Friday, July 05, 2013

Word of the Day - blighter

Word of the Day for Friday, July 5, 2013

blighter \BLAHY-ter\, noun British Slang.:
1. a chap; bloke.
noun:
1. a contemptible, worthless person, especially a man; scoundrel or rascal.
The blighter had shoulders fully as broad as the girl was high, and legs like a dragon.
-- E.E. Knight, Dragon Outcast, 2007
I was sorry for the poor blighter, but after all, I reflected, a chappie who had lived all his life with Lady Malvem, in a small village in the interior of Shropshire, wouldn't have much to kick at in a prison.
-- P.G. Wodehouse, "Jeeves and The Unbidden Guest," Enter Jeeves, 1916
Lord Clive was a blighter and so were most of the other viceroys. Blighters ask for bribes; blighters try to cheat the Accounts Department…
-- Paul Theroux, The Great Railway Bazaar, 2006
Blighter entered English in the early 1800s as a variation on the more common word blight, which is of unknown origin.

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