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imbue: msg#00008culture.language.word-of-the-day
**************************************************************** Looking for a Merriam-Webster dictionary that fits your own special needs? Come on in and browse! http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/book.pl?diction.htm **************************************************************** The Word of the Day for March 9 is: imbue \im-BYOO\ verb *1 : to permeate or influence as if by dyeing 2 : to tinge or dye deeply 3 : to provide with something freely or naturally : endow Example sentence: The coach hoped that his pep talk would imbue the team with a sense of confidence before the final game. Did you know? First appearing in English in the mid-1500s, "imbue" derives from the Latin verb "imbuere," meaning "to dye, wet, or moisten." Like its synonym "infuse," "imbue" implies the introduction of one thing into another so as to affect it throughout. A nation can be imbued with pride, for example, or a photograph might be imbued with a sense of melancholy. In the past "imbue" has also been used synonymously with "imbrue," an obscure word meaning "to drench or stain," but etymologists do not think the two words are related. "Imbrue" has been traced back through Anglo-French and Old French to the Latin verb "bibere," meaning "to drink." *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence. |
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