It's Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 15th.
Today's word is meander, spelled M-E-A-N-D-E-R.
Meander is a verb.
To meander is to follow a winding or intricate course, that is,
one with a lot of turns and curves,
or to walk slowly without a specific goal, purpose, or direction.
Here's the word used in a sentence from Forbes by Scott Kramer.
Hands down,
my favorite hike has been the Seven Bridges Walk in downtown San Diego that starts at the world-famous San Diego Zoo and meanders about four and a half miles through surrounding neighborhoods,
the downtown area, and then back to Balboa Park.
The word meander first meandered into the language in the late 16th century,
not as a verb but as a noun referring to a turn or winding of a stream.
The word came to English by way of Latin, ultimately from Meandros,
the Greek name for a river known today as the Menderes River in what is now southwestern Turkey.
The more popular verb use dates to the early 1600s and means both to follow a winding or intricate course and to ramble.
Despite its fluvial origins,
these days the word meander is more commonly used to refer to a person's wandering course than a river's.
With your Word of the Day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.
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