scrimshander

****************************************************************
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 April 28 is: 

scrimshander   \SKRIM-shan-der\   noun
     : a person who creates scrimshaw           

Example sentence:
     The museum's scrimshander hunched over a bit of bone, scraping it gently 
with a tiny needle, then brushed away the chips and held up the intricate 
design so we could see it.

Did you know?
     Scrimshaw is a distinctly North American folk art, but no one knows just 
where it started or how it got its name. Native peoples of Alaska and Canada 
have carved ivory for centuries, but when "scrimshaw" is used in modern 
English, it is most often associated with 18th- and 19th-century whalers of the 
ilk Herman Melville described as "examining ... divers specimens of 
skrimshander" in _Moby Dick_ (1851). As you can see from Melville's example, 
"scrimshander" was originally a synonym of "scrimshaw" (back then, the artists 
were most likely called "scrimshoners"). "Scrimshaw" and "scrimshander" may 
have originated with the surname of a sailor who was particularly skilled at 
the art, but if such an individual did exist, he is unknown today.





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://mw.drhinternet.net/sm/wod/changeofaddress.iphtml

(c) 2007 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

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