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A.Word.A.Day--crispin

crispin (KRIS-pin) noun

A shoemaker.

[After St. Crispin, patron saint of shoemakers. He and his brother St. Crispinian were martyred as Christian missionaries. They made their living as shoemakers.]

See more usage examples of crispin in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

"The draft then draws on a block of material from the boot and shoe trade described by the Narrator as 'the Crispin trade'. Simon Trussler and Clive Barker; New Theatre Quarterly; Cambridge University Press; Aug 25, 2003.

"And, lo! up starts the demon Drink.
The joiner's bench, the mason's shed,
The place of dough and smoking bread,
The tailor's board, the Crispin's stool
All, all proclaim the demon's rule!"
Janet Hamilton; Lyrics of Drink; Poems, Sketches And Essays; 1885.

There are thousands and thousands of them. In medicine, botany, chemistry, athletics, and other walks (and runs) of life. We use them all the time without even realizing it. They come with a whole story about themselves. They are words derived from people, real and fictional, from history and from mythology. They are known as eponyms and this week we'll meet five of these people and the words by which we remember them.

-Anu Garg

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