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singer by trade, brings an arch theatricality to his role, making Miller sit comfortably as both a pompous author and a withdrawn husband.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.
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