Pronounced: (H)WEHLM, verb
Notes: I have heard of overwhelm and underwhelm, but not our word
Yesterday’s word
The word curtal, as a noun, is
- a woodwind instrument, an early form of bassoon (also known as a dulcian)
- an animal with a tail docked off
- anything abridged or cut short
As an adjective, it means
- having a docked tail
- abridged or cut short
First usage
Our word came into English in the early 1500s
Background / Comments
Well, at least in the second definition, it is like “curtail” (probably the third definition, too). Our word came from the French word court (short), which came from the Latin word curtus (shortened).
