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A.Word.A.Day--liverish

Pronunciation RealAudio

liverish (LIV-er-ish) adjective

1. Resembling liver, especially in color.

2. Ill-natured, grouchy.

[From Middle English, Old English lifer + -ish. From the former belief that such disposition was a symptom of excess secretion of bile due to liver disorder.]

"Even if you'd approached Sunday's Boston Chamber Music Society at Sanders in an absolutely liverish, adversarial state of mind ... it's hard to imagine that you would have stayed that way for long." Richard Buell, A Week's Wanton Chambering, The Boston Globe, Jan 15, 1991.

This week's theme: words for body parts that are used metaphorically.

X-Bonus

I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success... Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything. -Nikola Tesla, electrical engineer and inventor (1856-1943)

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