ripsnorter

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 7, 2009 is: ripsnorter • \RIP-SNOR-ter\ • noun : something extraordinary : humdinger Examples: "Inevitably, good and evil clash in a ripsnorter of a final battle, but along the way, there is action, adventure, danger, comic relief and -- always -- very good eating." (Sue Corbette, The Miami Herald, January 22, 1999) Did you know? English speakers of the mid-19th century already had the term "snorter" at their disposal if they wanted a colorful term for something extraordinary, but that didn't stop speakers in the U.S. from throwing the verb "rip" onto the front of the word to create "ripsnorter." And they didn't stop there: By the time the 20th century had reached its quarter mark, U.S. speakers had added "hummer," "humdinger" (probably an alteration of "hummer"), "pip" (from "pippin," a kind of crisp, tart apple and a term for a highly admirable person or thing), and "doozy" (thought to be an alteration of "daisy") to the catalog of words for the striking or extraordinary. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.