WORD OF THE DAY
OBSTREPEROUS \ ub-STREP-uh-rus \ adjective
Definition
1 : marked by unruly or aggressive noisiness : clamorous
2 : stubbornly resistant to control : unruly
Examples
After two months at sea with dwindling food supplies and declining confidence in the captain, the ship's crew became obstreperous and began to plot a mutiny.
"It is Rob she calls for when crankily refusing to go to bed, and when Alan attempts to calm her she grows only more obstreperous."
— Charles Isherwood, The New York Times, 9 Nov. 2015
Did You Know?
The handy Latin prefix ob-, meaning "in the way," "against," or "toward," occurs in many Latin and English words, often in alternate forms. Obstreperous comes from ob- plus strepere, a verb meaning "to make a noise," so someone who is obstreperous is literally making noise to rebel against something, much like a protesting crowd or an unruly child. The word has been used in English since around the beginning of the 17th century. Strepere has not played a role in the formation of any other notable English words, but ob- words abound; these include obese, obnoxious, occasion, offend, omit, oppress, and oust.
Friday, January 29, 2016
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Jeremiad
WORD OF THE DAY
JEREMIAD \ jair-uh-MYE-ud \ noun
Definition
: a prolonged lamentation or complaint; also : a cautionary or angry harangue
Examples
Mrs. Whinge waggled a finger at us and launched into a doleful jeremiad about how we would come to no good end.
"[Pope Francis's] now-famous jeremiads as pope against today's culture of excessive consumption and environmental degradation are rooted in a thrift ethic that he acquired early in life and never abandoned."
— David Blankenhorn, The Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City), 11 Dec. 2015
Did You Know?
Jeremiah was a Jewish prophet who lived from about 650 to 570 BC. He spent his days lambasting the Hebrews for their false worship and social injustice and denouncing the king for his selfishness, materialism, and inequities. When not calling on his people to quit their wicked ways, he was lamenting his own lot; a portion of the Bible's Book of Jeremiah is devoted to his "confessions," a series of lamentations on the hardships endured by a prophet with an unpopular message. Nowadays, English speakers use Jeremiah for a pessimistic person and jeremiad for the way these Jeremiahs carry on. The word jeremiad was actually borrowed from the French, who coined it as jérémiade.
JEREMIAD \ jair-uh-MYE-ud \ noun
Definition
: a prolonged lamentation or complaint; also : a cautionary or angry harangue
Examples
Mrs. Whinge waggled a finger at us and launched into a doleful jeremiad about how we would come to no good end.
"[Pope Francis's] now-famous jeremiads as pope against today's culture of excessive consumption and environmental degradation are rooted in a thrift ethic that he acquired early in life and never abandoned."
— David Blankenhorn, The Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City), 11 Dec. 2015
Did You Know?
Jeremiah was a Jewish prophet who lived from about 650 to 570 BC. He spent his days lambasting the Hebrews for their false worship and social injustice and denouncing the king for his selfishness, materialism, and inequities. When not calling on his people to quit their wicked ways, he was lamenting his own lot; a portion of the Bible's Book of Jeremiah is devoted to his "confessions," a series of lamentations on the hardships endured by a prophet with an unpopular message. Nowadays, English speakers use Jeremiah for a pessimistic person and jeremiad for the way these Jeremiahs carry on. The word jeremiad was actually borrowed from the French, who coined it as jérémiade.
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Proscribe
WORD OF THE DAY
PROSCRIBE \ proh-SCRYBE \ verb
1 : to publish the name of as condemned to death with the property of the condemned forfeited to the state
2 : to condemn or forbid as harmful or unlawful : prohibit
Examples
The town passed an ordinance that proscribed the ownership of snakes and other exotic pets.
"Military law may proscribe conduct which is otherwise protected in the civilian world due to the different character of the military community and of the military mission."
— Capt. Anne C. Hsieh, quoted in The Herald Democrat (Sherman, Texas), 18 Oct. 2015
Did You Know?
Proscribe and prescribe both have Latin-derived prefixes meaning "before" attached to the verb scribe (from scribere, meaning "to write"). Yet the two words have very distinct, often nearly opposite meanings. Why? In a way, you could say it's the law. In the 15th and 16th centuries both words had legal implications. To proscribe was to publish the name of a person who had been condemned, outlawed, or banished. To prescribe meant "to lay down a rule," including legal rules or orders.
PROSCRIBE \ proh-SCRYBE \ verb
1 : to publish the name of as condemned to death with the property of the condemned forfeited to the state
2 : to condemn or forbid as harmful or unlawful : prohibit
Examples
The town passed an ordinance that proscribed the ownership of snakes and other exotic pets.
"Military law may proscribe conduct which is otherwise protected in the civilian world due to the different character of the military community and of the military mission."
— Capt. Anne C. Hsieh, quoted in The Herald Democrat (Sherman, Texas), 18 Oct. 2015
Did You Know?
Proscribe and prescribe both have Latin-derived prefixes meaning "before" attached to the verb scribe (from scribere, meaning "to write"). Yet the two words have very distinct, often nearly opposite meanings. Why? In a way, you could say it's the law. In the 15th and 16th centuries both words had legal implications. To proscribe was to publish the name of a person who had been condemned, outlawed, or banished. To prescribe meant "to lay down a rule," including legal rules or orders.
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Zeugma
WORD OF THE DAY
ZEUGMA \ ZOOG-muh \ noun
Definition
: the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words in such a way that it applies to each in a different sense or makes sense with only one (as in "opened the door and her heart to the homeless boy")
Examples
A clever use of zeugma was demonstrated by Groucho Marx's character Rufus T. Firefly in Duck Soup (1933):"You can leave in a taxi. If you can't get a taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that's too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff."
