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A.Word.A.Day--fossick fossick (FOS-sik) verb intr. To search for mineral deposits, usually over ground previously worked by others; to search for small items. verb tr. To search; ferret out. [British (Cornish) dialect: fossick, troublesome person; fussick bustle about, from fuss + -ick.] "But you need not fossick through old documents for examples." Apostrophically Your's; The Economist; May 11, 1996. "This is, admittedly, not Ackroyd's field; he much prefers to fossick around with ecclesiastical architecture and cross-dressing at early-medieval festivals." Christopher Hitchens; That Blessed Plot, That Enigmatic Isle; The Atlantic Monthly; Oct 2003. This week's theme: words originating in Australia. X-Bonus Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all. -Stanley Horowitz

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