This week’s theme
People who became verbs

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

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(ROB-in-suhn KROO-soh)

MEANING:

verb tr.: To maroon, to isolate, or to abandon.
noun: A castaway; a person who is isolated or without companionship.

ETYMOLOGY:

After the title character of Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe. Crusoe was a shipwrecked sailor who spent 28 years on a remote desert island. Earliest documented use: 1768. Crusoe’s aide has also become an eponym in the English language: man Friday.

USAGE:

“I had not seen any people ... while I was Robinson Crusoed out there on the wet international border.”
Robert Wehrman; Walking Man: The Secret Life of Colin Fletcher; BookBaby; 2016.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: