effloresce

effloresce \EF-luh-res\, verb:

1. To burst into bloom; blossom.
2. In chemistry, to change either throughout or on the surface to a mealy or powdery substance upon exposure to air, as a to change either throughout or on the surface to a mealy or powdery substance upon exposure to air, as a crystalline substance through loss of water of crystallization.

Do I, from scholar, effloresce into literary man, author by profession?
-- Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, The Caxtons; A Family Picture

Her leaves do not expand, or her flower-buds effloresce, unless sure of a quantum suff of sunshine.
-- Mrs. Gore (Catherine Grace Frances), Cecil: Or, The Adventures of Coxcom: A Novel

Effloresce combines the Latin roots ex-, "out of", and florescere, "to blossom."

turncoat

turncoat

PRONUNCIATION:

(TUHRN-koht) 

MEANING:

noun: Someone who changes allegiance and joins the opposite side. 

ETYMOLOGY:

The color, and especially the color of clothing, has long symbolized association with a particular cause. For example, soldiers in an army or players in a sports team don a designated color. The idea behind the word turncoat is someone switching allegiances and turning his coat inside out to hide his earlier colors. Earliest documented use: 1567. 

USAGE:

"You could almost imagine the little turncoats from the last poster creeping off and taking up residence in another series of photographs downstairs."
Julius Purcell; Faces That Cannot be Argued Away; Financial Times (London, UK); Jul 18, 2006. 

Explore "turncoat" in the Visual Thesaurus. 

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. -George Washington, 1st US president, general (1732-1799)

Ensconce

ensconce\in-SKAHNSS\

 

 

verb

 

1 :	to place or hide securely : conceal
2 :	to establish or settle firmly, comfortably, or snugly

 

 

Rather than ensconce the discouraging news in falsely hopeful language, the doctor imparted the diagnosis in a clear, straightforward manner.   "From Wednesday morning through Sunday night, nine men and one woman along with assorted helpers and facilitators will be sequestered on the 15th floor of The Westin hotel in Indianapolis. Ensconced in a luxury bunker, they won't come out for good until they've decided the 68 NCAA men's tournament teams, seeded them and placed them in the brackets." — From an article by Rusty Miller for the Associated Press, March 7, 2011

 

 

You might think of "sconce" as a type of candleholder or lamp, but the word can also refer to a defensive fortification, usually one made of earth. Originally, then, a person who was "ensconced" was enclosed in or concealed by such a structure, out of harm's way. The earliest writer to apply the verb "ensconce" with the general sense of "hide" was William Shakespeare. In The Merry Wives of Windsor, the character Falstaff, hoping to avoid detection when he is surprised during an amorous moment with Mrs. Ford, says "She shall not see me; I will ensconce me behind the arras." (An arras is a tapestry or wall hanging.)

anneal

anneal \uh-NEEL\, verb:

1. To toughen or temper. 
2. To heat (glass, earthenware, metals, etc.) to remove or prevent internal stress.
3. To free from internal stress by heating and gradually cooling.
4. To fuse colors onto (a vitreous or metallic surface) by heating.

Bracelets and spiral-headed pins of copper, and also of gold, which is even easier toanneal, appear almost at once.
-- Leon E. Stover, Bruce Kraig, Stonehenge: the Indo-European Heritage

The sinister imputations that could be drawn from that damning conversation on the tape, and her acceptance of their treachery, had only served to anneal her mind. 
-- Barbara Taylor Bradford, A Woman of Substance

Anneal has ancient roots in the Old English root anǣlan, "to kindle."

jamboree

jamboree \JAM-buh-ree\, noun:

1. A carousal; any noisy merrymaking.
2. A large gathering, as of a political party or the teams of a sporting league, often including a program of speeches and entertainment.
3. A large gathering of members of the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, usually nationwide or international in scope

Several thoughtful riflemen had foregone the shooting jamboree to place themselves as cover guards for the MG.
-- James Jones , The thin red line

Well, the great jamboree was over at last, not only the jamboree of the two Armistice Days (and really, we could have celebrated a dozen), but of the past several years. 
-- Charles Jackson , The sunnier side: Arcadian tales

Jamboree is an American invention, an apparent blend of jabber and shivaree.