Word of the day: craquelure

The word of the day is craquelure:

a network of fine cracks or crackles on the surface of a painting, caused chiefly by shrinkage of paint film or varnish. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/craquelure)

"The walls of the top-floor workshop began filling up with old books—reference books, botanicals, atlases, huge black split-spined grimoires, the leather all craquelured like desert hardpan, in tall wobbly stacks that swayed worryingly if you brushed against them."

 - Lev Grossman, The Magician's Land

Word of the day: plus fours

The word of the day is plus fours:

long, baggy knickers for men, introduced before World War I and worn until the 1930s for sports activities, especially golf (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/plus+fours)

"On the minus side he was unbelievably affected: he was black and from Cleveland but dressed in Scottish tweeds and smoked a fat Turk's-head pipe.  He was the first person Quentin had ever seen in real life wearing plus fours."

 - Lev Grossman, The Magician's Land

Word of the day: noodge

The word of the day is noodge:

to annoy with persistent complaints, criticisms, or pleas; nag (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/noodge)

"He'd found a topic for his independent research project, anyway, Dean Fogg could stop noodging him about that."

 - Lev Grossman, The Magician's Land

Word of the day: gramarye

The word of the day is gramarye:

occult learning; magic (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gramarye)

"It was a long way from running a secret magical kingdom, but then again Fillory had never really needed him that badly, had it.  Fillory pretty much ran itself.  Whereas these kids, floundering as they were in the choppy, frigid waters of introductory gramarye, would have been lost without him."

 - Lev Grossman, The Magician's Land

Word of the day: praxis

The word of the day is praxis:

1. practice, as distinguished from theory; application or use, as of knowledge or skills.
2. convention, habit, or custom.
3. a set of examples for practice.

1581, from M.L. praxis "practice, action" (c.1255, opposite of theory), from Gk. praxis "practice, action, doing," from stem of prassein "to do, to act."(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/praxis)

"I don't see any real distinction between religion and magic, or for that matter between gods and magicians.  I think divine power is just another form of magical praxis.  You know what Arthur C. Clarke said about technology and magic, right?  Turn it around.  What is advanced magic indistinguishable from?  Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from the miraculous."

 - Lev Grossman, The Magician King

Word of the day: derrick

The word of the day is derrick:

1. Machinery. a jib crane having a boom hinged near the base of the mast so as to rotate about the mast, for moving a load toward or away from the mast by raising or lowering the boom.
2. Also called oil derrick. the towerlike framework over an oil well or the like.
3. a boom for lifting cargo, pivoted at its inner end to a ship's mast or kingpost, and raised and supported at its outer end by topping lifts. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/derrick)

"Because they were the size of derricks, its arms moved slowly, traversing enormous distances, but they never stopped moving."

 - Lev Grossman, The Magician King

Word of the day: hypnagogic

The word of the day is hypnagogic:

1. of or pertaining to drowsiness.
2. inducing drowsiness. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hypnagogic)

"It was a will-o'-the-wisp leading her onward, farther into the perilous marsh of Bed-Stuy, deeper into a dreamlike, hypnagogic state."

- Lev Grossman, The Magician King

Word of the day: verger

The word of the day is verger:

Chiefly British. a church official who serves as sacristan, caretaker, usher, and general attendant. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/verger)

"The atmosphere was of an old country church from which the verger had stepped away for a few minutes."

- Lev Grossman, The Magician King

Word of the day: vergescu

The word of the day is vergescu:

The white shield that was the mark of noviceknights, especially in Arthurian legend. (http://www.dictionaryfocus.com/?action=definition&word=vergescu)

"Quentin felt like the little boy at the beginning of The Lorax, at the mysterious tower of the dismal Once-ler.  They should have been facing down bellowed challenges from black knights bearing the vergescu, or solving thorny theological dilemmas posed by holy hermits.  Or at the very least resisting the diabolical temptations of ravishing succubi.  Not fighting off seasonal affective disorder."

- Lev Grossman, The Magician King

Word of the day: piste

The word of the day is piste:

(in fencing) a regulation-size strip, usually 2 meters wide and 14 meters long, on which fencers compete. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/piste)

"A man was on his hands and knees on the floor ruling out the piste with a lump of chalk."

