This week’s theme
Toponyms

This week’s words
Queenborough mayor
borstal
Poplarism
Shrewsbury clock
Scarborough warning


This week’s comments
AWADmail 974

Next week’s theme
Words coined after Gulliver’s Travels

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(SKAR-buh-ruh war-ning)

MEANING:

noun: A very short notice or no notice.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Scarborough, a town on the northeast coast of the UK. It’s unclear how Scarborough became associated with this idea though one conjecture is about robbers being given summary punishment. Earliest documented use: 1546.

USAGE:

“Come if you must, but winter’s here --
Old-fashioned Scarborough warning.”
Paul Routledge; Lines from Gill Top; The Daily Mirror (London, UK); Jan 31, 2006.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: