Word of the Day for Thursday December 1, 2005 alfresco \al-FRES-koh\, adverb: In the open air; outdoors. adjective: Taking place or located in the open air; outdoor. Turner escaped from the entangled politics of London's art world, where the Royal Academy was marooned in petty disputes, to paint alfresco on the riverbanks. --Siri Huntoon, "Down by the Riverside," [1]New York Times, November 7, 1993 Outdoor sitting areas all have LAN connections, so that employees can work alfresco. --Scott Kirsner, "Digital Competition - Laurie A. Tucker," [2]Fast Company, December 1999 I sailed past alfresco cafes filled with young people reading the paper, past restaurants doing a thriving brunch business, and ended up dropping down a fairly steep hill to the water yet again, on an obscure street that ended near a big factory. --Gary Kamiya, "An ode to Sydney," [3]Salon, September 27, 2000 _________________________________________________________ Alfresco is from the Italian al fresco, "in the fresh (air)," from al, "in the" (a, "to, in" + il, "the") + fresco, "fresh." References 1. http://www.nytimes.com/ 2. http://www.fastcompany.com/ 3. http://salon.com/ Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=9&q=alfresco