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lunker

[ luhng-ker ]

noun

something unusually large for its kind.

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More about lunker

The noun lunker has two meanings: something large and unruly, and a large game fish, especially a bass. It was originally an Americanism, and its etymology is obscure: lunk, lunkhead, and clunker have all been suggested. Lunker entered English in the second half of the 19th century.

how is lunker used?

Do black holes, such as the lunker in our own Milky Way Galaxy … drive the evolution of galaxies around them; or do galaxies naturally nurture the gravitational gobblers at their centers … ?

John Matson, "Hole's on First?: New Evidence Shows Black Hole Growth Preceding Galactic Formation," Scientific American, January 9, 2011

As sure as I’m standing here, ten pounds; what a little lunker for a first baby.

Gary Paulsen, The Quilt, 2004

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Word of the day

greenth

[ greenth ]

noun

green growth; verdure.

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More about greenth

Greenth, “green growth,” was coined by the English author and politician Horace Walpole, who also coined blueth and gloomth. Greenth, blueth, and gloomth all entered English simultaneously in the mid-18th century.

how is greenth used?

I found my garden brown and bare, but these rains have recovered the greenth.

Henry Walpole to George Montagu, August 16, 1753, The Letters of Horace Walpole, Vol. 2, 1842

Imagine a rambling, patchy house … the mellow darkness of its conical roof surmounted by a weather-cock making an agreeable object either amidst the gleams and greenth of summer or the low-hanging clouds and snowy branches of winter …

George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, 1876

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muzz

[ muhz ]

verb (used with object)

to confuse (someone); make (someone) muzzy.

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More about muzz

It is only fitting that the etymology of the verb muzz “to confuse,” is itself obscure. Most authorities connect muzz with the adjective muzzy “confused, lazy, mentally dull,” but muzzy itself has no reliable etymology. Other authorities connect muzz with the verb muse “to think or meditate in silence.” Muzz entered English in the 18th century.

how is muzz used?

I must have sufficiently muzzed you with my singular critique upon poor, injured, honest John.

Mary Morgan, A Tour to Milford Haven, 1795

With a very heavy cold on me, which muzzed my head, and a mass of work by day … I have been very far from comfortable.

Henry Bradshaw, A Memoir of Henry Bradshaw by George Walter Prothero, 1888

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