Word of the day

[2jules7]

Word of the Day for Tuesday, February 23, 2010

fructuous \FRUHK-choo-uhs\, adjective:

Fruitful; productive.

It had by now reached much beyond even that status to appear in our minds as a place sentient, actively helping these once forlorn and homeless sailors, presenting us with fructuous soil to grow our food, bountifully adding its own edible offerings, its waters supplying us with an abundance of fish.
-- William Brinkley, Last Ship

[2jules7]

Word of the Day for Wednesday, February 24, 2010

arcanum \ar-KAY-nuhm\, noun;
plural arcana \-nuh\:

1. A secret; a mystery.
2. Specialized or mysterious knowledge, language, or information that is not accessible to the average person (generally used in the plural).

Through the years, Usenet evolved into an international forum on thousands of topics, called Usenet news groups, from the arcana of programming languages to European travel tips.
-- Katie Hafner, "James T. Ellis, 45, a Developer of Internet Discussion Network, Is Dead", New York Times, July 1, 2001

[2jules7]

Word of the Day for Thursday, February 25, 2010

gregarious \grih-GAIR-ee-us\, adjective:

1. Tending to form a group with others of the same kind.
2. Seeking and enjoying the company of others.

True locusts, which are actually certain kinds of grasshoppers, are usually solitary and rather sluggish, but when they are crowded they enter a gregarious and highly active migratory phase.
-- Gilbert Waldbauer, Millions of Monarchs, Bunches of Beetles

[2jules7]

Word of the Day for Friday, February 26, 2010

mulct \MULKT\, noun:

1. A fine or penalty.

transitive verb:
1. To punish for an offense or misdemeanor by imposing a fine or demanding a forfeiture.
2. To obtain by fraud or deception.
3. To defraud; to swindle.

Officials repaid such loans by mulcting the public in a variety of legal and extra-legal ways.
-- William H. McNeill, A World History

[2jules7]

Word of the Day for Saturday, February 27, 2010

supplicate \SUP-luh-kayt\, intransitive verb:

1. To make a humble and earnest petition; to pray humbly.

transitive verb:
1. To seek or ask for humbly and earnestly.
2. To make a humble petition to; to beseech.

Lehi's list of enemies was long and broad, including not only the British and the Arabs, but respected Jewish leaders like David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir, whom they dismissed as weaklings and compromisers prepared to supplicate before the aristocratic count.
-- Tod Hoffman, "Count (Folke) Bernadotte's folly", Queen's Quarterly, December 22, 1996

[2jules7]

Word of the Day for Sunday, February 28, 2010

quixotic \kwik-SOT-ik\, adjective:

1. Caught up in the romance of noble deeds and the pursuit of unreachable goals; foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals.
2. Capricious; impulsive; unpredictable.

Some of his plans were quixotic and much too good for this world, but he never wavered in a cause that he considered just and he commanded the respect of all who opposed him.
-- "Dr. John Dewey Dead at 92; Philosopher a Noted Liberal", New York Times, June 2, 1952

[2jules7]

Word of the Day for Monday, March 1, 2010

pablum \PAB-luhm\, noun:

1. Something (as writing or speech) that is trite, insipid, or simplistic.
2. (capitalized) A trademark used for a bland soft cereal for infants.

I imagined his thoughts had been solely of me, that the letter would be filled with love sonnets, that it would gush with the same romantic pablum I devoured from those movie star magazines.
-- Kate Walbert, The Gardens of Kyoto

[2jules7]

Word of the Day for Tuesday, March 2, 2010

temporize \TEM-puh-ryz\, intransitive verb:

1. To be indecisive or evasive in order to gain time or delay action.
2. To comply with the time or occasion; to yield to prevailing opinion or circumstances.
3. To engage in discussions or negotiations so as to gain time (usually followed by 'with').
4. To come to terms (usually followed by 'with').

But when it comes to paying out claims, too many third-party providers stall, balk and temporize.
-- Stacie Zoe Berg, "Rx for reluctant health insurers", Insight on the News, September 22, 1997

[Hopefloats]

I have missed some days being here and reading. More goodies for us
Thanks again for keeping this thread going

Hope

[2jules7]

Of course (:


Word of the Day for Wednesday, March 3, 2010

eructation \ih-ruhk-TAY-shuhn\, noun:

The act of belching; a belch.

Ignatius belched, the gassy eructations echoing between the walls of the alley.
-- John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces

[2jules7]

Word of the Day for Thursday, March 4, 2010

didactic \dy-DAK-tik; duh-\, adjective:

1. Fitted or intended to teach; conveying instruction; instructive; teaching some moral lesson; as, "didactic essays."
2. Inclined to teach or moralize excessively; moralistic.

The show trial may be defined as a public theatrical performance in the form of a trial, didactic in purpose, intended not to establish the guilt of the accused but rather to demonstrate the heinousness of the person's crimes.
-- Sheila Fitzpatrick, Everyday Stalinism

[2jules7]

Word of the Day for Friday, March 5, 2010

fealty \FEE-uhl-tee\, noun:

1. Fidelity to one's lord; the feudal obligation by which the tenant or vassal was bound to be faithful to his lord.
2. The oath by which this obligation was assumed.
3. Fidelity; allegiance; faithfulness.

He was re-elected Governor in 1855, and his administration of the State affairs, both in that and the preceding term of office, was marked by a regard for the public interest rather than party fealty.
-- "Andrew Johnson Dead", New York Times, August 1, 1875

[2jules7]

Word of the Day for Saturday, March 6, 2010

masticate \MAS-tih-kayt\, transitive verb:

1. To grind or crush with or as if with the teeth in preparation for swallowing and digestion; to chew; as, "to masticate food."
2. To crush or knead (rubber, for example) into a pulp.

intransitive verb:
1. To chew food.

Honestly, folks, the people at the next table ordered the same dish, and I watched as a young couple tried in vain to masticate those fossilized pieces of "toast."
-- Pat Bruno, "Hits and misses", Chicago Sun-Times, June 2002

[2jules7]

Word of the Day for Sunday, March 7, 2010

inveterate \in-VET-uhr-it\, adjective:

1. Firmly established by long persistence; deep-rooted; of long standing.
2. Fixed in habit by long persistence; confirmed; habitual.

In Montpelier, where this prison stands, the inveterate prejudice against prisoners has been swept away.
-- Morrison I. Swift, "Humanizing the Prisons", The Atlantic, August 1911

[2jules7]

Word of the Day for Monday, March 8, 2010

languor \LANG-guhr; LANG-uhr\, noun:

1. Mental or physical weariness or fatigue.
2. Listless indolence, especially the indolence of one who is satiated by a life of luxury or pleasure.
3. A heaviness or oppressive stillness of the air.

Without health life is not life, wrote Rabelais, "life is not livable. . . . Without health life is nothing but languor."
-- Joseph Epstein, Narcissus Leaves the Pool

[2jules7]

Word of the Day for Tuesday, March 9, 2010

sachet \sa-SHEY\, noun:

1. A small bag, case, or pad containing perfuming powder or the like, placed among handkerchiefs, etc., to impart a pleasant scent.
2. Also, sachet powder, the powder contained in such a case.

Select a filler of snowflake geranium, polyester fill, or rabbit tobacco –– enough to make the sachet fluffy.
-- Bibby Moore, Growing with gardening: A Twelve-month Guide for Therapy, Recreation, and Education

[2jules7]

Word of the Day for Wednesday, March 10, 2010

phantasmagoria \fan-taz-muh-GOR-ee-uh\, noun:

1. A shifting series or succession of things seen or imagined, as in a dream.
2. Any constantly changing scene.

The significant items in the ensuing phantasmagoria soon appear, however -- a dry well, a house abandoned because of a series of tragedies, a so-called alley blocked at both ends, the statue of a bird looking sadly unable to fly, and the unidentified wind-up bird that creaks invisibly in a nearby tree.
-- Phoebe-Lou Adams, review of The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, The Atlantic, November 1997

[2jules7]

Word of the Day for Thursday, March 11, 2010

salient \SAY-lee-unt; SAYL-yunt\, adjective:

1. Shooting out or up; projecting.
2. Forcing itself on the attention; prominent; conspicuous; noticeable.
3. Leaping; springing; jumping.

noun:
1. An outwardly projecting part of a fortification, trench system, or line of defense.
2. A projecting angle or part.

He was killed during an attack on German positions dug into Ploegsteert Wood on the Ypres salient.
-- Russell Jenkins and Stephen Farrell, "Search begins for family of Flanders fusilier", Times (London), January 10, 2000

[2jules7]

Word of the Day for Friday, March 12, 2010

solecism \SOL-uh-siz-uhm\, noun:

1. A nonstandard usage or grammatical construction; also, a minor blunder in speech.
2. A breach of good manners or etiquette.
3. Any inconsistency, mistake, or impropriety.

An accurate report of anything that has ever been said in any parliament would be blather, solecism, verbiage and nonsense.
-- "Hansard of the Highlands", Times (London), February 17, 2001

[2jules7]

Word of the Day for Saturday, March 13, 2010

erudite \AIR-yuh-dyt; -uh-dyt\, adjective:

Characterized by extensive reading or knowledge; learned.

In front of imposing edifices like the Topkapi Palace or Hagia Sophia are guides displaying Government-issued licenses. Many of these guides are erudite historians who have quit low-paying jobs as university professors and now offer private tours.
-- "What's Doing in Istanbul", New York Times, February 23, 1997