Word of the Day for Thursday, August 9, 2012

vicinage \VIS-uh-nij\, noun:
1. The region near or about a place; vicinity.
2. A particular neighborhood or district, or the people belonging to it.
3. Proximity.

From the mansion itself, as well as from almost every cottage in the adjacent hamlet, arose such a rich cloud of vapoury smoke, as showed, that the preparations for the festival were not confined to the principal residence of Magnus himself, but extended through the whole vicinage.
-- Sir Walter Scott, "The Waverly Novels"

Herein resides, as I have hinted, the anxious and easy interest of almost any sincere man of letters in the mere vicinage, even if that be all, of such strained situations as Ray Limbert's.
-- Henry James, "The Lesson of the Master"

Vicinage stems from the Latin word vīcīn meaning "near."

Dictionary.com Word of the Day