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Jan 14, 2009
This week's theme
"New" words

This week's words
pneuma
nugatory
newel
neuston
nubilous

Newel
Newel
(photo: frizztext)

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

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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