WORD OF THE DAY
genuflect \ JEN-yuh-flekt \ verb
Definition
1a : to bend the knee
1b : to touch the knee to the floor or ground especially in worship
2 : to be humbly obedient or respectful
Examples
"Other jazz pianists would pause to genuflect when they entered a room where Peterson was playing...."
— David Hinckley, The New York Daily News, 25 Dec. 2007
"By abdicating [their] responsibility to provide a counterweight to the executive branch, legislative leaders are genuflecting at the feet of the governor."
— Kevin Franck, The Boston Herald, 6 Oct. 2016
Did You Know?
Genuflect is derived from the Late Latin genuflectere, formed from the noun genu ("knee") and the verb flectere ("to bend"). Flectere appears in a number of our more common verbs, such as reflect ("to bend or throw back," as light) and deflect ("to turn aside").
By comparison genu sees little use in English, but it did give us geniculate, a word often used in scientific contexts to mean "bent abruptly at an angle like a bent knee."
Despite the resemblance, words such as genius and genuine are not related to genuflect; instead, they are of a family that includes the Latin verb gignere, meaning "to beget."
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Monday, February 27, 2017
Shunpike
WORD OF THE DAY
shunpike \ SHUN-pyke \ noun
Definition
: a side road used to avoid the toll on or the speed and traffic of a superhighway
Examples
David did some math to determine if the money on the extra gas needed to take the shunpike cost more than the toll for using the freeway.
"The News On 6 wanted to see if other drivers would consider a shunpike to save money.'It just depends on what kind of drive it is and how much more time it would take,' said Lisa Underhill, a Claremore resident."
— Dan Bewley, Newson6.com (Oklahoma), 24 Aug. 2009
Did You Know?
America's love affair with the automobile and the development of a national system of superhighways (along with the occasional desire to seek out paths less traveled) is a story belonging to the 20th century. So the word shunpike, too, must be a 20th-century phenomenon, right? Nope. Toll roads have existed for centuries (the word turnpike has meant "tollgate" since at least 1678), and were quite common in 19th-century America.
Shunpike has been describing side roads since the middle of that century, almost half a century before the first Model T rolled out of the factory.
shunpike \ SHUN-pyke \ noun
Definition
: a side road used to avoid the toll on or the speed and traffic of a superhighway
Examples
David did some math to determine if the money on the extra gas needed to take the shunpike cost more than the toll for using the freeway.
"The News On 6 wanted to see if other drivers would consider a shunpike to save money.'It just depends on what kind of drive it is and how much more time it would take,' said Lisa Underhill, a Claremore resident."
— Dan Bewley, Newson6.com (Oklahoma), 24 Aug. 2009
Did You Know?
America's love affair with the automobile and the development of a national system of superhighways (along with the occasional desire to seek out paths less traveled) is a story belonging to the 20th century. So the word shunpike, too, must be a 20th-century phenomenon, right? Nope. Toll roads have existed for centuries (the word turnpike has meant "tollgate" since at least 1678), and were quite common in 19th-century America.
Shunpike has been describing side roads since the middle of that century, almost half a century before the first Model T rolled out of the factory.
Friday, February 24, 2017
Kudos
WORD OF THE DAY
kudos \ KOO-dahss \ noun
Definition
1a: fame and renown resulting from an act or achievement
1b: prestige
2 : praise given for achievement
Examples
"I'd like to be a widow. Then I'd have the freedom of the unmarried, with the kudos of the married. I could eat my cake and have it, too. Oh, to be a widow!"
— Lucy Maud Montgomery, "The End of a Quarrel," 1912
"But Kraft deserves kudos for the way he has allowed Belichick to do his job. A man that is obsessed with public relations, he has gotten out of the way when it comes to running the football operations."
— Bill Burt, The Eagle-Tribune (Massachusetts), 23 Jan. 2017
Did You Know?
Deriving from Greek, kudos entered English as slang popular at British universities in the 19th century. In its earliest use, the word referred to the prestige or renown that one gained by having accomplished something noteworthy.
The sense meaning "praise given for achievement" came about in the 1920s. As this later sense became the predominant one, some English speakers, unaware of the word's Greek origin, began to treat the word as a plural count noun, inevitably coming up with the back-formation kudo to refer to a single instance of praise.
For the same reason, when kudos is used as a subject you may see it with either a singular or plural verb.
kudos \ KOO-dahss \ noun
Definition
1a: fame and renown resulting from an act or achievement
1b: prestige
2 : praise given for achievement
Examples
"I'd like to be a widow. Then I'd have the freedom of the unmarried, with the kudos of the married. I could eat my cake and have it, too. Oh, to be a widow!"
— Lucy Maud Montgomery, "The End of a Quarrel," 1912
"But Kraft deserves kudos for the way he has allowed Belichick to do his job. A man that is obsessed with public relations, he has gotten out of the way when it comes to running the football operations."
— Bill Burt, The Eagle-Tribune (Massachusetts), 23 Jan. 2017
Did You Know?
Deriving from Greek, kudos entered English as slang popular at British universities in the 19th century. In its earliest use, the word referred to the prestige or renown that one gained by having accomplished something noteworthy.
The sense meaning "praise given for achievement" came about in the 1920s. As this later sense became the predominant one, some English speakers, unaware of the word's Greek origin, began to treat the word as a plural count noun, inevitably coming up with the back-formation kudo to refer to a single instance of praise.
For the same reason, when kudos is used as a subject you may see it with either a singular or plural verb.
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Finesse
WORD OF THE DAY
finesse \ fuh-NESS \ verb
Definition
1 : to make a finesse in playing cards : to play (a card) in a finesse
2a : to bring about, direct, or manage by adroit maneuvering
2b: evade, skirt
Examples
"No author can finesse wry, homespun humor better than Fannie Flagg …, whose main claim to literary fame remains the award-winning 'Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe.'"
— Allen Pierleoni, The Sacramento (California) Bee, 20 Jan. 2017
"My base in Johannesburg was the superb Saxon Hotel…. Outside that cocoon of safety a guide was essential. Mine showed a marked reluctance to venture into the badlands of the city centre…. But he finessed the security barriers to take me around Parktown, which more than made up for it."
— Clive Aslet, The Daily Telegraph (London), 21 Jan. 2017
Did You Know?
Finesse was a noun for more than 300 years before it became a verb. In the 15th century the noun finesse was used to refer to refinement or delicacy of workmanship, structure, or texture.
During the 16th century, it developed the "skillful handling of a situation" meaning most common today. The first use of the verb finesse, however, was not as a corollary of one of these meanings. Instead, its meaning had to do with cards: if you finesse in a game like bridge or whist, you withhold your highest card or trump in the hope that a lower card will take the trick because the only opposing higher card is in the hand of an opponent who has already played. The other verb meanings of finesse developed soon after this one.
finesse \ fuh-NESS \ verb
Definition
1 : to make a finesse in playing cards : to play (a card) in a finesse
2a : to bring about, direct, or manage by adroit maneuvering
2b: evade, skirt
Examples
"No author can finesse wry, homespun humor better than Fannie Flagg …, whose main claim to literary fame remains the award-winning 'Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe.'"
— Allen Pierleoni, The Sacramento (California) Bee, 20 Jan. 2017
"My base in Johannesburg was the superb Saxon Hotel…. Outside that cocoon of safety a guide was essential. Mine showed a marked reluctance to venture into the badlands of the city centre…. But he finessed the security barriers to take me around Parktown, which more than made up for it."
— Clive Aslet, The Daily Telegraph (London), 21 Jan. 2017
Did You Know?
Finesse was a noun for more than 300 years before it became a verb. In the 15th century the noun finesse was used to refer to refinement or delicacy of workmanship, structure, or texture.
During the 16th century, it developed the "skillful handling of a situation" meaning most common today. The first use of the verb finesse, however, was not as a corollary of one of these meanings. Instead, its meaning had to do with cards: if you finesse in a game like bridge or whist, you withhold your highest card or trump in the hope that a lower card will take the trick because the only opposing higher card is in the hand of an opponent who has already played. The other verb meanings of finesse developed soon after this one.
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Mayhap
WORD OF THE DAY
mayhap \ MAY-hap \ adverb
Definition
1a: possibly but not certainly
1b: perhaps
Examples
"The very footmen sometimes grinned too broadly, the maidservants giggled mayhap too loud, and a provoking air of intelligence seemed to pervade the whole family."
— Sir Walter Scott, Waverly, 1814
"Mayhap this thought will lead to another, that perhaps we should have second thoughts about becoming a society all about consumption."
— Cheryl Long Feather (Hunkuotawin), The Bismarck Tribune, 21 Nov. 2007
Did You Know?
If mayhap looks to you like a relative of its synonym perhaps, you're right—the words are related. Both ultimately derive from the Middle English noun hap, meaning "chance" or "fortune."
Mayhap was formed by combining the phrase "(it) may hap" into a single word (the word maybe, another synonym of mayhap and perhaps, was developed similarly from may and the verb be).
Hap in the phrase is a verb essentially meaning "to happen," and the verb hap comes from the noun hap. Perhaps came about when per (meaning "through the agency of") was combined directly with the noun hap to form one word. Today, mayhap is a rare word in contrast with the very common maybe and perhaps, but it does show up occasionally.
mayhap \ MAY-hap \ adverb
Definition
1a: possibly but not certainly
1b: perhaps
Examples
"The very footmen sometimes grinned too broadly, the maidservants giggled mayhap too loud, and a provoking air of intelligence seemed to pervade the whole family."
— Sir Walter Scott, Waverly, 1814
"Mayhap this thought will lead to another, that perhaps we should have second thoughts about becoming a society all about consumption."
— Cheryl Long Feather (Hunkuotawin), The Bismarck Tribune, 21 Nov. 2007
Did You Know?
If mayhap looks to you like a relative of its synonym perhaps, you're right—the words are related. Both ultimately derive from the Middle English noun hap, meaning "chance" or "fortune."
Mayhap was formed by combining the phrase "(it) may hap" into a single word (the word maybe, another synonym of mayhap and perhaps, was developed similarly from may and the verb be).
Hap in the phrase is a verb essentially meaning "to happen," and the verb hap comes from the noun hap. Perhaps came about when per (meaning "through the agency of") was combined directly with the noun hap to form one word. Today, mayhap is a rare word in contrast with the very common maybe and perhaps, but it does show up occasionally.
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Distaff
WORD OF THE DAY
distaff \ DISS-taff \ adjective
Definition
1a: related through a mother
1b: inherited or derived from the female parent
2: female
Examples
"Lord Robert Walsingham de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.… The Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on the distaff side."
— Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor," 1892
"One hint that the article was aimed more at the distaff side was in the second of 15 trends it listed, namely: 'Meet Workleisure: Athleisure is taking on the workplace.' The illustrations were of women, the brands mentioned were feminine lines and, well, that whole concept is just too burdensome to plan and too pricey for my closet."
— Mike Tighe, The La Crosse (Wisconsin) Tribune, 29 Dec. 2016
Did You Know?
The word distaff was first used for a short staff that held a bundle of fibers—of flax or wool, for example—ready to be spun into yarn or thread. Since spinning was a basic daily task customarily done by women, the distaff came to be the symbol for the work or domain of women.
This symbolic use of the noun distaff dates back to the time of Chaucer and is found in several works by Shakespeare. Eventually distaff came to be used for the female branch of a family and then as an adjective, as in "the distaff side of the family."
distaff \ DISS-taff \ adjective
Definition
1a: related through a mother
1b: inherited or derived from the female parent
2: female
Examples
"Lord Robert Walsingham de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.… The Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on the distaff side."
— Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor," 1892
"One hint that the article was aimed more at the distaff side was in the second of 15 trends it listed, namely: 'Meet Workleisure: Athleisure is taking on the workplace.' The illustrations were of women, the brands mentioned were feminine lines and, well, that whole concept is just too burdensome to plan and too pricey for my closet."
— Mike Tighe, The La Crosse (Wisconsin) Tribune, 29 Dec. 2016
Did You Know?
The word distaff was first used for a short staff that held a bundle of fibers—of flax or wool, for example—ready to be spun into yarn or thread. Since spinning was a basic daily task customarily done by women, the distaff came to be the symbol for the work or domain of women.
This symbolic use of the noun distaff dates back to the time of Chaucer and is found in several works by Shakespeare. Eventually distaff came to be used for the female branch of a family and then as an adjective, as in "the distaff side of the family."
Monday, February 20, 2017
Onus
WORD OF THE DAY
onus \ OH-nuss \ noun
Definition
1 : burden
2a : a disagreeable necessity
2b: obligation
3 : blame
4 : stigma
Examples
Management has made it clear that the onus is on employees to ask for further training if they don't understand the new procedures.
"I feel very fortunate that I never got into this business as a beauty queen. Even back in high school, the actors I idolized were the chameleons. That really took the onus off of what I looked like, and what a beautiful woman is supposed to look like."
— Connie Britton, quoted in The New York Times, 15 Dec. 2016
Did You Know?
Understanding the etymology of onus is not at all burdensome; it's as simple as knowing that English borrowed the word—spelling, meaning, and all—from Latin in the 17th century. We can also add that it's a distant relative of the Sanskrit word for "cart" (a vehicle that carries a burden).
English isn't exactly loaded with derivatives of Latin onus, but the root did give us onerous ("troublesome") and exonerate ("to clear from accusation or blame"—thus, "to unburden"). Additionally, our legal language has onus probandi, which is often shortened to onus. It means "burden of proof"—that is, the obligation of proving a disputed assertion in a court of law.
onus \ OH-nuss \ noun
Definition
1 : burden
2a : a disagreeable necessity
2b: obligation
3 : blame
4 : stigma
Examples
Management has made it clear that the onus is on employees to ask for further training if they don't understand the new procedures.
"I feel very fortunate that I never got into this business as a beauty queen. Even back in high school, the actors I idolized were the chameleons. That really took the onus off of what I looked like, and what a beautiful woman is supposed to look like."
— Connie Britton, quoted in The New York Times, 15 Dec. 2016
Did You Know?
Understanding the etymology of onus is not at all burdensome; it's as simple as knowing that English borrowed the word—spelling, meaning, and all—from Latin in the 17th century. We can also add that it's a distant relative of the Sanskrit word for "cart" (a vehicle that carries a burden).
English isn't exactly loaded with derivatives of Latin onus, but the root did give us onerous ("troublesome") and exonerate ("to clear from accusation or blame"—thus, "to unburden"). Additionally, our legal language has onus probandi, which is often shortened to onus. It means "burden of proof"—that is, the obligation of proving a disputed assertion in a court of law.
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Sward
WORD OF THE DAY
sward \ SWORD \ noun
Definition
1 : a portion of ground covered with grass
2 : the grassy surface of land
Examples
"It was a blind and despairing rush by the collection of men in dusty and tattered blue, over a green sward and under a sapphire sky, toward a fence, dimly outlined in smoke, from behind which spluttered the fierce rifles of enemies."
— Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage, 1895
"A few hundred yards upstream of the mill was a dam and a small lake. Along its east shore was Riverside Park with its gazebos and grassy swards and, come summer, flocks of picnickers."
— Marc Hudson, The Journal Review (Crawfordsville, Indiana), 28 May 2016
Did You Know?
Sward sprouted from the Old English sweard or swearth, meaning "skin" or "rind." It was originally used as a term for the skin of the body before being extended to another surface—that of the earth's.
