A.Word.A.Day Archives
from http://wordsmith.org/awad
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Date: Mon Jul 3 00:01:22 EDT 2006
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--scintillescent
X-Bonus: The further one grows spiritually, the more and more people one loves and the fewer and fewer people one likes. -Gale D. Webbe, clergyman and author (1909-2000)
It's human nature to seek patterns: some find the shapes of elephants in
the clouds, the face of Jesus in a piece of burnt tortilla, and spelling
coincidences in the names of Kennedy and Lincoln assassins.
There's a pattern, too, in this week's words, even if it's not very
apparent. Can you find it? If you think you know the answer, email
it to wordsATwordsmith.org (replace AT with @). One entry per person,
please. The first person to identify it correctly wins an autographed
copy of the book "Another Word A Day" by yours truly. Results will be
announced in AWADmail this weekend.
scintillescent (sint-uh-LES-uhnt) adjective
Sparkling or twinkling.
[From Latin scintillare (to sparkle), from scintilla (spark).]
-Anu Garg (gargATwordsmith.org)
"She tried to discern his thoughts as they stood in the scintillescent
moonlight, the dark forest pressing in on them."
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro; A Feast In Exile; Tor Books; 2002.
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Date: Tue Jul 4 00:01:17 EDT 2006
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--vetitive
X-Bonus: The object of most prayers is to wangle an advance on good intentions. -Robert Brault, software developer, writer (1938- )
This week's theme: yours to discover.
vetitive (VET-i-tiv) adjective
1. Relating to a veto.
2. Having the power to forbid.
[From Latin vetare (to forbid).]
-Anu Garg (gargATwordsmith.org)
"The only case in which our executives have a real vetitive power, is the
case of pardon, and most unfortunately it is used in an alarming degree,
against the supremacy of the law and the stability of the right -- both
essential to civil liberty."
Francis Lieber; On Civil Liberty and Self-government; 1853.
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Date: Wed Jul 5 00:01:16 EDT 2006
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--rapparee
X-Bonus: The man who prefers his country before any other duty shows the same spirit as the man who surrenders every right to the state. They both deny that right is superior to authority. -Lord Acton, historian (1834-1902)
This week's theme: yours to discover.
rapparee (rap-uh-REE) noun
1. An Irish guerrilla fighter in the late seventeenth century.
2. Any freebooter or robber.
[From Irish rapaire/ropaire (half-pike), since rapparees were known
to carry these.]
-Anu Garg (gargATwordsmith.org)
"The bloody man, the more than Hun, the sottish rapparee, he will
not die."
Patrick O'Brian; Master and Commander; Harper Collins; 1970.
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Date: Thu Jul 6 00:01:17 EDT 2006
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bilabial
X-Bonus: Religion--freedom--vengeance--what you will, A word's enough to raise mankind to kill. -Lord Byron, poet (1788-1824)
This week's theme: yours to discover.
bilabial (by-LAY-bee-uhl) adjective
Using both lips.
noun
A bilabial sound or consonant, for example p, b, m, where both lips
touch each other, and w in which lips are rounded.
[Latin bi- (two) + labial, from labium (lip), ultimately from Indo-European
root leb- (lip, to lick) that's also the source of lip, labrose (having
thick or large lips), and labret (an ornament worn in a pierced lip).]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=bilabial
-Anu Garg (gargATwordsmith.org)
"Bilabial sounds like mamma, papa and baba are probably the easiest for
the infant mouth to master."
Jack Rosenthal; From Arf to Zap; The New York Times; Jun 30, 1985.
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Date: Fri Jul 7 00:01:17 EDT 2006
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--froufrou
X-Bonus: Adulthood is the ever-shrinking period between childhood and old age. It is the apparent aim of modern industrial societies to reduce this period to a minimum. -Thomas Szasz, author, professor of psychiatry (1920- )
This week's theme: yours to discover.
froufrou (FROO-froo) noun
1. Something fancy, elaborate, and showy.
2. A rustling sound, as of a silk dress.
[From French, of imitative origin.]
