This week’s theme
Metaphors & idioms

This week’s words
baloney
daisy cutter
swan song
haircut
Piccadilly Circus

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(DAY-zee kuht-uhr)

MEANING:

noun:
1. In a ball game, a ball that moves close to the ground.
2. A horse that lifts its feet very little off the ground.
3. A bomb powerful enough to flatten a large area, such as a forest.

ETYMOLOGY:

From daisy, from Old English dæges eage (day’s eye, referring to the flower closing at night) + cutter, from Middle English cutten. Earliest documented use: 1791.

NOTES:

A daisy cutter in a ball game is a cute term for a ball that moves close to the ground. In the military, it’s a euphemism. It doesn’t cut daisies, it flattens a forest. It’s another name for the 15,000-pound bomb, also known as BLU-82, that detonates close to the ground and clears the land. It was dropped in Vietnam, the Gulf War, and Afghanistan. Better to make daisy chains for someone than to drop daisy cutters.

USAGE:

“First used in Vietnam, daisy cutters would reappear years later, eviscerating bodies and landscapes in Afghanistan.”
Thuy Linh Tu; An American Dream Built on Warfare (permalink); The New York Times; Apr 5, 2022.

“Palmer did not play golf courses; he attacked them. Armed with a brutish swing that more resembled a hockey slap shot than a daisy cutter, Palmer brought energy and zest to the staid game.”
T. Rees Shapiro; “The King” Attracted Fans to Golf With His Charisma, Risky Shots; The Washington Post; Sep 26, 2016.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: