derring-do

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 21, 2022 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>derring-do</strong> &#149; \dair-ing-DOO\&nbsp; &#149; <em>noun</em><br /> <p><em>Derring-do</em> refers to daring action that requires bravery and courage.</p> <p>// In a spectacular feat of <em>derring-do</em>, the stuntman leaped from the overpass and landed on top of the train as it passed below.</p> <p><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/derring-do">See the entry ></a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"With more than 80 pieces of bronze, steel, and iron on display [at The Age of Armor exhibit], it's impossible not to think of stories of gallant knights, courtly love, and brave acts of <em>derring-do</em>." — Jason Webber, <em>The Toledo (Ohio) Blade</em>, 7 Nov. 2021</p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p><em>Derring-do</em> is a quirky holdover from Middle English that came to occupy its present place in the language by a series of mistakes and misunderstandings. In Middle English, <em>dorring don</em> meant simply "daring to do." The phrase was misprinted as <em>derrynge do</em> in a 15th-century work by poet John Lydgate, and Edmund Spenser took it up from there. (A glossary to Spenser's work defined it as "manhood and chevalrie.") Literary author Sir Walter Scott and others brought the noun into modern use.</p> <br /><br /> </p> </font>