Dictionary.com Word Of The Day
Feb. 23, 2017
beastie\BEE-stee\noun
1. Chiefly Literary. a small animal, especially one toward which
affection is felt.
2. Facetious. an insect; bug.
Quotes... John Silence watched the performance of the cat with profound
attention and without interfering. Then he called to the animal by
name. "Smoke, you mysterious beastie, what in the world are you about?"
-- Algernon Blackwood, John Silence: Physician Extraordinary, 1908
Origin of beastieBeastie is best known from two Scottish sources:
Robert Burnss poem Tae a Moose (To a Mouse), Wee sleekit, cowrin,
timrous beastie
; and the traditional Scottish poem or prayer Things
That Go Bump in the Night From ghoulies and ghosties / And
long-leggedy beasties / And things that go bump in the night, / Good
Lord, deliver us. The word entered English in the late 18th
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