Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Wisenheimer
WORD OF THE DAY
wisenheimer \ WYE-zun-hye-mer \ noun
Definition
: smart aleck
Examples
Leslie delivered a flawless presentation even in spite of interruptions from the wisenheimers in the back of the classroom.
"… we both come from incredibly saucy families who love to sling it every which way, so it just seemed natural for us to cross our fingers that any children we had would be little wisenheimers."
— Lisa Sugarman, The Daily Ardmoreite (Ardmore, Oklahoma), 20 Dec. 2015
Did You Know?
We wouldn't joke around about the origin of this witty word. In the early 20th century, someone had the smart idea to combine the adjective wise (one sense of which means "insolent, smart-alecky, or fresh") with -enheimer, playing on the pattern of family names such as Oppenheimer and Guggenheimer.
Of course, wisenheimer isn't the only "wise-" word for someone who jokes around. There's also wiseacre, wisecracker, and wise guy. All of these jokesters are fond of making wisecracks.
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Callow
WORD OF THE DAY
callow \ KAL-oh \ adjective
Definition
1a: lacking adult sophistication
1b: immature
Examples
"So callow was Williams that there was a clause in his first contract, which he signed at the age of 18, that stipulated the team would pay for his mother to be with him at least one week of every month."
— Steve Hummer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 9 Dec. 2012
"At 5-10, 145 pounds, Justin Thomas, 22, seems too slight and callow to be a good example … of the foundational act on which modern professional golf is built. At least until he springs into his downswing with a driver."
— Golf Digest, February 2016
T.S. Quint: [Reading the break-up letter that Renee gave Brodie] Woah, she calls you "callow" in here.
Brodie: You say that like it's bad.
T.S. Quint: It means frightened and weak-willed.
Brodie: Really? That was the only part of the letter I thought was complimentary.
-Mallrats, 1995
Did You Know?
You might not expect a relationship between the word callow and baldness, but that connection does in fact exist. Callow comes from calu, a word that meant "bald" in Middle English and Old English.
By the 17th century, callow had come to mean "without feathers" and was applied to young birds not yet ready for flight. The term was also used for those who hadn't yet spread their wings in a figurative sense. Callow continues to mean "inexperienced" or "unsophisticated" today.
callow \ KAL-oh \ adjective
Definition
1a: lacking adult sophistication
1b: immature
Examples
"So callow was Williams that there was a clause in his first contract, which he signed at the age of 18, that stipulated the team would pay for his mother to be with him at least one week of every month."
— Steve Hummer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 9 Dec. 2012
"At 5-10, 145 pounds, Justin Thomas, 22, seems too slight and callow to be a good example … of the foundational act on which modern professional golf is built. At least until he springs into his downswing with a driver."
— Golf Digest, February 2016
T.S. Quint: [Reading the break-up letter that Renee gave Brodie] Woah, she calls you "callow" in here.
Brodie: You say that like it's bad.
T.S. Quint: It means frightened and weak-willed.
Brodie: Really? That was the only part of the letter I thought was complimentary.
-Mallrats, 1995
Did You Know?
You might not expect a relationship between the word callow and baldness, but that connection does in fact exist. Callow comes from calu, a word that meant "bald" in Middle English and Old English.
By the 17th century, callow had come to mean "without feathers" and was applied to young birds not yet ready for flight. The term was also used for those who hadn't yet spread their wings in a figurative sense. Callow continues to mean "inexperienced" or "unsophisticated" today.
Monday, May 2, 2016
Moil
WORD OF THE DAY
moil \ MOYL \ verb
Definition
1a : to work hard
1b: drudge
2a: to be in continuous agitation
2b: churn, swirl
Examples
Revelations that the popular motivational speaker was born into a wealthy family cast further doubts on his claims that he holds the secret to finding wealth without the need to toil and moil.
"Playwright Eugene O'Neill moiled over several works, including 'Strange Interlude,' in a summer rental cottage you'll pass if you're on the historical walking tour."
— Susan Bayer Ward, The Chicago Daily Herald, 15 May 2005
Did You Know?
Moil may mean "to work hard" but its origins are the opposite of hard; it ultimately derives from Latin mollis, meaning "soft." (Other English derivatives of mollis are emollient, mollify, and mollusk.) A more immediate ancestor of moil is the Anglo-French verb moiller, meaning "to make wet, dampen," and one of the early meanings of moil in English was "to become wet and muddy."
The "work hard" sense of moil appears most frequently in the pairing "toil and moil." Both moil and toil can also be nouns meaning "work." Moil implies work that is drudgery and toil suggests prolonged and fatiguing labor.
moil \ MOYL \ verb
Definition
1a : to work hard
1b: drudge
2a: to be in continuous agitation
2b: churn, swirl
Examples
Revelations that the popular motivational speaker was born into a wealthy family cast further doubts on his claims that he holds the secret to finding wealth without the need to toil and moil.
"Playwright Eugene O'Neill moiled over several works, including 'Strange Interlude,' in a summer rental cottage you'll pass if you're on the historical walking tour."
— Susan Bayer Ward, The Chicago Daily Herald, 15 May 2005
Did You Know?
Moil may mean "to work hard" but its origins are the opposite of hard; it ultimately derives from Latin mollis, meaning "soft." (Other English derivatives of mollis are emollient, mollify, and mollusk.) A more immediate ancestor of moil is the Anglo-French verb moiller, meaning "to make wet, dampen," and one of the early meanings of moil in English was "to become wet and muddy."
The "work hard" sense of moil appears most frequently in the pairing "toil and moil." Both moil and toil can also be nouns meaning "work." Moil implies work that is drudgery and toil suggests prolonged and fatiguing labor.
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