Sunday, February 02, 2014

Fwd: slake: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dictionary.com <doctor@dictionary.com>
Date: 2014-02-02
Subject: slake: Dictionary.com Word of the Day
To: "Hector William G." <hectorpinillos@gmail.com>

Word of the Day for Sunday, February 2, 2014

slake \sleyk\, verb:

1. to allay (thirst, desire, wrath, etc.) by satisfying.
2. to make less active, vigorous, intense, etc.: His calm manner slaked their enthusiasm.
3. to cause disintegration of (lime) by treatment with water.

My companions never drink pure water and the manioc beer serves as much to slake their thirst as to fill their stomachs and lubricate conversation.
-- Philippe Descola, The Spears of Twilight: Life and Death in the Amazon Jungle, 1996

She had the money he gave her (never enough to slake her anxieties).
-- Nuala O'Faolain, Are You Somebody?: The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman, 1996

Slake comes from Middle English slaken, "to become or render slack," hence "to abate," from Old English slacian, from slæc, "slack."

Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word

Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help

Words of the Day? How about words of timeless wisdom?

Introducing our Quotes channel! "Life itself is a quotation." - Jorge Luis Borges
Check out the Quote of the Day ››

Dictionary.com Word of the Day	You are subscribed to the Word of the Day as: hectorpinillos@gmail.com
Subscriber since: June 03, 2013 Unsubscribe from the Word of the Day	To subscribe to the Word of the Day by email, please send a blank message to: join-wordoftheday@lists.lexico.com
©2014 by Dictionary.com, LLC. 555 12th Street Suite 500 Oakland CA 94607	Subscriptions to the Word of the Day can also be managed online
	Tell a friend about the Word of the Day!