Word of the day

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Tuesday, July 14, 2009

louche \LOOSH\, adjective:

Of questionable taste or morality; disreputable or indecent; dubious; shady.

You've got to keep yourself free of any suggestion of louche behavior.
-- Anthony West

[Chy]

Louche, sounds very french wonder if it's in context with lued? Or is it lude? Hmm.. never was good at spelling. LOL

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Wednesday, July 15, 2009

bestow \bih-STOH\, transitive verb:
1. To present as a gift or an honor; confer.
2. To apply; use.
Example Quotes:

He bestowed on him a pension of a hundred crowns a year.
-- John Richard Green, Short History of the English People

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Thursday, July 16, 2009

dulcet \DUHL-sit\, adjective:

1. Pleasing to the ear; melodious; harmonious.
2. Generally pleasing, soothing, or agreeable.
3. (Archaic) Sweet to the taste.

If you want to catch up with our most famous songster, the nightingale, just visit Minsmere at the end of April, or early May, and stand on the edge of the car park. You'll soon hear the dulcet tones of the poets' favourite bird.
-- Stephen Moss, "Birdwatch", The Guardian, October 23, 2000

[2jules7]

Mr. Vernon bestowed John Bender for finally getting out of detention. The other students had louche expressions upon their faces, but gave a dulcet round of applause anyway. -It could happen.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Friday, July 17, 2009

leitmotif \LYT-moh-teef\, noun:

1. In music drama, a marked melodic phrase or short passage which always accompanies the reappearance of a certain person, situation, abstract idea, or allusion in the course of the play; a sort of musical label.
2. A dominant and recurring theme.

Each actor to appear on stage is accompanied by a musical phrase on the drum -- a sort of leitmotif to characterize an emotion, much like a Wagnerian drama.
-- Eleanor Blau, "Connecticut's Shakespeare", New York Times, July 9, 1982

[BM <3]

Originally Posted by 2jules7

Mr. Vernon bestowed John Bender for finally getting out of detention. The other students had louche expressions upon their faces, but gave a dulcet round of applause anyway. -It could happen.

That was absolutely perfect! Well done Joolz

[2jules7]

Finally, eh?
A lot of songs have the same leitmotif tone.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Saturday, July 18, 2009

adumbrate \AD-uhm-brayt; uh-DUHM-\, transitive verb:

1. To produce a faint image or resemblance of; to outline or sketch.
2. To prefigure indistinctly; foreshadow.
3. To suggest, indicate, or disclose partially.
4. To cast a shadow over; to shade; to obscure.

The next day, when the year that had passed had been fully gone over and the hope for the year to come had been cautiously adumbrated, the delicate moment arrived when Ben Attar had to decide how to apportion the year's profit among the three partners.
-- Abraham B. Yehoshua, A Journey to the End of the Millennium

[2jules7]

Goliath adumbrated Puff the Magic Dragon.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Sunday, July 19, 2009

imbue \im-BYOO\, transitive verb:

1. To tinge or dye deeply; to cause to absorb thoroughly; as, "clothes thoroughly imbued with black."
2. To instill profoundly; to cause to become impressed or penetrated.

Beauty is equal parts flesh and imagination: we imbue it with our dreams, saturate it with our longings.
-- Nancy Etcoff, Survival of the Prettiest

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Monday, July 20, 2009

pastiche \pas-TEESH; pahs-\, noun:

1. A work of art that imitates the style of some previous work.
2. A musical, literary, or artistic composition consisting of selections from various works.
3. A hodgepodge; an incongruous combination of different styles and ingredients.

The figure was a pastiche, assembled from fragments: a Greek head, a Roman imperial cuirass, and halo, limbs, weapons, and crocodile fashioned by a Venetian craftsman.
-- Patricia Fortini Brown, Venice and Antiquity

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Tuesday, July 21, 2009

sedulous \SEJ-uh-luhs\, adjective:

1. Diligent in application or pursuit; steadily industrious.
2. Characterized by or accomplished with care and perseverance.

He did not attain this distinction by accident but by sedulous study from the cradle forward.
-- Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair, Al Gore: A User's Manual

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Wednesday, July 22, 2009

glabrous \GLAY-bruhs\, adjective:

Smooth; having a surface without hairs, projections, or any unevenness.

This species has a bluish-tinged body completely covered in white flecking in the typical species, though completely glabrous green variants are also seen without any of the body flecking.

-- Kevin G. Belmonte, "The woolly Astrophytums", The Philippine Star, June 6, 2009

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Thursday, July 23, 2009.

protean \PRO-tee-un; pro-TEE-un\, adjective:

1. Displaying considerable variety or diversity.
2. Readily assuming different shapes or forms.

The [Broadway] musical was ceaselessly protean in these years, usually conventional but always developing convention, twisting it, replacing it.
-- Ethan Mordden, Coming Up Roses

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Friday, July 24, 2009

skulk \SKUHLK\, intransitive verb:

1. To hide, or get out of the way, in a sneaking manner; to lurk.
2. To move about in a stealthy way.
3. To avoid responsibilities and duties.
4. One who skulks.
5. A group of foxes.

When not rummaging under bushes, Mr. Sculley can often be seen skulking in the woods or prowling along the shore.
-- Tom Gilling, The Sooterkin

[2jules7]

The sixties had amazing tie dye imbued clothes.
The students had to create a pastiche piece of art.
Jacob was sedulous in everything he did.
After his wax his back was glabrous.
Anywhere you go theres a different protean of people.
The little children skulked around on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Saturday, July 25, 2009

peripatetic \pair-uh-puh-TET-ik\, adjective:

1. Of or pertaining to walking about or traveling from place to place; itinerant.
2. Of or pertaining to the philosophy taught by Aristotle (who gave his instructions while walking in the Lyceum at Athens), or to his followers.
3. One who walks about; a pedestrian; an itinerant.
4. A follower of Aristotle; an Aristotelian.

Nevertheless, the attachment which in later life he developed towards Charleston suggests that his peripatetic childhood had left unsatisfied his need for a permanent home.
-- Frances Spalding, Duncan Grant: A Biography

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Sunday, July 26, 2009

ineluctable \in-ih-LUCK-tuh-buhl\, adjective:

Impossible to avoid or evade; inevitable.

. . .ineluctable as gravity.
-- Marilynne Robinson, The Death of Adam

[2jules7]

You have to be careful with Max because hes peripatetic when he sleeps.
The speed bumps on ninety-second street are ineluctable.