Word of the day: blade

The word of the day is blade:

8. a dashing, swaggering, or jaunty young man: a gay blade from the nearby city.

O.E. blæd "a leaf," but also "a leaf-like part" (of spade, oar, etc.), from P.Gmc. *bladaz (cf. O.Fris. bled "leaf," Ger. blatt, O.N. blað),from PIE *bhle-to-, suffixed form (p.p.) of *bhel- (3) "to thrive, bloom," possibly identical with *bhel- (2) "to blow, swell" (see bole). Extended in M.E. to shoulders (c.1300) and swords (early 14c.). The modern use in reference to grass may be a M.E. revival, by influence of O.Fr. bled "corn, wheat" (11c., perhaps from Germanic). The cognate in Ger., blatt, is the general word for "leaf;" laub is used collectively as "foliage." O.N. blað was used in reference to herbs and plants, lauf in reference to trees. This might have been the original distinction in O.E., too. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/blade)

"The nearest that gay blades in Homburgs and ladies with boas were spotted was in Amecameca, a rail junction across the line in Mexico State; there a mob lynched one smart couple."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: nabob

The word of the day is nabob:

1. any very wealthy, influential, or powerful person.
2. Also, nawab. a person, especially a European, who has made a large fortune in India or another country of the East.

1612, "deputy governor in Mogul Empire," Anglo-Indian, from Hindi nabab, from Arabic nuwwab, honorific pl. of na'ib "viceroy, deputy," from base n-w-b "to take someone's place." Also used of Europeans who came home from India having made a fortune there, hence "very rich man" (1764). (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nabob)

    

"The devotees of refined culture had long since left for the metropolis, some in terror, others in exultation...  The only old nabob still in the state was de la Torre y Mier, released from the Mexico City penitentiary but kept out of pocket and under house arrest in Cuautla."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: truck farm

The word of the day is truck farm:

 

1. a farm for the growing of vegetables for the market.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/truck+farmer)

"'If you keep on growing chile peppers, onions, and tomatoes,' he told Villa de Ayala farmers, 'you'll never get out of the state of poverty you've always lived in.  That's why, as I advise you, you have to grow cane...'...

"But most families went on truck farming.  Rather than rehabilitate the hacienda, they obviously preferred to work and trade in foodstuffs that had always seemed the mainstay of the pueblo.  And during the summer they restocked Morelos's district markets with the familiar beans, corn, chickpeas, tomatoes, onions, chile peppers, even chickens." 

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: temporize

The word of the day is temporize:

1. to be indecisive or evasive to gain time or delay acting.
2. to comply with the time or occasion; yield temporarily or ostensibly to prevailing opinion or circumstances.
3. to treat or parley so as to gain time (usually followed by with ).
4. to come to terms (usually followed by with ).
5. to effect a compromise (usually followed by between ).

1555 (implied in temporizer), from M.Fr. temporiser "to pass one's time, wait one's time" (14c.), from M.L. temporizare "pass time," perhaps via V.L. *temporare "to delay," from L. tempus (gen. temporis) "time." (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/temporize)

"Along the way he learned from an astute agent in the capital of the continuing efforts of old Porfiristas, Felicistas, Huertistas, and ex-federals to insinuate themselves into the revolutionary ranks.  'Today we still have to temporize with these types,' the agent reported three different intriguers saying, 'but soon it'll be another thing.  Ángeles, who is ours, has Villa in his hand.  As for Zapata, who is a savage, it'll be necessary to eliminate him...'"

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: abrazo

The word of the day is abrazo:

1. an embrace, used in greeting someone

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

"Montaño made a 'hearty speech of welcome,' reported an American agent at the scene, and gave Villa an abrazo."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: irremissible

The word of the day is irremissible:

1. not remissible; unpardonable, as a sin.
2. unable to be remitted or postponed, as a duty.

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

   

"Naturally they do not renounce their beliefs, but one does notice in them the desire even to desert because of the misery they find themselves in; and if they do not do so, it is for the fear they have of being shot by a firing squad, which their chief Zapata would irremissibly do."

 - John Womack quoting Juan Sarabia in Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: tumescent

The word of the day is tumescent:

1. swelling; slightly tumid.
2. exhibiting or affected with many ideas or emotions; teeming.
3. pompous and pretentious, especially in the use of language; bombastic. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tumescent)

"During the last months he had developed a consuming itch for command.  His signature, once modest and clear, was now grand and full, tumescent."   

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: charros

The word of the day is charros:

1. a Mexican horseman or cowboy, typically one wearing an elaborate outfit, often with silver decorations, of tight trousers, ruffled shirt, short jacket, and sombrero. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/charros)

"To their discomfort, the Constitutionalists could not tell who was a chief and who was not: except for stray charros, Zapatista leaders dressed like their followers in the sandals and white work clothes all Morelos farmers wore."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution 

Word of the day: cabrón

The word of the day is cabrón:

The word cabrón refers to a cuckold, a man whose wife or girlfriend has been unfaithful without his knowing about it. Although the word also means ‘male goat’ and is inoffensive in that context, when used in slang, it can be extremely insulting or offensive. The word also has several other meaning in current slang.

