WORD OF THE DAY
sporadic / adjective /spuh-RAD-ik
Definition
: occurring occasionally, singly, or in irregular or random instances
Examples
The team's regular meetings became sporadic over the summer months, when at some points up to half of its members were on vacation.
"Continuous permafrost hugs the Hudson Bay coast and spreads inland about 75 kilometres before becoming discontinuous and sporadic. Like peat, permafrost is an effective storehouse of greenhouse gases."
— Kenyon Wallace, The Toronto Star, 27 May 2019
Did You Know?
Sporadic describes the distribution of something across space or time that is not frequent enough to fill an area or period, often in scattered instances or isolated outbursts (as in "sporadic applause").
The word comes from Medieval Latin sporadicus, which is itself derived from Greek sporadēn, meaning "here and there."
It is also related to the Greek verb speirein ("to sow"), the ancestor from which we get our word spore (the reproductive cell of a fungus, microorganism, or some plants), hinting at the seeming scattered nature by which such cells spread and germinate.
Friday, August 30, 2019
Thursday, August 29, 2019
Kludge
WORD OF THE DAY
kludge / noun / KLOOJ
Definition
: a haphazard or makeshift solution to a problem and especially to a computer or programming problem
Examples
Andy knocked out a hasty kludge to circumvent the buggy code until a more robust solution could be developed.
"When the theatre was built in and opened in 1920, there were no concessions of any kind. Everything that we've done to accommodate modern audiences was a kludge in various ways."
— Curtis McCrary, quoted in The Tucson (Arizona) Weekly, 25 Oct. 2018
Did You Know?
The first recorded use of the word kludge is attributed to Jackson W. Granholm, who defined the word in a 1962 issue of the magazine Datamation as "an ill-assorted collection of poorly-matching parts, forming a distressing whole."
He further explained that it was derived from the German word klug, meaning "smart" or "witty." Why Granholm included a d in his spelling is not known.
What we do know is that speakers of American English have agreed to disregard it in pronunciation, making the vowel pronunciation of kludge reflective of the pronunciation of German klug (\KLOOK\ ).
We can also tell you that not everyone agrees with Granholm on the "d" matter: the spelling kluge is also popularly used.
kludge / noun / KLOOJ
Definition
: a haphazard or makeshift solution to a problem and especially to a computer or programming problem
Examples
Andy knocked out a hasty kludge to circumvent the buggy code until a more robust solution could be developed.
"When the theatre was built in and opened in 1920, there were no concessions of any kind. Everything that we've done to accommodate modern audiences was a kludge in various ways."
— Curtis McCrary, quoted in The Tucson (Arizona) Weekly, 25 Oct. 2018
Did You Know?
The first recorded use of the word kludge is attributed to Jackson W. Granholm, who defined the word in a 1962 issue of the magazine Datamation as "an ill-assorted collection of poorly-matching parts, forming a distressing whole."
He further explained that it was derived from the German word klug, meaning "smart" or "witty." Why Granholm included a d in his spelling is not known.
What we do know is that speakers of American English have agreed to disregard it in pronunciation, making the vowel pronunciation of kludge reflective of the pronunciation of German klug (\KLOOK\ ).
We can also tell you that not everyone agrees with Granholm on the "d" matter: the spelling kluge is also popularly used.
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Irascible
WORD OF THE DAY
irascible / adjective / ir-RASS-uh-bul
Definition
: marked by hot temper and easily provoked anger
Examples
That tidy little house belongs to an irascible crank who never has a kind word for any of his neighbors.
"Working with Adam Baldwin, best known as the irascible mercenary Jayne in Firefly and Serenity and the gruff but lovable John Casey on Chuck, was another bonus."
— Tim Clodfelter, The News & Record (Greensboro, North Carolina), 9 June 2019
Did You Know?
If you try to take apart irascible in the same manner as irrational, irresistible, or irresponsible, you might find yourself wondering what ascible means—but that's not how irascible came to be.
The key to the meaning of irascible isn't the negative prefix ir- (which is a variant of the prefix in- that is used before words beginning with "r"), but the Latin noun ira, meaning "anger." From ira, which is also the root of irate and ire, came the Latin verb irasci ("to become angry") and the related adjective irascibilis, the latter of which led to the French irascible.
English speakers borrowed the word from French in the 16th century.
irascible / adjective / ir-RASS-uh-bul
Definition
: marked by hot temper and easily provoked anger
Examples
That tidy little house belongs to an irascible crank who never has a kind word for any of his neighbors.
"Working with Adam Baldwin, best known as the irascible mercenary Jayne in Firefly and Serenity and the gruff but lovable John Casey on Chuck, was another bonus."
— Tim Clodfelter, The News & Record (Greensboro, North Carolina), 9 June 2019
Did You Know?
If you try to take apart irascible in the same manner as irrational, irresistible, or irresponsible, you might find yourself wondering what ascible means—but that's not how irascible came to be.
The key to the meaning of irascible isn't the negative prefix ir- (which is a variant of the prefix in- that is used before words beginning with "r"), but the Latin noun ira, meaning "anger." From ira, which is also the root of irate and ire, came the Latin verb irasci ("to become angry") and the related adjective irascibilis, the latter of which led to the French irascible.
English speakers borrowed the word from French in the 16th century.
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
Desuetude
WORD OF THE DAY
desuetude / noun / DESS-wih-tood
Definition
1: discontinuance from use or exercise
2: disuse
Examples
The old bridge, which fell into desuetude after the railroad was shut down, has recently been opened as a pedestrian walkway.
