umpteen: M-W's Word of the Day

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Merriam-Webster OnLine   Unabridged   Learner’s Dictionary   Word Central   Encyclopædia Britannica                 Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day June 8   umpteen   \UMP-teen\   adjective   Meaning      : very many : indefinitely numerous   Example Sentence      "Oh, I've been there umpteen times," drawled Melanie, when I excitedly told her about my plans to go to Europe.            See a map of "umpteen" in the Visual Thesaurus.            Did you know?      "I'll go to bed and I'll not get up for umpty-eleven months." You know the feeling. The speaker here is war-weary Bill, a character in Patrick MacGill's early 20th-century novel The Great Push. His "umpty" originated as military slang around 1905 and stood for an indefinite number, generally largish. (It was probably created by analogy to actual numbers such as "twenty.") Soon, there followed "umpteen," blending “umpty” and "-teen." "Umpteen" usually describes an indefinite and large number or amount, while the related “umpteenth” is used for the latest or last in an indefinitely numerous series. We only occasionally use "umpty" these days (and even more rarely "umptieth"), but you're bound to hear or read "umpteen" and "umpteenth" any number of times.   *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.   Subscription: You are subscribed as: mayorjfvalley@gmail.com •  Unsubscribe from Word of the Day •  Subscribe to Word of the Day •  View Archives of previous words   Company Info: Merriam-Webster, Inc. 47 Federal Street P.O. Box 281 Springfield, MA 01102 Web site: Merriam-Webster.com Privacy Policy © 2008 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated                   Find Firefox fun, Google gizmos, Mozilla madness and more, all in our free Downloads section at Merriam-Webster Online.                                  Merriam-Webster OnLine   Unabridged   Learner’s Dictionary   Word Central   Encyclopædia Britannica If you do not wish to receive further issues, please unsubscribe.