What's common among the five words (scintillescent, vetitive, rapparee,
bilabial, froufrou) featured here this week? If you know the answer,
send it to wordsATwordsmith.org (replace AT with @). The first person
to identify it wins an autographed copy of the book "Another Word A Day".
-Anu Garg (gargATwordsmith.org)
"Too often I go to some lunch party and am presented with an exquisite
froufrou creation when what I long for is the pasta the three-year-old
sitting next to me is given."
Nigella Lawson; Indulge a Childhood Craving; Calgary Herald (Canada);
Aug 23, 2003.
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Date: Mon Jul 10 00:01:33 EDT 2006
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--iris
X-Bonus: The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. -Thomas Jefferson, third US president, architect, and author (1743-1826)
Guest wordsmith Vincent de Luise, MD (eyemusic73ATaol.com) writes:
The field of ophthalmology has burgeoned over the last decade. New
treatments for such blinding eye diseases as macular degeneration,
glaucoma, cataract, and diabetic eye disease have improved the vision
of millions of people around the world. The term "miracle of sight"
is something that I, as an eye surgeon, am privileged to hear every
week, from successful cataract and LASIK eye surgery patients.
This week, we will explore words associated with the eye and vision.
Interestingly, these words also have non-scientific definitions, which
underscores the fact that ophthalmology, which is obviously such a
visual science, often borrows words from observations in the real
world and associates them with the myriad eye conditions that exist.
[This week's guest wordsmith Dr. Vincent de Luise is an ophthalmologist
who specializes in cataract and corneal surgery. He practices and lives
in Connecticut, and is on the clinical faculty of the Yale University
School of Medicine. As a lifelong spelling bee participant, scrabbler, and
cruciverbalist, Dr de Luise has long been fascinated by words and sight.]
iris (EYE-ris) noun, plural irises, irides
1. The pigmented tissue of the eye in the center of which is the
opening called the pupil.
2. A rainbow.
3. A showy, flowering plant.
[From Latin iris, from Greek Iris/iris (the goddess of the rainbow, rainbow).]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=iris
The iris of the eye has been admired and studied for millennia. The
Egyptians memorialized beautiful irides in their sculpture, especially
pharaohs and queens. Of note is the bust of the 18th dynasty Queen
Nefertiti, whose magnificent right lapis lazuli iris insert is still
in its eye socket, (though, curiously, her left lapis lazuli insert
is missing).
There is an alternative medical practice called iridology which purports
to identify health and illness from an analysis of the spots on the iris,
through the creation of iris charts and iris maps. Peer-review literature
does not support its accuracy. The iris constricts with light and dilates
in darkness.
All of us have hazel or bluish irides at birth. Our final, genetically
determined eye color, be it hazel, blue, or brown, will usually declare
itself by the end of the first year of life. Other words with the same
etymology as iris include iridescent and iridium.
"In the meantime, banks are considering using iris scans and even palm
scans at ATMs in an effort to cut down on fraud."
Jonathan Curiel; The Last Days of Privacy; San Francisco Chronicle;
Jun 25, 2006.
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Date: Tue Jul 11 00:01:18 EDT 2006
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--vitreous
X-Bonus: One of my greatest pleasures in writing has come from the thought that perhaps my work might annoy someone of comfortably pretentious position. Then comes the saddening realization that such people rarely read. -John Kenneth Galbraith, economist (1908-2006)
This week's theme: words related to the eyes.
vitreous (VI-tree-uhs) noun
The clear, glassy, sticky inner substance of the eye.
adjective
Glassy.
[From Latin vitreus (made of glass), from vitrum (glass).]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=vitreous
The vitreous humor, or vitreous, is the glassy clear sticky material within
the eye. Its actual function is still unknown. When the vitreous gel
separates from the retina, one can get "floaters and flashes". During some
types of retinal surgery, the vitreous is removed (a vitrectomy) and
replaced with saline solution, with seemingly no ill effect in most cases.
"Vitreous" also means "glassy" in a non-medical sense, from which we get
vitrine, vitriol, vitriolic, and vitrescent.
-Guest wordsmith Vincent de Luise, MD (eyemusic73ATaol.com)
"I stuck my fist in the air and screamed as my eyes exploded and vitreous
humour ran down my cheeks and my face melted from their sheer onslaught
of power Witch was broadcasting. It was awesome."
