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Today's Word "Chesterfield"

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Published in Vocabulary

chesterfield \CHES-ter-feeld\ (noun) - 1 : A fitted overcoat with a velvet collar; 2 : a couch, davenport, divan, settee, or sofa with arms as high as the back.

"Chester Field was wont to throw his chesterfield on the chesterfield rather than hang it up."

 

Although a chesterfield is supposed to be a special type of couch with arms as high as the back, it is commonly used in Canada and northern California to refer to an ordinary sofa. Both senses of "chesterfield" comes from the 19th-century Earl of Chesterfield. "Sofa" comes to us, via Turkish, from Arabic suffa "carpet, divan," a descendant of Aramaic sippa "mat," akin to Arabic suf "wool." "Couch" comes from Old French couche, from couchier "to lay or lie down" from Latin collocare "to place (with)."


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