Wiktionary:Word of the day/Archive/2025/June

1. (archaic) Of a man: to promise to take (a woman) as a future spouse; to plight one's troth to.
2. (archaic) Often of a parent or guardian: to promise that (two people) be married to each other; specifically and chiefly, to promise that (a woman) be given in marriage to a man; to affiance.
3. (figurative)
   1. (Christianity, archaic) Of God: to enter into a relationship with (believers, or the church as a whole); also, of a priest: to pledge (himself) to the church prior to being consecrated as a bishop.
   2. (obsolete) To pledge or promise oneself to (a cause); to espouse; also (sometimes reflexive), to pledge or promise (oneself or one's efforts) to a cause or to do something.

Today is the Global Day of Parents, which is recognized by the United Nations to honour the commitment of parents towards their children.

1. (crime) A code of silence amongst members of the Mafia that forbids divulging insider secrets to law enforcement, often also followed outside of the organization for fear of retaliation.
2. (by extension) Any code of silence (especially about something illegal or secret), or refusal to talk openly about something.

Today is Festa della Repubblica or Republic Day, Italy’s national day. The institutional referendum in which the people voted to become a republic was held on this day in 1946.

1. (transport) Of a posture adopted by a person steering a vehicle (such as an aeroplane, car, or motorcycle): sitting up straight, not bent forward or leaning back.
2. (cycling, specifically) Of a bicycle: having handlebars that are rather high and curve backwards, so that the rider sits upright rather than hunching forward; also, of the handlebars of a bicycle: rather high and curving backwards, thus requiring the rider to sit upright.

sit-up-and-beg n

1. (UK, cycling) A bicycle having handlebars that are rather high and curve backwards, so that the rider sits upright rather than hunching forward; a roadster.

Today is World Bicycle Day, which is recognized by the United Nations to highlight the bicycle as a simple, affordable, and sustainable form of transport.

1. (transitive)
   1. (chiefly clothing) To remove or take off (something worn on the body such as armour or clothing, or something carried).
      1. To remove or tip (a hat or other headwear) in greeting or salutation, or as a mark of respect.
   2. (reflexive, archaic except UK, dialectal) To undress (oneself); to divest, to strip.
   3. (figurative) To cast aside or get rid of (something), to throw off.
   4. (textiles)
      1. To remove (a bobbin or spindle which is full of spun yarn) from a spinning frame for replacement with an empty one.
      2. To remove (small pieces of cotton, etc.) from a carding cylinder.
   5. (obsolete) To put off or turn away (someone) with an excuse, etc.
2. (intransitive, rare)
   1. (archaic) To remove or tip a hat or other headwear in greeting or salutation, or as a mark of respect.
   2. (obsolete) Followed by with: to remove or take off something worn on the body, or something carried.

doff n

1. (obsolete, rare) Followed by off: an act of putting off or turning away someone with an excuse, etc.

1. (ecology) The study of protecting the natural environment from the destructive effects of human civilization.

Today is World Environment Day, which is recognized by the United Nations to promote worldwide awareness of the need and action to protect the environment. The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden, began on this day in 1972.

1. A residential complex in a current or former communist country, chiefly one which was previously part of the Soviet Union; a microdistrict.

Today is UN Russian 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 Russian novelist and poet Alexander Pushkin, regarded as the father of modern Russian literature, was born on this day in 1799.

1. (archaic or historical) The entrails of an animal, especially when used as a food ingredient; offal.
2. (obsolete) A sauce made from chopped animal entrails.

Today is World Food Safety Day, which is recognized by the United Nations to raise awareness about and promote global food safety.

1. (Judaism) Synonym of Shavuot (“a Jewish harvest festival which falls on the sixth day of Sivan in the spring, fifty days after the second day of the Passover when the omer (“sheaf of barley”) is offered; a ceremony held on that day to commemorate the giving of the Torah (“first five books of the Hebrew scriptures”) to Moses and the Israelites on Mount Sinai”).
2. (by extension, Christianity)
   1. A festival which falls on the seventh Sunday after Easter which commemorates the event described in Acts 2 of the Bible when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles during the Jewish festival of Pentecost (sense 1), conferring on them the miraculous ability to explain the gospel in languages they did not know; also, the Sunday on which the festival is celebrated; Whitsunday.
   2. In full day of Pentecost or Pentecost day: the day on which the event commemorated by the festival (sense 2.1) occurred; also, the event itself.
   3. Synonym of Whitsuntide (“the week beginning on Whitsunday; also, the weekend which includes Whitsunday”).
   4. (by extension) The gift of the Holy Spirit to a Christian; also, the occurrence of this.
3. A surname.

In 2025, Pentecost takes place on this day in both Eastern and Western Christianity.

1. Chiefly in terraqueous globe (that is, the Earth): consisting of both land and water.
2. Relating to, or taking place on, both land and water.
3. (botany) Of a plant: living in both land and water; amphibious.

Yesterday was World Oceans Day, a day recognized by the United Nations to highlight the importance of conserving and protecting the world’s oceans. The Oceans Institute of Canada, supported by the Government of Canada, held an event called Oceans Day at the Global Forum, a parallel event at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 8 June 1992.

1. (transitive)
   1. To take part in (a wrestling bout or match).
   2. Sometimes followed by down: to contend with or move (someone) into or out of a position by grappling; also, to overcome (someone) by grappling.
   3. To move or manipulate (something) using physical effort, usually with some difficulty or opposition.
   4. (figurative) To engage in (a contest or struggle).
   5. (Western US) To throw down (a calf or other livestock animal) for branding.
2. (intransitive)
   1. To grapple or otherwise contend with an opponent in order to throw or force them to the ground, chiefly as a sport or in unarmed combat.
   2. Followed by with: to move or manipulate something using physical effort, usually with some difficulty or opposition.
   3. (figurative)
      1. To make one's way or move with some difficulty or effort.
      2. Followed by against or with: to contend, to struggle; to exert effort, to strive.
      3. (archaic) To contend verbally; to argue, to debate, to dispute.
      4. (archaic) To twist or wriggle; to writhe.
      5. (archaic) Followed by with: to concern or occupy oneself closely, or deal with, a task, etc.

wrestle n

1. (countable)
   1. A fight or struggle between people during which they grapple or otherwise contend with each other in order to throw or force their opponent to the ground, chiefly as a sport or in unarmed combat.
   2. (figurative) A situation in which people compete with each other; a contest, a struggle.
2. (uncountable, also figurative) The action of contending or struggling.

1. A broad belt, originally of leather and often richly ornamented, worn diagonally from shoulder to hip (across the breast and under the opposite arm), which was formerly used to hold a sword, a bugle, etc., and is now chiefly worn for ceremonial purposes; also (loosely), any belt.
2. (obsolete)
   1. (by extension) A (usually leather) strap from which the clapper of a bell is suspended.
   2. (by extension) A necklace.
   4. (figurative) The zodiac (“belt-like region of the celestial sphere, approximately eight degrees north and south of the ecliptic, which includes the apparent path of the sun, moon, and visible planets”).

The first episode of the British television comedy series Blackadder was broadcast on 15 June 1983—Baldrick was a character from the show.

1. Very dear; beloved, cherished, favourite.
2. (affected) Very cute or lovable; adorable, charming, sweet.

darling n

1. Often used as an affectionate term of address: a person who is very dear to one.
2. A person who is kind, sweet, etc., and thus lovable; a pet, a sweetheart; also, an animal or thing which is cute and lovable.
3. A favourite.
   1. The favourite child in a family.
   2. (by extension) A person (often a woman) or thing that is very popular with a certain group of people.
   3. (obsolete) A royal favourite, the intimate companion of a monarch or other royal personage, often delegated significant political power.

darling v

1. (transitive, informal) To call (someone) "darling" (noun sense 1).

The first episode of the British television comedy series Blackadder was broadcast on 15 June 1983—Kevin Darling was a character from the show.

1. (UK, informal) Any ordinary woman, especially an older woman.

The first episode of the British television comedy series Blackadder was broadcast on 15 June 1983—Mrs Miggins was a character from the show.

1. (derogatory, also attributive)
   1. A male person regarded as unmanly or weak; a sissy; specifically (historical), a male conscientious objector.
   2. (military) An educated soldier; specifically, an officer.

The first episode of the British television comedy series Blackadder was broadcast on 15 June 1983—Lord Percy Percy was a character from the show.

1. Preceded by the: A river in the Scottish Borders council area, Scotland, a tributary of Whiteadder Water; in full, Blackadder Water.
2. A rural locality in the Scottish Borders council area, south of the river (OS grid reference NT8452).
3. A surname.

The first episode of the British television comedy series Blackadder was broadcast on this day in 1983—Edmund Blackadder was the titular protagonist of the show.

1. (particle physics) In the Standard Model, one of a number of elementary subatomic particles having fractional electric charge that forms matter. They are theorized not to exist in isolation, but only in combinations in hadrons such as neutrons and protons or in quark–gluon plasmas.
2. (by extension, computing, X Window System)
   1. An integer that uniquely identifies a text string.
   2. (slang) A nonsense, trivial text string.

Today is Bloomsday, which celebrates the life of the Irish writer James Joyce. It is named after Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Joyce’s 1922 novel Ulysses, the events of which take place on this day in 1904. The American physicist Murray Gell-Mann, who coined the word quark for the subatomic particle, noted that the word had appeared in another of Joyce’s works, Finnegans Wake (1939).

1. Lasting or enduring forever; endless, eternal.
   1. Chiefly of a deity or other supernatural being: having always existed and will continue to exist forever; eternal.
   2. (philosophy) Synonym of sempiternal (“having infinite temporal duration, rather than outside time and thus lacking temporal duration altogether”).
2. (chiefly hyperbolic, informal)
   1. Continuing for a long period; eternal.
   2. Happening all the time, especially to a tiresome extent; constant, incessant, unending.
   3. Of clothing or fabric: lasting a long time; very durable or hard-wearing.
   4. (botany) Chiefly in the name of a plant:
      1. Having flowers that retain their colour and form when dried.
      2. Of a plant or plant part: Synonym of perennial (“active throughout the year, or having a life cycle of more than two growing seasons”).
   5. (US, regional, archaic) Used as an intensifier.

1. Someone who spreads fear.

fearmonger v

1. (intransitive) To spread fear.

Today is the International Day for Countering Hate Speech, which was marked by the United Nations for the first time in 2022 to oppose hate speech, discrimination, and xenophobia. The UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech was launched on this day in 2019.

1. (transitive)
   1. To set free (a person or group) from the oppression or restraint of another; to liberate.
      1. To cause (a place) to be free from the colonization or rule of another entity.
      2. (also reflexive) Often followed by from: chiefly with reference to slavery in the United States, and in Central and South America: to set free (oneself or someone) from imprisonment, or from serfdom or slavery.
      3. (chiefly law) To release (a minor) from the legal authority and custody which a parent or guardian has over them; also (Ancient Rome, historical), to release (a child) from the legal authority of the paterfamilias.
   2. (also reflexive, figurative) Often followed by from: to free (oneself or someone, or something) from some constraint or controlling influence (especially when evil or undue); also, to free (oneself or someone) from mental oppression.
   3. (obsolete) To place (something) under one's control; specifically (chiefly reflexive), to cause (oneself or someone) to become the slave of another person; to enslave; also, to subjugate (oneself or someone).
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To become free from the oppression or restraint of another.

emancipate adj

1. (obsolete except poetic) Synonym of emancipated (“having been set free from someone's control, or from some constraint; at liberty, free”)

Today is Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. On this day 160 years ago in 1865, Union Army General Gordon Granger read out General Order No. 3 in Galveston, Texas, stating that all previously enslaved people in Texas were now free.

1. (botany, rare) The botanical study of ferns.

1. (intransitive, music, informal) To play a piano or other keyboard instrument.

The Fête de la Musique (also known as World Music Day), which originated in France on the summer solstice in 1982 and is now celebrated around the world, takes place today.

1. (informal) Often preceded by a descriptive word: one who modifies a mass-manufactured object, especially computer hardware or software, or a motor vehicle.

1. An unrecognized or unwritten barrier to further progression or promotion, in employment and elsewhere, for a member of a specific demographic group (originally women).
2. (figurative) A barrier to progression that is not obvious.

Today is International Women in Engineering Day, which was established in 2017 by the Women’s Engineering Society. The Society was founded in the United Kingdom on this day in 1919.

