24 January Word and Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

'The pen is mightier than the sword ... if the sword is very short, and the pen is very sharp.' - The Light Fantastic
Terry Pratchett

http://grammarandpunctuationmodule4.blogspot.com.au/

 Word of the Day

GRAVITATE

Pronunciation: /ˈɡravɪteɪt/ 

Meaning

- Move towards or be attracted to a person or thing:

            Young western Europeans will gravitate to Berlin

 - Physics  - Move, or tend to move, towards a centre of gravity or other attractive force:

            The electron does not gravitate towards the nucleus

Archaic 

 - Descend or sink by the force of gravity:

Origin

Mid 17th century: from modern Latin gravitat-, from the verb gravitare, from Latin gravitas 'weight'.

Gravity, gravitation, and gravitate descend from the Latin gravitas, meaning "weight." The first to arrive on the scene was gravity, which appeared in the early 16th century. (Originally meaning "dignity or sobriety of bearing," it quickly came to mean "weight" as well.) Next came gravitation (used to describe the force of gravity) and gravitate—both mid-17th century arrivals. Gravitate once meant "to apply weight or pressure," but that use is now obsolete. In the late 17th century, it was recorded in the sense "to move under the effect of gravitation." It then acquired a more general sense of "to move toward something" (such as toward a specific location), and finally a metaphorical sense of "to be attracted" (as toward a person or a vocation).

Oxford Dictionary & Merriam Webster