Word of the day: tyro

The word of the day is tyro:

1. a beginner in learning anything; novice.

1611, from M.L. tyro, variant of L. tiro (pl. tirones) "young soldier, recruit, beginner," of unknown origin.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tyro)

"Over the next thirty years he worked in seventeen campaigns across Europe.  But he made his first important discovery while a tyro."

 - Sam Kean, The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons: The History of the Human Brain as Revealed by True Stories of Trauma, Madness, and Recovery

Word of the day: prevaricate

The word of the day is prevaricate:

1. to speak falsely or misleadingly; deliberately misstate or create an incorrect impression; lie.

1580s, "to transgress," from L. praevaricari "to make a sham accusation, deviate," lit. "walk crookedly;" in Church L., "to transgress" (see prevarication). Meaning "to speak evasively" is from 1630s.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prevaricate)

"At every stage, the bureaucrats prevaricated.  The prefect of the Bouches-du-Rhône did all he could to keep too many would-be emigrants out of Marseilles, while the individual camps dragged their heels about transferring people to Les Milles, the only camp in which they were permitted to complete the formalities."

 - Caroline Moorehead, Village of Secrets

Word of the day: superannuated

The word of the day is superannuated:

1. retired because of age or infirmity.
2. too old for use, work, service, or a position.
3. antiquated or obsolete

"retired on account of old age," 1633, "obsolete, out of date," from M.L. superannuatus "more than a year old" (of cattle), from L. super "beyond, over" (see super-) + annus "year" (see annual).

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/superannuated)

"It was a fresh kind of place, all circumstances considered, where the wind from the river had room to turn itself round; and there were two or three trees in it, and there was the stump of a ruined windmill, and there was the Old Green Copper Ropewalk,—whose long and narrow vista I could trace in the moonlight, along a series of wooden frames set in the ground, that looked like superannuated haymaking-rakes which had grown old and lost most of their teeth."

 - Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

Word of the day: courser

The word of the day is courser:

1. a swift horse.

large, powerful horse," c.1300, from O.Fr. corsier, from V.L. *cursarius, from L. cursus (see course).

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/courser)

"'Where was the coach, in the name of gracious?' asked my sister.

"'In Miss Havisham's room.'  They stared again.  'But there weren't any horses to it.'  I added this saving clause, in the moment of rejecting four richly caparisoned coursers which I had had wild thoughts of harnessing."

 - Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

Word of the day: caparison

The word of the day is caparison:

1. a decorative covering for a horse or for the tack or harness of a horse; trappings.
2. rich and sumptuous clothing or equipment.

1598, "cloth spread over a saddle," also "personal dress and ornaments," from Fr. caparasson (Mod.Fr. caparaçon, from Sp. caparazon, from augmentative of M.L. caparo, the name of a type of cape worn by women, lit. "chaperon" (see chaperon). Pp. adj. caparisoned is attested from 1600, from a verb caparison (1594).

"'Where was the coach, in the name of gracious?' asked my sister.

"'In Miss Havisham's room.'  They stared again.  'But there weren't any horses to it.'  I added this saving clause, in the moment of rejecting four richly caparisoned coursers which I had had wild thoughts of harnessing."

 - Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

Word of the day: recrudescence

The word of the day is recrudescence:

1. breaking out afresh or into renewed activity; revival or reappearance in active existence.

1721, from L. recrudescere "re-open" (of wounds), lit. "become raw again," from re- "again" + crudescere, from crudus "raw" (see crude) + inchoative suffix -escere.

"Baldwin could not have known about Ferguson and Black Lives Matter, about the presidency of Barack Obama and the recrudescence of white nationalism in its wake, but in a sense he explained it all in advance."

 - A. O. Scott, "Review: ‘I Am Not Your Negro’ Will Make You Rethink Race", 2 February 2017 New York Times (https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/movies/review-i-am-not-your-negro-review-james-baldwin.html)

Word of the day: perspicuity

The word of the day is perspicuity:

1. clearness or lucidity, as of a statement.

2. the quality of being perspicuous.

1470-80; < Latin perspicuitās. See perspicuous, -ity

(http://www.dictionary.com/browse/perspicuity?s=t)

"Joe recited this couplet with such manifest pride and careful perspicuity, that I asked him if he had made it himself."

 - Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

Word of the day: execrate

The word of the day is execrate:

1. to detest utterly; abhor; abominate.

2. to curse; imprecate evil upon; damn; denounce.

 

verb (used without object), execrated, execrating.

