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Word of the Week

Every week we pick a word that is unusual or one that we've not encountered before. If you have a suggestion for a Word of the Week, please email . You can also suggest a word when you come to the Athenaeum, just stop at the Front Desk. As new words are chosen, we'll update this page.

LOUCHE	(Adjective) [loosh ] Of questionable taste or morality; decadent. From Old French losche, squint-eyed, feminine of lois, from Latin luscus, blind in one eye.
WAGGISH	(Adjective) [wag-ish]Jocular or witty.
COMITY	(Noun) [kom -i-tee ] noun An atmosphere of social harmony. Etymology: Latin meaning friendly.
SPATCHCOCK	(Noun) [ spach -kok ] A dressed and split chicken for roasting or broiling on a spit. Also, Transitive verb: 1. To prepare (a dressed chicken) for grilling by splitting open. 2. To introduce or interpose, especially in a labored or unsuitable manner: “Some excerpts from a Renaissance mass are spatchcocked into Gluck's pallid Don Juan music” (Alan Rich). Etymology: Perhaps alteration of spitchcock, a way of cooking an eel.
SUPERANNUATED	(Adjective) [ soo-per-an-yoo-ey-tid ] 1. Retired or ineffective because of advanced age 2. Outmoded; obsolete: superannuated laws.
WATERLOO	(Noun) [waw-ter-loo] A final, crushing defeat. After Waterloo, a village in central Belgium where the Battle of Waterloo took place in 1815. That was Napoleon Bonaparte's last battle. He was decisively defeated by the British and Prussian forces and exiled to the island of Saint Helena.
SYNECDOCHE	(Noun) [si-nek-duh-kee] A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole (as hand for sailor), the whole for a part (as the law for police officer), the specific for the general (as cutthroat for assassin), the general for the specific (as thief for pickpocket), or the material for the thing made from it (as steel for sword).
ELEEMOSYNARY	(Adjective) [el-uh-mos-uh-ner-ee] Of, relating to, or dependent on charity. Contributed as an act of charity; gratuitous.
MISOLOGY	(Noun) [mi-sol-uh-jee] Hatred of reason, argument, or enlightenment.
VIRAGO	(Noun ) [vi-rah-goh] A woman regarded as noisy, scolding, or domineering. A large, strong, courageous woman. From the Latin vir for man.
ONYCHOLYSIS	(Noun ) [on-y-chol-y-sis] The separation or loosening of a fingernail or toenail from its nail bed. From the Greek word onux for nail or claw.
SOBRIQUET	(Noun ) [soh-bruh-key] An affectionate or humorous nickname. An assumed name. From the Old French soubriquet for chuck under the chin.
HABOOB	(Noun) [huh-boob] A penetrating sandstorm or dust storm with violent winds.
TATTERDEMALION	(Noun) [tat-er-di-meyl-yuhn] A person wearing ragged or tattered clothing, a ragamuffin.