I'm not surprised when I come across a word I've never heard before but it's rarer to encounter a new meaning of a familiar word. It happened to me this morning in a book by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.
There was a sudden silence in the vault. Margo could smell the dust in the air, and the faint odor of excelsior.
'Odor of excelsior'? My three years of Latin tells me that 'excelsior' means 'higher', but does it have a smell? The problem was solved when an American Dictionary informs me that one meaning of 'excelsior' is 'wood shavings used for packing'.
And I thought it was being used figuratively, like 'smell of fear' or 'smell of excitement'. But it's just the Americans mucking around with the Queen's English.
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