Francis Joseph Smith; How J. Mascis Melted My Face; Maisonneuve (Montreal,
Canada); Jun 16, 2006.
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Date: Wed Jul 12 00:01:15 EDT 2006
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--dendriform
X-Bonus: It takes a certain maturity of mind to accept that nature works as steadily in rust as in rose petals. -Esther Warner Dendel, writer and artist (1910-2002)
This week's theme: words related to the eyes.
dendriform (DEN-druh-form) adjective
In the shape of a tree.
[From Greek dendron (tree), from which stem dendritic (treelike or tree-branch
like) and dendrochronology (the study of a tree's age by counting its rings).]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=dendriform
The shape of the herpes simplex virus when it attacks the cornea is dendriform.
The herpes simplex virus is not only a cause of the common "cold sore" that
one can get on one's lips, but is also an infectious cause of ocular pain
and visual loss. When herpes simplex virus attacks the cornea, it can appear
in many different ways, the most classical of which is as a "tree-branching"
ulcer, which leads to the very visual adjective "dendriform" ulcer.
-Guest wordsmith Vincent de Luise, MD (eyemusic73ATaol.com)
"The story is classic Garcia Marquez. Its effect is rich. Multi-tentacled.
Dendriform."
Marie Arana; The Love of His Life; The Washington Post; Nov 6, 2005.
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Date: Thu Jul 13 00:01:14 EDT 2006
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cataract
X-Bonus: Today I bent the truth to be kind, and I have no regret, for I am far surer of what is kind than I am of what is true. -Robert Brault, software developer, writer (1938- )
This week's theme: words related to the eyes.
cataract (KAT-uh-rakt) noun
1. A clouding of the naturally occurring crystalline lens.
2. A waterfall.
[From Latin cataracta (waterfall, portcullis), from Greek katarahaktes
(downpour), from Greek katarassein (down rush), from Greek kata (down) +
arassein (to strike). The medical term cataract stems from the sense of
portcullis which is a falling gate or covering.]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=cataract
The whitish appearance of onrushing water, cascading down a waterfall, is
exactly what a dense cataract looks like through the pupil -- it can be
a whitish, sometimes vertically streaked density. The cataract itself, in
medical terms, is a clouding of the normally clear crystalline lens.
In the 1500s, the term cataract began to be applied to the whitish clouding
of dense clouding of the crystalline lens. The lens, along with the cornea,
focuses light rays onto the retina, which is how we see. As a cataract
develops, our vision progressively blurs and objects become duskier and
browner (brunescent) because blue and violet rays are preferentially
absorbed by the cataractous lens, leaving largely the murkier reds and
browns to pass through.
The last works of the French impressionist painter Claude Monet (1840-1926),
especially his Japanese footbridge paintings and the "House from the Rose
Garden" series painted at his home at Giverny, show this brunescent change
over time. Monet's right cataract was removed in January, 1923, and works
painted after this time show a return of the blues and violets to his
artistic palette. In fact, his magisterial "Waterlilies" series of 22 murals
(Les Nympheas), finally completed right before his death in 1926 and now
spectacularly viewable in the refurbished Orangerie in Paris, show the
subtle blues and greens of the lily pads on the ponds.
The other definition of cataract is waterfall. The six large waterfalls of
the Nile river are usually called the cataracts of the Nile, near one of
which was built the Aswan Dam.
-Guest wordsmith Vincent de Luise, MD (eyemusic73ATaol.com)
"The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep
No more shall grief of mine the season wrong;
I hear the Echoes through the mountains throng,
The Winds come to me from the fields of sleep."
William Wordsworth; Ode: Intimations of Immortality From Recollections of
Early Childhood; 1802.
