This week’s theme
People who became verbs

This week’s words
grimthorpe
mithridatize
penelopize
Robinson Crusoe
out-Herod


This week’s comments
AWADmail 784

Next week’s theme
Short words

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(out-HER-uhd)

MEANING:

verb tr.: To surpass in cruelty, evil, extravagance, etc.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Herod the Great (74/73 BCE - 4 BCE), who was depicted as a tyrant in old mystery plays. Earliest documented use: 1604.

USAGE:

“The direct damage done by us, by practicing doctors, who see patients mainly for profit is likely on a scale that easily out-Herods any of the harm produced by the pharmaceutical industry.”
S Nassir Ghaemi; Perspectives in Biology and Medicine (Baltimore, Maryland); Spring 2013.

“Mr. Burroughs himself, however, out-Herods them all in the arts of whitewash.”
Thomas M. Disch; Pleasures of Hanging; The New York Times; Mar 15, 1981.

See more usage examples of out-Herod in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: