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bivouac
Pronounced: BI-vuh-ack (alt: BIV-wak, BIV-oo-ack), noun/verb Notes: I was a little off on the meaning Yesterday’s word The word quash means “to nullify, especially by judicial action” First usage Our word came into English in the early 1300s Background / Comments I had thought that word meant something like “squash”. In doing research, I found…
quash
Pronounced: kwash, verb Notes: To my surprise, this didn’t mean what I thought it meant Yesterday’s phrase The phrase Scarborough warning means “a very short notice or no notice” First usage Our phrase came into English in the mid-1500s Background / Comments Our phrase is named after the UK coastal town of Scarborough, although it…
Scarborough warning
Pronounced: SKAR-buh-ruh war-ning Notes: A phrase I didn’t know Yesterday’s word The word per contra means First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1500s Background / Comments Our word comes from Italian, where it means “by the opposite side of the ledger”. A Franciscan friar and mathematician named Luca Pacioli (a friend of…
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Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 