Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 30, 2014 is: collywobbles \KAH-lee-wah-bulz\ noun : pain in the abdomen and especially in the stomach : bellyache Examples: "It's no wonder you've got the collywobbles," said Ruth to her niece, "given the amount of Halloween candy you ate last night!" "But even the hint of closing this cherished window into Detroit's past gives loyal museumgoers the collywobbles." — Joy Hakanson Colby, The Detroit News, December 30, 2005 Did you know? We don't know who first clutched his or her tummy and called the affliction "collywobbles," but we do know the word's earliest print appearance dates from around 1823. We also know that the word probably came about through a process called "folk etymology." In that process, unusual words are transformed to make them look or sound like other, more familiar words. Collywobbles is believed to be a friendlier-sounding transformation of cholera morbus (the New Latin term for the disease cholera) that was influenced by the words colic and wobble.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 29, 2014 is: quixotic \kwik-SAH-tik\ adjective 1 : foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals 2 : capricious, unpredictable Examples: Pauline characterized her Halloween decorating plans as ambitious, but she secretly feared that "quixotic" was a more apt descriptor. "David Smith has chased for at least 15 years what seemed a quixotic challenge—finding a way to harness the energy remaining in discarded batteries which could represent at least 50 percent of their power capacity." — Richard Craver, Winston-Salem Journal (North Carolina), September 28, 2014 Did you know? If you guessed that quixotic has something to do with Don Quixote, you're absolutely right. The hero of the 17th-century Spanish novel El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (by Miguel de Cervantes) didn't change the world by tilting at windmills, but he did leave a linguistic legacy in English. The adjective quixotic is based on his name and has been used to describe unrealistic idealists since at least the early 18th century. The novel has given English other words as well. Dulcinea, the name of Quixote's beloved, has come to mean "mistress" or "sweetheart," and rosinante, which is sometimes used to refer to an old, broken-down horse, comes from the name of the hero's less-than-gallant steed, Rocinante.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 27, 2014 is: homage \AH-mij\ noun 1 : something done or given as an acknowledgement of a vassal's duty to his lord 2 a : respect b : tribute Examples: One scene in the movie was clearly the director's homage to his mentor and idol. "Click through the slideshow to preview Fili’s homage to Italian typography, including elegant signs for trattorias, … cinemas, and more." — Erica Schwiegershausen, New York Magazine, September 17, 2014 Did you know? The root of homage is homo-, the Latin root meaning "man." In medieval times, a king's male subject could officially become the king's "man" by publicly announcing allegiance to the monarch in a formal ceremony. In that ritual, known as homage, the subject knelt and placed his hands between those of his lord, symbolically surrendering himself and putting himself at the lord's disposal and under his jurisdiction. A bond was thus forged between the two; the vassal's part was to revere and serve his lord, and the lord's role was to protect the vassal and his family. Over time, homage was extended from the ceremony to the acts of duty and respect done for the lord, and eventually to any respectful act or tribute.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 26, 2014 is: maunder \MAWN-der\ verb 1 : chiefly British : grumble 2 : to wander slowly and idly 3 : to speak indistinctly or disconnectedly Examples: Chelsea left a nearly incoherent message on my voicemail, maundering on for several minutes without ever getting around to her reason for calling. "Some of Tyler's students lag behind to chat, maundering along at their own pace." — Cody Winchester, Argus Leader (Sioux Falls, South Dakota), May 14, 2011 Did you know? Maunder looks a lot like meander, and that's not all the two words have in common—both mean "to wander aimlessly," either physically or in speech. Some critics have suggested that while meander can describe a person's verbal and physical rambling, in addition to the wanderings of things like paths and streams, maunder should be limited to wandering words. The problem with that reasoning is that maunder has been used of the physical movements of people since at least 1775, whereas meander didn't acquire that use until around 1831. These days, meander tends to be the more common choice, although maunder does continue to turn up in both applications.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 25, 2014 is: vendetta \ven-DET-uh\ noun 1 : a feud between different families 2 : an often prolonged series of retaliatory, vengeful, or hostile acts or exchange of such acts Examples: The vendetta between the two more powerful families on the island reached new heights when the prominent son of one family and two of his associates suddenly went missing. "Lawyers for the indicted … sheriff are accusing the federal prosecutor of misconduct, saying he has a vendetta against their client and threatened him with arrest during a heated May meeting over U.S. Forest Service patrols in northern New Mexico." — Russell Contreras, Albuquerque Journal, August 20, 2014 Did you know? Vendetta has been getting even in English since the mid-19th century. English speakers borrowed vendetta, spelling and all, from Italian, in which it means "revenge." It ultimately traces to the Latin verb vindicare, which means "to lay claim to" or "to avenge." That Latin word is also in the family tree of many other English terms related to getting even, including avenge, revenge, vengeance, vindicate, and vindictive.