A.Word.A.Day --roborant

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Jul 1, 2008

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Words from medicine

This week's words
costive
roborant
catholicon
atrabilious
linctus

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

roborant

PRONUNCIATION:

(ROB-uhr-uhnt)

MEANING:

adjective: Strengthening.
noun: A tonic.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin roborare (to strengthen), from robor- (oak, hardness). Ultimately from the Indo-European root reudh- (red) that also gave us red, rouge, ruby, ruddy, rubella, robust, corroborate, and rambunctious.

USAGE:

"'A roborant against the night air, dear fellow,' Renzi whispered, proffering hot negus*."
Julian Stockwin; The Admiral's Daughter; McBooks Press; 2007.

(* negus: a drink made of wine, hot water, sugar, nutmeg, and lemon, named after Colonel Francis Negus who invented it.)

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little. -Sydney Smith, writer and clergyman (1771-1845)

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