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Word of the Day : May 24, 2018
cajole \kuh-JOHL\ verb
Definition
1 a : to persuade with flattery or gentle urging especially in the face of reluctance : coax
b : to obtain from someone by gentle persuasion
2 : to deceive with soothing words or false promises
Did You Know?
Cajole comes from a French verb, cajoler, which has the same meaning as the English word. You might not think to associate cajole with cage, but some etymologists theorize that cajoler is connected to not one but two words for "cage." One of them is the Anglo-French word cage, from which we borrowed our own cage. It comes from Latin cavea, meaning "cage." The other is the Anglo-French word for "birdcage," which is gaiole. It's an ancestor of our word jail, and it derives from Late Latin caveola, which means "little cage." Anglo-French speakers had a related verb, gaioler, which meant "to chatter like a jay in a cage." It's possible that cajoler is a combination of gaioler and cage.
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Aired May 24, 2018
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