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Discuss Email this Feedback RSS/XML Permalink A.Word.A.Day--buckram This week's theme: fabric words used metaphorically. buckram (BUK-ruhm) noun 1. A stiff cotton fabric used in interlining garments, in bookbinding, etc. 2. Stiffness; formality. verb tr. 1. To strengthen with buckram. 2. To give a false appearance of strength, importance, etc. [Of uncertain origin. Perhaps after Bukhara, Uzbekistan, a city noted for textiles.] Today's word in Visual Thesaurus. -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Dick and his father were henceforth on terms of coldness. The upright old gentleman grew more upright when he met his son, buckramed with immortal anger." Robert Louis Stevenson; The Story of a Lie; 1879. X-Bonus Political history is largely an account of mass violence and of the expenditure of vast resources to cope with mythical fears and hopes. -Murray Edelman, professor, author (1919-2001)

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