halcyon

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."

It seems to be that my boyhood days in the Edwardian era were halcyon days.
-- Mel Gussow, "At Home With John Gielgud: His Own Brideshead, His Fifth 'Lear'", New York Times, October 28, 1993

It is a common lament that children today grow up too fast, that society is conspiring to deprive them of the halcyon childhood they deserve.
-- Keith Bradsher, "Fear of Crime Trumps the Fear of Lost Youth", New York Times, November 21, 1999

It was a halcyon life, cocktails and bridge at sunset, white jackets and long gowns at dinner, good gin and Gershwin under the stars.
-- Elizabeth M. Norman, We Band of Angels

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.

miasma

miasma

PRONUNCIATION:

(my-AZ-muh, mee-)

plural miasmas, miasmata (my-AZ-muh-tuh, mee-)

MEANING:

noun:
1. Noxious emissions: smoke, vapors, etc., especially those from decaying organic matter.
2. An oppressive or unpleasant atmosphere.

NOTES:

Earlier it was believed that many diseases were caused by bad air from decomposing organic matter, as in a swamp. Malaria, for example, is named from Italian mala aria (bad air). The germ theory of disease has put the bad air theory to rest.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek miasma (pollution, defilement), from miainein (to pollute). Earliest documented use: 1665.

USAGE:

"A miasma of smoke from wildfires cloaked the sweltering Russian capital."
Jim Heintz; Fires Lay Ghostly Shroud of Smoke on Moscow; Associated Press (New York); Aug 6, 2010.

"The region is still wobbling in the miasma of corruption."
Bobi Odiko; Region Still Wobbling in Corruption; East African Business Week (Tanzania); Aug 4, 2010.

Explore "miasma" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

That sign of old age, extolling the past at the expense of the present. -Sydney Smith, writer and clergyman (1771-1845)

nimbus

nimbus \NIM-buhs\, noun: 1. (Fine Arts) A circle, or disk, or any indication of radiant light around the heads of divinities, saints, and sovereigns, upon medals, pictures, etc.; a halo. 2. A cloud or atmosphere (as of romance or glamour) that surrounds a person or thing. 3. (Meteorology) A rain cloud. Sometimes when she stood in front of a lamp, the highlights on her hair made a nimbus. -- James Morgan, The Distance to the Moon The two lights over the front steps were haloed with a hazy nimbus of mist, and strange insects fluttered up against the screen, fragile, wing-thin and blinded, dazed, numbed by the brilliance. -- Karen V. Kukil (Editor), The Journals of Sylvia Plath, 1950-1962 Mara felt she could practically see a nimbus of light around her, like the biblical Esther before she becomes queen. -- Anna Shapiro, The Scourge Decorated in royal green and gold with crystal chandeliers and plush furniture, the office featured a lighted full-length portrait of Johnson leaning against a bookcase and two overhead lamps projecting "an impressive nimbus of golden light" as Lyndon sat at his desk. -- Robert Dallek, Flawed Giant Nimbus is from the Latin nimbus, "a rain cloud, a rain storm."

Edacious

edacious \ih-DAY-shus\ adjective
> 1 : having a huge appetite : ravenous
> 2 : excessively eager : insatiable
>
> Examples:
> My edacious dining companion could always be counted on to order the largest -- and often most expensive -- item on the menu.
>
> "My adoration is edacious, idolatrous. I have loved a lot of cakes. And I have loved some of them in shameful ways." -- From Leslie F. Miller's 2009 memoir Let Me Eat Cake: A Celebration of Flour, Sugar, Butter, Eggs, Vanilla, Baking Powder, and a Pinch of Salt
>
> Did you know?
> "Tempus edax rerum." That wise Latin line by the Roman poet Ovid translates as "Time, the devourer of all things." Ovid's correlation between rapaciousness and time is appropriate to a discussion of "edacious." That English word is a descendant of Latin "edax," which is a derivative of the verb "edere," meaning "to eat." In its earliest known English uses, "edacious" meant "of or relating to eating." It later came to be used generally as a synonym of "voracious," and it has often been used specifically in contexts referring to time. That's how Scottish essayist and historian Thomas Carlyle used it when he referred to events "swallowed in the depths of edacious Time."

