A.Word.A.Day --outgrabe

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Today's Word

outgrabe

PRONUNCIATION:

(out-GRAYB)

MEANING:

verb intr.: To emit strange noises, such as bellowing, whistling, and shrieking.

ETYMOLOGY:

Coined by Lewis Carroll in the poem Jabberwocky. He described the word as connected with the old verb to grike or shrike. Earliest documented use: 1855.

NOTES:

Lewis Carroll described it as a past tense of outgribe, but now outgrabe is taken as the infinitive form. See more words coined by Lewis Carroll.

USAGE:

“When everything else failed, the police used less powerful versions of the same device to subdue juice addicts who outgrabed.”
Alan Dean Foster; Montezuma Strip; Aspect; 1995.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

A harbor, even if it is a little harbor, is a good thing, since adventurers come into it as well as go out, and the life in it grows strong, because it takes something from the world, and has something to give in return. -Sarah Orne Jewett, poet and novelist (3 Sep 1849-1909)

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