Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
DEFACING
Verb
defacing
present participle of deface
Noun
defacing (plural defacings)
defacement
Source: Wiktionary
DEFACE
De*face", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Defaced; p. pr. & vb. n. Defacing.] Etym: [OE. defacen to disfigure, efface, OF. desfacier; L. dis- + facies face. See Face, and cf. Efface.]
1. To destroy or mar the face or external appearance of; to disfigure; to injure, spoil, or mar, by effacing or obliterating important features or portions of; as, to deface a monument; to deface an edifice; to deface writing; to deface a note, deed, or bond; to deface a record. "This high face defaced." Emerson. So by false learning is good sense defaced. Pope.
2. Etym: [Cf. F. défaire.]
Definition: To destroy; to make null. [Obs.] [Profane scoffing] doth . . . deface the reverence of religion. Bacon. For all his power was utterly defaste [defaced]. Spenser.
Syn.
– See Efface.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
16 May 2025
AMPHIPROSTYLAR
(adjective) marked by columniation having free columns in porticoes either at both ends or at both sides of a structure
Coffee Trivia
