Entry: avuncular (adj.)
In context: "...the otherwise handsome pedestrian who accepts a gorgeous meter maid's coquettish invitation to have a bit of a lick of the ice cream cone she's just bought from an avuncular sidewalk vendor."
Definition: a. Of, belonging to, or resembling, an uncle.
but also
b. (humorously) Of a pawnbroker: see uncle n. Also absol.
Other: I'll admit I didn't have an exact handle on this one until I looked it up.
Sometimes Latin seems so useful: Etymology: < Latin avuncul-us maternal uncle, diminutive of avus grandfather + -ar suffix.
SNOOT score: 2
Page: 414
Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Definitive Jest is a vocabulary-building and SNOOT-approved word-of-the-day blog centered around David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest.
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