Word of the day: dharma

 The word of the day is dharma:

Sanskrit, = decree, custom.

In India, social or caste custom; right behaviour; law; esp. in Buddhism and Hinduism: moral law, truth. (OED)

"Sunim has placed a gilded Buddha statue in a prominent place on the first floor, and in the big window along the sidewalk, where a dozen different menus were once on display, there is now a new sign:

Zen Buddhist Temple
Sunday Public Service
7-8:30 meditation
10-11:30 open to public
4pm dharma service"

 - Gay Talese, "Past lives", 25 July 2011 The New Yorker

Word of the day: dray

 The word of the day is dray:


A derivative of Old English dragan to draw: compare Old English dræge drag-net, also Swedish drög sledge, dray, (Old Norse draga, plural drögur timber trailed along the ground).

1.a. A sled or cart without wheels, formerly much used for dragging wood, turf, etc. Obs.

b. A sled used in dragging logs in the woods. Also attrib. and Comb. U.S.  

2. ‘A little cart’ or car on wheels. Obs. 

3.a. A low cart without sides used for carrying heavy loads: esp. that used by brewers. 

b. Any two-wheeled cart. Austral. and N.Z. (OED)

"In February, Sunim bought the East Sixty-third Street property from the estate of Frank Catalano, a warehouse operator who had used the building for that purpose when he bought it, in 1952, for $64,250 from another warehouseman, named Frederick J. Shillinger, Jr., whose father had constructed the building, for twenty thousand dollars, in 1907.  Schillinger, Sr., kept half a dozen dray horses in the basement, from which they were raised by freight elevator whenever they were needed to pull wagons laden with furniture, pianos, safes, or other cargo."

 - Gay Talese, "Past lives", 25 July 2011 The New Yorker