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prettygoodword ([personal profile] prettygoodword) wrote2015-02-17 07:58 am

pandiculation

pandiculation (pan-dik-yuh-LAY-shun) - n., the act of stretching while yawning, as when first waking.


Sometimes used as if it means just yawning, but properly it's the stretching part -- and need not be done with a yawn. But it's the kind of stretch, with extended arms and stiffened trunk, that goes with a yawn. Adopted in the 1640s from Latin pandiculātus, past participle of pandiculārī, to stretch oneself, derivative of pandere, to stretch.

---L.

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