Word of the Day for 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."

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