Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 10, 2023 is:

foolscap • \FOOLZ-kap\  • noun

Foolscap refers broadly to a piece of writing paper, and in the US specifically to a usually 8” x 13” size of paper.

// The exhibit includes a number of early legal documents written on foolscap with quill and ink.

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Examples:

“Thwarted megamergers and private-equity acquisitions, buyouts and layoffs, self-publishing and artificial intelligence: It’s hard to find a glimmer of glamour in the book business right now. … Against this tech-inflected landscape, Thomas Harding’s more than serviceable new biography of George Weidenfeld, long a force of letters in England and briefly in the United States, floats as if on stained foolscap.” — Alexandra Jacobs, The New York Times, 27 Aug. 2023

Did you know?

You’d be well within your rights to respond “Surely, you jest!” to the notion that foolscap refers to a sheet of writing paper, and also specifically to a paper size of approximately 8" x 13", similar to that of a legal pad. After all, when foolscap was first used in the 1500s, it referred to an actual fool’s cap—the oft jingling headwear worn as part of a jester’s motley (a sense still used today). But we promise we do not jest. The connection between the whimsical chapeau and the paper is attributable to the former use of a watermark depicting a fool’s cap that was used on long sheets of writing or printing paper. There are various explanations for the introduction of this watermark—including the claim that a 1648 British parliamentary group substituted it for the royal arms during exceptionally turbulent times—but such explanations remain unsupported by historical evidence.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 9, 2023 is:

convalesce • \kahn-vuh-LESS\  • verb

To convalesce is to recover health and strength gradually after sickness, injury, or weakness.

// According to the article, the athlete is still convalescing from her recent injury but expects to resume her training schedule by the end of the month.

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Examples:

"No complications occurred during the surgery or while the pope was convalescing in Gemelli's 10th-floor apartment reserved exclusively for hospitalization of pontiffs, according to the pope's medical staff." — Frances D'Emilio, The Los Angeles Times, 16 June 2023

Did you know?

When you convalesce, you heal or grow strong after illness or injury, often by staying off your feet. The related adjective convalescent means "recovering from sickness or debility," and a convalescent home is a hospital for long-term recuperation and rehabilitation. Convalesce comes from the Latin verb convalescere, which combines the prefix com-/con-, meaning "with, together, jointly," with the verb valescere, meaning "to grow strong." Valescere, in turn, is related to the verb valēre, meaning "to be strong or be well," which is also an ancestor of prevail, valor, value, and valid.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 8, 2023 is:

intrepid • \in-TREP-id\  • adjective

Intrepid means “fearless, bold, and brave.”

// Her college semester abroad sparked a series of intrepid travels around the world.

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Examples:

“After a trio of tech billionaires are forewarned of an apocalyptic superbug and flee to a secret doomsday bunker to save only themselves, an unlikely group of friends embark on an intrepid mission to take down the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world. Beginning with the end of civilization and jumping back and forth through time, Naomi Alderman, the award-winning author of 2016's The Power, weaves a cautionary tale of what society stands to lose in a near-future where AI has transformed all walks of life.” — Megan McCluskey, Time, 31 Oct. 2023

Did you know?

If you’re going to name a ship, whether an aircraft carrier or an interstellar starship, you could do worse than to name it the Intrepid, as both the United States military and Star Trek writers have done, respectively. (Technically “Intrepid” is a class of Trek ships that includes the Voyager, etc., but you get the drift.) Intrepid, after all, comes from the Latin word intrepidus, itself formed by the combination of the prefix in-, meaning “not,” and the adjective trepidus, meaning “alarmed.” When not designating sea or space vessels, intrepid aptly describes anyone—from explorers to reporters—who ventures bravely into unknown territory, though often you’ll see the word loaded with irony, as in “an intrepid couch surfer endeavored to watch every installment of the beloved sci-fi series in chronological order.” Intrepid word lovers may be interested to know of the existence of trepid, meaning “fearful”; it predates intrepid but most are too trepid (or simply unaware of its existence) to use it.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 7, 2023 is:

tincture • \TINK-cher\  • noun

Tincture refers to a solution made by mixing a medicinal substance in an alcoholic solvent. It can also refer to a slight trace of something, as in “a tincture of doubt.”

// The shelves behind the apothecary counter were lined with dozens of jars and vials containing tinctures of every color of the rainbow.

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Examples:

“Lemon balm can be consumed in several ways. People often drink it as a tea or as an ingredient in a tea blend. You can eat the herb fresh—chopped up into a salad, added to a cold beverage, or even as an ingredient in baked goods. You can find it as a supplement in capsule or tablet form or as an herbal tincture.” — Wendy Wisner, Health.com, 4 June 2023

Did you know?

A droplet of this, a skosh of that. Now you take that home, throw it in a beaker, and add a touch of ethyl alcohol to hold it all together—baby, you’ve got a tincture going. Tincture is a word with a colorful past most often encountered today in reference to a solution consisting of a medicinal substance mixed with alcohol, as in “Carl weathers his cold with a tincture of echinacea.” When the word first appeared in English in the 14th century, tincture referred to a substance used to color, dye, or stain, but by the 17th century the word had acquired several additional meanings, including “a slight infusion or trace of something.” This sense is still in use today, especially figuratively, as when an aspiring actor is said to feel a “tincture of doubt that the acting lessons are worth what he paid.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 6, 2023 is:

permeable • \PER-mee-uh-bul\  • adjective

Permeable is a synonym of penetrable that is used especially to describe things that have pores or openings that permit liquids or gases to pass through.

// The new housing project will include a permeable parking lot to help mitigate stormwater runoff.

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Examples:

“The idea is to enable cities to soak up and retain excess water with designs focused on nature, including gardens, green roofs, wetlands and permeable sidewalks—allowing water to both sink into the ground and flow outwards.” — Laura Paddison, CNN, 26 Mar. 2023

Did you know?

“Our landscapes are changing … they’re becoming less permeable to wildlife at the precise moment animals need to move most,” writes Ben Goldfarb in his book Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet. He’s describing the effects of highway infrastructure and at the same time clearly demonstrating the meaning of permeable, a word that traces back to a combination of the prefix per-, meaning “through,” and the Latin verb meare, meaning “to go” or “to pass.” Accordingly, a permeable landscape—such as one where humans have constructed wildlife overpasses—is one that allows animals to pass and spread through unimpeded. Permeable’s relative, the verb permeate (“to spread or diffuse through”) is another commonly used meare descendent, but other relations haven’t managed to permeate the language quite so widely, such as meatus (“a natural body passage”), congé (“a formal permission to depart”), and irremeable (“offering no possibility of return”).