inveigle

inveigle \in-VAY-guhl; -VEE-\, transitive verb: 1. To persuade by ingenuity or flattery; to entice. 2. To obtain by ingenuity or flattery. Deep Blue had tried to inveigle Kasparov into grabbing several pawn offers, but the champion was not fooled. -- Robert Byrne, "Kasparov and Computer Play to a Draw", New York Times, February 14, 1996 He used to tell one about Kevin Moran ringing him up pretending to be a French radio journalist and inveigling Cas, new in France, into parlaying his three words of French into an interview. -- Tom Humphries, "Big Cas cameos will be missed", Irish Times, May 4, 2000 Once a soft touch for these ragged moralists who inveigled her into sparing them her change, Agnes began to cross the road, begging for some change in her circumstances. -- Rachel Cusk, Saving Agnes In fact, he spent the entire time in the car park, waiting for eye witnesses from whom to inveigle quotes he could use as his own. -- Matthew Norman, "Diary", The Guardian, January 1, 2003 Inveigle comes from Anglo-French enveogler, from Old French aveugler, "to blind, to lead astray as if blind," from aveugle, "blind," from Medieval Latin ab oculis, "without eyes."

©

lucubration

lucubration \loo-kyoo-BRAY-shun; loo-kuh-\, noun: 1. The act of studying by candlelight; nocturnal study; meditation. 2. That which is composed by night; that which is produced by meditation in retirement; hence (loosely) any literary composition. A point of information for those with time on their hands: if you were to read 135 books a day, every day, for a year, you wouldn't finish all the books published annually in the United States. Now add to this figure, which is upward of 50,000, the 100 or so literary magazines; the scholarly, political and scientific journals (there are 142 devoted to sociology alone), as well as the glossy magazines, of which bigger and shinier versions are now spawning, and you'll appreciate the amount of lucubration that finds its way into print. -- Arthur Krystal, "On Writing: Let There Be Less", New York Times, March 26, 1989 One of his characters is given to lucubration. "Things die on us," he reflects as he lies in bed, "we die on each other, we die of ourselves." -- "Books of The Times", New York Times, February 7, 1981 Naturally, these fictions ran the risk of tumbling down the formalist hill and ending up at the bottom without readers -- except the heroic students of Roland Barthes or Umberto Eco, professors whose lucubrations were much more interesting than the books about which they theorized. -- Mario Vargas Llosa, "Thugs Who Know Their Greek", New York Times, September 7, 1986 Lucubration comes from Latin lucubratus, past participle of lucubrare, "to work by night, composed at night (as by candlelight)," ultimately connected with lux, "light." Hence it is related to lucent, "shining, bright," and lucid, "clear." The verb form is lucubrate.

edits

eidos

PRONUNCIATION:

(EYE-dos, AY-)
plural eide (EYE-dee, AY-day)

MEANING:

noun: The formal sum of a culture, its intellectual character, ideas, etc.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek eidos (form, idea), ultimately from the Indo-European root weid- (to see), which is the source of words such as wise, view, supervise, wit, and eidetic. Earliest recorded use: 1936.

USAGE:

"Picture, if you will, honey, the eidos of repulsive: plaid upholstered chairs, with ruffled skirts, all hideously brown and yellow."
Christopher Coe; Such Times; Penguin Books; 1994.

Explore "eidos" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Mere parsimony is not economy. Expense, and great expense, may be an essential part in true economy. -Edmund Burke, statesman and writer (1729-1797)

bailiwick

bailiwick \BAY-luh-wik\, noun: 1. A person's specific area of knowledge, authority, interest, skill, or work. 2. The office or district of a bailiff. I'll give it a try, but this is not my bailiwick. -- Sue Grafton, 'L' Is for Lawless He "professed ignorance, as of something outside my bailiwick." -- Marc Aronson, "Wharton and the House of Scribner: The Novelist as a Pain in the Neck", New York Times, January 2, 1994 Fund-raising was Cliff's bailiwick, anyway, and he seemed to have it in hand. -- Curt Sampson, The Masters Bailiwick comes from Middle English baillifwik, from baillif, "bailiff" (ultimately from Latin bajulus, "porter, carrier") + wik, "town," from Old English wic, from Latin vicus, "village."

!

