Word of the Day Archive
Thursday July 19, 2012
nary \NAIR-ee\
, adjective:
Not any; no; never a.
The loch, calm and clear, with nary a breeze to ripple its placid surface, was located within walking distance of Bracklenaer.
-- Rebecca Sinclair, Perfect Strangers
Fish for sale, fish for sale. Fresh, fresh, fresh, fresh. Pickerel and perch, pike and pout, bass and sunnies, but nary a trout.
-- Howard Frank Mosher, On Kingdom Mountain
Nary was common in English in the 1700s as an abbreviation of the phrase "ne'er a" meaning "never a."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for nary
