word of the day: pith

The word of the day is pith:

Etymology:  < pith n. 

1. intr. To supply a person with strength or courage. Obs. rare^—1. 

2. trans. To pierce, sever, or destroy the upper spinal cord or brainstem of (an animal), so as to cause death or insensibility. 

3. trans. To remove or extract the pith from. Also fig.  (OED)

"It's like something's been scooped right out of me, right at the centre...that's what they do with frogs, isn't it?  They scoop out the centre, the spinal cord, they pith them...  That's what I am, pithed, like a frog...  Step up, come and see Chris, the first pithed human being.  She's no proprioception, no sense of herself - disembodied Chris, the pithed girl!"

 - Oliver Sacks, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales