Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 26, 2013 is: pugilism \PYOO-juh-liz-um\ noun : boxing Examples: Long fascinated by the art and science of pugilism, Shane has collected biographies of noted boxers such as Muhammad Ali, Jack Dempsey, and Sonny Liston. "At 48, Cyr has found a way to make amateur pugilism pay. He's a participant and prime motivator behind an increasingly popular boxing event that pits members of the casino, nightclub, restaurant and even banking industries against each other." — From an article by John L. Smith in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 22, 2012 Did you know? The practice of fighting for sport was in place in a number of Mediterranean civilizations by 1500 B.C. (and recent evidence suggests that it may have flourished in parts of eastern Africa before that). By the 7th century B.C., boxing had become a staple of the Olympic Games in Greece. Soon afterward, the Romans picked up the sport and introduced the word "pugil" (a noun related to the Latin "pugnus," meaning "fist") to refer to a boxer. Boxing faded out with the decline of the Roman Empire, but resurged in popularity in the18th century. By the 1790s, "pugilist" and "pugilism" were firmly entrenched in the English lexicon.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 25, 2013 is: idiopathic \id-ee-uh-PATH-ik\ adjective 1 : arising spontaneously or from an obscure or unknown cause 2 : peculiar to the individual Examples: "Some dogs have idiopathic epilepsy, which means there's no real explanation for their seizures, though even a reasonably mild stressor may increase the odds of a seizure." — From an article by Steve Dale in the Orlando (Florida) Sentinel, November 13, 2012 "Juvenile idiopathic arthritis, diagnosed before age 16, causes chronic swelling of the joints along with redness, [Dr. Hilary] Haftel said." — From an article by Amanda Whitesell in the Livingston County (Michigan) Press, January 11, 2013 Did you know? "Idiopathic" joins the combining form "idio-" (from Greek "idios," meaning "one's own" or "private") with "-pathic," a form that suggests the effects of disease. The combining form "idio-" is typically found in technical terms. Examples include "idiographic," meaning "relating to or dealing with something concrete, individual, or unique"; "idiolect," meaning "the language or speech pattern of one individual at a particular period of life"; and "idiotype," meaning "the molecular structure and conformation of an antibody that confers its antigenic specificity." A more common "idio-" word is "idiosyncrasy," which most commonly refers to an unusual way in which a person behaves or thinks, or to an unusual part or feature of something.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 24, 2013 is: roseate \ROH-zee-ut\ adjective 1 : resembling a rose especially in having a pink color 2 : overly optimistic : viewed favorably Examples: Her memories of her childhood are pleasant, bordering on roseate; some of her siblings recall things a bit differently. "A delectable avocado and bacon-topped burger—smoky and juicy—has a lovely char and an oozy, roseate center…." — From a restaurant review by Joan Reminick in Newsday (New York), January 3, 2013 Did you know? "Everything's coming up roses." "He views the world through rose-tinted glasses." "She has a rosy outlook on life." In English, we tend to associate roses and rose color with optimism, and "roseate" is no exception. "Roseate" comes from the Latin adjective "roseus," and ultimately from the noun "rosa," meaning "rose." Figurative use of "roseate" began in the 19th century, and the literal sense of the term has been in the language since the 16th century. Literal uses of "roseate" are often found in descriptions of sunrises and sunsets. "Through yon peaks of cloud-like snow / The roseate sunlight quivers," wrote Shelley in Prometheus Unbound. And in an early short story, Edith Wharton wrote, "The sunset was perfect and a roseate light, transfiguring the distant spire, lingered late in the west."