A.Word.A.Day		About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us

Home Today's Word Yesterday's Word Archives FAQ

Nov 15, 2006 This week's theme Words with a built-in definite article This week's words alchemy lariat albatross hoi polloi amalgam A Word A Day the book "Delightful." -The New York Times Buy Discuss Feedback RSS/XML A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg albatross albatross (AL-buh-tros) noun, plural albatross or albatrosses 1. Any of the Diomedeidae family of large, web-footed seabirds. 2. A persistent wearisome burden, as of guilt, for example. [Apparently an alteration of Portuguese or Spanish alcatraz, from Arabic al-gattas (the diver, name for a kind of sea eagle).] Today's word in Visual Thesaurus. The name of Alcatraz Island near San Francisco, the site of a former maximum security prison, has the same origin. The metaphorical second sense of the term goes back to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In the poem, a mariner kills an albatross for no reason. His shooting down of the bird brings a curse to the ship, and his shipmates throw the carcass of the dead bird around his neck, thus giving a powerful idiom to the English language. As a penance, the wizened mariner wanders, recounting his tale. "What started off as a popular war has turned out to be something of an albatross around Mr Bush's neck." A Push for Bush; Business Standard (New Delhi, India); Nov 9, 2006. X-Bonus Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action. -George Washington, 1st US president (1732-1799)

Subscribe: Sign up to receive A.Word.A.Day in your mailbox every day. Sponsored by: Give the Gift of Words Share the magic of words. Send a gift subscription of A.Word.A.Day. Anu on Words: Writer Magazine Globe & Mail  Interact: Bulletin board Wordsmith Talk Moderated Chat Wordsmith Chat Readers' Voice AWADmail