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 24, 2014 is: lyric \LEER-ik\ adjective 1 : suitable for singing : melodic 2 : expressing direct usually intense personal emotion Examples: The critics are praising Jessica's debut novel as a lyric masterpiece that bravely lays out the emotional tensions experienced by its young protagonist. "Virtually all of Big Jim’s lyric digressions were on writers. When Big Jim talked about Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman or whomever, he spoke and we listened and learned." — Frank Clancy, Savannah Morning News, September 23, 2014 Did you know? To the ancient Greeks, anything lyrikos was appropriate to the lyre. That elegant stringed instrument was highly regarded by the Greeks and was used to accompany intensely personal poetry that revealed the thoughts and feelings of the poet. When the adjective lyric, a descendant of lyrikos, was adopted into English in the 1500s, it too referred to things pertaining or adapted to the lyre. Initially, it was applied to poetic forms (such as elegies, odes, or sonnets) that expressed strong emotion, to poets who wrote such works, or to things that were meant to be sung; over time, it was extended to anything musical or rhapsodic. Nowadays, lyric is also used as a noun naming either a type of poem or the words of a song.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 23, 2014 is: interlocutor \in-ter-LAH-kyuh-ter\ noun : one who takes part in dialogue or conversation Examples: Steve's aggressive insistence on the correctness of his own opinions frequently made his interlocutors uncomfortable. "I don't wonder that one of his interlocutors stared when he seriously suggested to them that MPs were paid too much, and would do their job much better if they were on the minimum wage." — Philip Hensher, The Independent (London), September 14, 2014 Did you know? Interlocutor derives from the Latin interloqui, meaning "to speak between" or "to issue an interlocutory decree." (An interlocutory decree is a court judgment that comes in the middle of a case and is not decisive.) Interloqui, in turn, ultimately comes from the words inter-, "between," and loqui, "to speak." Some other words that English borrowed from loqui are loquacious ("talkative"), circumlocution (essentially, "talking around a subject"), ventriloquism ("talking in such a way that one's voice seems to come from someone or something else"), eloquent ("capable of fluent or vivid speech"), and grandiloquence ("extravagant or pompous speech").

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 22, 2014 is: turophile \TOOR-uh-fyle\ noun : a connoisseur of cheese : a cheese fancier Examples: Surely the turophiles at our table can recommend some good cheeses to pair with our wine selection. "For this dish you need a special cheese from Switzerland called Raclette. It's expensive and hard to find where I live, and it smells terrible—or, to turophiles like me, divine." — Patty Kirk, Starting From Scratch: Memoirs of a Wandering Cook, 2008 Did you know? Are you stuck on Stilton or gaga for Gouda? Do you crave Camembert? If so, you just might be a turophile, the ultimate cheese lover. From an irregular formation of the Greek word for cheese, tyros, plus the English -phile, meaning "lover" (itself a descendant of the Greek -philos, meaning "loving"), turophile first named cheese aficionados as early as 1938. It was in the 1950s, however, that the term really caught the attention of the American public, when Clifton Fadiman (writer, editor, and radio host) introduced turophile to readers of his eloquent musings on the subject of cheese.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 21, 2014 is: redux \ree-DUKS\ adjective : brought back Examples: Now running in his own campaign, the son of the former mayor was advised to develop his own identity and not simply portray himself as his father redux. "Think of it as 'Combat Evolved' redux. 'Destiny' wants to meld the multiplayer and single-player experience into a coherent whole." — Gieson Cacho, San Jose Mercury News, September 16, 2014 Did you know? In Latin, redux (from the verb reducere, meaning "to lead back") can mean "brought back" or "bringing back." The Romans used redux as an epithet for the Goddess Fortuna with its "bringing back" meaning; Fortuna Redux was "one who brings another safely home." But it was the "brought back" meaning that made its way into English. Redux belongs to a small class of English adjectives that are always used postpositively—that is, they always follow the words they modify. Redux has a history of showing up in titles of English works, such as John Dryden’s Astraea Redux (a poem "on the happy restoration and return of his sacred majesty, Charles the Second"), Anthony Trollope’s Phineas Redux, and John Updike’s Rabbit Redux.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 16, 2014 is: matriculate \muh-TRIK-yuh-layt\ verb : to enroll as a member of a body and especially of a college or university Examples: A spokesperson for the college said the school is expected to matriculate approximately 1,000 students for the fall semester. "Work joined Symphony in the Valley at the tender age of nine and continued to perform with them before matriculating at Juilliard." — Beth Slater, Aspen Daily News, May 9, 2014 Did you know? Anybody who has had basic Latin knows that "alma mater," a fancy term for the school you attended, comes from a phrase that means "fostering mother." If "mater" is "mother," then "matriculate" probably has something to do with a school nurturing you just like good old mom, right? Not exactly. If you go back far enough, "matriculate" is distantly related to the Latin "mater," but its maternal associations were lost long ago. It is more closely related to Late Latin "matricula," which means "public roll or register," and it has more to do with being enrolled than being mothered.