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paste: msg#00027culture.language.word-of-the-day
**************************************************************** Bee a winner with our Unabridged Dictionary--the official reference of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/book.pl?w3.htm&1 **************************************************************** The Word of the Day for May 28 is: paste \PAIST\ verb 1 : to strike hard at *2 : to beat or defeat soundly Example sentence: The school's football team pasted their rivals by 35 points in the championship game. Did you know? "Paste" came to be as an alteration of the word "baste," which means "to beat severely or soundly." The exact origin of "baste" is uncertain, but it probably comes from the Old Norse word "beysta," meaning "to bruise, thrash, or flog." "Baste" was first seen in the 16th century, but "paste" didn't turn up in print until 1846, and it only recently acquired its "defeat" sense. "Baste" is now less popular than "paste" (the two "baste" homographs that mean "to sew with long stitches" and "to moisten while cooking" are distinct terms not related to this "baste"), though its relative "lambaste" ("to beat" or "to censure") is prevalent. *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence. |
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