"It has been 15 years since Mr. Klein and his partners paid $18 million for the Sunset Tower, a faded Art Deco relic on a stretch of Sunset Strip that, although now booming, had fallen into funky desuetude. Against most odds and all prevailing wisdom, he soon established it and its Tower Bar restaurant as essential landmarks of the new Hollywood."
— Guy Trebay, The New York Times, 23 Feb. 2019
Did You Know?
Desuetude must be closely related to disuse, right? Wrong. Despite the similarities between them, desuetude and disuse derive from two different Latin verbs.
Desuetude comes from suescere, a word that means "to become accustomed" (suescere also gave us the word custom).
Disuse descends from uti, which means "to use." (That Latin word also gave us use and utility.) Although less common, desuetude hasn't fallen into desuetude yet, and it was put to good use in the past, as in the 17th-century writings of Scottish Quaker Robert Barclay, who wrote, "The weighty Truths of God were neglected, and, as it were, went into Desuetude."
desuetude / noun / DESS-wih-tood
Definition
1: discontinuance from use or exercise
2: disuse
Examples
The old bridge, which fell into desuetude after the railroad was shut down, has recently been opened as a pedestrian walkway.
"It has been 15 years since Mr. Klein and his partners paid $18 million for the Sunset Tower, a faded Art Deco relic on a stretch of Sunset Strip that, although now booming, had fallen into funky desuetude. Against most odds and all prevailing wisdom, he soon established it and its Tower Bar restaurant as essential landmarks of the new Hollywood."
— Guy Trebay, The New York Times, 23 Feb. 2019
Did You Know?
Desuetude must be closely related to disuse, right? Wrong. Despite the similarities between them, desuetude and disuse derive from two different Latin verbs.
Desuetude comes from suescere, a word that means "to become accustomed" (suescere also gave us the word custom).
Disuse descends from uti, which means "to use." (That Latin word also gave us use and utility.) Although less common, desuetude hasn't fallen into desuetude yet, and it was put to good use in the past, as in the 17th-century writings of Scottish Quaker Robert Barclay, who wrote, "The weighty Truths of God were neglected, and, as it were, went into Desuetude."
Monday, August 26, 2019
Wangle
WORD OF THE DAY
wangle / verb / WANG-gul
Definition
1: to resort to trickery
2: to adjust or manipulate for personal or fraudulent ends
3a: to make or get by devious means
3b: finagle
Examples
"He wangled an invitation to a White House Christmas party, where he and his wife posed for a photo with then-President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama."
— Barbara Demick and Victoria Kim, The Los Angeles Times, 16 May 2019
"'Our Mayor is the most appealing man I know,' [Franklin D. Roosevelt] said on one occasion. 'He comes to Washington and tells me a sad story. The tears run down my cheeks and the tears run down his cheeks and the next thing I know, he has wangled another $50 million out of me.'"
— Mason B. Williams, City of Ambition, 2013
Did You Know?
Wangle, a verb of uncertain origin, has been used in its newest sense, "to obtain by sly methods," since at least the early 20th century.
Occasionally, one sees wrangle used similarly, as in "wrangle a huge salary," but more typically it means "to argue or engage in controversy."
Did the "obtain" sense of wrangle evolve through confusion with wangle? Not exactly. Wrangle was used with the meaning "to obtain by arguing or bargaining" since the early 17th century, long before wangle appeared in the language.
The sense had all but disappeared until recent decades, however, and its revival may very well have been influenced by wangle.
The "obtain" sense of wangle is currently more common than that use of wrangle, but both are considered standard.
wangle / verb / WANG-gul
Definition
1: to resort to trickery
2: to adjust or manipulate for personal or fraudulent ends
3a: to make or get by devious means
3b: finagle
Examples
"He wangled an invitation to a White House Christmas party, where he and his wife posed for a photo with then-President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama."
— Barbara Demick and Victoria Kim, The Los Angeles Times, 16 May 2019
"'Our Mayor is the most appealing man I know,' [Franklin D. Roosevelt] said on one occasion. 'He comes to Washington and tells me a sad story. The tears run down my cheeks and the tears run down his cheeks and the next thing I know, he has wangled another $50 million out of me.'"
— Mason B. Williams, City of Ambition, 2013
Did You Know?
Wangle, a verb of uncertain origin, has been used in its newest sense, "to obtain by sly methods," since at least the early 20th century.
Occasionally, one sees wrangle used similarly, as in "wrangle a huge salary," but more typically it means "to argue or engage in controversy."
Did the "obtain" sense of wrangle evolve through confusion with wangle? Not exactly. Wrangle was used with the meaning "to obtain by arguing or bargaining" since the early 17th century, long before wangle appeared in the language.
The sense had all but disappeared until recent decades, however, and its revival may very well have been influenced by wangle.
The "obtain" sense of wangle is currently more common than that use of wrangle, but both are considered standard.
Friday, August 23, 2019
Excursion
WORD OF THE DAY
excursion / noun / ik-SKER-zhun
Definition
1a: a going out or forth
1b: expedition
c: a usually brief pleasure trip
d: a trip at special reduced rates
2a: deviation from a direct, definite, or proper course
2b: digression
3a: a movement outward and back or from a mean position or axis; also : the distance traversed
3b: amplitude
Examples
Lewis Carroll's Through The Looking Glass is an excursion into a fantastical world where nothing is what it seems to be, and everything appears to be what it is not.
"Every morning for 10 years, Joey Gamez has hopped on a boat to take customers of his Golden State Sportfishing business on a San Francisco Bay excursion, a hobby-turned-business for the 42-year-old."
— Alejandra Reyes-Velarde, The Los Angeles Times, 15 July 2019
Did You Know?
In Latin, the prefix ex- means "out of" and the verb currere means "to run."
When the two are put together, they form the verb excurrere, literally "to run out" or "to extend."
Excurrere gave rise not only to excursion but also to excurrent (an adjective for things having channels or currents that run outward) and excursus (meaning "an appendix or digression that contains further exposition of some point or topic").
Other words deriving from currere include corridor, curriculum, and among newer words, parkour.
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Chivy
WORD OF THE DAY
chivy / verb / CHIV-ee
Definition
1: to tease or annoy with persistent petty attacks
2: to move or obtain by small maneuvers
Examples
Marielle watched her little brother as he chivied an olive from the jar with his fingers.
"To encounter Hemingway as an adult was to be faced with a man whose appetite for supposedly masculine pursuits was so assiduously cultivated as to border on parody. He would routinely chivy his friends into the ring in order to engage in tests of strength."
— Matthew Adams, The Washington Post, 17 May 2017
Did You Know?
Chivy, which is also spelled chivvy, became established in our language in the 19th century and, at first, meant "to harass or chase."
Early usage examples are of people chivying a chicken around to catch it and of a person chivying around food that is frying.
The verb comes from a British noun chivy meaning "chase" or "hunt."
That chivy is believed to be derived from Chevy Chase—a term for "chase" or "confusion" that is taken from the name of a ballad describing the 1388 battle of Otterburn between the Scottish and English. (A chase in this context is an unenclosed tract of land that is used as a game preserve.)
chivy / verb / CHIV-ee
Definition
1: to tease or annoy with persistent petty attacks
2: to move or obtain by small maneuvers
Examples
Marielle watched her little brother as he chivied an olive from the jar with his fingers.
"To encounter Hemingway as an adult was to be faced with a man whose appetite for supposedly masculine pursuits was so assiduously cultivated as to border on parody. He would routinely chivy his friends into the ring in order to engage in tests of strength."
— Matthew Adams, The Washington Post, 17 May 2017
Did You Know?
Chivy, which is also spelled chivvy, became established in our language in the 19th century and, at first, meant "to harass or chase."
Early usage examples are of people chivying a chicken around to catch it and of a person chivying around food that is frying.
The verb comes from a British noun chivy meaning "chase" or "hunt."
That chivy is believed to be derived from Chevy Chase—a term for "chase" or "confusion" that is taken from the name of a ballad describing the 1388 battle of Otterburn between the Scottish and English. (A chase in this context is an unenclosed tract of land that is used as a game preserve.)
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Misnomer
WORD OF THE DAY
misnomer / noun / miss-NOH-mer
Definition
1: the misnaming of a person in a legal instrument
2a: use of a wrong or inappropriate name
2b: a wrong name or inappropriate designation
Examples
"When you see flashes along the horizon on a summer night, it could be lightning within a storm that's more than 100 miles away. 'Heat lightning' is a misnomer—they're just ordinary strikes that lack thunder and appear diffuse when witnessed from a long distance."
— John Boyer, The Richmond (Virginia) Times Dispatch, 27 June 2019
"Ten candidates will debate for two hours each night Wednesday and Thursday—although 'debate' is something of a misnomer, in the Lincoln-Douglas sense of the word, given the time constraints and limited ability for great depth or lengthy engagement."
— Mark Z. Barabak and Michael Finnegan, The Los Angeles Times, 25 June 2019
Did You Know?
What's in a name? Well, in some cases, a name will contain an error, a misunderstanding, or a mislabeling.
Historians have long noted that the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, Roman, nor an empire. The Battle of Bunker Hill was actually fought on Breed's Hill.
And the Pennsylvania Dutch are in fact of German ancestry. For such cases, we have the term misnomer, which comes from the Anglo-French verb mesnomer ("to misname") and ultimately has its roots in nomen, the Latin word for "name."
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Ethereal
WORD OF THE DAY
ethereal / adjective / ih-THEER-ee-ul
Definition
1a: of or relating to the regions beyond the earth
1b: celestial, heavenly
1c: unworldly, spiritual
2a: lacking material substance
2b: immaterial, intangible
2c: marked by unusual delicacy or refinement
2d: suggesting the heavens or heaven
3: relating to, containing, or resembling a chemical ether
Examples
"Like Howe's Omniverse, van Herpen's finale piece used aluminum and stainless steel on the skeleton, covering it with a thin layer of feathers that ruffled, turning as if graced with gust of wind. The penultimate look channeled the same ethereal vibe, featuring laser-cut strips of fabric that give the appearance of pulsating angel wings."
— Barry Samaha, Surface, 2 July 2019
"Colored Everything has an air of maturity about it. … What you'll hear is seemingly endless layers of airy, ethereal sound that makes you wonder what kinds of instruments are being used to create such sounds."
— Jon Bodell, The Concord (New Hampshire) Insider, 18 June 2019
Did You Know?
If you're burning to know the history of ethereal, you're in the right spirit to fully understand that word's etymology. The ancient Greeks believed that the Earth was composed of earth, air, fire, and water, but that the heavens and its denizens were made of a purer, less tangible substance known as either ether or quintessence.
Ether was often described as an invisible light or fire, and its name derives from the Greek aithein, a verb meaning "to ignite" or "to blaze." When ethereal, the adjectival kin of ether, debuted in English in the 1500s, it referred to regions beyond the Earth or anything that seemed to originate from there.
ethereal / adjective / ih-THEER-ee-ul
Definition
1a: of or relating to the regions beyond the earth
1b: celestial, heavenly
1c: unworldly, spiritual
2a: lacking material substance
2b: immaterial, intangible
2c: marked by unusual delicacy or refinement
2d: suggesting the heavens or heaven
3: relating to, containing, or resembling a chemical ether
Examples
"Like Howe's Omniverse, van Herpen's finale piece used aluminum and stainless steel on the skeleton, covering it with a thin layer of feathers that ruffled, turning as if graced with gust of wind. The penultimate look channeled the same ethereal vibe, featuring laser-cut strips of fabric that give the appearance of pulsating angel wings."
