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by trade, brings an arch theatricality to his role, making Miller sit comfortably as both a pompous author and a withdrawn husband.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