Derrick's Spot

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for February 01, 2012 is:

heyday • \HAY-day\  • noun
: the period of one’s greatest popularity, vigor, or prosperity

Examples:
In its heyday, the circus was a major form of entertainment for small-town America.

"Here is Hemingway both in his heyday, soaring on the accolades of The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms, and his decline, precipitated by alcoholism and two airplane crashes that may have well left him with undiagnosed brain injuries." — From a blog post by Alexander Nazaryan on the New York Daily News’ PageViews blog, December 13, 2011

Did you know?
In its earliest appearances in English, in the 16th century, "heyday" was used as an interjection that expressed elation or wonder (similar to our word "hey," from which it derives). Around the same time, "heyday" saw use as a noun meaning "high spirits." (This sense can be seen in Act III, Scene IV of Hamlet, when the Prince of Denmark tells his mother, "You cannot call it love; for at your age / The heyday in the blood is tame….") It wasn’t until the 18th century that English speakers, perhaps interpreting the "day" of the second syllable to mean "a time or period," began using "heyday" to refer to the period when one’s achievement or popularity has reached its zenith.

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for January 31, 2012 is:

gambol • \GAM-bul\  • verb
: to skip about in play : frisk, frolic

Examples:
The children scamper and gambol about the playground with seemingly endless energy.

"Strong binoculars … allow patrons to spy on the sea otters, pelicans, cormorants and other creatures that gambol among the bay kelp." — From an article by Peter Magnani in the San Jose Mercury News, October 10, 2011

Did you know?
In Middle French, the noun "gambade" referred to the frisky spring of a jumping horse. In the early 1500s, the English word "gambol" romped into print as both a verb and a noun. (The noun means "a skipping or leaping about in play.") The English word is not restricted to horses, but rather can be used of any frolicsome creature. It is a word that suggests levity and spontaneity, and it tends to be used especially of the lively activity of children or animals engaged in active play.

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for January 30, 2012 is:

elixir • \ih-LIK-ser\  • noun
1 a : a substance held to be capable of changing metals into gold b : a substance held to be capable of extending life c : cure-all d : a medicinal concoction 2 : a sweetened usually alcoholic liquid

Examples:
While the new sports complex should bring some much-needed job growth to our struggling region, we should not regard it as the elixir for all of our economic woes.

"At Frederick Douglass Blvd. and 147th St., he noticed the giant wall mural boasting of the powers of an elixir, Omega Oil." — From an article by Sherryl Connelly, Daily News (New York), January 2, 2012

Did you know?
"Elixir" has roots in the practice of alchemy; it was used in the Middle Ages as the word for a substance believed able to alter base metals into gold. Its later use for a drug purported to prolong one’s life led to its use in the names of medicines of mostly questionable effectiveness. Today, it is often used generally for anything thought capable of remedying all ills or difficulties, be they physical or otherwise. The word came to us via Middle English and Medieval Latin from Arabic "al-iksīr"; it probably ultimately derives from a Greek word meaning "desiccative powder."

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for January 29, 2012 is:

Cook’s tour • \COOKS-TOOR\  • noun
: a rapid or cursory survey or review

Examples:
The guide gave the group a Cook’s tour of the types of sea life that they might encounter on their dive.

"Remain in the party zone. Do not drag other guests on an adventurous cook’s tour of the property, sneak beyond closed doors, explore the master bath instead of the powder room, or snoop in the medicine cabinet." — From an article by Krys Stefansky in The Virginian-Pilot, December 12, 2011.

Did you know?
In 1841, British missionary Thomas Cook convinced a British railway to run a special train to a temperance meeting, then proceeded to find passengers for the trip, an event regarded as the beginning of organized tourism. Within a few years, Cook was setting up excursions on a regular basis, and by the century’s end, the Thomas Cook & Son travel agency was orchestrating travel around the world. The agency’s tours were famously well-organized, but they were also known for herding travelers hurriedly from location to location. A Cook’s tourist might see an impressive array of famous sites, but often only in superficial glimpses. Over time, English speakers started using "Cook’s tour" for any hurried tour, and later, for any rushed activity or cursory review.

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for January 28, 2012 is:

bright-line • \BRYTE-lyne\  • adjective
: providing an unambiguous criterion or guideline especially in law

Examples:
The company’s new reimbursement policy makes a bright-line distinction between acceptable and unacceptable travel expenses.

"The NFL needs to have a bright-line rule for the use of electronics devices during games." — From a post by Mike Florio at nbcsports.com, January 13, 2012

Did you know?
In the first half of the 20th century, courts began referring to a "bright line" that could or could not be drawn to make clear-cut distinctions between legal issues. Early users may have been influenced by the term "bright line," used by physicists to refer to the distinct color lines in the light spectrum. Before that, judges were content with wording that was more prosaic, such as "line of demarcation." In the second half of the 20th century, we began using "bright-line" as an adjective. Nonlegal types looking for unambiguous distinctions in other walks of life took a shine to "bright-line" sometime in the 1980s.