1. (historical) An officer on board a merchant ship who is in charge of the cargo and its sale; also, if there are two of such officers, the senior one, the other being the subcargo.
2. (obsolete) An agent or representative of a company in charge of its overseas business.

Today is the eve of the Day of the Seafarer, which is observed by the International Maritime Organization and the United Nations to acknowledge the contributions made by seafarers to international seaborne trade, the world economy, and civil society. Parties to the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers made major amendments to the convention and established the observance 15 years ago on 25 June 2010.

1. (computing) A program that produces its own source code as output.

quine v (transitive)

1. To append (a text) to a quotation of itself.
2. (philosophy) To deny the existence or significance of (something obviously real or important).

quine adj

1. (botany, obsolete, rare) Of leaves: arranged in whorls of five.

The American logician and philosopher Willard Van Orman Quine, who lent his name to some senses of the word, was born on this day in 1908.

1. (idiomatic) Certainly not; definitely not; not at all.

1. (uncountable, rhetoric) The use of symbols which may be interpreted to reveal a hidden, broader message, usually a moral or political one, about real-world issues and occurrences; also, the interpretation of such symbols.
2. (countable, by extension)
   1. A picture, story, or other form of communication in which one or more characters, events, or places are used to reveal a hidden, broader message about real-world issues and occurrences.
   2. A character or thing which symbolically represents someone or something else; an emblem, a symbol.
   3. (mathematics, category theory) A category that retains some of the structure of the category of binary relations between sets, representing a high-level generalization of that category.

allegory v

1. (archaic) Synonym of allegorize.
   1. (transitive) To interpret (a picture, story, or other form of communication) to reveal a hidden, broader message about real-world issues and occurrences.
   2. (transitive) To create an allegory (noun sense 2.1) from (a character, an event or situation, etc.); also, to use one or more symbols to depict (a hidden, broader message about real-world issues and occurrences).
   3. (transitive, chiefly religion) Followed by away: to treat (something) as allegorical or symbolic rather than as truth.
   4. (intransitive) To interpret an allegory.
   5. (intransitive) To create or use allegory.

1. A festival or other event, usually involving a march or parade and organized annually within a city, to celebrate the experiences and identities of LGBTQ people and to promote their interests and rights.
2. A movement encouraging a positive approach to personal identity amongst LGBTQ people.

On this day in 1969, members of the LGBTQ community refused to cooperate or go with police who raided the Stonewall Inn in New York City, beginning spontaneous, violent demonstrations now known as the Stonewall riots, a key moment in the fight for LGBTQ rights in the United States.

1. Any of various tropical and subtropical evergreen shrubs or trees chiefly of the Rhizophoraceae family that have aerial roots and grow in clumps in brackish intertidal coastal areas; (specifically) any of various trees of the genus Rhizophora, especially the red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle).
2. (by extension)
   1. A forest of such shrubs or trees.
   2. Preceded by a descriptive word: any of various shrubs or trees of genera other than Rhizophora which resemble plants of this genus in appearance and habitat.
   3. (ecology, also attributive) Synonym of mangal (“a tropical and subtropical coastal intertidal swampland ecosystem characterized by mangroves (sense 1) or similar shrubs and trees”).

Today is the International Day of the Tropics, which is recognized by the United Nations to highlight the important role that countries in tropical areas of the world play in achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and to raise awareness about the challenges faced by these areas. The first State of the Tropics Report by twelve tropical research institutions was launched on this day in 2014.

1. Of a thing: causing or having the nature of a scandal; regarded as so immoral or wrong as to be extremely disgraceful; despicable, shameful.
2. Of a person: delighted by scandal.
3. Of speech or writing: defamatory, malicious.
4. (figurative) Exceeding reasonable limits; outrageous.
5. (archaic or obsolete) Of a person: guilty of extremely disgraceful conduct or some misconduct; infamous; also, unfit for their office or position due to misconduct, etc.
6. (law) Of information, a statement, etc.: not pertinent to a matter; irrelevant.
7. (obsolete)
   1. Causing offence or trouble.
   2. (pathology, uncertain) Of a disease or symptom: putrid, rotting.