Whirligig

WORD OF THE DAY

Whirligig \ WER-lih-gig \ noun

Definition
1 : a child's toy having a whirling motion
2a : one that continuously whirls or changes
2b : a whirling or circling course (as of events)

Examples
"As 2016 draws mercifully to a close, just what, exactly, are we to make of this bewildering whirligig of a year?"
— Brian Chasnoff, The San Antonio News-Express, 30 Dec. 2016
"The whirligig, an object that spins or whirls, may have started as a farmer's weathervane, but it evolved into a recognized piece of American folk art."
— Michelle Galler, RappNews.com (Rappahannock County, VA), 8 Dec. 2016

Did You Know?
English speakers, and particularly children, began spinning whirligigs as early as the 15th century. Since then, whirligig has acquired several meanings beyond its initial toy sense.
It even has a place in the common name of the whirligig beetle, a member of the family Gyrinidae that swiftly swims in circles on the surface of still water. The word whirligig comes to us from Middle English whirlegigg ("whirling top"), which is itself from whirlen, meaning "to whirl," and gigg, meaning "(toy) top."

Abdicate

WORD OF THE DAY
abdicate \ AB-dih-kayt \ verb
 
Definition
1 : to renounce a throne, high office, dignity, or function
2 : to relinquish (something, such as sovereign power) formally
3a: to cast off
3b: discard


Examples
"[The Duke of Windsor] abdicated the throne of the British Empire but remained king of men's style all his life. One of his great tricks was to elevate humble or casual trends and fabrics."
— Nicholas Foulkes, Newsweek, 2 Sept. 2016


"… while dining at the restaurant Daniel in New York City, I asked Raj Vaidya, the head sommelier, to pick a red wine for my main course…. I don't abdicate this sacramental responsibility lightly, but Vaidya knows my taste, and he almost invariably comes up with something special."
— Jay McInerney, Town & Country, 1 June 2015


Did You Know?
Give it up. English includes many words for the process of throwing in the towel, especially for relinquishing a job or elected office. Abdicate, a derivative of the prefix ab- (meaning "from," "away," or "off") and the Latin verb dicare (meaning to "proclaim"), has been used primarily for those who give up sovereign power or who evade a very serious responsibility (such as parental responsibility). Renounce is often used as a synonym of abdicate, but it adds to that term the suggestion that an individual is giving up something as a sacrifice to achieve a far greater end. Resign is another option when you are describing a more matter-of-fact departure from a job, office, or trust.

Concatenate

WORD OF THE DAY
concatenate \ kahn-KAT-uh-nayt \ verb
 
Definition
: to link together in a series or chain


Examples
"While the stories are separate, they're concatenated in that characters recur from story to story, so while one might be a major player in one tale, he might be only alluded to in a subsequent narrative."
— Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2013


"To test cockatoos' planning and mechanical capacities, Auersperg designed a box housing a visible cashew nut blocked by five interlocking devices. The locks were concatenated so that the bird would have to solve the lock puzzle farthest from the reward before gaining access to the next, and so on."
— Jenny Jennings Foerst, American Scientist, November 2013


Did You Know?
Concatenate comes directly from Latin concatenare, which in turn is formed from con-, meaning "with" or "together," and catena, meaning "chain." (The word chain itself also evolved from catena.) Concatenate has a somewhat longer history as an adjective, meaning "linked together," than as a verb.
The adjective first appeared in English in the 15th century and the verb wasn't in use until more than a century later. Catenate, a verb in its own right meaning "to link in a series," had also arrived on the scene by the early 17th century.

Baroque

WORD OF THE DAY

baroque \ buh-ROHK \ adjective

Definition

1 : of, relating to, or having the characteristics of a style of artistic expression prevalent especially in the 17th century that is marked generally by use of complex forms, bold ornamentation, and the juxtaposition of contrasting elements often conveying a sense of drama, movement, and tension

2 : characterized by grotesqueness, extravagance, complexity, or flamboyance

Examples

Though I was interested in the book's subject matter, I was put off by the baroque descriptions the author seemed to favor.

"The Rev. Canon Patrick Malloy, the priest who oversees arts-related projects at the cathedral …, said the idea was to recreate a Baroque chapel and show the tapestries differently from when they hung over the transepts." 

— James Barron, The New York Times, 21 Mar. 2017

Did You Know?

Baroque came to English from the French word barroque, meaning "irregularly shaped." At first, the word in French was used mostly to refer to pearls. Eventually, it came to describe an extravagant style of art characterized by curving lines, gilt, and gold. This type of art, which was prevalent especially in the 17th century, was sometimes considered to be excessively decorated and overly complicated. It makes sense, therefore, that the meaning of the word baroque has broadened to include anything that seems excessively ornate or elaborate.

Acerbic

WORD OF THE DAY

acerbic \ uh-SER-bik \ adjective

Definition: 

Acid in temper, mood, or tone

Examples

"It was [Dave Chappelle's] first comedy special in 17 years, and even though the specials were filmed in 2015 and 2016, they confirmed that Dave still had his … acerbic wit and impeccable comedic timing…." — Michael Harriot, The Root, 29 Mar. 2017

"It's tempting to view Tourist in This Town as a clean break from Crutchfield's previous music—a breakup record about a former bandmate that's reflected in a stark sonic departure from that band. But Crutchfield is still the same acerbic and fearless observer, her lyrics unflinchingly honest in their feminist perspective." 

— Nathan Tucker, The Portland (Oregon) Mercury, 22 Mar. 2017

Did You Know?English speakers created acerbic in the 19th century by adding -ic to the adjective acerb. Acerb had been around since the 17th century, but for most of that time it had been used only to describe foods with a sour taste. (Acerb is still around today, but now it's simply a less common synonym of acerbic.) Acerbic and acerb ultimately come from the Latin adjective acerbus, which can mean "harsh" or "unpleasant." Another English word that comes from acerbus is exacerbate, which means "to make more violent or severe."

Malleable

WORD OF DAY

malleable \ MAL-ee-uh-bul \ adjective\

Definition

1: capable of being extended or shaped by beating with a hammer or by the pressure of rollers

2a : capable of being altered or controlled by outside forces or influences

2b : having a capacity for adaptive change

Examples

"Lead is insidiously useful. It's hard but malleable, is relatively common, melts at a low enough temperature to be workable, and doesn't rust." 

— Ben Paynter, Wired, June 2016

"[T]he role of First Lady is … a role that is surprisingly malleable, shaped by the personality, style, and interests (or lack thereof) of the person occupying it." 

— Jonathan Van Meter, Vogue, 11 Nov. 2016

Did You Know?

There is a hint about the origins of malleable in its first definition. The earliest uses of the word, which first appeared in English in the 14th century, referred primarily to metals that could be reshaped by beating with a hammer. The Middle English word malliable comes to us from Medieval Latin malleabilis, which in turn derives from the Latin verb malleare, meaning "to hammer." Malleare itself was created from the Latin word for "hammer": malleus. If you have guessed that maul and mallet, other English words for specific types of hammers, can also be traced back to malleus, you have hit the nail on the head.

Nudnik

WORD OF THE DAY
nudnik \ NOOD-nik (the "OO" is as in "good") \ noun
 
Definition
: a person who is a bore or nuisance


Examples
James worried that he would never finish his work if the office nudnik didn't quit hanging around his cubicle.


"Others may enjoy its gentle comedy, its plentiful caricatures and easy jokes, its lightweight tone. However, I found most of its characters to be obnoxious, insufferable nudniks who never shut up or mind their own business or resemble real human beings."
— John Serba, The Flint (Michigan) Journal, 27 Mar. 2017\


Did You Know?
The suffix -nik came to English through Yiddish (and ultimately from Polish and Ukrainian). It means "one connected with or characterized by being." You might be familiar with beatnik, peacenik, or neatnik, but what about no-goodnik or allrightnik?
The suffix -nik is frequently used in English to create nonce words that are often jocular or slightly derogatory. Some theorize that the popularity of the suffix was enhanced by Russian Sputnik, as well as Al Capp's frequent use of -nik words in his L'il Abner cartoons.
The nud- of the Yiddish borrowing nudnik ultimately comes from the Polish nuda, meaning "boredom."

Luscious

WORD OF THE DAY

luscious \ LUSH-us \ adjective

Definition
1 : having a delicious sweet taste or smell
2 : sexually attractive
3a : richly luxurious or appealing to the senses
3b : excessively ornate

Examples
"Stockman's abstract paintings … are simple yet luscious, with thick, sensuous, curved shapes in intense, vibrating hues."
— Steffie Nelson, W, February 2017

"His exhortations of umami—that luscious, satisfying flavor, not exactly savory or sweet or sour or bitter, that the Japanese were the first to identify—whetted my curiosity. One night at dinner, a chef prepared a special batch of dashi—the umami-drenched base stock of Japanese soups—before my eyes, so I could observe and taste its alchemy as it brewed."
— Liesl Schillinger, Vogue, March 2017

Did You Know?
Have you ever heard a young child say something is "licius" when he or she really means it's "delicious"? Back in the Middle Ages, the word licius was sometimes used as a shortened form of delicious by adults and kids alike.
Linguists believe that luscious developed when licius was further altered to lucius by 15th-century speakers. Both words ultimately derive from the Latin verb delicere, meaning "to entice by charm or attraction." The adjective lush, which can sometimes mean "delicious" as well, is not a shortened form of luscious; it derived on its own from the Middle English lusch, meaning "soft or tender."

Castigate

WORD OF THE DAY

castigate \ KASS-tuh-gayt \ verb

Definition

: to subject to severe punishment, reproof, or criticism

Examples

Before sentencing, the judge angrily castigated the two young defendants for their malicious act of vandalism.

"You know, if [dandelions] weren't castigated as the No. 1 lawn weed, we all probably would love them. With their sunny little faces looking upward toward the sky and the strong, pointed green foliage, they really are beautiful plants." 

— Mary Stickley-Godinez, The Daily Progress (Charlottesville, VA), 24 Apr. 2017

Did You Know?

Castigate has a synonym in chastise. Both verbs mean to punish or to censure someone. Fittingly, both words derive from the same root: the Latin castigare, formed from the words for "pure" (castus) and "to drive" (agere). 

(Castus also gave us the noun caste, meaning "social class or rank.") Another verb derived from castigare is chasten, which can also mean "to discipline by punishment" but more commonly means "to subdue or make humble" (as in "chastened by his foolish error"). Castigate is the youngest of the three verbs in English, dating from the early 17th century, while chasten dates to the early 16th century and chastise has been found in use as far back as the 14th.

Hoodlum

WORD OF THE DAY
hoodlum \ HOOD-lum \ noun
 
Definition
1a : thug; especially
1b : a violent criminal
2 : a young ruffian


Examples
The shaken couple tried to give the police an accurate physical description of the hoodlums who assailed them in the parking lot.


"The iconic opening shot of director Danny Boyle's 1996 'Trainspotting' was of junkie hoodlum Mark Renton's feet pounding the pavement while he and his mates bolted down an Edinburgh street pursued by police."
— Sean Burns, WBUR.org, 23 Mar. 2017


Did You Know?
A hoodlum can be anyone from a dangerous thug to a young person who's just up to no good. The exact origins of the word are not known, but one theory is that the word derives from hudelum, an adjective that means "disorderly" in dialects of German spoken in and around the region of Swabia.
A similar-looking word for a young troublemaker is hooligan, but that word is not related to hoodlum; rather, it most likely derives from the name of Patrick Hooligan, an Irish youth purported to have wreaked havoc in the streets of Southwark, England, in the late 19th century.

Peregrinate

WORD OF THE DAY


peregrinate \ PAIR-uh-gruh-nayt \ verb
 
Definition
1a : to travel especially on foot
1b: walk
2a: to walk or travel over
2b: traverse


Examples
"All my traveling life, 40 years of peregrinating Africa, Asia, South America and Oceania, I have thought constantly of home…."
— Paul Theroux, The Smithsonian Magazine, September 2009


"Hundreds of passenger trains traversed millions of miles laden with travelers increasingly accustomed to peregrinating in style and comfort."
— Dave Flessner, The Chattanooga (Tennessee) Times Free Press, 27 May 2015


Did You Know?
We begin our narrative of the linguistic travels of peregrinate with the Latin word peregrinatus, the past participle of peregrinari, which means "to travel in foreign lands."
The verb is derived from the Latin word for "foreigner," peregrinus, which was earlier used as an adjective meaning "foreign."
That term also gave us the words pilgrim and peregrine, the latter of which once meant "alien" but is now used as an adjective meaning "tending to wander" and as a noun naming a kind of falcon. (The peregrine falcon is so named because it was traditionally captured during its first flight—or pilgrimage—from the nest.)

Demean

WORD OF THE DAY

demean \ dih-MEEN \  verb

Definition

: to conduct or behave (oneself) usually in a proper manner

Examples

Theresa was proud of how well her boys demeaned themselves during the ceremony.

"He knew that he had been lackadaisical, and was ashamed of himself; and at once resolved that he would henceforth demean himself as though no calamity had happened to him." 

— Anthony Trollope, The Small House at Allington, 1864

Did You Know?

There are two words spelled demean in English. The more familiar demean—"to lower in character, status, or reputation"—comes straight from mean, the adjective that means "spiteful." 

Today's featured word, on the other hand, comes from the Anglo-French verb demener ("to conduct"), which in turn comes from Latin minare, meaning "to drive." 

This verb has been with us since the 14th century and is generally used in contexts (especially formal ones) specifying a type of behavior: "he demeaned himself in a most unfriendly manner"; "she demeaned herself as befitting her station in life"; "they knew not how to demean themselves in the king's presence." As you may have already guessed, the noun demeanor, meaning "behavior," comes from this demean.

Supposititious

WORD OF THE DAY

supposititious \  suh-pah-zuh-TISH-us \ adjective

Definition

1a : fraudulently substituted : spurious

1b : (of a child) falsely presented as a genuine heir 

1c : illegitimate

2a : imaginary

2b : of the nature of or based on a supposition 

2c : hypothetical

Examples

"… James II's queen, Mary of Modena, gave birth to a son and heir, the future Old Pretender, whom William's supporters tried to discredit as a supposititious child, smuggled in via a warming-pan." 

— Keith Thomas, The Guardian, 5 Apr. 2008

"I sat looking at Peggotty for some time, in a reverie on this supposititious case: whether, if she were employed to lose me like the boy in the fairy tale, I should be able to track my way home again by the buttons she would shed." 

— Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, 1850

Did You Know?

The Latin verb supponere, meaning "substitute," has several legitimate heirs in English, including supposititious (which dates from the early 17th century) and supposition (a 15th-century addition). The "fraudulent" and "illegitimate" meanings of supposititious trace back to supponere in a fairly direct route, whereas the "imaginary" and "hypothetical" meanings were influenced by the meanings of supposition. 

In legal contexts, supposititiousis primarily used in its earlier senses, as in "a supposititious (fraudulent) will" or "the child was supposititious (illegitimate)." When something hypothetical is being considered, the synonymous adjective suppositious is often preferred over supposititious.

Erstwhile

WORD OF THE DAY

erstwhile \ ERST-wile \ adverb

Definition
1: in the past
2: formerly

Examples
What had erstwhile been acres of wetland was eventually developed into a thriving residential neighborhood.

"The participants proceeded with civility and purpose. Meetings that erstwhile had taken entire days were concluded with agreement in an hour or two."
— Greg Behrman, The Most Noble Adventure, 2007

Did You Know?
The adverb erstwhile has been part of English since at least the 16th century, but it is formed from two words that are much older.
It comes from the Old English words aer, meaning "early," and hwil, which has the same meaning as the modern word while. (The English word ere, meaning "before," is also a descendant of aer.)
These days erstwhile is more likely to be encountered as an adjective, as in "erstwhile enemies." That adjective use is a much more recent development, having joined the language about three centuries after the adverb.

Lanuginous

WORD OF THE DAY


lanuginous \ luh-NOO-juh-nus \ adjective
 
Definition
: covered with down or fine soft hair


Examples
At the base of the mullein's tall spire is a cluster of large lanuginous leaves.


The scent [of erica, South African heather] is subtle, woody, coniferous—it smells of hot origins. And it's ridiculously tactile: I have to keep prodding the lanuginous bobbles.
— Helen Brown, The Independent (UK), 23 Nov. 2006


Did You Know?
You're likely to come across lanuginous in only a few contexts, botany and spelling bees being the best candidates. In other contexts, the more common term is downy.
Lanuginous has an unsurprising pedigree. It's from the Latin word lanuginosus, which is in turn from lanugo, the Latin word for "down."
(Lanugo is also an English word used especially to refer to the soft woolly hair that covers the fetus of some mammals.)
Lanugo itself is from lana, meaning "wool," a root also at work in lanolin, the term for wool grease that's refined for use in ointments and cosmetics.

Panacea

WORD OF THE DAY
panacea \ pan-uh-SEE-uh \ noun
 
Definition
1: a remedy for all ills or difficulties
2: cure-all


Examples
Georgette said, "I don't know if hybrid cars are a panacea for the world's environmental issues, but they seem to be a step in the right direction."


"… while an uptick in subscriptions is certainly a good thing, it is unlikely to be a panacea for what ails newspapers."
— Leonard Pitts, The Miami Herald, 3 Mar. 2017


Did You Know?
Panacea is from Latin, and the Latin word, in turn, is from Greek panakeia. In Greek, panakēs means "all-healing," combining pan- ("all") and akos, which means "remedy." The Latin designation Panacea or Panaces has been awarded to more than one plant at one time or other, among them the herb today known as Prunella vulgaris, whose common name is self-heal.
More often than not, panacea is used when decrying a claim made for a remedy that seems too good to be true. Most likely that's what the author is doing in a 1625 anatomical treatise, describing "a certaine medicine made of saffron, quick silver, vermilion, antimonie, and certaine sea shels made up in fashion of triangular lozenges," and calling it a panacea.

Acronym

WORD OF THE DAY


acronym \ AK-ruh-nim \ noun
 
Definition
1: a word (such as NATO, radar, or laser) formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term; also : an abbreviation (such as FBI) formed from initial letters
2: initialism


Examples
The new committee spent a fair amount of time choosing a name that would lend itself to an appealing acronym.


"For now, the Regional Acceleration and Mentoring Program—which goes by the acronym RAMP—looks like an average office space on the third floor of the old Gill Memorial Hospital Building in downtown Roanoke, complete with separate rooms for five companies, shared meeting areas and a kitchen."
— Jacob Demmitt, The Roanoke (Virginia) Times, 17 Mar. 2017


Did You Know?
Acronym was created by combining acr- ("beginning" or "top") with -onym ("name" or "word"). You may recognize -onym in other familiar English words, such as pseudonym and synonym. English speakers borrowed -onym from the Greek onyma ("name") and acr- from the Greek akros (meaning "topmost, extreme").
When acronym first entered English, some usage commentators decreed that it should refer to combinations of initial letters that were pronounced as if they were whole words (such as radar and scuba), differentiated from an initialism, which is spoken by pronouncing the component letters (as in FBI and CEO). These days, however, that distinction is largely lost, and acronym is a common label for both types of abbreviation.

Visceral

WORD OF THE DAY

visceral \ VISS-uh-rul \ adjective

Definition

1a: felt in or as if in the internal organs of the body 

1b: deep

2a: not intellectual 

2b: instinctive, unreasoning

3a: dealing with crude or elemental emotions 

3b: earthy

4a: of, relating to, or located on or among the internal organs of the body 

4b: splanchnic

Examples

"My mom is the only one who still writes me letters. And there's something visceral about opening a letter—I see her on the page. I see her in her handwriting." 

— Steve Carell, quoted in The Boston Globe Magazine, 24 July 2011

"After months of drama, the gravity of the coming week is hard to grasp and, totally untested, feels strangely abstract. What is tangible, however, is the spitting acrimony and visceral anger that still animate both sides of the Brexit debate." 

— Louis McEvoy, Cherwell (Oxford University), 25 Feb. 2017

Did you know?

The viscera are the internal organs of the body—especially those located in the large cavity of the trunk (e.g., the heart, liver, and intestines). The word viscera comes from Latin, in which it has essentially the same meaning. Something visceral has to do with the viscera, and in a more figurative sense, something visceral is felt "deep down." Even in the early years of its use, visceral often referred to things emotional rather than physiological. For example, in 1640 an English bishop named Edward Reynolds wrote, "Love is of all other the inmost and most visceral affection." This figurative use is the most common use of visceral, but the word continues to be used in medical contexts as well.

Refurbish

WORD OF THE DAY

Refurbishrih-FER-bish | verb

Definition

1: to brighten or freshen up 

2: renovate

Examples

"Ann Eliza noticed that Evelina now took the precaution of putting on her crimson bow every evening before supper, and that she had refurbishedwith a bit of carefully washed lace the black silk which they still called new because it had been bought a year after Ann Eliza's." 

— Edith Wharton, Bunner Sisters, 1916

"The company doesn't make jet engines, but it does build and refurbish critical components that protect them and enable them to power aircraft through the skies

— Lawrence Specker, The Mobile (Alabama) Register, 19 Mar. 2017

Did You Know

If you're wondering if refurbish implies the existence of an earlier furbish, you are on the right track. Furbish was borrowed into English in the 14th century from Anglo-French furbiss-, a distant relative of Old High German furben, meaning "to polish." In its earliest uses furbish also meant "to polish," but it developed an extended sense of "renovate" shortly before English speakers created refurbish with the same meaning in the 17th century. These days refurbish is the more common of the two words, although furbish does continue to be used

Liar, Liar Quiz

PLAY NOW

March Words of the Day Quiz

PLAY NOW

It's

Majordomo

WORD OF THE DAY


majordomo \ may-jer-DOH-moh \ noun
 
Definition
1: a head steward of a large household (such as a palace)
2: butler, steward
3a: a person who speaks, makes arrangements, or takes charge for another; broadly
3b: the person who runs an enterprise


Examples
"Arriving at the Palace, he was informed that His Highness had gone out shortly after breakfast, and had not returned. The majordomo gave the information with a tinkle of disapproval in his voice."
— P. G. Wodehouse, The Prince and Betty, 1912


"When Hinton died, his will transferred half of his interest in the property to Robert Kelly, an Army buddy who was working as Hinton's majordomo at the ranch."
— John Cannon, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 May 2015


Did You Know?
Majordomo has relatives in Spanish (mayordomo) and Italian (the now obsolete maiordomo), and English speakers borrowed the term from one of these languages. All three words—majordomo, mayordomo, and maiordomo—ultimately come from the Medieval Latin major domus, meaning "chief of the house."
In its earliest uses, majordomo referred to the head steward of a royal household. The position was a high one with some relatively weighty responsibilities. Later, in the U.S., the word was used for the steward or overseer of a ranch.
Since then, the word's meaning has extended even further; today, majordomo can designate any person who takes charge of another's affairs, be they business or personal.

Fey

WORD OF THE DAY

Fey \ FAY \

Definition

 1: marked by a foreboding of death or calamity

2a: marked by an otherworldly air or attitude

2b: crazy, touched

3 a: excessively refined : precious

3b: quaintly unconventional : campy

Examples

"Often I slipped into one of a few personas I had invented to make myself feel more authentically magical. Sometimes I was Cassandra, a husky-voiced Southern belle who called everyone 'honey child.' Other times I became Gabriel, a fey mystic with an accent that I imagined to be French-ish."
— Bennett Madison, The New York Times, 5 Sept. 2016

"What children get is something even better. They get a Batman who isn't invulnerable and who needs his friends. They get a fey, effeminate hero who is every bit as brave and talented as his mentor…."

— Louis McEvoy, Cherwell (Oxford University), 25 Feb. 2017

Did You Know?

Fey is a word that defies its own (original) meaning, since it has yet to even come close to the brink of death after being in our language for well over 800 years. In Old and Middle English it meant "feeble" or "sickly." Those meanings turned out to be fey themselves, but the word lived on in senses related to death, and because a wild or elated state of mind was once believed to portend death, other senses arose from these.

The word fay, meaning "fairy" or "elf," may also have had an influence on some senses of fey. Not until the 20th century did the word's most recent meanings, "precious" and "campy," find their way into the dictionary.