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What is the difference in meaning between `sicken at' and `sicken of'?

(C. Bindu, New Delhi)

Sometimes, the very thought of something makes you sick; you are horrified or repulsed by it. That's what the expression `sicken at' means.

*The children sickened at the idea of having to clean public toilets.

When you `sicken of' something, you get bored or tired of it. In other words, you get sick of it. It is also possible to sicken of a person.

*Many students were beginning to sicken of the strike.

"All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal, or fattening." — Alexander Woollcott

S. UPENDRAN

upendrankye@gmail.com

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