Fleer

Word of the Day

fleer \ FLEER \ noun

: a word or look of derision or mockery

EXAMPLES
When Adam suggested that the firm's partners do the work pro bono he half-expected to be hit with a collective fleer, but the others readily agreed. 

"He expressed himself, of course, with eccentric abandon—it would have been impossible for him to do otherwise; but he was content to indicate his deepest feelings with a fleer." 
— Lytton Strachey, Eminent Victorians, 1918

DID YOU KNOW?
Fleer first appeared in English as a verb (fleryen in Middle English) meaning "to laugh, grin, or grimace in a coarse manner." The verb is of Scandinavian origin and is akin to the Norwegian flire, meaning "to giggle." The noun fleer first and most famously appeared in William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello, in which the evil Iago invites Othello to observe the signs of his wife's unfaithfulness in the visage of her supposed lover, Cassio: "And mark the fleers, the gibes, and notable scorns / That dwell in every region of his face…."

Suffrage

Word of the Day

suffrage \ SUF-rij \ noun

1: a vote given in deciding a disputed question or electing a person for an office or trust

2: the right of voting; also : the exercise of such right

EXAMPLES

On August 26, 1920—42 years after such an amendment had first been introduced in Congress—the Nineteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution became law, finally granting women suffrage.

"The Clark Chateau, 321 W. Broadway St., is hosting an exhibit that celebrates the centennial of women’s suffrage in the state of Montana."

— Montana Standard, July 9, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

Why would a 17th-century writer warn people that a chapel was only for "private or secret suffrages"? Because in addition to the meanings listed above, "suffrage" has been used since the 14th century to mean "prayer" (especially a prayer requesting divine help or intercession). So how did "suffrage" come to mean "a vote" or "the right to vote"? To answer that, we must look to the word’s Latin ancestor, "suffragium," which can be translated as "vote," "support," or "prayer." That term produced descendants in a number of languages, and English picked up its senses of "suffrage" from two different places. We took the "prayer" sense from a Middle French "suffragium" offspring that emphasized the word’s spiritual aspects, and we elected to adopt the "voting" senses directly from the original Latin.

Operose

Word of the Day

operose \ AH-puh-rohss \ adjective

: tedious, wearisome

EXAMPLES

The operose volume offers up considerably more verbiage than useful information.

"But now competitors face an operose task: it is not enough that they know how to spell a tongue-twister, they should also know its meaning."

— Economic Times, April 16, 2013

DID YOU KNOW?

"Operose" comes from the Latin "operosus" (meaning "laborious," "industrious," or "painstaking"). That word combines the noun "oper-," "opus," which means "work," with "-osus," the Latin equivalent of the English "-ose" and "-ous" suffixes, meaning "full of" or "abounding in."

In its earliest uses, beginning in the mid-1500s, the word was used to describe people who are industrious or painstaking in their efforts. Within a little over 100 years, however, the word was being applied as it more commonly is today: to describe tasks and undertakings requiring much time and effort.

Davy Jones' Locker

Phrase of the Day

Davy Jones's Locker \ day-vee-johnz-LAH-ker \ noun

: the bottom of the ocean

EXAMPLES"We asked where the rest of the ship's company were; a gruff old fellow made answer, 'One boat's crew of 'em is gone to Davy Jones's locker: - went off after a whale, last cruise, and never come back agin..."
- Herman Melvill, Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas, 1847

"They were storm driven throughout a long night and slammed into the cliffs of Guana Island 20 miles to the southwest: a close call with Davy Jones's locker."
- Jonathan Russo, Shelter Island Reporter (New York), June 23, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?Was there a real Davy Jones? Folks have been pondering that question for centuries. Sailors have long used "Davy Jones" as the name of the personified evil spirit of the ocean depths, but no one knows exactly why. Some clain the original Davy Jones was a British pirate, but evidence of such a pirate is lacking. Others swear he was a London pub owner who kept drugged ale in a special locker, served it to the unwary, and then had them shanghaied. But the theory considered most plausible is that "Davy" was inspired by St. David, the patron saint of Wales. (Saint David was often invoked by Welsh sailors.) "Jones" is traced to Jonah, the biblical figure who was swallowed by a great fish.

Ragamuffin

Word of the Day

ragamuffin \ RAG-uh-muf-in \ noun

: a ragged often disreputable person

: a poorly clothed often dirty child

EXAMPLES

Tourists in the city were often surrounded by young ragamuffins begging to be allowed to do small services for an equally small donation.

"Miller shows remarkable range in her portrayal of Rose, who transforms from an underfoot ragamuffin to a confident vixen."

— David N. Dunkle, The Patriot-News (Pennsylvania), July 18, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

If you’ve guessed that "rag" or "ragged" is related to "ragamuffin," you may be correct, but the origins of today's word are somewhat murky. In Middle English the term functioned both as a surname (Mr & Mrs Ragamuffin?!) and generically to denote a ragged and sometimes stupid person, and in the Middle English alliterative poem Piers Plowman William Langland used the word to serve as the name of a demon. The "muffin" part of "ragamuffin" may have its origin in either of two Anglo-Norman words for a devil or scoundrel, but that too is uncertain. (This bears more looking into! Muffin as a negative adjective for someone....interesting.) No matter its muddied history: the word has continued to develop in modern times. It can also refer to a type of music with rap lyrics and a reggae beat.

Flyblown

Word of the Day

flyblown \ FLY-blohn \ adjective

1a : not pure : tainted

1b : not bright and new : seedy

1c : trite, hackneyed

 

2: infested with eggs or young larvae of a blowfly

EXAMPLES

"This is a mighty simple movie, with its flyblown wisdom spelled out."

— Pauline Kael, The New Yorker, November 2, 1987

"The landscape of 'The Rover' is an arid, flyblown sandpit. We see a guarded container car train with Chinese markings clank across the horizon…. A vastness of tarmac roads connects nasty clusters of buildings that don't add up to towns."

— Colin Covert, Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), June 20, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

One meaning of "blow" (used mostly, it seems, by 17th century entomologists) is "to deposit eggs or larvae on"—hence the blowfly, which lays its eggs on meat or wounds. "Flyblown" has its origins in the very unpleasant image of a blowfly's victim, and it's from this literal meaning that the more common senses come. Phrases such as "flyblown shack" and "flyblown restaurant" still suggest the actual presence of flies, if not necessarily their embryonic precursors.

Demesne

Word of the Day

• demesne
• \ dih-MAYN \ 
noun

1

: legal possession of land as one’s own

2

a : the land attached to a mansionb : landed property : estatec : region, territory's

3

: realm, domain

• EXAMPLES

Lewis and Clark were commissioned to explore the vast demesne of forests and plains that the United States acquired in the Louisiana Purchase.

"Just as no monarch can ever quite control her entire demesne, no sister can ever quite neutralize the mischief of younger brothers." 
— Sebastian Smee, Boston Globe, February 4, 2014

• DID YOU KNOW?

Why isn't "demesne" pronounced the way it's spelled? Our word actually began as "demayn" or "demeyn" in the 14th century, when it was borrowed from Anglo-French property law. At that time, the Anglo-French form was "demeine." Later, the Anglo-French spelling changed to "demesne," perhaps by association with another term from Anglo-French property law: "mesne," meaning "intermediate." ("Mesne" has entered English as a legal term as well.) According to rules of French pronunciation, the "s" was silent and the vowel was long. English speakers eventually followed suit, adopting the "demesne" spelling. Our word "domain" (which overlaps with the meaning of "demesne" in some applications) also comes from Anglo-French "demeine."

Backstairs

Word of the Day

backstairs \ BAK-stairz \ adjective

: secret, furtive; also : sordid, scandalous

EXAMPLES

The article accuses the influential Washington lobbyist of having been involved in a number of backstairs deals to limit regulation of financial institutions.

"During the protracted balloting—it went four rounds before Jackson was declared the winner—backstairs talks began, aimed at stopping Jackson, according to operatives."

—Jeff E. Schapiro, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Virginia), May 22, 2013

DID YOU KNOW?

When Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, wrote in 1654 about leading someone "down a back-stairs," he wasn’t referring to anything scandalous. He simply meant "down a secondary set of stairs at the back of a house." Just over a decade earlier, however, Boyle’s contemporary, Sir Edward Dering, had used the phrase "going up the back-stairs" in a figurative way to suggest a means of approach that was not entirely honest and upfront.

The figurative use likely arose from the simple notion that the stairs at the rear of a building are less visible and thus allow for a certain degree of sneakiness. By 1663, "backstairs" was also being used adjectivally to describe something done furtively, often with an underhanded or sinister connotation

Rapport

Word of the Day

rapport \ ra-POR \ noun

: relation : especially : relation marked by harmony, conformity, accord, or affinity

EXAMPLES

Once our daughter had developed a rapport with her piano teacher, she began to show some real enthusiasm for learning and practicing the piano.

"In general, the new superintendent will be responsible for promoting the individual identity of each of the parks, and building rapport with members of communities in which the historic sites are located."

— Joe L. Hughes II, The Gaffney Ledger (South Carolina), July 11, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

One thing that may occur to you when considering today’s word is its resemblance to an even more common English word, "report." "Report" comes from the French verb "reporter" and "rapport" comes from the French "rapporter." Both verbs mean "to bring back" and can be traced back to the Latin verb "portare," meaning "to carry." 

"Rapporter" also has the additional sense of "to report," which influenced the original English meaning of "rapport" ("an act or instance of reporting"). That sense of "rapport" dropped out of regular use by the end of the 19th century.

Aperçu

Word of the Day

aperçu \ ap-er-SOO \ noun

 

1: a brief survey or sketch : outline

 

2: an immediate impression; especially : an intuitive insight

EXAMPLES

"On every other page, there's a nice apercu: breath is 'cooked air'; perfume is 'liquid memory'; when astronauts are weightless in their spaceship, they lose their sense of smell…."

— Anatole Broyard, New York Times Book Review, 29 July 1990

"As a poet, Mr. Lehman has always been conversational in style, given to seemingly casual aperçus that take on a larger resonance…."

— Sarah Douglas, New York Observer, October 29, 2013

DID YOU KNOW?

In French, "aperçu" is the past participle of the verb "apercevoir" ("to perceive" or "to comprehend"), which in turn comes from Latin "percipere" ("to perceive"). (The same verb also gave us "apperceive," meaning "to have consciousness of oneself," and the noun "apperception," meaning "introspective self-consciousness" or "mental perception.")

"Aperçu" in French is also a noun meaning "glimpse" or "outline, general idea." English speakers borrowed the noun "aperçu," meaning and all, in the early 19th century.

Janus-faced

Word of the Day

Janus-faced \ JAY-nus-fayst \ adjective

: having two contrasting aspects; especially : duplicitous, two-faced

EXAMPLES
The dancers wore grotesque Janus-faced masks, flashing faces of terror and pleasure as they twirled about the stage.

"The helmsman decreased speed a fraction, steering the boat to mid-river. The surface was glassy and the reflections of the trees made it difficult to tell up from down. A Janus-faced river, Harry thought."

— Ward Just, American Romantic, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

In Roman religion, Janus was the deity who presided over doors, gates, archways, and all beginnings, structural and temporal (the month of January is named for him). He is represented as having a single head with two faces looking in opposite directions. The shrine of Janus in the Roman Forum was a rectangular bronze structure with double doors at each end. Traditionally, the doors were left open in times of war and kept closed in times of peace. That open/closed dichotomy, along with the deity's two-faced head, confers duplicity and contrariness to the word "Janus," evinced in the meaning of the term "Janus-faced."

Abscond

Word of the Day

abscond \ ab-SKAHND \ verb

: to depart secretly and hide oneself

EXAMPLES

Before anyone could catch on to the fact that Roger was embezzling funds from the company, he had absconded to Mexico with over $100,000.

"Turns out that if you get caught gatecrashing a White House state dinner with your wife, after which said wife absconds with the guitarist from Journey, who you wrongly accuse of kidnapping her, it tends to stick in people's minds."

—Marianna Garvey, Brian Niemietz and Oli Coleman, The Daily News (New York), June 2, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

First appearing in English in the 16th century, "abscond" derives from Latin "abscondere," meaning "to hide away," a product of the prefix "ab-" and "condere," a verb meaning "to conceal." ("Condere" is also the root for "recondite," a word meaning "concealed" as well as "hard to understand" or "obscure.") In general usage, "abscond" refers to any act of running away and hiding (usually from the law and often with funds), but, in legal circles, the word is used specifically when someone who has already become the focus of a legal proceeding hides or takes off in order to evade the legal process (as in "absconded from parole").

Wyvern

Word of the Day

wyvern \ WYE-vern \ noun

: a mythical animal usually represented as a 2-legged winged creature resembling a dragon

EXAMPLESSymbols commonly used in heraldry include a number of mythical creatures, among them the winged wyvern.

"Wyverns keep a silent watch over the people of Leicester from rooftops and steeples across the city. Their coiled, winged bodies, part serpent part dragon, have been entwined in our ancient history for hundreds of years."

— Leicester Mercury (United Kingdom), June 13, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

Wyverns are often depicted as having the tail of a viper—a venomous snake—and that fact is reflected in the etymology of "wyvern": it comes ultimately from the Latin word "vipera," which means "viper." ("Vipera" is also, of course, the source of our word "viper.") The creature the wyvern most closely resembles, however, is the also-mythical dragon. "Dragon" is a much older word—it has been in use since the 13th century, while "wyvern" dates to the early 17th—but it too has snakes in its history. The word originally referred not to the lizard-like creature we imagine today but to a huge serpent.

Noachian

Word of the Day

Noachian \ noh-AY-kee-un\ adjective

: of or relating to the patriarch Noah or his time

EXAMPLES

"He eventually concluded that all the many floods he now recognized had antedated the Noachian deluge."

— Stephen Jay Gould, The Flamingo's Smile, 1985

"The Noachian covenant indicates to her that God had evolved from an omnipotent, omniscient deity 'to a sadder, wiser deity' who realizes that his punishment was 'a bit excessive'…."

— Brigid Curtin Frein, Theological Studies, September 2009

DID YOU KNOW?

Students of the Bible know that Noah survived the Great Flood by stowing himself, his family, and two of every kind of creature on his Ark. "Noachian" is derived from the Hebrew name for Noah. Modern contexts find "Noachian" used in reference to the Great Flood or, more humorously, to describe torrential rainstorms and flooding reminiscent of the Biblical event. It could be said that usage of "Noachian" spans even beyond planet Earth. Astronomers studying the surface of the planet Mars use "Noachian" to refer to the epoch between 4.6 and 3.5 billion years ago when that planet's oldest craters were believed to be formed. This usage is based on "Noachis Terra" one of the landmasses of Mars. The name, which translates as "Land of Noah," was chosen in the 19th century by Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli.

Southpaw

Word of the Day

southpaw \ SOUTH-paw \ noun

: left-hander; especially : a left-handed baseball pitcher

EXAMPLES

"MLB's best team against righties has been one of its worst against southpaws…."

— Brian Lewis, New York Post, July 7, 2012

"The Marlins added left-handed pitcher Michael Mader with the 105th overall pick of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft on Friday.… As a freshman, the southpaw went 8-3 with a 3.19 ERA and won the 2013 Panhandle Conference Player of the Year Award."

— Maria Torres, MLB.com, June 6, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

"Southpaw" is of obscure origin. A popular theory holds that it comes from the onetime position of ballparks in relation to the sun. Supposedly, late 19th-century ballparks were laid out so that the pitcher looked in a westerly direction when facing the batter. The throwing arm of a left-handed pitcher would then be to the south—hence the name "southpaw." This theory of its origin is undermined, however, by the fact that the original use of "southpaw" does not involve baseball at all. Rather, the term was used as early as 1848 to describe, simply, the left hand or a punch or blow given with the left hand. Today, we often use "southpaw" as a good-natured term for a left-handed person, but the word is sometimes viewed as stigmatizing by left-handed people.