Welcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday, an awesome meme hosted by Kathy at Bermudaonion.net. Follow the links at Kathy’s blog to find lots of word nerdy words!
Today I’d like to share more vocab from Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, a fun novel about books, technology, and cracking codes. Since I listened to the audio book, I don’t have direct quotes from the novel and have generated my own sentence.
After Mr. Penumbra disappears, Clay embarks on a quest to find his erstwhile employer.
erstwhile \’ərst-(h)wīl\ adj from Middle English erest , earliest and Old English ærest, early;
former, previous
Erstwhile can also be used as an adverb: in the past, formerly.
Word Nerd Workout
Think of a sentence for erstwhile; use any form of the word that you would like.
For example:
I no longer cared about the exploits of my erstwhile boyfriend.
Thanks for working out with me!
Julia
Doh! I totally thought it meant “meanwhile.” Guess it’s a good thing I’ve never tried to actually use it. I was just misinterpreting it in way to many classic novels. LOL
I was using erstwhile incorrectly as well. My son doesn’t like to talk about his erstwhile girlfriend.
I always thought erstwhile was more like august, there you go, I learnt something! Thank you.
Boy that’s a good word. Reminds me of all the Agatha Christies and Peter Cheyneys I love to (re)read. 🙂
Oh, I had this one wrong, too — I thought it was something like carelessly absent.
Now this is definitely a new one for me. I’m going to ponder this one. 😉
bless you dear, Hester 😉
I love the word “erstwhile” — it’s frequently used in crosswords!
I thought the same thing…that there was something sneaky going on. Thanks, Julia
Great Jane! I’m glad you and Emily picked up some good info here today!
I learned something new today! I always thought erstwhile meant something slightly more devious, like the erstwhile boss was someone who was missing and also probably up to no good. It’s good to know that it doesn’t have that connotation.