— Barry Samaha, Surface, 2 July 2019
"Colored Everything has an air of maturity about it. … What you'll hear is seemingly endless layers of airy, ethereal sound that makes you wonder what kinds of instruments are being used to create such sounds."
— Jon Bodell, The Concord (New Hampshire) Insider, 18 June 2019
Did You Know?
If you're burning to know the history of ethereal, you're in the right spirit to fully understand that word's etymology. The ancient Greeks believed that the Earth was composed of earth, air, fire, and water, but that the heavens and its denizens were made of a purer, less tangible substance known as either ether or quintessence.
Ether was often described as an invisible light or fire, and its name derives from the Greek aithein, a verb meaning "to ignite" or "to blaze." When ethereal, the adjectival kin of ether, debuted in English in the 1500s, it referred to regions beyond the Earth or anything that seemed to originate from there.
Monday, August 19, 2019
Brandish
WORD OF THE DA Y
brandish / verb / BRAN-dish
Definition
1: to shake or wave (something, such as a weapon) menacingly
2: to exhibit in an ostentatious or aggressive manner
Examples
Michael appeared before the town council brandishing a petition signed by 500 people asking the town to increase funding for the public skate park.
"Our plates of crisply battered cod, chips and mushy peas and our drinks arrived and we set to. Atticus ate with his fingers…. 'Do you know how to use a knife and fork?' I said to him, purely out of interest. He said he did know and he picked them up and brandished them at me to prove it. The fork was in his right hand, the knife in his left. 'Bravo,' I said."
— Jeremy Clarke, The Spectator, 21 July 2018
Did You Know?
Often when we encounter the word brandish in print, it is soon followed by a word for a weapon, such as knife or handgun.
That's appropriate given the word's etymology: it is a descendant of the Middle English braundisshen, which derives, via brandiss- (a stem of the Anglo-French brandir), from brant, braund, meaning "sword."
Nowadays you can brandish things other than weapons, however. The figurative usage of brandish rose alongside its earliest literal usage in the 14th century.
When you brandish something that isn't a weapon (such as a sign), you are in effect waving it in someone's face so that it cannot be overlooked.
brandish / verb / BRAN-dish
Definition
1: to shake or wave (something, such as a weapon) menacingly
2: to exhibit in an ostentatious or aggressive manner
Examples
Michael appeared before the town council brandishing a petition signed by 500 people asking the town to increase funding for the public skate park.
"Our plates of crisply battered cod, chips and mushy peas and our drinks arrived and we set to. Atticus ate with his fingers…. 'Do you know how to use a knife and fork?' I said to him, purely out of interest. He said he did know and he picked them up and brandished them at me to prove it. The fork was in his right hand, the knife in his left. 'Bravo,' I said."
— Jeremy Clarke, The Spectator, 21 July 2018
Did You Know?
Often when we encounter the word brandish in print, it is soon followed by a word for a weapon, such as knife or handgun.
That's appropriate given the word's etymology: it is a descendant of the Middle English braundisshen, which derives, via brandiss- (a stem of the Anglo-French brandir), from brant, braund, meaning "sword."
Nowadays you can brandish things other than weapons, however. The figurative usage of brandish rose alongside its earliest literal usage in the 14th century.
When you brandish something that isn't a weapon (such as a sign), you are in effect waving it in someone's face so that it cannot be overlooked.
Friday, August 16, 2019
Satiate
WORD OF THE DAY
satiate / verb / SAY-shee-ayt
Definition
: to satisfy (a need, a desire, etc.) fully or to excess
Examples
After eating three pieces of pie and one of cake at the potluck, Jamie's sweet tooth was finally satiated.
"While the battles between Shazam and his arch enemy Thaddeus Sivana … will satiate superhero fans, the emotional center of the movie is the Philadelphia foster family that embraces Billy."
— Brian Truitt, USA Today, 3 Apr. 2019
Did You Know?
Satiate, sate, surfeit, cloy, pall, glut, and gorge all mean to fill to repletion.
Satiate and sate sometimes imply only complete satisfaction but more often suggest repletion that has destroyed interest or desire, as in "Years of globe-trotting had satiated their interest in travel" and "Readers were sated with sensationalistic stories."
Surfeit implies a nauseating repletion, as in "They surfeited themselves with junk food," while cloy stresses the disgust or boredom resulting from such surfeiting, "The strong scent of the flowers cloyed her."
Pall emphasizes the loss of ability to stimulate interest or appetite—for example, "A life of leisure eventually began to pall."
Glut implies excess in feeding or supplying, as in "a market glutted with diet books," and gorge suggests glutting to the point of bursting or choking, "They gorged themselves with chocolate."
satiate / verb / SAY-shee-ayt
Definition
: to satisfy (a need, a desire, etc.) fully or to excess
Examples
After eating three pieces of pie and one of cake at the potluck, Jamie's sweet tooth was finally satiated.
"While the battles between Shazam and his arch enemy Thaddeus Sivana … will satiate superhero fans, the emotional center of the movie is the Philadelphia foster family that embraces Billy."
— Brian Truitt, USA Today, 3 Apr. 2019
Did You Know?
Satiate, sate, surfeit, cloy, pall, glut, and gorge all mean to fill to repletion.
Satiate and sate sometimes imply only complete satisfaction but more often suggest repletion that has destroyed interest or desire, as in "Years of globe-trotting had satiated their interest in travel" and "Readers were sated with sensationalistic stories."
