mantic \MAN-tik\, adjective:
1. Of or pertaining to divination.
2. Having the power of divination.
"She spent some evenings secretly working to expand the ever-present taint of the mantic sight still trapped within her."
-- Barb Hendee, J. C. Hendee, In Shade and Shadow
"It is these mantic responses that alert the intelligence to the presence of something that calls for interpretation."
-- M. R. Wright, Andrew Barker, Reason and Necessity: Essays On Plato's Timaeus
Mantic stems from the Greek mantikos, "of a soothsayer."
Monday, August 15, 2011
hoary
hoary \HAWR-ee\, adjective:
1. Tedious from familiarity; stale.
2. Gray or white with age.
3. Ancient or venerable.
Compare that with the elements of a musical in about 1920: the star in a cliche story that was merely a framing device for generic musical numbers, hoary joke-book gags, and the usual specialty performers in a staging more often than not by a hack.
-- Ethan Mordden, Coming Up Roses
Had Mozart lived to the hoary old age of 73, he might indeed have fallen out of favor in an era besotted with Rossini, becoming a "largely forgotten, neglected, unperformed composer."
-- Marilyn Stasio, "Crime", New York Times, June 23, 1996
Hoary derives from Middle English hor, from Old English har, "gray; old (and gray-haired)."
1. Tedious from familiarity; stale.
2. Gray or white with age.
3. Ancient or venerable.
Compare that with the elements of a musical in about 1920: the star in a cliche story that was merely a framing device for generic musical numbers, hoary joke-book gags, and the usual specialty performers in a staging more often than not by a hack.
-- Ethan Mordden, Coming Up Roses
Had Mozart lived to the hoary old age of 73, he might indeed have fallen out of favor in an era besotted with Rossini, becoming a "largely forgotten, neglected, unperformed composer."
-- Marilyn Stasio, "Crime", New York Times, June 23, 1996
Hoary derives from Middle English hor, from Old English har, "gray; old (and gray-haired)."
deadpan
deadpan \DED-pan\, adjective:
1. Marked by or accomplished with a careful pretense of seriousness or calm detachment.
2. Displaying no emotional or personal involvement.
"He sat down on the top step with a rare deadpan expression, his best attempt yet at a poker face."
-- Carol O'Connell, Shell Game
"She had instructed the kids to remain deadpan, because she did not want to paint from a shot in which they were mugging."
-- Dean Koontz, What the Night Knows
Deadpan is a coinage from the 1930s combining "dead" and the sense of "pan" referring to the head or face.
1. Marked by or accomplished with a careful pretense of seriousness or calm detachment.
2. Displaying no emotional or personal involvement.
"He sat down on the top step with a rare deadpan expression, his best attempt yet at a poker face."
-- Carol O'Connell, Shell Game
"She had instructed the kids to remain deadpan, because she did not want to paint from a shot in which they were mugging."
-- Dean Koontz, What the Night Knows
Deadpan is a coinage from the 1930s combining "dead" and the sense of "pan" referring to the head or face.
aureate
aureate \AWR-ee-it\, adjective:
1. Characterized by an ornate style of writing or speaking.
2. Golden or gilded.
3. Brilliant; splendid.
"Nothing in the aureate language of the English poets can match the splendid virtuosity of Ane Ballat of Our Lady."
-- Whitney French Bolton, The Middle Ages
"Scholasms, by the way, may be divided into two classes: aureate terms and inkhorn terms."
-- Charles Harrington Elster, There's a Word for It!: A Grandiloquent Guide to Life
Aureate originally comes from the Latin aureus, "golden."
1. Characterized by an ornate style of writing or speaking.
2. Golden or gilded.
3. Brilliant; splendid.
"Nothing in the aureate language of the English poets can match the splendid virtuosity of Ane Ballat of Our Lady."
-- Whitney French Bolton, The Middle Ages
"Scholasms, by the way, may be divided into two classes: aureate terms and inkhorn terms."
-- Charles Harrington Elster, There's a Word for It!: A Grandiloquent Guide to Life
Aureate originally comes from the Latin aureus, "golden."
gazump
gazump \guh-ZUHMP\, verb:
To cheat (a house buyer) by raising the price, at the time a contract is to be signed, over the amount originally agreed upon.
