Monday, April 11, 2011

dearth

dearth [dɜrθ] n.

1.) Scarcity which renders dear; want; lack; specifically, lack of food on account of failure of crops; famine (GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English).

Etymology: Middle English derthe, from Old English deorthu, costliness, from deore, costly.

"As among the different provinces of a great empire, the freedom of the inland trade appears, both from reason and experience, not only the best palliative of a dearth, but the most effectual preventive of a famine; so would the freedom of the exportation and importation trade be among the different states into which a great continent was divided" (An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith, 1776).

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Today's word in "honor" of the fact that my bike was stolen last Thursday night. I had lost my lock, so I just sort of draped another lock over the front wheel and left the bike at Uni overnight, hoping it would fool the thieves. Didn't work. Anyone in London have a bike I could buy on the cheap?

8 comments:

Danny Murphy said...

Will try to break this into my vocabulary over the next week or so.

Anonymous said...

I have to use this word today in a conversation :D

Team Panda said...

i think im gona have to look up "palliative" before i can know how to use dearth in a sentence.

ExoticBlogger said...

cool word!

Anonymous said...

I'll use it with a girl.

Moobeat said...

very good word of the day! i like your blog here. following

Oscar said...

Awesome word.

C Mo Gunz said...

awsome post! essay worthy for sure!

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