 - Lev Grossman, The Magician King

Word of the day: windlass

The word of the day is windlass:

a device for raising or hauling objects, usually consisting of a horizontal cylinder or barrel turned by a crank, lever, motor, or the like, upon which a cable, rope, or chain winds, the outer end of the cable being attached directly or indirectly to the weight to be raised or the thing to be hauled or pulled; winch.

device for raising weights by winding arope round a cylinder, c.1400, alterationof wyndase (1293), from Anglo-Fr. windas,and directly from a Scand. source such asO.N. vindass, from vinda "to wind" (seewind (v.)) + ass "pole, beam." (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/windlass)

"They walked, slowly, all the way from one end of the docks to the other, stepping over taut guy ropes and squashed and dried fish carcasses and weaving their way around massive stanchions and windlasses and through labyrinths of stacked crates."

 - Lev Grossman, The Magician King

Word of the day: cordite

The word of the day is cordite:

a smokeless, slow-burning powdercomposed of 30 to 58 percentnitroglycerin, 37 to 65 percentcellulose nitrate, and 5 to 6 percentmineral jelly.

smokeless explosive," 1889, from cord; so called for its "curiously string-like appearance" in the words of a newspaper of the day. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cordite)

"An hour after the press conference, Feinstein, in her small office on the second floor of City Hall, saw her fellow-supervisor Dan White run past... Minutes later, she heard gunshots and smelled cordite."

 - Connie Bruck, "The Inside War: To expose torture, Dianne Feinstein fought the C.I.A.—and the White House", 22 June 2015 The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/22/the-inside-war)

Word of the day: valedictory

The word of the day is valedictory:

3. an address or oration delivered at the commencement exercises of a college or school on behalf of the graduating class.
4. any farewell address or oration. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/valedictory)

"After five decades in politics, Feinstein, at eighty-one, is the oldest sitting member of the Senate, where a late term is often less a valedictory than a chance for activism: think of Edward Kennedy or Mitch McConnell."

 - Connie Bruck, "The Inside War: To expose torture, Dianne Feinstein fought the C.I.A.—and the White House", 22 June 2015 The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/22/the-inside-war)

Word of the day: brindle

The word of the day is brindle:

gray or tawny with darker streaks or spots

"marked with streaks, streaked with a dark color," 1670s, from M.E. brended (early 15c.), from bren "brown color" (13c.), noun made from pp. of brennen "burn," perhaps meaning "marked as though by branding or burning." Form altered perhaps by influence of kindled

"Item 2188, Infant Teething Toy: Features a hundred tasty blobs of pre-congealed lead-based paint.  Specify January Dun, February Brindle, March Khaki, or November Gray."

 - Bruce McCall, "Shouts & Murmurs: Shop till we make you drop", 22 June 2015 The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/22/shop-till-we-make-you-drop)

Word of the day: rutile

The word of the day is rutile:

a common mineral, titanium dioxide, TiO ₂ , usually reddish-brown in color with a brilliant metallic or adamantine luster, occurring in crystals (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rutile)

"Shortly after the Nature paper, Fujishima realized that practical H2 production would be difficult with his catalytic system.  Single rutile crystals of TiO2 were hard to get, and even when they were available, yields were low."

 - A. Maureen Rouhi, "Akira Fujishima: Photocatalysis pioneer shares his adventures with titanium dioxide", 8 June 2015 Chemical & Engineering News (http://cen.acs.org/articles/93/i23/CEN-Talks-Photocatalysis-Pioneer-Akira.html)

Word of the day: chaff

The word of the day is chaff:

to mock, tease, or jest in a good-natured way; banter (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/chaff)

"Three patrol wagons were drawn up at the curb, and the whole neighborhood had turned out to see the sport; there was much chaffing, and a universal craning of necks."

 - Upton Sinclair, The Jungle

Word of the day: portiere

The word of the day is portiere:

a curtain hung in a doorway, either to replace the door or for decoration. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/portiere)

"The floor was of tessellated marble, smooth as glass, and from the walls strange shapes loomed out, woven into huge portieres in rich, harmonious colors, or gleaming from paintings, wonderful and mysterious-looking in the half-light, purple and red and golden, like sunset glimmers in a shadowy forest."

 - Upton Sinclair, The Jungle

Word of the day: brick

The word of the day is brick:

—verb (used with object)

9. Informal. to cause (an electronic device) to become completely nonfunctional

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

"I have never seen a work of fiction so perfectly capture the out-of-nowhere shock of discovering that you've just bricked something important because you didn't pay enough attention to a loose wire."

 - Randall Munroe, "The Martian", 10 June 2015 (http://xkcd.com/1536/)

Word of the day: schmatte

The word of the day is schmatte:

1. an old ragged garment; tattered article of clothing.
2. any garment (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/schmatte)

"If Blanche DuBois took stock and said, 'This is where it's at, and I'm going to get rid of these schmatte clothes and get me a nice pants suit, and look smart here, with a pocketbook and a hat'—she would have been all right."

