Wordsmith.org: the magic of words


A.Word.A.Day

About | Media | Search | Contact  


Home

Today's Word

Subscribe

Archives



Apr 3, 2020
This week’s theme
Words coined after mountains and hills

This week’s words
Olympian
balkanize
Areopagus
Everest
Pelion

pelion
This week’s comments
AWADmail 927

Next week’s theme
Eponyms
Bookmark and Share Facebook Twitter Digg MySpace Bookmark and Share
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

Pelion

PRONUNCIATION:
(PEE-lee-uhn)

MEANING:
noun: A huge or difficult task.

ETYMOLOGY:
After Mount Pelion, a mountain in Greece. Earliest documented use: 1560.

NOTES:
In Greek mythology, the twins Otus and Ephialtes piled Mount Pelion on Mount Ossa and both on Mount Olympus in an attempt to reach heaven and attack the gods. The word is mainly used in the idiom “to pile Pelion upon Ossa” meaning to make a challenging task even more difficult by piling something on top of it.

USAGE:
“But children nowadays are subjected to new habit-forming pressures that pile Pelion on their Ossa.”
Theodore Dalrymple; I Blame the Parents; The Spectator (London, UK); Mar 21, 2015.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Never bear more than one trouble at a time. Some people bear three kinds -- all they have had, all they have now, and all they expect to have. -Edward Everett Hale, author (3 Apr 1822-1909)

We need your help

Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere

Donate

Subscriber Services
Awards | Stats | Links | Privacy Policy
Contribute | Advertise

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith