Today's Word "vade mecum"
Useful thing regularly carried about
on
Published in Vocabulary
vade mecum \vay-dee-MEE-kuhm; vah-dee-MAY-\ (noun) - 1 : A book for ready reference; a manual; a handbook. 2 : A useful thing that one regularly carries about.
"The same day the youth set out on his journey equipped with his father's three gifts, namely, the fifteen crowns, the horse and the letter to Monsieur de Treville. As may well be imagined, the advice had been thrown into the bargain. With such a vade mecum, D'Artagnan was, morally and physically, an exact replica of Cervantes' hero, to whom we so aptly compared him when our duties as historian placed us under the necessity of sketching his portrait." -- Alexandre Dumas, 'The Three Musketeers'
Vade mecum is from Latin, literally meaning "go with me."
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