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Post by Felix on Apr 25, 2010 10:04:33 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for April 25, 2010 is: repartee • \rep-er-TEE\ • noun 1 a : a quick and witty reply * b : a succession or interchange of clever retorts : amusing and usually light sparring with words 2 : adroitness and cleverness in reply Felix's Example Sentence: A talent for witty repartee marks the careers of Oscar Wilde and James Whistler, as in this exchange: "That was a priceless remark, Whistler, I wish I had said it," followed by, "You will, Oscar, you will." Did you know? One person often noted for her repartee was Dorothy Parker, writer and legendary member of the Algonquin Round Table. Upon hearing that Calvin Coolidge had died, she replied, "How can they tell?" The taciturn Coolidge obviously didn’t have a reputation for being the life of the party, but he himself came out with a particularly famous repartee on one occasion. When a dinner guest approached him and told him she had bet someone she could get him to say more than two words, he replied, "You lose." "Repartee," our word for such a quick, sharp reply (and for skill with such replies) comes from the French "repartie," of the same meaning. "Repartie" comes from the French verb "repartir," meaning "to retort." *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on Apr 26, 2010 14:02:03 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for April 26, 2010 is: spilth • \SPILTH\ • noun 1 : the act or an instance of spilling 2 *a : something spilled b : refuse, rubbish Felix's Example Sentence: It is actually permissible to cry over the spilth of filth, as in the case of the TVA sludge spill that months later is not completely cleaned up. Did you know? "Spilth" is formed from the verb "spill" and the noun suffix "-th." This suffix comes to us from Old English and is used to indicate an act or process (as in "spilth" or the more familiar "growth") or a state or condition (as in "breadth" or "length"). The earliest known use of "spilth" is in Shakespeare's Timon of Athens (c. 1607-08): "When our vaults have wept / With drunken spilth of wine…." In the senses of an act of spilling or of something spilled, English speakers today are much more likely to use the noun "spill" or sometimes "spillage," a word which, like "spilth," combines the verb "spill" with a suffix ("-age," this time borrowed from Old French) that can indicate an act or process. *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on Apr 27, 2010 8:36:59 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Apr.27.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for April 27, 2010 is: soi-disant • \swah-dee-ZAHNG (the NG is not pronounced, but the vowel is nasalized)\ • adjective
: self-proclaimed, so-called
Felix's Example Sentence:
Sarah Palin, the soi-disant "hockey mom" and Tea Party darling, generates much controversy with her activities, and lots of money for herself.
Did you know?
"Soi-disant," which in French means literally "saying oneself," is one of hundreds of French terms that entered English in the 17th and 18th centuries, during the period known as the Enlightenment. Even as political antipathies between France and England were being played out on battlefields in Europe and America, English speakers were peppering their speech and writing with French. "Soi-disant" first began appearing in English texts in 1752 as a disparaging term for someone who styles or fancies him- or herself in some role. "Crepe," "vis-a-vis," "etiquette," and "sang-froid" are a few of the other French terms that became naturalized in English at that time.
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Post by Felix on Apr 28, 2010 12:37:55 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for April 28, 2010 is: clement • \KLEM-unt\ • adjective *1 : inclined to be merciful : lenient 2 : mild Felix's Example Sentence: The antithesis of a hanging judge is a clement one. Did you know? Defendants in court cases probably don't spend much time worrying about inclement weather. They're too busy hoping to meet a clement judge so they will be granted clemency. They should hope they don't meet an inclement judge! "Clement," "inclement," and "clemency" all derive from the Latin "clemens," which means "mild" or "calm." All three terms can refer to an individual's degree of mercy or to the relative pleasantness of the weather. *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on Apr 29, 2010 9:02:27 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for April 29, 2010 is: palimpsest • \PAL-imp-sest\ • noun 1 : writing material (as a parchment or tablet) used one or more times after earlier writing has been erased *2 : something having usually diverse layers or aspects apparent beneath the surface Felix's Example Sentence: William Faulkner's episodic novel Go Down, Moses is a sort of palimpsest, in which the various sections refract different aspects of the McCaslin family history, both black and white. Did you know? In olden days, writing surfaces were so rare that they were often used more than once. "Palimpsest" originally described an early form of recycling in which an old document was erased to make room for a new one when parchment ran short. Fortunately for modern scholars, the erasing process wasn't completely effective, so the original could often be distinguished under the newer writing. De republica, by Roman statesman and orator Cicero, is one of many documents thus recovered from a palimpsest. Nowadays, the word "palimpsest" can refer not only to such a document but to anything that has multiple layers. *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on Apr 30, 2010 8:20:50 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for April 30, 2010 is: spelunker • \spih-LUNK-er\ • noun : one who makes a hobby of exploring and studying caves Felix's Example Sentence: My career as a spelunker began and ended one summer day a hundred yards down a twisting passage in a "wild" cave, when my buddy and I realized we had one flashlight, had not told anyone where we were going, and our car was not visible from the infrequently travelled country road outside; we turned back. Did you know? "Spelunker" sounds like the noise a pebble makes when you drop it down a deep hole and into dark, hidden water far below. But there's nothing dark or obscure about the etymology of the term. We borrowed "spelunker" from Latin "spelunca," which in turn derives from Greek "spelynx." When you get to the bottom of things, you find that both the Latin and Greek words mean "cave." Although "spelunker" might sound neat, be careful: some cave-exploring enthusiasts prefer the term "caver."
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Post by Felix on May 1, 2010 10:00:57 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 01, 2010 is: pianistic • \pee-uh-NISS-tik\ • adjective *1 : of, relating to, or characteristic of the piano 2 : skilled in or well adapted to piano playing Felix's Example Sentence: Thad Carhart's The Piano Shop on the Left Bank sets out a story of all things pianistic, rich with characters and dense with piano lore. Did you know? The origin of "pianistic" won’t surprise anyone -- it’s ultimately from "piano," of course. But the "-istic” suffix is less than ubiquitous and bears some attention. It is used from time to time to create adjectives that correspond to nouns ending primarily in "-ism" or "-ist." (In this case, both "pianism" and "pianist" outdate "pianistic," although only by a few years.) The pedigree of "-istic" isn’t too surprising; etymologists report that it comes from Middle French ("-istique"), Latin ("-isticus"), and ultimately Greek ("-istikos"). As with words formed from the suffix "-ic," words ending in "-istic" can sometimes find life as nouns -- for example, "autistic" and "characteristic." *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence
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Post by Felix on May 2, 2010 11:08:51 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?May.02.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 02, 2010 is: artifice • \AHR-tuh-fus\ • noun 1 *a : clever or artful skill : ingenuity b : an ingenious device or expedient 2 a : an artful stratagem : trick b : false or insincere behavior Felix's Example Sentence: Consume my heart away; sick with desire And fastened to a dying animal It knows not what it is; and gather me Into the artifice of eternity. from "Sailing to Byzantium" by W.B. YeatsDid you know? Do great actors display artifice or art? Sometimes a bit of both. "Artifice" stresses creative skill or intelligence, but also implies a sense of falseness and trickery. "Art" generally rises above such falseness, suggesting instead an unanalyzable creative force. Actors may rely on some of each, but the personae they display in their roles are usually artificial creations. Therein lies a lexical connection between "art" and "artifice." "Artifice" derives from "artificium," Latin for "artifice" (that root also gave English "artificial"). "Artificium" in turn developed from "ars," the Latin root underlying the word "art" (and related terms such as "artist" and "artisan"). *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on May 3, 2010 8:59:54 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 03, 2010 is: repine • \rih-PYNE\ • verb 1 : to feel or express dejection or discontent : complain *2 : to long for something Felix's Example Sentence: Faced with changing economic realities in the world, and the decline of the United States' dominance in global markets, baby boomers repine, longing for their youth. Did you know? In longing, one can "repine over" something ("repining over her lost past"), or one can "pine for" something. The two words, used thus, mean close to the same thing, but not exactly. "Pining" is intense longing for what one once knew. "Repine" adds an element of discontent to any longing -- an element carried over from its first sense ("to feel or express dejection or discontent"), which has been in use since the 16th century. (Washington Irving used the first sense in his 1820 work The Sketch Book: "Through the long and weary day he repines at his unhappy lot.") "Pine" and "repine" are from Old English "pinian" ("to suffer") and probably ultimately from Latin "poena" ("punishment"). "Poena" also gave us our word "pain." *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on May 4, 2010 20:20:48 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 04, 2010 is: sarcasm • \SAHR-kaz-um\ • noun 1 : a sharp and often satirical or ironic utterance designed to cut or give pain 2 *a : a mode of satirical wit depending for its effect on bitter, caustic, and often ironic language that is usually directed against an individual b : the use or language of sarcasm Felix's Example Sentence: The late, great James E. Hitt, long time English teacher at the Baylor School, wielded sarcasm as a sharp verbal instrument trimming away the self-satisfaction and arrogance of his students. Did you know? If you've ever been hurt by a remark full of cutting sarcasm, you have some insight into the origins of the word. "Sarcasm" can be traced back to the Greek verb "sarkazein," which initially meant "to tear flesh like a dog." "Sarkazein" eventually developed extended senses of "to bite one's lips in rage," "to gnash one's teeth," and eventually "to sneer." "Sarkazein" led to the Greek noun "sarkasmos," ("a sneering or hurtful remark"), iterations of which passed through French and Late Latin before arriving in English as "sarcasm" in the mid-16th century. Even today sarcasm is often described as sharp, cutting, or wounding, reminiscent of the original meaning of the Greek verb. *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on May 5, 2010 14:39:11 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 05, 2010 is: nosocomial • \nah-suh-KOH-mee-ul\ • adjective : acquired or occurring in a hospital Felix's Example Sentence: The grandly named "methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus" is a serious skin infection that often is nosocomial in its spread, although I had been nowhere near a hospital two years ago when I had my stubborn outbreak of this menace. Did you know? "Nosocomial" is a word that usually occurs in formal medical contexts; specifically, in reference to hospital-acquired sickness. We hope you never encounter "nosocomial" as part of your own medical diagnosis, but if you do, you might want to remember that the term descends from "nosocomium," the Late Latin word for "hospital." "Nosocomium" in turn traces to the Greek "nosos," meaning "disease." That root has given English other words as well, including "zoonosis" ("a disease communicable from animals to humans under natural conditions") and "nosology" ("a classification or list of diseases" or "a branch of medical science that deals with classification of diseases").
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Post by Felix on May 6, 2010 9:57:25 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 06, 2010 is: plagiary • \PLAY-jee-air-ee\ • noun 1 : one that plagiarizes *2 : plagiarism Felix's Example Sentence: Discovering that two publishers had each published an unauthorized edition of his novel, the author dramatically shouted "A plagiary on both your houses!" Did you know? "Plagiarius," the Latin source of "plagiary," literally means "kidnapper." "Plagiarius" has its roots in the noun "plagium," meaning both "kidnapping" and "the netting of game," and ultimately in the noun "plaga," meaning "net." The literal sense of "plagiarius" was adopted into English; in the 17th and early 18th century, a kidnapper might be referred to as a "plagiary," and, in the legalese of the time, kidnapping was "plagium." But "plagiarius" also had a couple of figurative meanings -- "seducer" and "literary thief." It is the latter that has made the most enduring contribution to the English language. A "plagiary" could also be one who commits literary theft (now usually referred to as a "plagiarist") or the act or product of such theft (now, more commonly, "plagiarism"). *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on May 8, 2010 8:03:33 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?May.07.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for May 07, 2010 is: intoxicate • \in-TAHK-suh-kayt\ • verb
1 : poison
2 a : to excite or stupefy by alcohol or a drug especially to the point where physical and mental control is markedly diminished * b : to excite or elate to the point of enthusiasm or frenzy
Felix's Example Sentence:
I was once asked by a friend for advice on how to intoxicate "someone," by which he meant his girlfriend, without her knowing what was happening; information I declined to provide.
Did you know?
