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Apr 16, 2014

This week's theme
Words coined after Shakespearean characters

This week's words
dogberry
portia
timon
romeo
prospero

Timon of Athens
Art: Nathaniel Dance, 1767

Photo: Joseph Haughey

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

Timon

PRONUNCIATION:

(TY-muhn)

MEANING:

noun: One who hates or distrusts humankind.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Timon, the misanthropic hero of Shakespeare's play Timon of Athens. Earliest documented use: 1598.

USAGE:

"My soul was swallowed up in bitterness and hate ... I saw nothing to do but live apart like a Timon."
Upton Sinclair; Prince Hagen; Heinemann; 1903.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread. -Anatole France, novelist, essayist, Nobel laureate (1844-1924)

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