Word of the day

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Sunday, May 24, 2009

depredation \dep-ruh-DAY-shun\, noun:

1. An act of plundering or despoiling; a raid.

2. [Plural] Destructive operations; ravages.

. . .the depredations of pirates and privateers on the high seas.

[2jules7]

Trips to Amazing Graces usually results in depredation of signs and rocks.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Monday, May 25, 2009

fillip \FIL-uhp\, noun:

1. A snap of the finger forced suddenly from the thumb; a smart blow.
2. Something serving to rouse or excite; a stimulus.
3. A trivial addition; an embellishment.
4. To strike with the nail of the finger, first placed against the ball of the thumb, and forced from that position with a sudden spring; to snap with the finger.
5. To snap; to project quickly.
6. To urge on; to provide a stimulus, by or as if by a fillip.

If any one in Mirgorod gives him a neckerchief or underclothes, he returns thanks; if any one gives him a fillip on the nose--he returns thanks then also.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Tuesday, May 26, 2009

pejorative \pih-JOR-uh-tiv\, adjective:

1. Tending to make or become worse.
2. Tending to disparage or belittle.
3. A belittling or disparaging word or expression.

Citing the construction industry, car dealers, and politicians as the purveyors of "sprawl" (a pejorative term that does not even allow for the possibility of benefits associated with low-density development), Kunstler fails to consider the role of market forces.

[2jules7]

With a fillip of the genies fingers, a couch came out of nowhere, which only made the situation more pejorative.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Wednesday, May 27, 2009

sagacious \suh-GAY-shus\, adjective:

Having or showing keen discernment, sound judgment, and farsightedness.

Example Quotes:
Edward's uncle, a sagacious scholar equally at home with Celtic myth and Eastern wisdom, declines his nephew's request to tell the story of Hamlet (it would come too close to home).

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Thursday, May 28, 2009

avoirdupois \av-uhr-duh-POIZ; AV-uhr-duh-poiz\, noun:

1. Avoirdupois weight, a system of weights based on a pound containing 16 ounces or 7,000 grains (453.59 grams).
2. Weight; heaviness; as, a person of much avoirdupois.

Claydon . . . was happy to admit that he has shed some avoirdupois.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Friday, May 29, 2009

sybarite \SIB-uh-ryt\, noun:

A person devoted to luxury and pleasure.

This worldly cleric, nicknamed "the sybarite of Saumane", friend of Voltaire and a social luminary in Paris and Avignon, lived a high old life within the medieval fortifications of his chateau in Provence.

[2jules7]

Fred is a sagacious person.
They put some avoirdupois on the fishing line.
Donald Trump, a sybarite.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Saturday, May 30, 2009

taciturn \TAS-uh-turn\, adjective:

Habitually silent; not inclined to talk.

On stage she seemed to become transformed, and the contrast was even more noticeable given her shy, taciturn character, shrouded in the impalpable veil of gloom that always surrounded her.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Sunday, May 31, 2009

venerate \VEN-uh-rayt\, transitive verb:

To treat someone or something with deep respect, reverence or deference; to revere.

They venerated the same saints, worshipped in the same churches, and respected a past of shared values.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Monday, June 1, 2009

cosset \KOSS-it\, transitive verb:

1. To treat as a pet; to treat with excessive indulgence; to pamper.
2. A pet, especially a pet lamb.

Sumner's parents, for instance, were routinely attended by butlers, maids, coachmen and grooms while little Sumner and his sister, Emily, were pampered and cosseted from infancy by nurserymaids and governesses.

[2jules7]

The donkey scared her taciturn. Her teacher told her that such animals needed to be venerated. Sometimes even the owers of these cosset donkeys forget that.
:\

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Tuesday, June 2, 2009

hortatory \HOR-tuh-tor-ee\, adjective:

Marked by strong urging; serving to encourage or incite; as, "a hortatory speech."

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Wednesday, June 3, 2009

espy \ih-SPY\, transitive verb:

To catch sight of; to perceive with the eyes; to discover, as a distant object partly concealed, or not obvious to notice; to see at a glance; to discern unexpectedly; to spy; as, to espy land; to espy a man in a crowd.

The seamen espied a rock within half a cable's length of the ship.

[2jules7]

Great uncle Vern has a very espy eye and a hortatory mouth.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Thursday, June 4, 2009

pother \POTH-er\, noun:

1. A commotion; a disturbance.
2. A state of nervous activity; a fuss.
3. A cloud of smoke or dust that chokes or smothers.
4. To make confused; trouble; worry.
5. To be overly concerned with trifles; fuss.

A few gestures allude fleetingly to the iconic Ivanov choreography—crossed wrists, flapping arms, a warding-off pose—but this ballerina is beset with dissatisfaction and discomfort, even though, when Warby's filmed face appears on the screen—huge, filling it—her gaze is calm and penetrating. That black-and-white image is succeeded by a pother of gulls alighting on water amid swimming ducks.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Friday, June 5, 2009

abstemious \ab-STEE-mee-uhs\, adjective:

1. Sparing in eating and drinking; temperate; abstinent.
2. Sparingly used or consumed; used with temperance or moderation.
3. Marked by or spent in abstinence.

They were healthy and abstemious; their chief pleasure was reading and Oliver was a life member of the London Library.

[2jules7]

The chef uses the truffles in a abstemious way.
The 'smoke monster' from Lost is known as being a pother.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Saturday, June 6, 2009

mores \MOR-ayz; -eez\, plural noun:

1. The fixed customs of a particular group that are morally binding upon all members of the group.
2. Moral attitudes.
3. Customs; habits; ways.

Usually the laws mirror the mores of the populace in this regard, though at times they run ahead, and at times they lag behind.