"I promise not to gazump you this time," he said, sitting down next to her on the sofa and reaching out to stroke the back of her head."
-- John Trenhaile, Tiger of Desire
"It is yet another thing for me to be paranoid about, but I can't see them letting anyone else gazump you us."
-- Diana Appleyard, Homing Instinct
Gazump evolves from the earlier gazoomph, "to swindle," which is an argot (jargon among thieves) word of uncertain origin.
To cheat (a house buyer) by raising the price, at the time a contract is to be signed, over the amount originally agreed upon.
"I promise not to gazump you this time," he said, sitting down next to her on the sofa and reaching out to stroke the back of her head."
-- John Trenhaile, Tiger of Desire
"It is yet another thing for me to be paranoid about, but I can't see them letting anyone else gazump you us."
-- Diana Appleyard, Homing Instinct
Gazump evolves from the earlier gazoomph, "to swindle," which is an argot (jargon among thieves) word of uncertain origin.
ambsace
ambsace \EYMZ-eys\, noun:
1. The smallest amount or distance.
2. The lowest throw at dice, the double ace (two ones.)
3. Bad luck; misfortune.
"Sleeping is thick arras or ambsace, like an alcatraz across water."
-- Brian Teare, Sight Map: Poems
"We're within ambsace of being done."
-- Jo Ann Ferguson, A Phantom Affair
Ambsace stems from the Old French ambes as, "both aces."
1. The smallest amount or distance.
2. The lowest throw at dice, the double ace (two ones.)
3. Bad luck; misfortune.
"Sleeping is thick arras or ambsace, like an alcatraz across water."
-- Brian Teare, Sight Map: Poems
"We're within ambsace of being done."
-- Jo Ann Ferguson, A Phantom Affair
Ambsace stems from the Old French ambes as, "both aces."
melismatic
melismatic \mi-liz-MA-tik\, adjective:
Characterized by the singing of several notes to one syllable of text, for emotional impact, as in blues and other musical styles.
His blues are pure Texas and in an older style with thumping bass notes in the guitar playing and breathy melismatic singing.
-- American Folklore Society, Journal of American Folklore
It almost sounds as if he's making it up as he goes, ending each verse with a melismatic flourish.
-- Camille DeAngelis, Petty Magic: Being the Memoirs and Confessions of Miss Evelyn Harbinger
Melismatic finds its source in the Greek melisma, "music."
Characterized by the singing of several notes to one syllable of text, for emotional impact, as in blues and other musical styles.
His blues are pure Texas and in an older style with thumping bass notes in the guitar playing and breathy melismatic singing.
-- American Folklore Society, Journal of American Folklore
It almost sounds as if he's making it up as he goes, ending each verse with a melismatic flourish.
-- Camille DeAngelis, Petty Magic: Being the Memoirs and Confessions of Miss Evelyn Harbinger
Melismatic finds its source in the Greek melisma, "music."
entelechy
entelechy \en-TEL-uh-kee\, noun:
1. A realization or actuality as opposed to a potentiality.
2. In vitalist philosophy, a vital agent or force directing growth and life.
It must gratify a man to evolve so perfectly concomitantly with his years, to write patriarchally when he is old, to be so complete an entelechy .
-- Kenneth Burke, Here & Elsewhere: The Collected Fiction of Kenneth Burke
The vast realm of natural entelechy is virtually unknowable, but we already have on the books more information than any poet can use.
-- Herbert A. Leibowitz, Parnassus: Twenty Years of Poetry In Review
Entelechy is built from the Greek roots telos "goal" andech "to have."
1. A realization or actuality as opposed to a potentiality.
2. In vitalist philosophy, a vital agent or force directing growth and life.
It must gratify a man to evolve so perfectly concomitantly with his years, to write patriarchally when he is old, to be so complete an entelechy .
-- Kenneth Burke, Here & Elsewhere: The Collected Fiction of Kenneth Burke
The vast realm of natural entelechy is virtually unknowable, but we already have on the books more information than any poet can use.
-- Herbert A. Leibowitz, Parnassus: Twenty Years of Poetry In Review
Entelechy is built from the Greek roots telos "goal" andech "to have."
hacienda
hacienda \hah-see-EN-duh\, noun:
A large estate, especially one used for farming or ranching.
He gritted his teeth and turned his stallion's head toward the hacienda.
-- Linda Ladd, Midnight Fire
As swiftly as it had come, the tornado turned and headed away, leaving the village beyond the hacienda untouched.
-- Joan Johnston, Texas Woman
Hacienda enters English from the Spanish word of the same meaning, which derives from the Latin facienda, "things to be done or made."
A large estate, especially one used for farming or ranching.
He gritted his teeth and turned his stallion's head toward the hacienda.
-- Linda Ladd, Midnight Fire
As swiftly as it had come, the tornado turned and headed away, leaving the village beyond the hacienda untouched.
-- Joan Johnston, Texas Woman
Hacienda enters English from the Spanish word of the same meaning, which derives from the Latin facienda, "things to be done or made."
aesopian
aesopian \ee-SOH-pee-uhn\, adjective:
1. Conveying meaning by hint, euphemism, innuendo, or the like.
2. Pertaining to, or characteristic of Aesop or his fables.
It is often argued that Aesopian language has been used to communicate sensitive policy issues in the USSR.
-- William Thomas Lee, Richard Felix Staar, Soviet Military Policy Since World War II
Aesopian gets this general sense from its original meaning as a reference to the inferential nature of Aesop's fables.
1. Conveying meaning by hint, euphemism, innuendo, or the like.
2. Pertaining to, or characteristic of Aesop or his fables.
It is often argued that Aesopian language has been used to communicate sensitive policy issues in the USSR.
-- William Thomas Lee, Richard Felix Staar, Soviet Military Policy Since World War II
Aesopian gets this general sense from its original meaning as a reference to the inferential nature of Aesop's fables.
overslaugh
overslaugh \OH-ver-slaw\, verb:
To pass over or disregard (a person) by giving a promotion, position, etc., to another instead.
I have asked his attention to the fact that he himself was one of the most active instruments at one time in breaking down the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois, because it had made a decision distasteful to him-a struggle ending in the remarkable circumstance of his sitting down as one of the new Judges who were to overslaugh that decision-getting his title of Judge in that very way.
-- Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln-Douglas Debates
He will overslaugh Taft, who should be first, and everybody else. This would be unfortunate, of course, but I think above all that Clemens's feeling should be respected.
-- William Dean Howells, George Arms, Selected letters: Volume 5; Volumes 1902-1911
Overslaugh derives from the Dutch overslaan, with slaan meaning "to strike."
To pass over or disregard (a person) by giving a promotion, position, etc., to another instead.
I have asked his attention to the fact that he himself was one of the most active instruments at one time in breaking down the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois, because it had made a decision distasteful to him-a struggle ending in the remarkable circumstance of his sitting down as one of the new Judges who were to overslaugh that decision-getting his title of Judge in that very way.
-- Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln-Douglas Debates
He will overslaugh Taft, who should be first, and everybody else. This would be unfortunate, of course, but I think above all that Clemens's feeling should be respected.
-- William Dean Howells, George Arms, Selected letters: Volume 5; Volumes 1902-1911
Overslaugh derives from the Dutch overslaan, with slaan meaning "to strike."
moxie
moxie \MOK-see\, noun:
1. Vigor; verve; pep.
2. Courage and aggressiveness.
3. Skill; know-how.
I'm just wondering what it's like to be a young, attractive, female FBI agent who's smarter and got more moxie than most of the men around her.
-- Barry Eisler, Inside Out
"You've got moxie, dear," she said to Delores in a thin voice.
-- Betsy Carter, Swim To Me
Moxie enters common speech from the 1908 Moxie, a trademark name registered 1924 for a bitter non-alcoholic beverage; it was used as far back as 1876 as the name of a patent medicine advertised to "build up your nerve," and it is perhaps ultimately from a New England tribal word.
1. Vigor; verve; pep.
2. Courage and aggressiveness.
3. Skill; know-how.
I'm just wondering what it's like to be a young, attractive, female FBI agent who's smarter and got more moxie than most of the men around her.
-- Barry Eisler, Inside Out
"You've got moxie, dear," she said to Delores in a thin voice.