For those who think that alcohol and drugs qualify as poisons, the history of "intoxicate" offers some etymological evidence to bolster your argument. “Intoxicate” traces back to “toxicum,” the Latin word for “poison” -- and the earliest meaning of "intoxicate" was just that: "to poison." This sense is now extremely rare, and we currently talk about such harmless things as flowers and perfume having the power to intoxicate. "Toxicum" turns up in the etymologies of a number of other English words including "toxic" ("poisonous"), "intoxicant" ("something that intoxicates") and "detoxify" ("to remove a poison from"), as well as a number of the names for various poisons themselves.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on May 8, 2010 8:16:18 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 08, 2010 is: hoity-toity • \hoy-tee-TOY-tee\ • adjective 1 : thoughtlessly silly or frivolous : FLIGHTY *2 : marked by an air of assumed importance : HIGHFALUTIN Felix's Example Sentence:A strong antipathy towards any social affectation runs through the American culture, leading to sneers at behavior or speech scornfully described as " hoity-toity". Did you know?Today we most often use "hoity-toity" as an adjective, but before it was an adjective it was a noun meaning "thoughtless giddy behavior." The noun, which first appeared in print in 1668, was probably created as a singsongy rhyme based on the dialectal English word "hoit," meaning "to play the fool." The adjective "hoity-toity" can stay close to its roots and mean "foolish" (". . . as though it were very hoity-toity of me not to know that royal personage." -- W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor’s Edge), but in current use it more often means "pretentious." *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on May 9, 2010 10:29:08 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 09, 2010 is: elephantiasis • \el-uh-fun-TYE-uh-sis\ • noun 1 : enlargement and thickening of tissues; specifically : the enormous enlargement of a limb or the scrotum caused by obstruction of lymphatics by filarial worms *2 : an undesirable usually enormous growth, enlargement, or overdevelopment Felix's Example Sentence: Subject already to adolescent insecurities about our emerging sexuality, the boys in my all-male biology class were traumatized by graphic slides of advanced cases of genital diseases, especially the one of a man whose scrotum was infected with elephantiasis. Did you know? In Latin "elephantiasis" referred to a kind of leprosy in which the skin takes on the appearance of an elephant's hide. The word is still used in the medical field for various infectious skin diseases in which the affected part becomes grossly enlarged. The first known figurative use of "elephantiasis" is by English author George Meredith in a letter dated December 22, 1866. In that letter, he ribs an acquaintance for his exaggerated description of the size of a mackerel, telling him that he has "become the victim of a kind of mental elephantiasis." *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on May 10, 2010 9:19:01 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 10, 2010 is: yeasty • \YEE-stee\ • adjective 1 : of, relating to, or resembling yeast 2 a : immature, unsettled * b : marked by change c : full of vitality d : frivolous Felix's Example Sentence: England in the mid-to-late Sixteenth Century underwent great changes, from the break with Rome to a burgeoning middle class, giving rise to a yeasty mix of political, social and literary freedoms and innovation. Did you know? The word "yeast" has existed in English for as long as the language has existed. Spellings have varied over time -- in Middle English it was "yest" and in Old English "gist" or "geist" -- but the word's meaning has remained basically the same for centuries. In its first documented English uses in the 1500s, the adjective "yeasty" described people or things with a yellowish or frothy appearance similar to the froth that forms on the top of fermented beverages (such as beers or ales). Since then, a number of extended, figurative senses of "yeasty" have surfaced, all of which play in some way or another on the excitable, chemical nature of fermentation, such as by connoting unsettled activity or significant change. *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on May 11, 2010 7:55:12 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?May.11.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for May 11, 2010 is: navel-gazing • \NAY-vul-GAY-zing\ • noun
: useless or excessive self-contemplation
Felix's Example Sentence:
Persons who respond to life as a call to action, always doing rather than reflecting, usually dismiss meditation as navel-gazing. Did you know?
If you are scratching your head over something, then you are probably in a state of puzzled contemplation. But if you are staring at your navel, you could either be indulging in some useless self-contemplation or in a state of deep meditation. If the latter, the technical term for your activity would be "omphaloskepsis," which is a form of meditation that has been practiced by mystics for centuries. Navel-gazing is a pop form of omphaloskepsis that is devoid of any serious meditative value. The word has been used more or less disparagingly since its first appearance in 1963.
