Wiktionary:Word of the day/Archive/2016/March

1. A work of art relating or dedicated to the night.
2. (music) A dreamlike or pensive composition, usually for the piano.

Polish composer Frédéric Chopin, who composed 21 nocturnes including the best-known Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9, No. 2, was probably born on this day in 1810.

1. (horticulture) A flowerbed, particularly an elevated one.
2. (horticulture) A garden with paths between such flowerbeds.
3. (theater) A part of the section of theater seats located on the ground floor, on the same level as the orchestra.
   1. The part of the ground-floor section nearest the orchestra and the stage; the stalls.
   2. (British) The part of the ground-floor section behind the stalls and underneath the galleries; the pit.
4. (theater, by extension) That part of a theater audience seated in the parterre, sometimes regarded as belonging to a lower social class.
5. (US, New York) An apartment balcony.

1. (obsolete) Fitted to trench or cut; gutting; sharp.
2. (figuratively) Keen; biting; vigorously effective and articulate; severe.

1. A medicine which preserves or defends against disease; a preventive.
2. (US) Specifically, a prophylactic condom.
3. (figuratively) Any device or mechanism intended to prevent harmful consequences.

Julius Fromm, the inventor of a process for making condoms from liquefied rubber, was born on this day in 1883.

1. The method or power of gaining control over someone's personality or actions, as in hypnosis or suggestion.

German physician Franz Mesmer died on this day in 1815.

1. (mostly plural) Any monetary or other incidental benefit beyond salary.
2. A gratuity.
3. A privilege or possession held or claimed exclusively by a certain person, group or class.

1. To divest of all covering; to make bare or naked; to strip.

1. (South Africa) Grandmother; elderly woman.

Today is International Women's Day.

1. To urge; to advise earnestly.

1. Inactive, quiet, at rest.
2. (grammar) Not sounded; silent.
3. (cytology) Non-proliferating.

1. Favorable; benevolent.
2. (archaic) Favorably disposed towards someone.
3. Advantageous.
4. Characteristic of a good omen; auspicious.

1. (archaic) Purple.

British chemist William Henry Perkin, who accidentally discovered mauveine, the first aniline dye, was born on this day in 1838.

1. (rhetoric) An abrupt breaking-off in speech, often indicated in print using an ellipsis (…) or an em dash (—).

1. Endlessly; for ever; neverendingly.

Today is Pi Day, and also the birth anniversary of German-born scientist Albert Einstein, who was born in 1879.

1. Causing physical harm or injury; harmful, hurtful.
2. Causing harm to one's reputation; invidious, defamatory, libelous, slanderous.

1. (UK) A cold and penetrating mist, verging on rain.
2. (British, dialect, chiefly Lancashire and Yorkshire, idiomatic) Something that is hard to find or does not exist.
3. A drink of Scotch whisky served with ice and lemon peel.
4. (botany) The perennial flowering plant Galium sylvaticum.

1. (obsolete) To expel or remove from paradise.

1. (chiefly late-19th-century US slang, intransitive) To snore very loudly.

Today is World Sleep Day in 2016, which celebrates the benefits of good and healthy sleep.

1. One who denies to others what he cannot use himself.

1. Pseudis paradoxa, a species of frog unusual because it is larger as a tadpole (up to 25 cm or 10 in long) than as an adult (about a quarter of that length).

Today, the March equinox in 2016, is designated by some as World Frog Day.

1. (idiomatic, originally US) To embarrass oneself or others in public.

1. A rock that is initially believed to be a meteorite, but is in fact terrestrial in origin.

1. (biblical) A word occurring between verses or paragraphs in parts of the Hebrew Bible, namely in Habakkuk and the Psalms, perhaps indicating a pause for contemplation.

The Jewish holiday of Purim, which commemorates Esther's saving of the Jewish people from slaughter, begins on this day in 2016.

1. The study or art of escaping from a constriction, such as a rope, handcuffs, etc.

Harry Houdini, the American illusionist and stunt performer, was born on this day in 1874.

1. (UK, slang, dated) in order; perfect.

British Army officer Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley, from whom the expression derives, died on this day in 1913.

1. (idiomatic) To make a promise or give an assurance with great conviction.

Holy Saturday falls on this day in 2016.

1. (Christianity) The Lord's prayer, especially in a Roman Catholic context.
2. A slow, continuously moving lift or elevator consisting of a loop of open-fronted cabins running the height of a building, the arrangement resembling a rosary. The moving compartment is entered at one level and left when the desired level is reached.
3. (architecture) A bead-like ornament in mouldings.
4. (archaic) A string of beads used in counting prayers that are said; a rosary.
5. (archaic) A patent medicine, so named because salesmen would pray the Lord's prayer over it before selling it.

In Western Christianity, Easter falls on this day.

1. One who is or exists.

To celebrate April Fools' Day this week, we are featuring a series of words with unexpected meanings. Enjoy!

1. (ecclesiastical) In the Catholic Church, a rare title conferred to or claimed by the sees of certain archbishops, or the highest-ranking bishop of a present or historical, usually political circumscription.
2. (ecclesiastical) In the Anglican Church, an archbishop, or the highest-ranking bishop of an ecclesiastic province.

To celebrate April Fools' Day this week, we are featuring a series of words with unexpected meanings. Enjoy!

1. (now historical) A servant attending at a meal who is responsible for seating arrangements, serving dishes, etc.
2. One who sews.
3. A small tortricid moth the larva of which sews together the edges of a leaf using silk.

To celebrate April Fools' Day this week, we are featuring a series of words with unexpected meanings. Enjoy!

1. (chiefly Kent dialect) Brushwood for fences and hedges.

To celebrate April Fools' Day this week, we are featuring a series of words with unexpected meanings. Enjoy!