A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Mon Apr 1 00:01:04 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--erose X-Bonus: A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What one can be, one must be. -Abraham Maslow, psychologist (1 Apr 1908-1970) Show this bold Prussian that praises slaughter: slaughter brings rout! What's special about the above sentence? Remove the first letter of each word and it still makes sense: How his old Russian hat raises laughter: laughter rings out! What sentence (or paragraph!) can you write that works in this manner? Share on our website https://wordsmith.org/words/erose.html or email us at words@wordsmith.org. Meanwhile, this week we'll share with you individual words that can lose their first letters and still be valid words in the English language. Extra credit: Some words can go on forever like this. Take the word solid, which gives olid https://wordsmith.org/words/olid.html , lid, and id https://wordsmith.org/words/id.html . Can you write a whole sentence with such words? erose (i-ROS) adjective Irregularly notched or jagged. [From Latin erosus, past participle of erodere (to gnaw off), from ex- (off) + rodere (to gnaw). Earliest documented use: 1793.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/erose A leaf of the ligularia plant https://wordsmith.org/words/images/erose_large.jpg Photo: A & J https://www.flickr.com/photos/doodlin/14235219463/ "He looked to the west, a horizon as defined as the erose scars left by the shark." Rich Jackson; Guiding Daniel; Xlibris; 2012. -------- Date: Tue Apr 2 00:01:03 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--scow X-Bonus: The fate of animals is of greater importance to me than the fear of appearing ridiculous; it is indissolubly connected with the fate of men. -Emile Zola (2 Apr 1840-1902) This week's theme: Words that turn into other words when beheaded scow (skou) noun A flat-bottomed boat with square ends. [From Dutch schouw (ferryboat). Earliest documented use: 1524.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/scow Model of scow schooner Alma https://wordsmith.org/words/images/scow_large.jpg Image: Christine Davis https://www.flickr.com/photos/21865583@N03/29362568686/ "Small waves lapped over the scow edge." Jon Keller; Of Sea and Cloud; Tyrus Books; 2014. -------- Date: Wed Apr 3 00:01:04 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--vaward X-Bonus: A kiss can be a comma, a question mark, or an exclamation point. -Mistinguett, singer (3 Apr 1875-1956) This week's theme: Words that turn into other words when beheaded vaward (VAH-ward, VOU-ord) noun The forefront; vanguard. [From vaumward/vamward, from vantward, from Old French avantward, from avant (before) + garde (guard). Earliest documented use: 1400.] "In the movement towards this road, the Athenians who formed the left wing were naturally the vaward, and it was upon them that the trying duty would devolve of first crossing the bridge in the face of Persian cavalry." J.B. Bury; A History of Greece; Macmillan; 1900. https://wordsmith.org/words/devolve.html "Falstaff: You that are old consider not the capacities of us that are young ... we that are in the vaward of our youth." William Shakespeare; Henry IV, Part 2; 1596-1599. https://wordsmith.org/words/falstaffian.html -------- Date: Thu Apr 4 00:01:04 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--thew X-Bonus: There are no persons capable of stooping so low as those who desire to rise in the world. -Marguerite Gardiner, writer (1 Sep 1789-1849) This week's theme: Words that turn into other words when beheaded thew (thyoo) noun 1. Muscle or tendon. 2. Power; strength; vitality. [From thew (muscle, strength), from Old English theaw (custom, usage). Earliest documented use: 888.] "Alabama-born pro-slavery apologist Daniel Hundley noted: '... With hearts of oak and thews of steel, crouching to no man and fearing no danger ...'." Tommy Brown; "Of All the Hardy Sons of Toil": Class and Race in Antebellum Southcentral and Southeastern Alabama; Alabama Review (Montgomery); Jul 2015. "When I was in junior high, there was a television series with thirtysomethings playing adolescents. The channels crossing one character's forehead became iconic and, in imitation, I took the habit of raising my eyebrows. Many a shameful night preceding my high school years was spent working the thews of strained visages, gesturing furrows during imagined dialogues and reactions, anything to intensify the indentures athwart my forehead." Matthew Lancit; Diary; National Post (Canada); Sep 20, 2007. -------- Date: Fri Apr 5 00:01:04 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pelf X-Bonus: Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance. -Verna Myers, author and speaker (b. 5 Apr 1960) This week's theme: Words that turn into other words when beheaded pelf (pelf) noun Money or wealth, especially when acquired in a dishonorable manner. [From Old French pelfre (booty), which also gave us the word pilfer. Earliest documented use: 1425.