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Nov 19, 2019
This week’s theme
Words to describe people

This week’s words
gongoozler
hail-fellow
connoisseur
gangrel
vulgarian

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

hail-fellow

PRONUNCIATION:
(HAYL-fel-oh)

MEANING:
noun: A congenial companion.
adjective: Enthusiastically friendly.

ETYMOLOGY:
Short for the former greeting “Hail-fellow well met.” Earliest documented use: 1577.

NOTES:
If you are one of those people who shorten OK to K, or for whom it takes too long to say Hi (Is “Yo” shorter?), you should know the archaic greeting “Hail, fellow! Well met!” Here’s your challenge for today. Greet the next person you see with a “Hail, fellow! Well met!” Don’t explain unless asked. Report results to us at words@wordsmith.org.

USAGE:
“But I would give my head to be like everybody else -- to be hail-fellow with those men out at the shed, for instance.”
E.W. Hornung; The Boss of Taroomba; The Floating Press; 2014.

See more usage examples of hail-fellow in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Do not believe that it is very much of an advance to do the unnecessary three times as fast. -Peter Drucker, management consultant, professor and writer (19 Nov 1909-2005)

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