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Post by Felix on May 25, 2010 10:19:08 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 25, 2010 is: foppery • \FAH-puh-ree\ • noun *1 : foolish character or action : folly 2 : the behavior or dress of a fop Felix's Example Sentence: Let not the sound of shallow foppery enter My sober house. Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice II,5Did you know? The word "fop" once referred to a foolish or silly person, a meaning that is now obsolete. The current sense of "fop" -- a man who is extremely devoted to or vain about his appearance or dress -- still holds a rather quaint charm. "Fop," which derives from Middle English, is related loosely to a Middle High German word meaning "to deceive" and dates from the 15th century. The noun "foppery" arrived on the scene in English about a century later. Its "folly" sense can be found in Shakespeare’s King Lear, where Edmund speaks of "the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune, often the surfeit of our own behaviour, we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars…." *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on May 26, 2010 10:16:30 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 26, 2010 is: whilom • \WYE-lum\ • adjective : former Felix's Example Sentence: Arlen Specter, whilom Republican, lost the Democratic Senate primary on May 18, after one year as a Democrat. The remaining seven months of his term he will now serve out as a lame-duck, courtesy of anti-incumbent fervor and his Democratic primary opponent Joe Sestak. Did you know? "Whilom" shares an ancestor with the word "while." Both trace back to the Old English word "hwil," meaning "time" or "while." In Old English "hwilum" was an adverb meaning "at times." This use passed into Middle English (with a variety of spellings, one of which was "whilom"), and in the 12th century the word acquired the meaning "formerly." The adverb's usage dwindled toward the end of the 19th century, and it has since been labeled "archaic." The adjective first appeared on the scene in the 15th century, with the now-obsolete meaning "deceased," and by the end of the 16th century it was being used with the meaning "former." It's a relatively uncommon word, but it does see occasional use.
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Post by Felix on May 28, 2010 18:28:18 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?May.27.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for May 27, 2010 is: vibrissa • \vye-BRISS-uh\ • noun
*1 : one of the stiff hairs that are located especially about the nostrils or on other parts of the face in many mammals and that often serve as tactile organs
2 : one of the bristly feathers near the mouth of many and especially insectivorous birds that may help to prevent the escape of insects
Felix's Example Sentence:
Removing the vibrissae from a cat's face would be even more cruel than de-clawing this most imperfectly domesticated Felis domesticus, impairing its hunting skills.
Did you know?
The whiskers of a cat qualify as vibrissae (that’s the plural of "vibrissa"), as do the hairlike feathers around the bill of some birds -- especially the insect-feeding kind. And when scientists first used "vibrissa" in the late 17th century, they used the word to refer specifically to the hairs inside the human nostril. Science got this word, as it has many others, from Latin. "Vibrissa" comes from "vibrare," which means all of the following: "to brandish," "to wave," "to rock," and "to propel suddenly." Other "vibrare" descendents in English include "vibrate," "vibrato," and "veer."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on May 28, 2010 18:30:44 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 28, 2010 is: juxtapose • \JUK-stuh-pohz\ • verb : to place side by side Felix's Example Sentence: Photograph editing computer programs have made it easy to juxtapose disparate pictures of famous or notorious people with others unconnected with them, resulting in sometimes comic, and sometimes libelous artifacts. Did you know? A back-formation is a word that has come about through the removal of a prefix or a suffix from a longer word. Etymologists think "juxtapose" is a back-formation that was created when people trimmed down the noun "juxtaposition." Historical evidence supports the idea: "juxtaposition" was showing up in English documents as early as 1654, but "juxtapose" didn't appear until 1851. "Juxtaposition" is itself thought to be a combination of Latin "juxta," meaning "near," and English "position."
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Post by Felix on Jun 2, 2010 23:01:22 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 29, 2010 is: disaster • \dih-ZAS-ter\ • noun : a sudden calamitous event bringing great damage, loss, or destruction; broadly : a sudden or great misfortune or failure Felix's Example Sentence: The BP oil spill resulted from a concatenation of separate decisions which led to the largest oil production disaster in the history of the U.S. Did you know? "Disaster" has its roots in the belief that the positions of stars influence the fate of humans, often in destructive ways; its original meaning in English was "an unfavorable aspect of a planet or star." The word comes to us through Middle French and the Old Italian word "disastro," from the Latin prefix "dis-" and Latin "astro," meaning "star." Another unfortunate word that comes to us from astrological beliefs is "ill-starred." Now generally used in the sense of "unlucky" or "having or destined to a hapless fate," "ill-starred" was originally used literally to describe someone born under or guided by an evil star. We also have "star-crossed," meaning "not favored by the stars" or "ill-fated."
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Post by Felix on Jun 2, 2010 23:03:27 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for May 30, 2010 is: qui vive • \kee-VEEV\ • noun : alert, lookout Felix's Example Sentence: In Stevenson's Treasure Island, Billy Bones tasks Jim Hawkins to be on the qui vive for a sea faring man with one leg, who turns out to be Long John Silver. Did you know? When a sentinel guarding a French castle in days of yore cried, "Qui vive?" your life depended upon your answer -- the right one was usually something like "Long live the king!" The question the sentinel was asking was "Long live who?" but the act of calling out apparently impressed English listeners more than the meaning of the phrase, because when they adopted it in the early 1700s they used "qui vive" to mean "alert." Nowadays, the term is most often used in the phrase "on the qui vive," meaning "on the lookout."
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Post by Felix on Jun 2, 2010 23:06:08 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?May.31.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for May 31, 2010 is: callithump • \KAL-uh-thump\ • noun
: a noisy boisterous band or parade
Felix's Example Sentence:
The weeks leading up to Shrove Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, in New Orleans are marked by a series of callithumps, culminating on the day and evening of Mardi Gras itself in the outing of a number of "crewes" who throw beads to the reveling crowds.
Did you know?
"Callithump" and the related adjective "callithumpian" are Americanisms, but their roots stretch back to England. In the 19th century, the noun "callithumpian" was used in the U.S. of boisterous roisterers who had their own makeshift New Year's parade. Their band instruments consisted of crude noisemakers such as pots, tin horns, and cowbells. The antecedent of "callithumpians" is an 18th-century British dialect term for another noisy group, the "Gallithumpians," who made a rumpus on election days in southern England. Today, the words "callithump" and "callithumpian" see occasional use, especially in the names of specific bands and parades. The callithumpian bands and parades of today are more organized than those of the past, but they retain an association with noise and boisterous fun.
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Post by Felix on Jun 2, 2010 23:09:31 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for June 01, 2010 is: brainiac • \BRAY-nee-ak\ • noun : a very intelligent person Felix's Example Sentence: During World War Two, a mixed bag of brainiacs with interests in codes and cryptology was assembled in England at Bletchley Park, eventually breaking the Nazi codes and greatly aiding the war effort. Did you know? As Superman fans know, "Brainiac" was the superintelligent villain in the Action Comics series and its spin-offs. You don't need x-ray vision to see the connection here -- etymologists think Superman's brainy adversary was probably the inspiration for our term "brainiac." We didn't coin the term right away though. The comic-book series was launched in 1938, and the general use of "brainiac" was first recorded in print in 1982.
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Post by Felix on Jun 2, 2010 23:14:24 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Jun.02.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for June 02, 2010 is: nidifugous • \nye-DIFF-yuh-gu\ • adjective
: leaving the nest soon after hatching
Felix's Example Sentence:
The very opposite of nidifugous, newly minted college graduates, unable to find jobs, often fall into nidicolous tenancy, leaving their parents yearning for the "empty nest."
Did you know?
"Nidifugous" hatched from the Latin words "nidus," meaning "nest," and "fugere," meaning "to flee." Its contrasting word "nidicolous," meaning "reared for a time in a nest," combines "nidus" with the English combining form "-colous" ("living or growing in or on"). Another relevant term is "precocial." A precocial bird is capable of a high degree of independent activity as soon as it emerges from the egg. While all nidifugous birds are also necessarily precocial, some nidicolous birds are also precocial -- that is, they are capable of leaving the nest soon after hatching, but instead they stick around. Other nidicolous birds are "altricial," which is to say they are hatched in a very immature and helpless condition and require care for some time.
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Post by Felix on Jun 3, 2010 12:36:39 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for June 03, 2010 is: apotheosis • \uh-pah-thee-OH-sis\ • noun *1 : elevation to divine status : deification 2 : the perfect example : quintessence Felix's Example Sentence: Efforts to anoint some public figure as an apotheosis sooner or later stumble over the candidate's clay feet. Did you know? Among the ancient Greeks, it was sometimes thought fitting -- or simply handy, say if you wanted a god somewhere in your bloodline -- to grant someone or other god status. So they created the word "apotheosis," meaning "making into a god." (The prefix "apo-" can mean simply "quite" or "completely," and "theos" is the Greek word for "god.") There's not a lot of Greek-style apotheosizing in the 21st century, but there is hero-worship. Our extended use of "apotheosis" as "elevation to divine status" is the equivalent of "placement on a very high pedestal." Even more common these days is to use "apotheosis" in reference to a perfect example or ultimate form. For example, one might describe a movie as "the apotheosis of the sci-fi movie genre." *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on Jun 4, 2010 7:51:31 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Jun.04.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for June 04, 2010 is: Gretna Green • \gret-nuh-GREEN\ • noun
: a place where many eloping couples are married
Felix's Example Sentence:
Laws enacted to liberalize the use of medical marijuana have created pharmaceutical Gretna Greens all over some states, especially in California, where vague regulations allow recreational pot users to score their herb.
Did you know?
In the England of the 1700s, a person could not marry without parental consent until age 21. The Scottish were more lenient, allowing young people to marry without parental permission at 16. England also had rules that made it difficult to marry quickly, but Scottish law required only that couples declare their desire to be married in front of witnesses before tying the knot. So it isn't surprising that many English couples ran to Gretna Green, a small village on the English-Scottish border, when they decided to elope. In Gretna Green, the wedding ceremony was typically performed by the blacksmith at a roadside tollhouse, but it was all perfectly legal.
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Post by Felix on Jun 5, 2010 19:13:45 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Jun.05.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for June 05, 2010 is: ferret • \FAIR-ut\ • verb
1 : to hunt game with ferrets
2 : to drive out of a hiding place
*3 : to find and bring to light by searching -- usually used with out
Felix's Example Sentence:
In The Big Lebowski, unsavory characters attempt to ferret out information from The Dude, who thinks he is under attack by a marmot - inaccurately identifying the animal in question.
Did you know?
Since the 14th century, English speakers have used "ferret" as the name of a small domesticated animal of the weasel family. The word came to us by way of Anglo-French and can be traced back to Latin "fur," meaning "thief." These days ferrets are often kept as pets, but prior to that they were typically used to hunt rabbits, rats, and other vermin, and to drive them from their underground burrows. By the 15th century, the verb "ferret" was being used of the action of hunting with ferrets. By the late 16th century, the verb had taken on figurative uses as well. Today, we most frequently encounter the verb "ferret" in the sense of "to find and bring to light by searching."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me:
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Post by Felix on Jun 7, 2010 7:15:03 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Jun.06.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for June 06, 2010 is: olla podrida • \ah-luh-puh-DREE-duh\ • noun
1 : a rich seasoned stew of slowly simmered meat and vegetables that is a traditional Spanish and Latin-American dish
*2 : hodgepodge
Felix's Example Sentence:
The BP oil spill is making in the Gulf of Mexico an obscene olla podrida of petroleum, dead fish, dying wildfowl and rotting vegetation.
Did you know?
