Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 5, 2010 10:11:25 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Jul.30.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for July 30, 2010 is: inchoate • \in-KOH-ut\ • adjective
: being only partly in existence or operation; especially : imperfectly formed or formulated
Felix's Example Sentence:
Much of his prospective novel was still inchoate, snatches of dialogue and shadowy characters with imperfect characteristics.
Did you know?
"Inchoate" derives from "inchoare," which means "to begin" in Latin but translates literally as "to hitch up." "Inchoare" was formed from the prefix "in-" and the noun "cohum," which refers to the strap that secures a plow beam to a pulling animal's yoke. The concept of implementing this initial step toward the larger task of plowing a field can help provide a clearer understanding of "inchoate," an adjective used to describe the imperfect form of something (as a plan or idea) in its early stages of development. Perhaps because it looks a little like the word "chaos" (although the two aren't closely related), "inchoate" now not only implies the formlessness that often marks beginnings, but also the confusion caused by chaos.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 5, 2010 10:16:44 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for July 31, 2010 is: sirenian • \sye-REE-nee-un\ • noun : any of an order (Sirenia) of aquatic herbivorous mammals (as a manatee, dugong, or Steller's sea cow) that have large forelimbs resembling paddles, no hind limbs, and a flattened tail resembling a fin Felix's Example Sentence: Looking at photographs of various sirenians, I realized how long the voyages must have been to make sailors think these creatures not only human, but comely. Did you know? "Sirenian" traces back via Latin to Greek "seirēn," which is equivalent to our word for the sirens of Greek mythology. And what is the connection between sirens and sirenians? Modern sirenians do not resemble the half bird, half woman creatures who lured sailors to their doom with their sweet singing. But as our example sentence states, sirenians are considered by some to underlie the ancient legends about mermaids. In European folklore mermaids were sometimes called "sirens," and apparently this confusion resulted in the granting of sirenians the name they bear today.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 5, 2010 10:22:38 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for August 01, 2010 is: eisteddfod • \eye-STETH-vawd\ • noun : a usually Welsh competitive festival of the arts especially in poetry and singing Felix's Example Sentence: When first I heard a recording of a Welsh choral competition from some Rhondda Valley eisteddfod, I understood the origins of my grandfather Reese's deep, mellow voice. Did you know? In Medieval times, Welsh bards and minstrels would assemble together for an "eisteddfod" (the Welsh word for "session") of poetry and music competition. Over time, participation and interest in these competitions lessened, and by the 17th century an eisteddfod was far from the courtly affair it once was. The competition was revived in the 19th century as a way to showcase Wales's artistic culture. It was also in that century that an official council was formed to organize the annual National Eisteddfod of Wales, an event still held each summer alternately in North or South Wales. There are awards for music, prose, drama, and art, but the one for poetry remains the eisteddfod's pinnacle.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 5, 2010 10:29:36 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Aug.02.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for August 02, 2010 is: vicarious • \vye-KAIR-ee-us\ • adjective
1 : done or suffered for the benefit of someone else
*2 : sharing in someone else’s experience through the use of the imagination or sympathetic feelings
Felix's Example Sentence:
My joys have been mostly vicarious, as have been my sins, fortunately.
Did you know?
If you act in someone’s stead, you take his or her place, at least temporarily. The oldest meaning of "vicarious," which was first recorded in 1637, is "serving in someone or something’s stead." The word "vicarious" derives from the Latin noun "vicis," which means "change," "alternation," or "stead." "Vicis" is also the source of the English prefix "vice-" (as in "vice president"), meaning "one that takes the place of."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 6, 2010 10:21:36 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Aug.03.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for August 03, 2010 is: fester • \FESS-ter\ • verb
1 : to generate pus
2 : putrefy, rot
3 *a : to cause increasing poisoning, irritation, or bitterness : rankle b : to undergo or exist in a state of progressive deterioration
Felix's Example Sentence:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds; Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds. - William Shakespeare Sonnet 94
Did you know?