Surfeit implies a nauseating repletion, as in "They surfeited themselves with junk food," while cloy stresses the disgust or boredom resulting from such surfeiting, "The strong scent of the flowers cloyed her."
Pall emphasizes the loss of ability to stimulate interest or appetite—for example, "A life of leisure eventually began to pall."
Glut implies excess in feeding or supplying, as in "a market glutted with diet books," and gorge suggests glutting to the point of bursting or choking, "They gorged themselves with chocolate."
Thursday, August 15, 2019
Miscible
WORD OF THE DAY
miscible / adjective / MISS-uh-bul
Definition
1: capable of being mixed
2: capable of mixing in any ratio without separation of two phases
Examples
Oil and water are not miscible—if you pour oil in a glass of water, it will float to the top.
"Although the alkalized cocoa was not completely soluble in milk or water, it was more miscible than any other cocoa product, blending more evenly in solution…."
— Deborah Cadbury, Chocolate Wars, 2010
Did You Know?
Miscible isn't simply a lesser-known synonym of mixable—it's also a cousin. It comes to us from the Medieval Latin adjective miscibilis, which has the same meaning as miscible and which derives, in turn, from Latin miscēre, meaning "to mix."
Miscēre is also the ultimate source of our mix; its past participle mixtus (meaning "mixed") spawned mixte in Anglo-French and Middle English, and mix came about as a back-formation of mixte.
The suffix -able gives us mixable, thereby completing its link to miscible.
Miscible turns up most frequently in scientific discussions where it is used especially to describe fluids that don't separate when they are combined.
miscible / adjective / MISS-uh-bul
Definition
1: capable of being mixed
2: capable of mixing in any ratio without separation of two phases
Examples
Oil and water are not miscible—if you pour oil in a glass of water, it will float to the top.
"Although the alkalized cocoa was not completely soluble in milk or water, it was more miscible than any other cocoa product, blending more evenly in solution…."
— Deborah Cadbury, Chocolate Wars, 2010
Did You Know?
Miscible isn't simply a lesser-known synonym of mixable—it's also a cousin. It comes to us from the Medieval Latin adjective miscibilis, which has the same meaning as miscible and which derives, in turn, from Latin miscēre, meaning "to mix."
Miscēre is also the ultimate source of our mix; its past participle mixtus (meaning "mixed") spawned mixte in Anglo-French and Middle English, and mix came about as a back-formation of mixte.
The suffix -able gives us mixable, thereby completing its link to miscible.
Miscible turns up most frequently in scientific discussions where it is used especially to describe fluids that don't separate when they are combined.
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Garniture
WORD OF THE DAY
garniture / noun / GAHR-nih-cher
Definition
1: embellishment, trimming
2: a set of decorative objects (such as vases, urns, or clocks)
Examples
"Above the fireplace: a scene of a cow jumping over the moon, in an elaborate gilt frame. On the mantle below, we see a clock…, flanked by garniture sturdy enough to be a murder weapon out of Agatha Christie."
— Rumaan Alam, Slate, 23 Aug. 2016
"Once upon a time, this was probably one of a pair of vases that comprised a garniture set used to decorate a Victorian mantel. Its mate has vanished into the lost and found of history, but this one with its superb craftsmanship remains a thing of beauty."
— Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson, The New Hampshire Union Leader, 29 June 2019
Did You Know?
In Middle French, garniture meant "accessory." It is an alteration of the Old French noun garneture, which is derived from the verb garnir, which meant "to equip, trim, or decorate."
In fact, an Anglo-French stem of garnir, garniss-, is the source of the English verb garnish, which in its senses of "to decorate" and "to embellish" shares a similar relationship to garniture that the verb furnish shares with furniture.
Furnish comes from the Anglo-French furniss-, a stem of the verb furnir or fournir, which also gave rise to the Middle French fourniture, the source of the English furniture.
garniture / noun / GAHR-nih-cher
Definition
1: embellishment, trimming
2: a set of decorative objects (such as vases, urns, or clocks)
Examples
"Above the fireplace: a scene of a cow jumping over the moon, in an elaborate gilt frame. On the mantle below, we see a clock…, flanked by garniture sturdy enough to be a murder weapon out of Agatha Christie."
— Rumaan Alam, Slate, 23 Aug. 2016
"Once upon a time, this was probably one of a pair of vases that comprised a garniture set used to decorate a Victorian mantel. Its mate has vanished into the lost and found of history, but this one with its superb craftsmanship remains a thing of beauty."
— Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson, The New Hampshire Union Leader, 29 June 2019
Did You Know?
In Middle French, garniture meant "accessory." It is an alteration of the Old French noun garneture, which is derived from the verb garnir, which meant "to equip, trim, or decorate."
In fact, an Anglo-French stem of garnir, garniss-, is the source of the English verb garnish, which in its senses of "to decorate" and "to embellish" shares a similar relationship to garniture that the verb furnish shares with furniture.
Furnish comes from the Anglo-French furniss-, a stem of the verb furnir or fournir, which also gave rise to the Middle French fourniture, the source of the English furniture.
Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Smite
WORD OF THE DAY
smite / verb / SMYTE
Definition
1: to strike sharply or heavily especially with the hand or an implement held in the hand
2a: to kill or severely injure by so striking
2b: to attack or afflict suddenly and injuriously
3: to cause to strike
4: to affect as if by striking
5: captivate, take
Examples
The cartoon's villain was, as tradition would have it, smote by an anvil dropping mysteriously from the sky.
"Down the street, Teresa Benner's 1963, 23-window Volkswagen van was also turning heads. She bought it recently when it came up at a Barrett-Jackson auction in Arizona. She was smitten at first sight."
