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Aug 11, 2011
This week's theme
What do these car names mean?

This week's words
paseo
accord
prius
impresa
corolla

Subaru Impreza
Subaru Impreza
Photo: Rob Smith

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

impresa

PRONUNCIATION:
(im-PRAY-zuh)

MEANING:
noun: An emblem or device, usually with a motto.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Italian impresa (undertaking), past participle of imprendere (to undertake), from Latin in- + prehendere (to grasp). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ghend-/ghed- (to seize or to take), which is also the source of pry, prey, spree, reprise, surprise, pregnant, osprey, prison, and get. Earliest documented use: before 1586.

USAGE:
"A bottle of poison was brought by a girl who owns a ring bearing the impresa of Mary Stuart."
S.J. Parris; Prophecy; Doubleday; 2011.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
By a free country, I mean a country where people are allowed, so long as they do not hurt their neighbours, to do as they like. I do not mean a country where six men may make five men do exactly as they like. -Robert Cecil, British prime minister (1830-1903)

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