The word's specific grassy sense dates back more than 500 years, but it rarely crops up in contemporary writing. The term, however, has been planted in a number of old novels, such as in this quote from Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles:
"The sun was so near the ground, and the sward so flat, that the shadows of Clare and Tess would stretch a quarter of a mile ahead of them...."
sward \ SWORD \ noun
Definition
1 : a portion of ground covered with grass
2 : the grassy surface of land
Examples
"It was a blind and despairing rush by the collection of men in dusty and tattered blue, over a green sward and under a sapphire sky, toward a fence, dimly outlined in smoke, from behind which spluttered the fierce rifles of enemies."
— Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage, 1895
"A few hundred yards upstream of the mill was a dam and a small lake. Along its east shore was Riverside Park with its gazebos and grassy swards and, come summer, flocks of picnickers."
— Marc Hudson, The Journal Review (Crawfordsville, Indiana), 28 May 2016
Did You Know?
Sward sprouted from the Old English sweard or swearth, meaning "skin" or "rind." It was originally used as a term for the skin of the body before being extended to another surface—that of the earth's.
The word's specific grassy sense dates back more than 500 years, but it rarely crops up in contemporary writing. The term, however, has been planted in a number of old novels, such as in this quote from Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles:
"The sun was so near the ground, and the sward so flat, that the shadows of Clare and Tess would stretch a quarter of a mile ahead of them...."
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Voluble
WORD OF THE DAY
voluble \ VAHL-yuh-bul \ adjective
Definition
1a: easily rolling or turning
1b: rotating
2a: characterized by ready or rapid speech
2b: glib, fluent
Examples
Having worked as a teacher for almost twenty years, Pamela was voluble on the subject of education.
"At 78, the Dutch-born director is generous and voluble, feeling his way through conversation as if he, too, is curious about what he will say next. ('That's it, I'm cutting you off,' a hardened publicist told him, well after our interview was supposed to end.)"
— Jeffrey Bloomer, Slate Magazine, 23 Nov. 2016
Did You Know?
English has many terms for gabby types, but it's important to choose the right word to get across what kind of chatterbox you mean. T
alkative usually implies a readiness to engage in talk or a disposition to enjoy conversation.
oquacious generally suggests the power to express oneself fluently, articulately, or glibly, but it can also mean "talking excessively."
Garrulous is even stronger in its suggestion of excessive talkativeness; it is most often used for tedious, rambling talkers.
aoluble is a word ultimately derived from the Latin verb volvere, meaning "to roll," that describes an individual who speaks easily and often—someone whose words smoothly roll off their tongue, so to speak.
voluble \ VAHL-yuh-bul \ adjective
Definition
1a: easily rolling or turning
1b: rotating
2a: characterized by ready or rapid speech
2b: glib, fluent
Examples
Having worked as a teacher for almost twenty years, Pamela was voluble on the subject of education.
"At 78, the Dutch-born director is generous and voluble, feeling his way through conversation as if he, too, is curious about what he will say next. ('That's it, I'm cutting you off,' a hardened publicist told him, well after our interview was supposed to end.)"
— Jeffrey Bloomer, Slate Magazine, 23 Nov. 2016
Did You Know?
English has many terms for gabby types, but it's important to choose the right word to get across what kind of chatterbox you mean. T
alkative usually implies a readiness to engage in talk or a disposition to enjoy conversation.
oquacious generally suggests the power to express oneself fluently, articulately, or glibly, but it can also mean "talking excessively."
Garrulous is even stronger in its suggestion of excessive talkativeness; it is most often used for tedious, rambling talkers.
aoluble is a word ultimately derived from the Latin verb volvere, meaning "to roll," that describes an individual who speaks easily and often—someone whose words smoothly roll off their tongue, so to speak.
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Billet-doux
WORD OF THE DAY
billet-doux \ bill-ee-DOO \ noun
Definition
: a love letter
Examples
While cleaning out her parents' basement, Amy stumbled upon a box containing billets-doux written by her dad to his high-school sweetheart—her mom.
"… when you stop to think about it the entire panoply of behaviours we consider as romantic, from sending little billets-doux, to developing a shared vocabulary of pet names, are … infantile. What's romance, then, but a kind of childish make-believe?"
— Will Self, Prospect, 13 Oct. 2016
Did You Know?
The first recorded use of the French word billet doux (literally, "sweet letter") in an English context occurs in John Dryden's 1673 play Marriage a-la-Mode. In the play, Dryden pokes fun at linguistic Francophiles in English society through the comic character Melanthe, who is described by her prospective lover Rodophil as follows: \
"No lady can be so curious of a new fashion as she is of a new French word; she's the very mint of the nation, and as fast as any bullion comes out of France, coins it immediately into our language."
True to form, Melanthe describes Rodophil with the following words: "Let me die, but he's a fine man; he sings and dances en Français, and writes the billets doux to a miracle."
billet-doux \ bill-ee-DOO \ noun
Definition
: a love letter
Examples
While cleaning out her parents' basement, Amy stumbled upon a box containing billets-doux written by her dad to his high-school sweetheart—her mom.
"… when you stop to think about it the entire panoply of behaviours we consider as romantic, from sending little billets-doux, to developing a shared vocabulary of pet names, are … infantile. What's romance, then, but a kind of childish make-believe?"
— Will Self, Prospect, 13 Oct. 2016
Did You Know?
The first recorded use of the French word billet doux (literally, "sweet letter") in an English context occurs in John Dryden's 1673 play Marriage a-la-Mode. In the play, Dryden pokes fun at linguistic Francophiles in English society through the comic character Melanthe, who is described by her prospective lover Rodophil as follows: \
"No lady can be so curious of a new fashion as she is of a new French word; she's the very mint of the nation, and as fast as any bullion comes out of France, coins it immediately into our language."
True to form, Melanthe describes Rodophil with the following words: "Let me die, but he's a fine man; he sings and dances en Français, and writes the billets doux to a miracle."
Monday, February 13, 2017
Transpontine
WORD OF THE DAY
transpontine \ trans-PAHN-tyne \ adjective
Definition
1 : situated on the farther side of a bridge
2 : (British) situated on the south side of the Thames
Examples
Traffic on the Tobin Bridge was at a near standstill, and it took us twenty minutes to reach our transpontine destination in Charlestown.
"The moment Waterloo Bridge was planned across the Thames, a new theatre to serve the transpontine coach trade was inevitable."
— Robert Gore-Langton, The Spectator (UK), 15 Nov. 2014
Did You Know?
Usually the prefix trans-, meaning "across," allows for a reciprocal perspective. Whether you're in Europe or America, for example, transoceanic countries are countries across the ocean from where you are. But that's not the way it originally worked with transpontine. The pont- in transpontine is from the Latin pons, meaning "bridge," and the bridge in this case was, at first, any bridge that crossed the River Thames in the city of London.
"Across the bridge" meant on one side of the river only—the south side. That's where the theaters that featured popular melodramas were located, and Victorian Londoners used transpontine to distinguish them from their more respectable cispontine ("situated on the nearer side of a bridge") counterparts north of the Thames.
transpontine \ trans-PAHN-tyne \ adjective
Definition
1 : situated on the farther side of a bridge
2 : (British) situated on the south side of the Thames
Examples
Traffic on the Tobin Bridge was at a near standstill, and it took us twenty minutes to reach our transpontine destination in Charlestown.
"The moment Waterloo Bridge was planned across the Thames, a new theatre to serve the transpontine coach trade was inevitable."
— Robert Gore-Langton, The Spectator (UK), 15 Nov. 2014
Did You Know?
Usually the prefix trans-, meaning "across," allows for a reciprocal perspective. Whether you're in Europe or America, for example, transoceanic countries are countries across the ocean from where you are. But that's not the way it originally worked with transpontine. The pont- in transpontine is from the Latin pons, meaning "bridge," and the bridge in this case was, at first, any bridge that crossed the River Thames in the city of London.
"Across the bridge" meant on one side of the river only—the south side. That's where the theaters that featured popular melodramas were located, and Victorian Londoners used transpontine to distinguish them from their more respectable cispontine ("situated on the nearer side of a bridge") counterparts north of the Thames.
Friday, February 10, 2017
Adjure
WORD OF THE DAY
adjure \ uh-JOOR \ verb
Definition
1 : to command solemnly under or as if under oath or penalty of a curse
2 : to urge or advise earnestly
Examples
The church has strong ties to the community and has long adjured its congregants to devote time to the aid of those less fortunate than themselves.
"… there is a hunger—in part perhaps because of public pressure—for general legislative reforms. Some are pushing for lawmakers to adjure outside income altogether, while others—including Cuomo—are seeking to cap it."
— Matthew Hamilton, The Times-Union (Albany, New York), 23 Feb. 2016
Did You Know?
Adjure and its synonyms entreat, importune, and implore all mean "to ask earnestly." Adjure implies advising as well as pleading, and is often accompanied by the invocation of something sacred ("in God's name, I adjure you to cease"). Entreat implies an effort to persuade or overcome resistance ("he gently entreated her to stay").
Importune goes further, adding a sense of annoying persistence in trying to break down resistance to a request ("importuning viewers for contributions"). Implore, on the other hand, suggests a great urgency or anguished appeal on the part of the speaker ("she implored the king to have mercy").
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Peradventure
WORD OF THE DAY
peradventure \ PER-ud-ven-cher \ noun
Definition
1 : doubt
2a: the possibility of a particular outcome in an uncertain situation
2b: chance
Examples
"When Henry had his servant brought to him from Argentan more dead than alive, he suffered an Angevin fury. But he knew beyond peradventure that the rebellion had been reborn."
— Amy Kelly, Eleanor of Aquitane and the Four Kings, 1950
"For parties in terminal decline to consign themselves to howling at the moon for five years will guarantee beyond peradventure that when the next election comes round people will be truly fed up listening to the noise."
— Brian Feeney, The Irish News, 11 May 2016
Did You Know?
When Middle English speakers borrowed par aventure from Anglo-French (in which language it means, literally, "by chance"), it was as an adverb meaning "perhaps" or "possibly." Before long, the word was anglicized to peradventure, and turned into a noun as well.
The adverb is now archaic, though Washington Irving and other writers were still using it in the 19th century. "If peradventure some straggling merchant ... should stop at his door with his cart load of tin ware....," writes Irving in A History of New York.
