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May 7, 2010
This week's themeVerbally speaking This week's words asseverate scarper imbricate batten vellicate This week's comments AWADmail 410 Next week's theme Words derived after mythical places 
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Gargvellicate
PRONUNCIATION:
(VEL-i-kayt)
MEANING:
verb tr., intr.:1. To twitch or to cause to twitch. 2. To pluck, nip, irritate, etc. ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin vellicare, frequentative of vellere (to pull, pluck, or twitch).
NOTES:
The great lexicographer Samuel Johnson used this word in one of his definitions
"Cough: A convulsion of the lungs, vellicated by some sharp serosity" and
broke one of the premier commandments of dictionary making: don't define a word
using a harder word (serosity refers to serum: watery fluid in an animal body).
USAGE:
"I have seen old folk flung to the ground by these paroxysmal and
vellicating vehicles."Paul Johnson; And Another Thing; The Spectator (London, UK); Jun 25, 2005. See more usage examples of vellicate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
If there is a God, I don't think He would demand that anyone bow down or stand up to Him. -Rebecca West, author and journalist (1892-1983)
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