Congenial

congenial \kun-JEEN-yul\ adjective
> 1 : having the same nature, disposition, or tastes : kindred
> 2 a : existing together harmoniously
> b : suited to one's nature, tastes, or outlook
> c : sociable, genial
>
> Examples:
> Olga found the college's interdisciplinary curriculum congenial to the breadth of her academic interests.
>
> "Visiting a neighbor's home and engaging in congenial conversation is fast becoming a lost art. Polite verbal exchanges once familiar and customary in centuries past have gone the way of electronic surrogates: texting, e-mail and smart phones." -- From an article by Ty Pelfrey in The Union (Grass Valley, California), January 2, 2011
>
> Did you know?
> According to ancient Roman and Greek mythology, each person at birth was assigned a guardian spirit. The Latin name for this attendant spirit was "genius." Two people who get along well together can be thought of as sharing a similar spirit; they might even be described by a word combining the Latin prefix "com-" (meaning "with, together") and "genius." And, indeed, it was this "com-genius" combination that gave rise in the 17th century to the English word "congenial." (The Greek word for the guardian spirit, "daimon," gave us "eudaemonia," meaning "well-being" or "happiness," but that word is extremely rare.)
>
> Test Your Memory: What word completes this sentence from a recent Word of the Day piece: "Under the ___________ of her high school swim coach, Lynn has greatly improved her times"? The answer is ... http://bit.ly/gmMWa2

fomes

foams

PRONUNCIATION:

(FOH-meez)
plural fomites (FOM-i-teez, FOH-mi-teez)

MEANING:

noun: An object (for example, clothing or bedding) capable of absorbing and transmitting infectious organisms from one person to another.

NOTES:

The word is usually used in its plural form fomites, which has led to the back-formation of a new singular form fomite. Another example of a word coined in a similar way is pea (from pease, which was erroneously believed to be a plural).

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin fomes (kindling wood), from fovere (to warm). Earliest documented use: 1658.

USAGE:

"The sitters didn't catch the virus at all. The cuddlers did, and so did the touchers, pointing up the importance of direct contact with secretions, but especially of fomites -- objects and surfaces with infectious viral particles still on them."
Perri Klass; When to Keep a Child Home?; The New York Times; Feb 9, 2009.

Explore "fomes" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

In matters of conscience the law of majority has no place. -Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948)

malinger

malinger \muh-LING-guhr\, intransitive verb: To feign or exaggerate illness or inability in order to avoid duty or work. Because he twice slapped battle-stressed soldiers in Sicily who, he thought, were merely malingering, he was denied a major command in the Normandy landings. -- Bernard Knox, "Scorched Earth", New York Times, November 14, 1999 It is impossible to determine exactly what inspired Mary's various symptoms, but her own and other family members' letters suggest that her suffering may have been a combination of hypochondria, conscious histrionics and malingering, and unconscious rebellion against her father. -- Caroline Fraser, God's Perfect Child My specialty is subjecting the data I obtain to successive mathematical corrective formulas to filter the truly psychotic from those who are malingering. -- Barbara Kirwin Ph.D, The Mad, the Bad, and the Innocent Malinger derives from French malingre, "sickly," perhaps from Old French mal, "badly" + heingre, "lean, thin."

inkhorn

inkhorn \INK-horn\, adjective: 1. Affectedly or ostentatiously learned; pedantic. noun: 1. A small bottle of horn or other material formerly used for holding ink. . . .the widespread use of what were called (dismissively, by truly learned folk) "inkhorn terms." -- Simon Winchester, "Word Imperfect", The Atlantic Monthly, May 2001 In prison he wrote the De Consolatione Philosophiae, his most celebrated work and one of the most translated works in history; it was translated . . . by Elizabeth I into florid, inkhorn language. -- The Oxford Companion to English Literature, s.v. "Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus (c. 475 - 525)." Inkhorn derives from the name for the container formerly used (beginning in the 14th century) for holding ink, originally made from a real horn. Hence it came to refer to words that were being used by learned writers and scholars but which were unknown or rare in ordinary speech.

uxorious

uxorious \uk-SOR-ee-us; ug-ZOR-\, adjective: Excessively fond of or submissive to a wife. It is batty to suppose that the most uxorious of husbands will stop his wife's excessive shopping if an excessive shopper she has always been. -- Angela Huth, "All you need is love", Daily Telegraph, April 24, 1998 Flagler seems to have been an uxorious, domestic man, who liked the comfort and companionship of a wife at his side. -- Michael Browning, "Whitehall at 100", Palm Beach Post, February 22, 2002 Fuller is as uxorious a poet as they come: hiatuses in the couple's mutual understanding are overcome with such rapidity as to be hardly worth mentioning in the first place ("How easy, this ability / To lose whatever we possess / By ceasing to believe that we / Deserve such brilliant success"). -- David Wheatley, "Round and round we go", The Guardian, October 5, 2002 Uxorious is from Latin uxorius, from uxor, wife.

Brummagem

brummagem \BRUM-ih-jum\ adjective
> : not genuine : spurious; also : cheaply showy : tawdry
>
> Examples:
> Donald knew better than to pay good money for the brummagem watch that was being falsely advertised as a quality Swiss timepiece.
>
> "Just as critics ... conceived high culture in some antithetical relationship to 'middlebrow' or 'kitsch,' which imitated the intelligentsia's culture and blurred the distinction between commodity and art, so too, they warned, the spirit of Christianity now had to be preserved from its brummagem versions...." -- From Jason W. Stevens' 2010 book God-Fearing and Free: A Spiritual History of America's Cold War
>
> Did you know?
> "Brummagem" first appeared in the 17th century as an alteration of "Birmingham," the name of a city in England. At that time Birmingham was notorious for the counterfeit coins made there, and the word "brummagem" quickly became associated with things forged or inauthentic. By the 19th century, Birmingham had become a chief manufacturer of cheap trinkets and gilt jewelry, and again the word "brummagem" followed suit -- it came to describe that which is showy on the outside but essentially of low quality. Perhaps the term was something of an annoyance to the people of Birmingham way back when, but nowadays "brummagem" is usually used without any conscious reference to the British city.
>
> Test Your Memory: What recent Word of the Day begins with "c" and means "to find fault with and criticize as blameworthy"? The answer is ... http://bit.ly/faKNLI

factotum

factotum \fak-TOH-tuhm\, noun: A person employed to do all kinds of work or business. Mr. Hersey thus became Mr. Lewis's summertime factotum, copying pages of a play that Lewis was writing about Communism. -- Richard Severo, "John Hersey, Author of 'Hiroshima,' Is Dead at 78", New York Times, March 25, 1993 She is a blind, paraplegic forensic hypnotist, and he is her brother and general factotum. -- Newgate Callendar, "Spies & Thrillers", New York Times, July 31, 1994 Factotum is from Medieval Latin, from Latin fac totum, "do everything," from facere, "to do" + totus, "all."

ululate

ululate \UL-yuh-layt; YOOL-\, intransitive verb: To howl, as a dog or a wolf; to wail; as, ululating jackals. He had often dreamed of his grieving family visiting his grave, ululating as only the relatives of martyrs may. -- Edward Shirley, Know Thine Enemy: A Spy's Journey into Revolutionary Iran She wanted to be on the tarmac, to ululate and raise her hands to the heavens. -- Deborah Sontag, "Palestinian Airport Opens to Jubilation", New York Times, November 25, 1998 She used harrowing, penetrating nasal tones and a rasp that approached Janis Joplin's double-stops; she made notes break and ululate. -- Jon Pareles, "On the Third Day There Was Whooping and There Was Moshing", New York Times, August 18, 1998 Ululate derives from Latin ululare, to howl, to yell, ultimately of imitative origin. The noun form is ululation; the adjective form is ululant.

libation

libation \ly-BAY-shun\, noun: 1. The act of pouring a liquid (usually wine) either on the ground or on a victim in sacrifice to some deity; also, the wine or liquid thus poured out. 2. A beverage, especially an alcoholic beverage. 3. An act or instance of drinking. Hearing that the train had lost one of its engines and that the remainder of the trip would be very slow, I headed for the bar car for a libation and a snack or two to soothe my growing hunger pangs. -- Lawrence Van Gelder, "Tales of Flying Cars and Trees", New York Times, May 28, 2000 Giving careful packing instructions to his Sherpas who would befreighting the spirits to his Base Camp, Todd more than half-anticipated some nights when the libation might serve to take off the edge. -- Anatoli Boukreev and G. Weston DeWalt, The Climb Libation is from Latin libatio, from libare, "to take a little from anything, to taste, to pour out as an offering."

