Felix
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Post by Felix on Oct 5, 2010 7:55:46 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: October 01, 2010 Word of the Day tittup \TITT-up\ DEFINITIONverb: to move in a lively manner often with an exaggerated or affected action FELIX'S EXAMPLES Titters from the audience at the actress tittupping across the stage swelled to howls of mirth as she went tits up in a spectacular fall. Physical comedy from Chaplin to Red Skelton involves improvisational tittupping, often played off a stuffy or solemn character. DID YOU KNOW?"Tittup" has been used as noun naming an imitation of the sound of horses' hooves moving at a pace between a canter and a gallop since as early as 1703. The rhythmic sound and bounce of such movement was infectious enough to lead people to apply the word to other bouncy gaits, and to lively or restless behavior in general. "Tittup" was first used as a verb in 1785. In 1862, William Makepeace Thackeray recalled the word's equine origins when he wrote of "a magnificent horse dancing, and tittupping." The word is not common today, but it does see occasional use, especially in British sources.
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Felix
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Post by Felix on Oct 5, 2010 8:18:48 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: October 02, 2010 Word of the Day amok \uh-MUK\ DEFINITIONadverb1 : in a murderously frenzied state 2 a : in a violently raging manner b : in an undisciplined, uncontrolled, or faulty manner FELIX'S EXAMPLES Faced with insurgents in the Philippines so inflamed by drugs and rage that they ran amok, resistant to pain and shock, the U. S. Army commission the design and manufacture of the handgun known as the M1911 .45 semi-automatic pistol. When I think of a child in a candy store, visions of small persons running amok come to mind. DID YOU KNOW?"Amok" first entered English in the mid-1600s as a noun meaning "murderous frenzy." In the 16th century, visitors to Southeast Asia first reported on a psychiatric disorder known in Malay as "amok." Typically, the afflicted person (usually a Malay man) attacked bystanders in a frenzy, killing everyone in sight until he collapsed or was himself killed. By the 17th century English speakers had adopted both the noun and adverb forms of "amok," as well as the phrase "run amok," a translation of the Malay verb "mengamok." The psychopathological behavior the noun "amok" refers to is now recognized to occur worldwide in numerous countries and cultures. As for the adverb, time has mitigated its violent nature; nowadays it usually describes the actions of the unruly and not the murderous.
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Felix
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Post by Felix on Oct 7, 2010 8:33:16 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: October 03, 2010Word of the Day caucus \KAW-kus\ DEFINITION noun: a closed meeting of a group of persons belonging to the same political party or faction usually to select candidates or to decide on policy; also : a group of people united to promote an agreed-upon cause FELIX'S EXAMPLESThe rise of dissident voter groups disenchanted with the duopoly in Washington raises the specter of an independent caucus, perhaps even attracting nominal Democrats or Republicans. Within existing parties there are already subgroups with their own caucus, such as the Congressional Black Caucus. DID YOU KNOW? In February of 1763, John Adams reported that the Boston "caucus club," a group of politically active city elders, would meet in the garret of Tom Dawes to choose "Assessors, Collectors, Wardens, Fire Wards, and Representatives." He wrote that at the meetings, those present would "smoke tobacco till you [could not] see from one end of the garret to the other." A similarly opaque smoke screen seems to shroud the history of the word "caucus." Linguists can see that it is clearly an Americanism; Adams's use is the first known to link the word to such a political meeting. Beyond that, details are uncertain, but some scholars think "caucus" may have developed from an Algonquian term for a group of elders, leaders, or advisers.
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Felix
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Post by Felix on Oct 7, 2010 9:19:17 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: October 04, 2010 Word of the Day dorsal \DOR-sul\ DEFINITIONadjective: relating to or situated near or on the back especially of an animal or of one of its parts FELIX'S EXAMPLESThe dorsal coloring of the Rainbow Trout is medium brown, bordered by reddish stripes separating the dorsal and ventral areas. The satiric comedy Airplane opens with the theme music from Jaws, as the vertical rudder of a jumbo jet emerges from a cloud, like the dorsal fin of some predator. DID YOU KNOW?The most famous use of "dorsal" is with "fin," whether it conjures the ominous dorsal fin of sharks or the benign, even benevolent, image of porpoises and dolphins. Less well-known is the botanical sense of "dorsal," meaning "facing away from the stem" (thus the underside of a leaf can be the dorsal side), or the linguistic sense referring to articulations made with the back part of the tongue (\k\ and \g\, for example). "Dorsal" can be used of non-living things too (in particular, the backs of airplanes), as can its opposite, "ventral," which means "relating to the belly." "Dorsal" descends from Latin "dorsum" ("back"), which also gave us "dossier" (via French, for a bundle of documents labeled on the back) and "reredos" ("an ornamental screen or partition wall behind an altar").
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Post by Felix on Oct 7, 2010 11:14:45 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: October 05, 2010Word of the Day sigmoid \SIG-moyd\ DEFINITIONadjective1 a : curved like the letter C b : curved in two directions like the letter S 2 : of, relating to, or being the sigmoid colon FELIX'S EXAMPLESHunters who are archers use either compound bows, complicated machines with cables, or simple re-curved bows with a variant of a sigmoid shape. The bookmaker used a font with classic sigmoid curves for his characters. DID YOU KNOW?The shape sense of "sigmoid" is most often used in scientific contexts to describe an s-shaped curve on a graph. Usually, though, "sigmoid" is used in contexts relating to the sigmoid colon—the contracted and crooked part of the colon immediately above the rectum. "Sigmoid" comes from "sigma," the name of the 18th letter of the Greek alphabet. At one time sigma had a common form that was shaped like the Roman letter C (hence sense 1a), but sigma is equivalent to the English letter S (hence sense 1b).
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Post by Felix on Nov 2, 2010 12:31:46 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: November 01, 2010Word of the Day contrite \kun-TRYTE\ DEFINITION adjective: feeling or showing sorrow and remorse for a sin or shortcoming FELIX'S EXAMPLES The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. Ps. 151, 17I Richard's body have interred anew; And on it have bestow'd more contrite tears Than from it issued forced drops of blood... Shakespeare, Henry V, IV, 1 DID YOU KNOW? A person who is contrite may have rubbed someone the wrong way and caused bruised feelings -- and there is a hint about the origins of the word in that thought. "Contrite" came to English by way of Anglo-French from the Latin verb "conterere," meaning "to grind" or "to bruise." "Conterere," in turn, was formed by combining the prefix "com-" and "terere," meaning "to rub." If you've guessed that "trite" is a cousin of "contrite" (through "terere"), you are correct. Other "terere" descendants in English include "detriment" and "tribulation," and very possibly the familiar verb "try."
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Post by Felix on Nov 2, 2010 13:44:25 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: November 02, 2010Word of the Day psephology \see-FAH-luh-jee\ DEFINITIONnoun: the scientific study of elections FELIX'S EXAMPLES Like meteorologists, scientists who follow psephology often find their predictive abilities quite limited. For the past 222 years there have been biennial elections for these United States, and the Republic still stands, so vote or don't vote, psephology will prosper either way. DID YOU KNOW? "Psephology" is from the Greek word "psēphos," meaning "pebble." (One relative of "psephology" is "psephomancy," meaning "divination by pebbles.") "Psephology" merited election as the name for the work of analysts of elections, or psephologists, because pebbles were used by the ancient Greeks in voting. Similarly, the word "ballot" was an excellent choice for a means of voting since it is derived from "balla," the Italian word for "ball," and Italians placed balls in a container to cast votes.
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Post by Felix on Nov 3, 2010 11:36:06 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: November 03, 2010 Word of the Day pungle \PUNG-gul\ DEFINITION verb: to make a payment or contribution of money -- usually used with up FELIX'S EXAMPLES The Supreme Court recently declared corporations entitled to free speech, including pungling up undisclosed amounts of cash for political candidates. Emptying all my pants pockets, and sounding the depths of various sofas and chairs, I finally pungled up enough to order pizza delivery. DID YOU KNOW? "Pungle" is from the Spanish word "pongale," meaning "put it down," which itself is from "poner," meaning "to put" or "to place," or more specifically "to contribute money." The earliest uses of "pungle" are from the 1850s and are in reference to anteing up in games of chance. It did not take long for the word to be used in other contexts. It was in Huckleberry Finn's deadbeat dad's vocabulary: "I'll make [Judge Thatcher] pungle, too, or I'll know the reason why," Huck quotes his father in Mark Twain's famous novel. Nowadays, "pungle" is mainly used in the western part of the United States.
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Post by Felix on Nov 4, 2010 10:34:01 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: November 04, 2010Word of the Day ululate \ULL-yuh-layt\ DEFINITIONverb: howl, wail FELIX'S EXAMPLES In many cultures around the world, celebrants wanting to express joy ululate, producing an eerie trilling sound, quite impressive in a large group. As another cold front moves into the area, gusts of wind ululate in the unleaved trees. DID YOU KNOW?"When other birds are still, the screech owls take up the strain, like mourning women their ancient u-lu-lu." When Henry David Thoreau used "u-lu-lu" to imitate the cry of screech owls and mourning women in that particular passage from his book Walden, he was re-enacting the etymology of "ululate" (a word he likely knew). "Ululate" descends from the Latin verb "ululare." That Latin root carried the same meaning as our modern English word, and it likely originated in the echoes of the rhythmic wailing sound associated with it. Even today, "ululate" often refers to ritualistic or expressive wailing performed at times of mourning or celebration or used to show approval.
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Felix
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Post by Felix on Nov 5, 2010 8:43:43 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: November 05, 2010 Word of the Day
greasy spoon \GREE-see-SPOON\ DEFINITION noun: a dingy small cheap restaurant FELIX'S EXAMPLES My grandfather delighted in taking his grandchildren to a hamburger joint called "PeeWee's," referred to by my grandmother as a greasy spoon, which slander never dampened our enthusiasm for the food. A necessary stop on the way home from drinking late is the most convenient late-night greasy spoon, to cut the alcohol in your system with cheap, unhealthy food. DID YOU KNOW?In the decades following its first use in 1902, the surrounding context of "greasy spoon" usually included words along the lines of "lousy," "wind up eating in," "slinging hash," "the underside of society," "settle for," or "rather starve." And while things haven't changed entirely, a recent wave of nostalgia has elevated the status of greasy spoons. Since the 1970s, the descriptions might contain words like "fabled," "distinction," "beloved," "classic," "an institution," "fondness for," and "comfort food." Now you can consult a "Greasy Spoon Guide" and read up on "Best Greasy Spoons," or lunch at a diner "restored to look like a greasy spoon." Some of these eateries are now even named "The Greasy Spoon."
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Post by Felix on Nov 9, 2010 14:04:42 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/2010/11/06/ ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
November 06, 2010
Word of the Day
vagary \VAY-guh-ree\
DEFINITION
noun : an erratic, unpredictable, or extravagant manifestation, action, or notion
FELIX'S EXAMPLES
I have often pursued six vagaries before breakfast, and forgot each one afterward; more signs of age's embarrassments.
The election results on November 2 seem more symptomatic of an angry electorate's vagaries than of reasoned, careful choices.
DID YOU KNOW?
In the 16th century, if you "made a vagary" you took a wandering journey, or you figuratively wandered from a correct path by committing some minor offence. If you spoke or wrote vagaries, you wandered from a main subject. These senses hadn't strayed far from their origin, as "vagary" is probably based on Latin "vagari," meaning "to wander." Indeed, in the 16th and 17th centuries there was even an English verb "vagary" that meant "to wander." Nowadays, the noun "vagary" is mostly used in its plural form, and vagaries have more to do with unpredictability than with wandering.
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Felix
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Post by Felix on Nov 9, 2010 14:16:15 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: November 07, 2010Word of the Day fossick \FAH-sik\ DEFINITION verba : to search about : rummage b : to search for by or as if by rummaging : ferret out FELIX'S EXAMPLESMorning often finds me scattered, as I fossick after items of clothing unaccountably unaccounted for. I once thought I had successfully fossicked for a fossil, but it turned out to be the femur of a recently deceased cow. DID YOU KNOW? The first people to "fossick" (in the oldest but still-current meaning of the word), back in the 1850s, were picking over abandoned mining excavations in search of gold or gemstones. But within a few decades "fossick" was being used more generally to mean "to search about" or "to rummage." "Fossick" was brought to the shores of Australia and New Zealand by immigrants from the United Kingdom. The word was originally an English dialect term meaning "to ferret out." That meaning is derived from older words: the first spelled "fussick," meaning "to bustle about," and the second "fossack" or "fussock," meaning "a troublesome person."
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Post by Felix on Nov 9, 2010 14:33:15 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: November 08, 2010 Word of the Day ineluctable \in-ih-LUK-tuh-bul\ DEFINITION adjective: not to be avoided, changed, or resisted : inevitable FELIX'S EXAMPLESIneluctable as the tides, the discontent of the voters swept Democrats into the deep and uncaring depths of political oblivion. As I rumble towards three score and ten, the ineluctable insults of age gather about me thick and fast. DID YOU KNOW?Like drama, wrestling was popular in ancient Greece and Rome. "Wrestler," in Latin, is "luctator," and "to wrestle" is "luctari." "Luctari" also has extended senses -- "to struggle," "to strive," or "to contend." "Eluctari" joined "e-" ("ex-") with "luctari," forming a verb meaning "to struggle clear of." "Ineluctabilis" brought in the negative prefix "in-" to form an adjective describing something that cannot be escaped or avoided. English speakers borrowed the word as "ineluctable" around 1623. Another word that has its roots in "luctari" is "reluctant." "Reluctari" means "to struggle against" -- and someone who is "reluctant" resists or holds back.
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Post by pradap on Nov 29, 2010 0:09:56 GMT -5
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Post by Felix on Nov 30, 2010 10:57:49 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: November 09, 2010Word of the Day sylvan \SILL-vun\ DEFINITION adjective1 a : living or located in the woods or forest b : of, relating to, or characteristic of the woods or forest 2 a : made, shaped, or formed of woods or trees b : abounding in woods, groves, or trees : wooded FELIX'S EXAMPLES THOU still unravish'd bride of quietness, Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time, Sylvan historian, who canst thus express A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape Of deities or mortals, or of both, In Tempe or the dales of Arcady? ... -from "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats Clear cutting of old timber destroys a complex sylvan environment with many varieties of trees, leaving the land bare to erosion. DID YOU KNOW? In Latin, "sylva" means "wood" or "forest," and the related "Sylvanus" names the Roman god of the woods and fields -- a god sometimes identified with the Greek god Pan. These words gave rise to English "sylvan" in the 16th century. The English word was first used as a noun meaning "a mythological deity of the woods," eventually taking on the broader meaning "one who frequents the woods." The adjective "sylvan" followed soon after the noun and is now the more common word. Some other offspring of "sylva" (which can also be spelled "silva") include "silviculture" ("a branch of forestry dealing with the development and care of forests"), "sylvatic" (a synonym of "sylvan" that can also mean "occurring in or affecting wild animals"), and the first name "Sylvia."
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Post by Felix on Nov 30, 2010 11:11:26 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: November 10, 2010 Word of the Day precentor \prih-SEN-ter\ DEFINITION noun: a leader of the singing of a choir or congregation FELIX'S EXAMPLES The reading of the Great Litany in Lenten services is led by a precentor who intones or sings the penitential prayers, with the congregation giving the responses. In frontier churches, with few printed hymnals and many illiterate congregants, a precentor sounded out each line and the people sang the line in response. DID YOU KNOW? The history of "precentor" leads to the Latin verb "praecinere," meaning "to lead in singing," which was formed by adding the "prae-" prefix to the verb "canere" ("to sing"). "Canere" is also an ancestor of the English word "chant," as well as the source of the Latin noun "cantor," which was also borrowed into English and is used both as a synonym of "precentor" and for an individual in a synagogue who sings or chants the liturgical music and leads the congregation in prayer.
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Post by Felix on Jan 2, 2011 15:59:23 GMT -5
… courtesy of [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/2011/01/01/ ]Merriam Webster[/url], with slight modifications by me:
January 1, 2011
Word of the Day
grandee \grand-DEE\
DEFINITION noun : a man of elevated rank or station
FELIX'S EXAMPLES In the allegedly egalitarian and populist U.S.A., grandees emerge from television reality shows, preferably with attitudes and personal styles that evoke envy in the tabloid nation.
The grandees of English colonies in North America more often arose from entrepreneurial persons without pedigree; by the second generation they were beginning to acquire the patina of hereditary wealth.
DID YOU KNOW? In Medieval Spain and Portugal, the "grandes" ("great ones," from Latin "grandis," meaning "great") were at the pinnacle of the ranks of rich and powerful nobles. A grandee (as it came to be spelled in English) could wear a hat in the presence of the king and queen -- the height of privilege -- and he alone could address a letter directly to royalty. (Even Christopher Columbus had to direct his reports of the New World to an important noble at court, who read them to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.) Today the term can still be applied to nobility, but it can also be used for anyone of importance and influence anywhere, such as the "pin-striped grandees of London's financial district."
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Post by Felix on Jan 2, 2011 16:02:47 GMT -5
… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me: January 2, 2011 Word of the Day flummox \FLUM-uks\ DEFINITION verb: confuse FELIX'S EXAMPLES When interviewed by Katie Couric on television, Sarah Palin seemed flummoxed by routine questions on everything from geography to her views on Supreme Court decisions. A television infomercial typically seeks audiences easily flummoxed by appeals to their credulity, impulsively calling in for merchandise sketchily described, acting out of wishful optimism. DID YOU KNOW? No one is completely sure where the word "flummox" comes from, but we do know that its first known use is found in Charles Dickens' 1837 novel The Pickwick Papers and that it had become quite common in both British and American English by the end of the 19th century. One theory expressed by some etymologists is that it was influenced by "flummock," a word of English dialectical origin used to refer to a clumsy person. This "flummock" may also be the source of the word "lummox," which also means "a clumsy person."
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Post by rickikoska on Jun 27, 2013 5:39:49 GMT -5
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Post by rickikoska on Jun 27, 2013 5:41:46 GMT -5
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Post by kingsmovingservices on Feb 21, 2023 0:53:21 GMT -5
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