In 1599, lexicographer John Minsheu wanted to know "from whence or why they call it olla podrida." Good question. No one is sure why the Spanish used a term that means "rotten pot" to name a tasty stew, but there has been plenty of speculation on the subject. One theory holds that the name developed because the long, slow cooking process required to make the stew was compared to the process of rotting, but there's no definitive evidence to support that idea. It is more certain that both French and English speakers borrowed "olla podrida" and later adapted the term for other mixtures whose content was as varied as the stew. The French also translated "olla podrida" as "pot pourri," an expression English speakers adapted to "potpourri."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on Jun 7, 2010 7:17:39 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for June 07, 2010 is: balletomane • \ba-LET-uh-mayn\ • noun : a devotee of ballet Felix's Example Sentence: Balletomanes have elevated dancers such as Nureyev and Fonteyn to the pantheon of artistic gods. Did you know? If you suspected that "balletomane" originated with the idea of a "mania" for ballet, you are correct. What you may not have guessed is that the language that inspired English speakers to borrow the word in the 1930s was Russian. "Balletomane" derives from the Russian noun "baletoman," which in turn combines the word for "ballet" ("balet") and the suffix "-man," from "maniya" (meaning "mania"). The English words "mania" and "ballet" did not, however, come from Russian. ("Mania" comes from Latin and Greek, and "ballet" comes from French and Italian.) "Balletomane" is therefore somewhat unusual, both for its Russian origins and for the fact that it does not follow the more traditional "-phile" model for words meaning "someone who likes a specified thing."
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Post by daworm on Jun 7, 2010 16:05:11 GMT -5
Many stews like that were made by simply adding more things to the pot as it got low, so there was always the chance that the potato or piece of meat you got was days, weeks or even months old (not likely, but statistically possible), long past the time it should have gone rotten.
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Post by Felix on Jun 14, 2010 18:34:09 GMT -5
It's been a busy week. For those who are interested, here are the Words of the Day from Merriam Webster for the past seven days, with links: June 8 obstreperous June 9 delegate Jiune 10 ambuscade June 11 argy-bargy June 12 polyonymous June 13 flagitious June 14 vexillology
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Post by Felix on Jun 15, 2010 7:57:19 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for June 15, 2010 is: edify • \ED-uh-fye\ • verb : to instruct and improve especially in moral and religious knowledge : uplift; also : enlighten, inform Felix's Example Sentence: President Obama is finding that if he edifies the people in his addresses, he is criticized for coldness of heart, but if he vents and displays strong emotion, he is criticized for being "un-presidential," leaving me wondering why anyone wants his job. Did you know? The Latin noun "aedes," meaning "house" or "temple," is the root of "aedificare," a verb meaning "to erect a house." Generations of speakers built on that meaning, and by the Late Latin period, the verb had gained the figurative sense of "to instruct or improve spiritually." The word eventually passed through Anglo-French before Middle English speakers adopted it as "edify" during the 14th century. Two of its early meanings, "to build" and "to establish," are now considered archaic; the only current sense of "edify" is essentially the same as that figurative meaning in Late Latin, "to instruct and improve in moral and religious matters."
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Post by Felix on Jun 16, 2010 13:43:14 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for June 16, 2010 is: guttersnipe • \GUTT-er-snype\ • noun 1 : a homeless vagabond and especially an outcast boy or girl in the streets of a city *2 : a person of the lowest moral or economic station Felix's Example Sentence: Internet chat rooms, message boards and other anonymous venues have attracted guttersnipes of all kinds, freed from retribution or accountability. Did you know? “Unfurl yourselves under my banner, noble savages, illustrious guttersnipes,” wrote Mark Twain sometime around 1869. Twain was among the first writers to use "guttersnipe" for a young hoodlum or street urchin. In doing so, he was following a trend among writers of the time to associate "gutter" (a low area at the side of a road) with a low station in life. Other writers in the late 19th century used "guttersnipe" more literally as a name for certain kinds of snipes, or birds with long thin beaks that live in wet areas. "Gutter-bird" was another term that was used at that time for both birds and disreputable persons. And even "snipe" itself has a history as a term of opprobrium; it was used as such during Shakespeare’s day. *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on Jun 17, 2010 7:34:41 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for June 17, 2010 is: asperity • \uh-SPAIR-uh-tee\ • noun 1 : roughness *2 : harshness of manner or of temper Felix's Example Sentence: Asked about his marital problems at a press conference prior to the start of the Pebble Beach U.S. Open golf tournament, Tiger Woods dismissed the question with quick asperity, "That's none of your business." Did you know? "Asperity" has had a rough history. It came to Modern English through Middle English (where it was spelled "asprete") by way of the Anglo-French ("asprete"), and ultimately derives from the Latin word "asper," which means "rough." Not only is "asper" the source of "asperity," but it also underlies the English word "exasperate" (in fact, you can see "asper" nestled in the midst of that word). Although it is far less common than "asperity" and "exasperate," the word "asper" itself is still occasionally used in English, too -- it functions as a synonym of "harsh," "bitter," or "stern." *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on Jun 19, 2010 8:45:11 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Jun.18.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for June 18, 2010 is: waterloo • \waw-ter-LOO\ • noun
: a decisive or final defeat or setback
Felix's Example Sentence:
In the dismal years of the Chattanooga Lookouts, the early eighties, derisive fans used to shout, "Waterloo, Woody, Waterloo," at the manager, whose name was Woody, signifying that his performance would send him down a level to the Waterloo, Iowa single-A farm team of the Cleveland Indians.
Did you know?
The Battle of Waterloo, which occurred on June 18, 1815, has given its name to the very notion of final defeat. Why? Maybe because it ended one of the most spectacular military careers in history (Napoleon's), as well as 23 years of recurrent conflict between France and the rest of Europe. In addition, it was Napoleon's second "final defeat." He was defeated and exiled in 1814, but he escaped his confinement, returned to France, and was restored to power for three months before meeting defeat at the hands of the forces allied under the Duke of Wellington near the Belgian village of Waterloo. The word "waterloo" first appeared in casual use the following year, 1816.
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Post by Felix on Jun 19, 2010 8:51:39 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Jun.19.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for June 19, 2010 is:auspicious • \aw-SPISH-us\ • adjective
*1 : promising success : favorable
2 : fortunate, prosperous
Felix's Example Sentence:
The lingering economic recession has given rise to repeated declarations of auspicious signs of recovery by various pundits, only to fall short of fulfillment.
Did you know?
"Auspicious" comes from Latin "auspex," which literally means "bird seer" (from the words "avis," meaning "bird," and "specere," meaning "to look"). In ancient Rome, these "bird seers" were priests, or augurs, who studied the flight and feeding patterns of birds, then delivered prophecies based on their observations. The right combination of bird behavior indicated favorable conditions, but the wrong patterns spelled trouble. The English noun "auspice," which originally referred to this practice of observing birds to discover omens, also comes from Latin "auspex." Today, the plural form "auspices" is often used with the meaning "kindly patronage and guidance."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on Jun 21, 2010 8:04:11 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for June 20, 2010 is: compadre • \kum-PAH-dray\ • noun : a close friend : buddy Felix's Example Sentence: Billy the Kid, a.k.a. Henry McCarty, William Bonney etal., is buried in Fort Sumner cemetery with compadres Tom O'Folliard and Charlie Bowdre, under the one-word epitaph, "Pals." Did you know? In Spanish, a child's father and godfather are, to each other, "compadres" -- that is, "co-fathers." "Compadre" is also a traditional term of reverence and friendship for a man. The equivalent feminine term in Spanish is "comadre." "Compadre" and "comadre" appeared simultaneously in the work that gives us our first known use of "compadre" in English: "'Busy as common, comadre!' said Lopez as he entered, addressing the mother, 'late and early I can find you at work.' 'Yes, compadre,' was the answer." (Albert Pike, "A Mexican Tale," 1834). In English, "compadre" means "friend" and can refer to a person of either sex. "Comadre" continues to appear occasionally in English contexts, but it is not yet well enough established to merit entry in English dictionaries.
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Post by Felix on Jun 21, 2010 8:08:00 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Jun.21.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for June 21, 2010 is: macerate • \MASS-uh-rayt\ • verb
1 : to cause to waste away by or as if by excessive fasting
*2 : to cause to become soft or separated into constituent elements by or as if by steeping in fluid; broadly : steep, soak
3 : to soften and wear away especially as a result of being wetted or steeped
Felix's Example Sentence:
If you macerate in boiling water leaves of various plants, from tea leaves to many herbs, a pleasing, sometimes stimulating drink generically called "tea" results.
Did you know?
"Macerate" is derived from the Latin verb "macerare," meaning "to soften" or "to steep." That meaning was borrowed into English in 1563. However, the first English use of "macerate" refers to the wasting away of flesh especially by fasting. That use manifested itself in 1547. A few other manifestations sprouted thereafter from the word's figurative branch (e.g., Laurence Sterne (1713-1768) once wrote of "a city so macerated with expectation"); however, those extensions wilted in time. Today, the "steeping" and "soaking" senses of "macerate" saturate culinary articles (as in "macerating fruit in liquor") as well as other writings (scientific ones, for instance: "the food is macerated in the gizzard" or "the wood is macerated in the solution").
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on Jun 23, 2010 18:22:13 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Jun.22.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for June 22, 2010 is: abdicate • \AB-dih-kayt\ • verb
*1 : to cast off : discard
2 : to relinquish (as sovereign power) formally
3 : to renounce a throne, high office, dignity, or function
Felix's Example Sentence:
I have always been quite agreeable to abdicating any role of responsibility, feeling that to cling to such roles would deprive others of the chance to make fools of themselves, a thing I never need to do more than once.
Did you know?
Give it up. English includes many words for the process of throwing in the towel, especially for relinquishing a job or elected office. "Abdicate," a derivative of the prefix "ab-" (meaning "from," "away," or "off") and the Latin verb "dicare" (meaning to "proclaim"), has been used primarily for those who give up sovereign power or who evade a very serious responsibility (such as parental responsibility). "Renounce" is often used as a synonym of "abdicate," but it adds to that term the suggestion that an individual is giving up something as a sacrifice to achieve a far greater end. "Resign" is another option when you are describing a more matter-of-fact departure from a job, office, or trust.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Felix on Jun 23, 2010 18:24:38 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for June 23, 2010 is: chatelaine • \SHAT-uh-layn\ • noun 1 a : the wife of a castellan : the mistress of a château * b : the mistress of a household or of a large establishment 2 : a clasp or hook for a watch, purse, or bunch of keys Felix's Example Sentence: If Ellen Goodhue expected to become chatelaine of Sutpen's Hundred upon marrying Thomas Sutpen, her new husbands demonic and cruel behavior soon disabused her of that notion. Did you know? The original chatelaine's domain was a castle or fort, and the chatelaine's duties were many. To complete them, she certainly needed keys. In the 18th century, the word "chatelaine" (borrowed from the French "châtelaine") took on an additional meaning in English that alluded to this: the word came to be used for a decorative clasp or hook from which chains holding a watch, purse, keys, etc. were suspended. These popular accessories evoked the bunch of keys the original chatelaine had worn of necessity. *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Felix
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Post by Felix on Jun 24, 2010 9:40:16 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for June 24, 2010 is: winkle • \WINK-ul\ • verb *1 chiefly British : to displace, remove, or evict from a position -- usually used with out 2 chiefly British : to obtain or draw out by effort -- usually used with out Felix's Example Sentence: President Obama had little choice but to winkle General McChrystal out of his command of forces in Afghanistan after imprudent comments from the General and his staff appeared in Rolling Stone magazine. Did you know? If you have ever extracted a winkle from its shell, then you understand how the verb "winkle" came to be. The word "winkle" is short for "periwinkle," the name of a marine or freshwater snail. "Periwinkle" is ultimately derived from Latin "pina," the name of a mussel, and Old English "wincle," a snail shell. Evidently the personnel of World War I's Allied Powers found their duty of finding and removing the enemy from the trenches analogous to extracting a well-entrenched snail and began using "winkle" to describe their efforts. The action of "winkling the enemy out" was later extended to other situations, such as "winkling information out of someone." *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Felix
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Post by Felix on Jun 25, 2010 8:38:12 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Jun.25.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for June 25, 2010 is: scuttlebutt • \SKUTT-ul-butt\ • noun
: rumor, gossip
Felix's Example Sentence:
Internet and other electronic media such as Facebook, twitter and texting have replaced the office water cooler as clearinghouses for scuttlebutt and other chatter.
Did you know?
Nowadays, office workers catch up on the latest scuttlebutt around the water cooler, and when they do, they are continuing a long-standing (although not necessarily honorable) tradition. That kind of gossip sharing probably also occurred on the sailing ships of yore. Back in the early 1800s, the cask containing a ship's daily supply of freshwater was called a "scuttlebutt"; that name was later applied to a drinking fountain on a ship or at a naval installation. By the early 20th century, the term for the water source was also applied to the gossip and rumors generated around it, and the latest chatter has been called "scuttlebutt" ever since.
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Felix
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Post by Felix on Jun 26, 2010 6:45:11 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for June 26, 2010 is: gasconade • \gas-kuh-NAYD\ • noun : bravado or exaggerated boasting Felix's Example Sentence: Though English, not a Gascon, Shakespeare's character Pistol is given to gasconade on an exaggerated scale, made more comic by his cowardice. Did you know? The citizens of Gascony in southwestern France have proverbially been regarded as prone to bragging. Their reputation has been immortalized in such swashbuckling literary works as Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers and Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac. Linguistically, the legend survives in the word "gascon," meaning "braggart," as well as in "gasconade" itself.
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Felix
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Post by Felix on Jun 27, 2010 11:00:45 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for June 27, 2010 is: circadian • \ser-KAY-dee-un\ • adjective : being, having, characterized by, or occurring in approximately 24-hour periods or cycles (as of biological activity or function) Felix's Example Sentence: If you want to totally junk your circadian rhythms, have a baby and endure nightly wakings of fiendishly random timings. Did you know? Just over fifty years ago, no one talked about "circadian rhythms" -- because "circadian" hadn't even been coined yet. In 1959, a scientist formed the word from the Latin words "circa" ("about") and "dies" ("day"), and it caught on quickly. "Circadian" appeared in periodicals throughout the sixties, and appeared in a Merriam-Webster dictionary before the decade was up. Most often, it's seen and heard in the term "circadian rhythm," which refers to the inherent cycle of about 24 hours that appears to control various biological processes, such as sleep, wakefulness, and digestive activity. If you want to impress your friends, you can also use the term "circadian dysrhythmia," a fancy synonym of "jet lag."
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Felix
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Post by Felix on Jun 28, 2010 8:07:53 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Jun.28.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for June 28, 2010 is: sepulchre • \SEP-ul-ker\ • noun
*1 : a place of burial : tomb
2 : a receptacle for religious relics especially in an altar
Felix's Example Sentence:
By this time, had the king permitted us, One of our souls had wander'd in the air. Banish'd this frail sepulchre of our flesh, As now our flesh is banish'd from this land:
Shakespeare, Richard II I,3
Did you know?
"Sepulchre" (also spelled "sepulcher") first appeared in Middle English around the beginning of the 13th century. It was originally spelled "sepulcre," a spelling taken from Anglo-French. Like many words borrowed into English from French, "sepulchre" has roots in Latin. In Latin, "sepulchre" is "sepulcrum," a noun that is derived from the verb "sepelire," which means "to bury." "Sepultus," the past participle of "sepelire," gives us -- also by way of Anglo-French -- the related noun "sepulture," which is a synonym for "burial" and "sepulchre."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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