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Dec 26, 2007
This week's theme
Words borrowed from other languages

This week's words
lahar
adobe
catamaran
moniker
kahuna

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with Anu Garg

catamaran

(kat-uh-muh-RAN) Pronunciation Sound Clip

noun:
1. A boat with two parallel hulls, joined by a frame.
2. A quarrelsome person, especially a woman.

[From Tamil kattumaram, from kattu (to tie) + maram (tree, wood). Tamil is spoken in Tamilnadu, a state in southern India and in Sri Lanka. It has about 70 million speakers.]

"'I'm convinced my catamaran, which is larger than Ellen MacArthur's, can complete the course in 70 days,' [Tony] Bullimore said."
British Yachtsman Bullimore Sets Out on World Record Attempt; dpa German Press Agency; May 1, 2007.

"No, madam, it was your turn to bully me once -- now it's mine, and I use it. No, you old catamaran, though you pretend you never read novels."
William Makepeace Thackeray; Lovel the Widower; Harper's; 1860.

See more usage examples of catamaran in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

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