The word of the day for August 31st.
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Today's word is gumption, spelled G-U-M-P-T-I-O-N.
Gumption is a noun.
It refers to courage and confidence.
Here's the word used in a sentence from the Daily Herald of Provo.
Fourth graders devise machines powered by rubber bands and 10-year-old ingenuity,
some of the most creative thinking you'll ever witness.
Wonders of nature and humanity coexist in these spaces.
Behind all this is the gumption and bravery of teachers who set this up.
English speakers have had gumption, the word that is, since the early 1700s.
The term's source isn't known, but early examples of it are found in Scottish.
The related terms rumble gumption and rum gumption can be found there too.
Gumption originally referred to common sense, but it's now more commonly used to refer to the kind of courage
and get-up-and-go that makes understanding difficult things possible.
Art historians may know a couple additional applications for the word.
Gumption was historically used both to refer to the art of preparing painters' colors and as a synonym of McGilp.
Which refers to a mixture of linseed oil and mastic varnish that is used as a vehicle for oil paints.
With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.