Word of the Day

: May 23, 2012

menagerie

noun muh-NAJ-uh-ree

What It Means

a : a place where animals are kept and trained especially for exhibition

b : a collection of wild or foreign animals kept especially for exhibition 2: a varied mixture

menagerie in Context

The Alpine-themed restaurant had a curious menagerie of cuckoo clocks on the wall of its dining room.

"Since 2001, thousands of schoolchildren have made the trip to get up close with the preserve menagerie of between 100 and 150 animals, from pigs and geese to tigers and lions." - Eric Staats, Naples Daily News (Florida), May 12, 2012

Did You Know?

Back in the days of Middle French, "ménagerie" meant "the management of a household or farm" or "a place where animals are tended." By the 1670s, English speakers had adopted the word but dropped its housekeeping aspects, applying it specifically to the places where circuses and other exhibitions kept show animals. Later, the word was generalized to refer to any varied mixture, especially one that includes things that are strange or foreign to one's experience.