conclave

Pronounced: KAHN-klave, noun

Notes: Many people probably know one definition of our word

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Yesterday’s word

The word shirttail means, as a noun

• the part of a shirt reaching below he waist, especially in the back
• a brief item added at the end of a newspaper article
• something small or unimportant

As an adjective, it means

• very young or immature
• very small or trivial
• distantly related

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

As I noted, I knew the first meaning as a noun, but I didn’t have any idea of any of the adjective meanings. I assume that the first noun definition was the original definition, and that the second and third definitions grew out of the first — as the shirttail is at the end of the shirt (thus #2); and then, #1 and #2 together could create #3. The only related adjective meaning is #2; I have no idea how #1 and #3 came about. Our word came from the Old English words scyrte (shirt) and teogl (tail).