Pronounced: her-uh-DIH-tuh-munt, noun
Notes: I didn’t know this word existed
Yesterday’s word
The word railbird means
- a horse-racing enthusiast
- a spectator at a contest
- an observer who offers uninvited advice or criticism
First usage
This word came into English in the late 1700s
Background / Comments
I find it interesting to see how a word’s meaning changes over time; the first meaning given above was the original meaning: it referred to someone who watches a horse race or training session from the railing along the track. The word bird is slang for a person with a specific character, or a peculiar person: thus “railbird”. One can imagine how it expanded to refer to any spectator at a contest (the second meaning). Some spectators offer unwanted advice/criticism, and this seems to have come about from the peculiar person part of “bird” (the third meaning).
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 