Wiktionary:Word of the day/Archive/2020/April

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1

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Word of the day
for April 1
airhead n
  1. (military) An area of hostile territory that has been seized for use as an airbase to ensure the further safe landing of troops and materiel.
  2. (by extension) A (usually temporary) landing area for aircraft for supplying a non-military operation.
  3. (mining, archaic) Alternative form of air-head (“a horizontal channel providing ventilation in a mine.”)

To celebrate April Fools’ Day, we are featuring a series of homonyms of more common words – enjoy!

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2

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Word of the day
for April 2
email n
  1. (obsolete, rare) Enamel (“an opaque, glossy coating”).

To celebrate April Fools’ Day, we are featuring a series of homonyms of more common words – enjoy!

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3

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Word of the day
for April 3
fetch n
  1. (originally Ireland, dialectal) The apparition of a living person; a person's double, the sight of which is supposedly a sign that they are fated to die soon, a doppelganger; a wraith (“a person's likeness seen just after their death; a ghost, a spectre”).

To celebrate April Fools’ Day, we are featuring a series of homonyms of more common words – enjoy!

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4

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Word of the day
for April 4
ovation n
  1. (zoology, obsolete, rare) The act of laying eggs.

To celebrate April Fools’ Day, we are featuring a series of homonyms of more common words – enjoy!

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5

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Word of the day
for April 5
panda n
  1. (Hinduism) A brahmin who acts as the hereditary superintendent of a particular ghat or temple, and is regarded as knowledgeable in matters of genealogy and ritual.

To celebrate April Fools’ Day, we are featuring a series of homonyms of more common words – enjoy!

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6

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Word of the day
for April 6
urinator n
  1. (obsolete) A diver, especially someone who searches for things underwater.

To celebrate April Fools’ Day, we are featuring a series of homonyms of more common words – enjoy!

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7

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Word of the day
for April 7
herd immunity n
  1. (epidemiology) The protection given to part of the surviving community against an epidemic of a contagious disease when a significant number of the population are immunized or develop immunity if they survive from the disease.

Today is recognized by the United Nations as World Health Day to draw attention to global health issues.

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8

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Word of the day
for April 8
munshi n
  1. (South Asia) A clerk or secretary.
  2. (South Asia) A language teacher, especially one teaching Hindustani or Persian.

Mohammed Abdul Karim, an Indian attendant of Queen Victoria, died this month 111 years ago in 1909. The Queen gave him the title of “Munshi” and had him teach her Urdu.

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9

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Word of the day
for April 9
elsewhen adv
  1. (archaic) At some other time or times; somewhen else.
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10

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Word of the day
for April 10
vale of tears n (idiomatic, often literary or poetic)
  1. (in the singular) The world, a place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt, especially (Christianity) as a place to be left behind when one dies and goes to heaven.
  2. A particular place of sorrow or suffering.

Today is Good Friday in Western Christianity in 2020. It commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ, and foreshadows his resurrection on Easter Sunday.

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11

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12

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Word of the day
for April 12
as I live and breathe phrase
  1. (dated) Used to declare the truth of something with emphasis.
  2. (dated) Used to express surprise at something one is witnessing.

Today is Easter Sunday in Western Christianity in 2020. It celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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13

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Word of the day
for April 13
bastable cake n
  1. (Ireland) A round loaf of soda bread that is baked in a bastable (“an earthenware or cast-iron pot used for baking over a fire”).

Today is Easter Monday in Western Christianity in 2020; the Easter Rising, which began on Easter Monday in April 1916, is commemorated in the Republic of Ireland at this time.

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14

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Word of the day
for April 14
enfeoff v
  1. (transitive, chiefly law, historical) To transfer a fief to, to endow with a fief; to put (a person) in legal possession of a freehold interest.
  2. (transitive, figuratively) To give up completely; to surrender, to yield.

The tongue-in-cheek International Be Kind to Lawyers Day falls on this day in 2020, the second Tuesday of April.

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15

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Word of the day
for April 15
gilder n
  1. One who gilds; especially one whose occupation is to overlay things with gold. [...]
  2. (archaic, rare) Alternative spelling of guilder

Today, the anniversary of Italian Renaissance polymath Leonardo da Vinci's birth in 1452, is declared by the International Association of Art to be World Art Day to celebrate the fine arts.

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16

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17

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Word of the day
for April 17
pincushion n
  1. (sewing) A device, originally like a small, stuffed cushion, designed to have sewing pins and needles stuck into it to store them safely; some modern pincushions hold the objects magnetically.
  2. The names of various plants with flowers or other parts resembling a pincushion.
    1. A flowering plant in the genus Leucospermum.
    2. A flowering plant in the genus Scabiosa.
    3. The coral bead plant, coral moss, or English baby tears (Nertera granadensis), an ornamental plant.
    4. The dustymaiden, a flowering plant in the genus Chaenactis.
    5. The pincushion cactus, of the genera Escobaria or Mammillaria.
    6. The pincushionplant, a flowering plant in the genus Navarretia.
  3. (figuratively, colloquial) A person who is pricked or stabbed multiple times with sharp objects; specifically, someone who receives regular hypodermic needle injections.

