Panegyric ("a eulogistic oration or writing") appeared once on NYTimes.com between January 1, 2011 and July 14, 2011.
Readers looked up the definition 528 times, making it the word looked up the most per article.
I Love Charts offers up a wonderful list of the 50 most frequently looked up words on the site.
The top honor goes to "anathema," which is only looked up 104 times per appearance, but has been in 37 articles. "Austerity" is second with 2,565 look ups (9 per appearance * 325 appearances).
We're not sure what this list says - probably that we need a better vocabulary, both individually and collectively - but it's an interesting read.