Mayhem - and a "test your memory" quiz

Begin

mayhem \MAY-hem\ noun
> 1 : willful and permanent crippling, mutilation, or disfigurement of any part of the body and especially deprivation of a bodily member
> 2 : needless or willful damage or violence
>
> Examples:
> "A 22-year-old Salt Lake man was charged Wednesday with felony mayhem for allegedly biting off a piece of another man's nose, court documents state." -- From an article by Amy Joi O'Donoghue in the Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah), January 19, 2011
>
> "Forty-one people were arrested in the mayhem after the Montreal Canadiens' Game 7 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Some stores were looted and police fired tear gas at hundreds of bottle-throwers." -- From an article by the Associated Press, May 13, 2010
>
> Did you know?
> Legally speaking, mayhem refers to the gruesome crime of deliberately causing an injury that permanently disfigures another. The name derives via Middle English from the Anglo-French verb "maheimer" ("to maim") and is probably of Germanic origin; our own verb "to maim" comes from the same ancestor. The disfigurement sense first appeared in English in the 15th century. By the 19th century the word had come to mean any kind of violent behavior; nowadays, "mayhem" can be used to suggest any kind of chaos or disorder, as in, "there was mayhem in the streets during the citywide blackout."

pip

pip

PRONUNCIATION:

(pip)

MEANING:

noun:
1. The small seed of a fruit, such as an apple or an orange.
2. Something or someone wonderful.

ETYMOLOGY:

Short for pippin, from Anglo-French pepin. Earliest documented use: c. 1450.

USAGE:

"Chairman Ian Palmer is spitting pips."
Jon Morgan; Apple Growers Get the Pip as the Bite Goes on Prices; The Dominion Post (Wellington, New Zealand); Nov 5, 2010.

---

MEANING:

noun:
1. One of the dots or symbols on a die, playing card, or domino.
2. Any of the diamond-shaped segments on the surface of a pineapple.
3. An insignia on the shoulder indicating an officer's rank.

ETYMOLOGY:

Origin unknown. Earliest documented use: 1604.

USAGE:

"Today the politician gambles with a die so rough-used that none of the pips on its six faces can be read."
Gopalkrishna Gandhi; We, the People; The Hindu (Chennai, India); Dec 26, 2010.

---

MEANING:

noun:
1. A disease of birds marked by mucus in the mouth.
2. Any minor, nonspecific ailment in a person.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Middle Dutch pippe, from Vulgar Latin pipita, from Latin pituita (phlegm).

USAGE:

"Wash those cups again. And this time, sterilize them. Want everybody around here to come down with the pip?"
Robert A. Heinlein; Red Planet; Scribner; 1949.

---

MEANING:

noun: The smallest change in the exchange rate for a given currency pair. Most major currencies (except yen) are priced to the fourth decimal place, so a pip is 1/100 of one percent (.0001).

ETYMOLOGY:

Acronym, from Percentage in Point.

USAGE:

"The euro fell around 35 pips versus the dollar to trade at $1.3672."
Euro Falls as Ireland Denies Bailout; Reuters (New York); Nov 12, 2010.

---

MEANING:

verb tr.:
1. To defeat, especially by a narrow margin or at the last moment.
2. To hit with a gunshot.
3. To blackball.

ETYMOLOGY:

Perhaps from pip, from pippin. Earliest documented use: 1838.

USAGE:

"Grant Skinner of Glencorse pipped former Scottish international Mike Thomson to the top spot."
Martin Dempster; Golf: Skinner Pips Thomson; Scotsman (Edinburgh, Scotland); Nov 12, 2010.

---

MEANING:

verb intr.: To peep or chirp.
verb tr.: To break through the shell of an egg when hatching.

ETYMOLOGY:

Origin unknown. Earliest documented use: 1846.

USAGE:

"The author's photos of all the life stages of eagles -- from a chick pipping from an egg ... to the final pure white head and tail of adulthood -- are one of the strengths of the book."
Nancy Bent; The Majesty of Flight; Booklist (Chicago); Dec 1, 1999.

---

Explore "pip" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. -Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer (1934-1996)

fell

fell

PRONUNCIATION:

(fel)

MEANING:

adjective:
1. Fierce; cruel; lethal.
2. In the idiom, in one fell swoop (all at once, as if by a blow).

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old French, variant of felon (wicked, a wicked person). Earliest documented use: Before 1300.

USAGE:

"So you spend most of the movie worried that Shepherd has some fell disease."
Mary McNamara; A Ham-fisted Dish; Los Angeles Times; May 19, 2003.

"In one fell swoop, most of the top politicians of this impoverished West African country surrendered themselves to the cadre of junior officers."
Jeffrey Gettleman; A Largely Welcomed Coup in Guinea; The New York Times; Dec 25, 2008.

---

MEANING:

verb tr.:
1. To knock down, strike, or cut down.
2. To sew a seam by folding one rough edge under the other, flat, on the wrong side, as in jeans.

noun:
1. The amount of timber cut.
2. In sewing, a felled seam.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old English fellan/fyllan (to fall). Earliest documented use: Around 1000.

USAGE:

"The government has granted sanction to fell a tree to facilitate new construction."
No Move to Lift Construction Ban in Green Belt; The Indian Express (New Delhi); Oct 13, 2010.

"I suppose that good-quality cloth and thread, rivets, and felled seams have something to do with it."
Andrew Bevan and David Wengrow; Cultures of Commodity Branding; Left Coast Press; 2010.

---

MEANING:

noun: A stretch of open country in the highlands.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old Norse fjall/fell (hill). Earliest documented use: Before 1300.

USAGE:

"After a day spent tramping across the snowy fells of the Lake District National Park, a period of R and R is most definitely required."
James White; Hotel Review; Daily Mail (London, UK); Jan 19, 2011.

---

MEANING:

noun: The skin or hide of an animal.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old English fel/fell (skin or hide). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pel- (skin or hide), which also gave us pelt, pillion, and film. Earliest documented use: Around 1000.

USAGE:

"Felt bearing pads are made from non-tanned fell."
A.S.G. Bruggeling and G.F. Huyghe; Prefabrication with Concrete; Taylor & Francis; 1991.

---

Explore "fell" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Animals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills. -Voltaire, philosopher and writer (1694-1778)

reticent

reticent

PRONUNCIATION:

(RET-i-suhnt)

MEANING:

adjective:
1. Reluctant to share one's thoughts and feelings.
2. Restrained or unwilling.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin reticere (to keep silent), from tacere (to be silent). Earliest documented use: 1825.

USAGE:

"Lester is usually among the more reticent Red Sox, so a statement from him falling somewhere between candid and brash rates as a surprise."
Gabe Lacques; Red Sox's Jon Lester; USA Today (Washington, DC); Jan 25, 2011.

Explore "reticent" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind. -William Somerset Maugham, writer (1874-1965)

buss

buss \BUS\, noun: 1. A kiss; a playful kiss; a smack. transitive verb: 1. To kiss; especially to kiss with a smack. Lucky guesser gets a buss upon his plucky kisser. -- William H. Gass, Cartesian Sonata and Other Novellas Exchange a random peace greeting during Mass with a stranger in the next pew and the odds are roughly one in fifty that you shake the hand or buss the cheek of a parishioner who has had at least one marriage voided by a diocesan tribunal. -- Robert H. Vasoli, What God Has Joined Together Buss is probably from Old English basse, from Latin basium, "kiss."

"Life itself is a quotation." - Jorge Luis Borges

Harbinger

harbinger \HAHR-bun-jer\ noun
> 1 : one that pioneers in or initiates a major change : precursor
> 2 : one that presages or foreshadows what is to come
>
> Examples:
> The February thaw is a harbinger of spring -- even if it's followed by a few more snowstorms.
>
> "When Packers outside linebacker Clay Matthews had three sacks against Philadelphia in the opener, it was a harbinger of things to come for the Eagles. They allowed 50 sacks on the season, the most in the 12-year Andy Reid era." -- From an article by Jim Polzin in the Wisconsin State Journal, January 9, 2011
>
> Did you know?
> When medieval travelers needed lodging for the night, they went looking for a harbinger. As long ago as the 12th century, "harbinger" was used to mean
> "one who provides lodging" or "a host," but that meaning is now obsolete. By the late 1300s, "harbinger" was also being used for a person sent ahead of a main party to seek lodgings, often for royalty or a campaigning army, but that old sense has largely been left in the past, too. Both of those historical senses are true to the Anglo-French parent of "harbinger," the word "herberge," meaning "lodgings." The most common sense of the word nowadays, the "forerunner" sense, has been with us since the mid-1500s.
>
> Test Your Memory: What is the meaning of "lobscouse," our Word of the Day from January 25, 2011? The answer is ... http://bit.ly/e25CQ8

