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perforce: msg#00020culture.language.word-of-the-day
**************************************************************** Do you enjoy challenging word games? Try WORD SWEEP!, the new board game featuring official Merriam-Webster definitions! http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780971348769&itm=2 **************************************************************** The Word of the Day for March 20 is: perforce \per-FORSS\ adverb : by force of circumstances Example sentence: Lorel and Curt's tiny vineyard produces a limited quantity of top-quality chardonnays that are perforce rather pricey. Did you know? English speakers borrowed "par force" from Anglo-French in the 14th century. "Par" meant "by" (from Latin "per") and the Anglo-French word "force" had the same meaning as its English equivalent, which was already in use by then. At first, "perforce" meant quite literally "by physical coercion." That meaning is no longer used today, but it was still prevalent in William Shakespeare's lifetime (1564-1616). "He rush'd into my house and took perforce my ring away," wrote the Bard in _The Comedy of Errors_. The "force of circumstances" sense of "perforce" had also come into use by Shakespeare's day. In _Henry IV, Part 2_, we find "...your health; the which, if you give o'er to stormy passion, must perforce decay." 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) 2007 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated Merriam-Webster, Inc. 47 Federal Street P.O. Box 281 Springfield, MA 01102 |
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