Pronounced: JACK-yuh-late, verb
Notes: Another new word for me
Yesterday’s word
The word benedict is “a newly married man who has long been a bachelor”
First usage
Our word came into English in the early 1800s
Background / Comments
Our word traces back to Shakespeare; specifically, the play Much Ado About Nothing: Benedick and Beatrice are two of the characters that exchange barbed comments and both claim to detest marriage. However, at the end of the play, these two marry each other. Thus, the name Benedick came to mean a man who married later in life. Over time, the spelling was changed to benedict (there is a little evidence – very little evidence – that benedict meant “bachelor” at one point in time). Our word isn’t used much these days; if you like to use rare words, drop this into your conversation.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 