This week's theme
Fossil words

This week's words
petard
druthers
dudgeon
caboodle
shrift

This week's comments
AWADmail 588

Next week's theme
Insults

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(shrift)

MEANING:

noun: Confession to a priest. Also, penance and absolution that follow confession.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old English scrift (confession, penance), from scrifan (to shrive: to impose penance). Ultimately from the Indo-European root skribh- (to cut, separate, or sift) that has resulted in other terms, such as manuscript, scribe, subscribe, scripture, scribble, and describe. Earliest documented use: 897.

NOTES:

The term nowadays is mostly seen in the form "to get short shrift" meaning to receive little consideration or a curt treatment. Originally, short shrift was what condemned criminals received: brief time granted to them for confession and absolution before execution.

USAGE:

"Their schools focus on religious learning: even basic subjects such as maths and English get short shrift."
Talmud and Cheesecake; The Economist (London, UK); Jul 28, 2012.

"Downey's midcareer comeback is also given fair shrift in this absorbing account of one man's amazing triumph over his voracious demons."
Chris Keech; Robert Downey Jr.: The Fall and Rise of the Comeback Kid; The Booklist (Chicago); Dec 15, 2010.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: