This week's theme
Word coined from animals

This week's words
fishwife
skunky
gossamer
birdlime
chameleonic

See birdlime video in
National Geographic

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(BUHRD-lym)

MEANING:

verb tr.: To ensnare.
noun: Something that ensnares.

ETYMOLOGY:

From birdlime (a sticky substance made from holly, mistletoe, or other plants, and smeared on branches and twigs to catch small birds), from bird + lime, from Latin limus (slime). Earliest documented use: 1440.

USAGE:

"Some dozen of these villains had her birdlimed inside a shepherd's hut when our patrol chanced upon them."
Steven Pressfield; Last of the Amazons; Bantam; 2003.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: