pinchbeck

****************************************************************
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 September 15 is: 

pinchbeck   \PINCH-beck\   noun
          1 : an alloy of copper and zinc used especially to imitate gold in 
jewelry
    *2 : something counterfeit or spurious

Example sentence:
     Danny claims that the word "trousers" comes from the name of "inventor" 
Jacob Trowser, but that etymology is just a pinchbeck.

Did you know?
     On November 27, 1732, an advertisement ran in a British 
newspaperannouncing that “the toys made of the late ingenious Mr. Pinchbeck's 
curious metal ... are now sold only by his son….” The Mr. Pinchbeck in question 
was Christopher Pinchbeck, a London watchmaker who invented the alloy that 
would be posthumously named for him. Although the metal is used as a substitute 
for gold, the word “pinchbeck,” which can also be used as an adjective, didn’t 
acquire its “counterfeit” sense until the 1790s, over 50 years after 
Pinchbeck’s death. 





You Are Subscribed As: gclw-mw-wod7@xxxxxxxxx

To unsubscribe, please click here:
http://www.drhinternet.net/mw/u/966408/568f14b4ab4f050b/N61L6

To 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