Diktat

diktat \ dik-TAHT \ noun

1: a harsh settlement unilaterally imposed (as on a defeated nation)
2: decree, order

EXAMPLE:

The company president issued a diktat that employees may not wear jeans to work.

"In the past month, opposition-party mayors of San Cristobal and San Diego have been ousted and imprisoned by judicial decisions based on government diktats." — Henrique Capriles-Radonski, The Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

In "diktat" you might recognize the English word "dictate." Both words derive from the Latin vrb "dictare" ("to assert" or "to dictate"), a form of "dicere" ("to say"). "Diktat" passed through German where it meant "something dictated." "Dictate" can mean both "to speak words aloud to be transcribed" and "to issue a command or injunction," the sense of the word that gave us "dictator." Germans, beginning with Prince Wilhelm, used "diktat" in a negative way to refer to the Treaty of Versailles, the document ending World War I. Today "diktat" can be used as a critical term for even minor regulations felt to be unfair or authoritarian.

Motley

motley \ MAHT-lee \ adjective

1: variegated in color
2: composed of diverse often incongruous elements

EXAMPLES:

Lenny went to the medieval festival dressed in the bright motley garb of a court jester.

"The detention of the monitors instantly raised the stakes in an already fraught drama pitting the Ukrainian government against motley bands of separatists who have overtaken city halls across the country's eastern half." — Griff Witte, The Washington Post, April 27, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

"Motley" made its debut as an English adjective in the 14th century, but etymologists aren't completely sure where it came from. Many think it probably derived from the Middle English "mot," meaning "mote" or "speck."

The word is also used as a noun identifying a multicolored fabric, a garment made from such a fabric, or—perhaps the best known sense of all—the fool who often wore such outfits in the European courts of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Toxophilite

(probably not what you will expect it to be!)

toxophilitev\vtahk-SAH-fuh-lytev\ noun

 

Greek origins

: a person fond of or expert at archery

EXAMPLES

"With this weekend's smashing debut of the movie Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen's power with a bow and arrow has made toxophilites (archery-lovers) of us all." — Rebecca J. Rosen, Atlantic Online, March 26, 2012 ...

"Behold, the archer! Perhaps there is no more heroic pose known to man ... [a]nd perhaps there is no other weapon as romantic, as toxophilites will tell you." — Mark Holmberg, WTVR CBS 6, November 27, 2013

DID YOU KNOW?

"Toxophilite" became established in the language as the name for a late 18th-century English archery society. The word derives from Greek "TOXON," which referred to both a bow and arrow, and "PHILOS," meaning "loving." Today, "toxophilite" is a rarely used word but often occurs in vocabulary games and puzzles and in spelling bees. A more ubiquitous descendant of "toxon" is "toxic." "Toxic" is an anglicization of Latin's word for "poison," "toxicum," which originally meant "poison for arrows" and is a borrowing from Greek "toxikon," meaning "arrow."

Bricolage

bricolage \ bree-koh-LAHZH \ noun

origin: French language

: construction (as of a sculpture or a structure of ideas) achieved by using whatever comes to hand

: something constructed in this way

EXAMPLES:

Knowing that the motor was assembled from a hasty bricolage of junk parts, Raphael had little hope that it would run effectively.

"Hustad reconstructs the past through a bricolage of interview...s, letters, newspaper articles, Bible verses, prayers and anecdotes…." — From a book review by Justin St. Germain in The New York Times, March 23, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

According to French social anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, the artist "shapes the beautiful and useful out of the dump heap of human life." Lévi-Strauss compared this artistic process to the work of a handyman who solves technical or mechanical problems with whatever materials are available. He referred to that process of making do as "bricolage," a term derived from the French verb "bricoler" (meaning "to putter about") and related to "bricoleur," the French name for a jack-of-all-trades. "Bricolage" made its way from French to English during the 1960s, and it is now used for everything from the creative uses of leftovers ("culinary bricolage") to the cobbling together of disparate computer parts ("technical bricolage").

Offal

offal \ AW-ful \ noun

1a : the waste or by-product of a process: as
1b : trimmings of a hide
1c : the by-products of milling used especially for stock feeds
1d : the viscera and trimmings of a butchered animal removed in dressing : the edible parts of a slaughter animal other than skeletal muscle

2: rubbish...

EXAMPLES:

The city's offal-strewn alleyways were often a haven for stray dogs and vermin.

"The menu continues to stick to a general theme of upscale bar food, but it has more wild game on it, and offal." — From an article by Sarah Blaskovich in The Dallas Morning News, April 11, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

In its original sense, "offal" refers to something that has fallen or been cast away from some process of preparation or manufacture, and it has been used to describe such things as the stalks and dust from tobacco leaves, the less valuable portions of an animal hide, the by-products of milling grain, and the viscera and trimmings of a butchered animal.

The word "offal," however, is not an etymological cast-off, but is an English original that arose in the late 14th century as a combination of "of" (the Middle English spelling of "off") and "fall," aptly naming that which "falls off" or is cast aside from something else.

Since the late 16th century, "offal" has also been used as a synonym for "trash," "garbage," and "rubbish."

Amiable

amiable \ AY-mee-uh-bul \ adjective

1: generally agreeable
2: being friendly, sociable, and congenial

EXAMPLES:

"Aside from being amiable, Mickey Mouse has no discernible personality of any kind, yet he has captivated the world, appeared in hundreds of films, and sold billions of dollars' worth of merchandise."
— R. L. Stine, quoted in The Atlantic, March 19, 2014 ...

"In person, … he was amiable and just plain funny as he discussed everything from the growing appeal of TV for movie actors to playing a character that's 'sort of God and the Devil wrapped into one.'"

— From an article by Jeanne Jakle in the San Antonio Express-News, April 13, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

"Amiable" derives from the Late Latin adjective "amicabilis," meaning "friendly," which in turn comes from the Latin word for "friend" (AMICUS/AMICA) and can ultimately be traced back to "amare," meaning "to love."

When "amiable" was adopted into English in the 14th century, it meant "pleasing" or "admirable," but that sense is now obsolete. The current, familiar senses of "generally agreeable" ("an amiable movie") and "friendly and sociable" came centuries later.

"Amare" has also given English speakers such words as "amative" and "amorous" (both meaning "strongly moved by love"), "amour" (a usually illicit love affair), and even "amateur" (which originally meant "admirer").

Mèlange

mélange \ may-LAHNZH \ noun

: a mixture often of incongruous elements

EXAMPLES:

We encountered a mélange of architectural styles as we strolled through the neighborhood.

"Crisp and white as a chef’s toque, the newest artwork at the Culinary Institute of America made its debut last month as the perfect backdrop for commencement snapshots. Graduates and family members al...most instinctively posed before the mural, a sculptural mélange of food-related words and objects."— From an article by David W. Dunlap in the New York Times, April 15, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

"Mélange" was added to the mixture of English back in the 1600s. It derives from the Middle French verb "mesler," which means "to mix." "Mélange" is actually one of several French contributions to the English body of words for miscellaneous mixtures. "Pastiche" (meaning "a composition made up of selections of different works," or broadly, "a disorderly mixture, hodgepodge") is borrowed from French, and "medley" and "potpourri" have roots in French, too. There's also the lesser known "gallimaufry" (meaning "hodgepodge"), which comes from the Middle French "galimafree" (meaning "stew").

Bijou

bijou \BEE-zhoo\ noun

1: a small dainty usually ornamental piece of delicate workmanship : jewel
2: something delicate, elegant, or highly prized

EXAMPLES

Bijoux from around the world will be on exhibit and later auctioned off.

"Bauble Bar has loads of gorgeous bijoux that won't break the bank…. The Radiant Orchid Collar Necklace is among my favorites…." — From an article by Gretta Monahan in the Boston Herald, January 23, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

"Bijou" (which can be pluralized as either "bijoux" or "bijous") has adorned English since the late 17th century.

