Arts
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 20, 2021 is: batten • BAT-un • verb Batten means "to furnish or fasten with or as if with supports." // Residents battened down their doors and windows before the storm. See the entry > Examples: "Everything was battened down and they were all set to leave the round-the-clock eatery—until they discovered there was no key to the front door. It had been that long since they'd locked it." — Bob Yesbek, The Cape Gazette (Lewes, Delaware), 7 May 2021 Did you know? Batten comes from the name for an iron bar used to secure the covering of a hatchway on a ship, which was especially useful in preparation of stormy weather. The verb batten is used in variations of the phrase "batten down the hatches," which means "to prepare for a difficult or dangerous situation." It winds back to Latin battuere, meaning "to beat."