ferret

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 9, 2020 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>ferret</strong> &#149; \FAIR-ut\&nbsp; &#149; <em>verb</em><br /> <p><strong>1 :</strong> to hunt game with <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ferrets">ferrets</a></p> <p><strong>2 :</strong> to drive out of a hiding place</p> <p><strong>3 :</strong> to find and bring to light by searching — usually used with <em>out</em></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"Quarantining was invented during the first wave of <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bubonic%20plague">bubonic plague</a> in the 14th century, but it was deployed more systematically during the Great Plague [of London, 1665-1666]. Public servants called searchers <em>ferreted</em> out new cases of plague, and quarantined sick people along with everyone who shared their homes.'" — <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/29/opinion/covid-plague-samuel-pepys.html">Annalee Newitz, <em>The New York Times</em>, 29 Mar. 2020</a></p> <p>"For more than 40 years, journalist Robert Fisk has reported on some of the most violent and divisive conflicts in the world. Yung Chang's This Is Not a Movie captures Fisk in action—feet on the ground, notebook in hand, as he travels into landscapes devastated by war, <em>ferreting</em> out the facts and firing reports back home to reach an audience of millions." — <a href="https://www.wwnytv.com/2020/06/01/screening-room-streaming-great-films/">Craig Thornton, WWNYtv.com (Watertown, New York), 29 June 2020</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>Since the 14th century, English speakers have used <em>ferret</em> as the name of a small domesticated animal of the weasel family. The word came to us by way of Anglo-French and can be traced back to Latin <em>fur</em>, meaning "thief." These days ferrets are often kept as pets, but previously they