Raddled - plus, trending lookups galore!

[Merriam-Webster]( WORD OF THE DAY [January 31, 2019](#none) raddled [Audio pronunciation]( adjective | RAD-uld Definition 1 : being in a state of confusion : lacking composure 2 : [broken-down](, [worn]( Scroll down for more about raddled TRENDING NOW: [squall]( [vortex]( [assimilation]( [cave]( [SEE ALL [>]]( PEOPLE ARE READING # [New England vs. Los Angeles: A Battle of Words]( # ['Proliferate' — Video Word of the Day 1/30/2019]( # [Around the House in 8 Words]( # ['Piano': Its Name Is Only Half the Story]( WORD GAMES AND QUIZZES: WEEKLY CHALLENGE [January 2019 Words of the Day Quiz]( Huddle around your screen. [PLAY NOW]( Nailed this quiz? We have plenty more to try! [TAKE ME THERE [>]]( Did You Know? The origin of raddled is unclear. Its [participial]( form suggests verbal parentage, and indeed there is a verb [raddle]( just a few decades older than raddled that seems a likely source. This raddle means "to mark or paint with raddle," [raddle]( here being [red ocher](, or sometimes other pigments, used for marking animals. Raddle eventually came to mean "to color highly with rouge," the metaphor connecting the raddling of animal husbandry with immoderate makeup application: to be raddled thusly was not a compliment. The "confused" sense of raddled is often associated with the influence of alcohol or drugs. That connection is in keeping with the word's earliest known use, from a 1694 translation of French writer Francois Rabelais: "A … fellow, continually raddled, and as drunk as a wheelbarrow." Examples of RADDLED We were met at the door by a raddled old man who turned out to be the actor's father, and who in his day had also been an estimable presence on the London stage. "The real skill of Swan Song is the kaleidoscopic portrait it paints of its raddled hero. The narrative moves through time from Capote's tawdry childhood and friendship with Harper Lee to his withered end in Fu Manchu pyjamas." — Alex Preston, The Observer (London), 22 July 2018 Test Your Vocabulary Fill in the blanks to complete the name for a dealer in red ocher: ru _ _ lem _ _. [VIEW THE ANSWER [>]]( WORD OF THE YEAR 2018 Justice + 10 more Read why justice is our Word of the Year, plus lodestar, epiphany, pansexual, and 7 more top words! [SEE THE FULL LIST [>]]( MORE WORD FUN: [WORD GAMES [>]]( [TRENDING NOW [>]]( [WORDS AT PLAY [>]]( FOLLOW US: [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( [Pinterest]( SHARE: [Facebook][Facebook]( [Twitter][Twitter]( [View this email in a web browser]( You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive the Merriam-Webster Word of the Day. [Unsubscribe from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day]( [Manage your subscription settings]( Merriam-Webster, Inc. 47 Federal Street P.O. Box 281 Springfield, MA 01102 [www.merriam-webster.com](