A.Word.A.Day --boojum

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Today's Word

boojum

PRONUNCIATION:

(BOO-juhm)

MEANING:

noun: An imaginary or elusive goal whose pursuit may lead to ruin.

ETYMOLOGY:

After an imaginary animal in Lewis Carroll’s poem “The Hunting of the Snark”. In the poem, the Boojum is a particularly dangerous type of Snark, whose sudden appearance causes the hunter to “softly and suddenly vanish away”. Earliest documented use: 1876.

USAGE:

“Wheeler would find a new boojum to hunt, and be hunted by.”
Harry Blank; The Breach Goes On: Deadlined Hub; 2024.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

When I can look Life in the eyes, / Grown calm and very coldly wise, / Life will have given me the truth, / And taken in exchange -- my youth. -Sara Teasdale, poet (8 Aug 1884-1933)

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