— Joel Mills, The Lewiston (Idaho) Morning Tribune, 23 June 2019
Did You Know?
Today's word has been part of the English language for a very long time; the earliest documented use in print dates to the 12th century.
smite / verb / SMYTE
Definition
1: to strike sharply or heavily especially with the hand or an implement held in the hand
2a: to kill or severely injure by so striking
2b: to attack or afflict suddenly and injuriously
3: to cause to strike
4: to affect as if by striking
5: captivate, take
Examples
The cartoon's villain was, as tradition would have it, smote by an anvil dropping mysteriously from the sky.
"Down the street, Teresa Benner's 1963, 23-window Volkswagen van was also turning heads. She bought it recently when it came up at a Barrett-Jackson auction in Arizona. She was smitten at first sight."
— Joel Mills, The Lewiston (Idaho) Morning Tribune, 23 June 2019
Did You Know?
Today's word has been part of the English language for a very long time; the earliest documented use in print dates to the 12th century.
Smite can be traced back to the Old English smītan, meaning "to smear or defile."
Smītan is akin to the Scottish word smit, meaning "to stain, contaminate, or infect," as well as to the Old High German bismīzan, "to defile."
In addition to its "strike" and "attack" senses, smite has a softer side. As of the mid-17th century, it can mean "to captivate or take"—a sense that is frequently used in the past participle in such contexts as "smitten by her beauty" or "smitten with him" (meaning "in love with him").
Its past tense is smote.
Monday, August 12, 2019
Plaintive
WORD OF THE DAY
plaintive / adjective / PLAYN-tiv
Definition
1: expressive of suffering or woe
2: melancholy
Examples
"Dean Nicholson was pedaling up a hill in Bosnia … when he heard a plaintive meow. He looked over his shoulder. In the lambent December light, he saw a gray-and-white kitten chasing him up the incline."
— Isaac Stanley-Becker, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 4 Apr. 2019
"[Stevie] Wonder did perform a plaintive cover of the John Lennon classic 'Imagine' for his penultimate number—a statement piece that he's incorporated on his tours since the 1990s, and which he noted as being 'still relevant,' despite originally coming out in 1971."
— Mara Reinstein, Billboard.com, 25 June 2019
Did You Know?
Like its relative plangent, plaintive is often used to describe sad sounds. "A plaintive wail," for example, is a common use.
plaintive / adjective / PLAYN-tiv
Definition
1: expressive of suffering or woe
2: melancholy
Examples
"Dean Nicholson was pedaling up a hill in Bosnia … when he heard a plaintive meow. He looked over his shoulder. In the lambent December light, he saw a gray-and-white kitten chasing him up the incline."
— Isaac Stanley-Becker, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 4 Apr. 2019
"[Stevie] Wonder did perform a plaintive cover of the John Lennon classic 'Imagine' for his penultimate number—a statement piece that he's incorporated on his tours since the 1990s, and which he noted as being 'still relevant,' despite originally coming out in 1971."
— Mara Reinstein, Billboard.com, 25 June 2019
Did You Know?
Like its relative plangent, plaintive is often used to describe sad sounds. "A plaintive wail," for example, is a common use.
Plaintive and plangent (along with relatives plaintiff and complain) ultimately derive from the Latin verb plangere, meaning "to strike," "to beat one's breast," or "to lament."
This Latin verb led to plaint, an Anglo-French word (and now also an English word) meaning "lamentation."
Plaint is the root of Middle English plaintif (meaning "lamenting" or "complaining"), which gave rise to plaintive as well as the noun plaintiff.
Friday, August 9, 2019
Omnium-Gatherum
WORD OF THE DAY
omnium-gatherum / noun / ahm-nee-um-GA-thuh-rum
Definition
: a miscellaneous collection (as of things or persons)
Examples
"Muldoon's Picnic—the critically acclaimed omnium-gatherum of music, storytelling, poetry, and more—has become a staple of New York's cultural diet."
— BroadwayWorld.com, 4 Sept. 2018
"In his diary, a small, haphazardly kept omnium-gatherum, Arlen set down axioms, vocabulary words, and quotes from a wide-ranging reading list—Marcus Aurelius, Aristotle, Santayana, Nietzsche."
— John Lahr, The New Yorker, 19 Sept. 2005
Did You Know?
English abounds in Latin phrases. They roll off the learned tongue like peas off a fork: tabula rasa, ab ovo, a posteriori, deus ex machina, ex cathedra, mea culpa, terra firma, vox populi, ad hominem, sub rosa.
Omnium-gatherum belongs on that list too, right? Not exactly.
Omnium-gatherum sounds like Latin, and indeed omnium (the genitive plural of Latin omnis, meaning "all") is the real thing.
But gatherum is simply English gather with -um tacked on to give it a classical ring.
A made-up word! The first person that was known to have used it was John Croke, a lawyer who was educated at Eton and Cambridge in the 16th century.
Thursday, August 8, 2019
Aggregate
WORD OF THE DAY
aggregate / noun / AG-rih-gut
Definition
1: a mass or body of units or parts somewhat loosely associated with one another
2a: the whole sum or amount
2b: sum total
Examples
The university's various departments spent an aggregate of 1.2 million dollars in advertising last year.
"Their bill would require companies that collect user data to tell consumers and regulators what they collect, how they make money off it and how much it's worth—in aggregate and broken down by users."
— James Condliffe, The New York Times, 1 July 2019
Did You Know?
