A.Word.A.Day		About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us

Home Today's Word Yesterday's Word Archives FAQ

Discuss Email this Feedback RSS/XML Permalink A.Word.A.Day--ostiary This week's theme: professions of the past. ostiary (OS-tee-er-ee) noun A doorkeeper, especially in a church. [From Latin ostiarius (doorkeeper), from ostium (door, entrance). Ultimately from the Indo-European root os- (mouth) that is also the source of usher, oral, orifice, oscillate, and osculate (to kiss).] Today's word in Visual Thesaurus. -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "A uniformed ostiary ushered us into the reception area, a temple of understatement in exotic marbles and dark, gleaming woods." Peter Benchley; Plutocrats' Retreats; The New York Times; May 14, 2000. X-Bonus If a man should importune me to give a reason why I loved him, I find it could no otherwise be expressed, than by making answer: because it was he, because it was I. -Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592)

Subscribe: Sign up to receive A.Word.A.Day in your mailbox every day. "The most welcomed, most enduring piece of daily mass e-mail in cyberspace." -The New York Times Sponsored by: Give the Gift of Words Share the magic of words. Send a gift subscription of A.Word.A.Day. Anu on Words: Writer Magazine SF Gate SF Gate Globe & Mail Interact: Bulletin board Wordsmith Talk Moderated Chat Wordsmith Chat Readers' Voice AWADmail