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Dec 29, 2011
This week's theme
Archaic words

This week's words
mickle
inwit
reechy
aby
mazard

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

aby

PRONUNCIATION:
(uh-BY)

MEANING:
verb tr.: To pay the penalty for.
verb intr.: To suffer, to endure.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Old English abycgan (to pay for), from bycgan (to buy). Earliest documented use: before 1225.

USAGE:
"'But we have you -- and you shall aby it.' There were knives drawn on every side of him as these words were spoken."
Walter Scott; Quentin Durward; 1823.

See more usage examples of aby in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
A poet should be of the / old-fashioned meaningless brand: / obscure, esoteric, symbolic, -- / the critics demand it; / so if there's a poem of mine / that you do understand / I'll gladly explain what it means / till you don't understand it. -Piet Hein, poet and scientist (1905-1996)

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