THE FIRST WORD

blandish

PRONUNCIATION:

(BLAN-dish) 

MEANING:

verb intr.: To coax with flattery.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin blandiri (to flatter). Ultimately from the Indo-European root mel- (soft), which also gave us bland, melt, smelt, malt, mild, mulch, mollify, mollusk, emollient, enamel, smalto, and schmaltz. Earliest documented use: 1305.

USAGE:

"In his first speech in the Parliament, Mussolini insulted and blandished the legislature by turns."
Thomas Bokenkotter; Church and Revolution; Doubleday; 1998.