Jul

12

Word Of The Week: July 12th, 2008

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

July 12, 2008 |

Every once in a while I’ll hear someone refer to a collection of things as a “bevy”. Earlier this week a co-worker mentioned that she had a “bevy of flowers” in her yard. Bevy is one of those words I’ve heard and used, I thought, with a pretty clear idea of what it meant, but if someone actually asked me to define it I wouldn’t be so sure. I went to the old standard, the Oxford English Dictionary, and got this definition: “The proper term for a company of maidens or ladies, of roes, of quails, or of larks.” That’s weird. I know I’ve used the word “bevy” but I’m pretty sure I wasn’t talking about maidens, ladies, roes, quails, or larks. There is this second definition: “A company of any kind; rarely, a collection of objects.” Rarely? Really? Sometimes you can’t trust even the OED. Merriam Webster at least backed me up with its first definition: “a large group or collection”.

For more bevies check out the Collective Noun Page, where you can even submit your own suggestions.


Comments

3 Comments so far

  1. Peptodismal on July 13, 2008 8:10 am

    A diatribe of blogs?

  2. (((Billy))) on July 15, 2008 1:09 pm

    In high school, one of our weekly vocabulary words was ‘bevy.’ Each week, we had to come up with sentences using the word correctly. My sentence for ‘bevy’ was: Fond of full-figured women, the millionaire surrounded himself with a bevy of buxom beauties. The teacher was impressed with my alliteration, but thought that ‘buxom’ was too, well, sexual. I got an A on the assignment and a trip to the principal who laughed at the teachers sensitivity to the word ‘buxom.’ It may be the only vocabulary word I actually remember AS a vocabulary word from school (the others I remember, but not as part of an assignment).

  3. Christopher Waldrop on July 16, 2008 9:58 am

    Pepto, how about a buzz of blogs? Or a blather of blogs?

    Billy, the best part of that story to me is that you got an A on the assignment but got sent to the principal’s office anyway.

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