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.
WILDERNESS
wilderness
(noun) a bewildering profusion; “the duties of citizenship are lost sight of in the wilderness of interests of individuals and groups”; “a wilderness of masts in the harbor”
wilderness, wild
(noun) a wild and uninhabited area left in its natural condition; “it was a wilderness preserved for the hawks and mountaineers”
Wilderness
(noun) a wooded region in northeastern Virginia near Spotsylvania where bloody but inconclusive battles were fought in the American Civil War
wilderness
(noun) (politics) a state of disfavor; “he led the Democratic party back from the wilderness”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
wilderness (countable and uncountable, plural wildernesses)
(countable, uncountable) An unsettled and uncultivated tract of land in its natural state; a barren land; a wild or waste.
(countable, uncountable) A place that is uncared for, and therefore devoted to disorder or wildness.
(uncountable) Wild or unrefined state; wildness.
(countable) A bewildering flock or throng.
(countable) A situation that is bewildering, or that which makes one feel awkward.
Source: Wiktionary
Wil"der*ness, n. Etym: [OE. wildernesse, wilderne,probably from AS. wildor a wild beast; cf. D. wildernis wilderness. See Wilder, v. t.]
1. A tract of land, or a region, uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings, whether a forest or a wide, barren plain; a wild; a waste; a desert; a pathless waste of any kind. The wat'ry wilderness yields no supply. Waller.
2. A disorderly or neglected place. Cowper.
3. Quality or state of being wild; wildness. [Obs.] These paths and bowers doubt not but our joint hands. Will keep from wilderness with ease. Milton.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
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17 May 2025
ANTHOZOAN
(noun) sessile marine coelenterates including solitary and colonial polyps; the medusoid phase is entirely suppressed
Coffee Trivia
