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Oct 30, 2013
This week's theme
Eponyms

This week's words
pecksniffian
smellfungus
falstaffian
milquetoast
bumbledom

Falstaff with big wine jar and cup
Art: Eduard von Grützner, 1896

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

Falstaffian

PRONUNCIATION:
(fal-STAF-ee-uhn)

MEANING:
adjective: Fat, jolly, and convivial.

ETYMOLOGY:
After Sir John Falstaff, a character in Shakespeare's plays Henry IV (parts 1 & 2) and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Earliest documented use: 1809. Another character from these plays who has become a word in English is Bardolph.

USAGE:
"His hair was long and scruffy, his ties ludicrous and his manner jovial bordering on Falstaffian; a board meeting, for him, was a debate, punctuated by gales of his maniacal laughter."
Obituary: John Harvey-Jones; The Economist (London, UK); Jan 17, 2008.

See more usage examples of falstaffian in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The only thing one can give an artist is leisure in which to work. To give an artist leisure is actually to take part in his creation. -Ezra Pound, poet (1885-1972)

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