Although the idea of being cheated on by a woman is uncomfortable for men around the world, it is particularly unpleasant in Latin culture, so the word cabrón should be used with caution, and only when you are very comfortable and confident with it. (http://www.languagerealm.com/spanish/cabron.php)

"The information his secretaries continually gave him about Carranza confirmed him in his notions: there northern First Chief, so went reports, was a thieving, ambitious old cabrón, surrounded by conniving lawyers indifferent to the miseries of common people."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: barranca

The word of the day is barranca:

1. a steep-walled ravine or gorge.
2. a gully with steep sides; arroyo.

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

"The state capital was a harder place to take.  A natural fortress standing in broken hills with deep barrancas cutting around it, the city defied all tactics but those of the siege."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Phrase of the day: kick over the traces

The phrase of the day is kick over the traces:

Break loose from restraint, misbehave. This metaphoric expression alludes to the straps attaching a horse to a vehicle, which the animal sometimes gets a leg over in order to kick more freely and thereby refuse to move forward. [Mid-1800s ] (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/kick+over+the+traces)

"In building his army Zapata encountered remarkably few political difficulties.  Already the main chiefs in central and northern Guerrero—Salgado, Díaz, Gómez, and Castillo—had formally recognized the authority of the Zapatista headquarters...  Only in Morelos did chiefs kick their traces.  Mendoza, for instance, evidently resented spending his men and ammunition in diversionary raids."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: shingle

The word of the day is shingle:

1. small, waterworn stones or pebbles such as lie in loose sheets or beds on a beach.

"loose stones on seashore," 1513, probably related to Norw. singl "small stones," or N.Fris. singel "gravel," both said to be echoic of the sound of water running over pebbles. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/shingle)

"But in the field, where the federals were still like shingles in the sea, the revolution did not subside."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: ex officio

The word of the day is ex officio:

1. by virtue of office or official position.

1532, "in discharge of one's duties," lit. "out of duty," from L. ex "out of" + officio, abl. of officium "duty" (see office). (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ex+officio)

"To outline military relations and revolutionary goals, he also formally reorganized the rebel high command as the Revolutionary Junta of the Center and South of the Republic.  He himself, as chief of the rebel army, was ex officio president of the junta."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: vitiate

The word of the day is vitiate:

1. to impair the quality of; make faulty; spoil.
2. to impair or weaken the effectiveness of.
3. to debase; corrupt; pervert.
4. to make legally defective or invalid; invalidate

1534, from L. vitiatus, pp. of vitiare "tomake faulty, injure, spoil, corrupt," fromvitium "fault, defect, blemish, crime,vice" (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vitiate)

"On March 5 the legislature voted its 'adhesion to the new government.'

"Other official elements in the state vitiated this resolution, however.  Several federal police corps of northern Maderista origins would not accept the new regime."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: latifundio

The word of the day is latifundio:

1. a great estate of Latin America or Spain. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/latifundio)

"'I found,' he later recalled, 'that Morelos lacked three things—first plows, second books, and third equity.  And it had more than enough latifundios, taverns, and bosses."

 - John Womack, quoting Francisco Naranjo, Jr. in Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: pacifico

The word of the day is pacifico:

1. a peaceful person.
2. a native of Cuba or the Philippine Islands who did not resist the Spanish occupation.

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

"On December 20 Zapata issued general orders to his Liberating Army of the South to provide 'every class of guarantees in the villages and fields and on the roads,...to respect and aid civil authorities who have been legally and freely elected,' and not to let revolutionary forces or pacificos 'destroy or burn the property of the haciendas, because these will be the patrimony and source of work for the villages.'"

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

I think in this context it just means "not revolutionary forces".

Word of the day: Prince Albert

The word of the day is Prince Albert:

2. a long, double-breasted frock coat. 

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prince+albert)

"In Mexico City revolutionaries took office, and Prince Albert coats replaced khaki jackets."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: boomlet

The word of the day is boomlet:

1. a brief increase, as in business activity or political popularity. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/boomlet)

"Besides, in various towns and villages boomlets developed for Zapata for governor."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: atavism

The word of the day is atavism:

1. Biology.
   1. the reappearance in an individual of characteristics of some remote ancestor that have been absent in intervening generations.
   2. an individual embodying such a reversion.
2. reversion to an earlier type; throwback.

1833, from F. atavisme, coined 1830s from L. atavus "ancestor," from at- perhaps here meaning "beyond" + avus "grandfather," from PIE *awo- "adult male relative other than the father" (see uncle). (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/atavism)

"The revolution all seizures of land seemed to be outbursts of atavistic communism."

