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Post by Chris on Nov 22, 2006 19:33:42 GMT -5
Today's word, courtesy of dictionary.com: mollify (a favorite of mine)
mollify \MOL-uh-fy\, transitive verb: 1. To pacify; to soothe or calm in temper or disposition. 2. To reduce in intensity; to temper. 3. To soften; to reduce the rigidity of.
One hundred seventeen and a half pesos! Did you think you could mollify me with that amount, Philip V? -- Ana Teresa Torres, Doña Inés vs. Oblivion
M. Chirac kept coming back with different calculations as he tried to mollify protesters far more threatening than the demonstrators who had brought Nice to a standstill at the start of the summit. -- "Welcome to the late late show", Times (London), December 12, 2000
His government may have appeared to have changed its tone, if not its message, over the weekend to mollify public concern. -- Kevin O'Sullivan, "Marks & Spencer says No to GM food", Irish Times, March 16, 1999
The ground grew mollified, barrels brimmed, puddles ponded, rivers started to prowl. -- Tibor Fischer, The Collector Collector
Mollify comes from Middle French mollifier, ultimately from Latin mollis, "soft."
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Post by Chris on Nov 24, 2006 12:46:04 GMT -5
Today's word, courtesy of dictionary.com: avoirdupois (just saying it makes me feel Frenchy)
avoirdupois \av-uhr-duh-POIZ; AV-uhr-duh-poiz\, noun: 1. Avoirdupois weight, a system of weights based on a pound containing 16 ounces or 7,000 grains (453.59 grams). 2. Weight; heaviness; as, a person of much avoirdupois.
Claydon . . . was happy to admit that he has shed some avoirdupois. -- Mel Webb, "Claydon's loss leads to net gain", Times (London), February 18, 2000
Yet until middle age and avoirdupois overtook her, Mary was no slouch. -- John Updike, "How to Milk a Millionaire", New York Times, March 29, 1987
Tired of putting on and taking off the same five pounds? Don't delay, buy this book today -- and watch yourself shed both respectability and surplus avoirdupois! -- David Galef, "J. Faust's Guide to Power' And Other Self-Help Classics", New York Times, December 18, 1994
Avoirdupois is from Middle English avoir de pois, "goods sold by weight," from Old French aveir de peis, literally "goods of weight," from aveir, "property, goods" (from aveir, "to have," from Latin habere, "to have, to hold, to possess property") + de, "from" (from the Latin) + peis, "weight," from Latin pensum, "weight."
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Post by Chris on Nov 25, 2006 9:42:29 GMT -5
Today's word, courtesy of dictionary.com: inclement
inclement \in-KLEM-uhnt\, adjective: 1. Rough, harsh; extreme, severe -- generally restricted to the elements or weather. 2. Severe, unrelenting; cruel.
To make his misery complete he was forced to travel back in the winter, in the most inclement weather. -- Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, The Sleeping Beauty and other Fairy Tales
Molly also noticed that the window frames had grooves of soft lead, less than an inch wide and shaped like blunt hooks, into which the glass could be slotted at night or during inclement weather. -- Annabel Davis-Goff, The Dower House
Rosina concluded that a resident or guest had gone out back, possibly to use the privy, but this was a bit odd and certainly not routine, given the inclement weather and the availability of chamber pots in every room. -- Patricia Cline Cohen, The Murder of Helen Jewett
Inclement is from Latin in-, "not" + clemens, "gentle, merciful."
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Post by Chris on Nov 26, 2006 21:15:47 GMT -5
Today's word, courtesy of dictionary.com: travail (another favorite of mine)
travail \truh-VAYL; TRAV-ayl\, noun: 1. Painful or arduous work; severe toil or exertion. 2. Agony; anguish. 3. The labor of childbirth
intransitive verb: 1. To work very hard; to toil. 2. To suffer the pangs of childbirth; to be in labor.
But they stand out in even sharper relief when considered together -- when, for example, Jefferson's instinct for the lyrical is matched with Madison's impulse for the specific, or Washington's ease in office is matched with Adams's unceasing travail. -- David M. Shribman, review of Founding Brothers, by Joseph J. Ellis, Boston Globe, November 12, 2000
Every sport entails physical and mental travail, but the decathlon is a veritable factory of pain. -- Rafer Johnson with Philip Goldberg, The Best That I Can Be
For all his travails and tragedy, he remains boyishly delighted with all life has to offer. -- F. Kathleen Foley, "Kron Returns With Spirited, Touching 'Ride' About Family", Los AngelesTimes, January 20, 2000
The author of the Book of Jeremiah, for example, notes the "cry of a woman in travail, the anguish of one bringing forth her first child, gasping for breath, stretching out her hands crying 'Woe is me!'" -- Donald Caton, What a Blessing She Had Chloroform
I had travailed for a night, a day, and the better part of another night before I birthed the baby. -- Julie Fay, "In the Houses of the Good People", Feminist Studies, Summer 1999
Travail is from Old French traveillier, travaillier, from Vulgar Latin tripalium, "a three-staked instrument of torture," from Latin tripalis, "three-staked," from tri-, "three" + palus, "a stake."
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Post by Chris on Nov 28, 2006 10:58:22 GMT -5
Today's word, courtesy of dictionary.com: redact
redact \rih-DAKT\, transitive verb: 1. To draw up or frame (a statement, proclamation, etc.); to put in writing. 2. To make ready and put in shape for publication; to edit.
The authors have obtained a copy of this memo, albeit redacted. -- John F. Kelly and Phillip K. Wearne, Tainting Evidence
White sat down to write or re-write or redact whatever one does to a twenty-year accumulation of episodes. -- Gerald Weales, "The Designs of E. B. White", New York Times, May 24, 1970
Redact derives from Latin redactus, past participle of redigere, to drive back, from re-, red-, "again, back" + agere, "to put in motion, to drive."
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Post by Chris on Nov 29, 2006 11:10:27 GMT -5
Today's word, courtesy of dictionary.com: vapid
vapid \VAP-id; VAY-pid\, adjective: 1. Lacking liveliness and spirit; unanimated; spiritless; dull; as, "a vapid speech." 2. Flavorless; lacking taste or zest; flat; as, "vapid beer."
One year he was writing vapid and sentimental mediocrities, and the next he was turning out one of the best poems of our century. -- Anatole Broyard, New York Times
Especially in his coverage of the first 800 years of Russian architecture, he resorts to a prose of vapid enthusiasms; too many buildings are described like this, about a country palace: "a breathtaking masterpiece that fairly shimmered with Baroque splendor." -- Richard Lourie, "Firebrands and Firebirds", New York Times, April 5, 1998
The rest consisted of vapid anecdotes that revealed nothing but her own alleged caring, bromides that said nothing an ad agency couldn't tell you. -- Andrew Sullivan, "One Last Time", New Republic, August 28, 2000
The source of vapid is Latin vapidus, "spiritless, spoiled, flat."
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Post by Chris on Nov 30, 2006 12:12:20 GMT -5
Today's word, courtesy of dictionary.com: galvanic
galvanic \gal-VAN-ik\, adjective: 1. Of, pertaining to, or producing a direct current of electricity, especially when produced chemically. 2. Affecting or affected as if by an electric shock; startling; shocking. 3. Stimulating; energizing.
Reading the epic known to us as the Iliad is vastly different from the preliterate experience of hearing and seeing it performed. In place of the bard's galvanic flow of sound and image, the reader beholds a mute tome, the size of longish novel. -- Michael E. Hobart and Zachary S. Schiffman, Information Ages
Hemingway's letters, which often seem to have been dashed off at the end of the day, display little of the galvanic style that animated his early (and finest) fiction. -- Michiko Kakutani, "Tone It Down, He Urged Hemingway", New York Times, November 19, 1996
What was special -- and at the time, galvanic -- about his early writing was its precision and concision. -- Michiko Kakutani, "The Hunter Returns, Weary but Still Macho", New York Times, June 22, 1999
Galvanic is derived from Luigi Galvani, a professor of physiology at Bologna, whose experiments established the presence of bioelectric forces in animal tissue.
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Post by Chris on Dec 1, 2006 8:50:22 GMT -5
Today's word, courtesy of dictionary.com: debouch
debouch \dih-BOWCH; -BOOSH\, intransitive verb: 1. To march out (as from a wood, defile, or other narrow or confined spot) into the open. 2. To emerge; to issue.
transitive verb: 1. To cause to emerge or issue; to discharge.
When the mill hands hassled Pete at the Manchester Cafe, he took off his apron, debouched from behind the counter and beat them senseless. -- Richard Rhodes, Why They Kill
Bangladesh, one of the most populous spots on earth, is virtually the delta of the Brahmaputra and Ganga river systems, where numerous streams and rivers debouch to the Bay of Bengal. -- "Blood on the Border", Times of India, April 23, 2001
. . .one of those ancient towns of central France where the streets wind upward from the railway track, through scowling walls of medievalism, until they debouch in the square outside the cathedral door, surveyed by huge stone animals from the cathedral tower and prowled around on Sunday mornings by cats and desultory tourists. -- Jan Morris, Fifty Years of Europe
Debouch comes from French déboucher, from dé- (for de), "out of" (from Latin de) + bouche, "mouth" (from Latin bucca, "cheek, mouth"). The noun form is debouchment.
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Post by Chris on Dec 3, 2006 17:10:28 GMT -5
Today's word, courtesy of dictionary.com: unguent
unguent \UNG-gwuhnt\, noun: A salve for sores, burns, or the like; an ointment.
As a blond nurse . . . leaned over and began to swab a stinging green unguent on the throbbing wound. -- Lawrence Wright, God's Favorite
The window-sill was cluttered with shampoos and soaps and unguents. -- Amit Chaudhuri, Freedom Song
Unguent comes from Latin unguentum, from unguere, "to anoint."
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Post by Chris on Dec 5, 2006 16:43:41 GMT -5
dictum \DIK-tuhm\, noun: 1. An authoritative statement; a formal pronouncement. 2. Law) A judicial opinion expressed by judges on points that do not necessarily arise in the case, and are not involved in it.
I have taken to heart Francis Bacon's dictum that "truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion". -- Donald B. Calne, Within Reason: Rationality and Human Behavior
As an editor, Rahv took seriously Trotsky's dictum that "Art can become a strong ally of revolution only in so far as it remains faithful to itself." -- David Laskin, Partisans
What happened to Horace's dictum that literature should entertain and instruct? -- Scott Stossel, "Right Here Goes", The Atlantic, April 1996
Dictum is literally "a thing said," from the past participle of Latin dicere, "to say."
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Post by Chris on Dec 6, 2006 11:22:46 GMT -5
Today's word, courtesy of dictionary.com: 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.
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Post by Chris on Dec 7, 2006 15:57:40 GMT -5
Today's word, courtesy of dictionary.com: sartorial
sartorial \sar-TOR-ee-uhl\, adjective: 1. Of or relating to a tailor or to tailoring. 2. Of or relating to clothing, or style or manner of dress. 3. [Anatomy] Of or relating to the sartorius muscle.
His sartorial style runs toward jeans, Hawaiian shirts and cowboy boots, and he favors the grizzled, haven't-shaven-in-days look. -- Gary Rivlin, "AOL's Rough Riders", Industry Standard, October 23, 2000
She probably sensed that he had married her for her beautiful dark eyes and sartorial splendor -- and she may now have regretted the plumed hats and luxurious fur collars she had worn seductively in her youth. -- Thomas A. Underwood, Allen Tate: Orphan of the South
The Puritan leadership was especially distressed by the sartorial ostentation of the lower classes, who were supposed to content themselves with "raiment suitable to the order in which God's providence has placed them." -- Patricia O'Toole, Money & Morals in America
Sartorial derives from Latin sartor, "a patcher, tailor," from sartus, past participle of sarcire, "to patch, to mend."
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Post by Angie on Dec 23, 2006 16:54:29 GMT -5
Today's word, courtesy of dictionary.com: urbane
urbane \ur-BAYN\, adjective: Polished and smooth in manner; polite, refined, and elegant.
Taylor comes across as an intelligent man, suave and urbane, articulate and smooth as butter. -- Bill Berkeley, The Graves Are Not Yet Full
It was conceded that he was . . . "the kind of person," one friend-turned-opponent says, "the Founding Fathers would have wanted in the Senate: urbane, witty, scholarly, wise, eloquent." -- Godfrey Hodgson, The Gentleman From New York
The son of a famous father, . . . Harvard-educated, handsome, charming, urbane, a northeastern aristocrat with all the advantages, JFK appeared to be everything LBJ was not. -- Robert Dallek, Flawed Giant
Urbane comes from Latin urbanus, "of a city," hence "refined, polished," from urbs, "city." The noun form is urbanity.
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SapphireBird
Rank 3 (Almost Not a Newbie)
Memento mori-Remember that you are mortal
Posts: 436
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Post by SapphireBird on Jan 3, 2007 17:57:11 GMT -5
This is my favorite word.
From Wikipedia-
Defenestration is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window. The word comes from the Latin de ("from; out of") and fenestra ("window"). Merriam-Webster's dictionary users named it as one of their favorite words of the year in 2004.
Defenestration is often fatal, particularly if performed from a higher-story window or through glass.
LOL!! ;D
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Post by Angie on Jan 3, 2007 18:05:25 GMT -5
Ooh, I like that word. ;D
~
Today's word, courtesy of dictionary.com: favonian
favonian \fuh-VOH-nee-uhn\, adjective: Pertaining to the west wind; soft; mild; gentle.
With dusk came cool, favonian breezes. -- Ed Darack, Wind, Water, Sun
As God said to Adam on one of those favonian edenic days, "Pick a bone, any bone." -- Norah Labiner, Our Sometime Sister
Favonian is derived from Latin Favonius, "the west wind."
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