A.Word.A.Day --pot-valiant

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Today's Word

pot-valiant

PRONUNCIATION:

(POT-val-yuhnt)

MEANING:

noun: A person displaying boldness or courage while drunk.
adjective: Displaying bravado under the influence of alcohol.

ETYMOLOGY:

From pot, alluding to a drinking pot + valor (boldness), from Latin valor (worth), from valere (to be well, be of worth). Earliest documented use: 1647. Someone pot-valiant is also said to display liquid courage or Dutch courage.

USAGE:

“You’ve knocked back a few, you’re feeling pot-valiant.”
John Beck; Best Bets for Welcoming 2009; The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California); Dec 21, 2008.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

You cannot begin to preserve any species of animal unless you preserve the habitat in which it dwells. Disturb or destroy that habitat and you will exterminate the species as surely as if you had shot it. So conservation means that you have to preserve forest and grassland, river and lake, even the sea itself. This is not only vital for the preservation of animal life generally, but for the future existence of man himself -- a point that seems to escape many people. -Gerald Durrell, naturalist and author (7 Jan 1925-1995)

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