Emprise

emprise \em-PRYZE\ noun
> : an adventurous, daring, or chivalric enterprise
>
> Examples:
> The poet Rupert Brooke, in an elegy to the passing of youth, lamented the loss of "high emprise and ventures dear."
>
> "But perhaps he was the only one courageous enough to voice an opinion that others might have shared, but were afraid to say, that this whole quixotic emprise had been a bad idea, that they had been fools to attempt an escape." -- From John D. Lukacs' 2010 book Escape From Davao
>
> Did you know?
> Someone who engages in emprises undertakes much, so it's no surprise that "emprise" descends from the Anglo-French word "emprendre," meaning "to undertake." It's also no surprise that "emprise" became established in English during the 13th century, a time when brave knights engaged in many a chivalrous undertaking. Fourteenth-century author Geoffrey Chaucer used "emprise" to describe one such knight in "The Franklin's Tale" (one of the stories in The Canterbury Tales): "Ther was a knyght that loved and dide his payne / To serve a lady in his beste wise; / And many labour, many a greet emprise, / He for his lady wroghte er she were wonne."
>
> Name That Synonym: What synonym of "emprise" has one syllable, begins with "g," and shares its pronunciation with a word meaning "joke"? The answer is ... http://bit.ly/ewqn0g

risible

risible \RIZ-uh-buhl\, adjective: 1. Capable of laughing; disposed to laugh. 2. Exciting or provoking laughter; worthy of laughter; laughable; amusing. 3. Relating to, connected with, or used in laughter; as, "risible muscles." Before long, I began to read aloud with my father, chanting the strange and wondrous rivers -- Shenandoah, Rappahannock, Chickahominy -- and wrapping my tongue around the risible names of rebel generals: Braxton Bragg, Jubal Early, John Sappington Marmaduke, William "Extra Billy" Smith, Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard. -- Tony Horwitz, Confederates in the Attic All twelve selected are thoughtful, small and funny in both senses of the word: odd and risible. -- Stefan Kanfer, "Of Cats, Myths and Pizza", Time, December 11, 1989 But Lionel . . . is not a risible character, even though he is often called "freakshow" and "crazyman." -- Adam Mazmanian, "Postmodern PI", Washington Post, November 7, 1999 Risible comes from Late Latin risibilis, from the past participle of Latin ridere, "to laugh, to laugh at." The noun form is risibility.

Unctuous

unctuous \UNK-chuh-wus\ adjective
> 1 a : fatty, oily
> b : smooth and greasy in texture or appearance
> 2 : insincerely smooth in speech and manner
>
> Examples:
> Angela's date was an unctuous man who attempted, unsuccessfully, to pass himself off as a sensitive, artistic soul.
>
> "Cucumbers by themselves are too watery and mild, and avocados by themselves are a little rich and unctuous, but together they make a soup that's fresh and bright, yet rich enough to be satisfying." -- From an article by John Broening in The Denver Post, August 25, 2010
>
> Did you know?
> Nowadays, "unctuous" has a negative connotation, but it originated in a term describing a positive act, that of healing. The word comes from the Latin verb "unguere" ("to anoint"), a root that also gave rise to the words "unguent" ("a soothing or healing salve") and "ointment." The oily nature of ointments may have led to the application of "unctuous" to describe things that are afflicted with an artificial gloss of sentimentality. An unctuous individual may mean well, but his or her insincere earnestness may leave an unwelcome residue with others, much like some ointments.

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."

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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."

Words of the Day? How about words of timeless wisdom? Introducing our Quotes channel! "Life itself is a quotation." - Jorge Luis Borges Check out the Quote of the Day ››

valetudinarian

valetudinarian

PRONUNCIATION:

(val-i-tood-NAYR-ee-unn, -tyood-)

MEANING:

noun: A weak or sickly person, especially one who is constantly or overly worried about his or her health.
adjective: Chronically sick or concerned about one's health.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin valetudo (state of health), from valere (to be strong or well). Ultimately, from the Indo-European root wal- (to be strong), which is also the source of valiant, avail, valor, value, countervail, polyvalent, and wieldy. Earliest documented use: 1703.

USAGE:

"Broadway theatre has long been known as 'the fabulous invalid', but could the old valetudinarian finally have caught a fatal cold?"
Charles Spencer; British Theatre Will Thrive in a Downturn; The Telegraph (London, UK); Dec 10, 2008.

