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

Home Today's Word Yesterday's Word Archives FAQ

Discuss Email this Feedback RSS/XML Permalink A.Word.A.Day--mesmeric John Montagu, Fourth Earl of Sandwich, a British politician in the eighteenth century, was so fond of gambling that he spent the whole day playing, while devouring slices of bread with a filling between them. Little did he know that his name would become eponymous with that food. From sandwich to boycott we use numerous eponyms (words named after people) in our daily discourse. In this week's AWAD, we'll look at five not so common eponyms. mesmeric (mez-MER-ik, mes-) adjective Fascinating; hypnotic. [After physician F.A. Mesmer (1734-1815) who discovered a way of inducing hypnosis through what he called animal magnetism.] Today's word in Visual Thesaurus. -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Michael Dempsey: Bill would coax money out of record companies in a kind of mesmeric way." Alexis Petridis; If You're Brave, Do It Like We Did; The Guardian (London, UK); Apr 27, 2007. X-Bonus The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there. -Yasutani Roshi, Zen master (1885-1973)

Subscribe: Sign up to receive A.Word.A.Day in your mailbox every day. "The most welcomed, most enduring piece of daily mass e-mail in cyberspace." -The New York Times 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 SF Gate SF Gate Globe & Mail Interact: Bulletin board Wordsmith Talk Moderated Chat Wordsmith Chat Readers' Voice AWADmail