Origin: 1225–75; < Latin ēlēctiōn- (stem of ēlēctiō), equivalent to ēlēct(us) (see elect) + -iōn--ion; replacing Middle English eleccioun < Anglo-French
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
late 13c., from Anglo-Fr. eleccioun, from L. electionem, from stem of eligere "pick out, select," from ex- "out" + -ligere, comb. form of legere "to choose, read" (see lecture). Electioneer first attested 1789 in writing of Thomas Jefferson (probably on model of auctioneer,