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/pelf https://wordsmith.org/words/images/pelf_large.png Illustration: Dylan Thurgood https://www.instagram.com/an.illustrated.word.a.day/ "It is not as if the sheikh is short of pelf. He paid $400 million-odd for the Ingham family's famed Australian racing and breeding operation." Craig Young; Sheikh's Newest Young Star May Be Headed for Bigger Things; Sydney Morning Herald (Australia); Feb 28, 2011. -------- Date: Mon Apr 8 00:01:03 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bred-in-the-bone X-Bonus: Good fiction creates empathy. A novel takes you somewhere and asks you to look through the eyes of another person, to live another life. -Barbara Kingsolver, novelist, essayist, and poet (b. 8 Apr 1955) Here's a pop quiz. Sawbones, jawbone, trombone, and bonfire -- which is the odd one out? It's trombone. Both sawbones https://wordsmith.org/words/sawbones.html and jawbone https://wordsmith.org/words/jawbone.html are clearly bony. A bonfire is, literally speaking, a fire of bones. But trombone, well, no bones there. It's from Italian tromba (trumpet) + -one (big). A trombone apparently works fine, but without bones we would all slump to the floor. No wonder, our language is filled with bones. We are encouraged to have a backbone or strength of character. To feel in one's bones is to feel intuitively. To have a bone to pick with someone is to have a reason to discuss a disagreement with someone. Well, we'll make no bones about it -- all of this week's words are connected with bones. Bone up! bred-in-the-bone (bred-in-thuh-BOHN) adjective 1. Deep-rooted. 2. Habitual; inveterate. [From the old proverb "What is bred in the bone will not come out of the flesh", implying something deep-rooted cannot be removed. Also recorded in the form "What is bred in the bone will come out in the flesh", meaning deeply ingrained traits will ultimately reveal themselves. Earliest documented use: 1470.] "Her bred-in-the-bone positivity has left its mark on her son." Ruth La Ferla; That Model in the Ad? She's Mom; The New York Times; Jan 17, 2019. -------- Date: Tue Apr 9 00:01:04 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ossify X-Bonus: Bad weather always looks worse through a window. -Tom Lehrer, singer-songwriter and mathematician (b. 9 Apr 1928) This week's theme: Words related to bones ossify (OS-uh-fy) verb tr., intr. 1. To convert or change into bone. 2. To make or become rigid in thinking, attitudes, habits, etc. [From Latin os (bone). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ost- (bone), which also gave us ossuary https://wordsmith.org/words/ossuary.html and ostracize https://wordsmith.org/words/ostracize.html . Earliest documented use: 1670.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/ossify "Mikhail Ugarov and Elena Gremina, playwrights who were husband and wife, were lamenting that Russian theater had grown ossified and distant from society's problems." Sophia Kishkovsky; Moscow Theater Rebels, Husband and Wife, Are Dead; The New York Times; Jun 8, 2018. -------- Date: Wed Apr 10 00:01:04 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bonehead X-Bonus: The art of life is to know how to enjoy a little and to endure much. -William Hazlitt, essayist (10 Apr 1778-1830) This week's theme: Words related to bones bonehead (BOHN-hed) noun: A stupid person. adjective: Stupid; thoughtless. [A bonehead is someone thick-skulled, a blockhead. The word is a combination of bone, from Old English ban (bone) + head, from Old English heafod (top of the body). Earliest documented use: 1903.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/bonehead "Mr Bush is widely seen, abroad if not at home, as a bonehead with more brawn than brain." In Search of Monsters; The Economist (London, UK); Dec 20, 2003. -------- Date: Thu Apr 11 00:01:04 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Jell-O X-Bonus: There are two ways to slide easily through life: to believe everything or to doubt everything; both ways save us from thinking. -Alfred Korzybski, engineer, mathematician, and philosopher (1879-1950) This week's theme: Words related to bones Jell-O (JEL-o) noun 1. A dessert made from gelatin, sugar, and fruit flavoring. 2. Something soft and wiggly. [Jell-O is a trademark for a gelatin-based dessert. The word gelatin (a substance formed by boiling bones, skin, ligaments, etc.) is from Latin gelare (to freeze). Ultimately from the Indo-European root gel- (cold; to freeze), which also gave us jelly, chill, glacier, cold, and congeal. Earliest documented use: 1935.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/Jell-O "Ryan Longwel said: ... it's too hard to make a kick when your legs are Jell-O." Mark Craig; On the NFL; Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota); Nov 20, 2016. -------- Date: Fri Apr 12 00:01:03 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bareboned X-Bonus: All religions united with government are more or less inimical to liberty. All, separated from government, are compatible with liberty. -Henry Clay, statesman and orator (12 Apr 1777-1852) This week's theme: Words related to bones bareboned (BAYR-bohnd) adjective Lean; spare; gaunt. [From bare-bone (a lean person), from Old English baer (bare) + ban (bone). Earliest documented use: 1600.] "It's possible that we are witnessing a transition of communication, an evolution of the English language from a complex system of grammatical structure to a more basic, bareboned approach to writing." Mike Cottrill; Proper Communications Skills a Key to Success; Waterloo Region Record (Kitchener, Canada); Apr 16, 2012. -------- Date: Mon Apr 15 00:01:04 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bibliotaph X-Bonus: The tax which will be paid for the purpose of education is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests, and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance. -Thomas Jefferson, third US president, architect, and author (1743-1826) The invention of electricity and microchips and the Internet is fine, but the biggest invention of all time would be when someone manages to pack books with just enough time to read them. Let me explain. I go to a bookstore or a library or a library book sale and the thought that comes to mind is: so many books, so little time. I'll have to be born several times (multiple editions?) to be able to read all the books I want to read. The Japanese language even has a word for something related -- tsundoku -- acquiring books without reading them. Imagine if you could bundle books with time! Any book comes prepackaged with enough time to read it. So if you buy a 100-page book, you might find that that day you don't have to cook. The refrigerator has leftovers in a corner you had overlooked or your neighbor brings in extra slices of pizza they had baked. If you buy a copy of "War and Peace", well, it snows so much that your office is closed for the rest of the week. You get the idea. We have the greatest minds of the world, we have sent a man to the moon, what's holding us back from implementing this book + time idea? Coming up with a Kindle is nice, but we can do better than that. Let me know when you have a prototype. I'll sign up to be a beta tester. Until then, well, let's just look at some words related to books and people who deal in them. bibliotaph or bibliotaphe (BIB-lee-uh-taf) noun One who hoards books. [From Greek biblio- (book) + taphos (tomb), which also gave us cenotaph https://wordsmith.org/words/cenotaph.html . Earliest documented use: 1823.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/bibliotaph_large.jpg Photo: ninocare/pixabay https://pixabay.com/photos/books-door-entrance-culture-1655783/ "A more pertinent example of the morbid bibliotaph is recorded by Blades; this was the late Sir Thomas Phillipps, of Middle Hill, who acquired *bibliographical treasures simply to bury them*. He bought books by the library, crammed his mansion with them, and *never even saw what he had bought*." Holbrook Jackson; The Anatomy of Bibliomania; University of Illinois Press; 2001. -------- Date: Tue Apr 16 00:01:03 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bouquiniste X-Bonus: Did you know that the worldwide food shortage that threatens up to five hundred million children could be alleviated at the cost of only one day, only ONE day, of modern warfare. -Peter Ustinov, actor, writer, and director (16 Apr 1921-2004) This week's theme: Words related to books bouquiniste or bouquinist (BOO-ki-neest) noun A dealer in old and used books. [From French bouquiniste, from bouquin (a colloquial word for a book, little book, or old book). Earliest documented use: 1840.] "Heywood Hill's boxes of books, with their blue-and-white address labels, still offer year-round bounty to customers all over the world, but competition from Amazon, an online bookseller, has forced the fashionable bouquiniste to reinvent itself. Under its new owner, Mitford's nephew the Duke of Devonshire, it has quietly become a leading purveyor of bespoke libraries." For the Person Who Has Everything; The Economist (London, UK); Dec 20, 2014. -------- Date: Wed Apr 17 00:01:03 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--florilegium X-Bonus: The cure for anything is salt water -- sweat, tears, or the sea. -Isak Dinesen (pen name of Karen Blixen), author (17 Apr 1885-1962) This week's theme: Words related to books florilegium (flor-uh-LEE-jee-uhm, FLOR-) noun, plural florilegia A compilation of excerpts; anthology. [From Latin florilegium, from flor (flower) + legere (to gather). Ultimately from the Indo-European root leg- (to collect), which also gave us lexicon, lesson, lecture, legible, legal, select, cull subintelligitur (something that is not stated but understood) https://wordsmith.org/words/subintelligitur.html , prolegomenon (an introduction to a text) https://wordsmith.org/words/prolegomenon.html , lignify (to turn into wood) https://wordsmith.org/words/lignify.html , and lection (a version of a text in a particular edition) https://wordsmith.org/words/lection.html . Earliest documented use: 1621.] NOTES: If you think of compiling an anthology as arranging flowers in a bouquet, you wouldn't be far off: the word comes to us from Greek anthos (flower). Florilegium is the Latin equivalent, from flor (flower). Both words have also been applied to a collection of flowers or a collection of writing about flowers. Now, you might think a bouquiniste https://wordsmith.org/words/bouquiniste.html (a dealer in old and used books) has a similar connection too, but no, this word comes to us from French bouquin (slang for book). See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/florilegium "I was intrigued to find a florilegium of Romantic poetry tucked under a pot of hide glue and was about to settle in to read when I heard a roar of outrage." Deanna Raybourn; A Curious Beginning; Berkeley; 2015. -------- Date: Thu Apr 18 00:01:03 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bibliolater X-Bonus: Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt. -Clarence Darrow, lawyer and author (18 Apr 1857-1938) This week's theme: Words related to books bibliolater (bib-lee-OL-ay-tuhr) noun 1. One with extreme devotion to books. 2. One having excessive devotion to the Bible, especially to its literal interpretation. [From Greek biblio- (book) + -latry (worship). Earliest documented use: 1847.] "Well trained in the best American scholarly library, and a true bibliolater, [Daniel Willard Fiske] was equally well equipped to establish Cornell's Library." Morris Bishop; A History of Cornell; Cornell University Press; 2014. "Regular readers know that I am no bibliolater. But the remedy I'm talking about is from the Bible." Tom Harpur; The Psalms Are Healing Tonic for an Ailing Spirit; Toronto Star (Canada); Jul 14, 1996. -------- Date: Fri Apr 19 00:01:04 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pandect X-Bonus: Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later. -Fred Brooks, computer scientist (b. 19 Apr 1931) This week's theme: Words related to books pandect (PAN-dekt) noun 1. A complete body of the laws of a country, organization, etc. 2. A comprehensive treatise on a subject. [From Latin pandectes (encyclopedia), from Greek pandektes (all-receiving), from pan- (all) + dektes (receiver), from dekhesthai (to receive). Ultimately from Indo-European root dek- (to take, accept), which also gave us dignity, discipline, doctor, decorate, docile, deign https://wordsmith.org/words/deign.html , condign https://wordsmith.org/words/condign.html , dogmatic https://wordsmith.org/words/dogmatic.html , doxy https://wordsmith.org/words/doxy.html , heterodox https://wordsmith.org/words/heterodox.html , philodox https://wordsmith.org/words/philodox.html . Earliest documented use: 1531.] NOTES: Originally, the Pandects (also known as the Digest), was a 50-volume compendium of Roman laws, compiled under the emperor Justinian during CE 530-533. http://wordsmith.org/words/images/pandect_large.jpg Image: Wikimedia "Families were told that students at the near 100-percent African-American elementary school would not be allowed to 'wear outlandish hairstyles in school,' as mandated by the improved Saint Rose manual on student pandect." Michael J. Rochon; School Bans 'Afro' Hairdos; Philadelphia Tribune (Pennsylvania); Dec 1, 2000. "The Queen Mother's death cannot have taken him by surprise, yet, [Andrew Motion] says, he resisted the urge to have his pandect on the national grief written and ready to roll the moment Peter Sissons chose his mauve tie." Adam Newey; A Turnip Writes; New Statesman (London, UK); Oct 14, 2002. -------- Date: Mon Apr 22 00:01:03 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--adonis X-Bonus: Do not commit the error, common among the young, of assuming that if you cannot save the whole of mankind, you have failed. -Jan de Hartog, playwright and novelist (22 Apr 1914-2002) Like humans, each word has a story to tell. We call it etymology. The etymology is a word's biography. You poke it a little, jiggle its spelling, sound it out, and it spills its secrets -- where it has been on its journey to reach us. An eponym is where a word's story and a human's story come together. An eponym is a word coined after a person, real or fictional. Eponyms are my go-to words. There are so many of them. I have featured weeks and weeks of them. As long as there are people, I believe we'll have words coined after them. This week let's meet five such words and the humans behind them. Adonis (uh-DAHN-is, uh-DOH-nis) noun An exceptionally handsome young man. [After Adonis, a strikingly handsome youth in Greek mythology, loved by Aphrodite and Persephone. Earliest documented use: 1571.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/Adonis https://wordsmith.org/words/images/adonis_large.jpg Art: Benjamin West (1738-1820) NOTES: Adonis has a verb coined after him as well, adonize (to make more attractive) https://wordsmith.org/words/adonize.html , though he has nothing to do with anodizing. "New to the Big Apple, the last thing Lexie Bloom needs is to fall for two guys at once. Especially when she can't have either. One is her personal trainer, an Adonis way out of her league. The other? A Brit Lit professor her svelte boss insists she woo for her -- via text message, no less. Little does she know, the two are the same man." Jolyse Barnet; Text Me, Maybe; Entangled* Publishing; 2016. *[An English lit prof. who moonlights as a personal trainer... entangled indeed. -Ed.] -------- Date: Tue Apr 23 00:01:02 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--croesus X-Bonus: Somehow, I don't think Jesus came to Earth to ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange. -Michael Moore, filmmaker and author (b. 23 Apr 1954) This week's theme: Eponyms Croesus (KREE-suhs) noun A very wealthy person. [After Croesus (595-546 BCE), last king of Lydia, known for his great wealth. Earliest documented use: 1390.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/Croesus NOTES: The story goes that Croesus showed his enormous wealth to the visiting wise man Solon https://wordsmith.org/words/solon.html and asked him who the happiest man was, fully expecting himself to be named. Solon's reply, "Consider no one happy until he is dead", disappointed him. Croesus realized the wisdom of Solon's words when Cyrus the Great of Persia defeated and captured him. Croesus showing his wealth to Solon https://wordsmith.org/words/images/croesus_large.jpg Art: Frans Francken the Younger (1581-1642) "Fiona Bruce nods her way through an exclusive interview with the third richest man in the world. Among the revelations divulged by this corduroy Croesus are, 'it's a competitive business' and, shatteringly, 'I love to read.' Far better value are Gates' spry cronies, their testimonies revealing a nerdish tyrant who, having successfully ctrl+alt+deleted generations of business rivals, is apparently now determined to 'win a Nobel peace prize'." Sarah Dempster; Television: Watch This; The Guardian (London, UK); Jun 20, 2008. -------- Date: Wed Apr 24 00:01:03 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--fortean X-Bonus: In the end, the poem is not a thing we see; it is, rather, a light by which we may see--and what we see is life. -Robert Penn Warren, novelist and poet (24 Apr 1905-1989) This week's theme: Eponyms fortean (FOHR-tee-uhn) adjective Relating to paranormal phenomena. [After Charles Hoy Fort (1874-1932), a writer and researcher of paranormal phenomena. Earliest documented use: 1920.] NOTES: Charles Hoy Fort once wrote, "I believe nothing of my own that I have ever written." That's all you need to know about the paranormal phenomena. Charles Hoy Fort: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/fortean_large.jpg Image: Wikimedia "[Participants] will learn about legendary hauntings, local fortean folklore, and recent accounts of paranormal activity in the city." Erin Heffernan; The Best Events for Halloweekend 2013; The Marquette Tribune (Milwaukee, Wisconsin); Oct 31, 2013. -------- Date: Thu Apr 25 00:01:04 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--apollo X-Bonus: The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas. -Linus Pauling, chemist, peace activist, author, educator; Nobel Prize in chemistry, Nobel Peace Prize (1901-1994) This week's theme: Eponyms Apollo (uh-PAHL-oh) noun A strikingly handsome young man. [After Apollo, the god of music, poetry, prophecy, healing, and more in Greek and Roman mythologies. He was considered the most beautiful god.