This week’s theme
Words that have changed

This week’s words
peccant
prestigious
dapper
peterman
prudish

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(PEE-tuhr-muhn)

MEANING:

noun: Safecracker.

ETYMOLOGY:

From peter, slang for a safe. Earliest documented use: 1400.

NOTES:

Earlier a peterman was a fisherman, after St. Peter who was a fisherman. Later, the word developed the sense of a safecracker from slang peter meaning safe: peter. It’s not clear how peter developed this sense. Perhaps because St. Peter held the keys to heaven or because the name Peter meaning stone alludes to solidity, and thence to a safe.

USAGE:

“He’s a peterman. Housebreaking’s just the last thing we got him for. He blows safes. He did the British Linen Bank on Kilmarnock Road in ’66.”
Liam McIlvanney; The Quaker; HarperCollins; 2019.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: