back to "vulgus"; it came into use about a century before "divulge."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 12, 2013 is: gustatory \GUSS-tuh-tor-ee\ adjective : relating to or associated with eating or the sense of taste Examples: While a winter storm raged outside we enjoyed a series of gustatory delights prepared by our hosts. "[Holly] Hughes' latest collection includes writing on every type of gustatory obsession from the farms and people who produce our ingredients to the chefs, traditions and home cooking that create the final, delicious product." — From a book review by Bobbi Booker in the Philadelphia Tribune, October 20, 2013 Did you know? "Gustatory" is a member of a finite set of words that describe the senses with which we encounter our world, the other members being "visual," "aural," "olfactory," and "tactile." Like its peers, "gustatory" has its roots in Latin—in this case the Latin word "gustare," meaning "to taste." "Gustare" is a somewhat distant relative of several common English words, among them "choose" and "disgust," but is a direct ancestor only of "gustatory," "gustation," meaning "the act or sensation of tasting," and "degustation," meaning "the action or an instance of tasting especially in a series of small portions."

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.

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."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 09, 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."