The noun senses we use today tend to show up in the phrase "beyond peradventure" in contexts relating to proving or demonstrating something. The "chance" sense is usually used in the phrase "beyond peradventure of doubt."
peradventure \ PER-ud-ven-cher \ noun
Definition
1 : doubt
2a: the possibility of a particular outcome in an uncertain situation
2b: chance
Examples
"When Henry had his servant brought to him from Argentan more dead than alive, he suffered an Angevin fury. But he knew beyond peradventure that the rebellion had been reborn."
— Amy Kelly, Eleanor of Aquitane and the Four Kings, 1950
"For parties in terminal decline to consign themselves to howling at the moon for five years will guarantee beyond peradventure that when the next election comes round people will be truly fed up listening to the noise."
— Brian Feeney, The Irish News, 11 May 2016
Did You Know?
When Middle English speakers borrowed par aventure from Anglo-French (in which language it means, literally, "by chance"), it was as an adverb meaning "perhaps" or "possibly." Before long, the word was anglicized to peradventure, and turned into a noun as well.
The adverb is now archaic, though Washington Irving and other writers were still using it in the 19th century. "If peradventure some straggling merchant ... should stop at his door with his cart load of tin ware....," writes Irving in A History of New York.
The noun senses we use today tend to show up in the phrase "beyond peradventure" in contexts relating to proving or demonstrating something. The "chance" sense is usually used in the phrase "beyond peradventure of doubt."
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Carceral
WORD OF THE DAY
carceral \ KAHR-suh-rul \ adjective
Definition
: of, relating to, or suggesting a jail or prison
Examples
"The door opened, whining, rattling and groaning in keeping with all the rules of carceral counterpoint."
— Vladimir Nabokov, Invitation to a Beheading, 1959
"We are in the midst of a debate around criminal justice right now…. In the midst of such debates it is customary for pundits, politicians, and writers like me to sally forth with numbers to demonstrate the breadth and width of the great American carceral state."
— Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic, 8 June 2015
Did You Know?
Our earliest known evidence of carceral—an adjective borrowed directly from Late Latin—dates to the late 16th century, with evidence of incarcerate ("to imprison") appearing shortly thereafter; they're both ultimately from carcer, Latin for "prison."
The English verb cancel is also linked to carcer via Latin cancelli, a word meaning "lattice" that likely developed from an alteration of carcer. Carceral is a word that is generally not found outside the confines of academic or legal contexts.
carceral \ KAHR-suh-rul \ adjective
Definition
: of, relating to, or suggesting a jail or prison
Examples
"The door opened, whining, rattling and groaning in keeping with all the rules of carceral counterpoint."
— Vladimir Nabokov, Invitation to a Beheading, 1959
"We are in the midst of a debate around criminal justice right now…. In the midst of such debates it is customary for pundits, politicians, and writers like me to sally forth with numbers to demonstrate the breadth and width of the great American carceral state."
— Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic, 8 June 2015
Did You Know?
Our earliest known evidence of carceral—an adjective borrowed directly from Late Latin—dates to the late 16th century, with evidence of incarcerate ("to imprison") appearing shortly thereafter; they're both ultimately from carcer, Latin for "prison."
The English verb cancel is also linked to carcer via Latin cancelli, a word meaning "lattice" that likely developed from an alteration of carcer. Carceral is a word that is generally not found outside the confines of academic or legal contexts.
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Nexus
WORD OF THE DAY
nexus \ NEK-sus \ noun
Definition
1a : connection, link; also
1b: a causal link
2 : a connected group or series
3 : center, focus
Examples
The new art exhibition is devoted to those artists whose work first began to form a nexus between high art and popular culture.
"Starting a weekly column about the nexus between media, technology, culture and politics in the middle of the 2016 presidential campaign was like parachuting into a hail of machine-gun crossfire."
— Jim Rutenberg, The New York Times, 26 Dec. 2016
Did You Know?
Nexus is all about connections. The word comes from nectere, a Latin verb meaning "to bind." A number of other English words are related to nectere.
The most obvious is connect, but annex (meaning "to attach as an addition," or more specifically "to incorporate into a political domain") is related as well.
When nexus came into English in the 17th century, it meant "connection." Eventually, it took on the additional meaning "connected series" (as in "a nexus of relationships").
In the past few decades it has taken a third meaning: "center" (as in "the trade nexus of the region"), perhaps from the notion that a point in the center of an arrangement serves to join together the objects that surround it.
nexus \ NEK-sus \ noun
Definition
1a : connection, link; also
1b: a causal link
2 : a connected group or series
3 : center, focus
Examples
The new art exhibition is devoted to those artists whose work first began to form a nexus between high art and popular culture.
"Starting a weekly column about the nexus between media, technology, culture and politics in the middle of the 2016 presidential campaign was like parachuting into a hail of machine-gun crossfire."
— Jim Rutenberg, The New York Times, 26 Dec. 2016
Did You Know?
Nexus is all about connections. The word comes from nectere, a Latin verb meaning "to bind." A number of other English words are related to nectere.
The most obvious is connect, but annex (meaning "to attach as an addition," or more specifically "to incorporate into a political domain") is related as well.
When nexus came into English in the 17th century, it meant "connection." Eventually, it took on the additional meaning "connected series" (as in "a nexus of relationships").
In the past few decades it has taken a third meaning: "center" (as in "the trade nexus of the region"), perhaps from the notion that a point in the center of an arrangement serves to join together the objects that surround it.
Monday, February 6, 2017
Extremophile
WORD OF THE DAY
extremophile \ ik-STREE-muh-fyle \ noun
Definition
: an organism that lives under extreme environmental conditions (as in a hot spring or ice cap)
Examples
"Beetles with antifreeze blood, ants that sprint on scorching sand and spiders that live high up Mount Everest. These incredible creatures are the extremophiles: animals that survive some of the most inhospitable conditions on Earth, and sometimes even further."
— Christopher Brooks, BBC.co.uk, 26 Mar. 2016
"[Andrew] Czaja said research into extremophiles in general gives scientists confidence that life can exist anywhere where the appropriate building blocks, including a liquid medium (such as water) and a source of energy, exist."
— Stephanie Margaret Bucklin, Astronomy Magazine, 8 Dec. 2016
Did You Know?
No, an extremophile is not an enthusiast of extreme sports (though -phile does mean "one who loves or has an affinity for"). Rather, extremophiles are organisms—mostly microorganisms—that thrive in environments once considered uninhabitable, from places with high levels of toxicity and radiation to boiling-hot deep-sea volcanoes to Antarctic ice sheets.
Scientists have even created a new biological domain to classify some of these extremophiles: Archaea (from Greek archaios, meaning "ancient"). These extremophiles may have a lot in common with the first organisms to appear on earth billions of years ago. If so, they can give us insight into how life on our planet may have arisen.
They are also being studied to learn about possible life forms on other planets, where conditions are extreme compared to conditions on Earth.
extremophile \ ik-STREE-muh-fyle \ noun
Definition
: an organism that lives under extreme environmental conditions (as in a hot spring or ice cap)
Examples
"Beetles with antifreeze blood, ants that sprint on scorching sand and spiders that live high up Mount Everest. These incredible creatures are the extremophiles: animals that survive some of the most inhospitable conditions on Earth, and sometimes even further."
— Christopher Brooks, BBC.co.uk, 26 Mar. 2016
"[Andrew] Czaja said research into extremophiles in general gives scientists confidence that life can exist anywhere where the appropriate building blocks, including a liquid medium (such as water) and a source of energy, exist."
— Stephanie Margaret Bucklin, Astronomy Magazine, 8 Dec. 2016
Did You Know?
No, an extremophile is not an enthusiast of extreme sports (though -phile does mean "one who loves or has an affinity for"). Rather, extremophiles are organisms—mostly microorganisms—that thrive in environments once considered uninhabitable, from places with high levels of toxicity and radiation to boiling-hot deep-sea volcanoes to Antarctic ice sheets.
Scientists have even created a new biological domain to classify some of these extremophiles: Archaea (from Greek archaios, meaning "ancient"). These extremophiles may have a lot in common with the first organisms to appear on earth billions of years ago. If so, they can give us insight into how life on our planet may have arisen.
They are also being studied to learn about possible life forms on other planets, where conditions are extreme compared to conditions on Earth.
Friday, February 3, 2017
Abyssal
WORD OF THE DAY
abyssal \ uh-BISS-ul \ adjective
Definition
1: of or relating to the bottom waters of the ocean depths
2a: impossible to comprehend
2b: unfathomable
Examples
"Since the accident, researchers from the Guangzhou Institute of Oceanology have mapped several deep eddies in the Xisha Trough, an area of abyssal ocean off Hainan."
— David Hambling, The Guardian (UK), 29 Dec. 2016
"I'm referring to something that was revealed when the federal opposition parties were talking about a coalition government: The abyssal ignorance, even in parts of the media, about how our own parliamentary system works."
— Josée Legault, The Gazette (Montreal), 26 Dec. 2008
Did You Know?
Abyssal is a relatively rare word, though it's derived from the more prevalent noun, abyss. In contrast, the adjective abysmal is more common than its corresponding noun abysm. All four terms descend from the Late Latin word abyssus, which is in turn derived from the Greek abyssos ("bottomless").
Abyss and abysm are synonymous (both can refer to the mythical bottomless pit in old accounts of the universe or can be used more broadly in reference to any immeasurably deep gulf), but the adjectives abyssal and abysmal are not used identically.
Abyssal can mean "incomprehensible" (as in "showed abyssal ignorance") but it's most often found in contexts referring to the bottom of the sea. Abysmal shares the oceanographic sense with abyssal, but it more frequently means "immeasurably great" or "absolutely wretched."
abyssal \ uh-BISS-ul \ adjective
Definition
1: of or relating to the bottom waters of the ocean depths
2a: impossible to comprehend
2b: unfathomable
Examples
"Since the accident, researchers from the Guangzhou Institute of Oceanology have mapped several deep eddies in the Xisha Trough, an area of abyssal ocean off Hainan."
— David Hambling, The Guardian (UK), 29 Dec. 2016
"I'm referring to something that was revealed when the federal opposition parties were talking about a coalition government: The abyssal ignorance, even in parts of the media, about how our own parliamentary system works."
