A.Word.A.Day "Sternutate"

sternutate

PRONUNCIATION:

(stuhr-NOO-tayt, -NYOO-) 

MEANING:

verb intr.: To sneeze.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin sternuere (to sneeze). Earliest documented use: 1745.

USAGE:

“He sternutated. That broke the spell.”
Avram Davidson; The Island Under the Earth; Ace; 1969.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

We have probed the earth, excavated it, burned it, ripped things from it, buried things in it, chopped down its forests, leveled its hills, muddied its waters, and dirtied its air. That does not fit my definition of a good tenant. If we were here on a month-to-month basis, we would have been evicted long ago. -Rose Bird, Chief Justice of California Supreme Court (2 Nov 1936-1999)