Word of the Day

: July 23, 2010

garner

verb GAHR-ner

What It Means

1 a : to gather into storage

b : to deposit as if in a granary

2 a : to acquire by effort : earn

b : accumulate, collect

garner in Context

Through hard work and a determination to see her students succeed, Ms. Taylor has garnered considerable respect from parents and her fellow teachers.

Did You Know?

What do you call a building in which grain is stored? These days, English speakers are most likely to call it a "granary," but there was a time when the noun "garner" was also a likely candidate. That noun, which can also mean "something that is collected," dates from the 12th century. The verb "garner" joined the language two centuries later. The verb was once commonly used with the meaning "to gather into a granary," but today it usually means "to earn" or "to accumulate." The noun "garner" is uncommon in contemporary use; it is now found mainly in older literary contexts, such as these lines of verse from Sir Walter Scott's "The Bride of Lammermoor": "Or, from the garner-door, on ether borne, / The chaff flies devious from the winnow'd corn."