Macabre

WORD OF THE DAY

macabre / adjective / muh-KAHB

Definition
1a: having death as a subject
1b: comprising or including a personalized representation of death
2: dwelling on the gruesome
3: tending to produce horror in a beholder

Examples
"The secret of Killing Eve is that its macabre sense of humor and spy-story subversions are ornamental compared with the series' grist: the strange, transformative pull the two main characters have on each other."
— Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 5 Apr. 2019

"Described as a surgeon by the newspapers, Holmes was charged with having broken into a vault in Hendon churchyard on 13 September 1828 … and cut the heads off three bodies. This strange and macabre story is quite unique, yet the reasons Holmes gave for his actions still applied directly to the advancement and development of medical understanding."
— Suzie Lennox, Bodysnatchers, 2016

Did You Know?
We trace the origins of macabre to the name of the Book of Maccabees, which is included in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox canons of the Old Testament and in the Protestant Apocrypha. Sections of this biblical text address both the deaths of faithful people asked to renounce their religion and the manner in which the dead should be properly commemorated.
In medieval France, representations of these passages were performed as what became known as the "dance of death" or "dance Maccabee," which was spelled in several different ways, including danse macabre.
In English, macabre was originally used in reference to this "dance of death" and then gradually came to refer to anything grim or gruesome.

Gist

WORD OF THE DAY

gist noun / JIST

Definition
1: the ground of a legal action
2a: the main point or part
2b: essence

Examples
I didn't catch every word, but I heard enough to get the gist of the conversation.

"Ironically, the debate largely occurred on Twitter, one of the most effective disruptors of work productivity ever invented. And the gist was this: To succeed professionally, many Silicon Valley types said, one must be prepared to work not just long, but indeed punishing hours—workers must be prepared to give up 'nights and weekends.'"
— Ethan Epstein, The Washington Times, 29 Dec. 2019

Did You Know?
The word gist often appears in such contexts as "the gist of the conversation was that…" to let us know that what follows will be a statement or summary that in some way encapsulates the main point or overarching theme.
The gist of a conversation, argument, story, or what-have-you is what we rely on when the actual words and details are only imperfectly recalled, inessential, or too voluminous to recount in their entirety.
Gist was borrowed from the Anglo-French legal phrase laccion gist ("the action lies or is based [on]") in the 17th century, and it was originally used in law as a term referring to the foundation or grounds for a legal action without which the action would not be legally sustainable.

Allege

WORD OF THE DAY

allege /verb / uh-LEJ

Definition
1: to assert without proof or before proving
2: to bring forward as a reason or excuse

Examples
The lawsuit alleges that the company knew about the faulty switches but sold the product anyway.

"While the ACCC does not allege Mr. Vassella was directly involved in formulating or carrying out the alleged price-fixing scheme, court documents filed by the regulator say he was briefed on the plans within a month of their launch, and given regular presentations on progress for at least the next six months."
— Eric Johnston, The Australian, 27 Dec. 2019

Did You Know?
These days, someone alleges something before presenting the evidence to prove it (or perhaps without evidence at all), but the word actually derives from the Middle English verb alleggen, meaning "to submit (something) in evidence or as justification."
Alleggen, in turn, traces back to Anglo-French and probably ultimately to Latin allegare, meaning "to send as a representative" or "to offer as proof in support of a plea."
Indeed, allege once referred to the actions of someone who came forward to testify in court; this sense isn't used anymore, but it led to the development of the current "assert without proof" sense.