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Mar 3, 2025
This week’s themeWords having nautical origins This week’s words bilge nauseate keel 
A sail trimmer at work (video, 1 min.)
Previous week’s theme Our own Wordle-style game 
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu GargLong before cars, buses, and airplanes, there were boats. Evidence of sea voyages dates back 50,000 years, such as the early migrations to Australia that required crossing open water. This reliance on boats makes sense when you consider that two-thirds of the the planet’s surface is water. Seafaring hasn’t just shaped human history, it’s also left a lasting wake in our language. Countless everyday phrases have nautical origins, even if we rarely notice their roots on dry land. From learning the ropes (learning to do a job) to going overboard (taking things too far), the language is buoyed by maritime influence. This week we’ll dive deep into words of nautical origins. trimmer
PRONUNCIATION:
(TRIM-uhr)
MEANING:
noun: 1. One who adjusts beliefs, opinions, and actions to suit personal interest. 2. A person or a tool that clips, shortens, neatens, etc. ETYMOLOGY:
From trim, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Old English trymman/trymian
(to arrange, strengthen, etc.). Earliest documented use: 1513.
NOTES:
In sailing, to trim the sails is to adjust them for maximum advantage
based on the wind’s direction. A sailing ship’s trimmer monitors the wind and
fine-tunes the sails accordingly -- kind of like a political weather vane,
but with actual responsibility.
It’s easy to see how the term evolved to describe someone who shifts positions
out of self-interest, keeping an ear to the wind and a foot in both camps. Interestingly, trimmer also had another nautical meaning: a worker who arranged coal or cargo to keep the ship balanced. The term gained political prominence when it was applied to George Savile, Lord Halifax. Reclaiming the label, he published The Character of a Trimmer (1688) under a pseudonym, defining a trimmer not as an opportunist but as someone who ensures stability: “One who keeps even the ship of state.” USAGE:
“Overton particularly disliked him as a political trimmer, prepared to
cut his conscience to the prevailing fashion.” Frank McLynn; The Road Not Taken; Bodley Head; 2012. “Stanley Kunitz: ‘Most of all, I love being alive. I love the natural world -- and caring and creative people -- and the seekers of justice and truth. Whom do I disdain? Bigots, reactionaries, self-righteous people, zealots, trimmers, bullies, and manipulators.” Bill Moyers; Fooling With Words; William Morrow; 1999. See more usage examples of trimmer in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
If there be such a thing as truth, it must infallibly be struck out by the
collision of mind with mind. -William Godwin, philosopher and novelist (3
Mar 1756-1836)
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