This week’s theme
Tosspot words

This week’s words
scofflaw
killjoy
sawbones
spoilsport
dreadnought


This week’s comments
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Next week’s theme
Words to describe people

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(DRED-not)

MEANING:

noun:
1. A fearless person.
2. A battleship armed with all heavy guns.
3. A thick cloth.
4. A warm garment made of thick cloth.
5. A type of acoustic guitar with a large body and loud sound.

ETYMOLOGY:

Literally “fear nothing”, from dread (fear), from Old English adraedan, ondraedan (fear) + nought (nothing), from naught, from na (no) + wiht (thing). Earliest documented use: 1573.

NOTES:

Sense 1 is inspired from the 1573 English ship Dreadnought. Sense 2 & 5 are from the 1906 battleship HMS Dreadnought which had heavy guns. Sense 3 & 4 are from heavy garments worn on ships to protect from the elements.

USAGE:

“Could he not see that the gullible young man they’d roped into this union had returned as a dreadnought?”
Christine Merrill; The Secrets Of Wiscombe Chase; Harlequin; 2016.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: