We spent a lovely Fourth yesterday at the lake, watching it rain intermittently and enjoying the company of family. Came home and watched the Nashville fireworks show on TV (in HD, which is, of course, fabulous) and called it a night. Yeah, our life is exciting, isn't it? ;)
Today is my one free day this week, so I'm working on a major to-do list. Second on the list is providing all you logophiles out there your weekly dose of wordage to chew on. My mind goes back to the WMVR's friend who said, "A word isn't part of your vocabulary until you've used it three times in everyday conversation." See what you can do with these, and enjoy the rest of your weekend ...
apogee \AP-uh-jee\ (noun) - 1 : The point in the orbit of the moon or of an artificial satellite that is at the greatest distance from the center of the earth. 2 : The farthest or highest point; culmination. [From Greek apogaion, from apogaios, "situated (far) away from the earth," from apo-, "away from" + gaia, "earth."]
atrabilious \at-ruh-BIL-yuhs\ (adjective) - 1. Gloomy. 2. Ill-tempered. [From Latin atra bilis (black bile), translation of Greek melancholia.]*
Note melancholia is also the root word for melancholy!
catholicon \kuh-THOL-i-kuhn\ (noun) - A panacea or cure-all. [Via Latin from Greek katholikos (general), from kata (according to, by) + holou (whole). Ultimately from the Indo-European root sol- (whole) that gave us words such as solid, salute, save, salvo, and soldier.]*
costive \KOS-tiv\ (adjective) - 1. Slow to act or speak. 2. Stingy. 3. Constipated. [Via French from Latin constipare (to cram together), from com- (together) + stipare (to pack or crowd).]*
delectation \dee-lek-TAY-shun\ (noun) - Great pleasure; delight, enjoyment. [From Latin delectation, from the past participle of delectare, "to please."]
linctus \(LINGK-tuhs\ - A syrupy liquid medicine, especially for treating coughs. [From Latin lingere (to lick). Ultimately from the Indo-European root leigh- (lick) that is also the source of lichen (apparently from the way it licks its way around a surface), and lecher, but not lingerie (which is from the root lino: flax).]*
peccant \PEK-unt\ (adjective) - 1 : Sinning; guilty of transgression. 2 : Violating a rule or a principle. [From the present participle of Latin of peccare, "to sin."]
preternatural \pree-tuhr-NACH-uhr-uhl; -NACH-ruhl\ (adjective) - 1 : Existing outside of nature; differing from the natural; nonnatural. 2 : Surpassing the usual or normal; extraordinary; abnormal. 3 : Beyond or outside ordinary experience; inexplicable by ordinary means. [From the Latin phrase praeter naturam, "beyond nature."]
roborant \ROB-uhr-uhnt\ (adjective) - Strengthening. (noun) A tonic. [From Latin roborare (to strengthen), from robor- (oak, hardness). Ultimately from the Indo-European root reudh- (red) that also gave us red, rouge, ruby, ruddy, rubella, robust, corroborate, and rambunctious.]*
vivify \VIV-uh-fy\ (transitive verb) - 1 : To endue with life; to make alive; to animate. 2 : To make more lively or intense. [From French vivifier, from Late Latin vivificare, from Latin vivus, alive.]
Extra points if you can use all these words in conversation this week!
=) JB
*This week's words from Wordsmith are terms connected with medicine, most of which are now used metaphorically. (All words not marked with an * are from ArcaMax.)
Showing posts with label Vocabulary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vocabulary. Show all posts
7.05.2008
6.21.2008
V for Vocabulary
As usual, my sources for our weekly words are ArcaMax.com and wordsmith.org.
You learn something new every day, right? Well, here's your somethings new for today. Make the rest of it a good one.
From ArcaMax:
termagant \TUR-muh-guhnt\ (noun) - A scolding, nagging, bad-tempered woman; a shrew. (adjective) - Overbearing; shrewish; scolding. [Termagant comes from Middle English Termagaunt, alteration of Tervagant, from Old French. Termagant was an imaginary Muslim deity represented in medieval morality plays as extremely violent and turbulent. By the sixteenth century, termagant was used for a boisterous, brawling, turbulent person of either sex, but eventually it came to refer only to women.]
euphonious \yoo-FOH-nee-uhs\ (adjective) - Pleasing or sweet in sound; smooth-sounding. [Euphonious comes from Greek euphonos, "sweet-voiced," from eu-, "well" (hence "sweetly") + phonos, from phone, "voice, sound." The noun form is euphony.]
voluptuary \vuh-LUHP-choo-er-ee\ (noun) - A person devoted to luxury and the gratification of sensual appetites; a sensualist. (adjective) - Voluptuous; luxurious. [Voluptuary derives from Latin voluptarius, "devoted to pleasure," from voluptas, "pleasure."]
pandemic \pan-DEM-ik\ (adjective) - Affecting a whole people or a number of countries; everywhere epidemic. (noun) - A pandemic disease. [Pandemic ultimately derives from Greek pandemos, "of all the people," from pan-, "all" + demos, "people."]
microcosm \MY-kruh-koz-uhm\ (noun) - 1. A little world. 2 : A smaller, representative system having analogies to a larger system. [Microcosm comes from Greek mikros kosmos, "small world."]
From the Wordsmith:
This week we'll look at toponyms, words derived from the names of places. The word toponym is from Greek topos (place), the same word that gave us topic, topiary, isotope, and utopia.
balbriggan \bal-BRIG-uhn\ (noun) A knitted, unbleached cotton fabric, used in hosiery and underwear. [After Balbriggan, a town near Dublin in Ireland, where it was first made.]
brummagem \BRUM-uh-juhm\ (adjective) Cheap and showy. (noun) Something that is counterfeit or of inferior quality. [After Brummagem, a dialectal form of Birmingham, UK, where counterfeit coins were produced in the 17th century. Brummie is a nickname for someone from Birmingham.]
sardonic \sahr-DON-ik\ (adjective) Marked by scorn, mockery, and cynicism. [After Sardinia, a large island in the Mediterranean. Eating a Sardinian plant was believed to produce facial convulsions as if in a maniacal laughter.]
waterloo \WOT-uhr-loo\ (noun) A crushing or final defeat. [After Waterloo, a village in central Belgium where the Battle of Waterloo took place in 1815. That was Napoleon Bonaparte's last battle. He was decisively defeated by the British and Prussian forces and exiled to the island of Saint Helena.]
fescennine \FES-uh-nyn, -nin\ (adjective) Obscene or scurrilous. [After Fescennia, a town of ancient Etruria known for its ribald and scurrilous songs sung at festivals and weddings.]
Tim Hallinan should be here early next week - more details on our giveaway of The Fourth Watcher then. In the meantime, read a book!
=) JB
"I like people who refuse to speak until they are ready to speak."
-- Lillian Hellman (1905-1984) US writer
You learn something new every day, right? Well, here's your somethings new for today. Make the rest of it a good one.
From ArcaMax:
termagant \TUR-muh-guhnt\ (noun) - A scolding, nagging, bad-tempered woman; a shrew. (adjective) - Overbearing; shrewish; scolding. [Termagant comes from Middle English Termagaunt, alteration of Tervagant, from Old French. Termagant was an imaginary Muslim deity represented in medieval morality plays as extremely violent and turbulent. By the sixteenth century, termagant was used for a boisterous, brawling, turbulent person of either sex, but eventually it came to refer only to women.]
euphonious \yoo-FOH-nee-uhs\ (adjective) - Pleasing or sweet in sound; smooth-sounding. [Euphonious comes from Greek euphonos, "sweet-voiced," from eu-, "well" (hence "sweetly") + phonos, from phone, "voice, sound." The noun form is euphony.]
voluptuary \vuh-LUHP-choo-er-ee\ (noun) - A person devoted to luxury and the gratification of sensual appetites; a sensualist. (adjective) - Voluptuous; luxurious. [Voluptuary derives from Latin voluptarius, "devoted to pleasure," from voluptas, "pleasure."]
pandemic \pan-DEM-ik\ (adjective) - Affecting a whole people or a number of countries; everywhere epidemic. (noun) - A pandemic disease. [Pandemic ultimately derives from Greek pandemos, "of all the people," from pan-, "all" + demos, "people."]
microcosm \MY-kruh-koz-uhm\ (noun) - 1. A little world. 2 : A smaller, representative system having analogies to a larger system. [Microcosm comes from Greek mikros kosmos, "small world."]
From the Wordsmith:
This week we'll look at toponyms, words derived from the names of places. The word toponym is from Greek topos (place), the same word that gave us topic, topiary, isotope, and utopia.
balbriggan \bal-BRIG-uhn\ (noun) A knitted, unbleached cotton fabric, used in hosiery and underwear. [After Balbriggan, a town near Dublin in Ireland, where it was first made.]
brummagem \BRUM-uh-juhm\ (adjective) Cheap and showy. (noun) Something that is counterfeit or of inferior quality. [After Brummagem, a dialectal form of Birmingham, UK, where counterfeit coins were produced in the 17th century. Brummie is a nickname for someone from Birmingham.]
sardonic \sahr-DON-ik\ (adjective) Marked by scorn, mockery, and cynicism. [After Sardinia, a large island in the Mediterranean. Eating a Sardinian plant was believed to produce facial convulsions as if in a maniacal laughter.]
waterloo \WOT-uhr-loo\ (noun) A crushing or final defeat. [After Waterloo, a village in central Belgium where the Battle of Waterloo took place in 1815. That was Napoleon Bonaparte's last battle. He was decisively defeated by the British and Prussian forces and exiled to the island of Saint Helena.]
fescennine \FES-uh-nyn, -nin\ (adjective) Obscene or scurrilous. [After Fescennia, a town of ancient Etruria known for its ribald and scurrilous songs sung at festivals and weddings.]
Tim Hallinan should be here early next week - more details on our giveaway of The Fourth Watcher then. In the meantime, read a book!
=) JB
"I like people who refuse to speak until they are ready to speak."
-- Lillian Hellman (1905-1984) US writer
6.14.2008
A Word Aptly Spoken (again)
I have been up to my elbows in words all week (of course, that's my normal life, considering what my 'day job' is), but as promised, here is this week's treasure trove from Wordsmith and ArcaMax:
Intro to the Wordsmith list for the week: "On June 16, James Joyce aficionados the world over celebrate Bloomsday. The day is named after advertising salesman Leopold Bloom, protagonist of Joyce's novel Ulysses. The entirety of this book recounts an ordinary day, June 16, 1904, as various characters go about their ways in Dublin, Ireland. If those 700+ pages are too much, here's an illustrated and irreverent summary of the book: http://home.bway.net/hunger/ulysses.html. To mark Bloomsday this week we'll examine five words borrowed from the Irish language."
shebeen \shuh-BEEN\ (noun) - An unlicensed drinking establishment. [From Irish sibin, diminutive of seibe (mug/mugful). The word is popular in the south of Africa and in Scotland and Ireland.]
dornick \DOR-nik\ (noun) - 1 : A piece of rock small enough to throw. [From Irish dornog (small stone, literally fistful).] 2 : Stout linen. [After Doornik, the name of a Flemish town where the cloth was first manufactured.]
hubbub \HUB-ub\ (noun) - Excited fuss or tumult of a crowd. [Perhaps from Irish ubub (an interjection of contempt).]
cosher \KOSH-uhr\ (verb tr.) - To pamper. [From Irish cosair (feast).]
smithereens \smith-uh-REENZ\ (noun) - Tiny fragments. [Probably from Irish smidirin, diminutive of smiodar (fragment).]
Lovely. And as if that weren’t enough of a treat, here are this week’s gems from ArcaMax:
inveigh \in-VAY\ (intransitive verb) - To rail (against some person or thing); to protest strongly or attack with harsh and bitter language -- usually with "against." [Inveigh is from Latin invehi, "to attack with words," passive form of invehere, "to carry or bring into or against," from in-, "in, into" + vehere, "to carry."]
defenestrate \dee-FEN-uh-strayt\ (transitive verb) - To throw out of a window. [Defenestrate is derived from Latin de-, "out of" + fenestra, "window." The noun form is defenestration. Note: In medical terms (courtesy of Dorland’s Medical Dictionary), fenestration (without the ‘de’ prefix) is the presence of perforations or windows, or the surgical creation of a new opening in the labyrinth of the ear for the restoration for hearing in cases otosclerosis. Always wanted to know that, didn’t you?]
crapulous \KRAP-yuh-lus\ (adjective) - 1 : Suffering the effects of, or derived from, or suggestive of gross intemperance, especially in drinking; as, a crapulous stomach. 2 : Marked by gross intemperance, especially in drinking; as, a crapulous old reprobate. [Crapulous is from Late Latin crapulosus, from Latin crapula, from Greek kraipale, drunkenness and its consequences, nausea, sickness, and headache. Hmmm … s’pose that’s why people say they feel like ‘crap’ after they’ve had too much to drink?]
avoirdupois \av-uhr-duh-POIZ; AV-uhr-duh-poiz\ (noun) - 1 : Avoirdupois weight, a system of weights based on a pound containing 16 ounces or 7,000 grains (453.59 grams). 2 : Weight; heaviness; as, a person of much avoirdupois. [Avoirdupois is from Middle English avoir de pois, "goods sold by weight," from Old French aveir de peis, literally "goods of weight," from aveir, "property, goods" (from aveir, "to have," from Latin habere, "to have, to hold, to possess property") + de, "from" (from the Latin) + peis, "weight," from Latin pensum, "weight." (from whence we get the word ‘pensive’)]
contradistinction \kon-truh-dis-TINK-shuhn\ (noun) - Distinction by contrast; as, "sculpture in contradistinction to painting." [Contradistinction is contra-, from Latin contra, "against" + distinction, from Latin distinctio, from distinguere, "to distinguish."
The Boy is on a trip to Europe with a school group, which happens, by interesting circumstance, to consist of most of the gang he hangs out with, including Milady and six of their friends. My son, his girlfriend and their cronies descend on Rome and Paris. It boggles the mind - poor Europe won't quite know what hit it.
The WGH, the girls and I watched The Bucket List last night. This was not at all what I expected from all the previews I saw on TV when it first came out, and I think they must have been a bit misleading, because the movie was just really wonderful, very touching and heartbreaking and funny (I mean, sure, it looked funny, but you didn't see the heart of the movie from the previews). Even the WGH, who has completely different tastes from me when it comes to movies, said (and I quote), "That's a great movie." If you haven't seen it, rent it. And keep a box of tissues handy.
Book of the Day: The ladies' book club from our church is coming to my house (my house! she squeaked) on Tuesday evening to discuss Refined by Fire, a first-hand account of the tragic events of 9/11 as told by Army LTC (ret) Brian Birdwell and his wife. Lt. Col. Birdwell was walking along the corrider of the E-ring at the Pentagon when it was hit by American Flight 77. He suffered life-threatening burns over 60% of his body and survived to tell his story. The book was published in 2004 but is, of course, still available, and it's a wonderful story of faith and healing.
When I finish reading it, I have to clean my house. Sigh.
Read a book - it's good for you!
=) JB
"In all ranks of life the human heart yearns for the beautiful; and the beautiful things that God makes are his gift to all alike."
-- Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) US writer
Intro to the Wordsmith list for the week: "On June 16, James Joyce aficionados the world over celebrate Bloomsday. The day is named after advertising salesman Leopold Bloom, protagonist of Joyce's novel Ulysses. The entirety of this book recounts an ordinary day, June 16, 1904, as various characters go about their ways in Dublin, Ireland. If those 700+ pages are too much, here's an illustrated and irreverent summary of the book: http://home.bway.net/hunger/ulysses.html. To mark Bloomsday this week we'll examine five words borrowed from the Irish language."
shebeen \shuh-BEEN\ (noun) - An unlicensed drinking establishment. [From Irish sibin, diminutive of seibe (mug/mugful). The word is popular in the south of Africa and in Scotland and Ireland.]
dornick \DOR-nik\ (noun) - 1 : A piece of rock small enough to throw. [From Irish dornog (small stone, literally fistful).] 2 : Stout linen. [After Doornik, the name of a Flemish town where the cloth was first manufactured.]
hubbub \HUB-ub\ (noun) - Excited fuss or tumult of a crowd. [Perhaps from Irish ubub (an interjection of contempt).]
cosher \KOSH-uhr\ (verb tr.) - To pamper. [From Irish cosair (feast).]
smithereens \smith-uh-REENZ\ (noun) - Tiny fragments. [Probably from Irish smidirin, diminutive of smiodar (fragment).]
Lovely. And as if that weren’t enough of a treat, here are this week’s gems from ArcaMax:
inveigh \in-VAY\ (intransitive verb) - To rail (against some person or thing); to protest strongly or attack with harsh and bitter language -- usually with "against." [Inveigh is from Latin invehi, "to attack with words," passive form of invehere, "to carry or bring into or against," from in-, "in, into" + vehere, "to carry."]
defenestrate \dee-FEN-uh-strayt\ (transitive verb) - To throw out of a window. [Defenestrate is derived from Latin de-, "out of" + fenestra, "window." The noun form is defenestration. Note: In medical terms (courtesy of Dorland’s Medical Dictionary), fenestration (without the ‘de’ prefix) is the presence of perforations or windows, or the surgical creation of a new opening in the labyrinth of the ear for the restoration for hearing in cases otosclerosis. Always wanted to know that, didn’t you?]
crapulous \KRAP-yuh-lus\ (adjective) - 1 : Suffering the effects of, or derived from, or suggestive of gross intemperance, especially in drinking; as, a crapulous stomach. 2 : Marked by gross intemperance, especially in drinking; as, a crapulous old reprobate. [Crapulous is from Late Latin crapulosus, from Latin crapula, from Greek kraipale, drunkenness and its consequences, nausea, sickness, and headache. Hmmm … s’pose that’s why people say they feel like ‘crap’ after they’ve had too much to drink?]
avoirdupois \av-uhr-duh-POIZ; AV-uhr-duh-poiz\ (noun) - 1 : Avoirdupois weight, a system of weights based on a pound containing 16 ounces or 7,000 grains (453.59 grams). 2 : Weight; heaviness; as, a person of much avoirdupois. [Avoirdupois is from Middle English avoir de pois, "goods sold by weight," from Old French aveir de peis, literally "goods of weight," from aveir, "property, goods" (from aveir, "to have," from Latin habere, "to have, to hold, to possess property") + de, "from" (from the Latin) + peis, "weight," from Latin pensum, "weight." (from whence we get the word ‘pensive’)]
contradistinction \kon-truh-dis-TINK-shuhn\ (noun) - Distinction by contrast; as, "sculpture in contradistinction to painting." [Contradistinction is contra-, from Latin contra, "against" + distinction, from Latin distinctio, from distinguere, "to distinguish."
The Boy is on a trip to Europe with a school group, which happens, by interesting circumstance, to consist of most of the gang he hangs out with, including Milady and six of their friends. My son, his girlfriend and their cronies descend on Rome and Paris. It boggles the mind - poor Europe won't quite know what hit it.
The WGH, the girls and I watched The Bucket List last night. This was not at all what I expected from all the previews I saw on TV when it first came out, and I think they must have been a bit misleading, because the movie was just really wonderful, very touching and heartbreaking and funny (I mean, sure, it looked funny, but you didn't see the heart of the movie from the previews). Even the WGH, who has completely different tastes from me when it comes to movies, said (and I quote), "That's a great movie." If you haven't seen it, rent it. And keep a box of tissues handy.
Book of the Day: The ladies' book club from our church is coming to my house (my house! she squeaked) on Tuesday evening to discuss Refined by Fire, a first-hand account of the tragic events of 9/11 as told by Army LTC (ret) Brian Birdwell and his wife. Lt. Col. Birdwell was walking along the corrider of the E-ring at the Pentagon when it was hit by American Flight 77. He suffered life-threatening burns over 60% of his body and survived to tell his story. The book was published in 2004 but is, of course, still available, and it's a wonderful story of faith and healing.
When I finish reading it, I have to clean my house. Sigh.
Read a book - it's good for you!
=) JB
"In all ranks of life the human heart yearns for the beautiful; and the beautiful things that God makes are his gift to all alike."
-- Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) US writer
6.07.2008
A Way with Words
JT and I had dinner before BMWs Wednesday night at her favorite Chinese place. When the fortune cookies came, we both picked up the one nearest us. Karma. Hers said something about making her fortune (which I know she is already on her way to doing), and mine said (and I quote), "You have a charming way with words and should write a book."
We both laughed ourselves silly. I think this might be called irony.
Anyway, this week's vocabulary words tie nicely in with that concept (a way with words), as the Wordsmith has given us colorful and tactful (as opposed to vulgar) ways to insult people. For some reason this tickles me.
jackanapes \JAK-uh-nayps\ (noun) - An impertinent conceited person.
[Probably from Jack Napes, from "jack (man) of an ape". This word was the nickname of William de la Pole (1396-1450), Duke of Suffolk, as his badge was a clog and chain, as might be tied to an ape.]
gundygut \GUHN-di-guht\ (noun) - A voracious eater; a greedy person.
[From gundy, of unexplained origin + gut (belly).]
praetorian or pretorian \pree-TOR-ee-uhn\ (adjective) - Corruptible; fraudulent.
[From Latin praetor, an elected magistrate in ancient Rome.]
quisquilian \kwis-KWIL-ee-uhn\ (adjective) - Worthless, trifling.
[From Latin quisquiliae (waste, rubbish).]
flibbertigibbet \FLIB-uhr-tee-jib-it\ (noun) - Someone who is regarded as flighty, scatterbrained, and talkative.
[Apparently from the imitation of the sound of idle chatter.]
The words from ArcaMax aren't quite as inflammatory, but a few of them are still quite palatable and could possibly be used for the same purpose. Enjoy, but use wisely.
supererogatory \soo-puhr-ih-ROG-uh-tor-ee\ (adjective) - 1 : Going beyond what is required or expected. 2 : Superfluous; unnecessary.
[Supererogatory comes from Latin supererogare, "to spend over and above," from super, "over, above" + erogare, "to ask for," from e-, "out" + rogare, "to ask, to request."]
ennui \on-WEE\ (noun) - A feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction arising from lack of interest; boredom.
[Ennui is from the French, from Old French enui, "annoyance," from enuier, "to annoy, to bore," from the Latin phrase in odium, "in hatred or dislike."]
palimpsest \PAL-imp-sest\ (noun) - 1 : A manuscript, usually of papyrus or parchment, on which more than one text has been written with the earlier writing incompletely erased and still visible. 2 : An object or place whose older layers or aspects are apparent beneath its surface.
[Palimpsest is from Latin palimpsestus, from Greek palimpsestos, "scraped or rubbed again," from palin, "again" + psen, "to rub (away)."]
constitutional \kon-stih-TOO-shuhn-uhl; -TYOO-\ (noun) - A walk taken for one's health.
[A constitutional is so called because it is taken for the benefit of one's constitution.]
acrid \AK-rid\ (adjective) - 1 : Sharp and harsh, or bitter to the taste or smell; pungent. 2 : Caustic in language or tone; bitter.
[Acrid comes from Latin acer, "sharp."]
The BF and I did a little bookstore browsing yesterday. She gets a kick out of me walking up and down the aisles and saying, "I know him. I've met her, she's lovely. I know him and her and her. I know her - she's a complete hoot. Interviewed him ... and him, and he's just had this book nominated for a bunch of mystery awards. I did a panel with her once. I've had dinner with him - twice." Yeah, it's a little like bragging on my part, but the thing I get excited about is the fact that my buddies' books are on the shelves of these major bookstores. It's just really cool.
I'm not sure what's on our agenda for today. All I know is that I'm having a really great time just spending time with my friend.
Why don't you do that today? That's good for you, too.
=) JB
"Intimacies between women often go backwards, beginning in revelations and ending in small talk."
-- Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973) English writer
We both laughed ourselves silly. I think this might be called irony.
Anyway, this week's vocabulary words tie nicely in with that concept (a way with words), as the Wordsmith has given us colorful and tactful (as opposed to vulgar) ways to insult people. For some reason this tickles me.
jackanapes \JAK-uh-nayps\ (noun) - An impertinent conceited person.
[Probably from Jack Napes, from "jack (man) of an ape". This word was the nickname of William de la Pole (1396-1450), Duke of Suffolk, as his badge was a clog and chain, as might be tied to an ape.]
gundygut \GUHN-di-guht\ (noun) - A voracious eater; a greedy person.
[From gundy, of unexplained origin + gut (belly).]
praetorian or pretorian \pree-TOR-ee-uhn\ (adjective) - Corruptible; fraudulent.
[From Latin praetor, an elected magistrate in ancient Rome.]
quisquilian \kwis-KWIL-ee-uhn\ (adjective) - Worthless, trifling.
[From Latin quisquiliae (waste, rubbish).]
flibbertigibbet \FLIB-uhr-tee-jib-it\ (noun) - Someone who is regarded as flighty, scatterbrained, and talkative.
[Apparently from the imitation of the sound of idle chatter.]
The words from ArcaMax aren't quite as inflammatory, but a few of them are still quite palatable and could possibly be used for the same purpose. Enjoy, but use wisely.
supererogatory \soo-puhr-ih-ROG-uh-tor-ee\ (adjective) - 1 : Going beyond what is required or expected. 2 : Superfluous; unnecessary.
[Supererogatory comes from Latin supererogare, "to spend over and above," from super, "over, above" + erogare, "to ask for," from e-, "out" + rogare, "to ask, to request."]
ennui \on-WEE\ (noun) - A feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction arising from lack of interest; boredom.
[Ennui is from the French, from Old French enui, "annoyance," from enuier, "to annoy, to bore," from the Latin phrase in odium, "in hatred or dislike."]
palimpsest \PAL-imp-sest\ (noun) - 1 : A manuscript, usually of papyrus or parchment, on which more than one text has been written with the earlier writing incompletely erased and still visible. 2 : An object or place whose older layers or aspects are apparent beneath its surface.
[Palimpsest is from Latin palimpsestus, from Greek palimpsestos, "scraped or rubbed again," from palin, "again" + psen, "to rub (away)."]
constitutional \kon-stih-TOO-shuhn-uhl; -TYOO-\ (noun) - A walk taken for one's health.
[A constitutional is so called because it is taken for the benefit of one's constitution.]
acrid \AK-rid\ (adjective) - 1 : Sharp and harsh, or bitter to the taste or smell; pungent. 2 : Caustic in language or tone; bitter.
[Acrid comes from Latin acer, "sharp."]
The BF and I did a little bookstore browsing yesterday. She gets a kick out of me walking up and down the aisles and saying, "I know him. I've met her, she's lovely. I know him and her and her. I know her - she's a complete hoot. Interviewed him ... and him, and he's just had this book nominated for a bunch of mystery awards. I did a panel with her once. I've had dinner with him - twice." Yeah, it's a little like bragging on my part, but the thing I get excited about is the fact that my buddies' books are on the shelves of these major bookstores. It's just really cool.
I'm not sure what's on our agenda for today. All I know is that I'm having a really great time just spending time with my friend.
Why don't you do that today? That's good for you, too.
=) JB
"Intimacies between women often go backwards, beginning in revelations and ending in small talk."
-- Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973) English writer
5.31.2008
Look That Up in your Funk and Wagnall's!
In homage to the great Dick Martin, who passed away last week at the age of 86, I give you a few choice words that the Wordsmith categorizes as 'archaic' ...
garboil \GAHR-boil\ (noun) - Confusion; turmoil. [Via French and Italian from Latin bullire (to boil).]
"'That was some garboil in the woods', [Julius Winsome] announces to one increasingly confused victim." Gerard Donovan; Dark Memories in the Forest; Irish Independent (Dublin, Ireland); Jun 16, 2007.
point-device \point di-VYS\ (adverb) - Completely; perfectly. (adjective) - Perfect; precise; meticulous. [From the phrase "at point devis" meaning "at a fixed point" or "to perfection".]
"Thus he [Eginhard] grew up, in logic point-device, Perfect in grammar, and in rhetoric nice." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; Tales of a Wayside Inn; 1863.
scrannel \SKRAN-l\ (adjective) - 1 : Thin. 2 : Unmelodious. [Of unknown origin.]
"Though played with impressive skill and intense determination by Dorothy Stone, the often scrannel sounds irritated more than they fascinated." Terry McQuilkin; Pacific Festival Opens at Cal State LA; Los Angeles Times; Jun 24, 1989.
sweven \SWEV-uhn\ (noun) - Dream; vision. [From Old English swefn (sleep, dream, vision).]
"[The queen] went in to the Sultan and assured him that their daughter had suffered during all her wedding-night from swevens and nightmare." The Arabian Nights (translated by Richard Francis Burton); 1885.
ween \ween\ (verb tr., intr.) - To think, suppose, believe. [From Old English wenan (to expect), from the Indo-European root wen- (to desire or to strive for) that's also the source of wish, win, venerate, venison, Venus, and banya. It's the same word that shows up in "overweening".]
"But well I ween that Gryffyth will never keep troth* with the English." Edward Bulwer-Lytton; Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings; 1848. [*troth: promise, loyalty]
And a few gems from ArcaMax ...
sardonic \sar-DON-ik\ (adjective) - Scornful, mocking; disdainfully humorous. "The young man stood looking down at her with sardonic contempt, a cowed self-conscious look on his thick, pale face." -- D.H. Lawrence, 'Women in Love'. [Sardonic comes from French sardonique, from Latin sardonius, from Greek sardonios, sardanios, "derisive."]
perspicacity \pur-spuh-KAS-uh-tee\ (noun) - Clearness of understanding or insight; penetration, discernment. "Such a horse gives its rider discernment and perspicacity, if not clairvoyance. It will save you from being surprised by your enemies." -- Sudhin N. Ghose, 'Folk Tales and Fairy Stories from India'. [Perspicacity comes from Latin perspicax, perspicac-, "sharp-sighted," from perspicere, "to look through," from per, "through" + specere, "to look."]
edacious \i-DAY-shus\ (adjective) - Given to eating; voracious; devouring. "Occasionally the road must be set back, and once the lighthouse was moved back from the cliffs, eaten away by the edacious tooth of the sea." -- Henry White Warren, 'Among The Forces'. [Edacious is from Latin edax, edac-, gluttonous, consuming, from edo, edere, to eat.]
aberrant \a-BERR-unt; AB-ur-unt\ (adjective) - Markedly different from an accepted norm; Deviating from the ordinary or natural type; abnormal. "Another factor the court had to consider was whether the crime was part of a single period of aberrant behavior." -- Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, 'Sullivan's Evidence'. [That which is aberrant is literally that which "wanders away from" what is accepted, ordinary, normal, natural, etc., aberrant being from Latin aberro, aberrare, to wander off, to lose one's way, from ab, away from + erro, errare, to wander.]
aggrandize \uh-GRAN-dyz; AG-ruhn-dyz\ (transitive verb) - 1 : To make great or greater; to enlarge; to increase. 2 : To make great or greater in power, rank, reputation, or wealth; -- applied to persons, countries, etc. 3 : To make appear great or greater; to exalt. "He only wanted to aggrandize and enrich himself; and if Miss Woodhouse of Hartfield, the heiress of thirty thousand pounds, were not quite so easily obtained as he had fancied, he would soon try for Miss somebody else with twenty, or with ten." - Jane Austen, 'Emma'. [Aggrandize comes from French agrandir, from Old French, from a-, "to" (from Latin ad-) + grandir, "to grow larger," from Latin grandire, from grandis, "large."]
Sigh. I love words.
We have a busy week coming up - BMWs meet Wednesday, and then the BF is coming for a visit over weekend next. I'm so excited. It's heck that we only get to see each other once a year, if that often. But we have the kind of friendship that truly does transcend time and distance, and I'm grateful for it.
If you haven't seen the new Indiana Jones yet, go. Great special effects (albeit some of the images are a bit graphic) and a decent story to boot. For loyal fans, it's arguably quite satisfying. The Tall One and I loved it, at any rate.
The WGH is off at another pipe-&-drum competition (going solo this time), Little Bit is home safely from her trip and still sound asleep (it was an activity-packed three days), and I'm off and running on my catch-up day. So much to do, so little time ...
Read a book. I have a few on the shelves you can borrow.
=) JB
Book of the Day: The Fourth Watcher by Timothy Hallinan. Bangkok. Intrigue. 'Nuff said.
Music on the Boom-Box: Three guesses, and the first two don't count.
"The strokes of a pen need deliberation as much as the sword needs swiftness."
-- Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910) U.S. writer
garboil \GAHR-boil\ (noun) - Confusion; turmoil. [Via French and Italian from Latin bullire (to boil).]
"'That was some garboil in the woods', [Julius Winsome] announces to one increasingly confused victim." Gerard Donovan; Dark Memories in the Forest; Irish Independent (Dublin, Ireland); Jun 16, 2007.
point-device \point di-VYS\ (adverb) - Completely; perfectly. (adjective) - Perfect; precise; meticulous. [From the phrase "at point devis" meaning "at a fixed point" or "to perfection".]
"Thus he [Eginhard] grew up, in logic point-device, Perfect in grammar, and in rhetoric nice." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; Tales of a Wayside Inn; 1863.
scrannel \SKRAN-l\ (adjective) - 1 : Thin. 2 : Unmelodious. [Of unknown origin.]
"Though played with impressive skill and intense determination by Dorothy Stone, the often scrannel sounds irritated more than they fascinated." Terry McQuilkin; Pacific Festival Opens at Cal State LA; Los Angeles Times; Jun 24, 1989.
sweven \SWEV-uhn\ (noun) - Dream; vision. [From Old English swefn (sleep, dream, vision).]
"[The queen] went in to the Sultan and assured him that their daughter had suffered during all her wedding-night from swevens and nightmare." The Arabian Nights (translated by Richard Francis Burton); 1885.
ween \ween\ (verb tr., intr.) - To think, suppose, believe. [From Old English wenan (to expect), from the Indo-European root wen- (to desire or to strive for) that's also the source of wish, win, venerate, venison, Venus, and banya. It's the same word that shows up in "overweening".]
"But well I ween that Gryffyth will never keep troth* with the English." Edward Bulwer-Lytton; Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings; 1848. [*troth: promise, loyalty]
And a few gems from ArcaMax ...
sardonic \sar-DON-ik\ (adjective) - Scornful, mocking; disdainfully humorous. "The young man stood looking down at her with sardonic contempt, a cowed self-conscious look on his thick, pale face." -- D.H. Lawrence, 'Women in Love'. [Sardonic comes from French sardonique, from Latin sardonius, from Greek sardonios, sardanios, "derisive."]
perspicacity \pur-spuh-KAS-uh-tee\ (noun) - Clearness of understanding or insight; penetration, discernment. "Such a horse gives its rider discernment and perspicacity, if not clairvoyance. It will save you from being surprised by your enemies." -- Sudhin N. Ghose, 'Folk Tales and Fairy Stories from India'. [Perspicacity comes from Latin perspicax, perspicac-, "sharp-sighted," from perspicere, "to look through," from per, "through" + specere, "to look."]
edacious \i-DAY-shus\ (adjective) - Given to eating; voracious; devouring. "Occasionally the road must be set back, and once the lighthouse was moved back from the cliffs, eaten away by the edacious tooth of the sea." -- Henry White Warren, 'Among The Forces'. [Edacious is from Latin edax, edac-, gluttonous, consuming, from edo, edere, to eat.]
aberrant \a-BERR-unt; AB-ur-unt\ (adjective) - Markedly different from an accepted norm; Deviating from the ordinary or natural type; abnormal. "Another factor the court had to consider was whether the crime was part of a single period of aberrant behavior." -- Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, 'Sullivan's Evidence'. [That which is aberrant is literally that which "wanders away from" what is accepted, ordinary, normal, natural, etc., aberrant being from Latin aberro, aberrare, to wander off, to lose one's way, from ab, away from + erro, errare, to wander.]
aggrandize \uh-GRAN-dyz; AG-ruhn-dyz\ (transitive verb) - 1 : To make great or greater; to enlarge; to increase. 2 : To make great or greater in power, rank, reputation, or wealth; -- applied to persons, countries, etc. 3 : To make appear great or greater; to exalt. "He only wanted to aggrandize and enrich himself; and if Miss Woodhouse of Hartfield, the heiress of thirty thousand pounds, were not quite so easily obtained as he had fancied, he would soon try for Miss somebody else with twenty, or with ten." - Jane Austen, 'Emma'. [Aggrandize comes from French agrandir, from Old French, from a-, "to" (from Latin ad-) + grandir, "to grow larger," from Latin grandire, from grandis, "large."]
Sigh. I love words.
We have a busy week coming up - BMWs meet Wednesday, and then the BF is coming for a visit over weekend next. I'm so excited. It's heck that we only get to see each other once a year, if that often. But we have the kind of friendship that truly does transcend time and distance, and I'm grateful for it.
If you haven't seen the new Indiana Jones yet, go. Great special effects (albeit some of the images are a bit graphic) and a decent story to boot. For loyal fans, it's arguably quite satisfying. The Tall One and I loved it, at any rate.
The WGH is off at another pipe-&-drum competition (going solo this time), Little Bit is home safely from her trip and still sound asleep (it was an activity-packed three days), and I'm off and running on my catch-up day. So much to do, so little time ...
Read a book. I have a few on the shelves you can borrow.
=) JB
Book of the Day: The Fourth Watcher by Timothy Hallinan. Bangkok. Intrigue. 'Nuff said.
Music on the Boom-Box: Three guesses, and the first two don't count.
"The strokes of a pen need deliberation as much as the sword needs swiftness."
-- Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910) U.S. writer
5.24.2008
More Jewels from the Vocabulary Vault
As promised, here are the two weeks' worth of tasty terms for you to chew on …
blandishment \BLAN-dish-muhnt\ (noun) - Speech or action that flatters and tends to coax, entice, or persuade; allurement -- often used in the plural. "The woman was temptation personified, and every blandishment she offered contained a challenge, I thought, to my ultimate moral strength." -- Jack Whyte, 'The Singing Sword'. Blandishment ultimately comes from Latin blandiri, "to flatter, caress, coax," from blandus, "flattering, mild."
bluebeard \BLOO-beerd\ (noun) - A man who marries and kills one wife after another. [After Bluebeard, the nickname of the main character Raoul in a fairy tale by Charles Perrault (1628-1703). In the story, Bluebeard's wife finds the bodies of his previous wives in a room she was forbidden to enter. Yes, he did have a blue beard.]
bombast \BOM-bast\ (noun) - Pompous or pretentious speech or writing. "Sain Flint decided not to run Amelia Lowell's bombast on the front page. Instead, he put it on page three." -- Richard S. Wheeler, 'Flint's Truth'. Bombast comes from Medieval French bombace, "cotton, hance padding," from Late Latin bombax, "cotton."
cicerone \sis-uh-RO-nee\ (noun) - A tour guide. [After Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE), the Roman statesman, orator, and writer, who was known for his knowledge and eloquence. He's one of the rare people who have given two eponyms to the English language. Another word coined after his name is ciceronian, meaning marked by ornate language, expansive flow, and forcefulness of expression.]
contumely \kon-TYOO-muh-lee; -TOO-; KON-tyoo-mee-lee; -too-; KON-tum-lee\ (noun) - 1 : Rudeness or rough treatment arising from haughtiness and contempt; scornful insolence. 2 : An instance of contemptuousness in act or speech. "But surely it would be desperate unkindness to add contumely to our self-protection, unless, indeed, we believe that contumely is one of our best means of self-protection." -- Samuel Butler, 'Erewhon'. Contumely comes ultimately from Latin contumelia, outrage, insult.
doppelganger \DOP-uhl-gang-uhr\ (noun) - 1 : A ghostly double or counterpart of a living person. 2 : Alter ego; double. "The doppelganger dropped Ray to the linoleum and whispered to the mirror." -- Steven Deighan, 'A Dead Calmness'. Doppelganger is from the German doppel, "double" + Gänger, "goer."
dundrearies \dun-DREER-eez\ (noun) - Long flowing sideburns. [After the bushy sideburns worn by actor Edward A. Sothern who played the part of Lord Dundreary in the play Our American Cousin (1858), written by Tom Taylor (1817-1880). This was the play being performed at Ford's Theatre in Washington DC during which Abraham Lincoln was shot.]
exalt \ig-ZOLT\ (verb) - 1 : To praise, glorify, or honor. 2 : To heighten or intensify. 3 : To raise in rank, character, or status; as, "exalted the humble shoemaker to the rank of King's adviser." "A warrior should never exalt in his victory, Wharton, before the enemy is completely disarmed." -- Christina Dodd, 'A Knight to Remember'. Exalt comes from Latin exalto, exaltare, to raise high, from ex-, out of (but here simply used intensively; that is, to give emphasis) + altus, high.
hauteur \haw-TUR; (h)oh-\ (noun) - Haughty manner, spirit, or bearing; haughtiness; arrogance. "She was unremarkable in every way save for the hauteur with which she regarded him." -- Karen Robards, 'Scandalous'. Hauteur is from the French, from haut, "high," from Latin altus, "high." It is thus related to altitude.
jeremiah \jer-uh-MY-uh\ (noun) - A person who complains continually, has a gloomy attitude, or one who warns about a disastrous future. [After Jeremiah, a Hebrew prophet during the seventh and sixth centuries BCE who prophesied the fall of the kingdom of Judah and whose writings are collected in the Book of Jeremiah and the Book of Lamentations.]
Jericho \JER-i-ko\ (noun) - A place out of the way; an unspecified place; a place of concealment. Often used in the phrase "go to Jericho". [After Jericho, an ancient city of Palestine, northwest of the Dead Sea, where David had his servants wait until their beards had grown. As in Samuel, a book of the Bible, "And the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown."]
lucullan \loo-KUHL-uhn\ (adjective) - Lavish, luxurious. [After a Roman general Lucius Licinius Lucullus (c. 110-57 BCE), who was known for his sumptuous banquets.]
sideburns \SYDE-burnz\ (plural noun) - Hair grown on the sides of a man's face, when worn with an unbearded chin. [After Ambrose Everett Burnside (1824-1881), who served as a general in the Union Army in the American Civil War, and who earned more recognition for his side whiskers than for his military career. Eventually the term burnsides morphed into sideburns as such a facial pattern was on the sides of a face.]
skulk \SKUHLK\ (intransitive verb) - 1 : To hide, or get out of the way, in a sneaking manner; to lurk. 2 : To move about in a stealthy way. 3 : To avoid responsibilities and duties. (noun) - 1 : One who skulks. 2 : A group of foxes. "You're too large to skulk about. They'd see you in an instant." -- Kinley MacGregor, Claiming the Highlander. Skulk is from Middle English skulken, ultimately of Scandinavian origin.
sojourn \SOH-juhrn; so-JURN\ (intransitive verb) - To stay as a temporary resident; to dwell for a time. (noun) - A temporary stay. "At times during this interminable sojourn, I might disappear for hours on end; Sita would wake from her fitful slumber and find herself alone..." -- Ashok Mathur, 'The Short, Happy Life of Harry Kumar'. Sojourn comes from Old French sojorner, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin subdiurnare, from Latin sub-, "under, a little over" + Late Latin diurnus, "lasting for a day," from Latin dies, "day."
svengali \sven-GAH-lee\ (noun) - A person who manipulates and exercises excessive control over another for sinister purposes. [After Svengali, a musician and hypnotist, in the novel Trilby written by George du Maurier (1834-1896). In the story, Trilby is an artist's model. She's tone-deaf, but Svengali transforms her into a singing sensation under his hypnotic spell. Another eponym to come out of the novel is the word for a man's hat: trilby. A trilby was a soft felt hat with a narrow brim and an indented crown. The word arose because such a hat was won in the stage production of the novel.]
tartuffe \tahr-TOOF\ (noun) A hypocrite who feigns virtue, especially in religious matters. [After the main character in Tartuffe, a play by Molière, pen name of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622-1673). As if to prove themselves, the religious authorities in Paris had the play banned soon after it was introduced.]
Vandyke or Van Dyke or vandyke \van dyk\ (noun) - A short, pointed beard. [After painter Anthony Van Dyck or Vandyke (1599-1641) who painted portraits of people having these v-shaped beards.]
vituperate \vy-TOO-puh-rate, -TYOO-, vi-\ (verb) - To find fault with; to scold; to overwhelm with wordy abuse; to censure severely or abusively; to rate. "The incensed priests...continued to raise their voices, vituperating each other in bad Latin." -- Sir Walter Scott, 'Ivanhoe'. Vituperate comes from Latin vitupero, vituperare, to scold, blame, censure.
What a collection! Sorry to put you on sensory overload, but I thought these were all winners.
Speaking of winners, don't forget to enter the Blood Harvest drawing - see The Chef's Special to the right.
And read a book!
=) JB
"If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it."
--Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) U.S. writer
blandishment \BLAN-dish-muhnt\ (noun) - Speech or action that flatters and tends to coax, entice, or persuade; allurement -- often used in the plural. "The woman was temptation personified, and every blandishment she offered contained a challenge, I thought, to my ultimate moral strength." -- Jack Whyte, 'The Singing Sword'. Blandishment ultimately comes from Latin blandiri, "to flatter, caress, coax," from blandus, "flattering, mild."
bluebeard \BLOO-beerd\ (noun) - A man who marries and kills one wife after another. [After Bluebeard, the nickname of the main character Raoul in a fairy tale by Charles Perrault (1628-1703). In the story, Bluebeard's wife finds the bodies of his previous wives in a room she was forbidden to enter. Yes, he did have a blue beard.]
bombast \BOM-bast\ (noun) - Pompous or pretentious speech or writing. "Sain Flint decided not to run Amelia Lowell's bombast on the front page. Instead, he put it on page three." -- Richard S. Wheeler, 'Flint's Truth'. Bombast comes from Medieval French bombace, "cotton, hance padding," from Late Latin bombax, "cotton."
cicerone \sis-uh-RO-nee\ (noun) - A tour guide. [After Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE), the Roman statesman, orator, and writer, who was known for his knowledge and eloquence. He's one of the rare people who have given two eponyms to the English language. Another word coined after his name is ciceronian, meaning marked by ornate language, expansive flow, and forcefulness of expression.]
contumely \kon-TYOO-muh-lee; -TOO-; KON-tyoo-mee-lee; -too-; KON-tum-lee\ (noun) - 1 : Rudeness or rough treatment arising from haughtiness and contempt; scornful insolence. 2 : An instance of contemptuousness in act or speech. "But surely it would be desperate unkindness to add contumely to our self-protection, unless, indeed, we believe that contumely is one of our best means of self-protection." -- Samuel Butler, 'Erewhon'. Contumely comes ultimately from Latin contumelia, outrage, insult.
doppelganger \DOP-uhl-gang-uhr\ (noun) - 1 : A ghostly double or counterpart of a living person. 2 : Alter ego; double. "The doppelganger dropped Ray to the linoleum and whispered to the mirror." -- Steven Deighan, 'A Dead Calmness'. Doppelganger is from the German doppel, "double" + Gänger, "goer."
dundrearies \dun-DREER-eez\ (noun) - Long flowing sideburns. [After the bushy sideburns worn by actor Edward A. Sothern who played the part of Lord Dundreary in the play Our American Cousin (1858), written by Tom Taylor (1817-1880). This was the play being performed at Ford's Theatre in Washington DC during which Abraham Lincoln was shot.]
exalt \ig-ZOLT\ (verb) - 1 : To praise, glorify, or honor. 2 : To heighten or intensify. 3 : To raise in rank, character, or status; as, "exalted the humble shoemaker to the rank of King's adviser." "A warrior should never exalt in his victory, Wharton, before the enemy is completely disarmed." -- Christina Dodd, 'A Knight to Remember'. Exalt comes from Latin exalto, exaltare, to raise high, from ex-, out of (but here simply used intensively; that is, to give emphasis) + altus, high.
hauteur \haw-TUR; (h)oh-\ (noun) - Haughty manner, spirit, or bearing; haughtiness; arrogance. "She was unremarkable in every way save for the hauteur with which she regarded him." -- Karen Robards, 'Scandalous'. Hauteur is from the French, from haut, "high," from Latin altus, "high." It is thus related to altitude.
jeremiah \jer-uh-MY-uh\ (noun) - A person who complains continually, has a gloomy attitude, or one who warns about a disastrous future. [After Jeremiah, a Hebrew prophet during the seventh and sixth centuries BCE who prophesied the fall of the kingdom of Judah and whose writings are collected in the Book of Jeremiah and the Book of Lamentations.]
Jericho \JER-i-ko\ (noun) - A place out of the way; an unspecified place; a place of concealment. Often used in the phrase "go to Jericho". [After Jericho, an ancient city of Palestine, northwest of the Dead Sea, where David had his servants wait until their beards had grown. As in Samuel, a book of the Bible, "And the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown."]
lucullan \loo-KUHL-uhn\ (adjective) - Lavish, luxurious. [After a Roman general Lucius Licinius Lucullus (c. 110-57 BCE), who was known for his sumptuous banquets.]
sideburns \SYDE-burnz\ (plural noun) - Hair grown on the sides of a man's face, when worn with an unbearded chin. [After Ambrose Everett Burnside (1824-1881), who served as a general in the Union Army in the American Civil War, and who earned more recognition for his side whiskers than for his military career. Eventually the term burnsides morphed into sideburns as such a facial pattern was on the sides of a face.]
skulk \SKUHLK\ (intransitive verb) - 1 : To hide, or get out of the way, in a sneaking manner; to lurk. 2 : To move about in a stealthy way. 3 : To avoid responsibilities and duties. (noun) - 1 : One who skulks. 2 : A group of foxes. "You're too large to skulk about. They'd see you in an instant." -- Kinley MacGregor, Claiming the Highlander. Skulk is from Middle English skulken, ultimately of Scandinavian origin.
sojourn \SOH-juhrn; so-JURN\ (intransitive verb) - To stay as a temporary resident; to dwell for a time. (noun) - A temporary stay. "At times during this interminable sojourn, I might disappear for hours on end; Sita would wake from her fitful slumber and find herself alone..." -- Ashok Mathur, 'The Short, Happy Life of Harry Kumar'. Sojourn comes from Old French sojorner, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin subdiurnare, from Latin sub-, "under, a little over" + Late Latin diurnus, "lasting for a day," from Latin dies, "day."
svengali \sven-GAH-lee\ (noun) - A person who manipulates and exercises excessive control over another for sinister purposes. [After Svengali, a musician and hypnotist, in the novel Trilby written by George du Maurier (1834-1896). In the story, Trilby is an artist's model. She's tone-deaf, but Svengali transforms her into a singing sensation under his hypnotic spell. Another eponym to come out of the novel is the word for a man's hat: trilby. A trilby was a soft felt hat with a narrow brim and an indented crown. The word arose because such a hat was won in the stage production of the novel.]
tartuffe \tahr-TOOF\ (noun) A hypocrite who feigns virtue, especially in religious matters. [After the main character in Tartuffe, a play by Molière, pen name of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622-1673). As if to prove themselves, the religious authorities in Paris had the play banned soon after it was introduced.]
Vandyke or Van Dyke or vandyke \van dyk\ (noun) - A short, pointed beard. [After painter Anthony Van Dyck or Vandyke (1599-1641) who painted portraits of people having these v-shaped beards.]
vituperate \vy-TOO-puh-rate, -TYOO-, vi-\ (verb) - To find fault with; to scold; to overwhelm with wordy abuse; to censure severely or abusively; to rate. "The incensed priests...continued to raise their voices, vituperating each other in bad Latin." -- Sir Walter Scott, 'Ivanhoe'. Vituperate comes from Latin vitupero, vituperare, to scold, blame, censure.
What a collection! Sorry to put you on sensory overload, but I thought these were all winners.
Speaking of winners, don't forget to enter the Blood Harvest drawing - see The Chef's Special to the right.
And read a book!
=) JB
"If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it."
--Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) U.S. writer
5.12.2008
Words of Wisdom
There's a bit of a double meaning in that title. Since I missed yesterday due to various and sundry activities of daily living (not to mention it being Mother's Day), I'm posting last week's vocab words in truncated form - you can get the full entries from the respective websites if you're just dying to ... but I also want to direct you to a terrific post presented yesterday over at Murderati by Toni McGee Causey. If you're a mom, read this. Read it even if you aren't a mom. It's worth it.
On to the pearls from the sea of syntax (sources specified in brackets - ArcaMax.com or wordsmith.org) ...
autodidact \aw-toh-DY-dakt\ (noun) - One who is self-taught. [arcamax]
babbitt \BAB-it\ (noun) - A self-satisfied narrow-minded person who conforms to conventional ideals of business and material success. [After the main character in Sinclair Lewis's 1922 novel Babbitt.] [wordsmith]
gargantuan \gar-GAN-choo-uhn\ (adjective) - Gigantic. [After Gargantua, a voracious giant, the father of Pantagruel, in a series of novels by François Rabelais (c. 1490-1553).] [wordsmith]
genial \JEEN-yuhl; JEE-nee-uhl\ (adjective) - 1 : Friendly, warm; kindly; sympathetically cheerful and cheering. 2 : Mild, pleasant; comfortable; favorable to life or growth. [arcamax]
juju \JOO-joo\ (noun) - 1 : An object superstitiously believed to embody magical powers. 2 : The power associated with a juju. [arcamax]
lilliputian \lil-i-PYOO-shuhn\ (adjective) - Very small. (noun) A very small person. [After Lilliput, a fictional island nation in Jonathan Swift's satirical novel Gulliver's Travels. Everything was diminutive in Lilliput -- its inhabitants were six inches in height.] [wordsmith]
pantagruelian \pan-tuh-groo-EL-ee-uhn\ (adjective) - 1 : Enormous. 2 : Displaying extravagant and coarse humor. [After Pantagruel, a giant king with an enormous appetite, depicted in a series of novels by François Rabelais (c. 1490-1553).] [wordsmith]
Simon Legree \SY-muhn li-GREE\ (noun) - A harsh taskmaster. [After Simon Legree, a brutal slave dealer in the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896).] [wordsmith]
specious \SPEE-shuhs\ (adjective) - 1 : Apparently right; superficially fair, just, or correct, but not so in reality; as, "specious reasoning; a specious argument." 2 : Deceptively pleasing or attractive. [arcamax]
Zeitgeist \TSYT-guyst; ZYT-guyst\ (noun) - [Often capitalized] The spirit of the time; the general intellectual and moral state or temper characteristic of any period of time. [arcamax]
I hope all you mothers out there enjoyed your Mother's Day yesterday as much as I did. The WGH bought me something I have wanted for quite a while now (since we moved into this house, to be exact) - a freestanding swing! I'm just tres excited. Yesterday was a bit too windy 'round these parts to put it out, but it's set up in his garage, waiting for him to get home so we can drag it out to the yard. I'm going to go sit in it and read a book - woot!
I'm off to tackle the to-do list again. Hope you have a swing to sit in ... and even if you don't, read a book!
=) JB
"God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December."
-- Sir James M. Barrie (1860-1937) Scottish writer
On to the pearls from the sea of syntax (sources specified in brackets - ArcaMax.com or wordsmith.org) ...
autodidact \aw-toh-DY-dakt\ (noun) - One who is self-taught. [arcamax]
babbitt \BAB-it\ (noun) - A self-satisfied narrow-minded person who conforms to conventional ideals of business and material success. [After the main character in Sinclair Lewis's 1922 novel Babbitt.] [wordsmith]
gargantuan \gar-GAN-choo-uhn\ (adjective) - Gigantic. [After Gargantua, a voracious giant, the father of Pantagruel, in a series of novels by François Rabelais (c. 1490-1553).] [wordsmith]
genial \JEEN-yuhl; JEE-nee-uhl\ (adjective) - 1 : Friendly, warm; kindly; sympathetically cheerful and cheering. 2 : Mild, pleasant; comfortable; favorable to life or growth. [arcamax]
juju \JOO-joo\ (noun) - 1 : An object superstitiously believed to embody magical powers. 2 : The power associated with a juju. [arcamax]
lilliputian \lil-i-PYOO-shuhn\ (adjective) - Very small. (noun) A very small person. [After Lilliput, a fictional island nation in Jonathan Swift's satirical novel Gulliver's Travels. Everything was diminutive in Lilliput -- its inhabitants were six inches in height.] [wordsmith]
pantagruelian \pan-tuh-groo-EL-ee-uhn\ (adjective) - 1 : Enormous. 2 : Displaying extravagant and coarse humor. [After Pantagruel, a giant king with an enormous appetite, depicted in a series of novels by François Rabelais (c. 1490-1553).] [wordsmith]
Simon Legree \SY-muhn li-GREE\ (noun) - A harsh taskmaster. [After Simon Legree, a brutal slave dealer in the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896).] [wordsmith]
specious \SPEE-shuhs\ (adjective) - 1 : Apparently right; superficially fair, just, or correct, but not so in reality; as, "specious reasoning; a specious argument." 2 : Deceptively pleasing or attractive. [arcamax]
Zeitgeist \TSYT-guyst; ZYT-guyst\ (noun) - [Often capitalized] The spirit of the time; the general intellectual and moral state or temper characteristic of any period of time. [arcamax]
I hope all you mothers out there enjoyed your Mother's Day yesterday as much as I did. The WGH bought me something I have wanted for quite a while now (since we moved into this house, to be exact) - a freestanding swing! I'm just tres excited. Yesterday was a bit too windy 'round these parts to put it out, but it's set up in his garage, waiting for him to get home so we can drag it out to the yard. I'm going to go sit in it and read a book - woot!
I'm off to tackle the to-do list again. Hope you have a swing to sit in ... and even if you don't, read a book!
=) JB
"God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December."
-- Sir James M. Barrie (1860-1937) Scottish writer
5.03.2008
A Word to the Wise
It's amazing what disrupted sleep patterns can do to one's morning. Mine isn't getting started quite as early as it would have had we not had a bumpy night of thunderstorms - even a tornado warning, although the potential actually went way north of us and we ended up not going to the basement for probably the first time ever - usually when I hear/see the word 'warning' I'm pulling everyone out of bed, but last night the threat didn't seem quite as imminent.
And using that 50-cent word, of course, makes a nice segue into this week's treasure trove of winning words:
From wordsmith.org (this week's theme being words derived from the names of mythical creatures):
chimera \ki-MEER-uh, ky-\ (noun) - 1 : A fanciful fabrication; illusion. 2 : An organism having genetically different tissues.
[After Chimera, a fire-breathing female monster in Greek mythology who had a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail. From Greek khimaira (she-goat), ultimately from the Indo-European root ghei- (winter) that is the ancestor of words such as chimera (literally a female animal that is one winter, or one year old), hibernate, and the Himalayas, from Sanskrit him
(snow) + alaya (abode).]
argus \AHR-guhs\ (noun) - An alert and observant person; a watchful guardian.
[After Argus, a giant in Greek mythology who had 100 eyes and was sent to watch over Zeus's lover Io. He was killed by Hermes and after his death his eyes transformed into spots on the peacock's tail. Greek argos (bright).]
centaur \SEN-tor\ (noun) - 1 : An expert horse rider. 2 : An unnatural creation made of disparate entities.
[After Centaur, a race of monsters having the torso of a human and lower body of a horse. Also, early Greek literature depicted Centaurs as a tribe from Thessaly whose members were skilled horse riders.]
sphinx \sfingks\ (noun) - A mysterious, inscrutable person.
[After Sphinx, a winged monster in Greek mythology who had a woman's head and a lion's body. It killed anyone who was not able to answer its riddle. From Greek sphinx (literally, strangler), from sphingein (to bind tight), also the source of the word sphincter.]
harpy \HAR-pee\ (noun) - 1 : A predatory person. 2 : A bad-tempered woman.
[After the Harpies, monsters in Greek mythology, who had a woman's head and a bird's body. The gods ordered them to snatch food from Phineus, a king who was punished for revealing secrets. From Greek harpazein (to snatch).]
And from ArcaMax:
winsome \WIN-suhm\ (adjective) - 1 : Cheerful; merry; gay; light-hearted. 2 : Causing joy or pleasure; agreeable; pleasant.
"Above all, it was winsome, devastatingly winsome. For a pretty face to be winsome is normal enough and very winsome it can be, but it is a tepid thing..." -- Mervyn Peake, 'The Gormenghast Novels'
Winsome is from Old English wynsum, from wynn, "joy" + -sum (equivalent to Modern English -some), "characterized by."
edify \ED-uh-fy\ (transitive verb) - To instruct and improve, especially in moral and religious knowledge; to teach. -- edifying, adjective
"He attended like holiness itself; He attended to edify the people with His example, to teach them His doctrine, and to favor men with His grace." -- JosĂ© JoaquĂn Fernández de Lizardi, 'The Mangy Parrot: The Life and Times of Periquillo Sarniento'
Edify is from Old French edifier, from Latin aedifico, aedificare, to build.
Brobdingnagian \brob-ding-NAG-ee-uhn\ (adjective) - Of extraordinary size; gigantic; enormous.
"The cover was removed... revealing two gigantic pots... capable of holding 200 gallons each...a cooking apparatus as might have graced a Brobdingnagian kitchen." -- Frank T. Bullen, 'Cruise of the Cachalot Round the World After Sperm Whales'
Brobdingnagian is from Brobdingnag, a country of giants in Swift's Gulliver's Travels.
grok \GRAWK\ (transitive verb slang) - To understand, especially in a profound and intimate way. Slang.
'"Even if you explain it in short words I'm not going to grok it, okay?" Benjamin frowned the uncomprehending frown of someone whose learning of the English language had missed the word "grok" entirely."' - Eric Flint, Andrew Dennis, '1634: The Galileo Affair"
The slang word grok was coined by Robert A. Heinlein in the science fiction novel "Stranger in a Strange Land", where it is a Martian word meaning literally "to drink" and metaphorically "to be one with". It was adopted into the vocabulary of 1960's youth and hackish jargon, whence it has become a part of net culture.
tittle-tattle \TIT-uhl TAT-uhl\ (noun) - 1 : Idle, trifling talk; empty prattle. 2 : An idle, trifling talker; a gossip. (verb) - to talk idly; to prate.
"Both were in their seventies, and like two old parrots they told, in identical words, the tale they had heard so often from their mother...The tittle-tattle of a half-starved countryside that throughout its long winters had nothing but tittle-tattle for amusement." -- Eric Linklater, 'The Dark of Summer'
Tittle-tattle is a varied reduplication of tattle, which derives from Medieval Dutch tatelen, to babble.
After the busy-busy preparations for company (Milady and her mom are coming this afternoon so we can take pictures before prom - and we're allowing The Boy to have a basement full of teenagers for an all-night movie party after prom; better here safe than somewhere else, right?), I might have the afternoon to get a few more things checked off the to-do list in the study. I'm wondering if I might be able to use a few of these choice words ... hmmmm ...
Read a book (because it's good for you, of course) and enjoy your day.
=) JB
"Ability hits the mark where presumption overshoots and diffidence falls short."
-- Golda Meir (1898-1978) Israeli political leader
And using that 50-cent word, of course, makes a nice segue into this week's treasure trove of winning words:
From wordsmith.org (this week's theme being words derived from the names of mythical creatures):
chimera \ki-MEER-uh, ky-\ (noun) - 1 : A fanciful fabrication; illusion. 2 : An organism having genetically different tissues.
[After Chimera, a fire-breathing female monster in Greek mythology who had a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail. From Greek khimaira (she-goat), ultimately from the Indo-European root ghei- (winter) that is the ancestor of words such as chimera (literally a female animal that is one winter, or one year old), hibernate, and the Himalayas, from Sanskrit him
(snow) + alaya (abode).]
argus \AHR-guhs\ (noun) - An alert and observant person; a watchful guardian.
[After Argus, a giant in Greek mythology who had 100 eyes and was sent to watch over Zeus's lover Io. He was killed by Hermes and after his death his eyes transformed into spots on the peacock's tail. Greek argos (bright).]
centaur \SEN-tor\ (noun) - 1 : An expert horse rider. 2 : An unnatural creation made of disparate entities.
[After Centaur, a race of monsters having the torso of a human and lower body of a horse. Also, early Greek literature depicted Centaurs as a tribe from Thessaly whose members were skilled horse riders.]
sphinx \sfingks\ (noun) - A mysterious, inscrutable person.
[After Sphinx, a winged monster in Greek mythology who had a woman's head and a lion's body. It killed anyone who was not able to answer its riddle. From Greek sphinx (literally, strangler), from sphingein (to bind tight), also the source of the word sphincter.]
harpy \HAR-pee\ (noun) - 1 : A predatory person. 2 : A bad-tempered woman.
[After the Harpies, monsters in Greek mythology, who had a woman's head and a bird's body. The gods ordered them to snatch food from Phineus, a king who was punished for revealing secrets. From Greek harpazein (to snatch).]
And from ArcaMax:
winsome \WIN-suhm\ (adjective) - 1 : Cheerful; merry; gay; light-hearted. 2 : Causing joy or pleasure; agreeable; pleasant.
"Above all, it was winsome, devastatingly winsome. For a pretty face to be winsome is normal enough and very winsome it can be, but it is a tepid thing..." -- Mervyn Peake, 'The Gormenghast Novels'
Winsome is from Old English wynsum, from wynn, "joy" + -sum (equivalent to Modern English -some), "characterized by."
edify \ED-uh-fy\ (transitive verb) - To instruct and improve, especially in moral and religious knowledge; to teach. -- edifying, adjective
"He attended like holiness itself; He attended to edify the people with His example, to teach them His doctrine, and to favor men with His grace." -- JosĂ© JoaquĂn Fernández de Lizardi, 'The Mangy Parrot: The Life and Times of Periquillo Sarniento'
Edify is from Old French edifier, from Latin aedifico, aedificare, to build.
Brobdingnagian \brob-ding-NAG-ee-uhn\ (adjective) - Of extraordinary size; gigantic; enormous.
"The cover was removed... revealing two gigantic pots... capable of holding 200 gallons each...a cooking apparatus as might have graced a Brobdingnagian kitchen." -- Frank T. Bullen, 'Cruise of the Cachalot Round the World After Sperm Whales'
Brobdingnagian is from Brobdingnag, a country of giants in Swift's Gulliver's Travels.
grok \GRAWK\ (transitive verb slang) - To understand, especially in a profound and intimate way. Slang.
'"Even if you explain it in short words I'm not going to grok it, okay?" Benjamin frowned the uncomprehending frown of someone whose learning of the English language had missed the word "grok" entirely."' - Eric Flint, Andrew Dennis, '1634: The Galileo Affair"
The slang word grok was coined by Robert A. Heinlein in the science fiction novel "Stranger in a Strange Land", where it is a Martian word meaning literally "to drink" and metaphorically "to be one with". It was adopted into the vocabulary of 1960's youth and hackish jargon, whence it has become a part of net culture.
tittle-tattle \TIT-uhl TAT-uhl\ (noun) - 1 : Idle, trifling talk; empty prattle. 2 : An idle, trifling talker; a gossip. (verb) - to talk idly; to prate.
"Both were in their seventies, and like two old parrots they told, in identical words, the tale they had heard so often from their mother...The tittle-tattle of a half-starved countryside that throughout its long winters had nothing but tittle-tattle for amusement." -- Eric Linklater, 'The Dark of Summer'
Tittle-tattle is a varied reduplication of tattle, which derives from Medieval Dutch tatelen, to babble.
After the busy-busy preparations for company (Milady and her mom are coming this afternoon so we can take pictures before prom - and we're allowing The Boy to have a basement full of teenagers for an all-night movie party after prom; better here safe than somewhere else, right?), I might have the afternoon to get a few more things checked off the to-do list in the study. I'm wondering if I might be able to use a few of these choice words ... hmmmm ...
Read a book (because it's good for you, of course) and enjoy your day.
=) JB
"Ability hits the mark where presumption overshoots and diffidence falls short."
-- Golda Meir (1898-1978) Israeli political leader
4.26.2008
Words to Live By
Whilst I sit back and enjoy my aesthetically pleasing new landscaping, please grab a seat and enjoy this week's wonderful words:
From wordsmith.org:
suspire \suh-SPYR\ (verb tr., intr.) - To breathe; to sigh.
[From Latin suspirare (to breathe up), from spirare (to breathe).]
indurate \IN-doo-rayt, -dyoo-\ (verb tr.) - 1 : To make hardy, inured, accustomed. 2 : To make callous or unfeeling. (verb intr.) - 1 : To make hard. 2 : To become established. (adjective) \IN-doo-rit, -dyoo-\ - Hardened; callous; obstinate.
[From Latin indurare (to harden), from durare (to last), from durus (hard). Ultimately from the Indo-European root deru-/dreu- (to be firm) that's the source of such other words as truth, trust, betroth, tree, endure, and druid.]
yammer \YAM-uhr\ (verb tr., intr.) - To whine, complain, or to talk loudly and incessantly. (noun) - The act of yammering.
[From Middle Dutch jammeren (to lament).]
extirpate \EK-stuhr-payt\ (verb tr.) - 1 : To destroy completely. 2 : To pull up by the roots.
[From Latin extirpare (to root out), from stirps (stem, root).]
spall \spal\ (verb tr., intr.) - To break into small pieces; to splinter. (noun) - A chip or splinter, especially of stone.
[Of unknown origin.]
And from ArcaMax:
halcyon \HAL-see-uhn\ (noun) - 1 : A kingfisher. 2 : A mythical bird, identified with the kingfisher, that was fabled to nest at sea about the time of the winter solstice and to calm the waves during incubation. (adjective) - 1 : Calm; quiet; peaceful; undisturbed; happy; as, "deep, halcyon repose." 2 : Marked by peace and prosperity; as, "halcyon years."
"West foreshadowed the end of Los Angeles's halcyon moment. He saw the city of angels becoming a city of despair, a place where hopes get crushed..." -- Michael Connelly, 'The Concrete Blonde'
Halcyon derives from Latin (h)alcyon, from Greek halkuon, a mythical bird, kingfisher. This bird was fabled by the Greeks to nest at sea, about the time of the winter solstice, and, during incubation, to calm the waves.
prevaricate \prih-VAIR-uh-kayt\ (intransitive verb) - To depart from or evade the truth; to speak with equivocation.
"As regards your question, however, I will not prevaricate nor deceive you, but what the old man of the sea told me, so much will I tell you in full." -- Homer, 'The Odyssey'
Prevaricate derives from the past participle of Latin praevaricari, "to pass in front of, or over, by straddling; to walk crookedly; to collude," from prae, "before, in front of" + varicare, "to straddle," from varicus, "straddling," from varus, "bent."
superfluous \soo-PER-floo-us\ (adjective) - More than is wanted or is sufficient; rendered unnecessary by superabundance; unnecessary; useless; excessive. (adverb) superfluously, (noun) superfluousness.
"You must consider that what is necessary always occurs, and what is superfluous usually, but what is almost necessary, at least in my case, rarely, as a result of which, robbed of all context, it can become slightly pathetic, i.e. amusing." -- Hanns Zischler, 'Kafka Goes to the Movies'
Superfluous comes ultimately from the Latin superfluus, from superfluo, superfluere, to overflow, from super-, over, above + fluo, fluere, to flow.
desideratum \dih-sid-uh-RAY-tum; -RAH-\ (noun) - Something desired or considered necessary. plural desiderata
"I went, had admittance, and offered him my service as a master of the Greek language, which I had been told was a desideratum in this university." -- Oliver Goldsmith, 'The Vicar of Wakefield'
Desideratum is from Latin desideratum, "a thing desired," from desiderare, "to desire."
stoic \STOH-ik\ (noun) - 1 : (Capitalized). A member of a school of philosophy founded by Zeno holding that one should be free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and should submit without complaint to unavoidable necessity. 2 : Hence, one who is apparently or professedly indifferent to or unaffected by pleasure or pain, joy or grief. (adjective) - 1 : Of or pertaining to the Stoics; resembling the Stoics or their doctrines. 2 : Not affected by passion; being or appearing indifferent to pleasure or pain, joy or grief.
"A Stoic never evaded life: he faced it. A Stoic never avoided responsibility: he accepted it. A Stoic not only believed in liberty: he practised it." -- H. J. Duteil, 'The Great American Parade'
Stoic comes from Greek stoikos, literally "of or pertaining to a colonnade or porch," from stoa, "a roofed colonnade, a porch, especially, a porch in Athens where Zeno and his successors taught."
Today will be a run and gun catch-up day. Little Bit is going to her 'semi-formal' tonight, so we'll have some mother-daughter bonding time trying to get her ready to go (i.e., primping). And I'll have another by-myself evening. Last night's didn't quite go as planned as it seems I was very tired - I fell asleep with a book in my hand and the Food Network on low volume. Sheesh. So I'll be trying to finish that book this afternoon.
I read something yesterday that said there were something like 400,000 books published in the U.S. last year. I'm hoping that somewhere in that mountain of books you'll be able to find something that suits your fancy.
Don't forget - it's good for you.
=) JB
"Subtlety may deceive you; integrity never will."
-- Lord Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) English Lord Protector
From wordsmith.org:
suspire \suh-SPYR\ (verb tr., intr.) - To breathe; to sigh.
[From Latin suspirare (to breathe up), from spirare (to breathe).]
indurate \IN-doo-rayt, -dyoo-\ (verb tr.) - 1 : To make hardy, inured, accustomed. 2 : To make callous or unfeeling. (verb intr.) - 1 : To make hard. 2 : To become established. (adjective) \IN-doo-rit, -dyoo-\ - Hardened; callous; obstinate.
[From Latin indurare (to harden), from durare (to last), from durus (hard). Ultimately from the Indo-European root deru-/dreu- (to be firm) that's the source of such other words as truth, trust, betroth, tree, endure, and druid.]
yammer \YAM-uhr\ (verb tr., intr.) - To whine, complain, or to talk loudly and incessantly. (noun) - The act of yammering.
[From Middle Dutch jammeren (to lament).]
extirpate \EK-stuhr-payt\ (verb tr.) - 1 : To destroy completely. 2 : To pull up by the roots.
[From Latin extirpare (to root out), from stirps (stem, root).]
spall \spal\ (verb tr., intr.) - To break into small pieces; to splinter. (noun) - A chip or splinter, especially of stone.
[Of unknown origin.]
And from ArcaMax:
halcyon \HAL-see-uhn\ (noun) - 1 : A kingfisher. 2 : A mythical bird, identified with the kingfisher, that was fabled to nest at sea about the time of the winter solstice and to calm the waves during incubation. (adjective) - 1 : Calm; quiet; peaceful; undisturbed; happy; as, "deep, halcyon repose." 2 : Marked by peace and prosperity; as, "halcyon years."
"West foreshadowed the end of Los Angeles's halcyon moment. He saw the city of angels becoming a city of despair, a place where hopes get crushed..." -- Michael Connelly, 'The Concrete Blonde'
Halcyon derives from Latin (h)alcyon, from Greek halkuon, a mythical bird, kingfisher. This bird was fabled by the Greeks to nest at sea, about the time of the winter solstice, and, during incubation, to calm the waves.
prevaricate \prih-VAIR-uh-kayt\ (intransitive verb) - To depart from or evade the truth; to speak with equivocation.
"As regards your question, however, I will not prevaricate nor deceive you, but what the old man of the sea told me, so much will I tell you in full." -- Homer, 'The Odyssey'
Prevaricate derives from the past participle of Latin praevaricari, "to pass in front of, or over, by straddling; to walk crookedly; to collude," from prae, "before, in front of" + varicare, "to straddle," from varicus, "straddling," from varus, "bent."
superfluous \soo-PER-floo-us\ (adjective) - More than is wanted or is sufficient; rendered unnecessary by superabundance; unnecessary; useless; excessive. (adverb) superfluously, (noun) superfluousness.
"You must consider that what is necessary always occurs, and what is superfluous usually, but what is almost necessary, at least in my case, rarely, as a result of which, robbed of all context, it can become slightly pathetic, i.e. amusing." -- Hanns Zischler, 'Kafka Goes to the Movies'
Superfluous comes ultimately from the Latin superfluus, from superfluo, superfluere, to overflow, from super-, over, above + fluo, fluere, to flow.
desideratum \dih-sid-uh-RAY-tum; -RAH-\ (noun) - Something desired or considered necessary. plural desiderata
"I went, had admittance, and offered him my service as a master of the Greek language, which I had been told was a desideratum in this university." -- Oliver Goldsmith, 'The Vicar of Wakefield'
Desideratum is from Latin desideratum, "a thing desired," from desiderare, "to desire."
stoic \STOH-ik\ (noun) - 1 : (Capitalized). A member of a school of philosophy founded by Zeno holding that one should be free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and should submit without complaint to unavoidable necessity. 2 : Hence, one who is apparently or professedly indifferent to or unaffected by pleasure or pain, joy or grief. (adjective) - 1 : Of or pertaining to the Stoics; resembling the Stoics or their doctrines. 2 : Not affected by passion; being or appearing indifferent to pleasure or pain, joy or grief.
"A Stoic never evaded life: he faced it. A Stoic never avoided responsibility: he accepted it. A Stoic not only believed in liberty: he practised it." -- H. J. Duteil, 'The Great American Parade'
Stoic comes from Greek stoikos, literally "of or pertaining to a colonnade or porch," from stoa, "a roofed colonnade, a porch, especially, a porch in Athens where Zeno and his successors taught."
Today will be a run and gun catch-up day. Little Bit is going to her 'semi-formal' tonight, so we'll have some mother-daughter bonding time trying to get her ready to go (i.e., primping). And I'll have another by-myself evening. Last night's didn't quite go as planned as it seems I was very tired - I fell asleep with a book in my hand and the Food Network on low volume. Sheesh. So I'll be trying to finish that book this afternoon.
I read something yesterday that said there were something like 400,000 books published in the U.S. last year. I'm hoping that somewhere in that mountain of books you'll be able to find something that suits your fancy.
Don't forget - it's good for you.
=) JB
"Subtlety may deceive you; integrity never will."
-- Lord Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) English Lord Protector
4.19.2008
Weekly Vocab
With the exception of the first one, which came from wordsmith.org, this week's words are, as usual, from my ArcaMax ezine subscriptions. Enrich your word power today ...
cenotaph \SEN-uh-taf\ (noun) - A tomb or a monument in honor of a person (or a group) whose remains are elsewhere. [Via French and Latin, from Greek kenotaphion, from kenos (empty) + taphos (tomb).]
undulant \UN-juh-lunt; UN-dyuh-\ (adjective) - Resembling waves in form, motion, or occurrence.
"After some time the car slowed to a palpitant pause at a spot where the road was bordered on one hand by a woods, on the other by meadow-lands running down to an arm of a bay, on whose gently undulant surface the flame-tipped finger of a distant lighthouse drew an undulant path of radiance." -- Louis Joseph Vance, 'The Destroying Angel'
Undulant is from Late Latin undula, "a small wave," diminutive of Latin unda, "wave."
concomitant \kuhn-KOM-uh-tuhnt\ (adjective) - Accompanying; attendant; occurring or existing concurrently. (noun) - Something that accompanies or is collaterally connected with something else; an accompaniment.
"I think it's worthy of note that passions do not tend to be inflamed without the presence of concomitant phantasms." -- Don DeLillo, 'Ratner's Star'
Concomitant comes from the present participle of Latin concomitari, to accompany, from com- (used intensively) + comitari, to accompany, from comes, comit-, a companion.
peregrination \pehr-uh-gruh-NAY-shun\ (noun) - A traveling from place to place; a wandering.
"They continued their peregrination, stopping to spend a few minutes in this circle or that before moving on again, she a foot before him, he prowling, relaxed but watchful, in her wake." -- Stephanie Laurens, 'On a Wild Night'
Peregrination comes from Latin peregrinatio, from peregrinari, "to stay or travel in foreign countries," from peregre, "in a foreign country, abroad," from per, "through" + ager, "land."
inimical \ih-NIM-ih-kul\ (adjective) - 1 : Having the disposition or temper of an enemy; unfriendly; unfavorable. 2 : Opposed in tendency, influence, or effects; antagonistic; adverse.
"The gods did not care -- or rather, were inimical. Beyond question, they were inimical to him." -- Gene Wolfe, 'Litany of the Long Sun'
nimical comes from Late Latin inimicalis, from Latin inimicus, unfriendly, adverse, hostile, from in-, not + amicus, friendly, well-wishing, favorable to, from amare, to love.
Today I'm recovering from the slumber party from ... well, anyway - it went fairly well, and most of the nine teenagers who ended up staying the night last night (Little Bit with five friends and The Boy with two) all fell asleep sometime around midnight or so. Fortunately, the WGH and I didn't hear a peep out of them after 10:30, by which time he and I were both quite oblivious to the world's existence - he because he had to get up at four this morning to go to work, I because I was pooped. ;)
So it's time for breakfast and then an afternoon of shopping (joy) and maybe by tonight I'll have enough energy left to make the apple pies the WGH promised I'd do for our Sunday school get-together tomorrow. Sigh.
Read a book. It's good for you.
=) JB
"Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself."
-- Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (1889-1977) English film actor, director, producer, writer, and composer
cenotaph \SEN-uh-taf\ (noun) - A tomb or a monument in honor of a person (or a group) whose remains are elsewhere. [Via French and Latin, from Greek kenotaphion, from kenos (empty) + taphos (tomb).]
undulant \UN-juh-lunt; UN-dyuh-\ (adjective) - Resembling waves in form, motion, or occurrence.
