Sound and Sense, 35

Our English dictionary has in it many words whose sounds and meanings can … confuse. In this next series of doggerel, I’ll be writing about several sorts of such words.

The first—the contronym: a word, says the Oxford English Dictionary, that has “two opposite or contradictory meanings.”

Earliest published use: 1962.

weather verb

1. to withstand

2. to wear away

He weathered every circumstance

That would have felled a lesser man.

But still he dreamed he had no pants

While walking through Afghanistan.

About his very troubling dreams

He thought he’d write a brilliant book.

He tried. He failed. So now it seems

He’s weathered some, and in his look

There is so much that’s worrisome:

His eyes flare sometimes very green—

He’s grown a very furry thumb,

Is just the oddest dude I've seen.