gadabout

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 1, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>gadabout</strong> &#149; \GAD-uh-bout\&nbsp; &#149; <em>noun</em><br /> <p><strong>:</strong> a person who goes from place to place in social activity</p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"He always thought death was just around the corner. He had no time to waste. As a young man he had been a <em>gadabout</em>, without focus. 'Where some in his situation would have found God, Stephen [Hawking] found physics,' says Mlodinow." — <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-8769683/Stephen-Hawking-late-love-life-memoir-close-friend-reveals.html">Marcus Berkmann, <em>The Daily Mail</em> (UK), 24 Sept. 2020</a></p> <p>"Here's where [Bill] Murray enters the picture as Laura's father, Felix, a semi-retired art dealer and jet-setting <em>gadabout</em> who returns to town just in time to be the devil on his daughter's shoulder." — <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/09/30/arts/bill-murray-goes-town-rocks/">Ty Burr, <em>The Boston Globe</em>, 30 Sept. 2020</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>If you had to pick the insect most closely related to a gadabout, you might wryly guess the "social butterfly." But there's another bug that's commonly heard buzzing around discussions of the gadabout: the gadfly. <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gadfly">Gadfly</a></em> is a term used for any of a number of winged pests (such as <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/horsefly">horseflies</a>) that bite or annoy livestock. Since gadflies are known for their nasty bite, it's not surprising that they are named after a sharp chisel or pointed bar used by miners to loosen rock and ore called a "<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gad">gad</a>." But, although a gadabout's gossip can bite, <em>gadfly</em> doesn't h