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 23, 2013 is: manifesto \man-uh-FESS-toh\ noun : a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer Examples: On the day of his sudden departure from the company, Rick posted an angry manifesto on the bulletin board outlining his reasons for leaving. "Mr. Eddie Lampert, the chairman of Sears Holdings and mastermind of the Kmart/Sears merger … famously published a 15-page manifesto in 2009 which covered everything from the economic meltdown to civil liberties, and contained a suggested reading list that included free-market Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek." — From an article by Mary Jane Quirk in Consumerist, January 8, 2013 Did you know? "Manifesto" is related to "manifest," which occurs in English as a noun, verb, and adjective. Of these, the adjective, which means "readily perceived by the senses" or "easily recognized," is oldest, dating to the 14th century. Both "manifest" and "manifesto" derive ultimately from the Latin noun "manus" ("hand") and "-festus," a combining form that is related to the Latin adjective "infestus," meaning "hostile." Something that is manifest is easy to perceive or recognize, and a "manifesto" is a statement in which someone makes his or her intentions or views easy for people to ascertain. Perhaps the most famous statement of this sort is the Communist Manifesto, written in 1848 by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels to outline the platform of the Communist League.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 22, 2013 is: recuse \rih-KYOOZ\ verb : to disqualify (oneself) as a judge in a particular case; broadly : to remove (oneself) from participation to avoid a conflict of interest Examples: The judge recused herself because she was the sister-in-law of the defendant. "Planning commissioners in particular have been accused of conflict of interest for being involved professionally in too many projects that come before the commission. Many commissioners recuse themselves when considering projects." — From an article by Ed Stych in the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal, January 18, 2013 Did you know? "Recuse" is derived from the Middle French word "recuser," which comes from Latin "recusare," meaning "to refuse." English speakers began using "recuse" with the meaning "to refuse or reject" in the 14th century. By the 15th century, the term had acquired the meaning "to challenge or object to (a judge)." The current legal use of "recuse" as a term specifically meaning "to disqualify (oneself) as a judge" didn't come into frequent use until the mid-20th century, however. Broader applications soon followed from this sense—you can now recuse yourself from such things as debates and decisions as well as court cases.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 21, 2013 is: ephemeral \ih-FEM-uh-rul\ adjective : lasting a very short time Examples: The young pop star's fame turned out to be ephemeral. "During the creation of the ephemeral show—the walls will be erased for a new exhibition later this month, leaving only a series of framed drawings behind—Ms. Dary visited the local library and copied pages from a 100-year-old local directory." — From an article by Tammy La Gorce in the New York Times, January 4, 2013 Did you know? The mayfly (order Ephemeroptera) typically hatches, matures, mates, and dies within the span of a few short hours (though the longest-lived species may survive a record two days); poets sometimes use this insect to symbolize life's ephemeral nature. When "ephemeral" (from the Greek word "ephēmeros," meaning "lasting a day") first appeared in print in English in the late 16th century, it was a scientific term applied to short-term fevers, and later, to organisms (such as insects and flowers) with very short life spans. Soon after that, it acquired an extended sense referring to anything fleeting and short-lived (as in "ephemeral pleasures").

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 20, 2013 is: trousseau \TROO-soh\ noun : the personal possessions of a bride usually including clothes, accessories, and household linens and wares Examples: I am fortunate to be in possession of various family heirlooms, including several items from my great-grandmother's trousseau. "Kate will promise to love, comfort, honor and keep Prince William. And as the countdown continues, the princess bride is not withering under the strain, seen around town—shopping, perhaps, for her honeymoon trousseau." — From a report by Natalie Morales in the NBC News Transcripts, April 23, 2011 Did you know? "Trousseau" is a descendant of the French verb "trousser," meaning "to truss" or "to tuck up." Fittingly, a bride might truss, or bundle, a variety of items as part of her trousseau—and it is perhaps not too surprising that "truss" is also a "trousser" descendant. "Trousser" itself is thought to have evolved from a Vulgar Latin word, "torsus," meaning "twisted." Another descendant of "trousser" is "retroussé," meaning "turned up," as in a "retroussé nose."