foist

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 31, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>foist</strong> &#149; \FOIST\&nbsp; &#149; <em>verb</em><br /> <p><strong>1 a :</strong> to introduce or insert surreptitiously or without warrant</p> <p><strong>b :</strong> to force another to accept especially by stealth or deceit</p> <p><strong>2 :</strong> to pass off as genuine or worthy</p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"I probably should have apologized for bringing her into this house and <em>foisting</em> my family upon her, burdening her with her own role in our domestic drama." — <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=jefEDwAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PA18#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">Ani Katz, <em>A Good Man</em>, 2020</a></p> <p>"Then I went off to college and I had to read more novels. It would seem that '<em>The Great Gatsby</em>' by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was <em>foisted</em> on me, but upon reflection, I am glad it was." — <a href="https://www.post-journal.com/life/arts-entertainment/2021/01/write-now-gatsby-moves-into-public-domain/">Michael Zabrodsky, <em>The Post-Journal</em> (Jamestown, New York), 28 Jan. 2021</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>An early sense of the word <em>foist</em>, now obsolete, referred to palming a phony die and secretly introducing it into a game at an opportune time. The action involved in this cheating tactic reflects the etymology of <em>foist</em>. The word is believed to derive from the obsolete Dutch verb <em>vuisten</em>, meaning "to take into one's hand." <em>Vuisten</em> in turn comes from <em>vuyst</em>, the Middle Dutch word for "fist," which itself is distantly related to the Old English ancestor of <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fist">fist</a></em>. By the late 16th century, <em>foist</em> was being used in English to mean "to insert surreptitiously," and it quickly acquired the