Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 09, 2008 is:

chockablock • \CHAH-kuh-blahk\  • adjective
1 : brought close together *2 : very full

Example sentence:
Chandra's tiny apartment is chockablock with fabric, yarn, and other craft supplies.

Did you know?
"Chockablock" started out as a nautical term. A block is a metal or wooden case with one or more pulleys inside. Sometimes, two or more blocks are used (as part of a rope and pulley system called a "block and tackle") to provide a mechanical advantage -- as, for example, when hoisting a sail on a traditional sailing ship. When the rope is pulled as far as it will go, the blocks are tight together and are said to be "chockablock." Non-nautical types associated the "chock" in "chockablock" with "chock-full," which goes back to Middle English "chokkefull," meaning "full to the limit" (a figurative use of "full to choking"). We thus gave "chockablock" the additional meaning "filled up." "Chockablock" can also be an adverb meaning "as close or as completely as possible," as in "families living chockablock" or the seemingly redundant "chockablock full."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 08, 2008 is:

scavenger • \SKAV-un-jer\  • noun
*1 : one who collects or salvages garbage or junk 2 : an organism that typically feeds on refuse or carrion

Example sentence:
Scavengers took the broken lamp that I left on the curb last night.

Did you know?
You might guess that "scavenger" is a derivative of "scavenge," but the reverse is actually true; "scavenger" is the older word, first appearing in English in 1530, and the back-formation "scavenge" came into English in the mid-17th century. "Scavenger" is an alteration of the earlier "scavager," itself from Anglo-French "scawageour," meaning "collector of scavage." In medieval times, "scavage" was a tax levied by towns and cities on goods put up for sale by nonresidents, in order to provide resident merchants with a competitive advantage. The officers in charge of collecting this tax were later made responsible for keeping streets clean, and that's how "scavenger" came to refer to a public sanitation employee in Great Britain before acquiring its current sense referring to a person who salvages discarded items.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 07, 2008 is:

beau geste • \boh-ZHEST\  • noun
*1 : a graceful or magnanimous gesture 2 : an ingratiating conciliatory gesture

Example sentence:
Rather than compete against his best friend for the scholarship, Brayden gallantly stepped aside, a beau geste that Anthony never forgot.

Did you know?
"Beau geste" is a phrase borrowed from French; the literal translation is "beautiful gesture." Beau Geste is also the title of a 1924 novel by Percival Christopher Wren, featuring three English brothers who join the French Foreign Legion to repair their family honor. The novel spawned several film versions, including one starring Gary Cooper. Wren didn't invent the phrase "beau geste," which first appeared in print in 1900, but the publicity surrounding the novel and subsequent films likely contributed to the expression's popularity.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 06, 2008 is:

veritable • \VAIR-uh-tuh-bul\  • adjective
: being in fact the thing named and not false, unreal, or imaginary

Example sentence:
Melissa is a veritable wellspring of information on local history and folklore.

Did you know?
"Veritable," like its close relative "verity" ("truth"), came to English through Anglo-French from Latin. It is ultimately derived from "verus," the Latin word for "true," which also gave us "verify," "aver," and "verdict." "Veritable" is often used as a synonym of "genuine" or "authentic" ("a veritable masterpiece"), but it is also frequently used to stress the aptness of a metaphor, often in a humorous tone ("a veritable swarm of lawyers"). In the past, usage commentators have objected to the latter use, but today it doesn't draw much criticism.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 05, 2008 is:

posthaste • \POHST-HAYST\  • adverb
: with all possible speed

Example sentence:
When it became clear that the interviewee was inebriated and unable to speak coherently, the television station cut to commercial posthaste.

Did you know?
In the 16th century, "haste, post, haste" was used to inform "posts," as couriers were then called, that a letter was urgent and must be hastily delivered. Posts would then speedily gallop along a route with a series of places at which to get a fresh horse or to relay the letter to a fresh messenger. Shakespeare was one of the first to use a version of the phrase adverbially in Richard II. "Old John of Gaunt . . . hath sent post haste / To entreat your Majesty to visit him," the Bard versified. He also used the phrase as an adjective in Othello (a use that is now obsolete): "The Duke . . . requires your haste-post-haste appearance," Lieutenant Cassio reports to the play's namesake.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 04, 2008 is:

kindred • \KIN-drud\  • adjective
*1 : of a similar nature or character : like 2 : of the same ancestry

Example sentence:
The rock-climbing club tends to attract kindred spirits -- outdoorsy, adventurous types who derive satisfaction from conquering new challenges.

Did you know?
If you believe that advice and relatives are inseparable, the etymology of "kindred" will prove you right. "Kindred" comes from a combination of "kin" and the Old English word ræden ("condition"), which itself comes from the verb rædan, meaning "to advise." "Kindred" entered English as a noun first, in the 12th century. That noun, which can refer to a group of related individuals or to one's own relatives, gave rise to the adjective "kindred" in the 14th century.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 03, 2008 is:

modicum • \MAH-dih-kum\  • noun
: a small portion : a limited quantity

Example sentence:
If you had possessed a modicum of sense, you would have paused to think before accepting such a dangerous job.

Did you know?
What does "modicum" have to do with a toilet? It just so happens that "modicum" shares the same Latin parent as "commode," which is a synonym of "toilet." "Modicum" and "commode" ultimately derive from the Latin noun "modus," which means "measure." "Modicum" has been a part of the English language since the 15th century. It descends from the Latin "modicus" ("moderate"), which is itself a descendant of "modus." (Logically enough, "modicum" refers to a small "measure" of something.) "Modus" really measures up as a Latin root -- it also gave us "mode" (originally a kind of musical "measure"), "modal," "model," "modern," "modify," and "modulate." More distant relatives include "mete," "moderate," and "modest."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 02, 2008 is:

anneal • \uh-NEEL\  • verb
*1 : to make (as steel or glass) less brittle by heating and then cooling 2 : strengthen, toughen

Example sentence:
The glassmaker shaped the vase with quick, fluid movements and then placed it in the oven to anneal the glass.

Did you know?
If you were looking for a saying to apply to the word "anneal," it might be "everything old is new again." The word was originally associated with one of the oldest technologies of humankind: fire. It derives from the Old English word "onælan," which was formed from the Old English root "āl," meaning "fire." In its earliest known uses, which date from around the year 1000, "anneal" meant simply "to set on fire." That sense has become obsolete, however, and nowadays "anneal" is associated with a much more recent technological development. It has come to be used in the context of DNA research, in reference to the heating and cooling of double-stranded nucleic acid.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 01, 2008 is:

salad days • \SAL-ud-DAYZ\  • noun plural
: time of youthful inexperience or indiscretion; also : an early flourishing period : heyday

Example sentence:
My grandfather loves to reminisce about his salad days in the small Nebraska town where he grew up.

Did you know?
A good salad is fresh, crisp, and usually green. Those attributes are often associated (in both vegetables and people) with vitality and immaturity. The first English writer known to use "salad days" to associate the fresh greenness of salad with the vigor and recklessness of youth was William Shakespeare. In Antony and Cleopatra, Cleopatra praises Marc Antony's valor and demands that her serving woman do the same. When the servant instead praises her former consort, Caesar, Cleopatra threatens her -- until the woman notes that she is only echoing Cleopatra's own effusive past praise of Caesar. Cleopatra's reply marks the first English use of "salad days":

"My salad days,
When I was green in judgment, cold in blood,
To say as I said then."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 30, 2008 is:

propagate • \PRAH-puh-gayt\  • verb
1 : to reproduce or cause to reproduce biologically : multiply 2 : to cause to spread : extend *3 : to foster growing knowledge of, familiarity with, or acceptance of (as an idea or belief) : publicize

Example sentence:
Noah Webster endeavored to propagate a new system of spelling, with only limited success.

Did you know?
The origins of "propagate" are firmly rooted in the field of horticulture. The word was borrowed into English in the late 16th century from Latin "propagatus," the past participle of the verb "propagare," which means "to set (onto a plant) a small shoot or twig cut for planting or grafting." "Propagare," in turn, derives from "propages," meaning "layer (of a plant), slip, offspring." It makes sense, therefore, that the earliest uses of "propagate" referred to facilitating the reproduction of a plant or animal. Nowadays, however, the meaning of "propagate" can extend to the "reproduction" of something intangible, such as an idea or belief. Incidentally, "propaganda" also comes to us from "propagare," although it took a somewhat different route into English.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 29, 2008 is:

cognizable • \KAHG-nuh-zuh-bul\  • adjective
*1 : capable of being judicially heard and determined 2 : capable of being known

Example sentence:
The court determined that the plaintiff's claim of having received an unfair grade on the exam was not a legally cognizable action.

Did you know?
It's easy to recognize the "cogni-" in "cognizable" and in other English words that have to do with knowing: "precognition," "incognito," "recognition," and "cognitive," for example. They're all from Latin "cognoscere" ("to know")."Cognizable" was formed in the 17th century from the root of "cognizance," which means "knowledge." "Cognizance" in turn traces to "cognoscere" by way of Anglo-French "conissance." "Cognizable" was used in the legal sense almost from its introduction, and that's the sense that is far and away the most common today.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.