Sunday, December 1, 2013

Word of the Day

omnium-gatherum \om-nee-uhm-GATH-er-uhm\,
noun:
a miscellaneous collection.

...the man who performed this unkind office fancying that a dislike to the dishes could alone have given rise to such an omnium-gatherum.
-- James Fennimore Cooper, "Home as Found," 1838

Foster's own room was a cramped omnium gatherum, cluttered with the paraphernalia of daily living.
-- Henry Blake Fuller, "Bertram Cope's Year," 1919

Omnium-gatherum comes from the Latin roots omnium meaning "of all" and the pseudo-Latin word gatherum meaning "a gathering."

Dictionary.com