Word of the Day

: June 18, 2017

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

The first responders garnered praise from the mayor and the community for their swift response to the flash flood.

"Jones told town officials that most of the Lincoln Park trail will be completed in late summer or fall, but the delay in garnering funding may delay the completion of the full project into next year's construction season.'" — Nancy A. Fischer, The Buffalo News, 9 May 2017

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. It 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."