From Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day service:
The Word of the Day for May 6 is:Here in the midwest, you can find Moxie in stores that carry "specialty sodas." Moxie must be tasted to be believed.
moxie \MAHK-see\ noun
1 : energy, pep
*2 : courage, determination
3 : know-how, expertise
It took a lot of moxie for Brandon to go back to school to follow his dream of becoming a lawyer.
Did you know?
"Hot roasted peanuts! Fresh popcorn! Ice-cold Moxie!" You might have heard such a vendor's cry at a baseball game--if you attended one in 1924. That was the heyday of the soft drink called "Moxie," which some claim outsold Coca-Cola at the height of its popularity. The beverage was a favorite of American writer E.B. White, who wrote, "Moxie contains gentian root, which is the path to the good life. This was known in the second century before Christ and is a boon to me today." By 1930, "moxie" had become a slang term for nerve and verve, perhaps because some people thought the drink was a tonic that could cure virtually any ill and bring vim back to even the most lethargic individual.