Category Archives: word

Pronounced: MYTH-rih-day-tize, verb Notes: I’m surprised, given my enjoyment of mysteries, that I haven’t run across this word Yesterday’s word The word scabrous means full or problems or difficulty indecent, risqué, or scandalous First usage This word came into English in the late 1500s Background / Comments I thought that this word might somehow beContinue reading “mithridatize”

Pronounced: SKAB-ruhs, adj Notes: Not what I thought it was… Yesterday’s word The word grimthorpe means “to restore or remodel something without paying attention to its original character, history, etc” First usage This word came into usage in the late 1800s Background / Comments Nothing to do with “grim” (although it might be considered “grim”Continue reading “scabrous”

Pronounced: GRIM-thorp, verb Notes: I don’t recall running across this word, but “grim” makes it look vaguely bad Yesterday’s word The word poetaster is “a bad poet; a writer of poor or mediocre verse” First usage Our word came into English in the late 1500s Background / Comments As I noted yesterday, I think I’veContinue reading “grimthorpe”

Pronounced: POE-it-as-ter, noun Notes: This word looks familiar; I may have posted this same word a couple of years ago when I had these on Facebook (I cannot guarantee that I’ll never repeat a word) Yesterday’s word The word subrogate means “to substitute one person or entity for another in a legal claim” First usageContinue reading “poetaster”

Pronounced: SUB-roh-gate, verb Notes: This looks like I word I should know, but I didn’t Yesterday’s word The word bushwa means “rubbish; nonsense; or baloney” First usage This word showed up in the 1910s Background / Comments As I wrote yesterday, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this word. The reference material I looked atContinue reading “subrogate”

Pronounced: BOOSH-wah (alt: BOOSH-waw), noun Notes: I’ve not run across this word Yesterday’s word The word middlescence means “the middle-age period of life” First usage This word came into usage in the 1960s Background / Comments Our word was patterned after adolescence (which came into usage in the early 1400s). Knowing that, the word nowContinue reading “bushwa”

Pronounced: mid-uhl-ESS-uhns, noun Notes: I didn’t know this word, but it is logical (you may know it with this hint) Yesterday’s word The word esse means “the essence; existence” First usage I cannot find information about when this word began to be used Background / Comments This word comes from the Latin word meaning “toContinue reading “middlescence”

Pronounced: ESS-seh, noun Notes: I didn’t know this word Yesterday’s word The word yeasayer is a person with a confident and positive outlook a person who agrees uncritically; a yes-man First usage This word came into usage in the 1930s Background / Comments I’ve not run across this word; it is patterned after naysayer, whichContinue reading “esse”

Pronounced: YAY-say-uhr, noun Notes: You probably can guess this word; I found it interesting Yesterday’s word The word lam means “to beat, slam, strike, or thrash” First usage This word came into English in the late 1500s Background / Comments I think I’ve run across this word in the “hard-boiled” type of detective fiction, butContinue reading “yeasayer”

Pronounced: (like it sounds: lam), verb Notes: I was pretty close on the meaning of this word. More people probably know it as a noun Yesterday’s word The word allision is “a moving object striking against a stationary object” First usage This word showed up in the early 1600s Background / Comments I love ourContinue reading “lam”