Wiktionary:Word of the day/Archive/2009/May

1. (nautical) The third mast from the bow on a ship having three or more masts.
2. (nautical) The shorter, aftward mast of a ship having two masts, such as a ketch or yawl

1. Eagerness; liveliness; enthusiasm.
2. Promptness; speed

1. To start back; to recoil; to recede from a purpose.
2. To spring back; rebound; resume the original form or position, as an elastic body

1. The throat or esophagus

1. Dark and gloomy.
2. Infernal or hellish.
3. Of, or relating to the river Styx

1. Lenient and allowing for deviation; not strict.
2. Loose; not tight or taut

1. To tolerate, support, sanction, or approve of something

1. A stylistic scheme in which words from the same root are used together, or a word is repeated in a different inflection or case

1. Wrongdoing.
2. (law) Sabotage that causes damage

1. (archaic) Be that as it may; nevertheless

1. Pertaining to the highest heaven or the empyrean; celestial; exalted.
2. Of the sky or heavens.
3. Fiery, made of pure fire

1. (astronomy) An extragalactic object, starlike in appearance, that is among the most luminous and thought to be the most distant objects in the universe

1. To foretell events; to exhibit signs of future events

1. (philosophy) Of an object, green when first observed before a specified time or blue when first observed after that time.
2. (linguistics) A term sometimes used as a translation of the word used for both "green" and "blue" in certain languages, such as Welsh, that do not distinguish between the two colors

1. (sports) A heat in which competitors who have lost in a previous round compete for a place in a semifinal

1. Very severe, oppressive or strict.
2. (in fiction) Of or resembling a dragon

1. A college course designed to give a student supervised practical knowledge of a subject previously studied theoretically.
2. A science exam in which students are questioned about specimens or other objects placed in front of them

1. To remove a bud from a plant to prevent flower and fruit from forming.
2. (idiomatic) To stop something at an early stage

1. A defensive wall or rampart.
2. A defense or safeguard.
3. A breakwater

1. Fluent; having a ready flow of speech; garrulous or loquacious.
2. Easily rolling or turning.
3. (botany) Twisting and turning like a vine

1. To cause to move very fast in a certain direction.
2. To make to arrive at a much greater pace to a certain situation or result

1. Understood only by a chosen few or an enlightened inner circle.
2. Having to do with concepts that are highly theoretical and without obvious practical application.
3. Confidential; private

1. A small enclosed structure, open on one side or with a window, used as a booth to sell newspapers, cigarettes, etc

1. Relating to general strategies or methods for solving problems.
2. Of a method that is not certain to arrive at an optimal solution

1. Distress of mind caused by a failure of aims or plans, by mistakes, or by want of appreciation

1. (architecture) A row of balusters topped by a rail, serving as an open parapet, as along the edge of a balcony

1. To take the life of; to kill.
2. To overpower; to subdue; to put down.
3. To quiet; to allay; to pacify

1. Not having been lauded or appreciated.
2. Not sung

1. The act of shaking or weakening or the resulting state; overthrow, ruination

1. A small amount; an iota.
2. The dot (or diacritic replacing it) on the Latin letters i and j

1. (intransitive, idiomatic) To have a complex and apparently paradoxical nature; to be inconsistent, especially in a way that is ultimately admirable or noble.

The American poet Walt Whitman, from whose work “Song of Myself” (1855) the term derives, was born on this day 205 years ago in 1819.