This week’s theme
Words with scene-stealing examples

This week’s words
soporiferous
misgiving
timorous
kidology


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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(kid-AHL-uh-jee)

MEANING:

noun: The art or practice of bluffing or deceiving.

ETYMOLOGY:

From kid (to deceive or tease) + -ology (a field of study). The verb kid is probably from the notion of treating someone like a child. Earliest documented use: 1964.

USAGE:

“A boxer who wants to win the world heavyweight title has to take on not one but two opponents. He has to beat the current champion, Evander Holyfield. But he also needs to beat George Benton, the champion’s trainer. For Mr Benton, known in the fight game as ‘the Professor’, is just about the best cornerman in the business. ...
‘You’ve got to be a psychologist in this business,’ he says. When as a young heavyweight Mr Holyfield was exhausted after three or four rounds of sparring in the gym, Mr Benton coaxed him out of his exhaustion by telling him he had sparred three three-minute rounds when the rounds had, in fact, run for only two minutes. Or by saying he had fought a four-minute round when it had lasted only three minutes. The kidology worked: Mr Holyfield’s stamina is no longer in doubt.”
The Punch Director; The Economist (London, UK); Aug 22, 1992.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: