A.Word.A.Day --newel

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newel

PRONUNCIATION:

(NOO-uhl, NYOO-)

MEANING:

noun:
1. A center column that supports the steps of a spiral staircase.
2. A post supporting the handrail of a staircase.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Middle English nowel, from Middle French nouel (kernel), from Late Latin nucalis (nutlike), from Latin nuc-, nux (nut).

USAGE:

"Midway through the stair project he appeared with a solid pine stair newel, stripped and sanded."
Mary Meier; A Millworker's House Remade; The Boston Globe; Feb 24, 2000.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The souls of emperors and cobblers are cast in the same mold. The same reason that makes us wrangle with a neighbor creates a war betwixt princes. -Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592)

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