Wiktionary:Word of the day/Archive/2024/December

1. A list of tasks arising during a meeting that are put aside to be dealt with later.
2. A list of things to accomplish before one's death.
   1. (by extension) A list of things to accomplish before a certain deadline or in a certain time period.
3. (computer science) A data structure containing buckets used in a hashing algorithm.

The comedy film The Bucket List, which popularized sense 2 of the term, premiered on this day in the United States in 2007.

1. (historical) A member of various military regimes in the Middle East established and run by freed white slave soldiers, mainly from the Eurasian steppe or the Caucasus; in particular, those who formed a ruling caste in Egypt from 1250 until 1812 and in Syria from 1260 until 1516.
2. (by extension)
   1. (derogatory) One who supports someone or something blindly or slavishly; specifically, one who supports the Roman Catholic Church in this manner.
   2. (obsolete) A slave (especially one who is a white European) in a Middle Eastern Muslim country.

Today is UN Arabic Language Day, one of six such days established by UNESCO to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity and to promote the equal use of its working languages. The United Nations General Assembly approved Arabic as an official UN language on this day in 1973.

1. (humorous) Used as the subtitle of an imagined sequel of a film, television show, etc.

The film Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo premiered in the United States on this day 40 years ago in 1984.

1. A woman who is high-ranking, socially prominent, or has a dignified character, especially one who is advanced in age and haughty.
2. A woman who is accomplished and influential, and is a respected senior figure in a particular field; a doyenne.
3. (figurative) A very highly regarded and well-known institution or structure, or large conveyance such as a ship.

The English actress Dame Maggie Smith was born on this day 90 years ago in 1934; she died on 27 September.

1. A story which supposedly explains the beginning or early development of a current state of affairs; a myth, a pourquoi story.
2. (literature) A story, especially one for children, featuring animals as characters.
3. (social sciences, especially anthropology, philosophy, chiefly derogatory) An untestable explanation for something, such as a form of behaviour, a biological trait, or a cultural practice.

The English writer Rudyard Kipling, whose series of short stories called Just So Stories (published in book form in 1902) gave rise to the term, was born on this day in 1865.