This week's theme
Words with multiple, unrelated meanings

This week's words
doxy
enceinte
bravo
cant
pug

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(BRAH-vo, brah-VOH)

MEANING:

interjection: Used to express approval, especially to applaud a performance.
noun: A villain, especially a hired killer.

ETYMOLOGY:

For 1: From Italian bravo (brave, good, clever), from Latin barbarus (barbarous), from Greek barbaros (foreign, barbarian). Earliest documented use: 1761.
For 2: From Italian bravo. Earliest documented use: 1597.

USAGE:

"Soon Gustavo Dudamel's galvanizing pasión with the baton was coaxing reluctant audiences in London, Paris, and New York to give standing ovations of 'Bravo, Gustavo!'"
Chris Lee; Dude Is a Rock Star; Newsweek (New York); Feb 13, 2012.

"Men have before hired bravos to transact their crimes, while their own person and reputation sat under shelter."
Robert Louis Stevenson; The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde; 1886.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: