Pronounced: high-POCK-uh-riz-uhm (alt: hih-POCK-uh-riz-uhm), noun
Notes: I think I posted this word at work some years ago, but not here
Yesterday’s word
The word bludge, as a noun, means “an easy task”. As a verb it means
- to shirk responsibility
- to obtains something through the generosity of others; to scrounge
First usage
Our word came into English in the 1910s
Background / Comments
Yesterday, I thought our word looked like it should be related to bludgeon, which I knew was a kind of club, so I thought our word had the meaning of hitting someone. While that idea was wrong, our word does indeed descend from bludgeon, in a convoluted way. Incidentally, the origin of bludgeon is not known. From the verb bludgeon (to force into something) came bludge on (to impose on someone). From the noun bludgeon came the back formation bludge (to use a bludgeon). From bludge came bludger, someone who would do the bludging – it came to mean a harlot’s bully or pimp. Apparently through this path, the meaning of “to shirk” came out. I told you it was convoluted!
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 