"Fester" first entered English as a noun in the early 14th century. It was originally used as we now use the word "fistula," for an abnormal passage leading from an abscess or hollow organ and permitting passage of fluids or secretions. It later came to refer to a sore that discharges pus. The connection between "fester" and "fistula" is no accident -- both descend from Latin "fistula," which has the same meaning as the English word but can also mean "pipe" or "tube" or "a kind of ulcer." "Fester" made the trip from Latin to English by way of Anglo-French. By the end of the 14th century, it was also being used as a verb meaning "to generate pus," a use that has since developed extended senses implying a worsening state.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 6, 2010 10:25:13 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for August 04, 2010 is: zwieback • \SWEE-back\ • noun : a usually sweetened bread enriched with eggs that is baked and then sliced and toasted until dry and crisp Felix's Example Sentence: Often the infant's highchair was crusted with soggy or dried zwieback, along with other less identifiable foodstuffs. Did you know? In ages past, keeping food fresh for any length of time required a lot of ingenuity, especially when one needed to carry comestibles on a long journey. One of the solutions people came up with for keeping bread edible for traveling was to bake it twice, thereby drying it and slowing the spoiling process. The etymology of "zwieback" reflects this baker's trick; it was borrowed from a German word that literally means "twice baked." Nowadays, zwieback is not just used as a foodstuff -- the texture of the dried bread makes zwieback a suitable teething device for infants.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 6, 2010 10:44:29 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Aug.05.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for August 05, 2010 is: colloquy • \KAH-luh-kwee\ • noun
1 : conversation, dialogue
*2 : a high-level serious discussion : conference
Felix's Example Sentence:
During the move towards a more integrated Chattanooga, an unpublicized group of white and black business, political and religious leaders met for a serious colloquy from time to time, greatly easing the transition to a more equal society.
Did you know?
"Colloquy" may make you think of "colloquial," and there is indeed a connection between the two words. As a matter of fact, "colloquy" is the parent word from which "colloquial" was coined in the mid-18th century.
"Colloquy" itself, though now the less common of the two words, has been a part of the English language since the 15th century. It is a descendant of Latin "loqui," meaning "to speak." Other descendants of "loqui" in English include "eloquent," "loquacious," "ventriloquism," and "soliloquy," as well as "elocution" and "interlocutor."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 6, 2010 10:48:48 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Aug.06.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for August 06, 2010 is: eighty-six • \ay-tee-SIKS\ • verb, slang
: to refuse to serve (a customer); also : to get rid of : throw out
Felix's Example Sentence:
The late Parker Smith was probably eighty-sixed by more radio stations than any other Chattanooga radio personality, in spite of his tremendous talent and listener appeal.
Did you know?
If you work in a restaurant or bar, you might eighty-six (or "eliminate") a menu item when you run out of it, or you might eighty-six (or "cut off") a customer who should no longer be served. "Eighty-six" is still used in this specific context, but it has also entered the general language. These days, you don’t have to be a worker in a restaurant or bar to eighty-six something -- you just have to be someone with something to get rid of or discard. There are many popular but unsubstantiated theories about the origin of "eighty-six." The explanation judged most probable by Merriam-Webster etymologists is that the word was created as a rhyming slang word for "nix," which means "to veto" or "to reject."
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 9, 2010 8:44:03 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Aug.07.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for August 07, 2010 is: twee • \TWEE\ • adjective
: affectedly or excessively dainty, delicate, cute, or quaint
Felix's Example Sentence:
W.C. Fields played off the insufferably twee Baby Leroy in four movies, saying famously, "I like children - fried."
Did you know?
Most adults wouldn't be caught dead saying, "Oh, look at the tweet 'ittle birdie!" (at least not to anyone over the age of three), but they probably wouldn't be averse to saying, "He went fishing with his dad," "She works as a nanny," or "Hey, buddy, how's it going?" Anyone who uses "dad," "nanny," or "buddy" owes a debt to "baby talk," a term used for both the childish speech adults adopt when addressing youngsters and for the speech of small children who are just learning to talk. "Twee" also originated in baby talk, as an alteration of "sweet." In the early 1900s, it was a term of affection, but nowadays British speakers and writers, and, increasingly, Americans as well, use "twee" for things that have passed beyond agreeable and into the realm of cloying.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 9, 2010 8:52:26 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for August 08, 2010 is: eminently • \EM-uh-nunt-lee\ • adverb : to a high degree : very Felix's Example Sentence: We thought our new puppy was eminently suitable as a small and manageable pet - until he chewed up an assortment of shoes filched from the bedroom closet. Did you know? When British physician Tobias Venner wrote in 1620 of houses "somewhat eminently situated," he used "eminently" in a way that now seems unusual. Venner meant that the houses were literally located in a high place, but that lofty use of "eminently" has since slipped into obsolescence. "Eminently" traces to the Latin term "eminēre," which means "to stand out." In its first documented English uses in the 15th century, the term meant "conspicuously," but that sense, like the elevated one we mentioned earlier, is now obsolete. The figurative sense for which the word is best known today began appearing in English texts in the mid-1600s.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 9, 2010 9:06:44 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Aug.09.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for August 09, 2010 is: flotilla • \floh-TILL-uh\ • noun
*1 : a fleet of ships or boats; especially : a navy organizational unit consisting of two or more squadrons of small warships
2 : an indefinite large number
Felix's Example Sentence:
The entrapped British Army at Dunquerque was rescued by a flotilla of vessels, ranging from warships to yachts and fishing boats, an instance of the British knack for converting disaster into a stirring story of heroism.
Did you know?
"Flotilla" comes from the diminutive form of the Spanish noun "flota," meaning "fleet." "Flota" derives via Old French from Old Norse "floti" and is related to Old English "flota" ("ship"), an ancestor to our word "float." Much like other words referring to groups of particular things (such as "swarm"), "flotilla" has taken on expanded usage to refer simply to a large number of something not necessarily having to do with nautical matters, often with humorous effect (e.g., "a flotilla of rather mature-looking male models" -- Jed Perl, The New Republic).
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 14, 2010 20:00:33 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Aug.10.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for August 10, 2010 is: wildcatter • \WYLDE-katt-er\ • noun
1 : one that drills wells in the hope of finding oil in territory not known to be an oil field
*2 : one that promotes unsafe and unreliable enterprises; especially : one that sells stocks in such enterprises
Felix's Example Sentence:
A longtime friend of mine called me after some years of silence, to solicit my participation in a wildcatter project involving "multilevel marketing," AKA a Ponzi scheme, which I rejected, silencing my old friend for several years..
Did you know?
Messing with a wildcat, such as a lynx, can be a pretty risky undertaking, but ferocious felines played only an indirect role in the development of the word "wildcatter." That term has been used in English since the late 19th century, along with the verb "wildcat," which refers to the risky practice of drilling experimental oil wells in territory not known to produce oil. English-speakers associated "wildcat" with risk-taking ventures after a number of U.S. banks fraudulently issued banknotes with little or no capital to back them up. Supposedly, the banknotes issued by one particular bank bore the image of a panther or, as it was known locally, a "wildcat," and it was those risky notes that led to the financial risk-taking senses of "wildcat" and "wildcatter."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 14, 2010 20:09:32 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Aug.11.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for August 11, 2010 is: stolid • \STAH-lid\ • adjective
: having or expressing little or no sensibility : unemotional
Felix's Example Sentence:
Often you find that a stolid outer manner and expression in a person masks a deep and powerful current of emotion and passion.
Did you know?
"Stolid" derives from "stolidus," a word that means "dull" or "stupid" in Latin. It is also distantly related to the word "stultify," meaning "to cause to appear or be stupid, foolish, or absurdly illogical." The earliest examples of usage for "stolid," dating back to the 17th century, indicate that it too was originally associated with a lack of smarts; it was used to describe people who were considered dull or stupid because they didn't wear their emotions on their sleeves. By the1800s, however, "stolid" was frequently appearing without the connotation of foolishness, and it continues to be free of such overtones today.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 14, 2010 20:20:50 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for August 12, 2010 is: dog days • \DAWG-DAYZ\ • noun *1 : the period between early July and early September when the hot sultry weather of summer usually occurs in the northern hemisphere 2 : a period of stagnation or inactivity Felix's Example Sentence: This year has produced summer heat so intense that the dog days have been nearly unbearable so far. Did you know? Dogs aren’t the only creatures uncomfortable in oppressive heat, so why does a dog get singled out in "dog days"? The dog here is actually the Dog Star, which is also called "Sirius." The star has long been associated with sultry weather in the northern hemisphere because it rises simultaneously with the sun during the hottest days of summer. In the ancient Greek constellation system, this star (called "Seirios" in Greek) was considered the hound of the hunter Orion and was given the epithet "Kyon," meaning “dog.” The Greek writer Plutarch referred to the hot days of summer as "hēmerai kynades" (literally, "dog days"), and a Latin translation of this expression as "dies caniculares" is the source of our English phrase. *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 14, 2010 20:30:00 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for August 13, 2010 is: advise • \ud-VYZE\ • verb *1 : to give advice to : counsel 2 : inform, notify 3 : consult, confer Felix's Example Sentence: In an age of increasingly partisan politics, the constitutional delegation of Senatorial power to " advise and consent" in the matter of Presidential appointments has devolved into a license for ideological warfare. Did you know? "Advise" was borrowed into Middle English in the 14th century from Anglo-French "aviser," itself from "avis," meaning "opinion." That "avis" is not to be confused with the Latin word "avis," meaning "bird" (an ancestor of such English words as "avian" and "aviation"). Instead, it results from the Old French phrase "ce m'est a vis" ("that appears to me"), a partial translation of Latin "mihi visum est," "it seemed so to me" or "I decided." We advise you to remember that "advise" is spelled with an "s," whereas the related noun "advice" includes a stealthy "c." *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 14, 2010 20:37:05 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for August 14, 2010 is: predilection • \pred-uh-LEK-shun\ • noun : an established preference for something Felix's Example Sentence: In writing, I have a an unwelcome predilection for run-on sentences which sometimes unwind into the distant reaches of the Solar system, last seen passing Uranus. Did you know? Do you have a predilection for words whose histories conjure up colorful images of Wild West heroes, medieval knaves, Arabian princes, and intemperate gods, or are words with straightforward Latin roots more your style? If you favor the latter, you'll love "predilection." It's based on the Latin verb "legere," which means "to gather" or "to read." That versatile root is also the source of many other familiar English words, including "collect," "lesson," "sacrilege," and "legume."
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 18, 2010 14:57:13 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Aug.15.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for August 15, 2010 is: moil • \MOYL\ • verb
*1 : to work hard : drudge
2 : to be in continuous agitation : churn, swirl
Felix's Example Sentence:
Work that is repetitious, devoid of interest or the delights of variety will deaden the soul with moil and endless labor.
Did you know?
"Moil" may mean "to work hard" but its origins are the opposite of hard; it ultimately derives from Latin "mollis," meaning "soft." (Other English derivatives of "mollis" are "emollient," "mollify," and "mollusk.") A more immediate ancestor of "moil" is the Anglo-French verb "moiller," meaning "to make wet, dampen," and one of the early meanings of "moil" in English was "to become wet and muddy." The "work hard" sense of "moil" appears most frequently in the pairing "toil and moil." Both "moil" and "toil" can also be nouns meaning "work." "Moil" implies work that is drudgery and "toil" suggests prolonged and fatiguing labor.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 18, 2010 15:06:49 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for August 16, 2010 is: liminal • \LIM-uh-nul\ • adjective 1 : of or relating to a sensory threshold 2 : barely perceptible *3 : of, relating to, or being an intermediate state, phase, or condition : in-between, transitional Felix's Example Sentence: The change from fresh water to brackish, salty gulf currents in the Louisiana marshes is normally a liminal state, but that was before the oil flowed with the gulf currents, threading the web of grass and water with visible streaks of black, red and rust, like some giant animal leaving its marks. Did you know? The noun "limen" refers to the point at which a physiological or psychological effect begins to be produced, and "liminal" is the adjective used to describe things associated with that point, or threshold, as it is also called. Likewise, the closely related word "subliminal" means "below a threshold"; it can describe something inadequate to produce a sensation or something operating below a threshold of consciousness. Because the sensory threshold is a transitional point where sensations are just beginning to be perceptible, "liminal" acquired two extended meanings. It can mean "barely perceptible" and is now often used to mean "transitional" or "intermediate," as in "the liminal zone between sleep and wakefulness." *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 19, 2010 10:23:06 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for August 17, 2010 is: ponzu • \PAHN-zoo\ • noun : a tangy sauce made with citrus juice, rice wine vinegar, and soy sauce and used especially on seafood Felix's Example Sentence: For those who do not care for "fishy" taste, cooking fish in a "blackened" manner or using various sauces, such as ponzu, can make seafood more palatable. Did you know? The word "ponzu" is relatively new to English; our earliest English-language evidence of the word -- which we borrowed from Japanese -- is from 1972. But the word's history isn't as simple as that fact suggests. The Japanese word, which literally means "juice squeezed from sour oranges" is itself from the Dutch word "pons." And "pons" comes from (and shares the meaning of) the English word "punch" as it's used to refer to the beverage concoction that's often served at parties, weddings, and wakes.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 19, 2010 10:25:43 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for August 18, 2010 is: insouciance • \in-SOO-see-unss\ • noun : lighthearted unconcern : nonchalance Felix's Example Sentence: In the sixteenth century many titled poets and artists affected an insouciance about their works, an attitude expressed in Italian as "sprezzatura." Did you know? Don't worry -- be insouciant. Perhaps your mind will rest easier if we explain that English speakers learned "insouciance" from the French in the 1700s (and the adjective "insouciant" has been part of our language since the 1800s). The French word comes from a combination of the negative prefix "in-" and "soucier," meaning "to trouble or disturb." "Soucier" in turn traces to "sollicitus," the Latin word for "anxious." If it seems to you that "sollicitus" looks a lot like some other English words you've seen, you're right. That root also gave us "solicit" (which now means "to entreat" but which was once used to mean "to fill with concern or anxiety"), "solicitude" (meaning "uneasiness of mind"), and "solicitous" ("showing or expressing concern").
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 19, 2010 10:47:00 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for August 19, 2010 is: embellish • \im-BELL-ish\ • verb 1 : to make beautiful with ornamentation : decorate *2 : to heighten the attractiveness of by adding decorative or fanciful details : enhance Felix's Example Sentence: I might embellish a bit when reminiscing about my Granny Phyllis, but the facts are pretty hard to exaggerate, so mostly I just tell it straight. Did you know? Like its synonyms "adorn," "ornament," and "garnish," "embellish" means to make something beautiful by the addition of a decorative or fanciful feature. Traditionally, the word is used specifically to stress the addition of superfluous or adventitious ornament, as in "the printer embellished the page with a floral border." "Embellish" differs from its synonyms, however, in that it is sometimes used in a euphemistic way (as in our example sentence) to refer to the inclusion of details that are not necessarily true to make a story sound more appealing. The word derives via Middle English from the Anglo-French verb "embelir," from "en-" and "bel" ("beautiful"). *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 20, 2010 8:30:30 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Aug.20.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for August 20, 2010 is: jovial • \JOH-vee-ul\ • adjective
1 : of or relating to Jove
*2 : markedly good-humored especially as evidenced by jollity and conviviality
Felix's Example Sentence:
First among many jovial characters created by Charles Dickens, Mr. Pickwick launched the novelist's long and successful fiction career.
Did you know?
In Roman astrology, planets were named after gods, and people were thought to share the personality traits of the god whose planet was rising when they were born. Jupiter, also called Jove, was the chief Roman god and was considered a majestic, authoritative type who was the source of joy and happiness. The Late Latin adjective "jovialis" meant "of or relating to Jove." In Middle French this had become "jovial." English speakers picked up "jovial" in the late 16th century and began applying it to folks who shared the majestic or good-natured character of Jupiter (regardless of their birth date).
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 22, 2010 18:05:44 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: The Word of the Day for August 21, 2010 is: grimalkin • \grih-MAWL-kin\ • noun : a domestic cat; especially : an old female cat Felix's Example Sentence: Hannah, the grimalkin of our four cats, is at least 13 years old, preserving her nine lives with careful timidity. Did you know? In the opening scene of Macbeth, one of the three witches planning to meet with Macbeth suddenly announces, "I come, Graymalkin." The witch is responding to the summons of her familiar, or guardian spirit, which is embodied in the form of a cat. Shakespeare's "graymalkin" literally means "gray cat." The "gray" is of course the color; the "malkin" was a nickname for Matilda or Maud that came to be used in dialect as a general name for a cat (and sometimes a hare). By the 1630s, "graymalkin" had been altered to the modern spelling "grimalkin."
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 22, 2010 18:10:18 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Aug.22.2010 ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
The Word of the Day for August 22, 2010 is: minuscule • \MIN-uh-skyool\ • adjective
1 : written in or in the size or style of lowercase letters
*2 : very small
Felix's Example Sentence:
Sometimes the most irritating pests are the most minuscule - the nearly invisible bedbug, for instance.
Did you know?
"Minuscule" derives from the Latin adjective "minusculus," which means "rather small." The "minuscule" spelling is consistent with the word's etymology, but since the 19th century, people have also been spelling it "miniscule," perhaps because they associate it with the combining form "mini-" and words such as "minimal" and "minimum." Usage commentators generally consider the "miniscule" spelling an error, but it is widely used in reputable and carefully edited publications and is accepted as a legitimate variant in some dictionaries.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 23, 2010 13:51:14 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/2010/08/23/ ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
Word of the Day for August 23, 2010:
squinny \SKWIN-ee\
DEFINITION
verb
: to look or peer with eyes partly closed : squint
Felix's Example Sentence:
Lurching across the sidewalk in front of the tavern, a well-lubricated patron paused, squinnying at the traffic signal, which seemed to elude the man's reading comprehension, leading to a near termination of all further happy hours, averted by a bus driver jamming on his brakes as the drinker staggered back from the brink.
DID YOU KNOW?
"I remember thine eyes well enough. Dost thou squiny at me?" So asks Shakespeare's mad King Lear of blind Gloucester, marking the first use of the verb "squinny" in 1605. It is likely that Shakespeare formed the word from an earlier English word "squin," meaning "with the eye directed to one side." Shakespeare also uses the more familiar "squint" in King Lear: "This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet.… He gives the web and the pin, / squints the eye, and makes the harelip; mildews the white wheat, / and hurts the poor creature of earth." Although this is not the first known use of the verb "squint," which appears in print six years earlier, it is the first known use of the verb's transitive sense.
*edited for date error.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 27, 2010 9:58:54 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: August 24, 2010Word of the Day jeremiad \jair-uh-MYE-ud\ DEFINITION
noun: a prolonged lamentation or complaint; also : a cautionary or angry harangue FELIX'S EXAMPLE SENTENCEThe world of blogs is clogged with jeremiads against virtually every sort of change since Adam bit into the fruit of knowledge. DID YOU KNOW?Jeremiah was a naysayer. That Jewish prophet, who lived from about 650 to 570 BC, spent his days lambasting the Hebrews for their false worship and social injustice and denouncing the king for his selfishness, materialism, and inequities. When not calling on his people to quit their wicked ways, he was lamenting his own lot; a portion of the Old Testament's Book of Jeremiah is devoted to his "confessions," a series of lamentations on the hardships endured by a prophet with an unpopular message. Nowadays, English speakers use "Jeremiah" for a pessimistic person and "jeremiad" for the way these Jeremiahs carry on. The word "jeremiad" was actually borrowed from the French, who coined it as "jérémiade."
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 27, 2010 10:05:56 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: August 25, 2010Word of the Day
carceral \KAHR-suh-rul\ DEFINITIONadjective: of, relating to, or suggesting a jail or prison FELIX'S EXAMPLE One of several private schools in East Tennessee in the fifties, Tennessee Military Institute was housed in a forbidding, carceral complex which was often mistaken for a prison, and certainly seemed so to the students there. DID YOU KNOW?Describing a painting of John Howard visiting a prison in 1787, Robert Hughes wrote that Howard was "the pioneer of English carceral reform" (Time Magazine, November 11, 1985). "Prison reform" might be the more common phrase, but the use of "carceral" was by no means unprecedented. Vladimir Nabokov, in his inimitable prose, described a prison scene in Invitation to a Beheading thusly: "The door opened, whining, rattling and groaning in keeping with all the rules of carceral counterpoint." An adjective borrowed directly from Late Latin, "carceral" appeared shortly after "incarcerate" ("to imprison"), which first showed up in English around the mid-1500s; they're both ultimately from "carcer," Latin for "prison."
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 27, 2010 10:15:38 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/2010/08/26/ ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
August 26, 2010 Word of the Day
milquetoast \MILK-tohst\
DEFINITION
noun : a timid, meek, or unassertive person
FELIX'S EXAMPLE
In the 1932 movie, If I Had a Million, a bequest to the character played by Charlie Ruggles enables this milquetoast of a man to march through intimidating antechambers, right into his dictatorial boss's office and tell him off, quitting his job on the spot.
DID YOU KNOW?
Caspar Milquetoast was a comic strip character created in 1924 by the American cartoonist Harold T. Webster. The strip, called "The Timid Soul," ran every Sunday in the New York Herald Tribune for many years. Webster, who claimed that Milquetoast was a self-portrait, summed up the character as "the man who speaks softly and gets hit with a big stick." The earliest examples of "Milquetoast" being used as a generic synonym for "timid person" date from the mid-1930s. Caspar's last name might remind you of "milk toast," a bland concoction of buttered toast served in a dish of warm milk.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 27, 2010 12:24:54 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: August 27, 2010Word of the Day
regale audio pronunciation \rih-GAIL\ DEFINITIONverb 1 : to entertain sumptuously : to feast with delicacies *2 : to give pleasure or amusement to FELIX'S EXAMPLE My grandmother Phyllis used to regale me for hours with comic, informative and sometimes ribald stories of her life and my family's history. DID YOU KNOW?"Regale" has been an English verb since at least 1656; it was adapted from French "régaler," which has the same meaning as "regale." The French verb goes back to Middle French "galer," which means "to have a good time," and to Old French "gale," meaning "pleasure." ("Gala," meaning "a festive celebration," is from the same source.) "Regale" also has a history as a noun meaning "a sumptuous feast." That use dates back to at least 1670, when someone penned the following notice for posterity: "My Lord Duke will not be able to get away yet…, all the regales that are intended for him not being yet at an end." (The lord referred to is the Duke of Buccleuch, whose regales ended once and for all 15 years later when he was beheaded.) *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
|
|
Felix
Global Moderator
Tepid One
Happy Morning
Posts: 4,137
|
Post by Felix on Aug 29, 2010 16:51:18 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: August 28, 2010Word of the Day veridical \vuh-RID-ih-kul\ DEFINITIONadjective*1 : truthful, veracious 2 : not illusory : genuine FELIX'S EXAMPLE The great paradox of fiction is that a story may be quite veridical although its elements are adapted from reality without being actually factual. DID YOU KNOW?We'll tell only the truth here: "veridical" comes from the Latin word "veridicus," which itself is from two other Latin words: "verus," meaning "true," and "dicere," meaning "to say." "Verus" is an ancestor of several English words, among them "verity," "verify," and "very" (which originally meant "true"). The word "verdict" is related to "veridical" on both sides of the family: it also traces back to "verus" and "dicere." "Veridical" itself is the least common of the "verus" words. You're most likely to encounter it in contexts dealing with psychology and philosophy. *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence
|
|