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Date: Fri Jul 14 00:01:19 EDT 2006
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--spectral
X-Bonus: Ink is handicapped, in a way, because you can blow up a man with gunpowder in half a second, while it may take twenty years to blow him up with a book. But the gunpowder destroys itself along with its victim, while a book can keep on exploding for centuries. -Christopher Morley, writer (1890-1957)
This week's theme: words related to the eyes.
spectral (SPEK-truhl) adjective
1. Pertaining to a light energy spectrum, usually the visible spectrum.
2. Pertaining to a ghost, wraith, or apparition.
[From Latin spectrum (appearance), from Latin specere (to look at).]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=spectral
The visible spectrum of light is a range of energy from an incandescent
source, measured in wavelengths, from red to violet. That oft-memorized
acronymic fellow ROY G BIV reminds us that the colors of the visible
spectrum, from longest wavelength to shortest wavelength, are Red - Orange
- Yellow - Green - Blue - Indigo - and Violet.
To be sure, there is an ultraviolet spectrum and an infrared spectrum, but
the visible light that we see, as refracted through a prism, are the colors
mentioned in the acronym. The appearance or apparition of a ghost gives us
the lay term "spectral" as an adjective describing a wraith or a ghost. One
therefore has to wonder: at what wavelength do ghosts reside?
-Guest wordsmith Vincent de Luise, MD (eyemusic73ATaol.com)
"Josh is an adult gripped by broken women, the memory of his dead mother,
the spectral presence of his living-dead father and the oddity of
messianic Judaism."
Tod Goldberg; A Shipwrecked Life; The Los Angeles Times; Mar 26, 2006.
onomatopoeia
1. The formation of words by imitating the sounds. 2. The use of suggestive words for rhetorical effect.
edacious
Noun: voracious; consuming; devouring
Using adjective of above: He was well-known for his edacity and was therefore not invited to many parties, it was not his hunger for knowledge but his edacious appetite for hors d`oeuvres that turned people off, even his protégée, a bodacious young thing with equally voracious appetites could in no way compete nor in the least keep up with him.
JARII: excerpt from book.
bodacious
Adj: Outstanding, Slang: Gorgeous
protégée
The female of protégé. Noun: ward; pupi; dependant; apprentice; acolyte; disciple; understudy.
boom box
ghetto blaster
boofer box
UK
noun: A large portable stereo with over-sized speakers, usually carried on the shoulder and used by anti-social members of the poorer classes to make their presence felt. As a rule played at full volume, sometimes an important part ot gang culture.
a gogo
1.
galore: as much as anybody could want2.
in a whirl of activity.
sagittate
adjective: Shaped like an arrowhead: used to describe a leaf that is shaped like an arrowhead.
trifurcate
adjective: Three-branched: divided into three branches or forks.
a fortiori
adverb with more reason: for an even stronger reason
philter
noun potion: a magical potion or charm, especially one that causes somebody to fall in love.
(potion, charm, drug, aphrodisiac, magic potion, draft (dated))
heel
4. Either of the end slices of a loaf of bread.
I was surprised this week when I asked a room full of English teachers if there was a synonym for the above word and they did not know that heel had this meaning.
misanthropist
1. A hater of mankind.
In all England I do not believe that I could have fixed on a
situation so completely removed from the stir of society a perfect misanthropist's heaven; and Mr. Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between us.
Emily Bronte Wuthering Heights
lambast
1. To lash or beat soundly. 2. To scold or denounce severely.
Colloquial
For their poor performance the workers were lambasted by their
supervisor, who promised, as a means to an end, that heads would roll in all
dpeartments if goals were not met.
to come down on
1. To scold, chide, put down for improper deeds.
Phrasal verb (almost has the same as definition 2. above.)
to come down hard on
The same only intensified and unjust.
Her parents came down hard on her for being at the party until the wee hours.
conurbation
(kon-uhr-BAY-shuhn) noun
A large urban area involving several contiguous communities,
formed as a result of expansion of neighboring areas.
[From con- (together, with) + Latin urb- (city) + -ation.]
"Anxious to consolidate St Petersburg as a conurbation, Peter the Great
forced his nobles to build second houses on the plots of land he gave
them just outside the city."
Books And Arts: Country Life; The Russian Summer House; The Economist
(London, UK); Jun 21, 2003.
stagflation
(stag-FLAY-shuhn) noun
Economic condition marked by lack of growth (stagnation) and high prices
(inflation).
[Blend of stagnation and inflation.]
"When this
adjustment is allied to an over-accommodative monetary policy,
it may result in a period of stagflation."
The Fed Takes a Dangerous Stance; Financial Times (London, UK);
Jul 22, 2003.
menology
(mi-NOL-uh-jee)
noun
A calendar, especially one commemorating specific people.
[From Modern Latin menologium, from Late Greek menologion, from meno- (month)
+ -logy (account). It's the same meno that appears in menopause.]
collyrium
(kuh-LIR-ee-ehm)
noun, plural collyria or collyriums
An eye-salve or eyewash.
[From Latin, from Greek kollurion (eye-salve), diminutive of kollura (roll of
bread).]
"Kabir, in my eyes reddened by love
How can collyrium be applied?*
Within them dwells my Beloved,
Where is the place for anything else?"
"(* Kajal, a type of lamp soot that is applied to the eyes by Indian
women for cosmetic and medicinal purposes. When the eyes are inflamed
or red, its use is given up until they become normal.)"
Kabir (15th century), translated by V.K. Sethi in "Kabir, The Weaver of
God's Name", 1994.
furphy
(FUR-fee) noun
A rumor.
[After the Furphy family of Victoria, Australia, manufacturer of Furphy
carts, for water or trash. These carts where used during World War I,
around which troops gathered and exchanged gossip. This word was formed in
much the same way as scuttlebutt, the word we got from nautical terminology.
A scuttlebutt was an open cask of drinking water, a favorite meeting place
of the crew to swap stories.]
"If it is proved that the bugs originated from space, then the damage
to the ozone layer may also have originated from space. This will render
the ozone theory a furphy."
Rob Horne, Bugs in Space?, The Advertiser (Adelaide, Australia),
Aug 3, 2001.
kowtow
(kow-TOW) verb
To kneel and touch the forehead to the ground as a mark of respect; to show
servile deference.
noun
An act of kowtowing.
[From Chinese kou (knock) tou (head).]
futilitarian
(fyoo-til-i-TAR-ee-uhn)
adjective
Holding the belief that human striving is useless.
noun
One who holds such belief.
[Blend of futile and utilitarian.]
"Owner Jerry Reinsdorf had promised an all-out effort to improve, but the
team seems to have adopted a futilitarian attitude."
Bob Verdi; Only Flag Over Comiskey Park Is White; Chicago Tribune;
Jul 9, 1989.
phlegmatic
(fleg-MAT-ik)
adjective
1. Having a sluggish temperament; apathetic.
2. Calm or composed.
[From Middle English fleumatike, from Old French fleumatique, from Late Latin
phlegmaticus, from Greek phlegmatikos, from the humor phlegm, from phlegein,
to burn. From phlegm, one of the four body humors, ascribed to these
qualities.]
"At these shows -- recorded last year -- Mr. Shepp, who has had his share
of winded, phlegmatic performances in recent years, came to play, and you
can feel Mr. Rudd's contributions hectoring him on."
Ben Ratliff, Looking Backward to Keep Alive, The New York Times, Aug 27,
2001.
avigation
(av-i-GAY-shuhn)
noun
Aerial navigation.
[Blend of avi- (bird) + navigation.]
"If the airport wins its point in a current lawsuit - in which the
airport's lawyers argue that it has acquired avigation easements over
neighboring homes, through historical use - what incentive would the
airport commission have to follow through with such an expensive
program?"
T.W. McGarry; Outlook is Bleak for Quieter Airport; The Los Angeles Times;
Aug 28, 1988.
epuration
(ep-yuh-RAY-shun) noun
Purification, especially removal of officials or politicians believed to
be disloyal; purge.
[From French epuration, epurer, to purify + ation.]
"Tito's epuration in 1945-46 of the Yugoslavs he considered a threat to
him took the lives, Mr. Malcolm reminds us, of 250,000 people."
J.B. Kelly, Slaughterhouse: Bosnia and the Failure of the West (book
review), National Review (New York), May 29, 1995.
mecca
(MEK-uh) noun
A place regarded as a center of some activity or one that many people
visit.
[After Mecca, a city in western Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Muhammad,
and a place of pilgrimage for Muslims.]
