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Oct 5, 2012
This week's theme
Words from classical mythology

This week's words
aesculapian
protean
terpsichorean
bacchanal
morphean

Morpheus and Iris
Morpheus and Iris
Art: Pierre-Narcisse Guérin (1774-1833)

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

morphean

PRONUNCIATION:
(mor-FEE-uhn)

MEANING:
adjective:
1. Sleep-inducing.
2. Of or related to sleep or drowsiness.

ETYMOLOGY:
After Morpheus, the god of dreams in Greek mythology. He was the son of Hypnos, the god of sleep. The name of the drug morphine is also derived after Morpheus. Earliest documented use: 1641.

USAGE:
"The audience at the Institute of Directors convention began to drift off under the Morphean influence of such tired words as 'stakeholder' and 'strategic'."
Khalid Aziz; Speaking Out; Management Today (Teddington, UK); Sep 2003.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. -Henry Adams, historian and teacher (1838-1918)

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