peruse

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 18, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>peruse</strong> &#149; \puh-ROOZ\&nbsp; &#149; <em>verb</em><br /> <p><strong>1 a :</strong> to <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/examine">examine</a> or consider with attention and in detail : <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/study#h2">study</a></p> <p><strong>b :</strong> to look over or through in a casual or <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cursory">cursory</a> manner</p> <p><strong>2 :</strong> <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/read">read</a>; <em>especially</em> : to read over in an attentive or leisurely manner</p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>Dmitri <em>perused</em> the menu while we waited for a table.</p> <p>"Your best friend here is eBird.org, a crowd-sourced website managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, where birders file checklists and where you can <em>peruse</em> a map of hot spots (ebird.org/hotspots) to find out what's been seen near you in recent days." — <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/04/01/lifestyle/when-bird-is-word/">Ty Burr, <em>The Boston Globe</em>, 1 Apr. 2021</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p><em>Peruse</em> has long been a literary word, used by such famous authors as William Shakespeare, Alfred Tennyson, and Thomas Hardy, and it tends to have a literary flavor even in our time. <em>Peruse</em> can suggest paying close attention to something, but it can also simply mean "to read." The "read" sense, which is not especially new and was in fact included in Samuel Johnson's 1755 dictionary, has drawn some criticism over the years for being too broad. Some commentators have recommended that <em>peruse</em> be reserved for reading with great care and attention to detail. But the fact remains that <em>peruse</em> is often used in situations w