Wordsmith.org: the magic of words


A.Word.A.Day

About | Media | Search | Contact  


Home

Today's Word

Subscribe

Archives



May 9, 2017
This week’s theme
Words originating in running

This week’s words
au courant
runnel
concur
palindrome
excursus

Got a website?
Free content for your site
Words, quotations & more
Bookmark and Share Facebook Twitter Digg MySpace Bookmark and Share
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

runnel

PRONUNCIATION:
(RUHN-l)

MEANING:
noun: A small stream or channel.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Old English rinnan (to run). Ultimately from the Indo-European root rei- (to flow or run), which also gave us run, rival, and derive. Earliest documented use: 1577.

USAGE:
“Courts became runnels for judicial cruelty, dispensing sentences vastly more severe than anything usual for similar crimes.”
China Miéville; ‘Oh, London, You Drama Queen’; The New York Times Magazine; Mar 4, 2012.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Inside my empty bottle I was constructing a lighthouse while all the others were making ships. -Charles Simic, poet (b. 9 May 1938)

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