A.Word.A.Day -- emeritus

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emeritus

(i-MER-i-tuhs)

plural emeriti; feminine emerita, plural emeritae

adjective: Retired but retaining an honorary title.

From Latin emeritus (one who has served his time), past participle of emerere (to serve out one's term), from merere (to deserve, serve, earn).

"Seeger has been singing out like this since the Great Depression. The earnest troubadour who either co-wrote or popularized canonical songs like 'If I Had a Hammer' and 'John Henry' has become something like America's folkie emeritus."
Michael Hill; Pete Seeger Still Singing at 87; Associated Press; May 17, 2006.

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

X-Bonus

Were we to choose our leaders on the basis of their reading experience and not their political programs, there would be much less grief on earth. I believe ... that for someone who has read a lot of Dickens to shoot his like in the name of an idea is harder than for someone who has read no Dickens. -Joseph Brodsky, poet, Nobel laureate (1940-1996)

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