arch \AHRCH\, adjective:
1. Cunning; crafty; sly.
2. Obsolete. A person who is preeminent; a chief.
noun:
1. A curved masonry construction for spanning an opening.
拱
Shimell, an opera singer by trade, brings an arch theatricality to his role, making Miller sit comfortably as both a pompous author and a withdrawn husband.
-- Michael Leader, "'Certified Copy' Review," DenofGeek.com, September, 2010
Janney's performance is arch and knowing, as she mocks the mother who dispenses anti-depressants to her kids like candy and eventually tells them, "I lied to you because I love you."
-- Bret Harte, "'Life During Wartime' Review," Danville Express, August, 2010
Arch originally meant "chief," as in an archangel, but took on the sense of "mischevious" in the 1660s.
Friday, September 24, 2010
quaggy
quaggy \KWAG-ee\, adjective:
1. Marshy; boggy.
2. Soft or flabby.
沼地的
The pool, thank Heaven! was not deep enough to have drowned any one; there were no signs of a struggle on its quaggy edges.
-- In a hollow of the hills: and other tales
I am listening to the classical station and becoming slightly delusional and eating some quaggy carroty mushy soup.
-- "You Know You Love Me," Sonatina Blog, http://littlesonata.blogspot.com, May, 2008
Quaggy ultimately derives from the Old English cwabba, "shake or tremble," in the sense of viscous fluid.
1. Marshy; boggy.
2. Soft or flabby.
沼地的
The pool, thank Heaven! was not deep enough to have drowned any one; there were no signs of a struggle on its quaggy edges.
-- In a hollow of the hills: and other tales
I am listening to the classical station and becoming slightly delusional and eating some quaggy carroty mushy soup.
-- "You Know You Love Me," Sonatina Blog, http://littlesonata.blogspot.com, May, 2008
Quaggy ultimately derives from the Old English cwabba, "shake or tremble," in the sense of viscous fluid.
burlesque
burlesque \ber-LESK\, adjective:
1. Involving ludicrous or mocking treatment of a solemn subject.
noun:
1. Any ludicrous parody or grotesque caricature.
2. A humorous and provocative stage show featuring slapstick humor, striptease acts, and a scantily clad female chorus.
Fast moving, wry and politely burlesque, The Finkler Question poses many questions.
-- Eileen Battersby, "Fast moving, wry and politely burlesque ,"The Irish Times, August, 2010.
He told himself that these words were ridiculous and part of the whole comic and burlesque, quality of the family, and yet he found now that he could not laugh at them.
-- Thomas Wolfe, Of time and the river: a legend of man's hunger in his youth
Burlesque comes from the Italian burlesco, "to jest."
1. Involving ludicrous or mocking treatment of a solemn subject.
noun:
1. Any ludicrous parody or grotesque caricature.
2. A humorous and provocative stage show featuring slapstick humor, striptease acts, and a scantily clad female chorus.
Fast moving, wry and politely burlesque, The Finkler Question poses many questions.
-- Eileen Battersby, "Fast moving, wry and politely burlesque ,"The Irish Times, August, 2010.
He told himself that these words were ridiculous and part of the whole comic and burlesque, quality of the family, and yet he found now that he could not laugh at them.
-- Thomas Wolfe, Of time and the river: a legend of man's hunger in his youth
Burlesque comes from the Italian burlesco, "to jest."
wend
wend \WEND\, verb:
1. To pursue or direct (one's way).
2. To proceed or go.
The issue will now wend through the courts; for how long is anyone's guess.
-- Jay Jochnowitz, "Smoke and taxes," The Observation Deck blog, timesunion.com, September, 2010.
But the bacteria had already begun their descent into foreign guts, and would wend their ways into intestinal tracts and into bowels.
-- Amy Tan, Saving Fish from Drowning
Wend can be traced back to the Goth wandjan, which is related to the verb "to wind."
1. To pursue or direct (one's way).
2. To proceed or go.
The issue will now wend through the courts; for how long is anyone's guess.
-- Jay Jochnowitz, "Smoke and taxes," The Observation Deck blog, timesunion.com, September, 2010.
But the bacteria had already begun their descent into foreign guts, and would wend their ways into intestinal tracts and into bowels.
-- Amy Tan, Saving Fish from Drowning
Wend can be traced back to the Goth wandjan, which is related to the verb "to wind."
jactation
jactation \jak-TEY-shuhn\, noun:
1. A restless tossing of the body.
2. Boasting; bragging.
As Denis sat alone in the silent, cabined space of his compartment, tossed this way and that by the jactation, he felt suddenly that the grinding wheels of the train spoke to him.
-- A. J. Cronin, Hatter's Castle
There are crises of convulsions, violent shouting, loud weeping, violent jactation, fainting, and semi-coma.
-- William Gilman Thompson, The occupational diseases: their causation, symptoms, treatment and prevention
Jactation derives from the Latin jactatare, "to throw."
1. A restless tossing of the body.
2. Boasting; bragging.
As Denis sat alone in the silent, cabined space of his compartment, tossed this way and that by the jactation, he felt suddenly that the grinding wheels of the train spoke to him.
-- A. J. Cronin, Hatter's Castle
There are crises of convulsions, violent shouting, loud weeping, violent jactation, fainting, and semi-coma.
-- William Gilman Thompson, The occupational diseases: their causation, symptoms, treatment and prevention
Jactation derives from the Latin jactatare, "to throw."
imago
imago \ih-MAH-goh\, noun:
1. An idealized concept of a loved one, formed in childhood and retained unaltered in adult life.
2. Entomology. An adult insect.
She pictured him retaining, year after year, her imago in his heart, as strongly as his was impressed upon her own at that moment.
-- Ellen Wallace, King's Cope: a novel
The woman herself may change, but his imago of her once formed and given its lasting outlines in the heat of passion, does not change, so that he may himself even be faithful to a wife who is unfaithful.
-- Wilfrid Lay, Man's Unconscious Passion and Man's Unconscious Spirit
Imago is a term that originated in psychoanalysis but migrated into popular usage in the 20th Century.
1. An idealized concept of a loved one, formed in childhood and retained unaltered in adult life.
2. Entomology. An adult insect.
She pictured him retaining, year after year, her imago in his heart, as strongly as his was impressed upon her own at that moment.
-- Ellen Wallace, King's Cope: a novel
The woman herself may change, but his imago of her once formed and given its lasting outlines in the heat of passion, does not change, so that he may himself even be faithful to a wife who is unfaithful.
-- Wilfrid Lay, Man's Unconscious Passion and Man's Unconscious Spirit
Imago is a term that originated in psychoanalysis but migrated into popular usage in the 20th Century.
Brobdingnagian
Brobdingnagian \brob-ding-NAG-ee-uhn\, adjective:
Of extraordinary size; gigantic; enormous.
The venture capital business has a size problem. A monstrous, staggering, stupefying one. Brobdingnagian even.
-- Russ Mitchell, "Too Much Ventured Nothing Gained", Fortune, November 11, 2002
Any savvy dealer . . . will try to talk you up to one of the latest behemoths, which have bloated to such Brobdingnagian dimensions as to have entered the realm of the absurd.
-- Jack Hitt, "The Hidden Life of SUVs", Mother Jones, July/August 1999
Some men set out to climb Mount Everest. Ammon Shea set out to read the Oxford English Dictionary full time, from cover to cover. Or rather covers to covers, his recent job as a furniture mover providing handy preparation for hoisting its 20 hefty volumes. And why did Shea fix his sights on this Brobdingnagian challenge - because it was there? "I have read the OED," he says, "so that you don't have to."
-- Amanda Heller, "Short Takes", Boston Globe, August 24, 2008
Brobdingnagian is from Brobdingnag, a country of giants in Swift's Gulliver's Travels.
Of extraordinary size; gigantic; enormous.
The venture capital business has a size problem. A monstrous, staggering, stupefying one. Brobdingnagian even.
-- Russ Mitchell, "Too Much Ventured Nothing Gained", Fortune, November 11, 2002
Any savvy dealer . . . will try to talk you up to one of the latest behemoths, which have bloated to such Brobdingnagian dimensions as to have entered the realm of the absurd.
-- Jack Hitt, "The Hidden Life of SUVs", Mother Jones, July/August 1999
Some men set out to climb Mount Everest. Ammon Shea set out to read the Oxford English Dictionary full time, from cover to cover. Or rather covers to covers, his recent job as a furniture mover providing handy preparation for hoisting its 20 hefty volumes. And why did Shea fix his sights on this Brobdingnagian challenge - because it was there? "I have read the OED," he says, "so that you don't have to."
-- Amanda Heller, "Short Takes", Boston Globe, August 24, 2008
Brobdingnagian is from Brobdingnag, a country of giants in Swift's Gulliver's Travels.
diaphanous
diaphanous \dy-AF-uh-nuhs\, adjective:
精致
1. Of such fine texture as to allow light to pass through; translucent or transparent.
2. Vague; insubstantial.
The curtains are thin, a diaphanous membrane that can't quite contain the light outside.
-- Eric Liu, The Accidental Asian
She needed more than diaphanous hope, more than I could give her.
-- Tej Rae, "One Hand Extended", Washington Post, August 12, 2001
This phantom wore many faces, but it always had golden hair, was enveloped in a diaphanous cloud, and floated airily before his mind's eye in a pleasing chaos of roses, peacocks, white ponies, and blue ribbons.
-- Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
精致
1. Of such fine texture as to allow light to pass through; translucent or transparent.
2. Vague; insubstantial.
The curtains are thin, a diaphanous membrane that can't quite contain the light outside.
-- Eric Liu, The Accidental Asian
She needed more than diaphanous hope, more than I could give her.
-- Tej Rae, "One Hand Extended", Washington Post, August 12, 2001
This phantom wore many faces, but it always had golden hair, was enveloped in a diaphanous cloud, and floated airily before his mind's eye in a pleasing chaos of roses, peacocks, white ponies, and blue ribbons.
-- Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
agog
agog \uh-GOG\, adjective:
极度兴奋
Full of excitement or interest; in eager desire; eager, keen.
Kobe Bryant left the Minnesota Timberwolves agog after a series of eye-popping moves in a game last week.
-- New York Times, February 5, 1998
He was now so interested, quite so privately agog, about it, that he had already an eye to the fun it would be to open up to her afterwards.
-- Henry James, The Ambassadors
By the second day he had found his sea-legs, and with hair flying and double-waistcoats flapping, he patrolled the deck agog with excitement, questioning and noting.
-- Richard Holmes, Coleridge: Darker Reflections, 1804-1834
Agog derives from Middle French en gogues, "in mirth; lively."
极度兴奋
Full of excitement or interest; in eager desire; eager, keen.
Kobe Bryant left the Minnesota Timberwolves agog after a series of eye-popping moves in a game last week.
-- New York Times, February 5, 1998
He was now so interested, quite so privately agog, about it, that he had already an eye to the fun it would be to open up to her afterwards.
-- Henry James, The Ambassadors
By the second day he had found his sea-legs, and with hair flying and double-waistcoats flapping, he patrolled the deck agog with excitement, questioning and noting.
-- Richard Holmes, Coleridge: Darker Reflections, 1804-1834
Agog derives from Middle French en gogues, "in mirth; lively."
Friday, July 30, 2010
behemoth
behemoth \bih-HEE-muhth\, noun:
1. noun 巨兽；庞然大物
2. noun [Bible] 河马（巨兽）[约伯记40：15-24]
1. Any creature or thing of monstrous size or power
2. An animal, perhaps the hippopotamus, mentioned in the Book of Job.
All the sportive rollickings of all the animals, from the agile fawn to the unwieldly behemoth, are dances taught them by nature.
-- Ambrose Bierce, They All Dance
And while that's not the case here, the retail behemoth clearly has the captive attention of mainstream America.
-- Dave Herrera, "3OH!3 gets enviable Walmart co-sign, prepares to print its own money," Denver Westword, July, 2010.
Behemoth derives from the Hebrew b'hemoth in the Book of Job, but may be a folk etymology of Egyptian pehemau , "water-ox," the name for the hippopotamus.
1. noun 巨兽；庞然大物
2. noun [Bible] 河马（巨兽）[约伯记40：15-24]
1. Any creature or thing of monstrous size or power
2. An animal, perhaps the hippopotamus, mentioned in the Book of Job.
All the sportive rollickings of all the animals, from the agile fawn to the unwieldly behemoth, are dances taught them by nature.
-- Ambrose Bierce, They All Dance
And while that's not the case here, the retail behemoth clearly has the captive attention of mainstream America.
-- Dave Herrera, "3OH!3 gets enviable Walmart co-sign, prepares to print its own money," Denver Westword, July, 2010.
Behemoth derives from the Hebrew b'hemoth in the Book of Job, but may be a folk etymology of Egyptian pehemau , "water-ox," the name for the hippopotamus.
palladian
palladian \puh-LEY-dee-uhn\, adjective:
（16世纪意大利建筑家）帕拉第奥的；（建筑）帕拉第奥式的
1. Pertaining to wisdom, knowledge, or study.
2. Of or pertaining to the goddess Athena.
3. Pertaining to, introduced by, or in the architectural style of Andrea Palladio.
Within the sanctuary the gold and ivory image of Athena, fashioned by Phidias, had given way to the pale face of Our Lady, Mother of the Holy Child, and the grandiloquent Latin of the mass rolled its volume through the hall that once had echoed to the sonorous Greek of the Palladian hymns.
-- Justin Huntly McCarthy, The dryad: a novel
Miss Barfoot was smiling at this Palladian attitude when a servant announced two ladies, Mrs. Smallbrook and Miss Haven.
-- George Gissing, Arlene Young, The odd women
Palladian is a direct ancestor of the Greek Palládios, "of Athena," goddess of wisdom.
（16世纪意大利建筑家）帕拉第奥的；（建筑）帕拉第奥式的
1. Pertaining to wisdom, knowledge, or study.
2. Of or pertaining to the goddess Athena.
3. Pertaining to, introduced by, or in the architectural style of Andrea Palladio.
Within the sanctuary the gold and ivory image of Athena, fashioned by Phidias, had given way to the pale face of Our Lady, Mother of the Holy Child, and the grandiloquent Latin of the mass rolled its volume through the hall that once had echoed to the sonorous Greek of the Palladian hymns.
-- Justin Huntly McCarthy, The dryad: a novel
Miss Barfoot was smiling at this Palladian attitude when a servant announced two ladies, Mrs. Smallbrook and Miss Haven.
-- George Gissing, Arlene Young, The odd women
Palladian is a direct ancestor of the Greek Palládios, "of Athena," goddess of wisdom.
acedia
acedia \uh-SEE-dee-uh\, noun:
懒散，懒惰；麻痹；冷漠忧郁性综合征
1. Sloth.
2. Laziness or indifference in religious matters.
His tales give the impression of a man cursed with an incurable disenchantment with life, a malady about midway between acedia and ennui.
-- James Norman Hall, Under a thatched roof
Five thousand people yawning in their cars, intimidated by the cops and bored to acedia by the chant of the politicians.
-- Edward Abbey, The monkey wrench gang
Acedia is a simple derivation from the Greek akēdeia, "indifference."
懒散，懒惰；麻痹；冷漠忧郁性综合征
1. Sloth.
2. Laziness or indifference in religious matters.
His tales give the impression of a man cursed with an incurable disenchantment with life, a malady about midway between acedia and ennui.
-- James Norman Hall, Under a thatched roof
Five thousand people yawning in their cars, intimidated by the cops and bored to acedia by the chant of the politicians.
-- Edward Abbey, The monkey wrench gang
Acedia is a simple derivation from the Greek akēdeia, "indifference."
philogyny
philogyny \fi-LOJ-uh-nee\, noun:
对女人的爱好
Love of or liking for women (opposite of misogyny.)
We will, therefore, draw a curtain over this scene, from that philogyny which is in us, and proceed to matters which, instead of dishonouring the human species, will greatly raise and ennoble it.
-- Henry Fielding, The Life and Death of Jonathan Wild, the Great
To me, it is immaterial if misogyny or philogyny or whatever was in the writer's mind. It's the fact of censorship and, what is truly more infuriating, at the instigation of a cleric, that alarms me.
-- Giordiano Bruno, "Wrong move, Mr Rector, sir," Malta Independent, November 2009
Philogyny combines two Greek roots: philo, "love," and gyn, "woman."
对女人的爱好
Love of or liking for women (opposite of misogyny.)
We will, therefore, draw a curtain over this scene, from that philogyny which is in us, and proceed to matters which, instead of dishonouring the human species, will greatly raise and ennoble it.
-- Henry Fielding, The Life and Death of Jonathan Wild, the Great
To me, it is immaterial if misogyny or philogyny or whatever was in the writer's mind. It's the fact of censorship and, what is truly more infuriating, at the instigation of a cleric, that alarms me.
-- Giordiano Bruno, "Wrong move, Mr Rector, sir," Malta Independent, November 2009
Philogyny combines two Greek roots: philo, "love," and gyn, "woman."
impedimenta
impedimenta \im-ped-uh-MEN-tuh\, noun:
1. 行军行李，部队辎重
2. 包袱，累赘，阻碍
Baggage or other things that retard one's progress.
With the ladies, therefore, matters soon assumed vivid and definite shape; they became clearly and irrefutably materialized; they stood stripped of all doubt and other impedimenta.
-- Nikolaĭ Gogol, Dead Souls
Amid all the usual impedimenta of a life, he came upon an unexpected treasure."When I was going through my father's chest of drawers, I found a little book that turned out to be a diary of my mother," Rodriguez told The Times.
-- Elizabeth Ogus, "Mi Diario,"The Montclair Times, July 2010.
Impedimenta relates to the Latin impedire, literally "to shackle one's feet."
1. 行军行李，部队辎重
2. 包袱，累赘，阻碍
Baggage or other things that retard one's progress.
With the ladies, therefore, matters soon assumed vivid and definite shape; they became clearly and irrefutably materialized; they stood stripped of all doubt and other impedimenta.
-- Nikolaĭ Gogol, Dead Souls
Amid all the usual impedimenta of a life, he came upon an unexpected treasure."When I was going through my father's chest of drawers, I found a little book that turned out to be a diary of my mother," Rodriguez told The Times.
-- Elizabeth Ogus, "Mi Diario,"The Montclair Times, July 2010.
Impedimenta relates to the Latin impedire, literally "to shackle one's feet."
occlude
occlude \uh-KLOOD\, verb:
1.使闭塞；堵塞；遮断
2.使…透不过；关出
3.吸藏；吸留；吸收（气体、液体等）
4.（上下牙齿）咬合
1. To shut in, out, or off.
2. Physical Chemistry. (Of certain metals and other solids) to incorporate (gases and other foreign substances), as by absorption or adsorption.
3. Dentistry. To shut or close, with the cusps of the opposing teeth of the upper and lower jaws fitting together.
Were you afraid that this person would eclipse you, would occlude your very being, that your life would become the baby and nothing else, and that - and this is the most important thing - you wouldn't mind?
-- Joanna Smith Rakoff, A fortunate age: a novel
Unwin closed his dreaming eyes, but he could not occlude the vision of the man thrashing where he sat.
-- Jedediah Berry, The Manual of Detection
Occlude owes its popular usage to the dental term occlusion, "the fitting together of the teeth of the lower jaw with the corresponding teeth of the upper jaw when the jaws are closed."
1.使闭塞；堵塞；遮断
2.使…透不过；关出
3.吸藏；吸留；吸收（气体、液体等）
4.（上下牙齿）咬合
1. To shut in, out, or off.
2. Physical Chemistry. (Of certain metals and other solids) to incorporate (gases and other foreign substances), as by absorption or adsorption.
3. Dentistry. To shut or close, with the cusps of the opposing teeth of the upper and lower jaws fitting together.
Were you afraid that this person would eclipse you, would occlude your very being, that your life would become the baby and nothing else, and that - and this is the most important thing - you wouldn't mind?
-- Joanna Smith Rakoff, A fortunate age: a novel
Unwin closed his dreaming eyes, but he could not occlude the vision of the man thrashing where he sat.
-- Jedediah Berry, The Manual of Detection
Occlude owes its popular usage to the dental term occlusion, "the fitting together of the teeth of the lower jaw with the corresponding teeth of the upper jaw when the jaws are closed."
morganatic
morganatic \mawr-guh-NAT-ik\, adjective:
贵贱联姻的
Of or pertaining to a form of marriage in which a person of high rank, as a member of the nobility, marries someone of lower station with the stipulation that neither the low-ranking spouse nor their children, if any, will have any claim to the titles or entailed property of the high-ranking partner.
Plans for a morganatic marriage, for Mrs Simpson to become Duchess of Cornwall, came to nothing. It is a mark of how much has changed in the intervening three-quarters of a century that the British press maintained a loyal silence about the crisis until the last moment, though the King's affair with a married woman was common knowledge among the upper classes.
-- Adam Sisman, "The Last Dance: 1936 by Denys Blakeway: review," The Telegraph, June, 2010.
Your marriage is therefore no marriage at all, and the highest compliment we can pay your association is to call it morganatic.
-- Robertson Davies, Hunting Stuart: & The voice of the people : two plays
Morganatic relates to the Latin morganaticam, "a gift given by bride or groom the day after marriage."
贵贱联姻的
Of or pertaining to a form of marriage in which a person of high rank, as a member of the nobility, marries someone of lower station with the stipulation that neither the low-ranking spouse nor their children, if any, will have any claim to the titles or entailed property of the high-ranking partner.
Plans for a morganatic marriage, for Mrs Simpson to become Duchess of Cornwall, came to nothing. It is a mark of how much has changed in the intervening three-quarters of a century that the British press maintained a loyal silence about the crisis until the last moment, though the King's affair with a married woman was common knowledge among the upper classes.
-- Adam Sisman, "The Last Dance: 1936 by Denys Blakeway: review," The Telegraph, June, 2010.
Your marriage is therefore no marriage at all, and the highest compliment we can pay your association is to call it morganatic.
-- Robertson Davies, Hunting Stuart: & The voice of the people : two plays
Morganatic relates to the Latin morganaticam, "a gift given by bride or groom the day after marriage."
zaftig
zaftig \ZAHF-tik\, adjective:
（女人）丰满匀称的；性感的；有曲线美的
Full-bodied; well-proportioned.
Rina's mom had been svelte, her dad had been fit and muscular, yet she'd managed to get the same zaftig genes as her mom's sister.
-- Susan Lyons, She's on Top
This chair is definitely an affable zaftig blobject, but very expensive compared to, and not very dissimilar from, the cheap $5 garden chairs made of polypropylene.
-- Christopher Bright, "The Haute Seat," Dwell, May 2007.
Zaftig is a borrowing from Yiddish, zaftik, literally meaning "juicy."
（女人）丰满匀称的；性感的；有曲线美的
Full-bodied; well-proportioned.
Rina's mom had been svelte, her dad had been fit and muscular, yet she'd managed to get the same zaftig genes as her mom's sister.
-- Susan Lyons, She's on Top
This chair is definitely an affable zaftig blobject, but very expensive compared to, and not very dissimilar from, the cheap $5 garden chairs made of polypropylene.
-- Christopher Bright, "The Haute Seat," Dwell, May 2007.
Zaftig is a borrowing from Yiddish, zaftik, literally meaning "juicy."
don
don \DON\, verb:
穿
1. To put on or dress in.
noun:
1. A Spanish title prefixed to a man's given name.
2. (In the Mafia) a head of a family or syndicate.
For some inexpensive 3-D fun on a sunny day, have your child don the special glasses included with Optrix 3-D Bubbles to see holographic stars, hearts, butterflies, or lightning bolts on the bubbles she blows.
-- Amy Kaldor-Bull, "Bubble toys that burst with fun," Kansas City Star, July 2010.
"Ay, ay, and the rector fancied, sitting teaching me Greek out of old wild Homer all weekday - and his girl slipping out and in - 'twould do to don the cassock of a Sunday and preach out of the pulpit against the world, the devil, and the flesh - then warn me against the sea - ha!
-- George Cupples, The green hand: adventures of a naval lieutenant: a sea story for boys
Don is an early 14th Century contraction of "do on," as doff is a similar contraction of "do off."
穿
1. To put on or dress in.
noun:
1. A Spanish title prefixed to a man's given name.
2. (In the Mafia) a head of a family or syndicate.
For some inexpensive 3-D fun on a sunny day, have your child don the special glasses included with Optrix 3-D Bubbles to see holographic stars, hearts, butterflies, or lightning bolts on the bubbles she blows.
-- Amy Kaldor-Bull, "Bubble toys that burst with fun," Kansas City Star, July 2010.
"Ay, ay, and the rector fancied, sitting teaching me Greek out of old wild Homer all weekday - and his girl slipping out and in - 'twould do to don the cassock of a Sunday and preach out of the pulpit against the world, the devil, and the flesh - then warn me against the sea - ha!
-- George Cupples, The green hand: adventures of a naval lieutenant: a sea story for boys
Don is an early 14th Century contraction of "do on," as doff is a similar contraction of "do off."
nitid
nitid \NIT-id\, adjective:
明亮的
Bright; lustrous.
Intolerably, I dreamt of an exiguous and nitid labyrinth: in the center was a water jar; my hands almost touched it, my eyes could see it, but so intricate and perplexed were the curves that I knew I would die before reaching it.
-- Jorge Luis Borges, The Immortal
"What!" exclaimed Sir Norfolk, almost shuddering at the inadvertence he had committed; "a waiting-man in such costly and nitid attire."
-- William Harrison Ainsworth, The Miser's Daughter
Nitid is related to the Latin nitidus, "glistening."
明亮的
Bright; lustrous.
Intolerably, I dreamt of an exiguous and nitid labyrinth: in the center was a water jar; my hands almost touched it, my eyes could see it, but so intricate and perplexed were the curves that I knew I would die before reaching it.
-- Jorge Luis Borges, The Immortal
"What!" exclaimed Sir Norfolk, almost shuddering at the inadvertence he had committed; "a waiting-man in such costly and nitid attire."
-- William Harrison Ainsworth, The Miser's Daughter
Nitid is related to the Latin nitidus, "glistening."
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
vestigial
vestigial \ve-STIJ-ee-uhl\, adjective:
形 痕迹;遗迹;退化的
1. Relating to a body part that has become small and lost its use because of evolutionary change.
2. Pertaining to, or of the nature of anything that is no longer present or in existence.
Pixar filmmakers have to be able to tap into their vestigial child, their inner Andy. In that sense, the Toy Story series is their collective autobiography.
-- Richard Corliss, "End of Innocence", Time, June 2010.
In gasps he replied that it was a boa - boas were notoriously good-natured - he only wished to see its vestigial hind-legs - then would let it go - he was not hurting it.
-- Patrick O'Brian, The far side of the world
Vestigial is from the French vestige, "a mark, trace, sign," which comes from the Latin vestigium, "footprint, trace," of unknown origin.
形 痕迹;遗迹;退化的
1. Relating to a body part that has become small and lost its use because of evolutionary change.
2. Pertaining to, or of the nature of anything that is no longer present or in existence.
Pixar filmmakers have to be able to tap into their vestigial child, their inner Andy. In that sense, the Toy Story series is their collective autobiography.
-- Richard Corliss, "End of Innocence", Time, June 2010.
In gasps he replied that it was a boa - boas were notoriously good-natured - he only wished to see its vestigial hind-legs - then would let it go - he was not hurting it.
-- Patrick O'Brian, The far side of the world
Vestigial is from the French vestige, "a mark, trace, sign," which comes from the Latin vestigium, "footprint, trace," of unknown origin.
tantivy
tantivy \tan-TIV-ee\, adjective:
1. Swift; rapid.
adverb:
1. At full gallop.
noun:
1. A rush, a gallop or stampede.
interjection:
1. (used as a hunting cry when the chase is at full speed.)
The passage of wild pigeons from this wood to that-with their slight tantivy-and carrier haste- Now from under some rotten stump your hoe turns up a spotted salamander- your own contemporary- A small trace of Egypt and the Nile in New England- Where is the priest of Isis.
-- Henry David Thoreau, Journal: 1842-1848
How does it come that a few short hours later we find him galloping tantivy over the dusty hills, no less than two hundred miles, as the birds fly, from the counter railings of welcomings?
-- Francis Lynde, Empire Builders
Tantivy, while associated with many aspects of horseback riding, is of unknown origin.
1. Swift; rapid.
adverb:
1. At full gallop.
noun:
1. A rush, a gallop or stampede.
interjection:
1. (used as a hunting cry when the chase is at full speed.)
The passage of wild pigeons from this wood to that-with their slight tantivy-and carrier haste- Now from under some rotten stump your hoe turns up a spotted salamander- your own contemporary- A small trace of Egypt and the Nile in New England- Where is the priest of Isis.
-- Henry David Thoreau, Journal: 1842-1848
How does it come that a few short hours later we find him galloping tantivy over the dusty hills, no less than two hundred miles, as the birds fly, from the counter railings of welcomings?
-- Francis Lynde, Empire Builders
Tantivy, while associated with many aspects of horseback riding, is of unknown origin.
subtilize
subtilize \SUHT-l-ahyz\, verb:
1. To make (the mind, senses, etc.) keen or discerning.
2. To elevate in character.
3. To make thin, rare, or more fluid or volatile; refine.
By long brooding over our recollections, we subtilize them into something akin to imaginary stuff, and hardly capable of being distinguished from it.
-- Nathanial Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance
Another (ah Lord helpe) mee vilifies /With Art of Love, and how to subtilize, /Making lewd Venus, with eternall Lines, /To tye Adonis to her love's designes.
-- John Davies of Hereford, Papers Complaint, compil'd in ruthfull Rimes Against the Paper-spoylers of these Times
Subtilize grew in popularity among practitioners of alchemy and early medical theory.
1. To make (the mind, senses, etc.) keen or discerning.
2. To elevate in character.
3. To make thin, rare, or more fluid or volatile; refine.
By long brooding over our recollections, we subtilize them into something akin to imaginary stuff, and hardly capable of being distinguished from it.
-- Nathanial Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance
Another (ah Lord helpe) mee vilifies /With Art of Love, and how to subtilize, /Making lewd Venus, with eternall Lines, /To tye Adonis to her love's designes.
-- John Davies of Hereford, Papers Complaint, compil'd in ruthfull Rimes Against the Paper-spoylers of these Times
Subtilize grew in popularity among practitioners of alchemy and early medical theory.
aeromancy
aeromancy \AIR-uh-man-see\, noun:
The prediction of future events from observation of weather conditions.
The wreckage of vast sundowns predicts in sulphurous aeromancy havoc to be.
-- Robert Malise and Bowyer Nichols, Fantastica: being The smile of the Sphinx, and other tales of imagination
Scrutinize the clouds for sun-dogs, gaze into the eyes of a baby or a feline, and practice the ancient divination arts of augury and aeromancy by recognizing intuitive messages received when watching birds or airplanes fly across the sky.
-- Margie Lapanja and Andrew F. Smith, Romancing the Stove: Celebrated Recipes and Delicious Fun for Every Kitchen
Aeromancy is but one sort of divination practiced in medieval times. Some other examples: augury, based on the flight of birds; cheiromancy, palm-reading; and oneiromancy, the interpretation of dreams.
The prediction of future events from observation of weather conditions.
The wreckage of vast sundowns predicts in sulphurous aeromancy havoc to be.
-- Robert Malise and Bowyer Nichols, Fantastica: being The smile of the Sphinx, and other tales of imagination
Scrutinize the clouds for sun-dogs, gaze into the eyes of a baby or a feline, and practice the ancient divination arts of augury and aeromancy by recognizing intuitive messages received when watching birds or airplanes fly across the sky.
-- Margie Lapanja and Andrew F. Smith, Romancing the Stove: Celebrated Recipes and Delicious Fun for Every Kitchen
Aeromancy is but one sort of divination practiced in medieval times. Some other examples: augury, based on the flight of birds; cheiromancy, palm-reading; and oneiromancy, the interpretation of dreams.
snuff
snuff \SNUHF\, verb:
名 烛蕊燃焦部;香味;弄熄;以鼻闻
1. To extinguish or suppress.
2. To cut off or remove the snuff of (candles, tapers, etc.).
noun:
1. The charred or partly consumed portion of a candlewick.
2. A preparation of tobacco, either powdered and taken into the nostrils by inhalation or ground and placed between the cheek and gum.
verb:
1. To draw in through the nose by inhaling.
Derek Jeter bashed Duensing's sixth pitch into the bullpen, then almost single-handedly made the run hold up with a spectacular play to snuff a second-and-third Twins threat, and the Yankees won for the 10th time in their last 11 games against the Twins.
-- Phil Miller, "Twins do everything right but win", FoxSportsNorth.com, May 2010
They augur misgovernment at a distance; and snuff the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze.
-- Edmund Burke, Second Speech on Conciliation with America
The verb form of snuff has acquired layers of meaning through time: "to cut or pinch off the burned part of a candle wick," is an adaptation from the noun snoffe, the "burned part of a candle wick." The sense "to die" stems from the 1800s, and "to kill" appears in the 1930s, as in a snuff-film.
名 烛蕊燃焦部;香味;弄熄;以鼻闻
1. To extinguish or suppress.
2. To cut off or remove the snuff of (candles, tapers, etc.).
noun:
1. The charred or partly consumed portion of a candlewick.
2. A preparation of tobacco, either powdered and taken into the nostrils by inhalation or ground and placed between the cheek and gum.
verb:
1. To draw in through the nose by inhaling.
Derek Jeter bashed Duensing's sixth pitch into the bullpen, then almost single-handedly made the run hold up with a spectacular play to snuff a second-and-third Twins threat, and the Yankees won for the 10th time in their last 11 games against the Twins.
-- Phil Miller, "Twins do everything right but win", FoxSportsNorth.com, May 2010
They augur misgovernment at a distance; and snuff the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze.
-- Edmund Burke, Second Speech on Conciliation with America
The verb form of snuff has acquired layers of meaning through time: "to cut or pinch off the burned part of a candle wick," is an adaptation from the noun snoffe, the "burned part of a candle wick." The sense "to die" stems from the 1800s, and "to kill" appears in the 1930s, as in a snuff-film.
Friday, July 9, 2010
sibylline
sibylline \SIB-uh-leen\, adjective:
1。先知;玄妙。
2。预言;玄妙。
3。神秘，难以理解。
1. Prophetic; oracular.
2. Of, resembling, or characteristic of a sibyl; prophetic; oracular.
3. Mysterious; cryptic.
OPN, an American actually called Daniel Lopatin, has been around since 2006 and already amassed a ton of loop-based otherworldly music pieces released under an array of suitably sibylline monikers.
-- Thomas Corlin, "Interview: Oneohtrix Point Never", Spoonfed.co.uk
The response, by the bye, was of the true sibylline stamp,—nonsensical in its first aspect, yet on closer study unfolding a variety of interpretations, one of which has certainly accorded with the event.
-- Nathanial Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance
Sibylline derives from the Greek Sibylla, any of several prophetesses consulted by ancient Greeks and Romans, of uncertain origin.
1。先知;玄妙。
2。预言;玄妙。
3。神秘，难以理解。
1. Prophetic; oracular.
2. Of, resembling, or characteristic of a sibyl; prophetic; oracular.
3. Mysterious; cryptic.
OPN, an American actually called Daniel Lopatin, has been around since 2006 and already amassed a ton of loop-based otherworldly music pieces released under an array of suitably sibylline monikers.
-- Thomas Corlin, "Interview: Oneohtrix Point Never", Spoonfed.co.uk
The response, by the bye, was of the true sibylline stamp,—nonsensical in its first aspect, yet on closer study unfolding a variety of interpretations, one of which has certainly accorded with the event.
-- Nathanial Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance
Sibylline derives from the Greek Sibylla, any of several prophetesses consulted by ancient Greeks and Romans, of uncertain origin.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
bijou
bijou \BEE-zhoo\, adjective:
1. Something small, delicate, and exquisitely wrought.
noun:
1. A jewel.
Adding to its appeal is the fact that the Streak is a compact and bijou five inches, compared to the iPad's relatively chunky 9.7-inches.
-- Jonathan Leggett, "Dell Streak Free on Mobile Broadband Deals", Top 10 Broadband, June 2010
This was followed by bijou slices of grilled swordfish belly swathed in a homemade sesame sauce ($5).
-- Annette Tan, "Small bites to a big meal", Singapore Today, June 2010
Bijou comes from the French Breton bizou, "ring."
1. Something small, delicate, and exquisitely wrought.
noun:
1. A jewel.
Adding to its appeal is the fact that the Streak is a compact and bijou five inches, compared to the iPad's relatively chunky 9.7-inches.
-- Jonathan Leggett, "Dell Streak Free on Mobile Broadband Deals", Top 10 Broadband, June 2010
This was followed by bijou slices of grilled swordfish belly swathed in a homemade sesame sauce ($5).
-- Annette Tan, "Small bites to a big meal", Singapore Today, June 2010
Bijou comes from the French Breton bizou, "ring."
couvade
couvade \koo-VAHD\, noun:
产翁制 http://baike.baidu.com/view/1839403.htm
A practice in certain cultures in which the husband of a woman in labor takes to his bed as though he were bearing the child.
Whether men experience couvades or not, there are plenty of other birth rituals for them to partake in: sitting through prenatal classes, going to ultrasound appointments, strapping on thirty pound lead empathy bellies, attending coed baby showers, making smalltalk during epidural sessions, photographing the birth, cutting the umbilical cord. . .
-- Tina Cassidy, Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born
Although husband involvement in the birth process is not uncommon in preindustrial societies, as we showed in Chapter 5, the emerging American practice of having the husband present at the delivery itself is almost unique in world societies. The increasing popularity of this new form of "couvade" in the United States is particularly intriguing theoretically and represents an unexplored issue in social-psychological research.
-- Karen Paige, Jeffery M. Paige, The politics of reproductive ritual
Couvade comes from the French couver, "to incubate or hatch."
产翁制 http://baike.baidu.com/view/1839403.htm
A practice in certain cultures in which the husband of a woman in labor takes to his bed as though he were bearing the child.
Whether men experience couvades or not, there are plenty of other birth rituals for them to partake in: sitting through prenatal classes, going to ultrasound appointments, strapping on thirty pound lead empathy bellies, attending coed baby showers, making smalltalk during epidural sessions, photographing the birth, cutting the umbilical cord. . .
-- Tina Cassidy, Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born
Although husband involvement in the birth process is not uncommon in preindustrial societies, as we showed in Chapter 5, the emerging American practice of having the husband present at the delivery itself is almost unique in world societies. The increasing popularity of this new form of "couvade" in the United States is particularly intriguing theoretically and represents an unexplored issue in social-psychological research.
-- Karen Paige, Jeffery M. Paige, The politics of reproductive ritual
Couvade comes from the French couver, "to incubate or hatch."
Monday, July 5, 2010
vespertine
vespertine \VES-per-tin\, adjective:
1. Of, pertaining to, or occurring in the evening.
2. Botany. Opening or expanding in the evening, as certain flowers.
3. Zoology. Becoming active in the evening, as bats and owls.
To my own ear, I sound hyperpoetic, and I don't mean to exaggerate these vespertine moods; I think that this restlessness that I am describing was really quite ordinary.
-- Peter Gadol, The Long Rain
So on we journey'd, through the evening sky / Gazing intent, far onward as our eyes, / With level view, could stretch against the bright / Vespertine ray: and lo ! by slow degrees / Gathering, a fog made towards us, dark as night.
-- Dante Alighieri, The vision, or, Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise
Vespertine derives from Latin vespertīnus, "evening."
1. Of, pertaining to, or occurring in the evening.
2. Botany. Opening or expanding in the evening, as certain flowers.
3. Zoology. Becoming active in the evening, as bats and owls.
To my own ear, I sound hyperpoetic, and I don't mean to exaggerate these vespertine moods; I think that this restlessness that I am describing was really quite ordinary.
-- Peter Gadol, The Long Rain
So on we journey'd, through the evening sky / Gazing intent, far onward as our eyes, / With level view, could stretch against the bright / Vespertine ray: and lo ! by slow degrees / Gathering, a fog made towards us, dark as night.
-- Dante Alighieri, The vision, or, Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise
Vespertine derives from Latin vespertīnus, "evening."
evanescence
evanescence \ev-uh-NES-ens\, noun:
1. A gradual dissappearance.
2. The state of becoming imperceptible.
This is one of the most beautiful circumstances connected with water surface, for by these means a variety of color and a grace and evanescence are introduced in the reflection otherwise impossible.
-- John Ruskin, The Works of John Ruskin: Modern painters, v.1-5
But this was an evanescence, and quickly repented of, as it were, by an immitigable look, pinching and shriveling the visage into the momentary semblance of a wrinkled walnut.
-- Herman Melville, Billy Budd, sailor: (an inside narrative)
Evanescence is from Latin evanescere, "to vanish," from e-, "from, out of" + vanescere, "to disappear," from vanus, "empty."
1. A gradual dissappearance.
2. The state of becoming imperceptible.
This is one of the most beautiful circumstances connected with water surface, for by these means a variety of color and a grace and evanescence are introduced in the reflection otherwise impossible.
-- John Ruskin, The Works of John Ruskin: Modern painters, v.1-5
But this was an evanescence, and quickly repented of, as it were, by an immitigable look, pinching and shriveling the visage into the momentary semblance of a wrinkled walnut.
-- Herman Melville, Billy Budd, sailor: (an inside narrative)
Evanescence is from Latin evanescere, "to vanish," from e-, "from, out of" + vanescere, "to disappear," from vanus, "empty."
rataplan
rataplan \rat-uh-PLAN\, verb:
1. To produce the sound as of the beating of a drum.
noun:
1. A sound of or as of the beating of a drum.
2. A tattoo, as of a drum, the hooves of a galloping horse, or machine-gun fire.
When his breath returned, he called aloud to space: "My drum ain't busted, but I can't reach t'other stick !" and then rat-tatted as best he could, sitting, hot in his own blood, there in what might have seemed the measured centre of the surely coming charge. As his one stick beat, rataplanning as best it might alone, his ghastly face, turned backward, saw the first man, rifle in hand who topped the low ridge, racing forward on two strong legs, furiously cursing the swinging, helpless left arm that dripped as he ran.
-- Clara Morris, The life of a star
They rataplanned through Abbeville. They saw four unknown riders, in uniforms of the North, trailing them. Harnden called an abrupt halt and waited till the riders came up.
-- Ivan Clyde Lake, "The badgers pursued Jefferson Davis", The Milwaukee Sentinel, 1965
Rataplan's origin is French, though its meaning is entirely imitative.
1. To produce the sound as of the beating of a drum.
noun:
1. A sound of or as of the beating of a drum.
2. A tattoo, as of a drum, the hooves of a galloping horse, or machine-gun fire.
When his breath returned, he called aloud to space: "My drum ain't busted, but I can't reach t'other stick !" and then rat-tatted as best he could, sitting, hot in his own blood, there in what might have seemed the measured centre of the surely coming charge. As his one stick beat, rataplanning as best it might alone, his ghastly face, turned backward, saw the first man, rifle in hand who topped the low ridge, racing forward on two strong legs, furiously cursing the swinging, helpless left arm that dripped as he ran.
-- Clara Morris, The life of a star
They rataplanned through Abbeville. They saw four unknown riders, in uniforms of the North, trailing them. Harnden called an abrupt halt and waited till the riders came up.
-- Ivan Clyde Lake, "The badgers pursued Jefferson Davis", The Milwaukee Sentinel, 1965
Rataplan's origin is French, though its meaning is entirely imitative.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
yaw
yaw \YAW\, verb:
1. To move unsteadily; weave.
2. To deviate temporarily from a straight course, as a ship.
3. (Of a vehicle) to have a motion about the vertical axis.
Test pilot Joseph A. Walker flew the X-15 an estimated 28 miles high Thursday, testing a new way to curb the rocket plane's tendency to yaw as it plunges back from the edge of space.
-- "X-15 Flight Tests Tighter Yaw Control", Milwaukee Journal, 1962
Now to this hand, now to that, he yawed in his faltering flight, and still at every billow that he broke, he spasmodically sank in the sea, or sideways rolled towards the sky his one beating fin.
-- Herman Melville, Moby Dick, or The Whale
Yaw migrates to English from the Old Norse jaga, "to drive, chase."
1. To move unsteadily; weave.
2. To deviate temporarily from a straight course, as a ship.
3. (Of a vehicle) to have a motion about the vertical axis.
Test pilot Joseph A. Walker flew the X-15 an estimated 28 miles high Thursday, testing a new way to curb the rocket plane's tendency to yaw as it plunges back from the edge of space.
-- "X-15 Flight Tests Tighter Yaw Control", Milwaukee Journal, 1962
Now to this hand, now to that, he yawed in his faltering flight, and still at every billow that he broke, he spasmodically sank in the sea, or sideways rolled towards the sky his one beating fin.
-- Herman Melville, Moby Dick, or The Whale
Yaw migrates to English from the Old Norse jaga, "to drive, chase."
Monday, June 21, 2010
amok
amok \uh-MUHK\, adjective:
1. In or into a jumbled or confused state.
2. In or into an uncontrolled state or a state of extreme activity.
3. In a frenzy to do violence or kill.
noun:
1. A psychic disturbance characterized by depression followed by a manic urge to murder.
There's a legend that when the Lumiere brothers - pioneers of motion pictures - showed their film of an approaching train in 1896, the audience ran amok in terror.
-- Claire O'Neill, "Autochromes: The First Flash Of Color", NPR
With fiscal affairs amok, North Dakota higher education is experiencing its third major scandal since statehood.
-- Lloyd Omdahl, "Omdahl: Restraint the best recipe", Inforum
Amok enters English from the Malay amuk, "attacking furiously." The word was adopted into Portugese as amouco.
1. In or into a jumbled or confused state.
2. In or into an uncontrolled state or a state of extreme activity.
3. In a frenzy to do violence or kill.
noun:
1. A psychic disturbance characterized by depression followed by a manic urge to murder.
There's a legend that when the Lumiere brothers - pioneers of motion pictures - showed their film of an approaching train in 1896, the audience ran amok in terror.
-- Claire O'Neill, "Autochromes: The First Flash Of Color", NPR
With fiscal affairs amok, North Dakota higher education is experiencing its third major scandal since statehood.
-- Lloyd Omdahl, "Omdahl: Restraint the best recipe", Inforum
Amok enters English from the Malay amuk, "attacking furiously." The word was adopted into Portugese as amouco.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
indemnity
indemnity \in-DEM-ni-tee\, noun:
1. Protection or security against damage or loss.
2. Compensation for damage or loss sustained.
3. Something paid by way of such compensation.
4. Legal exemption from penalties attaching to unconstitutional or illegal actions, granted to public officers and other persons.
But he suddenly got up, and after a mad burst of laughter, he cried: "An indemnity! Holy Virgin, an indemnity! Don't you realize that I want to give her everything, the spring, the carnations, the house, and all the Soubeyran inheritance, the lands, the house, the treasure, my name, and my life?"
-- Marcel Pagnol, Jean de Florette
"Reconciliation is not simply a question of indemnity or amnesty and letting bygones be bygones," Omar said. "If the wounds of the past are to be healed... disclosure of the truth and its acknowledgment are essential."
-- "Mandela Will Grant Amnesty For Some Political Crimes", Jet, 1994.
One of the roots of indemnity, the Middle English damnum, "loss", relates to the modern verb damn.
1. Protection or security against damage or loss.
2. Compensation for damage or loss sustained.
3. Something paid by way of such compensation.
4. Legal exemption from penalties attaching to unconstitutional or illegal actions, granted to public officers and other persons.
But he suddenly got up, and after a mad burst of laughter, he cried: "An indemnity! Holy Virgin, an indemnity! Don't you realize that I want to give her everything, the spring, the carnations, the house, and all the Soubeyran inheritance, the lands, the house, the treasure, my name, and my life?"
-- Marcel Pagnol, Jean de Florette
"Reconciliation is not simply a question of indemnity or amnesty and letting bygones be bygones," Omar said. "If the wounds of the past are to be healed... disclosure of the truth and its acknowledgment are essential."
-- "Mandela Will Grant Amnesty For Some Political Crimes", Jet, 1994.
One of the roots of indemnity, the Middle English damnum, "loss", relates to the modern verb damn.
festoon
festoon \fe-STOON\, verb:
1. To adorn with hanging chains or strands of any material.
2. Dentistry. To reproduce natural gum patterns around the teeth or a denture.
noun:
1. A string or chain of flowers, foliage, ribbon, etc., suspended in a curve between two points.
2. A decorative representation of this, as in architectural work or on pottery.
3. A fabric suspended, draped, and bound at intervals to form graceful loops or scalloped folds.
4. Dentistry. The garlandlike area of the gums surrounding the necks of the teeth.
Its medium green leaves are perfect backdrops for the large orb-shaped white flowers blushed with pink that festoon the tree in May and June.
-- Leslie Cox, "Leaf beetles don't give snowball a chance in ...", Comox Valley Record
For nearly half a mile along both sides of a secondary road near Prattville, Alabama, you can see thousands of signs, crosses, wrecked cars, and mailboxes festooned with barbed wire.
-- Mark Sceurman, Mark Moran, Matt Lake, "Rice's Miracle Cross Garden", Weird U.S. The ODDyssey Continues: Your Travel Guide to America's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets
A festoon is "a string or chain of flowers, foliage, ribbon, etc., suspended in a curve between two points." Modern usage has expanded the definition of the verb form to mean "to fill or cover", but dictionaries tend to maintain the narrower scope. Festoon derives from the Italian feston, "decoration for a feast."
1. To adorn with hanging chains or strands of any material.
2. Dentistry. To reproduce natural gum patterns around the teeth or a denture.
noun:
1. A string or chain of flowers, foliage, ribbon, etc., suspended in a curve between two points.
2. A decorative representation of this, as in architectural work or on pottery.
3. A fabric suspended, draped, and bound at intervals to form graceful loops or scalloped folds.
4. Dentistry. The garlandlike area of the gums surrounding the necks of the teeth.
Its medium green leaves are perfect backdrops for the large orb-shaped white flowers blushed with pink that festoon the tree in May and June.
-- Leslie Cox, "Leaf beetles don't give snowball a chance in ...", Comox Valley Record
For nearly half a mile along both sides of a secondary road near Prattville, Alabama, you can see thousands of signs, crosses, wrecked cars, and mailboxes festooned with barbed wire.
-- Mark Sceurman, Mark Moran, Matt Lake, "Rice's Miracle Cross Garden", Weird U.S. The ODDyssey Continues: Your Travel Guide to America's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets
A festoon is "a string or chain of flowers, foliage, ribbon, etc., suspended in a curve between two points." Modern usage has expanded the definition of the verb form to mean "to fill or cover", but dictionaries tend to maintain the narrower scope. Festoon derives from the Italian feston, "decoration for a feast."
Monday, June 14, 2010
quintessential
quintessential \kwin-te-SEN-shel\, adjective:
Being the most typical manifestation of a quality or a thing.
Carrie, the quintessential single girl, finally ends up married to her true love but doesn't know what to do with him.
-- Ian Caddell, "Morocco brought Sex and the City 2's Sarah Jessica Parker and castmates together", Straight.com
In such a moonlight Gloria's face was of a pervading, reminiscent white, and with a modicum of effort they would slip off the blinders of custom and each would find in the other almost the quintessential romance of the vanished June.
-- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The beautiful and the damned
Quintessential translates from Latin as the "fifth element", quint "fifth" and essentia "essence." The idea of the fifth element stems from Greek and medieval alchemical beliefs in the purest essence of a substance.
Being the most typical manifestation of a quality or a thing.
Carrie, the quintessential single girl, finally ends up married to her true love but doesn't know what to do with him.
-- Ian Caddell, "Morocco brought Sex and the City 2's Sarah Jessica Parker and castmates together", Straight.com
In such a moonlight Gloria's face was of a pervading, reminiscent white, and with a modicum of effort they would slip off the blinders of custom and each would find in the other almost the quintessential romance of the vanished June.
-- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The beautiful and the damned
Quintessential translates from Latin as the "fifth element", quint "fifth" and essentia "essence." The idea of the fifth element stems from Greek and medieval alchemical beliefs in the purest essence of a substance.
vernacular
vernacular \ver-NAK-yuh-ler\, noun:
1. The plain variety of language in everyday use.
2. The language or vocabulary peculiar to a class or profession.
3. The native speech or language of a place.
4. Any medium or mode of expression that reflects popular taste or indigenous styles.
adjective:
1. (of language) Native or indigenous.
2. Using the native language of a place.
3. Using plain, everyday language.
The BOP, as it is known in industry vernacular, sits atop the wellhead on the seafloor and contains a series of plates, known as rams, stacked on top of each other. The plates close and seal the well if a problem occurs.
-- Lauren Steffy, "Oil rig's blowout preventer might not be the main culprit", Herald Tribune, May 2010
The Dow dropped nearly 1,000 points on May 6, before it recovered around 600 points to close down over 300 points. In mountain climbing vernacular, that's an "elevation change" of 1,600, or almost 15 percent, in one day's hike through the jagged peaks of Wall Street.
-- Stan Sewitch, "Fastest lemmings in the West", San Diego Daily Transcript, May 2010
The origin of vernacular is the Latin vernaculus, "domestic or native."
1. The plain variety of language in everyday use.
2. The language or vocabulary peculiar to a class or profession.
3. The native speech or language of a place.
4. Any medium or mode of expression that reflects popular taste or indigenous styles.
adjective:
1. (of language) Native or indigenous.
2. Using the native language of a place.
3. Using plain, everyday language.
The BOP, as it is known in industry vernacular, sits atop the wellhead on the seafloor and contains a series of plates, known as rams, stacked on top of each other. The plates close and seal the well if a problem occurs.
-- Lauren Steffy, "Oil rig's blowout preventer might not be the main culprit", Herald Tribune, May 2010
The Dow dropped nearly 1,000 points on May 6, before it recovered around 600 points to close down over 300 points. In mountain climbing vernacular, that's an "elevation change" of 1,600, or almost 15 percent, in one day's hike through the jagged peaks of Wall Street.
-- Stan Sewitch, "Fastest lemmings in the West", San Diego Daily Transcript, May 2010
The origin of vernacular is the Latin vernaculus, "domestic or native."
juggernaut
juggernaut \JUHG-er-nawt\, noun:
1. Any large, overpowering, destructive force.
2. Something, such as a belief or institution, that elicits blind and destructive devotion.
3. An idol of Krishna, at Puri in Orissa, India, annually drawn on an enormous cart under whose wheels devotees are said to have thrown themselves to be crushed.
It is a pity that every time this economic juggernaut encounters successful international competition in manufacturing, it resorts to bullying against its own consumers' welfare and that of the working poor worldwide.
-- Zhang Xiang, "Going toe to toe with the bully", Xinhua
It sounds like a kamikaze mission: an upstart with a meager number of users and no capital squaring off against Facebook, a social networking juggernaut with more than 400 million members and a $15 billion valuation.
-- Jenna Wortham, "Rivals Seize on Troubles of Facebook", New York Times, May 2010
Juggernaut is a borrowing from Hindi with dramatic roots. The Hindu source Jagannath, is a name of the divinity Krishna, literally "lord of the world." Reputably, Jagannath also refers to an idol of Krishna, at Puri in Orissa, India, annually drawn on an enormous cart under whose wheels devotees are said to have thrown themselves to be crushed.
1. Any large, overpowering, destructive force.
2. Something, such as a belief or institution, that elicits blind and destructive devotion.
3. An idol of Krishna, at Puri in Orissa, India, annually drawn on an enormous cart under whose wheels devotees are said to have thrown themselves to be crushed.
It is a pity that every time this economic juggernaut encounters successful international competition in manufacturing, it resorts to bullying against its own consumers' welfare and that of the working poor worldwide.
-- Zhang Xiang, "Going toe to toe with the bully", Xinhua
It sounds like a kamikaze mission: an upstart with a meager number of users and no capital squaring off against Facebook, a social networking juggernaut with more than 400 million members and a $15 billion valuation.
-- Jenna Wortham, "Rivals Seize on Troubles of Facebook", New York Times, May 2010
Juggernaut is a borrowing from Hindi with dramatic roots. The Hindu source Jagannath, is a name of the divinity Krishna, literally "lord of the world." Reputably, Jagannath also refers to an idol of Krishna, at Puri in Orissa, India, annually drawn on an enormous cart under whose wheels devotees are said to have thrown themselves to be crushed.
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