2 Words Found

1 : gray or white with or as if with age
*2 : extremely old : ancient

Function: adjective

Pronunciation: HOR-ee

Example sentence(s): “In those days a multitude of delicate flowers and sprays of wild herbage had found a friendly soil in the hoary crevices….” (Henry James, Roderick Hudson)

Etymology: “How to save the old that’s worth saving … is one of our greatest problems.” British novelist John Galsworthy knew the value of preserving the past — and he would likely have counted “hoary” among those old things worth saving. The word is old indeed; it traces to an Old English adjective that appeared in Beowulf. That “hoary” ancestor evolved into “hoar,” a synonym of “ancient” that has been part of our language since before the 12th century. “Hoary” developed from “hoar” more than 475 years ago, and since then it has been used for anything that is old or that has the whitened look of age (from the hoary bat to the hoary willow). Venerable “hoar” also remains as a synonym of “hoary” and as a component of compounds such as “hoarfrost.”

Subject: Vocabulary

1 : a large ship; especially : a large merchant ship
*2 : a rich supply

Function: noun

Pronunciation: AHR-guh-see

Example sentence(s): Uncle Ken is always armed with an argosy of jokes, and he keeps the family entertained for hours.

Etymology: Looking at the first sense of “argosy,” you might assume that this word is a close relative of “argonaut,” but that isn’t the case. Although both words have a nautical sense, they have different etymologies. The original argonauts sailed on a ship called the Argo to seek the Golden Fleece; their moniker combines the name of their ship and the Greek word “naut?s,” meaning “sailor.” “Argosy” comes from “Ragusa,” the Italian name for the city that is now Dubrovnik, Croatia. Over time, “Ragusa” was modified into “ragusea,” a noun for the laden merchant ships that sailed from that port in medieval days. A broadening of meaning and another shift in spelling gave us “argosy,” denoting any merchant vessel or rich store.

Subject: Vocabulary