"After some time the car slowed to a palpitant pause at a spot where the road was bordered on one hand by a woods, on the other by meadow-lands running down to an arm of a bay, on whose gently undulant surface the flame-tipped finger of a distant lighthouse drew an undulant path of radiance." -- Louis Joseph Vance, 'The Destroying Angel'
Undulant is from Late Latin undula, "a small wave," diminutive of Latin unda, "wave."
concomitant \kuhn-KOM-uh-tuhnt\ (adjective) - Accompanying; attendant; occurring or existing concurrently. (noun) - Something that accompanies or is collaterally connected with something else; an accompaniment.
"I think it's worthy of note that passions do not tend to be inflamed without the presence of concomitant phantasms." -- Don DeLillo, 'Ratner's Star'
Concomitant comes from the present participle of Latin concomitari, to accompany, from com- (used intensively) + comitari, to accompany, from comes, comit-, a companion.
peregrination \pehr-uh-gruh-NAY-shun\ (noun) - A traveling from place to place; a wandering.
"They continued their peregrination, stopping to spend a few minutes in this circle or that before moving on again, she a foot before him, he prowling, relaxed but watchful, in her wake." -- Stephanie Laurens, 'On a Wild Night'
Peregrination comes from Latin peregrinatio, from peregrinari, "to stay or travel in foreign countries," from peregre, "in a foreign country, abroad," from per, "through" + ager, "land."
inimical \ih-NIM-ih-kul\ (adjective) - 1 : Having the disposition or temper of an enemy; unfriendly; unfavorable. 2 : Opposed in tendency, influence, or effects; antagonistic; adverse.
"The gods did not care -- or rather, were inimical. Beyond question, they were inimical to him." -- Gene Wolfe, 'Litany of the Long Sun'
nimical comes from Late Latin inimicalis, from Latin inimicus, unfriendly, adverse, hostile, from in-, not + amicus, friendly, well-wishing, favorable to, from amare, to love.
Today I'm recovering from the slumber party from ... well, anyway - it went fairly well, and most of the nine teenagers who ended up staying the night last night (Little Bit with five friends and The Boy with two) all fell asleep sometime around midnight or so. Fortunately, the WGH and I didn't hear a peep out of them after 10:30, by which time he and I were both quite oblivious to the world's existence - he because he had to get up at four this morning to go to work, I because I was pooped. ;)
So it's time for breakfast and then an afternoon of shopping (joy) and maybe by tonight I'll have enough energy left to make the apple pies the WGH promised I'd do for our Sunday school get-together tomorrow. Sigh.
Read a book. It's good for you.
=) JB
"Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself."
-- Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (1889-1977) English film actor, director, producer, writer, and composer
4.12.2008
Word Power!
Appropriately, The Boy and his buddies are off to take the ACT this morning. The Boy scored quite well on it the first time he took it, but apparently it wasn't good enough for him, so he's taking it again with a loftier goal in mind. This is not Mom bragging, this is Mom impressed. The Boy has high expectations, high standards, and won't accept anything less. Sigh. Sorry, had to have a proud Mom moment.
And now back to our regularly scheduled programming ...
A good collection of words this week, some of which us writers have probably utilized once or twice in a manuscript. Enjoy!
It's going to be mostly sunny in the mid-South today, albeit cooler after the front came through spawning some nasty weather yesterday - McCartney and I spent a good hour in the basement watching the line of storms blast across the state, but even with a tornado warning we were very fortunate not to have any damage in our area ... others weren't so lucky, so please say a prayer for them.
We had a lovely and promising visit with a landscaper yesterday, and the WGH and I are very excited about what he's going to put together for us. The front of my house may actually look pretty here very soon. Maybe even in time for prom. Yay.
So enjoy your Saturday. Read a book. Do something.
=) JB
"Writers and travelers are mesmerized alike by knowing of their destinations."
-- Eudora Welty (1909-2001) American author
And now back to our regularly scheduled programming ...
A good collection of words this week, some of which us writers have probably utilized once or twice in a manuscript. Enjoy!
misnomer \mis-NO-muhr\ (noun) - 1 : The misnaming of a person in a legal instrument, as in a complaint or indictment. 2 : Any misnaming of a person or thing; also, a wrong or inapplicable name or designation.
"Deep Canyon was a misnomer. It wasn't deep and it wasn't a canyon. It was a golf course and development of expensive homes that sat in a shallow trough ..." -- Arthur Lyons, 'At the Hands of Another'
Misnomer is from Medieval French mesnommer, "to misname," from mes-, "wrongly" + nommer, "to name," from Latin nominare, "to name," from nomen, "a name."
conspectus \kuhn-SPEK-tuhs\ (noun) - 1 : A general sketch or survey of a subject. 2 : A synopsis; an outline.
"Shortly after returning from London eighteen years earlier, she had stolen a conspectus of the medical sciences from her parents' physician in Dover." -- Robin Schone, 'The Lover'
Conspectus comes from the Latin, from the past participle of conspicere, "to catch sight of, to perceive," from com-, intensive prefix + specere, "to look at."
distrait \dis-TRAY\ (adjective) - Divided or withdrawn in attention, especially because of anxiety.
"I noticed that after my host had read it he seemed even more distrait and strange than before." -- Arthur Conan Doyle, 'The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge'
Distrait is from Old French, from distraire, "to distract," from Latin distrahere, "to pull apart; to draw away; to distract," from dis- + trahere, "to draw, to pull." It is related to distraught and distracted, which have the same Latin source.
furtive \FUR-tiv\ (adjective) - 1 : Done by stealth; surreptitious; secret; as, a furtive look. 2 : Expressive of stealth; sly; shifty; sneaky. 3 : Stolen; obtained by stealth. 4 : Given to stealing; thievish; pilfering.
"But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control." -- George Orwell, 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'
Furtive is from Latin furtivus, which dervies from furtum, "theft," from fur, "thief."
politic \POL-ih-tik\ (adjective) - 1 : Of or pertaining to polity, or civil government; political (as in the phrase "the body politic"). 2 : (Of persons): Sagacious in promoting a policy; ingenious in devising and advancing a system of management; characterized by political skill and ingenuity; hence, shrewdly tactful, cunning. 3 : (Of actions or things): Pertaining to or promoting a policy; hence, judicious; expedient; as, "a politic decision."
"Berenike swallowed her fury and gave the governor her most politic smile." -- Randall Scott, 'Retribution'
Politic derives from Greek politikos, and from polites, "citizen," from polis, "city."
It's going to be mostly sunny in the mid-South today, albeit cooler after the front came through spawning some nasty weather yesterday - McCartney and I spent a good hour in the basement watching the line of storms blast across the state, but even with a tornado warning we were very fortunate not to have any damage in our area ... others weren't so lucky, so please say a prayer for them.
We had a lovely and promising visit with a landscaper yesterday, and the WGH and I are very excited about what he's going to put together for us. The front of my house may actually look pretty here very soon. Maybe even in time for prom. Yay.
So enjoy your Saturday. Read a book. Do something.
=) JB
"Writers and travelers are mesmerized alike by knowing of their destinations."
-- Eudora Welty (1909-2001) American author
4.05.2008
Weekly Vocabulary
Here I am, mostly back in the swing of things. It's sort of fun, feeling almost completely back to normal again ...
Saturday's the day I try to get caught up on the week's worth of emails and other various and sundry tasks I've been shunting down the to-do list, so I've decided to make it my weekly vocabulary forum (JT suggested this back a few months ago for Fridays - I'm taking but modifying her suggestion).
Without further ado, whilst Harry and I work on this month's edition of the Sisters in Crime - Middle Tennessee newsletter, here is this week's offering of words (courtesy of ArcaMax) to add to your verbal treasure trove:
Salutary derives from Latin salutaris, from salus, salut-, "health."
Berate is from be-, "thoroughly" + rate, "to scold, to chide," from Middle English raten.
Limn is from Middle English limnen, alteration of luminen, from enluminen, from Medieval French enluminer, from Late Latin illuminare, "to illuminate," ultimately from Latin lumen, "light."
Preponderate comes from the past participle of Latin praeponderare, "to weigh more, to exceed in weight," from prae, "before" + ponderare, "to weigh," from pondus, ponderis, "a weight."
Caesura comes from Latin caesura, "a cutting off, a division, a stop," from the past participle of caedere, "to cut."
And here's a bit of vocab trivia for you to enjoy too (also courtesy of ArcaMax - remember, I get 19 ezines a day from these people):
There, now - did you learn something new today?
I'm off to do ... what I do. Read a book. It's good for you.
=) JB
"I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed."
--Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) American educator
Saturday's the day I try to get caught up on the week's worth of emails and other various and sundry tasks I've been shunting down the to-do list, so I've decided to make it my weekly vocabulary forum (JT suggested this back a few months ago for Fridays - I'm taking but modifying her suggestion).
Without further ado, whilst Harry and I work on this month's edition of the Sisters in Crime - Middle Tennessee newsletter, here is this week's offering of words (courtesy of ArcaMax) to add to your verbal treasure trove:
salutary \SAL-yuh-ter-ee\ (adjective) - 1 : Producing or contributing to a beneficial effect; beneficial; advantageous. 2 : Wholesome; healthful; promoting health.
"Though their presence was often exasperating to the enthusiasts, it was salutary, for it was a guarantee against extravagance and against tyranny." -- Olaf Stapledon, 'Last and First Men and Star Maker'.Salutary derives from Latin salutaris, from salus, salut-, "health."
berate \bih-RAYT\ (transitive verb) - To scold severely or angrily.
"To crawl into her bed, hug her pillow, and berate herself for being a stupid fool. Berate herself and rid herself of the remnants of any lingering wisps of her crazy dreams." -- Brenda Joyce, 'The Finer Things'.Berate is from be-, "thoroughly" + rate, "to scold, to chide," from Middle English raten.
limn \LIM\ (transitive verb) - 1 : To depict by drawing or painting. 2 : To portray in words; to describe.
"...Her excellent memory could not limn her lover's features clearly; she had to reread his love letters to be sure that in truth he had existed, that they had loved one another and that the nights in the room of the armoires were not her invention." -- Isabel Allende, 'Daughter of Fortune'.Limn is from Middle English limnen, alteration of luminen, from enluminen, from Medieval French enluminer, from Late Latin illuminare, "to illuminate," ultimately from Latin lumen, "light."
preponderate \prih-PON-duh-rayt\ (intransitive verb) - 1 : To exceed in weight. 2 : To incline or descend, as the scale of a balance; to be weighed down. 3 : To exceed in influence, power, importance, number, amount, etc.
"Amour is the one human activity of any importance in which laughter and pleasure preponderate, if ever so slightly, over misery and pain." -- Aldous Huxley, 'Crome Yellow'.Preponderate comes from the past participle of Latin praeponderare, "to weigh more, to exceed in weight," from prae, "before" + ponderare, "to weigh," from pondus, ponderis, "a weight."
caesura \sih-ZHUR-uh; -ZUR-\ (noun) plural caesuras or caesurae \sih-ZHUR-ee; -ZUR-ee\ - 1 : A break or pause in a line of verse, usually occurring in the middle of a line, and indicated in scanning by a double vertical line; for example, "The proper study || of mankind is man" [Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man]. 2 : Any break, pause, or interruption.
"You have improperly placed the cleft in those loaves; the caesura belongs in the middle, between the hemistichs!" -- Edmond Rostand, 'Cyrano de Bergerac'.Caesura comes from Latin caesura, "a cutting off, a division, a stop," from the past participle of caedere, "to cut."
And here's a bit of vocab trivia for you to enjoy too (also courtesy of ArcaMax - remember, I get 19 ezines a day from these people):
Where did the term 'grease monkey' come from?
The word "grease monkey" comes from the person (usually a young boy) that would crawl up in the rafters to grease all of the pulleys and belts that ran all of the equipment in a blacksmith shop or machine shop.
There, now - did you learn something new today?
I'm off to do ... what I do. Read a book. It's good for you.
=) JB
"I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed."
--Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) American educator
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