Word Of The Day

• scavenger
• 
• \SKAV-un-jer\

• DEFINITION

noun

1

a : one that scavenges: asb : a garbage collectorc : a junk collector

2

: an organism that typically feeds on refuse or carrion

• EXAMPLES

The owners of the new antique shop are ace scavengers whose skills were honed during college trash-picking outings.

"Hunters have long provided wildlife scavengers with free meals." — From an article by Brett Prettyman in The Salt Lake Tribune, March 26, 2014

• DID YOU KNOW?

You might guess that "scavenger" is a derivative of "scavenge," but the reverse is actually true; "scavenger" is the older word, first appearing in English in 1530, and the back-formation "scavenge" came into English in the mid-17th century. "Scavenger" is an alteration of the earlier "scavager," itself from Anglo-French "scawageour," meaning "collector of scavage." In medieval times, "scavage" was a tax levied by towns and cities on goods put up for sale by nonresidents, in order to provide resident merchants with a competitive advantage. The officers in charge of collecting this tax were later made responsible for keeping streets clean, and that's how "scavenger" came to refer to a public sanitation employee in Great Britain before acquiring its more widely used sense referring to a person who salvages discarded items.

Word Of The Day

• risible
• 
• \RIZZ-uh-bul\

• DEFINITION

adjective

1

a : capable of laughingb : disposed to laugh

2

: arousing or provoking laughter; especially : laughable

3

: associated with, relating to, or used in laughter

• EXAMPLES

Megan's friends teased her for the risible notion that one day she'd find a unicorn lurking in her yard.

"[The director] has a strong command of CGI technology and 3D effects, and the movie is so grand in scale that you can't help surrender to the spectacle, even if the stuff that's going on with the people in the film is often close to risible." — From a movie review by Rene Rodriguez in The Miami Herald, February 23, 2014

• DID YOU KNOW?

If someone makes a ridiculous remark about your "risible muscles," he or she is not necessarily deriding your physique. "Risible" can also mean "associated with laughter," so "risible muscles" can simply be the ones used for laughing. (In fact, you've got a set of risorius muscles around your mouth that help you smile.) The next time you find something laughable, tip your hat to "ridēre," the Latin verb meaning "to laugh" that gave us "risible" and "risorius," as well as "ridiculous" and "deride."

Word Of The Day

• escapade
• 
• \ESS-kuh-payd\

• DEFINITION

noun

: a usually adventurous action that runs counter to approved or conventional conduct

• EXAMPLES

Her latest film is a screwball comedy depicting the calamitousescapades of two men who stow away on a cruise ship.

"Based on the popular comic strip Little Orphan Annie, created by Harold Gray, 'Annie' portrays the escapades of a lively orphan girl in New York City in the 1930s." — From an article in The Sun Chronicle (Attleboro, Massachusetts), March 29, 2014

• DID YOU KNOW?

When it was first used in English, "escapade" referred to an act of escaping or fleeing from confinement or restraint. The relationship between "escape" and "escapade" does not end there. Both words derive from the Vulgar Latin verb "excappare," meaning "to escape," a product of the Latin prefix "ex-" and the Late Latin noun "cappa," meaning "head covering or cloak." ("Cappa" is also an ancestor of "cape.") While "escape" took a route through Anglo-French and Middle English, however, "escapade" made its way into English by way of Spanish "escapar" ("to escape") and French "escapade."

Word Of The Day

• peach
• 
• \PEECH\

• DEFINITION

verb

1

: to inform against : betray

2

: to turn informer : blab

• EXAMPLES

Debbie peached on her friends the moment the teacher demanded to know the truth about the prank.

"They'll think his lordship, or perhaps his brother, peached on them.” — From Grace Burrowes' 2013 historical romance Gabriel: Lord of Regrets

• DID YOU KNOW?

If you guessed that the origin of this verb "peach" has something to do with a slightly fuzzy fruit, you are unfortunately incorrect. The fruit "peach" is an unrelated word that traces back to the Latin phrase "malum persicum," literally meaning "Persian fruit." The verb that we are featuring today evolved from Middle English "apechen" ("to accuse"), itself an offspring of an Anglo-French verb meaning "to ensnare." That Anglo-French word is also an ancestor of the English verb "impeach," meaning "to bring an accusation against." Both of these English verbs can be traced back further to a Latin word for a shackle for the feet, and that word is itself rooted in "ped-, pes," meaning "foot."

Word Of The Day

• aplomb
• 
• \uh-PLAHM\

• DEFINITION

noun

: complete and confident composure or self-assurance : poise

• EXAMPLES

On her first day as a teacher, June handled herself with aplomb, keeping the class engaged and focused.

"The ample chamber orchestra under Boyagian played with zest and aplomb." — From a concert review by Zachary Lewis in The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), March 31, 2014

• DID YOU KNOW?

In the 19th century, English speakers borrowed "aplomb," meaning "composure," from French. "Aplomb" can also mean "perpendicularity" in French and comes from the phrase "a plomb," meaning "perpendicularly" or literally "according to the plummet." A plummet is a lead weight that is attached to a line and used to determine vertical alignment. Not surprisingly, "aplomb" and English words like "plumber" and the verb "plumb" ("to measure depth" and "to explore critically and minutely") ultimately trace back to the Latin word for lead, "plumbum."

Word Of The Day

• svelte
• 
• \SVELT\

• DEFINITION

adjective

1

a : slender, litheb : having even and smooth lines : sleek

2

: urbane, suave

• EXAMPLES

The TV star posted an online photo of herself, looking svelte in a figure-hugging dress.

"A trim, more svelte typeface on federal documents would slash the government's ink expenses and could save taxpayers more than $100 million a year in printing costs, an O'Hara-based researcher has found." — From an article by Adam Smeltz in thePittsburgh Tribune Review, March 29, 2014

• DID YOU KNOW?

"Svelte" came to us, by way of French, from Italian "svelto," which itself comes from the Italian verb "svellere," meaning "to pluck out" or "to pull or stretch out." In English "svelte" has been used since the early 19th century to describe a slender appearance, as in A.B. Granville's 1838 description of a countess who was "tall, svelte, pale, and interesting." By the 20th century, English speakers had stretched the word's meaning to suggest an urbane or suave nature—as poet Ezra Pound did when he described "svelte Verona," a city he visited in north Italy.

Word Of The Day

• fiscal
• 
• \FISS-kul\

• DEFINITION

adjective

1

: of or relating to taxation, public revenues, or public debt

2

: of or relating to financial matters

• EXAMPLES

The governor was harshly criticized by his opponent for not showing more fiscal restraint during the slow economic recovery.

"Let's remember that fiscal policy, or rather the financial management of the government, has two sides, expenditures and revenues." — From an opinion column by Gerald Petersen inThe News-Press (Fort Myers, Florida), March 21, 2014

• DID YOU KNOW?

"Fiscal" derives from the Latin noun "fiscus," meaning "basket" or "treasury." In ancient Rome, "fiscus" was the term for the treasury controlled by the emperor, where the money was literally stored in baskets and was collected primarily in the form of revenue from the provinces. "Fiscus" also gives us our word "confiscate," which now means "to seize" but once referred to the forfeiting of private property to public use. Today we find "fiscal" in a number of phrases, including "fiscal year" (referring to a 12-month accounting period not necessarily coinciding with the calendar year) and "fiscal cliff," a term that rose to prominence in the U.S. in 2012 when much attention was focused on a series of anticipated year-end tax increases and spending cuts.