This week’s theme
Metaphors & idioms

This week’s words
baloney
daisy cutter
swan song
haircut
Piccadilly Circus


This week’s comments
AWADmail 1091

Next week’s theme
Coined words

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(pik-uh-dil-ee SUHR-kuhs)

MEANING:

noun: A place that is very busy, crowded, or noisy.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Piccadilly Circus, a busy area in London where several roads meet. The area has tourist attractions, entertainment, shopping, and large illuminated ads. A circus here means a traffic roundabout, but what about Piccadilly? It’s named after a tailor who made a fortune selling piccadill/pickadill, a lace collar popular in the 16th and 17th centuries. The American equivalent of the term is Grand Central Station (a train station in New York City), though for look and feel Times Square (also in NYC) would be closer.

USAGE:

“And surely Oslo fjord should be a Piccadilly Circus of boats? But I couldn’t see a single one.”
Dick Francis; Slay Ride; Harper & Row; 1973.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: