This week’s theme
Eponyms

This week’s words
gnathonic
bovarism
Mrs. Grundy
struwwelpeter
gargantua

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(MIS-iz GRUND-ee)

MEANING:

noun: An extremely conventional or priggish person.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Mrs. Grundy, a character in the 1798 play Speed the Plough by Thomas Morton. Mrs. Grundy never appears on the stage, but her neighbor Dame Ashfield constantly worries about “What will Mrs. Grundy say?” Earliest documented use: 1813.

USAGE:

“The government cannot become a Mrs. Grundy, advising people how many kids they should have, what moral values they should adhere to, or what they should read or watch.”
Yusuf Kanli; Is the State a Mrs Grundy?; Turkish Daily News (Ankara); Sep 29, 2008.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: