A.Word.A.Day--Midas touch

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Jun 11, 2019

This week’s theme
People who have had multiple words coined after them

This week’s words
Socratic method
Midas touch

Midas with the Pitcher

Illustration: Walter Crane
A Wonder Book for Boys and Girls (1892) by Nathaniel Hawthorne

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

Midas touch

PRONUNCIATION:

(MY-duhs tuhch)

MEANING:

noun: The ability to easily make anything profitable.

ETYMOLOGY:

After the legendary King Midas who was given the power that anything he touched turned into gold. Earliest documented use: 1652.

NOTES:

Be careful what you wish for. That’s the moral of the story of King Midas. He was given the power by Dionysus that anything he touched would turn into gold. His happiness was momentary. Soon he learned that he couldn’t eat anything because as soon as he touched food it would turn into gold and all that glitters is inedible. His father Gordias has an eponym coined after him too.

USAGE:

“When it came to raising money, Wellfount Corp. had something of a Midas touch. In the past decade, the Indianapolis-based pharmacy company raised about $50 million.”
John Russell; Once a Rising Star, Wellfount Collapses with Little Warning; Indianapolis Business Journal (Indiana); Apr 12, 2019.

See more usage examples of Midas touch in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object be what it may, -- light, shade, and perspective will always make it beautiful. -John Constable, painter (11 Jun 1776-1837)

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