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Dec 4, 2017
This week’s theme
Illustrated words

This week’s words
bibliomania
chatoyant
gastronome
quaggy
robustious

bibliomania
Illustration: Leah Palmer Preiss

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

A picture is worth a thousand words, but some pictures leave us wordless. That’s the case for illustrations by the artist Leah Palmer Preiss (curiouser AT mindspring.com).

I gave her five words and you’ll see what she did with them this week. To see her illustrations from previous years, see 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011.

bibliomania

PRONUNCIATION:
(bib-lee-o-MAY-nee-uh, -MAYN-yuh)

MEANING:
noun: An extreme fondness for books.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek biblio- (book) + -mania (excessive enthusiasm or craze). Earliest documented use: 1734.

USAGE:
“If a cure for bibliomania was found, bibliophiles wouldn’t take it. We’re determined to keep adding to our great mounds of books for as long as we’re alive.”
Ron Grossman; My Love Affair with Used Bookstores, Their Treasures; Chicago Tribune (Illinois); Dec 29, 2016.

See more usage examples of bibliomania in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world. I may not complete this last one but I will try. -Rainer Maria Rilke, poet and novelist (4 Dec 1875-1926)

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