-- Betsy Carter, Swim To Me
Moxie enters common speech from the 1908 Moxie, a trademark name registered 1924 for a bitter non-alcoholic beverage; it was used as far back as 1876 as the name of a patent medicine advertised to "build up your nerve," and it is perhaps ultimately from a New England tribal word.
nervure \NUR-vyoor\, noun:
nervure \NUR-vyoor\, noun:
A vein, as of a leaf or the wing of an insect.
It was a sorrel, between three and four years old, tall, svelte, with a straight back, a belly tight with muscles, thin legs wrapped up in a vigorous nervure and a small head.
-- Francisco Coloane, Cape Horn and Other Stories from the End of the World
We walked along a corridor affected by the regular spacing of the trees, beneath a sort of dais for which the framework was made of delicate leaf nervure.
-- J. H. Matthews, The Custom-House Of Desire: A Half-Century of Surrealist Stories
Nervure is French for "rib."
A vein, as of a leaf or the wing of an insect.
It was a sorrel, between three and four years old, tall, svelte, with a straight back, a belly tight with muscles, thin legs wrapped up in a vigorous nervure and a small head.
-- Francisco Coloane, Cape Horn and Other Stories from the End of the World
We walked along a corridor affected by the regular spacing of the trees, beneath a sort of dais for which the framework was made of delicate leaf nervure.
-- J. H. Matthews, The Custom-House Of Desire: A Half-Century of Surrealist Stories
Nervure is French for "rib."
chaptalize \SHAP-tuh-lahyz\, verb:
chaptalize \SHAP-tuh-lahyz\, verb:
To increase the alcohol in a wine by adding sugar.
A proprietor who chaptalizes juice or ameliorates juice or wine, or both, shall maintain a record of the operation and the transaction date.
-- U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, Title 27, Alcohol, Tobacco Products
They chaptalize, they blend, fudge their appellations, water down with lesser stuff.
-- Peter Lewis, Dead in the Dregs: A Babe Stern Mystery
Chaptalize comes from the French chaptaliser, which is in turn named for the French chemist J. A. Chaptal
To increase the alcohol in a wine by adding sugar.
A proprietor who chaptalizes juice or ameliorates juice or wine, or both, shall maintain a record of the operation and the transaction date.
-- U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, Title 27, Alcohol, Tobacco Products
They chaptalize, they blend, fudge their appellations, water down with lesser stuff.
-- Peter Lewis, Dead in the Dregs: A Babe Stern Mystery
Chaptalize comes from the French chaptaliser, which is in turn named for the French chemist J. A. Chaptal
amaranthine \am-uh-RAN-thin\, adjective:
amaranthine \am-uh-RAN-thin\, adjective:
1. Unfading; everlasting.
2. Of or like the amaranth flower.
3. Of purplish-red color.
Though she had been made an amaranthine immortal when she was twelve years of age, she'd had to wait for her extraordinary abilities until her body matured to its most perfect state before fully transforming.
-- Kim Lenox, Darker Than Night
It made him jealous to imagine them lost in this amaranthine profundity.
-- Sir Compton Mackenzie, Sinister Street
Amaranthine is a form of the Greek amarantos, "everlasting," ascribed to an imaginary flower that never fades.
1. Unfading; everlasting.
2. Of or like the amaranth flower.
3. Of purplish-red color.
Though she had been made an amaranthine immortal when she was twelve years of age, she'd had to wait for her extraordinary abilities until her body matured to its most perfect state before fully transforming.
-- Kim Lenox, Darker Than Night
It made him jealous to imagine them lost in this amaranthine profundity.
-- Sir Compton Mackenzie, Sinister Street
Amaranthine is a form of the Greek amarantos, "everlasting," ascribed to an imaginary flower that never fades.
willowwacks \WIL-oh-waks\, noun:
willowwacks \WIL-oh-waks\, noun:
A wooded, uninhabited area.
There aren't many airports in Eastern Canada; you look at one like Upper Blackville, out there in the spruce-and-fir willowwacks, and wonder what it's doing there.
-- The AOPA pilot: Voice of General Aviation, Volume 37
Sure there were difficult moments, like an awkward fall below Texas Pass that twisted my previously broken ankle the wrong way, or 30 minutes lost on a wrong turn due to trail that disappeared in a stream, or a willowwacks that just wouldn't end; but overall today was a great day.
A wooded, uninhabited area.
There aren't many airports in Eastern Canada; you look at one like Upper Blackville, out there in the spruce-and-fir willowwacks, and wonder what it's doing there.
-- The AOPA pilot: Voice of General Aviation, Volume 37
Sure there were difficult moments, like an awkward fall below Texas Pass that twisted my previously broken ankle the wrong way, or 30 minutes lost on a wrong turn due to trail that disappeared in a stream, or a willowwacks that just wouldn't end; but overall today was a great day.
billet \BIL-it\, verb:
billet \BIL-it\, verb:
1. To provide or obtain lodging.
2. To direct (a soldier) by ticket, note, or verbal order, where to lodge.
noun:
1. Lodging for a soldier, student, etc., as in a private home or nonmilitary public building.
2. A small chunk of wood; a short section of a log, especially one cut for fuel.
If you do not billet my officers upon free quarters this day, I'll order here all the troops in North America.
-- Francis Parkman, David Levin, France and England in North America
Now worn, harassed, and overworked, he could give Smith-Dorrien no news of Haig's Corps which was expected to billet that night at Landrecies, twelve miles east of Le Cateau.
-- Barbara Wertheim Tuchman, The Guns of August
Billet stems from the French billet, "official register." The word relates to the English bill.
1. To provide or obtain lodging.
2. To direct (a soldier) by ticket, note, or verbal order, where to lodge.
noun:
1. Lodging for a soldier, student, etc., as in a private home or nonmilitary public building.
2. A small chunk of wood; a short section of a log, especially one cut for fuel.
If you do not billet my officers upon free quarters this day, I'll order here all the troops in North America.
-- Francis Parkman, David Levin, France and England in North America
Now worn, harassed, and overworked, he could give Smith-Dorrien no news of Haig's Corps which was expected to billet that night at Landrecies, twelve miles east of Le Cateau.
-- Barbara Wertheim Tuchman, The Guns of August
Billet stems from the French billet, "official register." The word relates to the English bill.
mundify \MUHN-duh-fahy\, verb:
mundify \MUHN-duh-fahy\, verb:
To purge or purify.
The cleric, fatigued and mumpish, scolded her, saying that a woman of her burdensome years should return home and mundify her morphewed sins.
-- Edward Dahlberg, The Olive of Minerva: Or, The Comedy of a Cuckold
Vigorous efforts to mundify old nasty habits should find priority as a substruction on which the edifice of the efforts of humanising the police should be built.
-- Praveen Kumar, Indian Police
Mundify is built from two Latin roots, mundi-, "to clean," and ficare, "to do."
To purge or purify.
The cleric, fatigued and mumpish, scolded her, saying that a woman of her burdensome years should return home and mundify her morphewed sins.
-- Edward Dahlberg, The Olive of Minerva: Or, The Comedy of a Cuckold
Vigorous efforts to mundify old nasty habits should find priority as a substruction on which the edifice of the efforts of humanising the police should be built.
-- Praveen Kumar, Indian Police
Mundify is built from two Latin roots, mundi-, "to clean," and ficare, "to do."
holus-bolus \HOH-luhs-BOH-luhs\, verb:
holus-bolus \HOH-luhs-BOH-luhs\, verb:
To cleanse.
He advised her to make plans and stick to them, rather than letting things happen holus bolus.
-- Carol Windley, Home Schooling: Stories
About midnight it crashed over the edge, holus bolus, into the sea a couple of hundred feet below.
-- Vernon Knowles, The Street of Queer Houses and Other Tales
Holus-bolus comes from a mock-Latin rhyming compound based on the phrase "whole bolus."
To cleanse.
He advised her to make plans and stick to them, rather than letting things happen holus bolus.
-- Carol Windley, Home Schooling: Stories
About midnight it crashed over the edge, holus bolus, into the sea a couple of hundred feet below.
-- Vernon Knowles, The Street of Queer Houses and Other Tales
Holus-bolus comes from a mock-Latin rhyming compound based on the phrase "whole bolus."
Friday, February 25, 2011
imbroglio
imbroglio \im-BROHL-yoh\, noun:
1. A complicated and embarrassing state of things.2. A confused or complicated disagreement or misunderstanding.3. An intricate, complicated plot, as of a drama or work of fiction.4. A confused mass; a tangle.
The political imbroglio also appears to endanger the latest International Monetary Fund loan package for Russia, which is considered critical to avoid a default this year on the country's $17 billion in foreign debt.-- David Hoffman, "Citing Economy, Yeltsin Fires Premier", Washington Post, May 13, 1999
Worse still, hearings and investigations into scandals -- from the imbroglio over Clarence Thomas's Supreme Court nomination in 1991 to the charges of perjury against President Clinton in 1998 -- have overshadowed any consideration of the country's future.-- John B. Judis, The Paradox of American Democracy
To the extent that Washington had a policy toward the subcontinent, its aim was to be evenhanded and not get drawn into the diplomatic imbroglio over Kashmir.-- George Perkovich, India's Nuclear Bomb
The imbroglio over the seemingly arcane currency issue threatens to plunge Indonesia -- and possibly its neighbors as well -- into a renewed bout of financial turmoil.-- Paul Blustein, "Currency Dispute Threatens Indonesia's Bailout", Washington Post, February 14, 1998
Imbroglio derives from Italian, from Old Italian imbrogliare, "to tangle, to confuse," from in-, "in" + brogliare, "to mix, to stir." It is related to embroil, "to entangle in conflict or argument."
1. A complicated and embarrassing state of things.2. A confused or complicated disagreement or misunderstanding.3. An intricate, complicated plot, as of a drama or work of fiction.4. A confused mass; a tangle.
The political imbroglio also appears to endanger the latest International Monetary Fund loan package for Russia, which is considered critical to avoid a default this year on the country's $17 billion in foreign debt.-- David Hoffman, "Citing Economy, Yeltsin Fires Premier", Washington Post, May 13, 1999
Worse still, hearings and investigations into scandals -- from the imbroglio over Clarence Thomas's Supreme Court nomination in 1991 to the charges of perjury against President Clinton in 1998 -- have overshadowed any consideration of the country's future.-- John B. Judis, The Paradox of American Democracy
To the extent that Washington had a policy toward the subcontinent, its aim was to be evenhanded and not get drawn into the diplomatic imbroglio over Kashmir.-- George Perkovich, India's Nuclear Bomb
The imbroglio over the seemingly arcane currency issue threatens to plunge Indonesia -- and possibly its neighbors as well -- into a renewed bout of financial turmoil.-- Paul Blustein, "Currency Dispute Threatens Indonesia's Bailout", Washington Post, February 14, 1998
Imbroglio derives from Italian, from Old Italian imbrogliare, "to tangle, to confuse," from in-, "in" + brogliare, "to mix, to stir." It is related to embroil, "to entangle in conflict or argument."
daedal
daedal \DEE-duhl\, adjective:
1. Complex or ingenious in form or function; intricate.2. Skillful; artistic; ingenious.3. Rich; adorned with many things.
Most Web-site designers realize that large image maps and daedal layouts are to be avoided, and the leading World Wide Web designers have reacted to users' objections to highly graphical, slow sites by using uncluttered, easy-to-use layouts.-- "Fixing Web-site usability", InfoWorld, December 15, 1997
He gathered toward the end of his life a very extensive collection of illustrated books and illuminated manuscripts, and took heightened pleasure in their daedal patterns as his own strength declined.-- Florence S. Boos, preface to The Collected Letters of William Morris
I sang of the dancing stars,I sang of the daedal earth,And of heaven, and the giant wars,And love, and death, and birth.-- Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Hymn Of Pan"
Daedal comes from Latin daedalus, "cunningly wrought," from Greek daidalos, "skillful, cunningly created."
1. Complex or ingenious in form or function; intricate.2. Skillful; artistic; ingenious.3. Rich; adorned with many things.
Most Web-site designers realize that large image maps and daedal layouts are to be avoided, and the leading World Wide Web designers have reacted to users' objections to highly graphical, slow sites by using uncluttered, easy-to-use layouts.-- "Fixing Web-site usability", InfoWorld, December 15, 1997
He gathered toward the end of his life a very extensive collection of illustrated books and illuminated manuscripts, and took heightened pleasure in their daedal patterns as his own strength declined.-- Florence S. Boos, preface to The Collected Letters of William Morris
I sang of the dancing stars,I sang of the daedal earth,And of heaven, and the giant wars,And love, and death, and birth.-- Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Hymn Of Pan"
Daedal comes from Latin daedalus, "cunningly wrought," from Greek daidalos, "skillful, cunningly created."
doppelganger
doppelganger \DOP-uhl-gang-uhr\, noun:
1. A ghostly double or counterpart of a living person.2. Alter ego; double.
To readers of science fiction, the idea of a single atom existing simultaneously in two states or places is reminiscent of the supernatural "doppelganger" -- a flesh-and-blood duplicate of one's self encountered while walking along a street.-- "Physicists Put Atom in Two Places at Once", New York Times, May 28, 1996
But my primary interest here is not the machinations of science itself but the fascinating life and times of its dark doppelganger, the mad scientist, in all his overreaching glory.-- David J. Skal, Screams of Reason
Doppelganger is from the German doppel, "double" + Gänger, "goer."
1. A ghostly double or counterpart of a living person.2. Alter ego; double.
To readers of science fiction, the idea of a single atom existing simultaneously in two states or places is reminiscent of the supernatural "doppelganger" -- a flesh-and-blood duplicate of one's self encountered while walking along a street.-- "Physicists Put Atom in Two Places at Once", New York Times, May 28, 1996
But my primary interest here is not the machinations of science itself but the fascinating life and times of its dark doppelganger, the mad scientist, in all his overreaching glory.-- David J. Skal, Screams of Reason
Doppelganger is from the German doppel, "double" + Gänger, "goer."
philomath
philomath \FIL-uh-math\, noun:
A lover of learning; a scholar.
It is precisely for the philomaths that universities ought to cater.-- Aldous Huxley, Proper Studies
It's nothing to laugh about, he says. "Strange things happen in this country -- things that philosophers and other philomaths had never dreamed of."-- Tomek Tryzna, Miss Nobody
Philomath is from the Greek philomathes, "loving knowledge," from philos, "loving, fond" + mathein, "to learn, to understand."
A lover of learning; a scholar.
It is precisely for the philomaths that universities ought to cater.-- Aldous Huxley, Proper Studies
It's nothing to laugh about, he says. "Strange things happen in this country -- things that philosophers and other philomaths had never dreamed of."-- Tomek Tryzna, Miss Nobody
Philomath is from the Greek philomathes, "loving knowledge," from philos, "loving, fond" + mathein, "to learn, to understand."
desideratum
desideratum \dih-sid-uh-RAY-tum; -RAH-\, noun;plural desiderata:
Something desired or considered necessary.
No one in Berkeley -- at least, no one I consorted with -- thought art was for sissies, or that a pensionable job was the highest desideratum.-- John Banville, "Just a dream some of us had", Irish Times, August 24, 1998
Immense wealth, and its lavish expenditure, fill the great house with all that can please the eye, or tempt the taste. Here, appetite, not food, is the great desideratum.-- Frederick Douglass, My Bondage, My Freedom
A technical dictionary . . . is one of the desiderata in anatomy.-- Alexander Monro, Essay on Comparative Anatomy
Desideratum is from Latin desideratum, "a thing desired," from desiderare, "to desire."
Something desired or considered necessary.
No one in Berkeley -- at least, no one I consorted with -- thought art was for sissies, or that a pensionable job was the highest desideratum.-- John Banville, "Just a dream some of us had", Irish Times, August 24, 1998
Immense wealth, and its lavish expenditure, fill the great house with all that can please the eye, or tempt the taste. Here, appetite, not food, is the great desideratum.-- Frederick Douglass, My Bondage, My Freedom
A technical dictionary . . . is one of the desiderata in anatomy.-- Alexander Monro, Essay on Comparative Anatomy
Desideratum is from Latin desideratum, "a thing desired," from desiderare, "to desire."
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
rakish
rakish \REY-kish\, adjective:
1. Smart; jaunty; dashing.
2. Of a vessel: having an appearance suggesting speed.
3. Like a rake; dissolute: rakish behavior.
Just as they stepped into the house Beard remembered that it was Patrice's afternoon off, and there she was, at the head of the stairs, in rakish blue eye patch, tight jeans, pale green cashmere sweater, Turkish slippers, coining down to meet them with a pleasant smile and the offer of coffee as her husband had made the introductions.
-- Ian McEwan, Solar
General Bernard Rutkowski, his cap set at a slightly rakish, angle strode along the tunnel.
-- Fletcher Knebel, Charles Waldo Bailey, Seven days in May
Rakish enters the English lexicon in the 1700s, but rake, as in "immoral person," goes back further, possibly descended from the Middle English rakel, "headstrong."
1. Smart; jaunty; dashing.
2. Of a vessel: having an appearance suggesting speed.
3. Like a rake; dissolute: rakish behavior.
Just as they stepped into the house Beard remembered that it was Patrice's afternoon off, and there she was, at the head of the stairs, in rakish blue eye patch, tight jeans, pale green cashmere sweater, Turkish slippers, coining down to meet them with a pleasant smile and the offer of coffee as her husband had made the introductions.
-- Ian McEwan, Solar
General Bernard Rutkowski, his cap set at a slightly rakish, angle strode along the tunnel.
-- Fletcher Knebel, Charles Waldo Bailey, Seven days in May
Rakish enters the English lexicon in the 1700s, but rake, as in "immoral person," goes back further, possibly descended from the Middle English rakel, "headstrong."
jobbery
jobbery \JOB-uh-ree\, noun:
The conduct of public or official business for the sake of improper private gain.
To a large portion of the people who frequent Washington or dwell there, the ultra fashion, the shoddy, the jobbery are as utterly distasteful as they would be in a refined New England City.
-- Mark Twain, The gilded age and later novels
Casting about for some way of breaking through this vicious circle, he saw but one expedient - to wit, some great service to be rendered to the government, or some profitable bit of jobbery.
-- Honoré de Balzac, The Unconscious Mummers
Jobbery combines the sense of job and robbery and reflects the historically negative connotation of job, whose definition may derive from gob, as in "a mass or lump."
Sunday, February 13, 2011
palpitate
palpitate \PAL-pi-teyt\, verb:
1. To pulsate with unusual rapidity from exertion, emotion, disease, etc.; flutter.2. To cause to pulsate or tremble.
Then, having done all, she would wait and palpitate, and palpitate and wait, until Stephen came.-- Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin, Rose o' the river
But every heart in the stands would palpitate one more time as Amherst put together a drive of its own, pushing the ball deep into Bulldog territory with just six seconds left.-- Mike Holzheimer, "Olmsted Falls High School gets big SWC football win," Sun-Post Herald, October, 2010
Palpitate derives from the Latin palpare, "to stroke."
1. To pulsate with unusual rapidity from exertion, emotion, disease, etc.; flutter.2. To cause to pulsate or tremble.
Then, having done all, she would wait and palpitate, and palpitate and wait, until Stephen came.-- Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin, Rose o' the river
But every heart in the stands would palpitate one more time as Amherst put together a drive of its own, pushing the ball deep into Bulldog territory with just six seconds left.-- Mike Holzheimer, "Olmsted Falls High School gets big SWC football win," Sun-Post Herald, October, 2010
Palpitate derives from the Latin palpare, "to stroke."
nacreous
nacreous \NEY-kree-uhs\, adjective:
Resembling nacre (mother-of-pearl); lustrous; pearly.
Nacreous pearl light swam faintly about the hem of the lilac darkness; the edges of light and darkness were stitched upon the hills.
-- Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel
For the first time in his life Stephen found that he and Rubens were of one mind, particularly as their generous decolletes and their diaphanous gowns showed expanses of that nacreous Rubens flesh that had so puzzled him before.
-- Patrick O'Brian, The nutmeg of consolation
Nacreous is the adjectival form of nacre, a "type of shellfish that yields mother-of-pearl." The word may ultimately derive from the Arabic nakara, "to hollow out," in reference to the shape of the mollusk shell.
Resembling nacre (mother-of-pearl); lustrous; pearly.
Nacreous pearl light swam faintly about the hem of the lilac darkness; the edges of light and darkness were stitched upon the hills.
-- Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel
For the first time in his life Stephen found that he and Rubens were of one mind, particularly as their generous decolletes and their diaphanous gowns showed expanses of that nacreous Rubens flesh that had so puzzled him before.
-- Patrick O'Brian, The nutmeg of consolation
Nacreous is the adjectival form of nacre, a "type of shellfish that yields mother-of-pearl." The word may ultimately derive from the Arabic nakara, "to hollow out," in reference to the shape of the mollusk shell.
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