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 15, 2014 is: poutine \poo-TEEN\ noun : a dish of French fries covered with brown gravy and cheese curds - chiefly Canadian Examples: Although classic poutine is a simple marriage of French fries, gravy, and cheese curds, the dish has inspired ethnic variations with different combinations of meats and sauces. "A 2007 Canadian TV documentary named poutine the 10th greatest Canadian invention of all time. Insulin (No. 1), the artificial pacemaker (No. 6) and the electric wheelchair (No. 9) all outranked poutine, which seems appropriate considering you might need all three at some point should you consume a regular diet of poutine." — Michael Nagrant, Chicago Tribune, April 17, 2014 Did you know? Although the earliest evidence of the word "poutine" in an English publication is from 1982, historical accounts of the dish itself date to several decades earlier when someone had the brilliant idea to add rural Quebec's much-loved fresh cheese curds to (also much-loved) French fries. Whether the gravy came a few years later or was present ab ovo is disputed. Also unclear is the origin of the word by which the dish is known. Some assert that "poutine" is related to the English word "pudding," but a more popular etymology is that it's from a Quebecois slang word meaning "mess." The dish has in recent years been making inroads on American menus.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 14, 2014 is: antebellum \an-tih-BEL-um\ adjective : existing before a war; especially : existing before the Civil War Examples: A guided tour through this old Mississippi mansion, built in the early 1800s, gives you an idea of what life was like in the antebellum South. "From the windows of Laurel Hill, one of eight antebellum homes and businesses among the 11 sites on the 2014 Tour of Homes in Franklin, Tenn., women watched the brave advance of Confederate troops in November 1864…." — Kay Campbell, AL.com, May 12, 2014 Did you know? "Antebellum" means "before the war," but it wasn’t widely associated with the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865) until after that conflict was over. The word comes from the Latin phrase "ante bellum" (literally, "before the war"), and its earliest known print appearance in English dates back to the 1840s. The term's earliest known association with the Civil War is found in an 1862 diary entry: "Her face was as placid and unmoved as in antebellum days." The author of that line, Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut, recorded her observations of life during the Civil War in A Diary from Dixie, often while accompanying her husband, an officer in the Confederate army, on his missions.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 13, 2014 is: freegan \FREE-gun\ noun : an activist who scavenges for free food (as in waste receptacles at stores and restaurants) as a means of reducing consumption of resources Examples: Josh is a vocal anti-consumerist who lives as a freegan and works to develop community gardens in urban settings. "Sarah is ambitious and disciplined, and she lies to her boyfriend that she's off to Dubai on assignment when she's actually hopping U.S. freight trains, Dumpster diving and hanging with freegans in order to track down the elusive anarchist collective." — Claudia Puig, Detroit Free Press, June 14, 2013 Did you know? "Freegan" is a blend of the adjective "free" (in the sense of "not costing or charging anything") and "vegan," which developed in the mid-20th century to denote a vegetarian who not only avoids meat but other animal products, such as eggs and dairy, as well. While freegans are not necessarily vegans, the portmanteau "freegan" was likely influenced by the fact that both vegans and freegans often see their diets as an expression of anti-consumerism, concern for the impact of food production on the environment, and concern over the ethics of using animals for food.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 12, 2014 is: stoic \STOH-ik\ noun : one apparently or professedly indifferent to pleasure or pain Examples: Stoic that she is, Edra finished the marathon despite a painful pulled tendon in her knee. "Pitchers can be stoics. They usually say not getting a win because of offensive shortcomings does not bother them." — Gerry Fraley, Dallas Morning News, May 4, 2014 Did you know? Zeno of Citium, born in Cyprus in the 4th century B.C.E., traveled to Athens while a young man and studied with the important philosophers of the day, among them two influential Cynics. He eventually arrived at his own philosophy and began teaching at a public hall called the Stoa Poikile. Zeno's philosophy, Stoicism, took its name from the hall where he taught, and it preached self-control, fortitude, and justice; passion was seen as the cause of all evil. By the 14th century, English speakers had adopted the word "stoic" as a general term for anyone who could face adversity calmly and without excess emotion. By the 15th century, we'd also begun using it as an adjective meaning "not affected by or showing passion or feeling."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 11, 2014 is: crowdfunding \KROWD-fun-ding\ noun : the practice of soliciting financial contributions from a large number of people especially from the online community Examples: "Facebook and Twitter, Square and Dropbox? Old news. Our series 'The Next Big Thing You Missed' looks at the newest ideas poised to remake tech—everything from musical crowdfunding to fresh markets that work like the Apple Store." — Wired, February 2014 "In the age of digital storefronts like Etsy and crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, inventors and designers can go from an idea to high demand for their product in very little time." — Zoë Schlanger, Newsweek, May 16, 2014 Did you know? "Crowdsourcing" and "crowdfunding" are two words that have recently found their way into the crowded pool of English. "Crowdsourcing," which typically refers to the practice of soliciting services, ideas, or content from a large group of people online, was coined by Jeff Howe in a 2006 article in Wired, and "crowdfunding" was created by entrepreneur Michael Sullivan in that same year. Both words conceptualize "the crowd" as a vast online community from which something needed may be obtained. In crowdsourcing, the crowd is called upon for needed assistance or information. A well-known use of crowdsourcing is Wikipedia, whose content is the result of various contributors. Crowdfunding, on the other hand, involves a more specific request: the crowd is solicited for financial contributions to a particular venture or cause, such as a film project or cancer research.