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Jun 5, 2009 This week's theme Words having many unrelated meanings This week's words purlicue trammel grig growler gaff Today's word in Visual Thesaurus This week's comments AWADmail 362 Next week's theme Eponyms Discuss Feedback RSS/XML A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg gaff PRONUNCIATION: (gaf) MEANING: noun: 1. A pole with a hook on the end, used to land large fish. 2. A metal spur for a gamecock. 3. A hoax or fraud. 4. Gimmick or trick. 5. Harsh treatment or criticism. 6. A place of entertainment, especially with a disreputable reputation. 7. A house, apartment, shop, or other building. 8. A social error; a faux pas. verb tr.: 1. (to stand or take the gaff) To receive severe criticism; to endure hardship. 2. To cheat. 3. To gamble. ETYMOLOGY: noun 1-4: From gaffe (boat hook), ultimately from the Indo-European root kap- (to grasp) that is also the root of captive, capsule, chassis, cable, occupy, and deceive. 5-7: Of unknown origin. 8: A variant of gaffe. verb 1-3: Of uncertain origin. USAGE: "I had murdered a couple of nice halibut, impaling them with the gaff and then happily beating their brains out all over the deck of a friend's boat." Richard Chiappone; The Killing Season; Anchorage Press (Alaska); May 13, 2009. "Derek Dingle, a famous closeup man, adjusted the Cigarette Through Quarter trick by palming and replacing one gaffed quarter with another." Adam Gopnik; The Real Work; New Yorker; Mar 17, 2008. "'They don't want to take the gaff when something goes wrong,' said Bud Long." A Dismal Record; The Fresno Bee (California); Aug 9, 1992. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: It is not life and wealth and power that enslave men, but the cleaving to life and wealth and power. -Buddha (c. 563-483 BCE)

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