Tag Archives: Word of the Day

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Wordnik word of the day: sawder

Today’s word of the day is sawder, used especially in the phrase soft sawder to mean “blarney” or “nonsense.” It is a pronunciation-spelling of solder, which is a meltable, malleable metal alloy which is heated used to join metallic parts, such as in electronic gear. If you have a soft solder, then you likely have a badly made circuit or seam. In Willis the Pilot: A Sequel to the Swiss Family Robinson (1858), Paul Adrien uses it this way: “A Frenchman I once met […] firmly believed the Yankees lived on a soup made of bunkum and soft-sawder.” A synonym is soft soap.

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Wordnik word of the day: luna moth

Today’s word of the day is luna moth, which is described by The Century Dictionary as “the most beautiful of North American insects, of a light-green color relieved by luniform eye-spots and by a broad purplish-brown or liliaceous anterior border.” There are many photos of this beautiful insect on the entry’s Flickr page. The caterpillar is kind of amazing, too, though you need to be sure that’s what you have!


luna-moth-sm
Photo by woodley wonderworks under a Creative Commons license.

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Wordnik word of the day: pluck

Today’s word of the day is pluck. Naturally, if we’re going to choose a word that seems so ordinary, we’re going to tell you about a meaning that isn’t. This pluck is the heart, liver, windpipe, and lungs of a sheep, ox, or other animal used as butchers’ meat. It’s also used figuratively or humorously for similar parts of a human being, especially when talking about “having the pluck” or “being plucky,” meaning, “showing courage and spirit in trying circumstances” or “being bold or brave.” In other words, “having the guts or the stomach to do something” or “showing intestinal fortitude.”


Why doesn’t anyone ever say, “He has the belly button to do what’s right?”