Word of the day: ecdysiast

The word of the day is ecdysiast:

1. stripper (def 3).

H.L. Mencken's invented proper word for "strip-tease artist," 1940, from Gk. ekdysis "a stripping or casting off" (used scientifically with ref. to serpents shedding skin or crustacea molting), from ekdyein "to put off" (contrasted with endyo "to put on"), from ex- + dyo "sink, plunge, enter."

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ecdysiast)

"But to my dismay, I discovered his friend was the famous ecdysiast Gypsy Rose Lee."

 - Doris Grumbach, "The Remains of My Days", Spring 2016 The American Scholar (https://theamericanscholar.org/the-remains-of-my-days/#.VzZSJdm9LCQ)