This week’s theme
Tosspot words

This week’s words
lackwit
dingthrift
turnkey
nipcheese
scattergood

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(TUHRN-kee)

MEANING:

noun: One in charge of the keys in a prison; jailer.
adjective: Relating to a product or service that is supplied ready for immediate use.

ETYMOLOGY:

From turn + key. Partly from Old English tyrnan/turnian and partly from Anglo-French turner, from Latin tornare (to turn on a lathe), from tornus (lathe), from Greek tornos (lathe). Earliest documented use: noun 1655, adjective 1934.

USAGE:

“The turnkey closed and bolted the barred gate.”
Bernard Cornwell; Gallows Thief; HarperCollins; 2001.

“GE began to offer turnkey contracts to utilities, in which it delivered an entire nuclear plant for a fixed price.”
Nucleardawn; The Economist (London, UK); Sep 8, 2007.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: