Pronounced: AG-lit, noun
Notes: This word is one you either know, or else you say “I didn’t know there was a word for that!”
Yesterday’s word
The word pricket is
- a sharp point or spike for holding a candle
- a male deer in its second year, before his antlers have branched
First usage
Our word goes back a ways; it came into English in the mid-1300s
Background / Comments
I don’t think that our word would get a lot of usage: most people have candle holders instead of prickets to hold their candles (if they even use candles much anymore). Likewise, it is hard to imagine the deer definition coming up in causal conversation, though possibly it may come up in among hunters. Our word is a diminutive of prick (also spelled prik in days long ago), which came from the Old English word prica (point).
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 