 - Joan Rivers, as quoted by Emily Nussbaum, "Last girl in Larchmont", 23 February & 2 March 2015 The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/23/last-girl-larchmont)

Word of the day: quiff

The word of the day is quiff:

a lock or curl of hair brought forward over the forehead.

"curl or lock of hair over the forehead," 1890, originally a style among soldiers, of unknown origin. Perhaps connected with quiff "a puff or whiff of tobacco smoke" (1831, originally Southern U.S.), held to be a variant of whiff (q.v.). (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/quiff)

"Zadak is a youthful forty-three, with a sharp quiff and an unlined face, and was a comedy nerd before he became a comedy manager: hanging around the Second City Chicago, moving to L.A. to study screenwriting, hoping to be an improv guy himself."

- Zadie Smith, "Brother from another mother: Key and Peele's chameleon comedy", 23 February and 2 March 2015 The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/23/brother-another-mother)

Word of the day: hoary

The word of the day is hoary:

1. gray or white with age
2. ancient or venerable
3. tedious from familiarity; stale

O.E. har "gray, venerable, old," the connecting notion being gray hair, from P.Gmc. *khairaz, from PIE *koi- "to shine." German retains the word as a title of respect, in Herr. Of frost, it is recorded in O.E. (hoar-frost is late 13c.), expressing the resemblance of the white feathers of frost to an old man's beard. Used as an attribute of boundary stones in O.E. (probably in ref. to being gray with lichens), hence common in place names.

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

"Last month, when 'American Sniper' earned ninety million dollars in its first weekend of wide release, it demolished one of Hollywood's hoariest myths—that opening a big movie in January is a recipe for disaster."

 - James Surowiecki, "Rethinking the seasonal strategy", 23 February & 2 March 2015 The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/23/rethinking-seasonal-strategy)

Word of the day: skelly

The word of the day is skelly:

a game played on the floor (usually in the foyer of the project building) using bottle tops etc... that are filled with wax. Usually crayon wax melted with a lighter into the top. Boxes are set up about 4 to 5 feet away from each other in a diagonal fashion. Players must move from box to box totaling 10 or more boxes. In the center is a set of boxes referred to as "Skelly". Skelly is synonymous with jail (yes, played in the hood go figure). You flick tops with a finger/thumb motion across ground to slide box to box ultimately hoping to get to the center unscathed. Meanwhile knocking the hell out of other players tops and "knocking them out the box" thereby eliminating your opponents. Usually the "top" aka Skelly top is made from a gallon milk top or some other lid from a beverage. Some flamboyant players will use olive jar tops or pickle jar tops (again filled with wax and pretty heavy) which serve a dramatic purpose when knocking the hell out of an opponents top. Finesse and strategy play important roles in ones success as you must be able to flick tops into small boxes drawn on the floor. Missing your box jeopardizes being put in Skelly and thereby not being able to participate for a period. Using a large top makes for a dramatic smacking of the opponents top out of their box. A successful player will move from box to box until flicking their top into center box thus winning game. You can be knocked into or out of Skelly by a sympathetic person. (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=skelly)

"Wearing a charcoal scarf and striding backward, tour-guide style, David noted, 'We used to play skelly here, and I had a fistfight there.'"

 - Tad Friend, "Brooklyn Boy", 23 February & 2 March 2015 The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/23/brooklyn-boy)

Word of the day: chyron

The word of the day is chyron:

An electronically generated captionsuperimposed on a television ormovie screen.

EXAMPLE SENTENCES

Origin

1970s: from Chyron Corporation, its manufacturer. (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/chyron)

"But Stewart's series also provided a psychic salve, especially during the worst parts of the past few elections and the run-up to the Iraq War.  If you were driven nuts by the twenty-four-hour shouters, if you couldn't bear to watch any more of the flashing chyrons and Sam the Eagle gravitas, here was your catharsis."

 - Emily Nussbaum, "No more late nights", 23 February & 2 March 2015 The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/23/late-nights)

Word of the day: pastern

The word of the day is pastern:

1. the part of the foot of a horse, cow, etc., between the fetlock and the hoof.

2. either of the two bones of this part, the upper or first phalanx (great pastern bone) and the lower or second phalanx (small pastern bone)between which is a joint (pastern joint

1284, "shackle fixed on the foot of ahorse or other beast," from O.Fr.pasturon, dim. of pasture "shackle for ahorse in pasture," from V.L. *pastoria,noun use of fem. of L. pastorius "ofherdsmen," from pastor "shepherd" (seepastor). Metathesis of -r- and followingvowel occurred 1500s. Sense extended(1530) to part of the leg to which thetether was attached.