— Josée Legault, The Gazette (Montreal), 26 Dec. 2008
Did You Know?
Abyssal is a relatively rare word, though it's derived from the more prevalent noun, abyss. In contrast, the adjective abysmal is more common than its corresponding noun abysm. All four terms descend from the Late Latin word abyssus, which is in turn derived from the Greek abyssos ("bottomless").
Abyss and abysm are synonymous (both can refer to the mythical bottomless pit in old accounts of the universe or can be used more broadly in reference to any immeasurably deep gulf), but the adjectives abyssal and abysmal are not used identically.
Abyssal can mean "incomprehensible" (as in "showed abyssal ignorance") but it's most often found in contexts referring to the bottom of the sea. Abysmal shares the oceanographic sense with abyssal, but it more frequently means "immeasurably great" or "absolutely wretched."
Thursday, February 2, 2017
Imprecate
WORD OF THE DAY
imprecate \ IM-prih-kayt \ verb
Definition
1a: to invoke evil on
1b: curse
Examples
"Mallory imprecated the weather when the ink froze in his fountain pen…."
— Stanley Snaith, At Grips with Everest, 1938
"The people would pause, look out at the Missouri rolling past and quietly carrying down trees like doomed pinnaces, and the workers' sweating brows wrinkled, but I heard no one imprecate the river; each just went back to passing along stories and sandbags."
— William Least Heat-Moon, River-Horse, 1999
Did You Know?
It may surprise you to learn that a word that refers to wishing evil upon someone has its roots in praying, but imprecate ultimately derives from the Latin verb precari, meaning "to pray, ask, or entreat."
Precari is also the ancestor of such English words as deprecate (which once meant "to pray against an evil," though that sense is now archaic), precatory ("expressing a wish") and even pray itself (which has deeper roots in the Latin noun for a request or entreaty, prex).
imprecate \ IM-prih-kayt \ verb
Definition
1a: to invoke evil on
1b: curse
Examples
"Mallory imprecated the weather when the ink froze in his fountain pen…."
— Stanley Snaith, At Grips with Everest, 1938
"The people would pause, look out at the Missouri rolling past and quietly carrying down trees like doomed pinnaces, and the workers' sweating brows wrinkled, but I heard no one imprecate the river; each just went back to passing along stories and sandbags."
— William Least Heat-Moon, River-Horse, 1999
Did You Know?
It may surprise you to learn that a word that refers to wishing evil upon someone has its roots in praying, but imprecate ultimately derives from the Latin verb precari, meaning "to pray, ask, or entreat."
Precari is also the ancestor of such English words as deprecate (which once meant "to pray against an evil," though that sense is now archaic), precatory ("expressing a wish") and even pray itself (which has deeper roots in the Latin noun for a request or entreaty, prex).
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Macerate
WORD OF THE DAY
macerate \ MASS-uh-rayt \ verb
Definition
1 : to cause to waste away by or as if by excessive fasting
2 : to soften by steeping or soaking so as to separate the parts
Examples
"Absinthe is made by macerating herbs and spices … with the grand wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) that gives the drink its name."
— Julia Reed, Newsweek, 12 Apr. 2010
"Choose whatever berries you'd like for a topping, and let them macerate in the sugar until they yield a little syrup."
— Dorie Greenspan, The Washington Post, 10 Aug. 2016
Did You Know?
Macerate is derived from the Latin verb macerare, which means "to soften" or "to steep," and, in Late Latin, can also mean "to mortify (the flesh)." Macerate first entered English in the mid-1500s to refer both to the wasting away of flesh especially by fasting and to softening or steeping.
A few other manifestations sprouted thereafter from the word's figurative branch (e.g., the 18th-century novelist Laurence Sterne once wrote of "a city so macerated with expectation"); however, those extensions wilted in time. Today, the "steeping" and "soaking" senses of macerate saturate culinary articles (as in "macerating fruit in liquor") as well as other writings (scientific ones, for instance: "the food is macerated in the gizzard" or "the wood is macerated in the solution").
macerate \ MASS-uh-rayt \ verb
Definition
1 : to cause to waste away by or as if by excessive fasting
2 : to soften by steeping or soaking so as to separate the parts
Examples
"Absinthe is made by macerating herbs and spices … with the grand wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) that gives the drink its name."
— Julia Reed, Newsweek, 12 Apr. 2010
"Choose whatever berries you'd like for a topping, and let them macerate in the sugar until they yield a little syrup."
— Dorie Greenspan, The Washington Post, 10 Aug. 2016
Did You Know?
Macerate is derived from the Latin verb macerare, which means "to soften" or "to steep," and, in Late Latin, can also mean "to mortify (the flesh)." Macerate first entered English in the mid-1500s to refer both to the wasting away of flesh especially by fasting and to softening or steeping.
A few other manifestations sprouted thereafter from the word's figurative branch (e.g., the 18th-century novelist Laurence Sterne once wrote of "a city so macerated with expectation"); however, those extensions wilted in time. Today, the "steeping" and "soaking" senses of macerate saturate culinary articles (as in "macerating fruit in liquor") as well as other writings (scientific ones, for instance: "the food is macerated in the gizzard" or "the wood is macerated in the solution").
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