Explore "valetudinarian" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Between truth and the search for truth, I opt for the second. -Bernard Berenson, art historian (1865-1959)

Vicissitude

vicissitude \vuh-SISS-uh-tood\ noun
> 1 : the quality or state of being changeable : mutability
> 2 a : an unexpected change or fluctuation
> b : a difficulty or hardship usually beyond one's control
>
> Examples:
> A good investor cannot simply rely on the vicissitude of the market; one must also have patience and use strategy to invest wisely.
>
> "Ten years is a lifetime in the art world, where the vicissitudes of trends and tastes can befuddle the most experienced." -- From an article by Scarlet Cheng in the Los Angeles Times, January 9, 2011
>
> Did you know?
> "Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better," wrote British theologian Richard Hooker in the 16th century. That observation may shed some light on "vicissitude," a word that can refer simply to the fact of change, or to an instance of it, but that often refers specifically to hardship or difficulty brought about by change. To survive "the vicissitudes of life" is thus to survive life's ups and downs, with special emphasis on the downs. "Vicissitude" is a descendant of the Latin noun "vicis," meaning "change" or "alternation," and it has been a part of the English language since the 16th century. In contemporary usage, it most often occurs in the plural.

tetchy

tetchy

PRONUNCIATION:

(TECH-ee)

MEANING:

adjective: Easily annoyed; oversensitive.

ETYMOLOGY:

Of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Middle English tache/teche (blemish). Earliest documented use: 1597.

USAGE:

"O comes across as tired and tetchy, and fed up with being unfairly treated by the press."
So Who Wrote O?; Daily Mail (London, UK); Jan 21, 2011.

Explore "tetchy" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed. -Herman Melville, novelist and poet (1819-1891)

Propitiate

The Word of the Day for November 14 is:

propitiate   \proh-PISH-ee-ayt\   verb: to gain or regain the favor or goodwill of : appease, conciliate

Examples:
The fans of the hard-luck baseball team wondered openly how to propitiate the gods of fate after yet another heartbreaking defeat.

"Surely neither the Bush nor the Obama administrations intended consciously to act in the interests of bankers rather than those of the public. But under the logic of the bailout, the markets were in charge, and the overarching aim of the government was to propitiate them to avoid disaster." -- From an article by Noah Feldman in New York Times Magazine, June 27, 2010

Did you know?
Like its synonym "appease," "propitiate" means "to ease the anger or disturbance of," but there are subtle differences between the two terms as well. "Appease" usually implies quieting insistent demands by making concessions, whereas "propitiate" tends to suggest averting the anger or malevolence of a superior being. In fact, "propitiate" often occurs -- as in our first example sentence -- in contexts involving deities, spirits, or other preternatural forces. You might "appease" your hunger, but to speak more colorfully, you could "propitiate the gods of hunger."

Quick Quiz: What 7-letter synonym of "propitiate" also begins with "p" and ends with "ate"? The answer is ... http://bit.ly/9zpISz

A.Word.A.Day--caitiff

caitiff

PRONUNCIATION:

(KAY-tif)

MEANING:

noun: A cowardly and despicable person.

adjective: cowardly, despicable. 

ETYMOLOGY:

Via French from Latin captivus (captive), from capere (to seize). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kap- (to grasp), which is also the root of captive, capsule, capable, capture, cable, chassis, occupy, deceive, captious, and gaff. Earliest documented use: Before 1300.] 

USAGE:

"I followed him through the streets, listening to his rant, the insults directed at me for knowing cutpurses and caitiffs, and how dare I lead him into such dens of ordure."

Frank McCourt; From an Affair with Books to a Book Fair; The New York Times; Sep 19, 1997. 

Explore "caitiff" in the Visual Thesaurus. 

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

There is no greater mistake than the hasty conclusion that opinions are worthless because they are badly argued. -Thomas Huxley, biologist and writer (1825-1895)

A.Word.A.Day--dyspeptic

Oscar Wilde once said, "It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious." 

dyspeptic

PRONUNCIATION:

(dis-PEP-tik)

MEANING:

adjective: 1. Relating to or suffering from dyspepsia (indigestion). 2. Having a bad temper; gloomy; irritable.

noun: One suffering from dyspepsia. 

ETYMOLOGY:

Via Latin from Greek dys- (bad) + peptos (digested). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pekw- (to cook or ripen), which is also the source of cook, cuisine, kitchen, kiln, biscuit, apricot (an early-ripening peach, literally speaking), pumpkin, and Hindi pakka (ripened, cooked). Earliest documented use: 1694. 

USAGE:

"It's the 1300s, and plague and pestilence have left those still alive in sour, dyspeptic moods."

Steven Rea; Sir Knight Nicolas in a 1300s Slog; Philadelphia Inquirer; Jan 8, 2011. 

Explore "dyspeptic" in the Visual Thesaurus. 

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do. There is no fun in doing nothing when you have nothing to do. Wasting time is merely an occupation then, and a most exhausting one. Idleness, like kisses, to be sweet must be stolen. -Jerome K. Jerome, humorist and playwright (1859-1927)