vamoose

11/23/22 • 1 min

3 Listeners

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 23, 2022 is:

vamoose \vuh-MOOSS\ verb

Vamoose is an informal word that means "to depart quickly."

// With the sheriff and his posse hot on their tails, the bank robbers knew they had better vamoose.

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Examples:

"[Ali S.] Khan's group packed fast and vamoosed on a small airplane, which rose straight into a thrashing thunderstorm." — David Quammen, The New Yorker, May 4, 2020

Did you know?

In the 1820s and '30s, the American Southwest was rough-and-tumble territory—the true Wild West. English-speaking cowboys, Texas Rangers, and gold prospectors regularly rubbed elbows with Spanish-speaking vaqueros in the local saloons, and a certain amount of linguistic intermixing was inevitable. One Spanish term that caught on with English speakers was vamos, which means "let's go." Cowpokes and dudes alike adopted the word, at first using a range of spellings and pronunciations that varied considerably in their proximity to the original Spanish form. But when the dust settled, the version most American English speakers were using was vamoose.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 23, 2022 is:

vamoose \vuh-MOOSS\ verb

Vamoose is an informal word that means "to depart quickly."

// With the sheriff and his posse hot on their tails, the bank robbers knew they had better vamoose.

See the entry >

Examples:

"[Ali S.] Khan's group packed fast and vamoosed on a small airplane, which rose straight into a thrashing thunderstorm." — David Quammen, The New Yorker, May 4, 2020

Did you know?

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leonine

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 22, 2022 is:

leonine \LEE-uh-nyne\ adjective

Leonine means “of, relating to, or resembling a lion.”

// She spent hours in the bathroom trying to detangle her leonine tresses.

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Examples:

“As I tried harder and harder ... I began to understand more about what [Fabio] meant at the time, to both me and to his fans. For me, I kind of thought he was just a hood ornament of '90s masculinity. Heroic and leonine, ripped like He-Man but draped in finely tailored Italian linen. There always seemed to be a wind machine plugged in somewhere just out of his frame.” — Jason Sheeler, People.com, 11 Aug. 2021

Did you know?

Hear us roar! Most people or characters described as leonine aren’t cowardly (with one famous exception, of course), but rather noble, strong, regal, or possessed of similarly positive virtues associated with pride-forming big cats. Leonine clawed its way into the English language from the Latin word leo (“lion”), which in turn comes from the Greek word leōn. Today, we have an interesting range of words that relate back to leōn: leopard (leōn + pardos, a Greek word for a panther-like animal); chameleon (leōn + the Greek chamai, meaning “on the ground”); and the names Leo, Leon, and Leonard. But the dancer’s and gymnast’s leotard is not named for its wearer’s cat-like movements. Rather, it was simply named after its inventor, Jules Léotard, a 19th-century French aerial gymnast.

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cornucopia

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 24, 2022 is:

cornucopia \kor-nuh-KOH-pee-uh\ noun

A cornucopia, also known as a horn of plenty, is a curved, hollow goat’s horn or similarly shaped receptacle (such as a horn-shaped basket) that is overflowing, especially with fruit and vegetables. The image of a cornucopia is commonly used as decoration and as a symbol of abundance, but the word cornucopia is today more often encountered in its metaphorical use referring to an overflowing abundance, or to a seemingly inexhaustible amount of something.

// The zoo’s new aviary is a veritable cornucopia of color and sound, with scores of different bird species swooping and squawking through the canopy.

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Examples:

“When I was 11, I moved to Texas and discovered the cornucopia of packaged options in the chips aisle. I quickly grew fond of Salt and Vinegar in particular, but I missed the sharp flavors of the snacks I’d eaten in Karachi ...” — Mariya Karimjee, Bon Appétit, 20 Apr. 2022

Did you know?

Cornucopia comes from the Late Latin cornu copiae, which translates literally as “horn of plenty.” A traditional staple of feasts, the cornucopia is believed to represent the horn of a goat from Greek mythology. According to legend, it was from this horn, which could be filled with whatever the owner wished, that the god Zeus was fed as an infant by his nurse, the nymph Amalthaea. Later, the horn was filled with flowers and fruits, and given as a present to Zeus. The filled horn (or a receptacle resembling it) has long served as a traditional symbol in art and decoration to suggest a store of abundance. The word first appeared in English in the early 16th century; a century later, it developed the figurative sense of “an overflowing supply.”