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

"It turned out that Miss Sato was to some degree familiar with both horses and riding equipment, and amiably set about describing the differences between the traditional Japanese saddle and those of the English and Western schools.  However, when it came to details of the horses themselves, she regretfully shook her head and admitted that she knew nothing about the angle of pasterns."

 - Laurie R. King, Dreaming Spies (2015)

Word of the day: smut

The word of the day is smut:

1. a particle of soot; sooty matter.
2. a black or dirty mark; smudge.
3. indecent language or publications; obscenity.
4. Plant Pathology.
1. a disease of plants, especially cereal grasses, characterized by the conversion of affected parts into black, powdery masses of spores, caused by fungi of the order Ustilaginales.
2. a fungus causing this disease.

1664, "black mark, stain," from verbsmutten "debase, defile" (early 15c.),cognate with M.H.G. smotzen "makedirty," from W.Gmc. *smutt- (cf. M.H.G.smuz "grease, dirt," Ger. Schmutz "dirt,"Ger. schmutzen "to make dirty"). Themeaning "indecent or obscenelanguage" is first attested 1668 (impliedin smutty).

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

"Between smuts, sticky salt air, and the occasional burning ember from the stacks, the experienced traveller locked away the bulk of her wardrobe."

 - Laurie R. King, Dreaming Spies (2015)

Word of the day: tout

The word of the day is tout:

a person who solicits business, employment, support, or the like, importunately 

1700, thieves' cant, "to act as a lookout, spy on," from M.E. tuten "to peep, peer," probably from a variant of O.E. totian "to stick out, peep, peer," from P.Gmc. *tut- "project" (cf. Du. tuit "sprout, snout," M.Du. tute "nipple, pap," M.L.G. tute "horn, funnel," O.N. tota "teat, toe of a shoe"). The sense developed to "look out for jobs, votes, etc., to try to get them" (1731), then "praise highly" (1920).  (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tout)

"And having just left India, where to be a foreigner is to become a magnet for every beggar, cab-driver, and tout for miles, I had no wish to repeat the rôle."

 - Laurie R. King, Dreaming Spies (2015)

Word of the day: plimsoll

The word of the day is plimsoll:

a canvas shoe with a rubber sole; gym shoe; sneaker. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/plimsoll)

 

"She likes to feel the ground under her feet, and goes without shoes whenever she can, but on the cliffs she endures plimsolls to protect her soles from the granite."

 - M. L. Stedman, The Light Between Oceans (2012)

Word of the day: chook

The word of the day is chook:

 

Australian. a hen.

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

"He makes friends with the pair of black skinks which reside in the woodshed, and occasionally gives them some of the chooks' food."

 - M. L. Stedman, The Light Between Oceans (2012)

Word of the day: skua

The word of the day is skua:

Also called bonxie. any of severallarge brown gull-like predatory birdsof the genus Catharacta, related to jaegers, especially C. skua (greatskua) of colder waters of bothnorthern and southern seas. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/skua)

"The apparatus responds to his attention: the glass gleams, the brass shines, and the light rotates on its bath of mercury as smoothly as a skua gliding on currents of air."

 - M. L. Stedman, The Light Between Oceans (2012)

Word of the day: rottenstone

The word of the day is rottenstone:

a friable stone resulting from the decomposition of a siliceous limestone, used as a powder for polishing metals. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rottenstone)

"Next he gets the rottenstone and sands the wood on the desk drawer where it has swollen with the weather, and goes over it with the wolf's-head brush."

 - M. L. Stedman, The Light Between Oceans (2012) 

Word of the day: ensign

The word of the day is ensign:

1. a flag or banner, as a military or naval standard used to indicate nationality.

2. a badge of office or authority, as heraldic arms.

3. a sign, token, or emblem.

4. U.S. Navy and Coast Guard. the lowest commissioned officer, ranking next below a lieutenant, junior grade, and equal to a second lieutenant in the Army.

5. Archaic. standard-bearer (def 1). (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ensign)

"Regulations require that each Sunday he hoist the ensign and he does, first thing."

 - M. L. Stedman, The Light Between Oceans (2012) 

Word of the day: bully beef

The word of the day is bully beef:

canned or pickled beef.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bully+beef)

"In the larder off the kitchen, tins of bully beef and peas and pears sat on shelves beside sardines and sugar and a big jar of humbugs, of which the late Mrs. Docherty had been legendarily fond."

 - M. L. Stedman, The Light Between Oceans (2012)

Word of the day: humbug

The word of the day is humbug:

British. a variety of hard mint candy. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/humbug)

"In the larder off the kitchen, tins of bully beef and peas and pears sat on shelves beside sardines and sugar and a big jar of humbugs, of which the late Mrs. Docherty had been legendarily fond."

 - M. L. Stedman, The Light Between Oceans (2012)

Word of the day: nous

The word of the day is nous:

Greek Philosophy. mind or intellect.

Neoplatonism. the first and purest emanation of the One, regarded as the self-contemplating order of the universe. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nous)

"'You treat the light right and she won't give you any trouble,' said Whittnish.  'All you need is patience and a bit of nous.'"

 - M. L. Stedman, The Light Between Oceans (2012)

Word of the day: astragal

The word of the day is astragal:

1. a small convex molding cut into the form of a string of beads.

2. a plain convex molding; bead.

3. a molding attached to one or both meeting stiles of a pair of double doors in order to prevent drafts. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/astragal

"The glazing of the light room was interrupted only by the crisscrossing of the astragals that kept the panes in place."

 - M. L. Stedman, The Light Between Oceans (2012)

I'm not convinced that was actually the right word.  Maybe it's different in Australian?

Word of the day: stoush

The word of the day is stoush:

a fight or brawl (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stoush)

"After the war, people tried to make allowances for the men who'd come back a bit too fond of a drink or a stoush, or the ones who couldn't hold down a job for more than a few days."

 - M. L. Stedman, The Light Between Oceans (2012)

Word of the day: vesicant

The word of the day is vesicant:

producing a blister or blisters, as a medicinal substance (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vesicant)

"The article describing the use of chemical weapons in warfare focuses almost exclusively on vesicants used by German and British forces during World War I.  But it omits mention of the equally or even more devastating chemical incendiary bombs and flamethrowers used in extensive U.S. and British air attacks on German and Japanese cities and forces during World War II, by U.S. forces in Korea, and by French and U.S. forces in Vietnam."

 - Manfred E. Wolff, 11 May 2015 Chemical & Engineering News (http://cen.acs.org/articles/93/i19/Devastation-Chemical-Weapons.html)

Word of the day: vaporware

The word of the day is vaporware:

Computer Slang. a product, especially software, that is promoted or marketed while it is still in development and that may never be produced. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vaporware)

"Robert Wise, their author, had to admit that the standards were not based on much evidence.  He was not convinced that they would make the hospitals that implemented them better prepared.  He and his colleagues decided to wait until disasters happened, then debrief affected hospitals to figure out how much was vaporware and how much was real."

 - Sheri Fink, Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital (2013)

Word of the day: valance

The word of the day is valance:

1. a short curtain or piece of draperythat is hung from the edge of acanopy, from the frame of a bed, etc.
2. a short ornamental piece of draperyplaced across the top of a window. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/valance)

"Homey pink, pleated valances framed windows overlooking a courtyard enclosed by the reddish-brown tapestry brick of the old hospital building."

 - Sheri Fink, Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital (2013)

Word of the day: coeval

The word of the day is coeval:

—adjective

1. of the same age, date, or duration; equally old
2. coincident

—noun

3. a contemporary (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/coeval)

"Many of the nurses and Pou were coevals.  They had grown up in New Orleans, attended private and Catholic schools, and now, with time to talk, they found they had friends in common."

 - Sheri Fink, Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital (2013)

Word of the day: peristylium

The word of the day is peristylium:

1. a colonnade surrounding a building or an open space.
2. an open space, as a courtyard, surrounded by a colonnade. (<a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/peristyle">dictionary.com</a>)

"Many thousands were expected to ride streetcar to New Orleans's giant public playground, City Park.  Sport exhibitions, musical performances, vaudeville acts, and movies packed the schedule.  In the evening, festivalgoers would be invited within the Ionic columns of an open-air peristylium and dance for hours to the beat of the Hotsy Totsy Jazz Band."

 - Sheri Fink, Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital (2013)

Word of the day: thready

The word of the day is thready:

1. consisting of or resembling a threador threads; fibrous; filamentous.
2. stringy or viscid, as a liquid.
3. (of the pulse) thin and feeble.
4. (of sound, the voice, etc.) lacking fullness; weak; feeble. (<a=href"http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/thready"></a>

"The languishing patients were receiving little medical care, and their skin felt hot to the touch.  Some had the rapid, thready pulse of dehydration."

- Sheri Fink, Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death at a Storm-Ravaged Hospital (2013)