This week’s theme
Words that have many unrelated meanings

This week’s words
columbine
raddle
mizzle
rummy
gage

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(RAD-l)

MEANING:

noun:	Red ocher, used for marking animals, coloring, etc.
verb tr.:	1. To mark or paint with red ocher.
	2. To twist together or interweave.
	3. To beat or to cause to have a worn-out appearance.

ETYMOLOGY:

noun & verb 1:	A variant of ruddle, from rud (red). Ultimately from the Indo-European root reudh- (red), which also gave us red, rouge, ruby, ruddy, rubella, corroborate, robust, rambunctious, roborant, russet, and robustious. Earliest documented use: 1325.
verb 2:	From English dialect raddle (stick interwoven with others in a fence). Ultimately from the Indo-European root reidh- (to ride), which also gave us ride, raid, road, ready, and raiment. Earliest documented use: 1470.
verb 3:	Origin unknown. Earliest documented use: 1677.

USAGE:

“Close to, she saw that the high colour on the raddled cheeks was rouge.”
Maggie Hope; Orphan Girl; Ebury Press; 2015.

“Her hair was bright blond, although it was not raddled and stringy like Echo’s but done up in feathery swirls.”
Ellen Datlow (ed.); Lovecraft’s Monsters; Tachyon; 2014.

“Disease raddled Mr. Stride’s fine, generous mind.”
Brandy Purdy; The Ripper’s Wife; Kensington Publishing; 2014.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: