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merriamwebster_feedMerriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 18, 2025 is:
muse • \MYOOZ\ • verb
When muse is used to mean "to think about something carefully or thoroughly," it is usually followed by about, on, over, or upon. The word can also mean "to become absorbed in thought," or "to think or say something in a thoughtful way."
// He mused on the possibility of pursuing a master's degree.
// "I could sell the house," she mused aloud, "but then where would I go?"
Examples:
"On a crisp winter's day, 100-year-old Peg Logan sits in her favorite wingback chair in the living room of her Harpswell home. She flips through the pages of an oversized gardening book and muses about the vegetables she'll plant in the spring." — Connie Sage Conner, The Harpswell (Maine) Anchor, 27 Feb. 2025
Did you know?
Muse on this: the word muse comes from the Anglo-French verb muser, meaning "to gape, to idle, to muse." The image evoked is one of a thinker so absorbed in thought as to be unconsciously open-mouthed. Those who muse on their pets' musings might like to know that muser is ultimately from the Medieval Latin noun musus, meaning "mouth of an animal"—also source of the word muzzle. The noun muse, which in lowercase refers to a source of inspiration and when capitalized to one of the sister goddesses of Greek mythology, has no etymological link: that word comes from the Greek Mousa. The ultimate Greek origin of the word museum translates as "of the Muses."
ysabetwordsmith posting in birdfeeding daily_otter_feed
Photo by keeper Lindsey via Point Defiance Zoo, which writes:
🦦 Moea, our rescued sea otter, is an estimated 16 years old. She is calm, confident, and loves spending time with her fellow otters. She’s also a foodie at heart, and her name is too! "Moea" is a nod to the scientific name for sweet potato. 🍠
merriamwebster_feedMerriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 17, 2025 is:
kibosh • \KYE-bosh\ • noun
Kibosh refers to something that serves as a check or stop. It is usually used in the phrase “put the kibosh on” to mean “to stop or end (something)” or “to prevent (something) from happening or continuing.”
// I downloaded an app to help me put the kibosh on my high screen time.
Examples:
“… Maybe, suggests [Graham] Dugoni and other advocates, instead of putting the kibosh on devices entirely, we need to treat modern society like a teenager on a rebellious streak. Rather than saying no, we need to show them support, offer a gentle hand, maybe even make them think it’s their idea. In a way, it’s time for some gentle parenting.” — Chase DiBenedetto, Mashable, 3 June 2025
Did you know?
Evidence of kibosh dates the word to only a few years before Charles Dickens used it in an 1836 sketch, but despite kibosh being relatively young its source is elusive. Claims were once made that it was Yiddish, despite the absence of a plausible Yiddish source. Another hypothesis pointed to the Irish term caidhp bhais, literally, “coif (or cap) of death,” explained as headgear a judge put on when pronouncing a death sentence, or as a covering pulled over the face of a corpse when a coffin was closed. But evidence for any metaphorical use of this phrase in Irish is lacking, and kibosh is not recorded in English as spoken in Ireland until decades after Dickens’s use. More recent source theories include a heraldic term for an animal’s head when born with only its face fully showing, and an Arabic word meaning “whip, lash,” but as the note at our etymology explains, no theory has sufficient evidence to back it.
ysabetwordsmith posting in birdfeeding merriamwebster_feedMerriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 16, 2025 is:
biannual • \bye-AN-yuh-wul\ • adjective
Biannual is an adjective used to describe something that happens twice a year, or something that happens every two years.
// The art show is a biannual event that won’t happen again for two more years.
// The group holds biannual meetings in December and July.
Examples:
“About 200 miles of trails make up The Alabama Coastal Birding Trail along Alabama’s Gulf coast. These comprehensive trails span both Baldwin and Mobile counties, following the coastline, wetlands, and backwaters—all crucial stopover habitats for migratory birds. Visit in the fall or spring to see part of the beautiful biannual journey for yourself.” — Catherine Jessee, Southern Living, 8 Mar. 2025
Did you know?
When we describe something as biannual, we can mean either that it occurs twice a year or that it occurs once every two years. So how does someone know which particular meaning we have in mind? Well, unless we provide them with a contextual clue, they don’t. Some people prefer to use semiannual to refer to something that occurs twice a year, reserving biannual for things that occur once every two years. This practice is hardly universal among English speakers, however, and biannual remains a potentially ambiguous word. Fortunately, English also provides us with biennial, a word that specifically refers to something that occurs every two years or that lasts or continues for two years.
ribirdnerd posting in birdfeedingysabetwordsmith posting in birdfeeding daily_otter_feed
Via Sea Life Birmingham, which writes:
Did you know you can tell Ozzy and Ola apart by their noses? 🦦👃
Ozzy's nose is larger than Ola's!
merriamwebster_feedMerriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 15, 2025 is:
coalesce • \koh-uh-LESS\ • verb
To coalesce is to come together to form one group or mass.
// The club’s community service projects provide students with a common goal to coalesce around.
// The movie is full of beautifully written scenes but they never coalesce into a whole.
Examples:
“... as Angola prepares for the final, the combination of personal perseverance, team cohesion, and national pride coalesces into something bigger than a game: a celebration of resilience, dedication, and the enduring spirit of basketball in Angola.” — Sindiswa Mabunda, Forbes, 24 Aug. 2025
Did you know?
The meaning of many English words equals the sum of their parts, and coalesce is a fitting example. The word unites the prefix co- (“together”) and the Latin verb alescere, meaning “to grow.” Coalesce is one of a number of English verbs (along with mix, commingle, merge, and amalgamate) that refer to the act of combining parts into a whole. In particular, coalesce usually implies the merging of similar parts to form a cohesive unit, such as a political ideology, a fan-following, or (perish the thought) a Portuguese man-of-war, the body of which includes three types of zooids.
ysabetwordsmith posting in birdfeeding daily_otter_feedVia Oregon Zoo, which writes:
Positive-reinforcement training like the sea otters' basketball routine plays a critical role in animal well-being. And while the shoot-around is mostly an enrichment exercise now, veterinarians say it could have additional health benefits as the young otters get older, staving off stiffness and arthritis in their senior years. Ottermatic all stars!
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