May 2002 Word of the Day


The Word of the Day for Wednesday May 1, 2002 is ERUCT (pronounced "ee rukt.") It means belch or emit or propel vehemently.


Despite everyone's worst fears that the raging waters would eruct through the barrier and flood several houses, the dam held firm throughout the heavy rains.

Take the ERUCT Word of the Day Quiz.










The Word of the Day for Thursday May 2, 2002, The National Day of Prayer is BREVIARY (pronounced "bree vee er ee.") It means a prayer book containing all the lessons, recitations etc, necessary for a Catholic priest to offer daily, or a book of devotional readings in certain other Christian religions.

Today thousands of priests will be taking their breviaries to city halls all over the country where they will join ministers rabbis, imams, and scores of laypeople to take part in the National Day of Prayer.

Take the BREVIARY Word of the Day Quiz.









The Word of the Day for Friday May 3, 2002 is GALVANIC (pronounced "gal van ik.") It means related to or caused by electricity, startling, stimulating, or therapeutic. GALVANISM (pronounced "gal van iz em") is the noun version and GALVANIZE (pronounced "gal van yz") is the verb.

Depressed individuals who bring themselves to perform volunteer work often find that it has a galvanic benefit for themselves in addition to helping someone else in need.

Take the GALVANIC Word of the Day Quiz.









The Word of the Day for Monday May 6, 2002 is MESOMORPH (pronounced "mez a morf.") It means a person with a muscular or sturdy build. MESOMOPHIC is the adjective form which can refer to anything--not just a person--and both MESOMORPHISM and MESOMORPHY describe the condition of a MESOMORPH .

Can someone tell me how an untalented mesomorph like Arnold Schwarzenegger became one of Hollywood’s highest paid stars?

Take the MESOMORPH Word of the Day Quiz.









The Word of the Day for Tuesday May 7, 2002 is INTERSTICE (pronounced " in tur stis.") It means a space in-between, an interval of time, or in certain Catholic orders the prescribed allotment of time that must pass before moving on to the next phase of one's religious life. ("Stice" is not a word that is found in any unabridged dictionary I checked.)

The Auto Train had its drawbacks, but I have to admit that Amtrak gives its passengers generous leg room by separating its trains’ seats with a much larger interstice than a standard bus or airplane.

Take the INTERSTICE Word of the Day Quiz.









The Word of the Day for Tuesday May 7, 2002 is ZUGZWANG (pronounced "tsoo tsväng.") It means in chess a situation from which any move will cost the moving side a piece or maneuver it into an unwelcome position, or any situation in which it is impossible to take a step that has no detrimental value.

Today, Boston’s Bernard Cardinal Law will be take part in a deposition, and that zugzwang should help determine whether he was grossly negligent to a degree that borders on incompetence or complicit in heinous criminal activity.

Take the ZUGZWANG Word of the Day Quiz.









The Word of the Day for Thursday May 9, 2002 is MONOMANIA (pronounced mon a may nee a .) It means obsession with a single, topic, thing, field, etc.

Everybody has been refusing to go over to Cousin Wilber’s s house for months now because his current monomania with stock car racing gets old very quickly.

Take the MONOMANIA Word of the Day Quiz.









The Word of the Day for Friday May 10, 2002 is LIVERISH (pronounced "liv er ish.") It means disagreeable, angered, melancholy, having a liver condition, or resembling liver--especially in color.

All of Matt’s riding experience had been on docile horses trained to treat beginners gently, so he really impressed us by handling that liverish stallion so adroitly.Everybody has been refusing to go over to Cousin Wilber's house for months now because his current monomania with stock car racing gets old very quickly.

Take the LIVERISH Word of the Day Quiz.









The Word of the Day for Monday May 13, 2002 is DIVAGATE (pronounced "dy va gaat.") It means to veer off course, wander, or to digress in speech.

Saying that the bus driver must have "inadvertently divagated" did not appease the Dallas bound passengers who found themselves in Atlanta three hours after departing the Nashville terminal.

Take the DIVAGATE Word of the Day Quiz.









The Word of the Day for Tuesday May 14, 2002 is PURPORT (pronounced "per port.") It means to suggest or profess often misleadingly or falsely, to intend, gist, or the meaning that is conveyed or implied. PURPORTED as an adjective can have the slightly different meaning of rumored.

After reports surfaced that ABC was considering offering David Lettermen a show to replace the less popular Nightline, long time anchor Ted Koppel purportedly became extremely angry.

Take the PURPORT Word of the Day Quiz.









The Word of the Day for Wednesday May 15, 2002 is BOSK (pronounced "bosk.") It means a small woods or thicket heavy with bushes.

