euchre

****************************************************************
You may swim this summer, but is the past tense "swum" or 
"swam?" Check out our Concise Dictionary of English Usage.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/book.pl?conusg.htm&6
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for July 23 is:

euchre   \YOO-ker\   verb
     1 : to prevent from winning three tricks in euchre
    *2 : cheat, trick

Example sentence:
     The report said that people in the community were being euchred out of their life savings by scammers presenting phony investment opportunities.

Did you know?
     Euchre is a card game for four players that is played in tricks, or rounds, with a deck of 32 cards. Etymologists are not sure where we got the name for the game, though they do know that it first appeared in English in the mid-19th century. The first sense of the verb "euchre" arose from an action that takes place during the game: a player is "euchred" when an opponent blocks him or her from winning three or more tricks after making trump. Deception can often be key to a winning strategy, and sure enough it took almost no time at all for "euchre" to develop a sense meaning "cheat" or "trick." 

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.




You Are Subscribed As: [email protected]
To unsubscribe, change your e-mail address or to subscribe to the html
version of Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day, featuring audio
pronunciations, please visit:

http://www.startsampling.com/sm/wod/changeofaddress.iphtml

(c) 2006 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

Merriam-Webster, Inc.
47 Federal Street
P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA 01102

*mf mwt 072306 [email protected] mf*

---
You are currently subscribed to mw-text as: [email protected]
To unsubscribe send a blank email to [email protected]