Word of the Day: Dire/Dyer

dire dire  /  dīr, dīər   adjective  

1. disastrous, terrible, dreadful

A thousand fearful images and dire suggestions glance along the mind when it is moody and discontented with itself. Walter Scott, 1771 – 1832  

2. urgent, desperate

Nothing has more strength than dire necessity. Euripides 480 – 406 B.C.  

3. indicative of great trouble or disaster

This system must be demystified, politicized, and recognized for the ways in which it has come to pose a dire threat to democracy. Henry Giroux, 1943 –       dyer dy-er  /   dīr, dīər   noun  

1. one who dyes cloth or other materials as an occupation

He was a dyer, who in the course of dipping homespun wool and old women’s petticoats had got fired with the ambition to learn a great deal more about the strange secrets of colour. From “Adam Bede” by George Eliot, 1819 – 1880