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Word of the Day for Friday December 9, 2005
voluptuary \vuh-LUHP-choo-er-ee\, noun:
A person devoted to luxury and the gratification of sensual appetites; a sensualist.

adjective:
Voluptuous; luxurious.

Colette used to begin her day's writing by first picking fleas from her cat, and it's not hard to imagine how the methodical stroking and probing into fur might have focused such a voluptuary's mind.
--Diane Ackerman, "O Muse! You Do Make Things Difficult!" New York Times, November 12, 1989

Though depicted as a decadent voluptuary, she remained celibate for more than half of her adult life.
--Michiko Kakutani, "Cleopatra Behind Her Magic Mirror," New York Times, June 5, 1990


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Voluptuary derives from Latin voluptarius, "devoted to pleasure," from voluptas, "pleasure."