word of the day: phragmites

The word of the day is phragmites:

noun

1. any of several tall grasses of the genus Phragmites, having plumed heads, growing in marshy areas, especially the common reed P. australis (or P. communis).

< Greek phragmī́tēs growing in hedges, equivalent to phrágm (a) fence, breastwork, screen (noun derivative of phrássein (Attic phráttein) to fence in, hedge around) (dictionary.com)

 

 

"At the Fire Safety booth, the firefighters Lois Mungay and Stephen Comer were remembering some notable urban brush fires.  'By Howard Beach, one time, the dry phragmites reeds were burning like crazy out beyond Cross Bay Boulevard, and we were hauling the hoses around back there in the brush,' Comer said.  'We couldn't even see where the fire was!'"

 - Ian Frazier, "Only you", 1 September 2014 The New Yorker

word of the day: hawser

The word of the day is hawser:

Etymology:  apparently Anglo-Norman hauceour , < Old French haucier to hawse v., hoist; in reference to the original purpose of a hawser. 

Naut. 

a. A large rope or small cable, in size midway between a cable and a tow-line, between 5 and 10 inches in circumference; used in warping and mooring; in large ships now made of steel.  (OED)

"At about five-fifteen in the afternoon, the hawsers began to snap as the surge lifted the boats above the piers."

 - Ian Frazier, "The toll: Sandy and the future", 11 & 18 February 2013 The New Yorker

Word of the day: brant

The word of the day is brant:

Derivation and original application uncertain: in Swedish brandgås (Icelandic brandgás only in the Þulur) is the sheldrake or bergander; in German, brandgans is according to some the sheldrake, but with Grimm = Anser fuscus, the Black or Velvet Duck; in English, brant, brant-goose was long confounded with the barnacle goose. Early naturalists (Gesner, Aldrovandus, etc.) were content to derive the name < βρένθος an unidentified water-bird mentioned by Aristotle; later etymologists have suggested brended or branded adj., brindled, and brand n. fire, burning, perhaps in sense of dusky black, or sooty colour; but in the absence of knowledge where the name arose, and to what bird it was originally applied, nothing can be determined.

The smallest species of wild goose ( Bernicla brenta) breeding in high northern latitudes, and visiting the British coasts in winter. Formerly confounded with the allied Barnacle-goose. (OED)

"A flock of brants on the water croaked their creaky calls, ring-billed gulls on the breeze teetered like skateboarders, two swans groomed themselves at the water's edge."

 - Ian Frazier, "Back to the Harbor: Seals return to New York", 21 March 2011 The New Yorker