Every once in a while, I stumble upon a new meaning to a familiar word and it brings a smile to my face. And the smile is bigger when the word is more common. Reading "Northern Lights", I noticed Philip Pullman's use of the word gentle. He used it as a verb. I checked the dictionary and sure enough, gentle is a verb with two main meanings:
- to make noble
- to make gentle or to make an animal gentle or to stroke soothingly (which is the sense that Pullman was using)
Why I love multiple meanings from a familiar word is that I don't have to learn more new words to expand my vocabulary. If you want to check a long list of meanings for a very basic word, just open any dictionary and check out the humble two-letter word be. Or check online with Merriam-Webster.
