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

1. A hypothesis, similar to the one originally propounded by Goropius which is now discredited, that some attested or modern language such as Dutch, Hebrew, or Turkish was the original language of human beings.
2. An absurd etymology proposed as part of such a hypothesis.

The Dutch physician and linguist Johannes Goropius Becanus, from whose name the word derives, was born on this day (23 June according to the Julian calendar) 505 years ago in 1519.

1. (idiomatic, also attributive) A group, philosophy, or social or political movement that encompasses or seeks to attract a broad range of constituents or members, or views.

The American businessman James Anthony Bailey, who founded the Barnum & Bailey Circus with Phineas Taylor Barnum, was born on this day in 1847.

1. A wild, headlong running away or scamper of a number of animals, usually caused by fright.
2. (by extension)
   1. A situation in which many people in a crowd are trying to move in the same direction at the same time, especially in consequence of a panic.
   2. (Canada, US) An event at which cowboy skills are displayed; a rodeo.
3. (figurative) A sudden unconcerted acting together of a number of persons due to, or as if due to, some common impulse.

stampede v

1. (transitive)
   1. To cause (a drove or herd of animals) to run away or scamper in a wild, headlong manner, usually due to fright.
   2. To cause animals (owned by a person) to run away or scamper in this manner.
   3. (by extension) To cause (people in a crowd) to move in the same direction at the same time, especially due to panic.
   4. (by extension) To cause (an individual) to act hastily or rashly.
   5. (figurative) To cause (people) to act in a sudden unconcerted manner due to, or as if due to, some common impulse.
2. (intransitive)
   1. Of a drove or herd of animals: to run away or scamper in a wild, headlong manner, usually due to fright.
   2. (by extension) Of people in a crowd: to move in the same direction at the same time, especially due to panic.
   3. (figurative) Of people: to act in a sudden unconcerted manner due to, or as if due to, some common impulse.

The Calgary Stampede, which features one of the world’s largest rodeos, begins on this day in 2024. It was first held in 1912, and became an annual event 105 years ago in 1919.

1. (US, dialectal, dated) Used to express agreement with a woman (and, somewhat less commonly, a man): yes, ma'am.
2. (Australia) Alternative form of yes.

The American author Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, in which the word is used, was published on this day in 1960.

1. On this side of the Alps (chiefly the south side where Rome is located).
2. Alternative letter-case form of Cisalpine (“of or pertaining to Gallicanism (“the doctrine that the church of France is autonomous, especially in relation to the pope”); of or pertaining to cisalpinism (“a movement in 18th–19th century Britain among Roman Catholics which took the view that allegiance to the Crown was compatible with allegiance to the pope, and that Roman Catholics should be emancipated from various legal restrictions”)”)

Marie Paradis from Chamonix (then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia), became the first woman to climb Mont Blanc, Western Europe’s highest mountain, on this day in 1808.

1. An image of a man perceived in the dark maria (plains or "seas") and light highlands or other features of the Moon, originally regarded as a man with a burden on his back or accompanied by a small dog, and now more commonly as a man's face in the full moon or his profile in a crescent moon; hence, an imaginary man thought to be living on the Moon.
2. (obsolete, figurative) An imaginary person; also (UK politics, slang), an unidentified person who illegally pays for election expenditure and electors' expenses, as long as the latter vote as the person wishes.

The American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first person to step on to the Moon’s surface during the Apollo 11 mission on this day 55 years ago in 1969 at 02:56 UTC.

1. (firearms, historical) A large, portable firearm normally supported by wheels, in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession; it was chiefly used from the 14th to the 17th century.

On this day in 1835, Giuseppe Marco Fieschi attempted to assassinate King Louis Philippe I of France using the machine infernale or infernal machine, a homemade 25-barrel organ gun. He was unsuccessful, but 18 people either died on the spot or succumbed to injuries later on.

1. The topmost point or surface of a thing; the apex, the peak.
   1. The highest point of a hill, mountain, or similar geographical feature.
   2. (mathematics) A vertex of a polygon or polyhedron.
   3. (nautical, rail transport, road transport) The highest point of a canal, railway, road, etc.
   4. (obsolete)
      1. (botany) Synonym of anther (“the pollen-bearing part of the stamen of a flower”); also (rare), synonym of stigma (“the sticky part of a flower that receives pollen during pollination”)
      2. (crystallography, rare) One of the two vertices of a crystal with a rhombohedral shape where the angles of each face are equal; also, the highest point of a crystal with a pyramidal or tetrahedral shape.
2. (figurative)
   1. The highest point of achievement, development, etc., that can be reached; the acme, the pinnacle.
   2. (politics)
      1. (archaic) The highest level of political leadership.
      2. (by extension) An assembly or gathering of the leaders of countries to discuss issues of international significance; also (loosely), an important or high-level gathering or meeting.

summit v

1. (transitive, climbing, informal) To reach the summit (noun sense 1.1) of (a mountain).
2. (intransitive)
   1. (climbing, informal) To reach the summit of a mountain.
   2. (politics) To attend a summit (noun sense 2.2.2).

The mountaineers Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli, who were members of an Italian expedition, became the first people to reach the summit of K2—the second highest mountain in the world—on this day 70 years ago in 1954.