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perpend: msg#00010culture.language.word-of-the-day
***************************************************************** Discover the people and events that made history ON THIS DAY. Sign up for the free daily newsletter from Britannica. http://register.britannica.com/mailinglist ***************************************************************** The Word of the Day for December 11 is: perpend \per-PEND\ verb 1 : to reflect on carefully : ponder *2 : to be attentive : reflect Example sentence: Perpend: if you let this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity slip away, you will regret it. Did you know? "Perpend" isn't used often these days, but when it does show up it is frequently imperative, as in our example sentence. As such, its use can be compared to the phrase "mark my words." "Perpend" arrived in English in the 15th century from the Latin verb "perpendere," which in turn comes from "pendere," meaning "to weigh." Appropriately, our English word essentially means "to weigh carefully in the mind." "Pendere" has several descendants in English, including "append," "compendium," "expend," and "suspend." "Perpend" can also be a noun meaning "a brick or large stone reaching through a wall" or "a wall built of such stones," but that "perpend" comes from a Middle French source and is unrelated to the verb. *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence. |
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