We borrowed it from French, but the word ultimately traces to Breton, a Celtic language (one closely related to Cornish and Welsh) spoken by inhabitants of the Brittany region of northwest France.

Our modern English word derives from Breton "bizou," which means "ring."

That history makes "bijou" a rare gem in English because, although the Breton people occupied part of England for many years before they were pushed into France by the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th and 6th centuries, very few Breton-derived words remain in our language. (Another Breton descendant is "menhir," a term for a kind of monolith.)

Shinplaster

shinplaster\ SHIN-plass-ter\ noun

1: a piece of privately issued paper currency; especially : one poorly secured and depreciated in value
2: a piece of paper money in denominations of less than one dollar

EXAMPLES:

It was the same during the Civil War when the government again turned to the printing press to finance the war. So-called 'greenbacks' … and 'shinplaster...s,' paper 5-, 10-, 25- and 50-cent pieces, were printed by the thousands to help pay Union soldiers and relieve a coin shortage caused by hoarding." — From an article by John Schmeltzer in the Chicago Tribune, May 12, 1995

"'Some Canadians consider the penny more of a nuisance than a useful coin,' the budget documents said. And so the coin will go the way of the old 25-cent shinplaster." — From an article by John Ward of The Canadian Press, March 29, 2012

DID YOU KNOW?

In the past, "shinplaster" referred to a small, square patch of paper that was used as a plaster in treating sore legs. In 19th-century America, the term "shinplaster" was applied to another paper Band-Aid fix: the privately-issued, poorly-secured notes substituted for the coins withdrawn from current circulation. The lexical currency of "shinplaster" spiked when it began being used for the paper money in denominations of less than a dollar—a.k.a. "fractional currency"—issued by the United States government after the depression of 1837 and during the Civil War. In 1870, the U.S.'s neighbor to the north, Canada, issued its own shinplaster, a 25-cent note, which fell into disuse in the early 20th century.

Eidetic

For all of you Sheldon Cooper fans out there, I present - as the word of the day -

eidetic\ eye-DET-ik\ adjective

: marked by or involving extraordinarily accurate and vivid recall especially of visual images

EXAMPLES:

Thanks to her eidetic memory, Kirsten was able to recall every last detail of what happened that night, including the colors of each person's outfit.

"Jason Bateman, making hi...s feature directing debut after directing episodes of his 'Arrested Development' series, plays an adult who uses a loophole to enter a spelling bee and whose eidetic memory all but guarantees he will win if he chooses." — From a movie review by Duane Dudek in the Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee), March 27, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

"Eidetic" is the technical adjective used to describe what we more commonly call a photographic memory. The word ultimately derives from the Greek noun "eidos," meaning "form." The ability of certain individuals to recall images, sounds, or events with uncanny accuracy is a subject of fascination for researchers in the field of psychology. Among notable people who were reputed to have eidetic memories is the late television comic Jackie Gleason, who reportedly was able to memorize an entire half-hour script in a single reading.

Snivel

snivel \ SNIV-ul \ verb

1: to run at the nose
2: to snuff mucus up the nose audibly : snuffle
3: to cry or whine with snuffling
4: to speak or act in a whining, sniffling, tearful, or weakly emotional manner

EXAMPLE:

Mom told Jenny to stop sniveling about how mistreated she was and just do her chores.

DID YOU KNOW?

There's never been anything pretty about sniveling.

"Snivel," which originally meant simply "to have a runny nose," was probably "snyflan" in Old English. It's likely related to "sniffle," not surprisingly, and also to an Old English word for mucus, "snofl." It's even related to the Middle Dutch word for a cold, "snof," and the Old Norse word for "snout," which is "snoppa." There's also a connection to "nan," a Greek verb meaning "flow." Nowadays, we mostly use "snivel," as we have since the 1600s, to refer to self-pitying whining, whether or not such sniveling is accompanied by unchecked nasal flow.

Mother

1. moth·er - noun \ˈmə-thər\

Definition

1a :  a female parent
 b (1) :  a woman in authority; specifically :  the superior of a religious community of women ...
 b(2) :  an old or elderly woman
2:  source, origin <necessity is the mother of invention>
3:  maternal tenderness or affection
4:  something that is an extreme or ultimate example of its kind especially in terms of scale <the mother of all construction projects>

— moth·er·hood  noun

— moth·er·less  adjective
— moth·er·less·ness noun

Origin

Middle English moder, from Old English mōdor; akin to Old High German muoter mother, Latin mater, Greek mētēr, Sanskrit mātṛ

First Known Use: before 12th century

2. mother - adjective

Definition

1a :  of, relating to, or being a mother
1b :  bearing the relation of a mother
2:  derived from or as if from one's mother
3:  acting as or providing parental stock —used without reference to sex

Examples

<she often offered to babysit for friends, hoping to satisfy her mother urges until she had children of her own>

3. mother - verb

1 : to give birth to (a child)
2 : to be or act as mother to (someone) : to care for or protect (someone) like a mother

moth·ered  moth·er·ing

transitive verb

1a :  to give birth to
1b :  to give rise to :  produce
2:  to care for or protect like a mother

Examples

She mothered two sons but no daughters.
<I hope to mother at least one child.>

Synonyms

birth [chiefly dialect], deliver, drop, have, bear, produce

Near Antonyms

abort, lose, miscarry

Other Embryology Terms

gravid, neonate, ontogeny

Medical Definition

: a female parent

Mein

mien \MEEN\ noun

origin: Latin - mener, to lead

1: air or bearing especially as expressive of attitude or personality : demeanor

2: appearance, aspect

EXAMPLES

The minister projected a stern and serious mien from the pulpit, but we found him to be friendly and welcoming when we spoke with him in the social hall after the service. ...

DID YOU KNOW?

Like its synonyms "bearing" and "demeanor," "mien" means the outward manifestation of personality or attitude. "Bearing" is the most general, but now usually implies characteristic posture, as in "a woman of regal bearing." "Demeanor" suggests attitude expressed through outward behavior in the presence of others; for example, "the manager's professional demeanor." "Mien" is a somewhat literary term referring to both bearing and demeanor. "A mien of supreme self-satisfaction" is a typical use. "Mien" and "demeanor" are also linked through etymology. "Mien" arose through the shortening and alteration of the verb "demean," which comes from Latin "mener" ("to lead") and is also the root of "demeanor." In this case, "demean" means "to conduct or behave (oneself) usually in a proper manner," not "to degrade." That other "demean" is a distinct word with a different etymology.

Cataract

So - to begin our "words of the days" I present you with: CATARACT. Enjoy!

cataract \KAT-uh-rakt\ noun

1: a clouding of the lens of the eye or of its surrounding transparent membrane that obstructs the passage of light, from the from the Latin word "cataracta"
(Most commonly known and oldest definition)
2a: waterfall; especially : a large one over a precipice
2b: steep rapids in a river
2c : downpour, flood

EXAMPLES

-of 1: "Kale contains tons of beta-carotene and lutein which can ward off blindness and cataracts caused by UV rays." — From an article by Brian Arola in the Hibbing Daily Tribune (Minnesota), April 3, 2014

- of 2b: "After a broken cataract of about twenty feet, the stream was received in a large natural basin filled to the brim with water, which, where the bubbles of the fall subsided, was so exquisitely clear that … the eye could discern each pebble at the bottom." — From Sir Walter Scott's 1814 novel Waverley

DID YOU KNOW?

The meaning of "cataract" we're most familiar with is also the oldest. It dates to the 14th century and comes from the Latin word "cataracta," meaning "portcullis," probably because the ocular cataract obstructs vision in a way reminiscent of the way the portcullis's heavy iron grating obstructs passage into a fortress or castle. Latin "cataracta" has another meaning, however—"waterfall"—and that meaning gave us the water-related meanings that came in later centuries. The connection between the two Latin meanings can be seen in "katarassein," the Greek source of "cataracta." It means "to dash down"—an action we see in both the slamming portcullis and the cascading waterfall.