In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
LOON
loon, diver
(noun) large somewhat primitive fish-eating diving bird of the northern hemisphere having webbed feet placed far back; related to the grebes
loon
(noun) a worthless lazy fellow
addlehead, addle-head, loon, birdbrain
(noun) a person with confused ideas; incapable of serious thought
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology 1
Noun
loon (plural loons)
An idler, a lout.
(chiefly, Scotland, Ulster) A boy, a lad.
(chiefly, Scotland) A harlot; mistress.
(chiefly, Scotland) A simpleton.
(slang) A crazy or deranged person.
(Ireland, historical) An English soldier of an expeditionary army in Ireland.
Synonyms
• (crazy person): lunatic, psycho, wacko
Etymology 2
Noun
loon (plural loons)
(US, Canada) Any of various birds, of the order Gaviiformes, of North America and Europe that dive for fish and have a short tail, webbed feet and a yodeling cry.
Synonyms
• (bird of order Gaviiformes): diver
Source: Wiktionary
Loon, n. Etym: [Scot. loun, lown, loon; akin to OD. loen a stupid man; prob. for an older lown, and akin to E. lame.]
Definition: A sorry fellow; a worthless person; a rogue.
Loon, n. Etym: [For older loom, Icel. l; akin to Dan. & Sw. lom.] (Zoöl.)
Definition: Any one of several aquatic, wed-footed, northern birds of the genus Urinator (formerly Colymbus), noted for their expertness in diving and swimming under water. The common loon, or great northern diver (Urinator imber, or Colymbus torquatus), and the red-throated loon or diver (U. septentrionalis), are the best known species. See Diver.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
24 May 2025
EARTHSHAKING
(adjective) sufficiently significant to affect the whole world; “earthshaking proposals”; “the contest was no world-shaking affair”; “the conversation...could hardly be called world-shattering”
Coffee Trivia