"The hallmarks of [David Foster Wallace's] later fiction … are there from the first page…. So, too, are the performative contractions ('w/r/t' as 'with respect to'), lists and self-conscious rhetorical tropes that pepper non-fiction. I don't think anyone has ever wielded zeugma with such knowing playfulness."
— Jon Day, The Financial Times, 26 Dec. 2014
Did You Know?
"Zeugma, like the pun, is economical: it contracts two sentences into one . . .; it links unrelated terms—mental with moral, abstract with physical, high with low—and thus generates surprise," wrote Walter Redfern in Puns (1984). Zeugma, which has been a part of the English language since the 15th century, comes from Greek, where it literally means "joining."
The Greek word has another connection to English as well. In the early 1970s, a chemistry professor named Paul Lauterbur developed a technique for producing images of internal organs. He called it zeugmatography because it involved the joining of magnetic fields. Lauterbur was awarded a Nobel Prize, but the name he chose didn’t stick. The technique is known today as magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI.
ZEUGMA \ ZOOG-muh \ noun
Definition
: the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words in such a way that it applies to each in a different sense or makes sense with only one (as in "opened the door and her heart to the homeless boy")
Examples
A clever use of zeugma was demonstrated by Groucho Marx's character Rufus T. Firefly in Duck Soup (1933):"You can leave in a taxi. If you can't get a taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that's too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff."
"The hallmarks of [David Foster Wallace's] later fiction … are there from the first page…. So, too, are the performative contractions ('w/r/t' as 'with respect to'), lists and self-conscious rhetorical tropes that pepper non-fiction. I don't think anyone has ever wielded zeugma with such knowing playfulness."
— Jon Day, The Financial Times, 26 Dec. 2014
Did You Know?
"Zeugma, like the pun, is economical: it contracts two sentences into one . . .; it links unrelated terms—mental with moral, abstract with physical, high with low—and thus generates surprise," wrote Walter Redfern in Puns (1984). Zeugma, which has been a part of the English language since the 15th century, comes from Greek, where it literally means "joining."
The Greek word has another connection to English as well. In the early 1970s, a chemistry professor named Paul Lauterbur developed a technique for producing images of internal organs. He called it zeugmatography because it involved the joining of magnetic fields. Lauterbur was awarded a Nobel Prize, but the name he chose didn’t stick. The technique is known today as magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI.
Monday, January 25, 2016
Harry
WORD OF THE DAY
HARRY \ HAIR-ee \ verb
Definition
1a : to make a pillaging or destructive raid on
1b: assault
2 : to force to move along by harassing
3 : to torment by or as if by constant attack
Examples
The young boy harried the kitten until it swiped him with its claws.
"Coming off a Thursday schedule packed with practice, a Pearl Harbor visit and a luau, the Aggies shot 54 percent on Friday and harried the Rainbow Wahine basketball team into turnovers that fueled an 82-41 rout at the Cannon Activities Center in Laie."
— Jason Kaneshiro, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 6 Dec. 2015
Did You Know?
Was there once a warlike man named Harry who is the source for today's word? One particularly belligerent Harry does come to mind: Shakespeare once described how "famine, sword, and fire" accompanied "the warlike Harry," England's King Henry the Fifth.
But neither this king nor any of his namesakes are the source for the verb harry. Rather, harry (or a word resembling it) has been a part of English for as long as there has been anything that could be called English. It took the form hergian in Old English and harien in Middle English, passing through numerous variations before finally settling into its modern spelling. The word's Old English ancestors are related to the Old High German words heriōn ("to lay waste") and heri ("army").
HARRY \ HAIR-ee \ verb
Definition
1a : to make a pillaging or destructive raid on
1b: assault
2 : to force to move along by harassing
3 : to torment by or as if by constant attack
Examples
The young boy harried the kitten until it swiped him with its claws.
"Coming off a Thursday schedule packed with practice, a Pearl Harbor visit and a luau, the Aggies shot 54 percent on Friday and harried the Rainbow Wahine basketball team into turnovers that fueled an 82-41 rout at the Cannon Activities Center in Laie."
— Jason Kaneshiro, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 6 Dec. 2015
Did You Know?
Was there once a warlike man named Harry who is the source for today's word? One particularly belligerent Harry does come to mind: Shakespeare once described how "famine, sword, and fire" accompanied "the warlike Harry," England's King Henry the Fifth.
But neither this king nor any of his namesakes are the source for the verb harry. Rather, harry (or a word resembling it) has been a part of English for as long as there has been anything that could be called English. It took the form hergian in Old English and harien in Middle English, passing through numerous variations before finally settling into its modern spelling. The word's Old English ancestors are related to the Old High German words heriōn ("to lay waste") and heri ("army").
Friday, January 22, 2016
Rapscallion
WORD OF THE DAY
RAPSCALLION \ rap-SKAL-yun \ noun
Definition: rascal, ne’er-do-well
ExamplesWith his shaggy, perpetually unkempt hair and his charmingly crooked smile, the actor seems to have been born to play scamps and rapscallions.
"Growing up, my best friends were my siblings. While we fought like only brother and sisters could fight, I was quick to defend their honor, or protect them from the rapscallions of our childhood world."
— Stephanie Hill, The Herald-Dispatch (Huntington, West Virginia), 24 Sept.
2015
Did You Know?The word rascal has been part of English since the 15th century, but on its own it apparently didn't quite capture the disagreeable nature of the wily knaves of yore. By the 17th century, English speakers had modified rascal to create rascallion. But it seems that even that term didn't sound quite mischievous enough.
By the century's end, rascallion had been further altered to create rapscallion. Today, rapscallion is still commonly used as a synonym for blackguard, scoundrel, and miscreant. Rascallion is still around as well, but it's very rare.
RAPSCALLION \ rap-SKAL-yun \ noun
Definition: rascal, ne’er-do-well
ExamplesWith his shaggy, perpetually unkempt hair and his charmingly crooked smile, the actor seems to have been born to play scamps and rapscallions.
"Growing up, my best friends were my siblings. While we fought like only brother and sisters could fight, I was quick to defend their honor, or protect them from the rapscallions of our childhood world."
— Stephanie Hill, The Herald-Dispatch (Huntington, West Virginia), 24 Sept.
2015
Did You Know?The word rascal has been part of English since the 15th century, but on its own it apparently didn't quite capture the disagreeable nature of the wily knaves of yore. By the 17th century, English speakers had modified rascal to create rascallion. But it seems that even that term didn't sound quite mischievous enough.
By the century's end, rascallion had been further altered to create rapscallion. Today, rapscallion is still commonly used as a synonym for blackguard, scoundrel, and miscreant. Rascallion is still around as well, but it's very rare.
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Thew
WORD OF THE DAY
THEW \ THOO \ noun
Definition
1 a : muscular power or development
1b : strength, vitality
2 : muscle, sinew — usually used in plural
Examples
"In Rocco's melodramatically murky illustrations, men and women alike display rippling thews and plenty of skin as they battle ravening monsters."
— Kirkus Reviews, 22 July 2015
"As soon as his right arm received thew and sinew he learned to draw the long bow and speed a true arrow."
— J. Walker McSpadden, Robin Hood and His Merry Outlaws, 1923
Did You Know?
Thew has had a long, difficult past during which it discovered its strengths and weaknesses. In Middle English it carried a number of meanings, referring to a custom, habit, personal quality, or virtue. The word began to tire in the 16th century but was soon revitalized with a new meaning: it began to be used specifically for the quality of physical strength and later for the muscles demonstrating that quality. In time, the word buddied up with sinew in both literal and figurative turns of phrase, as in "the thews and sinews of my body ached" and "their love affair was the thew and sinew of the story."
THEW \ THOO \ noun
Definition
1 a : muscular power or development
1b : strength, vitality
2 : muscle, sinew — usually used in plural
Examples
"In Rocco's melodramatically murky illustrations, men and women alike display rippling thews and plenty of skin as they battle ravening monsters."
— Kirkus Reviews, 22 July 2015
"As soon as his right arm received thew and sinew he learned to draw the long bow and speed a true arrow."
— J. Walker McSpadden, Robin Hood and His Merry Outlaws, 1923
Did You Know?
Thew has had a long, difficult past during which it discovered its strengths and weaknesses. In Middle English it carried a number of meanings, referring to a custom, habit, personal quality, or virtue. The word began to tire in the 16th century but was soon revitalized with a new meaning: it began to be used specifically for the quality of physical strength and later for the muscles demonstrating that quality. In time, the word buddied up with sinew in both literal and figurative turns of phrase, as in "the thews and sinews of my body ached" and "their love affair was the thew and sinew of the story."
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Effete
WORD OF THE DAY
EFFETE \ ih-FEET \ adjective
Definition
1 : no longer fertile
2 a : having lost character, vitality, or strength
2b : marked by weakness or decadence
2c : soft or delicate from or as if from a pampered existence
3 : having feminine qualities untypical of a man : not manly in appearance or manner
Examples
"Virginia Woolf is often depicted as a dreamy, effete snob, agonizing all day over a single adjective while sipping tea…."
— Julia Keller, The Chicago Tribune, 2 Nov. 2008
"Working-class voters in particular have felt marginalized by a Republican Party that has pushed effete candidates and a Democratic Party that has moved to the left and abandoned their concerns."
— The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, 13 Dec. 2015
Did You Know?
Effete derives from Latin effetus, meaning "no longer fruitful," and for a brief time in English it was used to describe an animal no longer capable of producing offspring. For most of its existence in English, however, the use of effete has been entirely figurative.
The usual figurative sense of the word was for many years "exhausted" or "worn out." But since at least the beginning of the 20th century, effete has also been used to suggest overrefinement, weakness of character, snobbery, and effeminacy. It's these meanings you're most likely to encounter today.
EFFETE \ ih-FEET \ adjective
Definition
1 : no longer fertile
2 a : having lost character, vitality, or strength
2b : marked by weakness or decadence
2c : soft or delicate from or as if from a pampered existence
3 : having feminine qualities untypical of a man : not manly in appearance or manner
Examples
"Virginia Woolf is often depicted as a dreamy, effete snob, agonizing all day over a single adjective while sipping tea…."
— Julia Keller, The Chicago Tribune, 2 Nov. 2008
"Working-class voters in particular have felt marginalized by a Republican Party that has pushed effete candidates and a Democratic Party that has moved to the left and abandoned their concerns."
— The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, 13 Dec. 2015
Did You Know?
Effete derives from Latin effetus, meaning "no longer fruitful," and for a brief time in English it was used to describe an animal no longer capable of producing offspring. For most of its existence in English, however, the use of effete has been entirely figurative.
The usual figurative sense of the word was for many years "exhausted" or "worn out." But since at least the beginning of the 20th century, effete has also been used to suggest overrefinement, weakness of character, snobbery, and effeminacy. It's these meanings you're most likely to encounter today.
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Eloquent
WORD OF THE DAY
ELOQUENT \ EL-uh-kwunt \ adjective
Definition
1 : marked by forceful and fluent expression
2 : vividly or movingly expressive or revealing
Examples
Because Max is such an eloquent speaker, he was asked to give the toast at his grandfather's 75th birthday party.
"The governor waxed eloquent about growing up just a short distance away in Queens and what this part of the world meant to him."
— Fred LeBrun, The Times-Union (Albany, New York), 15 Nov. 2015
Did You Know?
