maelstrom

****************************************************************
Introducing WORD SWEEP!, the first board game to feature Merriam-Webster 
definitions! Enjoy hours of challenging fun. Try it at: 
http://www.wordsweep.com 
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for November 24 is:

maelstrom   \MAIL-strum\   noun 
     1 : a powerful often violent whirlpool sucking in objects within a given 
radius 
    *2 : something resembling a maelstrom in turbulence 

Example sentence:
     The mayor has been swept up in the media maelstrom surrounding the 
laundering of thousands of dollars in state funds by city officials.

Did you know? 
     "Maelstrom" comes from an early Dutch proper noun that literally meant 
"turning stream." The original Maelstrom is a channel that has dangerous tidal 
currents located off the northwest coast of Norway. The word became popularized 
in the general vocabulary of English in reference to a powerful whirlpool, or 
something akin to one, in the 19th century. This was partly due to its use by 
writers such as Edgar Allan Poe and Jules Verne (whose writing was widely 
translated from French) in stories exaggerating the tempestuousness of the 
Norwegian current and transforming it into a whirling vortex. 

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence. 





You Are Subscribed As: gclw-mw-wod7@xxxxxxxxx
To unsubscribe, change your e-mail address or to subscribe to the html
version of Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day, featuring audio
pronunciations, please visit:

http://www.startsampling.com/sm/wod/changeofaddress.iphtml

(c) 2006 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

Merriam-Webster, Inc.
47 Federal Street
P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA 01102