WORD O' THE DAY
parry \ PAIR-ee \ verb
Definition
1 : to ward off a weapon or blow
2 : to evade especially by an adroit answer
Examples
The fencer skillfully parried her opponent's thrusts.
"The AMP [Accelerated Mobile Pages] technology … indirectly parries one of the main threats facing digital ad companies—the growing use of ad-blocking software in response to slow, buggy, and hard-to-use Web pages—by stopping ads from slowing down access to articles."
— Jack Clark and Gerry Smith, The Boston Globe, 25 Feb. 2016
Did You Know?
Parry (which is used in fencing, among other applications) probably comes from parez, a form of the French verb parer, meaning "to guard or ward off." Its history can be compared with that of two other English words: parapet and parasol. Those two terms go back to an Italian word (parare) that means "to shield or guard." (A parapet shields soldiers and a parasol wards off the sun.) All three—parry, parapet, and parasol—can ultimately be traced to the Latin parare, meaning "to prepare." And they're not alone. Other descendants of the Latin term include apparatus, disparate, emperor, and even prepare.
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Sidereal
WORD OF THE DAY
sidereal \ sye-DEER-ee-ul \ adjective
Definition
1 : of or relating to stars or constellations
2 : measured by the apparent motion of the stars
Examples
David's parents were so pleased by his newfound interest in sidereal phenomena that they bought him an expensive telescope for his birthday.
"Today, these various astronomical functions can mainly be found in very complicated watches…. These exceptional timekeepers are masterpieces of knowledge, technique and know-how, presenting a range of complex functions: display of sidereal time, equation of time, hours of sunrise and sunset, star charts, angular movement of the moon, phases of the moon...."
— Grégory Gardinetti, CNN.com, 6 Jan. 2016
Did You Know?
In Latin, the word for a star or constellation is sidus. Latin speakers used that word to form desiderare ("from a heavenly body") and considerare ("to think about a heavenly body"), which were adopted into English as desire and consider. Sidereal, another sidus creation, was first documented in English in 1642.
Thirty-four years later, an astronomer coined the phrase "sidereal year" for the time in which the earth completes one revolution in its orbit around the sun, measured with respect to the fixed stars. Not surprisingly, other sidereal measurements of time followed, including the sidereal month, the sidereal day, the sidereal hour, and even the sidereal minute.
sidereal \ sye-DEER-ee-ul \ adjective
Definition
1 : of or relating to stars or constellations
2 : measured by the apparent motion of the stars
Examples
David's parents were so pleased by his newfound interest in sidereal phenomena that they bought him an expensive telescope for his birthday.
"Today, these various astronomical functions can mainly be found in very complicated watches…. These exceptional timekeepers are masterpieces of knowledge, technique and know-how, presenting a range of complex functions: display of sidereal time, equation of time, hours of sunrise and sunset, star charts, angular movement of the moon, phases of the moon...."
— Grégory Gardinetti, CNN.com, 6 Jan. 2016
Did You Know?
In Latin, the word for a star or constellation is sidus. Latin speakers used that word to form desiderare ("from a heavenly body") and considerare ("to think about a heavenly body"), which were adopted into English as desire and consider. Sidereal, another sidus creation, was first documented in English in 1642.
Thirty-four years later, an astronomer coined the phrase "sidereal year" for the time in which the earth completes one revolution in its orbit around the sun, measured with respect to the fixed stars. Not surprisingly, other sidereal measurements of time followed, including the sidereal month, the sidereal day, the sidereal hour, and even the sidereal minute.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Quorum
WORD OF THE DAY
QUORUM \ KWOR-um \ noun
Definition
1 : a select group
2 : the number (such as a majority) of officers or members of a body that when duly assembled is legally competent to transact business
Examples
The organization's charter states that a quorum of at least seven board members must be present before any voting can take place.
"The City Council meeting that was supposed to continue from Tuesday night didn't happen after only one member showed up, leaving the council without a quorum."
— Garrett Brnger (yes that is his name), KSAT.com (San Antonio, Texas), 17 Feb. 2016
Did You Know?
In Latin, quorum means "of whom" and is itself the genitive plural of qui, meaning "who." At one time, Latin quorum was used in the wording of the commissions issued to justices of the peace in England.
In English, quorum initially referred to the number of justices of the peace who had to be present to constitute a legally sufficient bench. That sense is now rare, but it's not surprising that quorum has come to mean both "a select group" and "the minimum people required in order to conduct business."
QUORUM \ KWOR-um \ noun
Definition
1 : a select group
2 : the number (such as a majority) of officers or members of a body that when duly assembled is legally competent to transact business
Examples
The organization's charter states that a quorum of at least seven board members must be present before any voting can take place.
"The City Council meeting that was supposed to continue from Tuesday night didn't happen after only one member showed up, leaving the council without a quorum."
— Garrett Brnger (yes that is his name), KSAT.com (San Antonio, Texas), 17 Feb. 2016
Did You Know?
In Latin, quorum means "of whom" and is itself the genitive plural of qui, meaning "who." At one time, Latin quorum was used in the wording of the commissions issued to justices of the peace in England.
In English, quorum initially referred to the number of justices of the peace who had to be present to constitute a legally sufficient bench. That sense is now rare, but it's not surprising that quorum has come to mean both "a select group" and "the minimum people required in order to conduct business."
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