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{{wotd | theWord | p.o.s. | Definition | month | day }}

{{wotd | theWord | p.o.s. | Definition | month | day | audio=En-uk-{{subst:PAGENAME}}.ogg }}

1

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Word of the day
for April 1
couth adj
  1. (obsolete) Familiar, known; well-known, renowned.
  2. (Scotland) Variant of couthie.
    1. Agreeable, friendly, pleasant.
    2. Comfortable; cosy, snug. […]
  3. Marked by or possessing a high degree of sophistication; cultured, refined.

To celebrate April Fools’ Day, we are featuring a series of less familiar cousins to common words – enjoy!

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2

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Word of the day
for April 2
imburse v
  1. (transitive, obsolete) To put into a purse; to save, to store up.
  2. (transitive, obsolete) To give money to, to pay; to stock or supply with money.
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To pay back money that is owed; to refund, to repay, to reimburse.

To celebrate April Fools’ Day, we are featuring a series of less familiar cousins to common words – enjoy!

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3

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Word of the day
for April 3
loggerhead n
  1. (obsolete) A stupid person; a blockhead, a dolt.
  2. A metal tool consisting of a long rod with a bulbous end that is made hot in a fire, then plunged into some material (such as pitch or a liquid) to melt or heat it.
  3. (nautical) A post on a whaling boat used to secure the harpoon rope.
  4. (botany, Midlands, dialectal) Often in plural: a thistle-like flowering plant of the genus Centaurea, particularly the common knapweed (Centaurea nigra).
  5. (zoology) Used as the name of various animals with large heads.
    1. The loggerhead duck or Falkland steamer duck (Tachyeres brachypterus; formerly Tachyeres cinereus), a species of steamer duck endemic to the Falkland Islands.
    2. The loggerhead kingbird (Tyrannus caudifasciatus), a bird endemic to the Caribbean and West Indies.
    3. The rufous-tailed flycatcher (Myiarchus validus), a bird endemic to Jamaica.
    4. The loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus), a bird endemic to North America.
    5. The loggerhead musk turtle (Sternotherus minor), a large-headed turtle endemic to the United States.
    6. The loggerhead sea turtle or loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta), an oceanic turtle found throughout the world.

To celebrate April Fools’ Day, we are featuring a series of less familiar cousins to common words – enjoy!

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4

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Word of the day
for April 4
sensical adj
  1. That makes sense; showing internal logic; rational, sensible.

To celebrate April Fools’ Day, we are featuring a series of less familiar cousins to common words – enjoy!

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5

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Word of the day
for April 5
whelm v
  1. (transitive) To bury, to cover; to engulf, to submerge.
  2. (transitive, obsolete) To throw (something) over a thing so as to cover it.
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To ruin or destroy.
  4. (intransitive) To overcome with emotion; to overwhelm.

To celebrate April Fools’ Day, we are featuring a series of less familiar cousins to common words – enjoy!

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6

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Word of the day
for April 6
Olympian adj
  1. (not comparable) Of or relating to Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece; or (Greek mythology) the Greek gods and goddesses who were believed to live there.
  2. (comparable, by extension) Resembling a Greek deity in some way.
    1. Celestial, heavenly; also, godlike.
    2. Acting in a remote and superior manner; aloof.

[...]

  1. (historical) Of or relating to the town of Olympia in Elis, Greece.
  2. (sports)
    1. (historical) Of or relating to the ancient Olympic Games held at Olympia; Olympic.
    2. Of or relating to the modern Olympic Games; Olympic.

Olympian n

  1. (Greek mythology) Any of the 12 principal gods and goddesses of the Greek pantheon (Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, and Hades); (specifically) preceded by the: Zeus, the supreme ruler of the Greek deities.
  2. (figuratively) A person with superior talents or towering achievements.

[...]

  1. An inhabitant of the city of Olympia, the capital of Washington, United States.
  2. (sports)
    1. (historical) A sportsperson competing in the ancient Olympic Games.
    2. A sportsperson competing in the modern Olympic Games.

The 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, the first international Olympic Games in modern history, began on this day in 1896.

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7

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Word of the day
for April 7
chivvy v
  1. (transitive, British) To coerce or hurry along, as by persistent request.
  2. (transitive, British) To subject to harassment or verbal abuse.
  3. (transitive, British) To sneak up on or rapidly approach.
  4. (transitive, British) To pursue as in a hunt.

To mark World Health Day today and the benefits of being active, we are featuring a series of action words or verbs.

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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
grandfather v
  1. (transitive, chiefly US, law) To retain existing laws or rules for (a person or organization previously affected by them).
  2. (intransitive, chiefly US, law) To retain existing laws or rules only for people or organizations previously affected by them, and to apply new laws or rules to the unaffected people or organizations.

To mark World Health Day on 7 April and the benefits of being active, we are featuring a series of action words or verbs. The tongue-in-cheek International Be Kind to Lawyers Day also falls on this day in 2019, the second Tuesday of April.

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10

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Word of the day
for April 10
deem v
  1. (transitive, obsolete) To judge, to pass judgment on; to doom, to sentence.
  2. (transitive, obsolete) To adjudge, to decree.
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To dispense (justice); to administer (law).
  4. (transitive) To hold in belief or estimation; to adjudge as a conclusion; to regard as being; to evaluate according to one's beliefs; to account.
  5. (transitive, intransitive) To think, judge, or have or hold as an opinion; to decide or believe on consideration; to suppose.

To mark World Health Day on 7 April and the benefits of being active, we are featuring a series of action words or verbs.

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11

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Word of the day
for April 11
flabbergast v
  1. (transitive) To overwhelm with bewilderment; to amaze, confound, or stun, especially in a ludicrous manner.

To mark World Health Day on 7 April and the benefits of being active, we are featuring a series of action words or verbs.

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12

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Word of the day
for April 12
push the envelope v
  1. (intransitive, idiomatic, originally aeronautics) To go beyond established limits; to pioneer.

Today is the International Day of Human Space Flight, which is recognized by the United Nations to celebrate the start of the space era, to reaffirm space science and technology’s contributions towards achieving sustainable development goals, and to emphasize the need to maintain outer space for peaceful purposes. It commemorates the first human space flight by the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, which took place on this day in 1961.

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13

14

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Word of the day
for April 14
kingmaker n
  1. (politics) Someone who has strong influence over the choice of a leader.
  2. (by extension, game theory) A player who is unable to win but powerful enough to decide which of the other viable players will eventually win.

Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, died on this day in 1471. Kingmaker was originally an epithet given to him for his role in deposing and appointing kings Henry VI and Edward IV.

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15

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Word of the day
for April 15
Titanic adj
  1. (not comparable) Of or relating to the Titans, a race of giant gods in Greek mythology.
  2. (by extension)
    1. (comparable) Having great size, or great force, power, or strength.
    2. (not comparable) Of a conflict or contest: involving equally powerful participants.

[...]

Titanic proper n

  1. The R.M.S. Titanic, an ocean liner, supposedly unsinkable, that sank on its maiden voyage on 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg.

Titanic n

  1. A venture that fails spectacularly, especially one perceived as overconfident.

On this day in 1912, the R.M.S. Titanic collided with an iceberg and sank. More than 1,500 people died, making it one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history.

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16

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Word of the day
for April 16
boiling frog n
  1. (idiomatic, often attributively) A person who, or thing which, is in a gradually worsening situation without any realization of the peril until it is too late.
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17

18

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Word of the day
for April 18
footbath n
  1. The act of soaking or washing the feet.
  2. A small basin or bath designed for soaking or washing the feet.
  3. A liquid mixture, often medicinal, for soaking or washing the feet with.

Today is Maundy Thursday in Western Christianity in 2019. It commemorates the maundy (foot-washing) which Jesus Christ performed on his disciples, and the Last Supper which they shared, the night before his crucifixion and death.

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19

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Word of the day
for April 19
Bronx cheer n
  1. (US, idiomatic) Synonym of raspberry (“a sound intended to resemble flatulence made by blowing air out of the mouth while the tongue is protruding from and pressed against the lips, used humorously or to express disdain or scorn”).

On this day in 1912, Bronx County in New York City, New York, USA, was constituted, the change taking effect in 1914.

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20

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Word of the day
for April 20
nauplius n
  1. (zoology) A crustacean larva that has three pairs of locomotive organs (corresponding to antennules, antennae, and mandibles), a median eye, and little or no segmentation of the body.
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21

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Word of the day
for April 21
Elizabethan adj
  1. Pertaining to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, monarch of England and Ireland, from 1558 to 1603.
  2. Often preceded by new or second: pertaining to the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, monarch of the United Kingdom, from 1952 to 2022.

Elizabethan n

  1. A person (especially a writer) who lived during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, monarch of England and Ireland, from 1558 to 1603.
  2. A person who lived during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, monarch of the United Kingdom, from 1952 to 2022.

Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning British monarch, was born on this day in 1926.

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22

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Word of the day
for April 22
agrology n
  1. (rare) A subdiscipline of agronomy (the science of utilizing animals, plants, and soils) and of soil science which addresses the influence of edaphic (soil-related) conditions on crop production for optimizing it.
  2. (chiefly Canada) The science and art of agriculture.

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
all the world's a stage proverb
  1. People have roles to play in life just as actors do in the theatre.

Today is UN English 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. According to the Julian calendar, the date is the death anniversary, and traditionally celebrated as the birthdate, of the English playwright William Shakespeare (1564–1616), and is also Saint George’s Day, the feast day of the patron saint of England, and World Book Day which promotes reading, publishing, and copyright.

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24

25

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Word of the day
for April 25
DNA n
  1. (biochemistry, genetics) Initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (“a nucleic acid found in all living things (and some non-living things such as certain viruses) which consists of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix; encoded in its structure are genetic instructions for development, functioning, growth, and reproduction”).
  2. (informal, loosely) The part of a living thing that carries genetic information.
  3. (figuratively) The fundamental nature or values of a person, or an organization or other thing, especially when considered as innate and/or unchangeable.

DNA v

  1. (transitive) To examine a sample of (someone's) deoxyribonucleic acid. [...]

James Watson and Francis Crick published their academic paper proposing the double-helix structure of the DNA molecule in the journal Nature on this day in 1953.

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26

27

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Word of the day
for April 27
recrudescence n
  1. The condition or state being recrudescent; the condition of something (often undesirable) breaking out again, or re-emerging after temporary abatement or suppression.
  2. (medicine, by extension) The acute recurrence of a disease, or its symptoms, after a period of improvement.
  3. (botany) The production of a fresh shoot from a ripened spike.
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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
curate's egg n
  1. (idiomatic) A thing which has good and bad parts, but is overall spoilt by the bad.
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30

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