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menagerie

[muh-naj-uh-ree, -nazh-]

Origin

noun

a collection of wild or unusual animals, especially for exhibition.

a place where they are kept or exhibited.

an unusual and varied group of people.

Origin:
1705–15; < French: literally, housekeeping. See ménage, -ery

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Menagerie is always a great word to know.

So is quincunx. Does it mean:

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

menagerie (mɪˈnædʒərɪ)

—n
1.	a collection of wild animals kept for exhibition
2.	the place where such animals are housed

[C18: from French: household management, which formerly included care of domestic animals. See ménage]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

menagerie

1712, "collection of wild animals kept in captivity," from Fr. ménagerie "housing for domestic animals," from O.Fr. menage (see menage).

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Matching Quote

"The hardiest skeptic who has seen a horse broken, a pointer trained, or has visited a menagerie or the exhibition of the Industrious Fleas, will not deny the validity of education. "A boy," says Plato, "is the most vicious of all beasts;" and in the same spirit the old English poet Gascoigne says, "A boy is better unborn than untaught.""

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

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menagerie

me·nag·er·ie