pincushion v

  1. (transitive, also figuratively) To jab or stick repeatedly with one or more sharp objects, as with pins into a pincushion.
  2. (intransitive) To assume the shape of a pincushion; specifically, of the image on a computer display, television, etc., to exhibit pincushion distortion, where the sides curve inwards.
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18

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Word of the day
for April 18
effloresce v
  1. (intransitive, obsolete except figuratively) To burst into bloom; to flower.
  2. (intransitive, figuratively) Of something hidden: to come forth, to emerge; also, to reach full glory or power.
  3. (intransitive, chemistry) Senses relating to chemistry.
    1. Of a substance: to change from being crystalline to powdery by losing water of crystallization.
    2. Of a salt: to seep through some material (bricks, concrete, earth, rock, etc.) in a dissolved state, and then crystallize on a surface in a powdery form.
    3. Of the surface of a material: to become covered with a powdery salt (as described in sense 3.2).
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19

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Word of the day
for April 19
feng shui n
  1. (Chinese mythology) A system of spiritual energies, both good and evil, present in the natural features of landscapes.
  2. (by extension) An ancient Chinese system of geomancy used to design buildings and graves, and to determine the spatial arrangement of things, according to rules about the flow of energy, aimed at achieving harmony with the environment, promoting good fortune and wealth, etc.

Today is the eve of UN Chinese 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.

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20

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Word of the day
for April 20
yahrzeit n
  1. (Judaism) The anniversary of a person's death, usually a parent's, often marked by the lighting of a memorial candle and other rituals.

יום השואה (Yom HaShoah) or Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is observed as Israel’s day of commemoration for the Jews who perished in the Holocaust and for the Jewish resistance in that period, begins today in 2020 at sunset.

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21

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Word of the day
for April 21
trial balloon n
  1. (aeronautics, historical) A small balloon released into the sky to determine the direction and tendency of winds in the upper air before a manned ascent in a larger balloon; a ballon d'essai.
  2. (idiomatic, figuratively) An idea, suggestion, or prospective action, product, etc., offered to an audience or group in order to test whether it generates acceptance or interest.

Today is World Creativity and Innovation Day, which is recognized by the United Nations to raise awareness about the importance of creativity and innovation in problem-solving to advance the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

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22

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Word of the day
for April 22
moss-grown adj
  1. Having a covering of growing moss.
  2. (figuratively) Old; old-fashioned, out of date.

Today is Earth Day, a day for observing the need to protect the Earth.

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23

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Word of the day
for April 23
unputdownable adj (informal)
  1. Of a person, etc.: difficult or impossible to put down (in various senses).
  2. (specifically) Of a book or other written work: so captivating or engrossing that one cannot bear to stop reading it.

Today is designated by UNESCO as World Book Day to promote reading, publishing, and copyright.

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24

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Word of the day
for April 24
manic pixie dream girl n
  1. (film, sometimes derogatory) A stock female character, typically characterized as a bubbly, quirky free spirit, whose main purpose within a narrative is to teach a young male protagonist to embrace the mysteries and adventures of life.

American film and music critic Nathan Rabin, who coined the term, was born on this day in 1976.

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25

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26

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Word of the day
for April 26
patent troll n
  1. (patent law, informal, derogatory) A company, person, etc., that owns and enforces patents in an aggressive and opportunistic manner, often with no intention of marketing or promoting the subjects of the patents.

Today is World Intellectual Property Day, which is commemorated by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to raise awareness about the impact of intellectual property in everyday life, and to celebrate creativity and the contributions of creators and innovators towards the development of societies. WIPO was established on this day 50 years ago in 1970.

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27

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28

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Word of the day
for April 28
bounty n
  1. (uncountable) Generosity; also (countable) an act of generosity.
  2. (countable) Something given liberally; a gift.
  3. (countable) A reward for some specific act, especially one given by an authority or a government.
    1. (specifically) A monetary reward for capturing (or, in the past, killing) a person accused or convicted of a crime and who is at large; also, a similar reward for capturing or killing an animal which is dangerous or causing a nuisance.
    2. (military, historical) Money paid to a person when becoming a member of the armed forces, or as a reward for some service therein.
  4. (countable, figuratively) An abundance or wealth.

On this day in 1789, a mutiny led by Fletcher Christian took place on board the H.M.S. Bounty; the ship’s captain William Bligh and sailors loyal to him were set adrift in a smaller boat, and all but one survived a 6,500-km (4,000-mi) journey to safety.

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29

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Word of the day
for April 29
overreach v
  1. (transitive, intransitive) To reach above or beyond, especially to an excessive degree.
    1. (transitive, property law) To defeat or override a person's interest in property; (British, specifically) of a holder of the legal title of real property: by mortgaging or selling the legal title to a third party, to cause another person's equitable right in the property to be dissolved and to be replaced by an equitable right in the money received from the third party.
  2. (transitive, intransitive, figuratively) To do something beyond an appropriate limit, or beyond one's ability.
  3. (transitive, intransitive, reflexive, equestrianism) Of a horse: to strike the heel of a forefoot with the toe of a hindfoot.
  4. (transitive, intransitive, rare) To deceive, to swindle.
  5. (intransitive, nautical) To sail on one tack farther than is necessary.
  6. (transitive, archaic) To get the better of, especially by artifice or cunning; to outwit.
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30

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