This week’s theme
Shirts & pants

This week’s words
fancy-pants
shirtsleeve
trouser role
brownshirt
seat-of-the-pants

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(BRAUN-shuhrt)

MEANING:

noun: A member of police or military trained for carrying out a sudden assault, especially one marked by brutality and violence.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Nazi storm troopers, from the color of their shirts. Earliest documented use: 1932.

USAGE:

“All the windows had already been smashed, and a brownshirt with a sledgehammer was dementedly swinging it against the heavy doors. All this was lit by the bonfire in front of the building, which other storm troopers kept refueling with stuff brought out from within.”
David Downing; Diary of a Dead Man on Leave; Soho Press; 2019.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: