Dictionary

I have a subscription to dictionary.com, a resource I often use in my search for the correct spelling of english words. The subscription means I get a new word sent to me every day. My word (ha! pun intended I guess!), that has really opened my eyes to the limitedness of my vocabulary!
There was one word sent to me of which I was convinced I knew the meaning. Sadly, I was wrong. I did not know the meaning of the word enervated. In fact I always thought that it meant exactly the opposite. Kind of humbling, but also slightly shocking seeing as I often pride myself on my knowledge of the english language. :-(

And what about words like quondam, brummagem and sesquipedalian. Do you know what they mean?? Have you ever used these words in regular conversation?

The most fun up to now has been to discover that there is a specific word you can use which means to throw something out of a window. That word is defenestrate. Like... I'm going to defenestrate this computer if it doesn't get started up any faster.

I get a kick out of learning stuff like this. Maybe someday it will come in handy in scrabble... Or I will become unbeatable when playing the dictionary game.


The rules are as follows:
One person looks in a dictionary and finds a word that nobody knows the meaning of. Everybody then writes their own definition of the word on a piece of paper. The real meaning of the word is also written down.
The person holding the dictionary collects all the papers and reads all the definitions out loud. Then votes are taken on which is the real definition. The person whose definition is voted for most wins. And those who guess the true definition also gather points.
Does this make any sense at all? If it does, do try it. Because it can be a huge lot of fun, especially if you have a lot of expressive creative people in the group. The definitions people can come up with are just hilarious and all you need is a dictionary, paper and pens.