|About | Media | Search | Contact|
Jul 7, 2017This week’s theme
People who became verbs
This week’s words
The Massacre of the Innocents at Bethlehem
Art: Matteo di Giovanni
This week’s comments
Next week’s theme
A.Word.A.Daywith Anu Garg
verb tr.: To surpass in cruelty, evil, extravagance, etc.
After Herod the Great (74/73 BCE - 4 BCE), who was depicted as a tyrant in old mystery plays. Earliest documented use: 1604.
“The direct damage done by us, by practicing doctors, who see patients mainly for profit is likely on a scale that easily out-Herods any of the harm produced by the pharmaceutical industry.”
S Nassir Ghaemi; Perspectives in Biology and Medicine (Baltimore, Maryland); Spring 2013.
“Mr. Burroughs himself, however, out-Herods them all in the arts of whitewash.”
Thomas M. Disch; Pleasures of Hanging; The New York Times; Mar 15, 1981.
See more usage examples of out-Herod in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill. -Robert A. Heinlein, science-fiction author (7 Jul 1907-1988)
© 1994-2023 Wordsmith