"The battlefield was my Mecca, and I dreamed about a trip there to see
where those soldiers had made the ultimate sacrifice."
Robert Lee Hodge, The New Battle for Gettysburg is to Save This Historic
Shrine, America's Civil War (Leesburg) Jul 2001.
chrysalis
(KRIS-uh-lis)
noun, plural chrysalises or chrysalides (kri-SAL-i-deez)
A pupa of a moth or butterfly, enclosed in a cocoon.
[From Latin chrysallis, from Greek.]
"The climax of metamorphosis into an adult can be viewed almost daily.
Butterflies usually emerge from their chrysalises sometime between 9:30
a.m. and 11:30 a.m."
William Allen, Where Beauty Flutters By, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
Jul 23, 1995.
ecdemic
(ek-DEM-ik) adjective
Of foreign origin; introduced from outside; pertaining to a disease
that's observed far from the area it originates in.
[From Latin ec-, variant of ex- (out of) + Greek -demic (on the pattern of
epidemic), from demos (people).]
"In order to meet the requirements of Ningbo's large-scale economic
development, after opening to the world, Ningbo has been striving for
discovering, introducing and training various kinds of outstanding
talents in many ways.
First of all, it tries its best to accept college graduates and secondary
technical school graduates. During 1981 and 2000, 131,000 graduates have
been employed in Ningbo area. Secondly, it widely introduces all kinds of
ecdemic talents."
Ningbo Today, Web site.
An epidemic is a widespread disease in a certain population while something
endemic is one that is confined to a specific people or place. An ecdemic
disease, on the other hand, is one brought from outside. But this academic
discussion is not what makes the word "ecdemic" interesting here. What is
it? You find out.
saponaceous
(sap-uh-NAY-shush) adjective
Soapy, slippery, evasive.
[From New Latin saponaceus, from Latin sapon- (soap).]
"Is this meant to be a fable about the power of the media (in the person
of the saponaceous [Ross]) to expose secrets and destroy relatively
innocent lives?"
Barbara D. Phillips; Theater: Animal Passions; The Wall Street Journal
(New York); Mar 13, 2002.
steganography
(ste-GUH-nog-ruh-fee) noun
Secret communication by hiding the existence of message.
A couple of examples of steganography: shrinking the secret text (by
repeated use of a photocopy machine) until it's the size of a dot and
then putting it in an unsuspected place, such as on top of a letter i in
some innocuous letter. Second, shaving the head of a man, writing the
secret message on his pate with unwashable ink, and then letting the
hair grow back before dispatching him to the destination. To take an
example from modern digital techniques, one could put the text of a
message in the blank spaces in an image file.
[From Greek stego- (cover) + -graphy (writing).]
"The history of cryptography crackles with famous names. Shifting the
whole alphabet forward or backward by one or more letters, so that, for
example, A becomes B, B becomes C, and so on, is known as a `Caesar
shift', one of the simplest kinds of cypher or letter-substitution code
(see the title of this article). Julius Caesar also used the ruse of
writing a Latin message in Greek characters so that it would be
unreadable if intercepted by the Gauls. One such missive was delivered
to the besieged Cicero fixed to a spear which was hurled into his camp
by a messenger. And pin-pricking the letters of an existing document to
spell out a secret message, a form of steganography popular in Victorian
times when newspapers could be sent by post for free, dates back to
Aeneas."
Moreover: Tijguz cvtjoftt, The Economist (London) Aug 28, 1999.
vug
(vug,
voog) noun
A small cavity in a rock, often lined with crystals of a different mineral.
[From Cornish vooga cave.]
"`Hey, it's a big mountain,' he said. `It's not a question of IF there's
another vug. The question is, will we find it?'"
Steven Saint, CC&V Mine Digs Deep, The Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph
Aug 14, 2000.
Timbuktu
(tim-buk-TOO)
noun
1. A town in West Africa in central Mali. Also Tombouctou.
2. Any remote place.
"`You can never find a space [at the mall]; you have to park in Timbuktu,'
Ms. Dvorak says. `Then you have to walk all over the mall.'"
Dean Starkman, The Mall, Without the Haul, The Wall Street Journal
(New York), Jul 25, 2001.
ciceronian
(sis-uh-RO-nee-uhn) adjective
1. Of or relating to Cicero.
2. In the style of Cicero, marked by ornate language, expansive flow,
forcefulness of expression, etc.
[After Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman statesman, orator, and writer
(106-43 BCE). Another eponym derived from Cicero's name is cicerone (guide)]
"Oxford University mooted the idea of establishing a business school six
years ago, prompting 500 black-gowned dons to storm into the 17th-century
Sheldonian Theatre in protest. Harvard's business school dates from 1908.
Cambridge succumbed in 1990. But outraged Oxonians unleashed volleys of
Ciceronian oratory, arguing that the groves of academe should be out of
bounds to commerce."
Tara Pepper, Oxford's Business Blues, Newsweek (New York), Sep 2, 2002.
gyrovague
(JYE-ro-vayg)
noun
A monk who travels from one place to another.
[From French, from Late Latin gyrovagus gyro- circle + vagus wandering.]
"Other forms of religious life on Mount Athos fall outside these two major
categories and include anchorites, hermits who live alone in secluded
cells or in groups of two or three in remote houses with their own
chapels, and gyrovagues - itinerant, mendicant monks."
Plutarchos Theocharides, The Holy Mountain, UNESCO Courier, Jan 1998.
argus
(AHR-guhs) noun
An alert and observant person; a watchful guardian.
[From Greek mythology. After Argus, a giant with 100 eyes who was sent to
watch over Io. He was later killed by Hermes and after his death his eyes
transformed into spots on the peacock's tail.]
"Arnold (Schwarzenegger) knew immediately that `Total Recall' needed
an Argus-eyed director who could maintain control over complicated visual
effects, extravagant futuristic sets, dangerous stunts, etc. -- while
also demanding good performances from his actors."
Bill Jones, SCREEN GIANT Muscles Parlayed Into Stardom, The Phoenix
Gazette (Phoenix, Arizona), Jun 2, 1990.
laconic
(luh-KON-ik)
adjective
Sparing with words, concise, terse.
[From Latin Laconicus, from Greek Lakonikos, from Lakon,
Laconian, a residentof Laconia, an ancient country in southern
Greece (Capital: Sparta). From thethe reputation of the Laconians
for terseness.]
"A studied cool prevails, the athletes communicating through laconic
signals, minimalist gestures and misdirected glances."
John Brant, Sights Set on Sydney, Runner's World, Sep 1, 1998.
misocainea
(mis-oh-KY-nee-uh) noun
Hatred of anything new.
[Greek miso- (hate) + caino- (new).]
"Although I agree with the majority that no appellate
court has yet held an insurer liable absent a premium
payment, it may be nothing more than appellate judges
suffering from a
case of misocainea!"
Hill v. Chubb Life American Insurance Co., Arizona Business
Gazette(Phoenix), Nov 11, 1993.
ventripotent
(ven-TRI-pot-ehnt) adj.
Having a large
belly; gluttonous.
[From French, from Latin ventri- (abdomen) + potent (powerful).]
"This wight ventripotent was dining
Once at the Grocers' Hall, and lining
With calipee and calipash
That tomb omnivorous -- his paunch."
Horace Smith; The Astronomical Alderman; 19th century.
(Calipee and calipash are parts of a turtle
beneath the lower and upper shields, respectively)
floccinaucinihilipilification
Pron:
(flok"su-nô"su-nI"hil-u-pil"u-fi-kA'shun)—n.
Rare.the estimation of something
as valueless (encountered mainly as an example of one of the longest words in
the English language).
Abluent:
-adj. that makes clean.
–n. any substance used for cleaning.
Abnegation:
-n. a giving up of rights, etc.;
renunciation
Through abnegation they believed a state
of grace could be obtained.
Accretion: n.
Loosely; The sum of additions or accumulations.
The natural flow of the river causes an accretion of rich ground soil at the tributary,
while at the same time causing erosion upstream.
Acculturation: n.
Sociology; The process of conditioning to the customs of a culture.
Her acculturation into the new society proved to be a daunting and tedious task.