Maunder - plus, Noah Webster's Spelling Wins and Fails

[Merriam-Webster]( WORD OF THE DAY October 17, 2019 maunder [Audio pronunciation]( verb | MAWN-der Definition 1 : chiefly British : [grumble]( 2 : to wander slowly and idly 3 : to speak indistinctly or disconnectedly Scroll down for more about maunder TRENDING NOW: [kangaroo court]( [coup]( [quid pro quo]( [impeach]( [SEE ALL [>]]( PEOPLE ARE READING [Noah Webster's Spelling Wins and Fails]( [The Disputed Origins of the 'Egg Cream']( [At the Root of ‘Cubicle’]( [Registering the Politics of 'Register']( WORD GAMES AND QUIZZES: WEEKLY CHALLENGE [Where in the World? A Quiz]( Do you know what languages these words come from? [PLAY NOW]( Nailed this quiz? We have plenty more to try! [TAKE ME THERE [>]]( Did You Know? Maunder looks a lot like [meander]( and that's not all the two words have in common—both mean "to wander aimlessly," either physically or in speech. Some critics have suggested that while meander can describe a person's verbal and physical rambling, in addition to the wanderings of things like paths and streams, maunder should be limited to wandering words. The problem with that reasoning is that maunder has been used of the physical movements of people since the 18th century, whereas meander didn't acquire that use until the 19th. These days, meander tends to be the more common choice, although maunder does continue to turn up in both applications. Examples of MAUNDER The bed-and-breakfast was delightful but we felt a bit captive in the morning as our host maundered on while we hovered at the door, hoping to escape before the morning had passed. "Listening to [Kenneth Branagh playing Hercule Poirot] feels like chatting with your neighbor over the garden hedge, and it's all too easy to be distracted by the foliage, I'm afraid, as he maunders on about knife wounds and sleeping potions and missing kimonos." — [Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 20 Nov. 2017]( Name That Synonym Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of maunder: m _ _ c _. [VIEW THE ANSWER [>]]( MORE WORD FUN: [WORD GAMES [>]]( [TRENDING NOW [>]]( [WORDS AT PLAY [>]]( FOLLOW US: [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( SHARE: [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [View this email in a web browser]( You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day. [Unsubscribe from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day]( [Manage your subscription settings]( Merriam-Webster, Inc. 47 Federal Street, P.O. Box 281 Springfield, MA, 01102, USA [www.merriam-webster.com]( | [Privacy Policy]( © 2019 by Merriam-Webster, Inc.