pro rata

Pronounced: pro RAY-tuh (alt: pro-RAH-tuh), adv/adj

Notes: This is one of the words that I’ve run across, but wasn’t completely sure of the definition

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Yesterday’s word

The word glom means

• take; steal
• seize; catch
• to look at

First usage

Our word came into English in the very late 1800s

Background / Comments

This entry was odd. I ran across our word in the Nero Wolfe novella This Won’t Kill You by Rex Stout (originally called This Will Kill You). In the book, Archie Goodwin (Nero Wolfe’s assistant) uses our word in relation to a good-looking woman; from the context, it clearly means “to look at”. Imagine my surprise when the reference material for this entry only listed two meanings (the first and the second one above), with no hint of the third meaning — and the third meaning doesn’t seem related at all to the other meanings. Extra research dug up the third meaning. Our word is primarily found in America. It came from the Scots word glaum (alt: glam). Originally, it just meant “steal” as a purse-snatcher, but the meaning expanded over time. Instead of “stealing a few hours for oneself”, one could say “glom a few hours for oneself”, or one can “glom on to an opinion”. I’m not sure where the “look at” definition came from, unless it has the idea of catching something with one’s eye” – but that seems a bit farfetched.