This week’s theme
Words related to the number 29

This week’s words
aderation
saturnalian
bissextile
lunation
occiput


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AWADmail 1081

Next week’s theme
Toponyms

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(OK-suh-puht)

MEANING:

noun: The back part of the head or skull.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin occipit, from oc- (against) + caput (head). Earliest documented use: 1398. The human head has 29 bones.

USAGE:

“Senator Smoot (Republican, Ut.)
Is planning a ban on smut.
Oh rooti-ti-toot for Smoot of Ut.
And his reverend occiput.
Smite, Smoot, smite for Ut.,
Grit your molars and do your dut.,
Gird up your l--ns,
Smite h-p and th-gh,
We’ll all be Kansas
By and by.
Ogden Nash; Invocation; 1931.

Note: This is the opening stanza of Ogden Nash’s poem on Senator Reed Smoot of Utah whose anti-porn stance led to a newspaper headline “Smoot Smites Smut”.

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

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