We added aggregate to our flock of Latin borrowings in the 15th century. It descends from aggregāre ("to cause to flock together" or "to join together"), a Latin verb made up of the prefix ad- (which means "to," and which usually changes to ag- before a g) and greg- or grex (meaning "flock, herd, or group"). Greg- also gave us congregate, gregarious, and segregate.
aggregate / noun / AG-rih-gut
Definition
1: a mass or body of units or parts somewhat loosely associated with one another
2a: the whole sum or amount
2b: sum total
Examples
The university's various departments spent an aggregate of 1.2 million dollars in advertising last year.
"Their bill would require companies that collect user data to tell consumers and regulators what they collect, how they make money off it and how much it's worth—in aggregate and broken down by users."
— James Condliffe, The New York Times, 1 July 2019
Did You Know?
We added aggregate to our flock of Latin borrowings in the 15th century. It descends from aggregāre ("to cause to flock together" or "to join together"), a Latin verb made up of the prefix ad- (which means "to," and which usually changes to ag- before a g) and greg- or grex (meaning "flock, herd, or group"). Greg- also gave us congregate, gregarious, and segregate.
Aggregate is commonly employed in the phrase "in the aggregate," which means "considered as a whole."
Aggregate also has some specialized senses. For example, it is used to describe a mass of minerals formed into a rock, and materials like sand or gravel that are used to form concrete, mortar, or plaster.
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Ransack
WORD OF THE DAY
ransack / verb / RAN-sak
Definition
1: to look through thoroughly in often a rough way
2a: to search through and steal from in a forceful and damaging way
2b: plunder
Examples
The kids had ransacked the cabinets looking for snacks, leaving not a chip or cracker uneaten.
"Also in the spring, I bring the bird feeders inside the house to avoid tempting bears into our yard…. A resident bear only had to ransack my feeders once for me to learn my lesson."
— Aislinn Sarnacki, The Bangor (Maine) Daily News, 6 June 2019
Did You Know?
Ransack carries the image of a house being roughly disarranged, as might happen when you are frantically searching for something.
ransack / verb / RAN-sak
Definition
1: to look through thoroughly in often a rough way
2a: to search through and steal from in a forceful and damaging way
2b: plunder
Examples
The kids had ransacked the cabinets looking for snacks, leaving not a chip or cracker uneaten.
"Also in the spring, I bring the bird feeders inside the house to avoid tempting bears into our yard…. A resident bear only had to ransack my feeders once for me to learn my lesson."
— Aislinn Sarnacki, The Bangor (Maine) Daily News, 6 June 2019
Did You Know?
Ransack carries the image of a house being roughly disarranged, as might happen when you are frantically searching for something.
This is appropriate given the word's origin. Ransack derives, via Middle English ransaken, from Old Norse rannsaka; the rann in rannsaka means "house."
The second half of rannsaka is related to an Old English word, sēcan, meaning "to seek." But our modern use of the word isn't restricted to houses. You can ransack a drawer, a suitcase, or even the contents of a book (for information).
A now-obsolete frequentative form of ransack, ransackle, gave us our adjective ramshackle.
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Totem
WORD OF THE DAY
totem / noun / TOH-tum
Definition
1a: an object (such as an animal or plant) serving as the emblem of a family or clan and often as a reminder of its ancestry
1b: a usually carved or painted representation of such an object
1c: a family or clan identified by a common totemic object
2: one that serves as an emblem or revered symbol
Examples
The Delaware Indians of eastern North America belonged to one of three groups whose totems were the turkey, the turtle, and the wolf.
"A totem reached the end of its life with a unifying ceremony after 65 years standing the grounds of Thunderbird Park. Members of First Nations … spoke to the significance of the Kwakwaka'wakw house post replica, which was built in 1954….
— Nicole Crescenzi, The Victoria (British Columbia) News, 31 May 2019
Did You Know?
Totem comes to us from Ojibwa, an Algonquian language spoken by an American Indian people from the regions around Lake Superior.
totem / noun / TOH-tum
Definition
1a: an object (such as an animal or plant) serving as the emblem of a family or clan and often as a reminder of its ancestry
1b: a usually carved or painted representation of such an object
1c: a family or clan identified by a common totemic object
2: one that serves as an emblem or revered symbol
Examples
The Delaware Indians of eastern North America belonged to one of three groups whose totems were the turkey, the turtle, and the wolf.
"A totem reached the end of its life with a unifying ceremony after 65 years standing the grounds of Thunderbird Park. Members of First Nations … spoke to the significance of the Kwakwaka'wakw house post replica, which was built in 1954….
— Nicole Crescenzi, The Victoria (British Columbia) News, 31 May 2019
Did You Know?
Totem comes to us from Ojibwa, an Algonquian language spoken by an American Indian people from the regions around Lake Superior.
The most basic form of the word in Ojibwa is believed to be ote, but 18th-century English speakers encountered it as ototeman (meaning "his totem"), which became our word totem.
In its most specific sense, totem refers to an emblematic depiction of an animal or plant that gives a family or clan its name and that often serves as a reminder of its ancestry. The term is also used broadly for any person or thing having particular emblematic or symbolic importance.
The related adjective totemic describes something that serves as a totem, that depicts totems ("totemic basketry," for example), or that has the nature of a totem.
Monday, August 5, 2019
Passim
WORD OF THE DAY
passim / adverb / PASS-im
Definition
1: in one place and another
2: here and there
Examples
The old cookbooks that once belonged to Michael's grandmother had some of her own recipes and other annotations penciled on the pages passim.
"Finally, may I say that I respect the views of those who have read and researched the same information as I, but reached the opposing conclusion, as displayed in your letter pages passim."
— Stephen Brown, The North Devon Journal, 12 Dec. 2013
Did You Know?
Passim is from the Latin word passus ("scattered"), itself from pandere, meaning "to spread."
passim / adverb / PASS-im
Definition
1: in one place and another
2: here and there
Examples
The old cookbooks that once belonged to Michael's grandmother had some of her own recipes and other annotations penciled on the pages passim.
"Finally, may I say that I respect the views of those who have read and researched the same information as I, but reached the opposing conclusion, as displayed in your letter pages passim."
— Stephen Brown, The North Devon Journal, 12 Dec. 2013
Did You Know?
Passim is from the Latin word passus ("scattered"), itself from pandere, meaning "to spread."
Pandere is the root of the common word expand and the not-so-common word repand, meaning "having a slightly undulating margin" (as in "a repand leaf" or "a repand colony of bacteria").
It is also the progenitor of pace, as in "keep up a steady pace." Passim itself appears in English both on its own and as part of the adverb sic passim, which means "so throughout."
Sic passim is typically used to indicate that a word or idea is to be found at various places throughout a book or a writer's work.
Friday, August 2, 2019
Clarion
WORD OF THE DAY
clarion / adjective / KLAIR-ee-un
Definition
1: brilliantly clear
2: loud and clear
Examples
"The guitars take off like fighter planes and [Stef Chura] delivers a clarion, country-steeped vocal, somewhere between Kitty Wells and Kurt Cobain."
— Megan Reynolds, Jezebel, 3 June 2019
"The commonest winter birds cheered me on: the chickadees and titmice, woodpeckers and jays, crows, cardinals, and sparrows. And of course my clarion wrens."
— Jack Wennerstrom, The Bird Watcher's Digest, September/October 1992
Did You Know?
In the Middle Ages, clarion was a noun, the name for a trumpet that could play a melody in clear, shrill tones.
clarion / adjective / KLAIR-ee-un
Definition
1: brilliantly clear
2: loud and clear
Examples
"The guitars take off like fighter planes and [Stef Chura] delivers a clarion, country-steeped vocal, somewhere between Kitty Wells and Kurt Cobain."
— Megan Reynolds, Jezebel, 3 June 2019
"The commonest winter birds cheered me on: the chickadees and titmice, woodpeckers and jays, crows, cardinals, and sparrows. And of course my clarion wrens."
— Jack Wennerstrom, The Bird Watcher's Digest, September/October 1992
Did You Know?
In the Middle Ages, clarion was a noun, the name for a trumpet that could play a melody in clear, shrill tones.
The noun has since been used for the sound of a trumpet or a similar sound.
By the early 1800s, English speakers also started using the word as an adjective for things that ring as clear as the call of a well-played trumpet.
Not surprisingly, clarion ultimately derives (via the Medieval Latin clario-) from clarus, which is the Latin word for "clear."
In addition, clarus gave English speakers clarify, clarity, declare ("to make clearly known"), and clear itself.
Thursday, August 1, 2019
Luftmensch
WORD OF THE DAY
luftmensch / noun / LOOFT-mensh (the "OO" is as in "foot")
Definition
: an impractical contemplative person having no definite business or income
Examples
"People like Luftmenschen, and they've liked them for a long time. The image of Thales, called the world's first philosopher, cannot be proven, but it's comforting to think that intellectuals have their heads in the clouds and stumble into the well before their feet."
— Susan Neiman, Einstein for the 21st Century, 2008
"Initially, antihero Shmuel Ash seems to be one of [Israeli writer, Amos] Oz's more familiar types, a luftmensch, concerned with intellectual pursuits, sharing many of the dysfunctional and antiheroic qualities of his predecessors…."
— Ranen Omer-Sherman, The Forward, 7 Nov. 2016
Did You Know?
Are you one of those people who always seem to have their head in the clouds? Do you have trouble getting down to the lowly business of earning a living? If so, you may deserve to be labeled a luftmensch.
That airy appellation is an adaptation of the Yiddish luftmentsh, which breaks down into luft (a Germanic root meaning "air" that is also related to the English words loft and lofty) plus mentsh, meaning "human being."
One of the earliest known uses of luftmensch in English prose is found in Israel Zangwill's 1907 story collection Ghetto Comedies, in which he writes, "The word 'Luftmensch' flew into Barstein's mind. Nehemiah was not an earth-man…. He was an air-man, floating on facile wings."
luftmensch / noun / LOOFT-mensh (the "OO" is as in "foot")
Definition
: an impractical contemplative person having no definite business or income
Examples
"People like Luftmenschen, and they've liked them for a long time. The image of Thales, called the world's first philosopher, cannot be proven, but it's comforting to think that intellectuals have their heads in the clouds and stumble into the well before their feet."
— Susan Neiman, Einstein for the 21st Century, 2008
"Initially, antihero Shmuel Ash seems to be one of [Israeli writer, Amos] Oz's more familiar types, a luftmensch, concerned with intellectual pursuits, sharing many of the dysfunctional and antiheroic qualities of his predecessors…."
— Ranen Omer-Sherman, The Forward, 7 Nov. 2016
Did You Know?
Are you one of those people who always seem to have their head in the clouds? Do you have trouble getting down to the lowly business of earning a living? If so, you may deserve to be labeled a luftmensch.
That airy appellation is an adaptation of the Yiddish luftmentsh, which breaks down into luft (a Germanic root meaning "air" that is also related to the English words loft and lofty) plus mentsh, meaning "human being."
One of the earliest known uses of luftmensch in English prose is found in Israel Zangwill's 1907 story collection Ghetto Comedies, in which he writes, "The word 'Luftmensch' flew into Barstein's mind. Nehemiah was not an earth-man…. He was an air-man, floating on facile wings."
The plural form of the noun is luftmenschen.
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