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Aug 11, 2011
This week's themeWhat do these car names mean? This week's words paseo accord prius impresa corolla
Subaru Impreza
Photo: Rob Smith
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with Anu Gargimpresa
PRONUNCIATION:
(im-PRAY-zuh)
MEANING:
noun: An emblem or device, usually with a motto.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Italian impresa (undertaking), past participle of imprendere (to
undertake), from Latin in- + prehendere (to grasp). Ultimately from the
Indo-European root ghend-/ghed- (to seize or to take), which is also the
source of pry, prey, spree, reprise, surprise, pregnant, osprey, prison,
and get. Earliest documented use: before 1586.
USAGE:
"A bottle of poison was brought by a girl who owns a ring bearing the
impresa of Mary Stuart."S.J. Parris; Prophecy; Doubleday; 2011. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
By a free country, I mean a country where people are allowed, so long as they do not hurt their neighbours, to do as they like. I do not mean a country where six men may make five men do exactly as they like. -Robert Cecil, British prime minister (1830-1903)
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