Smartful
Learn something every day
Word
Idiom
Fun facts
Artist
Historical figure
Historic event
Quote

February 22, 2026
Feb 22, 2026
Word
winkle
verb
Definition
  1. to displace, remove, or evict from a position -- usually used with out
  2. to obtain or draw out by effort -- usually used with out
Example
"In 1483 a new English king, Richard III, tried again to winkle Henry out of Brittany, but he found that the young man was now a significant pawn on the European chessboard." (Nigel Calder, The English Channel)
Origin
If you have ever extracted a winkle from its shell, then you understand how the verb "winkle" came to be. The word "winkle" is short for "periwinkle," the name of a marine or freshwater snail. "Periwinkle" is ultimately derived from Latin "pina," the name of a mussel, and Old English "wincle," a snail shell. Evidently the personnel of World War I's Allied Powers found their duty of finding and removing the enemy from the trenches analogous to extracting a well-entrenched snail and began using "winkle" to describe their efforts. The action of "winkling the enemy out" was later extended to other situations, such as "winkling information out of someone."
Webster's Dictionary
Idiom
the be-all and end-all
The most important element or purpose, as in Buying a house became the be-all and end-all for the newlyweds. Shakespeare used this idiom in Macbeth (1:6), where Macbeth muses that "this blow might be the be-all and the end-all" for his replacing Duncan as king. [Late 1500s]
The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms
Fun facts
  1. The tallest man was 8 ft. 11 in.
  2. Forty percent of twins invent their own language.
Snapple's under-the-cap 'Real Facts'
Artist
Sin Yun-bok
Born 1758

Shin Yun-bok, better known by his pen name Hyewon, was a Korean painter of the Joseon Dynasty. Like his contemporaries Danwon and Geungjae, he is known for his realistic depictions of daily life in his time. His genre paintings are distinctly more erotic than Danwon's, a fact which contributed to his expulsion from the royal painting institute, Dohwaseo. Painting was frequently a hereditary occupation in the Joseon period, and Hyewon's father and grandfather had both been court painters. Together with Danwon and the later painter Owon, Hyewon is remembered today as one of the "Three Wons" of Joseon-period painting.

He is Shin Mal Joo's descendant who was a scholar of the early Joseon Dynasty.

Learn more »
Wikipedia, Google Arts & Culture
Historical figure
Sher Shah Suri
1472 - May 22, 1545

Sher Shah Suri, born Farīd Khān, was the founder of the Suri Empire in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its capital in Sasaram in modern-day Bihar. He introduced the currency of rupee. An ethnic Pashtun, Sher Shah took control of the Mughal Empire in 1538. After his accidental death in 1545, his son Islam Shah became his successor. He first served as a private before rising to become a commander in the Mughal army under Babur and then the governor of Bihar. In 1537, when Babur's son Humayun was elsewhere on an expedition, Sher Shah overran the state of Bengal and established the Suri dynasty. A brilliant strategist, Sher Shah proved himself as a gifted administrator as well as a capable general. His reorganization of the empire laid the foundations for the later Mughal emperors, notably Akbar, son of Humayun.

During his seven-year rule from 1538 to 1545, he set up a new economic and military administration, issued the first Rupiya from "Taka" and organized the postal system of the Indian Subcontinent. Some of his strategies and contributions were later ideolized by the Mughal emperors, most notably Akbar.

Learn more »
Wikipedia, Google Arts & Culture
Historic event
2008 United States presidential election

The 2008 United States presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior U.S. Senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior U.S. Senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John McCain, the senior Senator from Arizona, and Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska. Obama became the first African American ever to be elected to the presidency as well as being only the third sitting United States Senator elected president, joining Warren G. Harding and John F. Kennedy.

Incumbent Republican President George W. Bush was ineligible to pursue a third term due to the term limits established by the 22nd Amendment. As neither Bush nor Vice President Dick Cheney sought the presidency, the 2008 election was the first election since 1952 in which neither major party's presidential nominee was the incumbent president or the incumbent vice president. McCain secured the Republican nomination by March 2008, defeating Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and other challengers.

Learn more »
Wikipedia, Google Arts & Culture
Quote
Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.
Oscar Wilde