The folks at dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster Inc have announced bailout as 2008 Word of the Year.

Apparently, the selection of bailout was based on the highest intensity of lookups over the shortest period of time in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary and Online Thesaurus.

Bailout  is defined in the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition) as ‘a rescue from financial distress.’

Here are the top 10 words of 2008, according to Merriam-Webster:   
   1. bailout
   2. vet
   3. socialism
   4. maverick
   5. bipartisan
   6. trepidation
   7. precipice
   8. rogue
   9. misogyny
  10. turmoil