warison

****************************************************************
Introducing WORD SWEEP!, the first board game to feature Merriam-Webster=
 definitions! Enjoy hours of challenging fun. Try it at:
http://www.wordsweep.com=20
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for October 29 is:=20

warison   \WAIR-uh-sun\   noun
     : a bugle call to attack

Example sentence:
          The soldiers stood alert at their posts, as per their commande=
r=E2=80=99s orders, listening for the warison that would instruct them t=
o advance into enemy territory.

Did you know?
          When Sir Walter Scott first encountered the word =E2=80=9Cwari=
son=E2=80=9D around the beginning of the 19th century, it was a rare wor=
d that had been around for six centuries, occasionally used to mean eith=
er =E2=80=9Cwealth or possessions=E2=80=9D or =E2=80=9Creward.=E2=80=9D =
In his 1805 poem _The Lay of the Last Minstrel_, Scott used the word to =
refer to a bugle call ordering soldiers to attack, probably because he m=
isinterpreted what the word meant when he read it in =E2=80=9CThe Battle=
 of Otterbourne,=E2=80=9D a ballad found in Thomas Percy=E2=80=99s _Reli=
ques of Ancient English Poetry_. The original word (which Scott encounte=
red as Middle English =E2=80=9Cwaryson=E2=80=9D)derives from the Anglo-F=
rench =E2=80=9Cgarisun,=E2=80=9D which means =E2=80=9Chealing, protectio=
n=E2=80=9D and is also the source of the English word =E2=80=9Cgarrison,=
=E2=80=9D meaning =E2=80=9Ca military post.=E2=80=9D=20





You Are Subscribed As: [email protected]

To unsubscribe, please click here:
http://www.drhinternet.net/mw/u/966408/568f14b4ab4f050b/N193L6

To 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://mw.drhinternet.net/sm/wod/changeofaddress.iphtml

(c) 2007 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

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