3. to utter curses.

1555-65; < Latin ex (s) ecrātus (past participle of ex (s) ecrārī to curse), equivalent to ex- ex-¹+ secr- (combining form of sacrāre to consecrate; see sacrament ) + -ātus -ate¹

"Water was splashing, and mud was flying, and oaths were being sworn, and blows were being struck, when some more men went down into the ditch to help the sergeant, and dragged out, separately, my convict and the other one.  Both were bleeding and panting and execrating and struggling; but of course I knew them both directly."

 - Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

Word of the day: ague

The word of the day is ague:


1. Pathology. a malarial fever characterized by regularly returning paroxysms, marked by successive cold, hot, and sweating fits.

2. a fit of fever or shivering or shaking chills, accompanied by malaise, pains in the bones and joints, etc.; chill.

 

1250-1300; Middle English < Middle French, short for fievre ague acute fever < Latin febris acūta  

 

(http://www.dictionary.com/browse/ague?s=t)

 

 

"He shivered all the while so violently, that it was quite as much as he could do to keep the neck of the bottle between his teeth, without biting it off.

"'I think you have got the ague,' said I."

 

 - Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

 

word of the day: imbrue

The word of the day is imbrue:

1. to stain

2. to impregnate or imbue (usually followed by with or in)
1400-50; late Middle English enbrewen < Middle French embreuver to cause to drink in, soak, drench < Vulgar Latin *imbiberāre, derivative of Latin imbibere to imbibe

(http://www.dictionary.com/browse/imbrue?s=t)


"At other times, I thought, What if the young man who was with so much difficulty restrained from imbruing his hands in me should yield to a constitutional impatience, or should mistake the time, and should think himself accredited to my heart and liver to-night, instead of to-morrow!"

 - Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

Word of the day: subvention

The word of the day is subvention:

1. a grant of money, as by a government or some other authority, in aid or support of some institution or undertaking, especially in connection with science or the arts.
2. the furnishing of aid or relief.

c.1400, from M.Fr. subvention, from L.L. subventionem (nom. subventio) "assistance," from pp. stem of L. subvenire "come to one's aid," from sub "up to" + venire "to come" (see venue).

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/subvention)

"He was rescued by Miller's friend Anaïs Nin, who, after shopping the manuscript around and finding no one else who was willing to print it, offered to subvent publication."

 - Louis Menand, "People of the Book: Two faces of American publishing", 12 December 2016 The New Yorker (https://www.google.com/amp/www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/12/12/people-of-the-book-2/amp?client=safari)

Word of the day: cavalcade

The word of the day is cavalcade:

1. a procession of persons riding on horses, in horsedrawn carriages, in cars, etc.
2. any procession.
3. any noteworthy series, as of events or activities.

1591, via M.Fr., from It. cavalcata, from cavalcare "to ride on horseback," from V.L. *caballicare, from L. caballus (see cavalier). Literally, "a procession on horseback," in 20c. -cade came to be regarded as a suffix and taken to form motorcade (1913), etc.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cavalcade)

"At first I had wanted to say that it was hideous, sinister even, but the pit's engineered tiers, industrialized terra-cotta complexion, and crimson water have a hard-won refinement, like western art scenes of dusty cavalcades and buffalo runs."

 - Kea Krause, "What's Left Behind", The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2016

Word of the day: oblate

The word of the day is oblate:

1. a person offered to the service of and living in a monastery, but not under monastic vows or full monastic rule.
2. a lay member of any of various Roman Catholic societies devoted to special religious work.

"person devoted to religious work," 1756, from M.L. oblatus, noun use of L. oblatus, variant pp. of L. offerre "to offer, to bring before" (latus "carried, borne" used as suppletive pp. of ferre "to bear"), from *tlatos, from PIE base *tel-, *tol- "to bear, carry" (see extol).

"My first night in the convent, I had a quick dinner of scrambled eggs and bagels with the nuns and oblates in the cafeteria."

 - Alexandra Kleeman, "The Bed-Rest Hoax", The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2016

Word of the day: bagatelle

The word of the day is bagatelle:

1. something of little value or importance; a trifle.
2. a game played on a board having holes at one end into which balls are to be struck with a cue.
3. pinball.
4. a short and light musical composition, typically for the piano.

1630s, "a trifle," from Fr. bagatelle "knicknack, bauble, trinket" (16c.), from It. bagatella "a trifle," dim. of L. baca "berry." As "a piece of light music," it is attested from 1827.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bagatelle)

"Until we solve the world's desperate socio-economic problems, we can't waste our time on bagatelles like obscure Native American languages."

 - Jared Diamond quoting a hypothetical counterargument in The World Until Yesterday

Word of the day: inveigh

The word of the day is inveigh:

to protest strongly or attack vehemently with words; rail (usually followed by against)

1486, "to introduce," from L. invehi "to attack with words," originally "carry oneself against," from passive inf. of invehere "bring in, carry in," from in- "against" + vehere "to carry" (see vehicle). Meaning "to give vent to violent denunciation" is from 1529.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/inveigh)

"Most important, if Bush’s faith gave him certainties that became overweening and dangerous during his Presidency, why did they not so manifest themselves while he was on the road to Damascus fifteen years earlier, or when he was inveighing against nation-building in 2000?"

 - Thomas Mallon, "W is for why", 4 July The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/04/bush-by-jean-edward-smith)

Word of the day: mentation

The word of the day is mentation:

1. mental activity.

1850, from L. ment- "mind" (see mental) + -ation.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mentation)

"Unlike Foster's emphasis on the mentation of his beasts, Thwaites is focused on achieving the physicality of the goat."

 - Carolyn Ristau, "Wild Things", 17 June 2016 Science (http://science.sciencemag.org/content/352/6292/1402)

Word of the day: mordant

The word of the day is mordant:

4. a substance used in dyeing to fix the coloring matter, especially a metallic compound, as an oxide or hydroxide, that combines with the organic dye and forms an insoluble colored compound or lake in the fiber.

late 15c., "caustic" (of words, speech), from M.Fr. mordant, lit. "biting," prp. of mordre "to bite," from L. mordere "to bite or sting" (see smart (v.)). Related: Mordantly. The noun sense in dyeing is first recorded 1791; the adj. in this sense is from 1902.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mordant)

"Sulfuric acid is a relatively recent manufactured chemical.  Prior to this, the important analogous chemical substances were the sulfate salts of iron, copper, and aluminum, known to the ancients as the vitriols...  They were used as mordants in the dyeing industry. In order for natural dyes to be fixed in the cloth—and not be washed out during the next rainy day—it is necessary to treat the cloth with a mordant. The mordants widely used in dyeing were solutions of the vitriols."

 - David Rickard, "The Many Faces of Fool's Gold", May-June 2016 American Scientist (http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/2016/3/the-many-faces-of-fools-gold/1)

Word of the day: invidious

The word of the day is invidious:

1. calculated to create ill will or resentment or give offense; hateful
2. offensively or unfairly discriminating; injurious
3. causing or tending to cause animosity, resentment, or envy
4. Obsolete, envious.

c.1600, from L. invidiosus "envious," from invidia "ill will" (see envy).

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/invidious)

"When the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices requires that the yellow change interval be determined by application of 'engineering practices,' such practices necessarily include using engineering judgment, which may not be quantifiable but is certainly not invidious."

 - Henry Petroski, "Traffic Signals, Dilemma Zones, and Red-Light Cameras", May-June 2016 American Scientist (http://www.americanscientist.org/my_amsci/restricted.aspx?act=pdf&id=61634462538130)

Word of the day: chasuble

The word of the day is chasuble:

1. a sleeveless outer vestment worn by the celebrant at Mass.

c.1300, cheisible, from O.Fr. chesible (Mod.Fr. chasuble), from M.L. cassubula, from L.L. *casipula, from L. casula, dim. of casa "cottage, house" (see casino), used by c.400 in transf. sense of "outer garment."

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/chasuble)

"The bishop's envoy wore a black velvet chasuble over his dazzlingly white vestments, and the monk was resplendent in yards of samite and gilt embroidery."

 - Connie Willis, Doomsday Book

Word of the day: fescue

The word of the day is fescue:

1. Also called fescue grass. any grass of the genus Festuca, some species of which are cultivated for pasture or lawns.
2. a pointer, as a straw or slender stick, used to point out the letters in teaching children to read.

1513, "pointer," from O.Fr. festue, a kind of straw, from L. festuca "straw, stalk, rod," probably related to ferula (see ferule). Sense of "pasture, lawn grass" is first recorded 1762.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fescue)

"If I say fir and fescue

and clover and lover

whither identity and qualia?"

 - Maureen M. McLane, "Mz N Enough", Spring 2016 The American Scholar (https://theamericanscholar.org/maureen-mclane-three-poems/#.VzZNQdm9LCQ)