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Post by Felix on May 13, 2010 7:46:06 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 12, 2010 is: fructuous • \FRUK-chuh-wus\ • adjective : fruitful Felix's Example Sentence: Families following the precepts of the Quiverfull movement often follow the Biblical injunction to "be fruitful and multiply" far beyond a moderately fructuous number of children. Did you know? In Latin the word "fructus" means both "fruit" and "enjoyment" or "use." A rich crop of English derivatives grew from that root, including "fructuous," "fructose" (a sugar found in fruits), "fruition" ("the state of bearing fruit"), "usufruct" ("the right to use or enjoy something"), and even "fruit" itself. "Fructuous" comes from the Middle French adjective "fructueux" and the Latin adjective "fructuosus," both ultimately derived from "fructus."
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Post by Felix on May 13, 2010 7:48:43 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 13, 2010 is: mirage • \muh-RAHZH\ • noun *1 : an illusion sometimes seen at sea, in the desert, or over hot pavement that looks like a pool of water or a mirror in which distant objects are seen inverted 2 : something illusory and unattainable like a mirage Felix's Example Sentence: On long car trips to my grandparents' house, in the days before air conditioning in cars, oppressive summer heat raised mirages of water in the dips of the winding two-lane highway. Did you know? A mirage is a sort of optical illusion, a reflection of light that can trick the mind into interpreting the sight as an apparently solid thing. It makes sense, therefore, that the word "mirage" has its roots in the concept of vision. "Mirage" was borrowed into English at the dawn of the 19th century from the French verb "mirer" ("to look at"), which also gave us the word "mirror." "Mirer" in turn derives from Latin "mirari" ("to wonder at"). "Mirari" is also the ancestor of the English words "admire," "miracle," and "marvel," as well as the rare adjective "mirific" (meaning "marvelous"). *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on May 15, 2010 15:18:33 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 14, 2010 is: substantive • \SUB-stun-tiv\ • adjective : having substance : involving matters of major or practical importance to all concerned Felix's Example Sentence: In a trial involving conflicting testimony and attempts to discredit witnesses, separating the substantive from the irrelevant is a job for the jury, an often thankless task. Did you know? "Substantive" was borrowed into Middle English from the Anglo-French adjective "sustentif," meaning "having or expressing substance," and can be traced back to the Latin verb "substare," which literally means "to stand under." Figuratively, the meaning of "substare" is best understood as "to stand firm" or "to hold out." Since the 14th century, we have used "substantive" to speak of that which is of enough "substance" to stand alone, or be independent. By the 19th century the word evolved related meanings, such as "enduring" and "essential." It also shares some senses with "substantial," such as "considerable in quantity."
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Post by Felix on May 15, 2010 15:26:36 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 15, 2010 is: derrick • \DAIR-ik\ • noun 1 : a hoisting apparatus employing a tackle rigged at the end of a beam *2 : a framework or tower over a deep drill hole (as of an oil well) for supporting boring tackle or for hoisting and lowering Felix's Example Sentence: With so many derricks so thickly sowed across the Gulf of Mexico, pumping oil by the thousands of barrels daily, the recent explosion, sinking and massive spill makes you think of how precarious the health of the ecology is faced with such threats. Did you know? During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, London was the home of a notorious executioner named Derick. Among those he beheaded was the Earl of Essex, Robert Devereux, who according to a street ballad of the time had once saved the life of the ungrateful executioner. While members of the nobility were accorded the courtesy of beheading, it was the lot of commoners to be hanged, and those sent to face the rope at the hands of the executioner Derick nicknamed the gallows at Tyburn after him. Throughout the 17th century, "derick" was used as a name for both hangman and gallows. After the days of public hangings, the word "derrick" was adopted as a name for a number of less ominous frameworks or towers.
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Post by Felix on May 17, 2010 8:36:22 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 16, 2010 is: Promethean • \pruh-MEE-thee-un\ • adjective : of, relating to, or resembling Prometheus, his experiences, or his art; especially : daringly original or creative Felix's Example Sentence: During World War II in the Pacific, the Seabees, the construction arm of the Navy, performed such Promethean deeds that their motto became, "The difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer." Did you know? As some versions of the story go in Greek mythology, Prometheus (one of the Titan giants) modeled humans from clay and then taught them agriculture and all the arts of civilization. He also stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. So inventive was he that anything that bears the stamp of creativity and originality can still be called "Promethean." Zeus, however, had wanted the human race to perish, so Prometheus' actions were also disobedient. Hence "Promethean" can also mean defiant of authority or limits. As punishment for his disobedience, Zeus chained Prometheus to a rock where an eagle daily tore at his liver. Thus, any suffering on a grand scale can also be called Promethean -- though this sense is not as common as the others.
