https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Krummh%C3%B6rn,_Greetsiel,_Windm%C3%BChlen_--_2025_--_9837.jpg

Description:

Twin mills (front: green mill, 1856; rear: red mill or Schoof’s mill, 1706), Greetsiel, Krummhörn, Lower Saxony, Germany

exegesis n 🔊

1. (chiefly religion)
   1. (uncountable) Explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text; also, the academic study of this; (countable) an instance of this.
      1. (by extension, generally) Critical commentary or discussion; (countable) an instance of this.
   2. (obsolete, uncountable) Chiefly of scripture: the action of using a phrase, sentence, etc., to interpret or paraphrase another phrase, sentence, etc.; (countable) a phrase, sentence, etc., used for this purpose; an explanatory note, a gloss.
2. (mathematics, historical) In full numeral exegesis: a procedure formerly used to solve algebraic equations.

☞ Today is World Teachers’ Day, which is recognized by the United Nations to highlight the rights and responsibilities of teachers around the world. It marks the adoption by states of the UNESCO/ILO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers on this day 60 years ago in 1966.

Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung P. 11914 (Papyrus 63) fragment 1 verso John 3, 14-15; 4, 10.jpg

Papyrus 63, a 4th- or 5th-century fragment of a papyrus containing parts of the Gospel of John (chapter 3, verses 14–18 on the left, and 4:9–10 on the right) in Greek with exegesis (sense 1.1) or commentary.[n 1]

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Word_of_the_day/2026/October_5

People who live in the post-totalitarian system know only too well that the question of whether one or several political parties are in power, and how these parties define and label themselves, is of far less importance than the question of whether or not it is possible to live like a human being.

— Václav Havel

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wikiquote:Quote_of_the_day/October_5%2C_2026

Charlie Chaplin and I would have a friendly contest: Who could do the feature film with the least subtitles?

— Buster Keaton

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wikiquote:Quote_of_the_day/October_4%2C_2026

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Basilica_dei_Santi_Apostoli_(Rome)_-_Ceiling.jpg

Description:

Baciccio's Triumph of Franciscan Order depicts the Apostles recommending Francis of Assisi, Anthony of Padua, and other Franciscans to Christ for admittance into Heaven. The fresco is on the vaulted ceiling of the Church of the Twelve Holy Apostles in Rome. This year is the 800th anniversary of Francis of Assisi's death. Today is his feast day.

Orwellian adj 🔊

1. Of or relating to the English writer George Orwell, or (especially) his ideas and writings (particularly his 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four).
2. (politics, specifically) Resembling the totalitarian political methods criticized in Orwell's works, particularly in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, which are characterized by the use of censorship, misleading terminology, propaganda, repression, and surveillance.

Orwellian n

1. One who admires the ideas and writings of the English writer George Orwell.

☞ Banned Books Week, organized by the American Library Association to celebrate the freedom to read and to draw attention to banned and challenged books, is held in 2026 from October 4 to 10.

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Yakov Guminer - Arithmetic of a counter-plan poster (1931).jpg

The English writer George Orwell at the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) in 1940.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Word_of_the_day/2026/October_4

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brown_booby_(Sula_leucogaster_plotus)_male_in_flight_Michaelmas_Cay.jpg

Description:

Brown booby (Sula leucogaster plotus) male in flight over Michaelmas Cay, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia.

If a man has talent and can't use it, he's failed. If he uses only half of it, he has partly failed. If he uses the whole of it, he has succeeded, and won a satisfaction and triumph few men ever know.

— Thomas Wolfe

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wikiquote:Quote_of_the_day/October_3%2C_2026

hackney n 🔊

1. (countable, archaic or historical) A horse suitable for riding; specifically, a strong medium-sized horse with a high-stepping trot, often used in harness competitions; also, such horses collectively as a breed.
2. (by extension, countable, historical)
   1. A horse which is hired out.
   2. In full hackney carriage, hackney coach: a horse-drawn carriage which is hired out.
3. (figurative)
   1. (uncountable, archaic) Writing which is dull or follows a predictable formula, produced so the writer can be paid rather than as a creative work; literary hackwork.
   2. (countable, obsolete)
      1. A person who does menial work; a drudge, a hireling, a lackey.
      2. A person or thing that is exploited. [...]

Hackney Pony9.jpg

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A hackney (noun sense 1) taking part in a harness competition.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Word_of_the_day/2026/October_3

No human being can really understand another, and no one can arrange another's happiness.

— Graham Greene

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wikiquote:Quote_of_the_day/October_2%2C_2026

trundle v 🔊

1. (transitive)
   1. To cause (a round object) to roll; to bowl, to roll.
      1. (cricket, informal) To bowl (a cricket ball).
   2. To cause (something which is held) to rotate; to spin, to twirl, to whirl; specifically, to spin (a mop) to remove water from it.
   3. To cause (an object with one or more castors, wheels, etc.) to move (heavily) by pulling or pushing; to roll, to wheel.
   4. To carry or transport (someone or something) using an object or vehicle with one or more castors, wheels, etc.
   5. (figurative) To send away (someone); to dismiss.
2. (intransitive)

   1. Of an object: to move by revolving or rolling; to revolve, to roll.

      2. (cricket, informal) Of a player: to bowl a cricket ball.

   2. Of an object: to move (often heavily) on one or more castors, wheels, etc.; to roll.

   3. To be carried or transported, or to travel, in a wheeled vehicle.

   4. (figurative)

      1. To move easily or quickly.
      2. Of a person: to walk clumsily or heavily.

   5. (obsolete, rare) To sleep in a trundle bed or truckle bed; to truckle.

Man pushing a wheelbarrow, Mexico.jpg

A man trundling a wheelbarrow (verb sense 1.3) in Mexico.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Word_of_the_day/2026/October_2

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gene_Autry,_NPG_94_39.jpg

Description:

Gene Autry in 1942. Autry died on this date in 1998.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Catedral_de_la_Encarnaci%C3%B3n,_M%C3%A1laga,_Espa%C3%B1a,_2023-05-19,_DD_37-39_HDR.jpg

Description:

Choir of the Málaga Cathedral, Andalusia, Spain. The Roman Catholic church was built in the Renaissance architectural tradition between 1528 and 1782 following the plans drawn by Diego de Siloe. The temple is considered one of the Renaissance jewels in all Andalusia.

You, who are so-called illegal aliens, must know that no human being is "illegal." That is a contradiction in terms. Human beings can be beautiful or more beautiful, they can be fat or skinny, they can be right or wrong, but illegal? How can a human being be illegal?

— Elie Wiesel

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wikiquote:Quote_of_the_day/September_30%2C_2026

Since honour from the honourer proceeds,
How well do they deserve that memorize
And leave in Books, for all posterities
The names of worthies and their virtuous deeds:
When all their glory else, like water-weeds
Without their element, presèntly dies,
And all their greatness quite forgotten lies,
And when and how they flourished no man heeds!
How poor remembrances are statues, tombs,
And other monuments that men erect
To princes, which remain in closèd rooms
Where but a few behold them, in respect
Of Books, that to the universal eye
Show how they lived; the other where they lie!

— John Florio

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wikiquote:Quote_of_the_day/October_1%2C_2026

English cadence n 🔊

1. (music) A perfect cadence characteristic of English Renaissance music, involving a flattened seventh note played against the dominant chord (containing a regular raised seventh). Conventionally, the flattened seventh is played as part of a suspension on the penultimate beat, before resolving downwards to the sixth and then fifth of the final chord, while the raised seventh is held before resolving upward to the first; however, more complex variations are also possible.

☞ Today is International Music Day, which was initiated by the American-born British–Swiss violinist Yehudi Menuhin, then president of the International Music Council, to promote music among all sections of society through applying UNESCO’s ideals of peace and friendship between peoples, and mutual appreciation of their aesthetic values. It was first celebrated in 1975.

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https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Word_of_the_day/2026/October_1

café au lait n 🔊

1. (uncountable) Coffee mixed with hot milk as a drink; white coffee; (countable) a serving of this.
2. (uncountable) Coffee and hot milk served in separate jugs as a breakfast drink; (countable) a serving of this.
3. (uncountable) A light brown colour like that of coffee with milk.: café au lait:

☞ Today is the eve of International Coffee Day which was established in 2015 by the International Coffee Organization and recognized by the United Nations General Assembly to celebrate coffee as a beverage and to highlight the concerns of coffee growers.

Coffee Garnon Bushes public house Coopersale Epping Essex England 01.jpg

Cafe au lait.jpg

A café au lait (noun sense 1) in a glass cup.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Word_of_the_day/2026/September_30

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Split_Cathedral_Bell_Tower_From_The_Vestibule_-_Split.jpg

Description:

The tower of the Cathedral of Saint Domnius (Split, Croatia) as seen from the Vestibule of Diocletian's Palace.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ceiling_Painted_Dome_Cupola_Angels_Fighting_Demons_in_Vatican_Museums.png

Description:

Ceiling Painted Dome Cupola Angels Fighting Demons in the Vatican Museums. Today is Michaelmas in much of Western Christianity.

First gain the victory and then make the best use of it you can.

— Horatio Nelson

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wikiquote:Quote_of_the_day/September_29%2C_2026

jocoserious adj 🔊

1. (rare) Simultaneously jocose or jocular and serious; mixing mirth with serious matters; semiserious.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Word_of_the_day/2026/September_29

Shakespeare's stage
Must hold the glass to every age,—
A thousand forms and passions glow
Upon the world -wide canvas. So
With larger scope our art we ply;
And if the crown be harder won,
Diviner rays around it run,
With strains of fuller harmony.

— Francis Turner Palgrave

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wikiquote:Quote_of_the_day/September_28%2C_2026

temperance n 🔊

1. (uncountable)
   1. Moderation or self-control in any action; control of the desire to act emotionally; calmness; (countable) an instance of this.
      1. (dated) Restraint or self-control when made angry or frustrated; forbearance.
   2. (Habitual) moderation in regard to the indulgence of natural appetites and passions; moderate or restrained indulgence.
      1. Moderation in the use of intoxicating substances; sobriety; specifically, complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages; teetotalism.
      2. (dated) Synonym of chastity (“abstinence from any sexual activity considered immoral”).
2. (obsolete, uncountable)
   1. The action of bringing to a temperate or moderate state.
   2. Proper moderation between extreme or opposing qualities.
   3. Temperature which is neither too cold nor too hot.

temperance adj

1. Advocating or practising complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages.

☞ The American temperance reformer and suffragist Frances Willard, who served as president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, was born on this day in 1839.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Word_of_the_day/2026/September_28

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cisterna_Bas%C3%ADlica,_Estambul,_Turqu%C3%ADa,_2024-09-28,_DD_58-60_HDR.jpg

Description:

View of the Basilica Cistern, Istanbul, Turkey. The Basilica Cistern, or Cisterna Basilica is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city. This subterranean cistern was called Basilica because it was located under a large public square, the Stoa Basilica, on the First Hill of Constantinople. The cistern, built in the 6th century during the reign of Byzantine emperor Justinian I, provided a water filtration system for the Great Palace of Constantinople and other buildings on the First Hill, and continued to provide water to the Topkapı Palace after the Ottoman conquest in 1453 and into modern times. Today it is kept with little water, for public access inside the space.