Burgle

WORD OF THE DAY

burgle / BER-gul / verb

Definition

1: to break into and steal from

2: to commit burglary against

Examples

The broken window alerted the security guard that the office may have been burgled.

"Residents … had long been complaining about a surge in crime. One area resident tells Newsweek her house had been burgled a few years ago while she and her husband were inside." 

— Jeff Stein, Newsweek, 16 Sept. 2016

Did You Know?

Burglary, which means "forcible entry into a building especially at night with the intent to commit a crime (such as theft)," and burglar ("one who commits burglary") have been with us since the 16th century. Burgle and its synonym burglarize didn't break into the language until the 19th century. 

Burgle is a back-formation (that is, a word formed by removing a suffix or prefix) from burglar. Burglarize comes from burglar as well, with the addition of the familiar -ize ending. Both verbs were once disparaged by grammarians—burgle was considered to be "facetious" and burglarize was labeled "colloquial"—but they are both now generally accepted. Burglarize is more common in American English, whereas burgle is preferred in British English.

Interstice

WORD OF THE DAY

interstice / in-TER-stus / noun

Definition

1: a space that intervenes between things 

1b: a space between closely spaced things

2: a short space of time between events

Examples

"The vehicle of this affirmation—if indeed it is that—is a message that the Mara character writes on a scrap of paper and then jams into an interstice in an archway before painting over it, evoking a prayer wedged in the Western Wall." 

— Nick Pinkerton, Artforum, 6 July 2017

"You will find no wittily sardonic yet sympathetic aunts who happen to write fiction in the interstices of the day's other duties, no talented and unmarried daughters of deceased clergymen negotiating with London publishers from a Hampshire cottage." 

— Nicholas Dames, The Atlantic, September 2017

Did You Know?

You don't need to read between the lines to understand the history of interstice; its etymology is plain to see. Interstice derives from the Latin interstitium, which is itself formed from the prefix inter-, meaning "between," and -stes, meaning "standing." 

Interstices are the cracks and crevices of life, and the word is often used for both the literal and figurative gaps of the world. In modern uses, interstice can even refer to gaps in time or to special niches in the larger expanse of something else. 

Evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould used it, for example, to comment, "Dinosaurs held sway for 100 million years while mammals, all the while, lived as small animals in the interstices of their world."

Coalesce

WORD OF THE DAY


coalesce \ koh-uh-LESS \ verb
 
Definition
1: to grow together
2a: to unite into a whole
2b: fuse
2c: to unite for a common end
2d: join forces
3: to arise from the combination of distinct elements


Examples
"Parties typically struggle to coalesce on complex legislative issues."
— Frances Lee, The Washington Post, 23 July 2017


"Their first gig was at the Kennedy Center. More gigs followed, ... and the musicians coalesced into a working band, on the road three weeks out of every month."
— Fred Kaplan, The New Yorker, 22 May 2017


Did You Know?
Coalesce unites the prefix co- ("together") and the Latin verb alescere, meaning "to grow." (The words adolescent and adult also grew from alescere.) Coalesce, which first appeared in English in the mid-16th century, is one of a number of verbs in English (along with mix, commingle, merge, and amalgamate) that refer to the act of combining parts into a whole. In particular, coalesce usually implies the merging of similar parts to form a cohesive unit.