Since eloquent can have something to do with speaking, it makes sense that it comes from the Latin verb loqui, which means "to speak." Loqui is the parent of many "talkative" offspring in English. Loquacious, which means "given to fluent or excessive talk," also arose from loqui. Another loqui relative is circumlocution, a word that means someone is talking around a subject to avoid making a direct statement (circum- means "around"). And a ventriloquist is someone who makes his or her voice sound like it's coming from another source.
ELOQUENT \ EL-uh-kwunt \ adjective
Definition
1 : marked by forceful and fluent expression
2 : vividly or movingly expressive or revealing
Examples
Because Max is such an eloquent speaker, he was asked to give the toast at his grandfather's 75th birthday party.
"The governor waxed eloquent about growing up just a short distance away in Queens and what this part of the world meant to him."
— Fred LeBrun, The Times-Union (Albany, New York), 15 Nov. 2015
Did You Know?
Since eloquent can have something to do with speaking, it makes sense that it comes from the Latin verb loqui, which means "to speak." Loqui is the parent of many "talkative" offspring in English. Loquacious, which means "given to fluent or excessive talk," also arose from loqui. Another loqui relative is circumlocution, a word that means someone is talking around a subject to avoid making a direct statement (circum- means "around"). And a ventriloquist is someone who makes his or her voice sound like it's coming from another source.
Monday, January 18, 2016
Expatiate
WORD OF THE DAY
EXPATIATE \ ek-SPAY-shee-ayt \ verb
Definition
1 : to move about freely or at will : wander
2 : to speak or write at length or in detail
Examples
"By the time the Song Festival rep finished remarks, the orchestra staff promoted the raffle, and the conductor expatiated, it was 25 minutes into the afternoon before the oboe sounded the tuning A."
— Donald J. Behnke, The Green Valley (Arizona) News and Sun, 25 Jan. 2015
"Humboldt … decided to deliver a series of lectures on the theme of, well, everything. He expatiated on meteorology, geology, plant geography, and ocean currents, as well as on fossils, magnetism, astronomy, human migration, and poetry."
— Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2015
Did You Know?
The Latin antecedent of expatiate is exspatiari, which combines the prefix ex- ("out of") with spatiari ("to take a walk"), itself from spatium ("space" or "course"). Exspatiari means "to wander from a course" and, in a figurative sense, "to digress."
But when English speakers began using expatiate in the mid-16th century, we took "wander" to mean simply "to move about freely." In a similar digression from the original Latin, we began using expatiate in a figurative sense of "to speak at length." That's the sense of the word most often used these days, usually in combination with on or upon.
EXPATIATE \ ek-SPAY-shee-ayt \ verb
Definition
1 : to move about freely or at will : wander
2 : to speak or write at length or in detail
Examples
"By the time the Song Festival rep finished remarks, the orchestra staff promoted the raffle, and the conductor expatiated, it was 25 minutes into the afternoon before the oboe sounded the tuning A."
— Donald J. Behnke, The Green Valley (Arizona) News and Sun, 25 Jan. 2015
"Humboldt … decided to deliver a series of lectures on the theme of, well, everything. He expatiated on meteorology, geology, plant geography, and ocean currents, as well as on fossils, magnetism, astronomy, human migration, and poetry."
— Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2015
Did You Know?
The Latin antecedent of expatiate is exspatiari, which combines the prefix ex- ("out of") with spatiari ("to take a walk"), itself from spatium ("space" or "course"). Exspatiari means "to wander from a course" and, in a figurative sense, "to digress."
But when English speakers began using expatiate in the mid-16th century, we took "wander" to mean simply "to move about freely." In a similar digression from the original Latin, we began using expatiate in a figurative sense of "to speak at length." That's the sense of the word most often used these days, usually in combination with on or upon.
Friday, January 15, 2016
Ignominious
WORD OF THE DAY
ignominious \ ig-nuh-MIN-ee-us \ adjective
Definition
1a : marked with or characterized by disgrace or shame
1b: dishonorable
2 : deserving of shame or infamy : despicable
3 : humiliating, degrading
Examples
"[People's] first issue appeared in March of 1974—two years after the ignominious shuttering of the weekly Life—and it was an immediate sensation, drawing more than 900,000 readers from the outset."
— Jim Windolf, Vanity Fair, 16 Oct. 2013
"It made no difference that the doctor had said the cornea would heal. I didn't believe him. How ignominious to be blinded by a squash racquet."
— Rosemary Mahoney, For the Benefit of Those Who See, 2014
Did You Know?
The -nom- of ignominious comes from nomen, the Latin word for "name" or "repute." (Nomen is also the root of misnomer, nomenclature, and nominal, among others.) The ig- part of the word is akin to the negative prefix in-; when joined to the root -nom-, it indicates the namelessness that goes with shame or dishonor.
To suffer an ignominious fate is to lose the opportunity to make a name for oneself or to lose one's good name. When ignominious was first borrowed from a French form of the word in the 15th century, it meant "disgraced" or "dishonorable."
The word continues to have such meanings, but it also has the somewhat milder meanings of "embarrassing" and "humiliating."
ignominious \ ig-nuh-MIN-ee-us \ adjective
Definition
1a : marked with or characterized by disgrace or shame
1b: dishonorable
2 : deserving of shame or infamy : despicable
3 : humiliating, degrading
Examples
"[People's] first issue appeared in March of 1974—two years after the ignominious shuttering of the weekly Life—and it was an immediate sensation, drawing more than 900,000 readers from the outset."
— Jim Windolf, Vanity Fair, 16 Oct. 2013
"It made no difference that the doctor had said the cornea would heal. I didn't believe him. How ignominious to be blinded by a squash racquet."
— Rosemary Mahoney, For the Benefit of Those Who See, 2014
Did You Know?
The -nom- of ignominious comes from nomen, the Latin word for "name" or "repute." (Nomen is also the root of misnomer, nomenclature, and nominal, among others.) The ig- part of the word is akin to the negative prefix in-; when joined to the root -nom-, it indicates the namelessness that goes with shame or dishonor.
