slumgullion

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 12, 2009 is: slumgullion • \SLUM-gull-yun\ • noun : a meat stew Examples: On Monday nights at the mess hall, the enlisted men and women could expect a meal of slumgullion made from the previous week’s leftovers. Did you know? "Slumgullion" may not sound like the most appetizing name for a dish, but that’s part of its charm. The word’s etymology doesn’t do it any favors: "slumgullion" is believed to be derived from "slum," an old word for "slime," and "gullion," an English dialectical term for "mud" or "cesspool." The earliest recorded usage of "slumgullion," in Mark Twain’s Roughing It (1872), refers not to a stew but a beverage. The sense referring to the stew debuted about two decades later, and while there is no consensus on exactly what kinds of ingredients are found in it, that’s the "slumgullion" that lives on today. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.