adroit \uh-DROIT\, adjective:
1. Cleverly skillful, resourceful, or ingenious.
2. Expert or nimble in the use of the hands or body.
He knows that Jory is handsome, talented, and most of all, adroit. Bart is not adroit at anything but pretending.
-- V.C. Andrews, If There Be Thorns
It requires finesse. She was very adroit — oh, very adroit — but Hercule Poirot, my good George, is of a cleverness quite exceptional.
-- Agatha Christie, The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding
Adroit is from the Old French meaning "elegant, skillful" from the roots a- meaning "increase" and droit meaning "correct."
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Tellurian
Tellurian \te-LOOR-ee-uhn\, adjective:
1. Of or characteristic of the earth or its inhabitants.
noun:
1. An inhabitant of the earth.
We must keep in mind that we are, or should I say have become, hybrid personae, part tellurian, and part extraterrestrial.
-- Robert Silverberg and Karen Haber, Universe 3
What special affinities appeared to him to exist between the moon and woman? Her antiquity in preceding and surviving successive tellurian generations…
-- James Joyce, Ulysses
Tellurian was first used by Thomas DeQuincy in 1846, even though it has classical Latin roots literally meaning "one of the earth."
1. Of or characteristic of the earth or its inhabitants.
noun:
1. An inhabitant of the earth.
We must keep in mind that we are, or should I say have become, hybrid personae, part tellurian, and part extraterrestrial.
-- Robert Silverberg and Karen Haber, Universe 3
What special affinities appeared to him to exist between the moon and woman? Her antiquity in preceding and surviving successive tellurian generations…
-- James Joyce, Ulysses
Tellurian was first used by Thomas DeQuincy in 1846, even though it has classical Latin roots literally meaning "one of the earth."
catechize
catechize \KAT-i-kahyz\, verb:
1. To question closely.
2. To instruct orally by means of questions and answers, especially in Christian doctrine.
3. To question with reference to belief.
He sent her off when the dial made it five o'clock every fourth Sunday—for we had service only once a month, the parson having a church at Brampton, where he lived, and another as well, which made it the more wicked of us to play truant—but whether she got there early or late, or got there at all, he'd never ask, let alone catechize her about the sermon.
1. To question closely.
2. To instruct orally by means of questions and answers, especially in Christian doctrine.
3. To question with reference to belief.
He sent her off when the dial made it five o'clock every fourth Sunday—for we had service only once a month, the parson having a church at Brampton, where he lived, and another as well, which made it the more wicked of us to play truant—but whether she got there early or late, or got there at all, he'd never ask, let alone catechize her about the sermon.
chelonian
chelonian \ki-LOH-nee-uhn\, adjective:
1. Belonging or pertaining to the order Chelonia, comprising the turtles.
noun:
1. A turtle.
At the truly chelonian pace of somewhat under two miles per hour, the passengers and crew onboard would cover the twenty-seven hundred miles in just over two months.
-- Caleb H. Johnson, The Mayflower and Her Passengers
The study door crashed back and a seventy-year-old politician stood there, top hat firmly on his head, collar awry around his scrawny, chelonian neck.
-- M. J. Trow, Lestrade and the Sawdust Ring
What pair of messiahs could differ more harshly than Hiram and Magnus, the one a pedantic little fellow with a chelonian paunch and gold eye-glasses and the other a rough, shaggy, carnivorous revivalist from the dreadful steppes?
1. Belonging or pertaining to the order Chelonia, comprising the turtles.
noun:
1. A turtle.
At the truly chelonian pace of somewhat under two miles per hour, the passengers and crew onboard would cover the twenty-seven hundred miles in just over two months.
-- Caleb H. Johnson, The Mayflower and Her Passengers
The study door crashed back and a seventy-year-old politician stood there, top hat firmly on his head, collar awry around his scrawny, chelonian neck.
-- M. J. Trow, Lestrade and the Sawdust Ring
What pair of messiahs could differ more harshly than Hiram and Magnus, the one a pedantic little fellow with a chelonian paunch and gold eye-glasses and the other a rough, shaggy, carnivorous revivalist from the dreadful steppes?
uxate
uxate \LUHK-seyt\, verb:
To put out of joint; dislocate.
When I began to luxate the tooth I heard a crack.
-- Nathan Jorgenson, A Crooked Number
But at the same time he thinks, that the reduced bone will not remain in it's [sic] place, but luxate itself again, and fall back into the new-formed articulation, which it has formed to itself.
-- Royal Society of London, The Philosophical Transactions and Collections
Luxate is not related to any word for "light." Rather, it is from the Greek word for "oblique," which was loxós.
To put out of joint; dislocate.
When I began to luxate the tooth I heard a crack.
-- Nathan Jorgenson, A Crooked Number
But at the same time he thinks, that the reduced bone will not remain in it's [sic] place, but luxate itself again, and fall back into the new-formed articulation, which it has formed to itself.
-- Royal Society of London, The Philosophical Transactions and Collections
Luxate is not related to any word for "light." Rather, it is from the Greek word for "oblique," which was loxós.
eudemonia
eudemonia \yoo-di-MOH-nee-uh\, noun:
1. Happiness; well-being.
2. Aristotelianism. Happiness as the result of an active life governed by reason.
We all seek eudemonia, but he thinks that it takes a great deal of reflection and education to get a clear enough conception of it really to aim at it in our practice.
-- Robert Campbell Roberts, Intellectual Virtues
They may have believed that we already do value duty, utility, and eudemonia, but it is debatable whether they need to make such descriptive claims.
-- Jesse J. Prinz, The Emotional Construction of Morals
From Aristotle, eudemonia comes from the Greek word eudaímōn which meant "a good or benevolent spirit."
1. Happiness; well-being.
2. Aristotelianism. Happiness as the result of an active life governed by reason.
We all seek eudemonia, but he thinks that it takes a great deal of reflection and education to get a clear enough conception of it really to aim at it in our practice.
-- Robert Campbell Roberts, Intellectual Virtues
They may have believed that we already do value duty, utility, and eudemonia, but it is debatable whether they need to make such descriptive claims.
-- Jesse J. Prinz, The Emotional Construction of Morals
From Aristotle, eudemonia comes from the Greek word eudaímōn which meant "a good or benevolent spirit."
fugitive
fugitive \FYOO-ji-tiv\, adjective:
1. Fleeting, transitory, elusive.
2. Having taken flight, or run away.
3. Changing color as a result of exposure to light and chemical substances present in the atmosphere, in other pigments, or in the medium.
4. Dealing with subjects of passing interest, as writings; ephemeral.
5. Wandering, roving, or vagabond.
I started to write about Sean, and the writing, like a searchlight sweeping wildly, almost caught my fugitive feelings.
-- Edmund White, The Beautiful Room Is Empty
I fill my own glass now, and raise it, unspeaking: to her? to us? to the spirit of fugitive love? Whatever it is I mean, she nods as if to say she understands.
-- Vikram Seth, An Equal Music
First used by Shakespeare in Antony & Cleopatra, fugitive stems from the Latin word fugere meaning "to flee."
1. Fleeting, transitory, elusive.
2. Having taken flight, or run away.
3. Changing color as a result of exposure to light and chemical substances present in the atmosphere, in other pigments, or in the medium.
4. Dealing with subjects of passing interest, as writings; ephemeral.
5. Wandering, roving, or vagabond.
I started to write about Sean, and the writing, like a searchlight sweeping wildly, almost caught my fugitive feelings.
-- Edmund White, The Beautiful Room Is Empty
I fill my own glass now, and raise it, unspeaking: to her? to us? to the spirit of fugitive love? Whatever it is I mean, she nods as if to say she understands.
-- Vikram Seth, An Equal Music
First used by Shakespeare in Antony & Cleopatra, fugitive stems from the Latin word fugere meaning "to flee."
boon
boon \boon\, noun:
1. Something to be thankful for; blessing; benefit.
2. Something that is asked; a favor sought.
China has simultaneously become the greatest boon and the biggest disappointment.
-- Adam Davidson, "Come On, China, Buy Our Stuff!," The New York Times, Jan. 29, 2012
A boon to scholars and to those surreptitiously in search of esoteric knowledge. The reader in the shadowy, out-of-the-way carrel stifled a whoop of delight.
-- Carolyn G. Hart, A Little Class on Murder
Boon comes from the Old Norse word bōn meaning "a prayer."
1. Something to be thankful for; blessing; benefit.
2. Something that is asked; a favor sought.
China has simultaneously become the greatest boon and the biggest disappointment.
-- Adam Davidson, "Come On, China, Buy Our Stuff!," The New York Times, Jan. 29, 2012
A boon to scholars and to those surreptitiously in search of esoteric knowledge. The reader in the shadowy, out-of-the-way carrel stifled a whoop of delight.
-- Carolyn G. Hart, A Little Class on Murder
Boon comes from the Old Norse word bōn meaning "a prayer."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)