This week’s theme
Bird words

This week’s words
gannet
snipe
dodo
magpie
dotterel

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(GAN-it)

MEANING:

noun:
1. A large seabird known for catching fish by diving from a height.
2. A greedy person.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old English ganot. Ultimately from the Indo-European root ghans- (goose), which also gave us goose, gosling, gander, and gunsel. Earliest documented use: before 1000. Gannets’ reputation for being greedy isn’t deserved though. See here.

USAGE:

“Michael Buerk -- I am afraid there is no delicate way to put this -- is a gannet. He steals the very food from your plate. I recall one meal when he had polished off his own steak while I was eating rather more delicately. ‘Don’t you want the rest of that?’ he asked. And before I could answer, it was gone. -Broadcaster John Humphrys.”
The Things They Say...; The Western Morning News (Plymouth, UK); Dec 8, 2014.

“You’re going to have to pace yourself. Nobody likes a gannet, even at a buffet.”
Gareth May; The Ultimate Buffet Etiquette Guide; China Daily (Beijing); July 11, 2015.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: