Sunday, February 16, 2014

Word of the day: nivosity

The Oxford English Dictionary ’s Word of the Day is nivosity. A new way to hate the weather!

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February 18: Alas, the OED no longer keeps these links active. There’s more about nivosity in the comments.

2 comments:

  1. That's a new word for me! And it isn't in the two regular online dictionaries I usually use. Since I'm not a subscriber at OED, I can't access their site. But I found it here: http://www.encyclo.co.uk/define/nivosity

    My university may subscribe but if they do, I can probably only access it off campus by jumping through some hoops. I do love the OED but...

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  2. That’s disappointing: the Word of the Day used to be accessible for keeps (here’s a link that proves it). But now the link in the WotD e-mail works only for a limited time, as I just found out. Grr.

    Nivosity means “snowiness; a resemblance to snow.” The OED citation includes a word that isn’t in the dictionary itself: vendemiarity, something to do with grapes and vintage.

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