To suffer an ignominious fate is to lose the opportunity to make a name for oneself or to lose one's good name. When ignominious was first borrowed from a French form of the word in the 15th century, it meant "disgraced" or "dishonorable."
The word continues to have such meanings, but it also has the somewhat milder meanings of "embarrassing" and "humiliating."
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Brogue
WORD OF THE DAY
BROGUE \ BROHG \ noun
Definition
1 : a heavy shoe often with a hobnailed sole
2 : a stout oxford shoe with perforations and usually a wing tip
Examples
"Canvas isn't the chosen medium of many shoemakers, so it was a bit exciting and a bit confusing when Toms Shoes, purveyors of the ever-casual espadrilles, announced its intention to make brogues."
— Andrew Burmon, Men's Journal, 19 Aug. 2013
"The X-Men star, who played Jean Grey in the superhero movies, wore patent brogues, where the chunky style helped emphasise her slender legs which were encased in thick opaque tights."
— Ciara Farmer, DailyMail.co.uk, 26 Nov. 2015
Did You Know?
Did you expect brogue to be defined as "an Irish accent"? You're probably not alone. Our definition is different because brogue has two homographs (words that are spelled—and in this case pronounced—the same but have different origins or parts of speech).
Brogue the shoe comes from the Irish word bróg, which probably derives from an Old Norse term meaning "leg covering."
Brogue the accent comes from a different Irish word, barróg, which means "accent" or "speech impediment."
BROGUE \ BROHG \ noun
Definition
1 : a heavy shoe often with a hobnailed sole
2 : a stout oxford shoe with perforations and usually a wing tip
Examples
"Canvas isn't the chosen medium of many shoemakers, so it was a bit exciting and a bit confusing when Toms Shoes, purveyors of the ever-casual espadrilles, announced its intention to make brogues."
— Andrew Burmon, Men's Journal, 19 Aug. 2013
"The X-Men star, who played Jean Grey in the superhero movies, wore patent brogues, where the chunky style helped emphasise her slender legs which were encased in thick opaque tights."
— Ciara Farmer, DailyMail.co.uk, 26 Nov. 2015
Did You Know?
Did you expect brogue to be defined as "an Irish accent"? You're probably not alone. Our definition is different because brogue has two homographs (words that are spelled—and in this case pronounced—the same but have different origins or parts of speech).
Brogue the shoe comes from the Irish word bróg, which probably derives from an Old Norse term meaning "leg covering."
Brogue the accent comes from a different Irish word, barróg, which means "accent" or "speech impediment."
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Chirography
WORD OF THE DAY
CHIROGRAPHY \ kye-RAH-gruh-fee \ noun
Definition
1 : handwriting, penmanship
2 : calligraphy
Examples
"This envelope had the air of an official record of some period long past, when clerks engrossed their stiff and formal chirography on more substantial materials than at present."
— Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, 1850
"The stone bore confusing etchings: Arabic numerals coupled with Roman; the letter 'H' in ancient Spanish chirography; a puzzling mass of ovoid figures, circles and rectangles; and the weblike drawing that gave it its name."
— Evan Moore, The Houston Chronicle, 6 May 2001
Did You Know?
Though some might argue that handwriting is a dying art in the age of electronic communication, this fancy word for it persists. The root graph means "writing" and appears in many common English words such as autograph and graphite.
The lesser-known root chir, or chiro-, comes from a Greek word meaning "hand" and occurs in words such as chiromancy ("the art of palm reading") and enchiridion ("a handbook or manual"), as well as chiropractic.
Chirography first appeared in English in the 17th century and probably derived from chirograph, a now rare word referring to any of various legal documents. Chirography should not be confused with choreography, which refers to the composition and arrangement of dances.
CHIROGRAPHY \ kye-RAH-gruh-fee \ noun
Definition
1 : handwriting, penmanship
2 : calligraphy
Examples
"This envelope had the air of an official record of some period long past, when clerks engrossed their stiff and formal chirography on more substantial materials than at present."
— Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, 1850
"The stone bore confusing etchings: Arabic numerals coupled with Roman; the letter 'H' in ancient Spanish chirography; a puzzling mass of ovoid figures, circles and rectangles; and the weblike drawing that gave it its name."
— Evan Moore, The Houston Chronicle, 6 May 2001
Did You Know?
Though some might argue that handwriting is a dying art in the age of electronic communication, this fancy word for it persists. The root graph means "writing" and appears in many common English words such as autograph and graphite.
The lesser-known root chir, or chiro-, comes from a Greek word meaning "hand" and occurs in words such as chiromancy ("the art of palm reading") and enchiridion ("a handbook or manual"), as well as chiropractic.
Chirography first appeared in English in the 17th century and probably derived from chirograph, a now rare word referring to any of various legal documents. Chirography should not be confused with choreography, which refers to the composition and arrangement of dances.
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Procrastinate
WORD OF THE DAY
PROCRASTINATE \ pruh-KRASS-tuh-nayt \ verb
Definition
1 : to put off intentionally and habitually
2 : to put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done
Examples
Somehow, despite procrastinating, Melody managed to hand her assignment in on time.
"You won't achieve [financial fitness] overnight or by happenstance, but by making responsible decisions on a daily basis, working hard and adhering to a well-crafted plan. You also won't achieve it if you let time constraints get in the way, or you procrastinate."
— Odysseas Papadimitriou, U.S. News & World Report, 3 Dec. 2015
Did You Know?
We won't put off telling you about the origins of procrastinate. English speakers borrowed the word in the 16th century from Latin procrastinatus, which itself evolved from the prefix pro-, meaning "forward," and crastinus, meaning "of tomorrow."
Like its synonyms delay, lag, loiter, dawdle, and dally, procrastinate means to move or act slowly so as to fall behind. It typically implies blameworthy delay especially through laziness or apathy.
