elan

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The Word of the Day for November 21 is:

elan   \ay-LAHNG (the "NG" is not pronounced, but the vowel is nasalized)\   
noun
     : vigorous spirit or enthusiasm

Example sentence:
     With all the requisite elan, our guest blessed the food, toasted the cook, 
carved the roast turkey, served it around, and ate multiple helpings of 
everything.

Did you know? 
     Once upon a time, English speakers did not have "elan" (the word, that is; 
that's not to say we haven't always had potential for vigourous spirit). We 
had, however, "elance," a verb meaning "to hurl" that was used specifically for 
throwing lances and darts. "Elance" derived down the line from Middle French 
"(s')eslancer," meaning "to rush" or "dash" (that is, "to hurl oneself forth"). 
With the decline of lance-throwing, we tossed out "elance" a century and half 
ago. Just about that time we found "elan," a noun that traces to 
"(s')eslancer." We copied "elan" in form from the French, but we dispensed with 
the French sense of a literal "rush" or "dash," retaining the sense of 
enthusiastic animation that we sometimes characterize as "dash."