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Sep 1, 2021
This week’s theme
Words with unusual pronunciations

This week’s words
blackguard
cwm
victual
gunwale
sidhe

victual
Victualling Yard Historical Marker
Kings Wharf, Bermuda
Photo: Jon Dawson

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

victual

PRONUNCIATION:
(VIT-l)

MEANING:
noun: Food, especially food fit for human consumption.
verb tr.: To provide with food.
verb intr.: To obtain food or to eat.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin victualia (provisions), from victus (nourishment), past participle of vivere (to live). Earliest documented use: 1303.

USAGE:
“An army marches on its stomach. And if the victuals were not up to snuff, then moods grumbled louder than hungry tummies.”
Jeremy Lee; Jeremy Lee’s Recipe for a Hearty Brigade Pudding; The Guardian (London, UK); Nov 4, 2017.

See more usage examples of victual in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Flattery won't hurt you if you don't swallow it. -Kin Hubbard, humorist (1 Sep 1868-1930)

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