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/Apollo Apollo Crowning the Arts https://wordsmith.org/words/images/apollo_large.jpg Art: Nicolas-Guy Brenet, 1771 "[Billy] is an Apollo, filled with goodness and innocence." R.M. Campbell; This 'Billy' Voyages into the Extraordinary; Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Washington); Jan 15, 2001. -------- Date: Fri Apr 26 00:01:04 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--zoilus X-Bonus: I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves. -Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher (26 Apr 1889-1951) This week's theme: Eponyms Zoilus (ZOI-luhs) noun A harsh critic. [From Zoilus (c. 400-320 BCE), a Greek critic known for his severe criticism of Homer. Earliest documented use: 1565.] "Because Frost is such a master, one feels like a Zoilus in pointing out these slight slips." Robert Faggen; The Cambridge Companion to Robert Frost; Cambridge University Press; 2001. -------- Date: Mon Apr 29 00:01:03 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--haussmannize X-Bonus: This world is divided roughly into three kinds of nations: those that spend lots of money to keep their weight down; those whose people eat to live; and those whose people don't know where their next meal is coming from. -David S. Landes, author, professor of economics and history (29 Apr 1924-2013) During a recent town hall meeting, Massachusetts senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren was asked about "getting Hillaried" in the election https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2_F1TWCvAw . A person turning into verbs happens all the time. That's how we got the word boycott https://wordsmith.org/words/boycott.html into the language. That's how we had the word lynch https://wordsmith.org/words/lynch.html added into the dictionary. (Places become verbs too https://wordsmith.org/words/birminghamize.html .) Will Warren get Hillaried? We hope not. Will the verb "to Hillary" become a part of the language? Remains to be seen. Meanwhile, this week we'll feature five people, real or fictional, who have become verbs in the English language and entered the dictionary. Haussmannize (HAUS-muh-nyz) verb tr. To redevelop or rebuild an area, especially on a massive scale. [Coined after Georges-Eugene Haussman (1809-1891) who was appointed by Napoleon III to carry out the renovation of Paris. Earliest documented use: 1865.] NOTES: Haussmann carried out a massive overhaul of Paris that involved demolishing whole neighborhoods. The new Paris had, among other things, widened, tree-lined boulevards, new parks, fountains, sewers, aqueducts, and more. His renovation of Paris inspired other cities around the world to carry out similar overhauls. Haussmann was forced out as opposition to him swelled, due to huge disruption of life (some 20,000 buildings were destroyed) and cost overruns. Baron Haussmann https://wordsmith.org/words/images/haussmannize_large.jpg Art: Henri Lehmann, 1860 "In addition to monumentalizing himself, [Juan] Balaguer also aimed to Haussmannize the traditional hearths of urban resistance. His principal target was the huge low-income upper town area of Sabana Perdida, northeast of the city center." Mike Davis; Planet of Slums; Verso; 2007. -------- Date: Tue Apr 30 00:01:03 EDT 2019 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--MacGyver X-Bonus: Spend the afternoon. You can't take it with you. -Annie Dillard, author (b. 30 Apr 1945) This week's theme: People who became verbs MacGyver (muh-GY-vuhr) verb tr. To improvise an ingenious solution using whatever is available at hand. [After Angus MacGyver, a secret agent in the television series "MacGyver", who was known for improvising ingenious solutions to the problems he faced. He carried a Swiss Army knife and duct tape. Earliest documented use: 1992. Some related terms, though not synonyms, are kludge https://wordsmith.org/words/kludge.html and jury-rig https://wordsmith.org/words/jury-rig.html .] Angus MacGyver, played by Richard Dean Anderson, painted woodcut on cherry https://wordsmith.org/words/images/macgyver_large.jpg Art: Lisa Brawn https://www.flickr.com/photos/lisabrawn/3455851351/ "Check out our suggestions of how to MacGyver a few starter snacks from leftovers you might have from Christmas Day." Myffy Rigby; Hit a New Year's Eve Bullseye at Home; Sydney Morning Herald (Australia); Dec 27, 2016. "So in the mid-2000s, scientists began to MacGyver a telescope out of previously existing infrastructure." Sarah Kaplan & Joel Achenbach; A New Horizon; The Washington Post; Apr 11, 2019.