This week’s theme
Words with multiple personas

This week’s words
onolatry
grizzle
polyphony
bibble
jactation

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(GRIZ-uhl)

MEANING:

verb tr.:	To make gray.
verb intr.:	1. To turn gray.
	2. To fuss; to gripe or grumble.
noun:	1. An animal with gray or grizzled fur.
	2. Gray hair.
adjective:	1. Having gray hair.
	2. Gray.

ETYMOLOGY:

For the color-related senses: from Old French grisel, diminutive of gris (gray).
For the grumble sense: origin unknown.
Earliest documented use: 1390.

USAGE:

“My hair has grizzled, I’ve developed a paunch and some rather unpalatable views.”
Sam Wollaston; On the Road; The Guardian (London, UK); Feb 18, 2012.

“Last night, as I was trying to settle my fretting son to sleep, I had a thought, clear as day: ‘I just don’t want to do this any longer.’ He’d been grizzling for 45 minutes, his dad was out, and after a long day at work, all I wanted was a glass of wine and some mindless telly.”
Cathy Adams; Mother Knows Best; The Independent (London, UK); May 10, 2021.

“Consider that I have no hair, no fur, no raiment to disarrange. No silver-trimmed livery-hat to hang on a peg, like Thomas. No grizzle wig to keep free of lice.”
Verlyn Klinkenborg; Timothy; Vintage; 2007.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: