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Jun 5, 2024
This week’s theme
Words to describe people

This week’s words
perp
pejorist
gaberlunzie
dandiprat
logodaedalus

gaberlunzie
A Scottish beggar’s badge, 1847
Image: Ray Oaks / Wikimedia
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

gaberlunzie

PRONUNCIATION:
(gab-uhr-LUHN-zee)

MEANING:
noun: A wandering beggar, especially one who is licensed.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Scots, further origin unknown. Earliest documented use: 1508.

USAGE:
“Father said dubiously: ‘I thought captains of ships dressed a lot better than that fellow; he looks more like a gaberlunzie to me.’”
Lillian Beckwith; About My Father’s Business; Sheridan; 1973.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
I'm sometimes asked "Why do you spend so much of your time and money talking about kindness to animals when there is so much cruelty to men?" I answer: "I am working at the roots." -George T. Angell, reformer (5 Jun 1823-1909)

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