Bosks proved to be ingenious hiding places for the brave souls who journeyed the Underground Railroad because their pursuers would generally leave smaller thickets unsearched believing that the escapees would favor the cover of larger forests.

Take the BOSK Word of the Day Quiz.









The Word of the Day for Thursday May 16, 2002 is STYGIAN (pronounced "stij ee an.") It means dreary, dark, or hellish. It is occasionally capitalized because it can also refer to the mythological River of Styx.

Many readers speculate that Edgar Allen Poe waged a lifelong battle with severe depression based upon the heavy repetition of stygian themes and imagery throughout his work.

Take the STYGIAN Word of the Day Quiz.









The Word of the Day for Friday May 17, 2002 is CONVIVIAL (pronounced "kon viv ee al.") It means friendly, jovial, fond of feasting or celebratory drinking, or festive. CONVIVIALITY is the noun form and CONVIVIALIST is one who exhibits such behavior.

Palpable conviviality was in the air as the hometown minor league baseball team triumphantly returned after winning the national championship.


Take the CONVIVIAL Word of the Day Quiz.









The Word of the Day for Monday May 20, 2002 is LEGATION (pronounced "le gaa shen.") It means the office of a diplomatic minister in a foreign country, the diplomatic minister and staff, or the office or position of such an ambassador.

Governments from all over the world are in the process of assigning legations to the newest nation on Earth, East Timor, which becomes independent from Indonesia today.


Take the LEAGTION Word of the Day Quiz.

Happy Independence Day East Timor!!











The Word of the Day for Tuesday May 21, 2002 is RIFFLE (pronounced "rif el.") It means to shuffle cards by splitting the deck in two and reassembling it by causing the two sides to alternately fall back together, the act of shuffling in such a way, turn quickly, flutter, a rapid or ripple in water, or a hopper used in bulk distributions.

Atlantic City dealers become so adept at riffling that they can automatically divide the deck so that each side has 27 cards and effortlessly recombine it without ever missing a card form either side.

Take the RIFFLE Word of the Day Quiz.









The Word of the day for Wednesday May 22, 2002 is MOLLIFY (pronounced "mol i fy.") It means lessen, appease, soften, or mitigate.

I don't think an apology from the hospital's board of directors will be satisfactory mollification for operating on the patient's good knee by mistake.

Take the MOLLIFY Word of the Day Quiz.









The Word of the Day for Thursday May 23, 2002 is ABATIS (pronounced "ab a tee," "a bayt ee," or"a bat is.") It means a barbered wire entanglement intended to serve as an obstacle for the enemy or a clump of trees whose branches were sharpened or bent for the same barricading purposes. The plural can be either ABATISES or just ABATIS.

While the abatis may now be archaic to the point where it's usefulness ever seems questionable, several Revolutionary War battles were said to have been decided by the skillful deployment of this primitive defensive tactic.

Take the ABATIS Word of the Day Quiz.









The Word of the Day for Friday May 24, 2002 is REIFY (pronounced "ree a fy.") It means convert from the abstract into the concrete.

Military cemeteries honor heroes who died reifying selflessness, duty, and valor, and so do countless unmarked plots all over the world.

Take the ABATIS Word of the Day Quiz.









The Word of the Day for Tuesday May 28, 2002 is ABSQUATULATE (pronounced " ab skwoch a layt".) It means to depart hastily or abscond.

Many guests detected something not quite right about Helen’s new boyfriend, and when she introduced her uncle as a police officer, and he absquatulated out a second story window, their suspicions were confirmed.

Take the ABSQUATULATE Word of the Day Quiz.









The Word of the Day for Wednesday May 29, 2002 is DIPTEROUS. It means having two wings.

The puffy sleeves on Nancy's formal dress gave her a somewhat dipterous appearance at the wedding reception.

Take the DIPTEROUS Word of the Day Quiz.









">The Word of the Day for Thursday May 30, 2002 is SHARI'AH (also spelled SHARI’A and pronounced "sha ree a.") It means law derived from the Koran.

In most Arabian countries law is determined not so much by shari’ah but by what the ruling despot claims shari’ah dictates.

Take the SHARI'AH Word of the Day Quiz.









The Word of the Day for Friday May 31, 2002 is VELLUM. It means a fine-grained leather used for parchment or book-binding, a work written on such material, cream-colored paper, or made from or similar to the described material.

A swindler recently tried to sell two fraudulent vellums that he claimed were lost incomplete works of William Shakespeare, but he couldn't explain why the Bard incorporated words like "dude," "fax," "soccer mom," and "sitcom."

Take the VELLUM Word of the Day Quiz.