Word of the Day: emolument

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emolument (noun)

profit or fees from holding an office or employment; compensation for services rendered

"We have no account, from any comtemporary writer, that the printers were sworn servants to the crown, or that his Majesty received the price and emolument for printing books."
--J. Johnson, Typographia, Or, The Printers' Instructor (1824)

Quote of the Day: Christmas Gift Idea

"A dictionary makes a great Christmas gift."
--Unknown (possibly Noah Webster)

Word of the Day: kakistocracy

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kakistocracy [kak-ih-STOK-ris-see] (noun) TWITO, page 79

Government by the worst, least qualified or most unprincipled

"Is ours a government of the people, by the people, for the people, or a kakistocracy rather, for the benefit of knaves at the cost of fools?"
--James Russell Lowell, “Letter to Joel Benton” (1876)

Word of the Day: bastinado

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bastinado (noun)

Punishment that involves caning the soles of someone's feet.

"I will deal in poison with thee, or in bastinado, or in steel; I will bandy with thee in faction; I will o'errun thee with policy; I will kill thee a hundred and fifty ways: therefore tremble and depart."
--William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act V, Scene I

After that election, there are several people who could use a bastinado.

"I Woke Up and All My Yesterdays Were Gone"

Read “Daddy's Gone” by Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse on Genius

A Devilish Dictionary for the 2016 Campaign

Here's a basket of lexicographic deplorables:

Word of the Day: trundle-tail

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trundle-tail (noun)

A dog with a curly tail

"Be thy mouth or black or white,
Tooth that poisons if it bite;
Mastiff, greyhound, mongrel grim, 50
Hound or spaniel, brach or lym;
Or bobtail tike or trundle-tail;
Tom will make them weep and wail:
For, with throwing thus my head,
Dogs leap the hatch, and all are fled.
--William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act III, scene VI

Who let the trundle-tails out?