marplot

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The Word of the Day for May 31 is: 

marplot   \MAHR-plaht\   noun
     : one who frustrates or ruins a plan or undertaking by meddling

Example sentence:
     "What is the use of my taking the vows and settling everything as it 
should be, if that marplot Hans comes and upsets it all?" (George Eliot, 
_Daniel Deronda_)

Did you know?
     Beginning in the 17th century, people liked to prefix "mar-" to nouns to 
create a term for someone who mars, or spoils, something. A mar-joy was bad 
enough, but even worse was a mar-all. Although today the word "plot" often 
carries an implication of secrecy or ill intent, the "plot" used in the 
formation of "marplot" simply meant "a plan for the accomplishment of 
something." A marplot, therefore, can really mess up a perfectly good thing. 
The word may not have been invented by English playwright Susannah Centlivre, 
but it first surfaces in print in her 1709 play _The BusyBody_. That title 
refers to a character named Marplot, who misguidedly gets in the way of the 
lovers in the play.