This week’s theme
People who became verbs

This week’s words
grandisonize
lynch
galvanize
mesmerize
crusoe

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(linch)

MEANING:

verb tr.: To punish (typically, killing by hanging) for an alleged crime, without a legal trial.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Captain William Lynch (1742-1820) of Pittsylvania, Virginia, who was the head of a vigilante group. Some have attributed the term to Charles Lynch (1736-1796), a Virginia magistrate. Earliest documented use: 1836.

USAGE:

“In August a mob there [in Shashamane, Ethiopia] lynched a man wrongly suspected of carrying a bomb.”
A Colourful Revolution; The Economist (London, UK); Dec 8, 2018.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: