Fwd: "Moby Dick, n." - Word of the Day from the OED

[Dave Monroe]

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From: <oedwotd at oup.com>
Date: Thursday, July 31, 2014
Subject: "Moby Dick, n." - Word of the Day from the OED
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OED Online Word of the Day

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World War I. Explore our illustrated timeline highlighting 100 Words that
Define the First World War.

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Your word for today is: Moby Dick, n.

Moby Dick, n.
[‘ Something likened to Moby Dick (the great white whale central to Herman
Melville's novel), esp. in being very large, important, or impressive.’]
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˌməʊbɪ ˈdɪk/,  U.S. /ˌmoʊbi ˈdɪk/
Etymology: <  Moby Dick, the name of the whale in Herman Melville's 1851
novel of the same name.
  Something likened to Moby Dick (the great white whale central to Herman
Melville's novel), esp. in being very large, important, or impressive.
In quot. 1986 used humorously in place of whale (see whale n. 5c).
a1974  A. Sexton 45 Mercy Street (1977) 62 A man, a Moby Dick of a man, a
swimmer going up and down in his brain.
1986  J. Wilson Amber ii. 27, I shall eat cream cakes and meet lots of
lovely new men and get asked to all sorts of exciting new clubs and have a
Moby Dick of a time.
1990 Economist 24 Mar. 111/3 Minnows who want to become corporate Moby
Dicks might take a leaf out of Compaq's book.
1994 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 26 June 30/2 Where is Moby Dick? Whale watchers
will be out in force next weekend.
2000 Scotsman 24 June 16/7 Airbus..[announced] the construction of..the
world's biggest passenger plane... Who..thought we would now welcome the
news that in 2004 the minnows of the sky would be joined by Moby Dick?

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