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Post by Felix on May 17, 2010 8:38:55 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 17, 2010 is: embezzle • \im-BEZZ-ul\ • verb : to appropriate (as property entrusted to one's care) fraudulently to one's own use Felix's Example Sentence: An accounts payable employee embezzled over $40,000.00 by diverting to her own account checks made out to vendors who had moved, causing their checks to be returned undelivered. Did you know? English has a lot of verbs that mean to steal -- some more specific than others. "Pilfer," "purloin," "rob," "swipe," "plunder," "filch," and "thieve" are some noted examples. "Embezzle" differs from these by stressing the improper appropriation of property to which a person is entrusted -- often in the form of company funds. First appearing in English in the 15th century, "embezzle" derives via Middle English from the Anglo-French "embesiller," meaning "to make away," formed from the prefix "en-" and the verb "besiller," meaning "to steal or plunder." Related to "embezzle" is "bezzle," a verb used in some British English dialects to mean "to waste or plunder" or "to drink or eat to excess."
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Post by Felix on May 18, 2010 9:37:13 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?May.18.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for May 18, 2010 is: gravamen • \gruh-VAY-mun\ • noun
: the material or significant part of a grievance or complaint
Felix's Example Sentence:
Cutting through the elaborate rationalizations and secondary concerns, in every argument against economic safety nets such as Social Security I find a flinty gravamen of anti-tax fury.
Did you know?
"Gravamen" is not a word you hear every day, but it does show up occasionally in modern-day publications. It comes from the Latin verb "gravare," meaning "to burden," and ultimately from the Latin adjective "gravis," meaning "heavy." Fittingly, "gravamen" refers to the part of a grievance or complaint that gives it weight or substance. In legal contexts, "gravamen" is used, synonymously with "gist," to refer to the grounds on which a legal action is sustainable. "Gravis" has given English several other weighty words, including "gravity," "grieve," and the adjective "grave," meaning "important" or "serious."
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Felix
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Post by Felix on May 19, 2010 12:25:45 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 19, 2010 is: translucent • \trans-LOO-sunt\ • adjective *1 : not transparent but clear enough to allow light to pass through 2 : free from disguise or falseness Felix's Example Sentence: A Woody Guthrie song from the Depression era remarked that if the watery stew the dispossessed had to eat were even more translucent, perhaps politicians could see through it; Mighty thin stew, though, You could read a magazine right through it. Always have figured That if it'd been just a little bit thinner, Some of these here politicians Coulda seen through it. - Talking Dust Bowl Blues Did you know? Look closely and you will see the same three letters in "translucent" and "elucidate," letting the family relationship between the two words shine through. Both terms descend from the Latin word "lucēre," meaning "to shine." ("Translucent" is from "lucēre" plus "trans-," which means "through.") When you "elucidate" something, you make it clear by explaining it in a way that can be easily understood -- you "shed light on" it. "Lucēre" is also the root of another bright and shining English word, "lucid," which can mean either "bright with light" or "clear and easy to understand." *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Felix
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Post by Felix on May 23, 2010 15:12:48 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?May.20.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for May 20, 2010 is: bully pulpit • \BULL-ee-PULL-pit\ • noun
: a prominent public position (as a political office) that provides an opportunity for expounding one's views; also : such an opportunity
Felix's Example Sentence:
The rise of the mass media, and the internet, has provided manyf partisans a variety of bully pulpits for their political and social opinions.
Did you know?
"Bully pulpit" comes from the 26th U.S. President, Theodore Roosevelt, who observed that the White House was a bully pulpit. For Roosevelt, "bully" was an adjective meaning "excellent" or "first-rate" -- not the noun "bully" ("a blustering browbeating person") that's so common today. Roosevelt understood the modern presidency's power of persuasion and recognized that it gave the incumbent the opportunity to exhort, instruct, or inspire. He took full advantage of his bully pulpit, speaking out about the danger of monopolies, the nation's growing role as a world power, and other issues important to him. Since the 1970s, "bully pulpit" has been used as a term for an office -- especially a political office -- that provides one with the opportunity to share one's views.
