Friday, January 19, 2007

Neat word of the day.

Ah, M-W, sometimes you dissapoint, other times you knock my socks off.

Your word of the day today was a sublime treat....

oleaginous \oh-lee-AJ-uh-nus\ adjective

1 : resembling or having the properties of oil : oily; also : containing or producing oil
*2 : marked by an offensively ingratiating manner or quality

Example sentence:
Kelly spoke to her boss with an oleaginous deference that made her coworkers cringe.

Did you know?
The oily "oleaginous" slipped into English through Middle French, coming from the Latin "oleagineus," meaning "of an olive tree." "Oleagineus" itself is from the Latin "olea," meaning "olive tree," and ultimately from the Greek "elaia," meaning "olive." "Oleaginous" was at first used in a literal sense, as it still can be. An oleaginous substance is simply oily, and an oleaginous plant produces oil. The word took on its extended "ingratiating" sense in the 19th century.

This is lifted from the Mirriam Webster Word of the Day e-mail series. To subscribe to M-W Word of the day (and see whether you'll be enlightened or disspointed) please visit http://www.m-w.com.

Now kids, make sure you use this word today. I once heard the best way to "own" a new word was to use it ten times--and in three different ways, written, spoken, and read.

SALLY FORTH AND OWN "OLEAGINOUS!"