PROCRASTINATE \ pruh-KRASS-tuh-nayt \ verb
Definition
1 : to put off intentionally and habitually
2 : to put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done
Examples
Somehow, despite procrastinating, Melody managed to hand her assignment in on time.
"You won't achieve [financial fitness] overnight or by happenstance, but by making responsible decisions on a daily basis, working hard and adhering to a well-crafted plan. You also won't achieve it if you let time constraints get in the way, or you procrastinate."
— Odysseas Papadimitriou, U.S. News & World Report, 3 Dec. 2015
Did You Know?
We won't put off telling you about the origins of procrastinate. English speakers borrowed the word in the 16th century from Latin procrastinatus, which itself evolved from the prefix pro-, meaning "forward," and crastinus, meaning "of tomorrow."
Like its synonyms delay, lag, loiter, dawdle, and dally, procrastinate means to move or act slowly so as to fall behind. It typically implies blameworthy delay especially through laziness or apathy.
Monday, January 11, 2016
Mugwump
WORD OF THE DAY
MUGWUMP \ MUG-wump \ noun
Definition
1 : a bolter from the Republican party in 1884
2 : a person who is independent (as in politics) or who remains undecided or neutral
Examples
"[Woodrow] Wilson was representative of a moderate progressivism that existed in the latter part of the nineteenth century and the early part of this one. He was a mugwump reacting negatively to the new, industrialist class, but maintaining a strong belief in the triumph of American ideals and progress."
— Hans Vought, The Journal of American Ethnic History, Spring 1994
"Most journalists are mugwumps, though you might not know it from the way we are often described as ideological warriors salivating over opportunities to pursue foes."
— Julia Baird, The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 Apr. 2014
Did You Know?
Mugwump is an anglicized version of a word used by Massachusett Indians to mean "war leader." The word was sometimes jestingly applied in early America to someone who was the "head guy."
The first political mugwumps were Republicans in the presidential race of 1884 who chose to support Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland rather than their own party's nominee. Their independence prompted one 1930s humorist to define a mugwump as "a bird who sits with its mug on one side of the fence and its wump on the other."
MUGWUMP \ MUG-wump \ noun
Definition
1 : a bolter from the Republican party in 1884
2 : a person who is independent (as in politics) or who remains undecided or neutral
Examples
"[Woodrow] Wilson was representative of a moderate progressivism that existed in the latter part of the nineteenth century and the early part of this one. He was a mugwump reacting negatively to the new, industrialist class, but maintaining a strong belief in the triumph of American ideals and progress."
— Hans Vought, The Journal of American Ethnic History, Spring 1994
"Most journalists are mugwumps, though you might not know it from the way we are often described as ideological warriors salivating over opportunities to pursue foes."
— Julia Baird, The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 Apr. 2014
Did You Know?
Mugwump is an anglicized version of a word used by Massachusett Indians to mean "war leader." The word was sometimes jestingly applied in early America to someone who was the "head guy."
The first political mugwumps were Republicans in the presidential race of 1884 who chose to support Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland rather than their own party's nominee. Their independence prompted one 1930s humorist to define a mugwump as "a bird who sits with its mug on one side of the fence and its wump on the other."
Friday, January 8, 2016
Rugose
WORD OF THE DAY
RUGOSE \ ROO-gohss \ adjective
Definition
1 : full of wrinkles
2 : having the veinlets sunken and the spaces between elevated
Examples
The leaves of the plant are dark green and rugose.
"I lost no time in asking directions of a stooped crone shuffling along the sleepy sidewalk, who turned her rugose visage towards me and shouted in a coarse and idiomatic form of French…."
— John A. Minahan, The Providence (Rhode Island) Journal, 23 Aug. 2015
Did You Know?
Rugose was borrowed into English in the 15th century from the Latin adjective rugosus ("wrinkled"), which itself derives from ruga ("wrinkle").
One descendant of ruga that you'll probably recognize is corrugate, which initially meant "to form or shape into wrinkles or folds" (as in "corrugated cardboard"). Another, which might be more familiar to scientists, is rugulose, meaning "finely wrinkled."
In addition, there is the noun rugosity, which can refer to either the quality or state of being full of wrinkles or to an individual wrinkled place. Rugose is most commonly encountered in technical contexts, but it's also found occasionally in literary contexts, as in our quote above, from the second-place winner in an H. P. Lovecraft short story contest in The Providence Journal.
RUGOSE \ ROO-gohss \ adjective
Definition
1 : full of wrinkles
2 : having the veinlets sunken and the spaces between elevated
Examples
The leaves of the plant are dark green and rugose.
"I lost no time in asking directions of a stooped crone shuffling along the sleepy sidewalk, who turned her rugose visage towards me and shouted in a coarse and idiomatic form of French…."
— John A. Minahan, The Providence (Rhode Island) Journal, 23 Aug. 2015
Did You Know?
Rugose was borrowed into English in the 15th century from the Latin adjective rugosus ("wrinkled"), which itself derives from ruga ("wrinkle").
One descendant of ruga that you'll probably recognize is corrugate, which initially meant "to form or shape into wrinkles or folds" (as in "corrugated cardboard"). Another, which might be more familiar to scientists, is rugulose, meaning "finely wrinkled."
In addition, there is the noun rugosity, which can refer to either the quality or state of being full of wrinkles or to an individual wrinkled place. Rugose is most commonly encountered in technical contexts, but it's also found occasionally in literary contexts, as in our quote above, from the second-place winner in an H. P. Lovecraft short story contest in The Providence Journal.
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Dross
WORD OF THE DAY
DROSS \DRAHSS \ noun
Definition
1: the scum that forms on the surface of molten metal
2a: waste or foreign matter
2b: impurity
3: something that is base, trivial, or inferior
Examples
"'Jerry on Jerry' may not be for the casual Grateful Dead fan. It takes some patience to wade through the dross of verbiage for the nuggets of wit and wisdom, but they're there."
— Paul Liberatore, The Marin (California) Independent Journal, 26 Nov. 2015
"Good actors making poor choices—especially when the actor is Nicolas Cage—is nothing new, but I worry that the dross in his career ledger is rapidly outpacing the gold."
— Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times, 25 Sept. 2015
Did You Know?
Dross has been a part of the English language since Anglo-Saxon times; one 19th-century book on Old English vocabulary dates it back to 1050 A.D. Its Old English ancestors are related to Germanic and Scandinavian words for "dregs" (as in "the dregs of the coffee"), and, like dregs, dross is a word for the less-than-desirable parts of something.
Over the years, the relative worthlessness of dross has often been set in contrast to the value of gold, as for example in British poet Christina Rossetti's "The Lowest Room": "Besides, those days were golden days, / Whilst these are days of dross" (1875).
DROSS \DRAHSS \ noun
Definition
1: the scum that forms on the surface of molten metal
2a: waste or foreign matter
2b: impurity
3: something that is base, trivial, or inferior
Examples
"'Jerry on Jerry' may not be for the casual Grateful Dead fan. It takes some patience to wade through the dross of verbiage for the nuggets of wit and wisdom, but they're there."
— Paul Liberatore, The Marin (California) Independent Journal, 26 Nov. 2015
"Good actors making poor choices—especially when the actor is Nicolas Cage—is nothing new, but I worry that the dross in his career ledger is rapidly outpacing the gold."
— Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times, 25 Sept. 2015
Did You Know?
Dross has been a part of the English language since Anglo-Saxon times; one 19th-century book on Old English vocabulary dates it back to 1050 A.D. Its Old English ancestors are related to Germanic and Scandinavian words for "dregs" (as in "the dregs of the coffee"), and, like dregs, dross is a word for the less-than-desirable parts of something.
Over the years, the relative worthlessness of dross has often been set in contrast to the value of gold, as for example in British poet Christina Rossetti's "The Lowest Room": "Besides, those days were golden days, / Whilst these are days of dross" (1875).
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Bogart
WORD OF THE DAY
BOGART \ BOH-gahrt \ verb
Definition
1 : bully, intimidate
2 : to use or consume without sharing
Examples
Three of the older girls bogarted the ice cream, ignoring the other girls' pleas for them to share.
"Cornwell disputes the group's claim for April 19 and says it and other groups are bogarting the park by reserving Saturdays in the spring to prevent other festivals in Candler Park other than their own."
— Carla Caldwell, The Atlanta Business Chronicle, 15 Nov. 2015
Did You Know?
The legendary film actor Humphrey Bogart was known for playing a range of tough characters in a series of films throughout the 1940s and 1950s, including The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The African Queen, and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. The men he portrayed often possessed a cool, hardened exterior that occasionally let forth a suggestion of romantic or idealistic sentimentality.
Bogart also had a unique method of smoking cigarettes in these pictures—letting the butt dangle from his mouth without removing it until it was almost entirely consumed. Some believe that this habit inspired the current meaning of bogart, which was once limited to the phrase "Don't bogart that joint [marijuana cigarette]," as popularized by a song on the soundtrack to the film Easy Rider, among other things. Today bogart can be applied to hogging almost anything.
BOGART \ BOH-gahrt \ verb
Definition
1 : bully, intimidate
2 : to use or consume without sharing
Examples
Three of the older girls bogarted the ice cream, ignoring the other girls' pleas for them to share.
"Cornwell disputes the group's claim for April 19 and says it and other groups are bogarting the park by reserving Saturdays in the spring to prevent other festivals in Candler Park other than their own."
— Carla Caldwell, The Atlanta Business Chronicle, 15 Nov. 2015
Did You Know?
The legendary film actor Humphrey Bogart was known for playing a range of tough characters in a series of films throughout the 1940s and 1950s, including The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The African Queen, and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. The men he portrayed often possessed a cool, hardened exterior that occasionally let forth a suggestion of romantic or idealistic sentimentality.
Bogart also had a unique method of smoking cigarettes in these pictures—letting the butt dangle from his mouth without removing it until it was almost entirely consumed. Some believe that this habit inspired the current meaning of bogart, which was once limited to the phrase "Don't bogart that joint [marijuana cigarette]," as popularized by a song on the soundtrack to the film Easy Rider, among other things. Today bogart can be applied to hogging almost anything.
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Shibboleth
WORD OF THE DAY
SHIBBOLETH \ SHIB-uh-luth \ noun
Definition
1 : catchword, slogan
2 : a widely held belief or truism
3 : a custom or usage regarded as distinctive of a particular group
Examples
The town's name is a shibboleth: locals know its pronunciation does not reflect its French spelling but others use the Gallic pronunciation of the more famous European city.
"For Gorbachev, schooled in the rusty shibboleths of party ideology, the West was intent on destroying the Soviet Union."
— Vladimir Tismaneanu, The Times Higher Education Supplement, 12 Nov. 2015
Did You Know?
The Bible's Book of Judges (12:4-6) tells the story of the Ephraimites, who, after they were routed by the Gileadite army, tried to retreat by sneaking across a ford of the Jordan River that was held by their enemy.
The Gileadites, wary of the ploy, asked every soldier who tried to cross if he was an Ephraimite. When the soldier said no, he was asked to say shibbōleth (which means "stream" in Hebrew).
Gileadites pronounced the word "shibboleth," but Ephramites said "sibboleth." Anyone who left out the initial "sh" was killed on the spot. When English speakers first borrowed shibboleth, they used it to mean "test phrase," but it has acquired additional meanings since that time.
SHIBBOLETH \ SHIB-uh-luth \ noun
Definition
1 : catchword, slogan
2 : a widely held belief or truism
3 : a custom or usage regarded as distinctive of a particular group
Examples
The town's name is a shibboleth: locals know its pronunciation does not reflect its French spelling but others use the Gallic pronunciation of the more famous European city.
"For Gorbachev, schooled in the rusty shibboleths of party ideology, the West was intent on destroying the Soviet Union."
— Vladimir Tismaneanu, The Times Higher Education Supplement, 12 Nov. 2015
Did You Know?
The Bible's Book of Judges (12:4-6) tells the story of the Ephraimites, who, after they were routed by the Gileadite army, tried to retreat by sneaking across a ford of the Jordan River that was held by their enemy.
The Gileadites, wary of the ploy, asked every soldier who tried to cross if he was an Ephraimite. When the soldier said no, he was asked to say shibbōleth (which means "stream" in Hebrew).
Gileadites pronounced the word "shibboleth," but Ephramites said "sibboleth." Anyone who left out the initial "sh" was killed on the spot. When English speakers first borrowed shibboleth, they used it to mean "test phrase," but it has acquired additional meanings since that time.
Monday, January 4, 2016
Uxorial
WORD OF THE DAY
UXORIAL \ uk-SOR-ee-ul \ adjective
Definition
: of, relating to, or characteristic of a wife
Examples
"He watered the plants, cleared aspen leaves and debris from the rock garden, and cut the lawn … without any uxorial prompting."
— Rois M. Beal, The Washington Post, 19 July 2007
"… the opera was 'Bluebeard's Castle,' a work based on the French fairy tale of a duke who murders his wives and hides their bodies in his foreboding fortress. It's an uxorial horror story of the highest caliber…."
— Kim Carpenter, The Omaha (Nebraska) World-Herald, 20 Apr. 2013
Did You Know?
With help from -ial, -ious, and -icide, the Latin word uxor, meaning "wife," has given us the English words uxorial, uxorious (meaning "excessively fond of or submissive to a wife"), and uxoricide ("murder of a wife by her husband" or "a wife murderer"). Do we have equivalent "husband" words? Well, sort of.
Maritus means "husband" in Latin, so marital can mean "of or relating to a husband and his role in marriage" (although maritus also means "married," and the "of or relating to marriage or the married state" sense of marital is far more common). And while mariticide is "spouse killing," it can also be specifically "husband-killing."
UXORIAL \ uk-SOR-ee-ul \ adjective
Definition
: of, relating to, or characteristic of a wife
Examples
"He watered the plants, cleared aspen leaves and debris from the rock garden, and cut the lawn … without any uxorial prompting."
— Rois M. Beal, The Washington Post, 19 July 2007
"… the opera was 'Bluebeard's Castle,' a work based on the French fairy tale of a duke who murders his wives and hides their bodies in his foreboding fortress. It's an uxorial horror story of the highest caliber…."
— Kim Carpenter, The Omaha (Nebraska) World-Herald, 20 Apr. 2013
Did You Know?
With help from -ial, -ious, and -icide, the Latin word uxor, meaning "wife," has given us the English words uxorial, uxorious (meaning "excessively fond of or submissive to a wife"), and uxoricide ("murder of a wife by her husband" or "a wife murderer"). Do we have equivalent "husband" words? Well, sort of.
Maritus means "husband" in Latin, so marital can mean "of or relating to a husband and his role in marriage" (although maritus also means "married," and the "of or relating to marriage or the married state" sense of marital is far more common). And while mariticide is "spouse killing," it can also be specifically "husband-killing."
Friday, January 1, 2016
Belie
WORD OF THE DAY
BELIE \ bih-LYE \ verb
Definition
1a : to give a false impression of
1b : to present an appearance not in agreement with
2 : to show (something) to be false or wrong
3a : to run counter to
3b: contradict
4 : disguise
Examples
Abigail, a seventy-eight-year-old grandmother, moves with an agility that belies her age.
"Often described as 'a little jewel,' the 1911 chapel has a simple exterior that belies its interior."
— Deb Holland, The Meade County (South Dakota) Times-Tribune, 7 Oct. 2015
Did You Know?
"What is a lie?" asked Lord Byron in Don Juan. He then answered himself: "'Tis but the truth in masquerade...."
The history of belie illustrates a certain connection between lying and disguising. In its earliest known use, around 590 C.E., belie meant "to deceive by lying." By the 1200s, it was being used to mean "to tell lies about," using a sense similar to that of the modern word slander. Over time its meaning softened, shifting from an act of outright lying to one of mere misrepresentation, and by the early 1600s, the word was being used in the sense "to disguise or conceal." Nowadays, belie suggests giving an impression at variance with the facts rather than telling an intentional untruth.
BELIE \ bih-LYE \ verb
Definition
1a : to give a false impression of
1b : to present an appearance not in agreement with
2 : to show (something) to be false or wrong
3a : to run counter to
3b: contradict
4 : disguise
Examples
Abigail, a seventy-eight-year-old grandmother, moves with an agility that belies her age.
"Often described as 'a little jewel,' the 1911 chapel has a simple exterior that belies its interior."
— Deb Holland, The Meade County (South Dakota) Times-Tribune, 7 Oct. 2015
Did You Know?
"What is a lie?" asked Lord Byron in Don Juan. He then answered himself: "'Tis but the truth in masquerade...."
The history of belie illustrates a certain connection between lying and disguising. In its earliest known use, around 590 C.E., belie meant "to deceive by lying." By the 1200s, it was being used to mean "to tell lies about," using a sense similar to that of the modern word slander. Over time its meaning softened, shifting from an act of outright lying to one of mere misrepresentation, and by the early 1600s, the word was being used in the sense "to disguise or conceal." Nowadays, belie suggests giving an impression at variance with the facts rather than telling an intentional untruth.
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