Although we have long admired the event from afar, Bostonist experienced its very first Define-a-Thon last night at the Boston Public Library. Houghton Mifflin, the sponsor, dared us to participate, and we took them up on it. There weren't many people at the event at Rabb Hall, perhaps thanks to Define-a-Thon burnout (October 8 through 14 was Define-a-Thon week) and the lack of booze at the BPL. We knew it wasn’t the right time or......

Define-a-Thon Boston Public Library, Rabb Hall, Central Library Tuesday, October 16, 6:00 pm Free Did you hang on to the flash cards you used when studying for the SAT? Think you know your stuff when it comes to ten-cent words? Well, congratulations, brainiac, because you are in the intellectual center of Boston, where a whole bunch of people think they can take you on at tomorrow's Define-a-Thon. Once again, the Define-a-Thon will be hosted by......

The Define-a-Thon will unfold at the Brattle Theatre at 8:00 pm on Thursday, April 19. Tickets are $5 to attend and $5 to participate, and you can get advance tickets from the Brattle's website. You might be able to spell "quotidian," but can you define it? Harvard Book Store, the Brattle, and Houghton Mifflin will be asking you define even tougher words tomorrow night. If you want to show off your word skills, you should......

The AP released a short blurb on a fire at the MFA earlier today. The fire was ignited by construction workers who were preparing for the demolition phase before construction can begin. The bad news is that emergency response was called to the scene to extinguish the fire and one construction worker was taken to the hospital due to smoke inhalation. The good news is that the MFA didn't have to evacuate any part of......

Rumors have been blowing around in the windy Back Bay streets by their corporate headquarters for weeks. In 2002 the company was purchased for about $1.7 by three private equity firms, two of Boston, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital, and the Blackstone Group of London and New York from the then French owners, Vivendi Universal. The publisher came back to the Boston roots they put down in the mid-eighteen hundreds. Today a deal......

The Spelling Bee seems to be a hotter fad than leggings and skirts. The "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" is currently running at the Wilbur Theatre downtown, Spellbound will be in your mailbox tomorrow if you add it to your netflix queue, and there's even that pesky frosted mini-wheats commercial featuring a spelling comp. Tomorrow night at the Brattle Theatre you can see one live – and if you catch the late show......