Word of the Day Archive
Friday November 8, 2002
matutinal \muh-TOOT-n-uhl\
, adjective:
Relating to or occurring in the morning; early.
Get up early and wash your face in the matutinal May Day dew; it will make your skin beautiful and your heart pure.
-- Ray Murphy, "Hurray, Hurray, the Month of May", Boston Globe, April 28, 1988
We had to rehearse at an hour at which no actor or actress has been out of bed within the memory of man; and we sardonically congratulated one another every morning on our rosy matutinal looks and the improvement wrought by our early rising in our health and characters.
-- George Bernard Shaw, "The Author's Apology", Mrs. Warren's Profession
Harry Truman, was -- like Winston Churchill -- known to take a matutinal shot of whisky. He did it after his regular very vigorous early-morning walk.
-- R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., "Plainly presidential", The Washington Times, January 18, 2002
Matutinal is from Late Latin matutinalis, from Latin matutinus, "early in the morning; pertaining to the morning."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for matutinal
