Category Archives: word

Pronounced: ny-AG-ruh (alt: ny-AG-uhr-uh), noun Notes: I was close on the meaning Yesterday’s word The word lèse-majesté is a crime or offense committed against a sovereign power a detraction from or affront to dignity or importance First usage Our word came into English in the mid- to late 1400s Background / Comments Our word isContinue reading “Niagara”

Pronounced: laze-MA-juh-stee, noun Notes: I think I’ve run across this word in reading, but I don’t know the meaning Yesterday’s word The word Rubicon is “a point of no return, one where an action taken commits a person irrevocably” First usage Our word came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments As IContinue reading “lèse-majesté”

Pronounced: ROO-bih-kon, noun Notes: If you are good at history, you may know the meaning of this word Yesterday’s word The word zeugma is “the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words in such a way that it applies to each in a different sense” First usage Our word cameContinue reading “Rubicon”

Pronounced: ZUG-muh, noun Notes: An interesting tie-in with a Nobel Prize winner Yesterday’s word The word Klondike is “a rice source of something valuable” First usage Our word came into English in the late 1800s Background / Comments I knew of the Klondike gold rush, but didn’t know our word meant anything else. Our wordContinue reading “zeugma”

Pronounced: KLAN-dike, noun Notes: While I know about the Klondike region, there is another meaning that I didn’t know Yesterday’s word The word clerisy is “the artistic, social, or political vanguard or elite; intelligentsia” First usage Our word came into English in the early 1800s Background / Comments Our word was coined by Samuel TaylorContinue reading “Klondike”

Pronounced: KLER-uh-see, noun Notes: This word makes me think of a disease (but it isn’t!) Yesterday’s word The word Yarra-banker is a vagrant or loafer a soapbox orator or agitator First usage Our word came into English in the late 1800s Background / Comments The Yarra is a river in Victoria, Australia. The bank ofContinue reading “clerisy”

Pronounced: YAHR-uh-bank-uhr, noun Notes: Certain people may know this word (I didn’t) Yesterday’s word The word nabob is a provincial governor of the Mogul empire in India a person of great wealth or prominence First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1600s Background / Comments As you might have guessed, the first definitionContinue reading “Yarra-banker”

Pronounced: NAY-bob, noun Notes: You may know this word; I was close, but the origin is interesting Yesterday’s word The word Chadband is “an oily, hypocritical person” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1800s Background / Comments Our word is another one that came from a book by Charles Dickens: Bleak HouseContinue reading “nabob”

Pronounced: CHAD-band, noun Notes: You may know this word if you are well read; it was new to me Yesterday’s word The word toothsome means agreeable; attractive attractive to the opposite sex of palatable flavor and pleasing texture; delicious First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1500s Background / Comments If you thinkContinue reading “Chadband”

Pronounced: TOOTH-sum, adj Notes: I thought this word meant something like having or showing a lot of teeth Yesterday’s word The word perforce means “out of necessity” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1300s Background / Comments I thought that our word meant “by force”, which is is reasonable because it cameContinue reading “toothsome”