spaniel

Pronounced: SPAN-yull, noun

Notes: This word has another meaning besides the dog breed – do you know it?

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Yesterday’s word

The word antimacassar is “a piece of covering placed over the back or arms of a seat to protect from hair oil, dirt, etc”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

As I noted, I recognized this word; I thought of the Mrs Pollifax books by Dorothy Gilman, and so I checked. I was correct; it is used early in the first book (The Unexpected Mrs Pollifax), but (to my shame), I didn’t look up the word. From the context, it is clear that is a some crocheted thing, but I didn’t know exactly what… now I do. Our word came from anti- (against) and Macassar oil (a hair oil, supposedly made from ingredients from Macassar). The city is now spelled Makassar; it is a city in Indonesia.