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Jun 8, 2012
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This week's words
enjoin
liege
nickel-and-dime
prodigious
cull

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

cull

PRONUNCIATION:
(kuhl)

MEANING:
verb tr.:
1. To select the best.
2. To select inferior items for removing.
3. To reduce the size of a herd.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Old French cuillir (to pick), from Latin colligere (to collect). Ultimately from the Indo-European root leg- (to collect), which is also the source of lexicon, legal, dialog, lecture, logic, legend, logarithm, intelligent, diligent, sacrilege, elect, and loyal. Earliest documented use: 1330.

USAGE:
"Susan Kelly is interested in culling the best ideas from all over the world."
Eleanor Clift; Fresh Eyes on Medical Care; Newsweek (New York); Oct 29, 2009.

"Lacklustre performances by New Zealand teams have led to calls to cull one of them."
Adrian Seconi; NZ Officials Oppose Dropping Team; Otago Daily Times (New Zealand); May 16, 2012.

See more usage examples of cull in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Our lives are like islands in the sea, or like trees in the forest. The maple and the pine may whisper to each other with their leaves ... But the trees also commingle their roots in the darkness underground, and the islands also hang together through the ocean's bottom. -William James, psychologist and philosopher (1842-1910)

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