Word of the Day for Sunday September 25, 2005 gimcrack \JIM-krak\, noun: A showy but useless or worthless object; a gewgaw. adjective: Tastelessly showy; cheap; gaudy. Yet the set is more than a collection of pretty gimcracks. --Frank Rich, [1]Hot Seat In those cities most self-conscious about their claim to be part of English history, like Oxford or Bath, the shops where you could have bought a dozen nails, home-made cakes or had a suit run up, have shut down and been replaced with places selling teddy bears, T-shirts and gimcrack souvenirs. --Jeremy Paxman, [2]The English: A Portrait of a People And as for coincidences in books -- there's something cheap and sentimental about the device; it can't help always seeming aesthetically gimcrack. --Peter Brooks, "Obsessed with the Hermit of Croisset," [3]New York Times, March 10, 1985 _________________________________________________________ The origin of gimcrack is uncertain. It is perhaps an alteration of Middle English gibecrake, "a slight or flimsy ornament." References 1. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679453008/ref%3Dnosim/lexico 2. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1585671762/ref%3Dnosim/lexico 3. http://www.nytimes.com/ Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=9&q=gimcrack