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Felix
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Post by Felix on May 23, 2010 15:22:52 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 21, 2010 is: amerce • \uh-MERSS\ • verb : to punish by a fine whose amount is fixed by the court; broadly : punish Felix's Example Sentence: Shakespeare's Shylock vengefully sought to amerce Antonio to the letter of the bond the hapless merchant had signed, but was undone by Portia pointing out a conflict with a law invoking capital punishment if blood were shed. Did you know? If you break the law, you could find yourself "at the mercy" of the court. As you await your punishment (hoping that the judge will in fact be merciful), you may want to ponder the history of "amerce." It begins with the Old French phrase "a merci," meaning "at (one's) mercy," which in turn gave rise to the Anglo-French verb "amercier" (same meaning as "amerce"). Middle English speakers adopted the French word as "amercien," which was later modernized to "amerce." In addition to the legal use, "amerce" can also be used in a more general sense for the infliction of any sort of punishment, monetary or otherwise.
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Felix
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Post by Felix on May 23, 2010 15:32:07 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 22, 2010 is: lily-livered • \LILL-ee-LIV-erd\ • adjective : lacking courage : cowardly Felix's Example Sentence: Lady Macbeth, as she washes Duncan's blood from her hands, alludes to Macbeth's lily-livered fear of his own bloody hands, saying "... I scorn to wear a heart so white." Did you know? The basis of the word "lily-livered" lies in an old belief. Years ago, people thought that health and temperament were the products of a balance or imbalance of four bodily fluids, or humors: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. It was believed that a deficiency of yellow bile, or choler, the humor that governed anger, spirit, and courage, would leave a person’s liver colorless or white. Someone with this deficiency, and so white-livered, would be spiritless and a coward. "Lily-livered" and "white-livered" have been used synonymously since the 16th century, but "lily-livered" is now the more common expression, probably because of its alliteration.
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Felix
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Post by Felix on May 23, 2010 15:38:36 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 23, 2010 is: defalcation • \dee-fal-KAY-shun\ • noun *1 : the act or an instance of embezzling 2 : a failure to meet a promise or an expectation Felix's Example Sentence: In a clever sleight of hand, the Mayor slashed the city budget, but concealed the defalcation of those sums into accounts he proceeded to use for his own benefit. Did you know? "The tea table shall be set forth every morning with its customary bill of fare, and without any manner of defalcation." No reference to embezzlement there! This line, from a 1712 issue of Spectator magazine, is an example of the earliest, and now archaic, sense of "defalcation," which is simply defined as "curtailment." "Defalcation" is ultimately from the Latin word "falx," meaning "sickle" (a tool for cutting), and it has been a part of English since the 1400s. It was used early on of monetary cutbacks (as in "a defalcation in their wages"), and by the 1600s it was used of most any sort of financial reversal (as in "a defalcation of public revenues"). Not till the mid-1800s, however, did "defalcation" refer to breaches of trust that cause a financial loss, or, specifically, to embezzlement.
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Felix
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Post by Felix on May 25, 2010 10:15:51 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 24, 2010 is: luscious • \LUSH-us\ • adjective *1 : having a delicious sweet taste or smell 2 : sexually attractive 3 a : richly luxurious or appealing to the senses b : excessively ornate Felix's Example Sentence: The Luscious Clusters of the Vine Upon my Mouth do crush their Wine. Andrew Marvell, The Garden l. 35-36 Did you know? Have you ever heard a young child say something is "licius" when he or she really means it's "delicious"? Back in the Middle Ages, the word "licius" was sometimes used as a shortened form of "delicious" by adults and kids alike. Linguists believe that "luscious" developed when "licius" was further altered by 15th-century speakers. Both words ultimately derive from the Latin verb "delicere," meaning "to entice by charm or attraction." The adjective "lush," which can sometimes mean "delicious" as well, is not a shortened form of "luscious"; it derived on its own from the Middle English "lusch," meaning "soft or tender." *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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