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cajole: msg#00000

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Subject: cajole

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The Word of the Day for August 1 is:

cajole \kuh-JOAL\ verb
*1 : to persuade with flattery or gentle urging especially
in the face of reluctance : coax
2 : to deceive with soothing words or false promises

Example sentence:
Peter's friends cajoled him into coming to the party even
though he was not in the mood to go.

Did you know?
You might not think to associate "cajole" with "cage," but
it's likely that these two words are connected. Researchers have
made an association between the prattle of a caged bird and the
persistent wheedling of a person attempting to get something out
of someone else. "Cajole" comes from a French verb, "cajoler,"
which now means "coax" but at one time meant "to chatter like a
jay." Some etymologists theorize that "cajoler" is
from "gaiole," an Old North French word meaning "birdcage" and
ancestor to our word "jail." "Gaiole" derives from a Late Latin
word, "caveola," which means "little cage" and is the diminutive
of the Latin "cavea" ("cage" or "cavity"). Our word "cage"
derives from this noun, and "cave" is a close relative.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.







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