words: sternutation / pink

2 random words from Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day email bulletin:

sternutation

\ster-nyuh-TAY-shun\
noun

Meaning
: the act, fact, or noise of sneezing

Example Sentence
Julie knew that she had put on too much perfume when she entered the car and immediately heard a chorus of sternutation from the passengers.

Did you know?
"Sternutation" comes from Latin and is a descendant of the verb "sternuere," meaning "to sneeze." One of the earliest known English uses occurred in a 16th-century edition of a book on midwifery, in a passage about infants suffering from frequent "sternutation and sneesynge." The term has long been used in serious medical contexts, but also on occasion for humorous effect. In 1850, for example, author Grace Greenwood observed that U.S. senators from opposing political parties would often come together to share snuff: "And all three forget their sectional differences in a delightful concert of sternutation. No business is too grave, no speaker too eloquent, to be 'sneezed at.'"

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.



pink

\PINK\
verb

Meaning
1 a : to perforate in an ornamental pattern *b : to cut a saw-toothed edge on
2 a : pierce, stab b : to wound by irony, criticism, or ridicule

Example Sentence
"The sleek curtain requires no sewing; we pinked the edges to add a bit of detail." (Jennie Voorhees, Martha Stewart Living, April 2002)

Did you know?
Our unabridged dictionary, Webster's Third New International, includes 13 distinct entries for "pink," whereas our abridged volume, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate, satisfies itself with the five most common. (Words get distinct entries in our dictionaries when they have different etymologies or different parts of speech.) Today's "pink," the only verb of the five, is from a Middle English word meaning "to thrust." Of the remaining four, the only "pink" older than the verb (which dates to 1503) is a 15th century noun referring to a kind of ship. The next-oldest noun has since 1573 referred to a genus of herbs. The noun referring to the color pink and its related adjective date to 1678 and 1720, respectively. Evidence suggests that a new verb "pink" — a synonym of the verb "pink-slip" — is also emerging.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.