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 19, 2013 is: white elephant \WYTE-EL-uh-funt\ noun 1 : a property requiring much care and expense and yielding little profit 2 : an object no longer of value to its owner but of value to others 3 : something of little or no value Examples: The town's white elephant is the run-down but historic theater, which has been closed for several years but still requires thousands of dollars in maintenance costs. "An artificially low interest rate … makes vast amounts of capital available to crony capitalists at cheap rates for speculative investment, which has swelled the GDP and left the Chinese landscape strewn with white elephants such as palatial municipal buildings, factories that stand still and empty hotels." — From an article by Mark Leonard in New Statesman, January 14, 2013 Did you know? The real "white elephant" (the kind with a trunk) is a pale pachyderm that has long been an object of veneration in India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Myanmar. Too revered to be a beast of burden, the white elephant earned a reputation as a burdensome beast, one that required constant care and feeding but never brought a single cent (or paisa or satang or pya) to its owner. One story has it that the kings of Siam (the old name for Thailand) gave white elephants as gifts to those they wished to ruin, hoping that the cost of maintaining the voracious but sacred mammal would drive its new owner to the poorhouse.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 18, 2013 is: portend \por-TEND\ verb 1 : to give an omen or anticipatory sign of 2 : indicate, signify Examples: In the short story, the appearance of a black cat portends danger for the protagonist. "These changes portend better possibilities for American manufacturers and American job growth…." — From an article by James Fallows in The Atlantic, November 28, 2012 Did you know? "Portend" has been used in English in the context of signs of things to come since the 15th century. The word derives from the Latin verb "portendere," which means "to predict or foretell." That verb, in turn, developed as a combination of the prefix "por-" (meaning "forward") and the verb "tendere" (meaning "to stretch"). So you can think of "portend" as having a literal meaning of "stretching forward to predict." Additional descendants of "tendere" include "extend," "tendon," and "tension," among others.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 17, 2013 is: clamant \KLAY-munt\ adjective 1 : clamorous, blatant 2 : demanding attention : urgent Examples: Clamant students gathered outside the college president's office, protesting the denial of tenure for the popular professor. "My clamant desire, clamant need, for some protected wilderness in the Yaak Valley of northwestern Montana … sometimes doesn’t jibe with some people’s conceptual images of an environmentalist." — From Rick Bass's 2008 memoir Why I Came West Did you know? "Clamant" is considerably less common than its synonym "clamorous." As the similarities in spelling might suggest, these two words are etymologically related, both coming from the Latin verb "clamare," meaning "to cry out or shout." Another relative is the noun "claimant," meaning "one that asserts a right or title." The paths from "clamare" to "clamorous" and "claimant" follow routes that lead through Anglo-French. "Clamant," however, comes directly from Latin, deriving from "clamant-, clamans," the present participle of the verb "clamare."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 16, 2013 is: espouse \ih-SPOWZ\ verb 1 : marry 2 : to take up and support as a cause : become attached to Examples: The new theory has been espoused by many leading physicists. "[The food collection drive] was scheduled on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in the spirit of giving that King espoused." — From an article by Charles A. Peterson in The Granville Sentinel (Ohio), January 15, 2013 Did you know? As you might guess, the words "espouse" and "spouse" are related, both deriving from the Latin verb "spondēre," meaning "to promise or betroth." In fact, the two were once completely interchangeable, with each serving as a noun meaning "a newly married person" or "a husband or wife" and also as a verb meaning "to marry." Their semantic separation began in the 17th century, when the noun "espouse" fell out of use. Around the same time, people started using the verb "espouse" figuratively to mean "to commit to and support a cause." "Spouse" continued to be used in both noun and verb forms until the 20th century, when its verb use declined and it came to be used mainly as a noun meaning "husband or wife."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 15, 2013 is: intemperate \in-TEM-puh-rut\ adjective 1 : not moderate or mild : severe 2 : lacking or showing lack of restraint 3 : given to excessive use of alcoholic beverages Examples: The journalist eventually apologized for her intemperate rant against the governor. "Judge Dougan was forced to defend himself not for even a hint of corruption or intemperate behavior, but merely because the district attorney disagreed with his decisions." — From a letter to the editor by John Amabile in The Boston Globe, January 13, 2013 Did you know? "Intemperate" means more or less "not well tempered"—and that definition also provides a clue about its origins. The word derives from Latin "intemperatus," formed by combining "in-" with a form of the verb "temperare," meaning "to temper" or "to mix." Both "intemperate" and its antonym "temperate" entered the English language in the 14th century. Other "temperare" words include "distemper," "temperament," "temperature," "temperance," and "temper" itself. Synonyms of "intemperate" in the sense of "not controlled" include "unbounded," "unbridled," "unrestrained," and "unchecked."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 14, 2013 is: heartstring \HAHRT-string\ noun : the deepest emotions or affections — usually used in plural Examples: "Thou touchest my inmost centre, boy; thou art tied to me by cords woven of my heart-strings." — From Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick, 1851 "This former Indy icon still tugs on the heartstrings of local baby boomers, who recall cruising into the drive-ins for a Big Chief burger, onion rings and a milkshake." — From an article by Jolene Ketzenberger in The Indianapolis Star, January 11, 2013 Did you know? Before a song or movie or heart-shaped card accompanied by a box of chocolates could tug at your heartstrings, the job was more likely to be accomplished by a surgeon: the word "heartstring" used to refer to a nerve believed to sustain the heart. (The metaphor is a bit more apparent in the Melville quote above than it is in most modern uses.) You might recognize the word's second syllable in the term "hamstring," which refers to both a group of tendons at the back of the knee and to any of three muscles at the backs of the upper legs. It's also apparent in a rare dialect term for the Achilles' tendon: "heel string." And in light of these terms, it's not surprising to know that "string" itself was at one time used independently to refer to cords like tendons and ligaments.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 13, 2013 is: companionable \kum-PAN-yuh-nuh-bul\ adjective : marked by, conducive to, or suggestive of companionship : sociable Examples: I've come to enjoy sharing a dorm room with Brad; he's a companionable roommate and we get along well together. "Most of the 100 or more mama cows and calves stand in a companionable cluster as they munch on rye grass and red clover." — From an article by John Kessler in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 23, 2012 Did you know? A "companionable" person is someone who (etymologically at least) is willing to share bread with you. "Companionable" is the adjective form of "companion," which ultimately derives from a combination of the Latin prefix "com-," meaning "with" or "together," and the noun "panis," meaning "bread, loaf, or food." "Companionable" first appeared in print in English in the 14th century ("companion" has been around for at least a century longer). Other descendants of "panis" include "pantry" (a place for storing food), "pannier" (a basket such as might carry food), and "panettone" (a kind of yeast bread). Even "food" itself is derived from the same ancient root that gave rise to "panis" in Latin.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 12, 2013 is: aegis \EE-jus\ noun 1 : a shield or breastplate 2 a : protection b : controlling or conditioning influence 3 : auspices, sponsorship b: control or guidance especially by an individual, group, or system Examples: The studies were conducted under the aegis of the National Institutes of Health. "[Julian Fellowes] is also at work on a big-screen reconceptualization of Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents's Gypsy ... under the aegis of Barbra Streisand and Joel Silver, who will produce the film." — From a review by David Kamp in Vanity Fair, December 2012 Did you know? We borrowed "aegis" from Latin, but the word ultimately derives from the Greek noun "aigis," which means "goatskin." In ancient Greek mythology, an aegis was something that offered physical protection. In some stories, it was the thundercloud where Zeus kept the thunderbolts he used as weapons. In others, the aegis was a magical protective cloak made from the skin of the goat that had suckled Zeus as an infant. The word first entered English in the 16th century as a noun meaning "shield" or "protection," and by the 20th century it had acquired the extended senses of "auspices" or "sponsorship."