This week’s theme
Nouning verbs and verbing nouns

This week’s words
woodshed
balk
festoon
bivouac
savvy

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(BI-vuh-ak, BIV-wak, BIV-oo-ak)

MEANING:

noun: A temporary encampment, in the open air, typically without tents or cover.
verb intr.: To take shelter temporarily for the night.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French bivouac, from Swiss German beiwacht (supplementary night watch), from bei- (beside) + Wacht (watch). Earliest documented use, noun: 1706, verb: 1809.

USAGE:

“‘Why can’t we just go back to the bivouac and sleep?’ Cadet Norris whined.”
Christopher Cummings; Barbara’s Bivouac; DoctorZed Publishing; 2019.

“I understand he is numbered among the legions who have bivouacked in your bed.”
Cecelia Holland; The Belt of Gold; Knopf; 1984.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: