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Aug 7, 2015
This week’s theme
Unusual verbs for everyday actions

This week’s words
micturate
osculate
regurgitate
masticate
exungulate

exungulate
Photo: Ermolaev Alexander (Shutterstock)

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Next week's theme
Words related to space
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

exungulate

PRONUNCIATION:
(ek-SUNG-uh-layt)

MEANING:
verb tr.: To pare nails, claws, etc.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin exungulare (to lose the hoof), from ex- (out) + ungula (claw, nail, hoof, talon, etc.). Earliest documented use: 1623.

USAGE:
“Pets mimic their owners; Fred [the dog] is very protective. A few days after me and Jordana had done the dirty for the first time, he swiped me across the ear. I would like to exungulate Fred.”
Joe Dunthorne; Submarine: A Novel; Random House; 2008.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
It's a shallow life that doesn't give a person a few scars. -Garrison Keillor, radio host and author (b. 7 Aug 1942)

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