Wordsmith.org: the magic of words


A.Word.A.Day

About | Media | Search | Contact  


Home

Today's Word

Subscribe

Archives



Dec 27, 2018
This week’s theme
No el

This week’s words
morbidezza
vociferate
juxtapose
hawkshaw
quingentenary

hawkshaw
Image: Wikimedia

Bookmark and Share Facebook Twitter Digg MySpace Bookmark and Share
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

hawkshaw

PRONUNCIATION:
(HAWK-shaw)

MEANING:
noun: A detective.

ETYMOLOGY:
After the name of a detective in the 1863 play The Ticket-of-Leave Man by Tom Taylor. The character also appeared in the comic strip Hawkshaw the Detective by Gus Mager. Earliest documented use: 1863.

USAGE:
“Please don’t think that Eleanor is so busy hobnobbing with Nobel Prize authors that she neglects her responsibilities as detective. In fact, FDR is always cautioning her to be discreet: ‘I believe you are intermeddling in police business, Babs. Please leave the hawkshawing to the hawkshaws.’”
Robert Gottlieb; Presidential Progeny Pen White House Whodunits; The New York Observer; Aug 26, 2002.

See more usage examples of hawkshaw in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
One does not ask of one who suffers: What is your country and what is your religion? One merely says: You suffer, that is enough for me. -Louis Pasteur, chemist and bacteriologist (27 Dec 1822-1895)

We need your help

Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere

Donate

Subscriber Services
Awards | Stats | Links | Privacy Policy
Contribute | Advertise

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith