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A.Word.A.Day--dolor

Pronunciation Sound Clip

dolor (DO-luhr), also dolour, noun

Sorrow; grief.

[From Middle English dolour, from Old French, from Latin dolor (pain), from dolere (to feel pain). A related word is dol, the unit of pain.]

"Leads her to a lowly room.
Which she makes a chapel of.
Where she genuflects to love.
All the prayerbooks in her eyes
Open soft as sacrifice
Or the dolour of a dove.
Tender candles ray by ray
Warm and gratify the gray."
From the poem "The Anniad"; Book: Annie Allen, 1949.

This week's theme: Words from the Works of Gwendolyn Brooks.

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