- John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: indemnity

The word of the day is indemnity:

1. protection or security against damage or loss.
2. compensation for damage or loss sustained.
3. something paid by way of such compensation.
4. protection, as by insurance, from liabilities or penalties incurred by one's actions.
5. legal exemption from penalties attaching to unconstitutional or illegal actions, granted to public officers and other persons.

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

"'Look, Señor Madero,' he said, 'if I take advantage if the fact that I'm armed and take away your watch and keep it, and after a while we meet, both of us armed the same, would you have a right to demand that I give it back?'  Certainly, Madero told him; he would even ask for an indemnity."

- John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: dragoon

The word of the day is dragoon:

4. to set dragoons or soldiers upon; persecute by armed force; oppress.
5. to force by oppressive measures; coerce

1622, from Fr. dragon "carbine, musket,"because the guns the soldiers carried"breathed fire" like a dragon. The verb isfrom 1689, lit. "to force by the agency ofdragoons" (which were used by the Fr.kings to persecute Protestants). (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dragoon)

"Now, with the official Maderista affiliation broken, whoever emerged as chief in charge would have to so so the hard way—by convincing his peers he deserves their backing.

"This was a feat neither political ambition nor military ferocity could accomplish.  The machinery to dragoon local followers did not exist.  If a village resented a self-appointed chief, it simply kept its men home."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: bushwhacker

The word of the day is bushwhacker:

1. a person or thing that bushwhacks.
2. (in the American Civil War) a guerrilla, especially a Confederate.
3. any guerrilla or outlaw.
4. Australian Slang. an unsophisticated person; hick.

1809, Amer.Eng., lit. "one who beats the bushes" (to make his way through), perhaps modeled on Du. bosch-wachter "forest keeper." In American Civil War, "irregular who took to the woods" (1862), variously regarded as patriot guerillas or as freebooters. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bushwhacker)

"But Zapata and the other chiefs knew that their ill-armed and untried men could not fight pitched battles yet, at Cuautla or any other place, as guerreros (warriors) or guerrilleros (bushwhackers)."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: venial

The word of the day is venial:

1. able to be forgiven or pardoned; not seriously wrong, as a sin (opposed to mortal ).
2. excusable; trifling; minor
2. c.1300, from O.Fr. venial, from L. venialis "pardonable," from venia "forgiveness, indulgence, pardon," related to venus "sexual love, desire" (see Venus).
2. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/venial) 

"Harmful as they were, all these blunders remained venial: negligence, misinformation, or stupidity might explain them.  But when Escandón moved from the organization of government to the practice of ruling, he carried out a policy that was too systematic and clear to be a mistake—the direct service of the planters' economic and political interests."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: pulque

The word of the day is pulque:

1. a fermented milky drink made from the juice of certain species of agave in Mexico.

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

"He also permitted the sale of pulque and rum on market days, in direct violation of Escandón's orders; and drunk as well as exasperated, the local peons and common people of the town began rioting."

- John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: bailiwick

The word of the day is bailiwick:

1. the district within which a bailie or bailiff has jurisdiction.
2. a person's area of skill, knowledge, authority, or work

"district of a bailiff," mid-15c., baillifwik, from bailiff (q.v.) + O.E. wic "village" (see wick (2)). Figurative sense of "one's natural or proper sphere" is first recorded 1843. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bailiwick)

"And repercussions extended far beyond Dabbadie's bailiwick."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: whistle stop

The word of the day is whistle stop:

1. a small, unimportant town, especially one along a railroad line.
2. a short talk from the rear platform of a train, especially during a political campaign.
3. a brief appearance, single performance, or the like, in a small town, as during a political campaign or theatrical tour. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/whistle+stop)

"Then, almost as a challenge, the pro-Escandón newspaper in Mexico City, El Diario, announced in mid-week that Escandón's champions would shortly begin a whistle-stop tour through Morelos."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: gachupín

The word of the day is gachupín:

\¦gächə¦pēn\noun

-s

chiefly Southwest sometimes disparaging

:a Spanish settler in America who immigrated from Spain (http://i.word.com/idictionary/gachupin)

"'Besides, Don Pancho...was a friend of the poor man.  He even had a fellow shot when he was governor—a gachupín landlord who'd had a peon thrashed almost to death.  You don't have any idea,' she went on, 'how the landlords and especially their gachupín managers abuse people around here.'"

- John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Phrase of the day: nolo contendere

The phrase of the day is nolo contendere:

(in a criminal case) a defendant's pleading that does not admit guilt but subjects him or her to punishment as though a guilty plea had been entered, the determination of guilt remaining open in other proceedings.

"I think some of the first work was done around 1960-1961, when one investigator was found to be falsifying records and was actually prosecuted by the Justice Department; he pleaded nolo contendere."

- Frances Kelsey, "Autobiographical Reflections", 2014 (http://www.fda.gov/downloads/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/History/OralHistories/SelectedOralHistoryTranscripts/UCM406132.pdf)

Word of the day: hatchet man

The word of the day is hatchet man:

1. a professional murderer.
2. a writer or speaker who specializes indefamatory attacks, as on politicalcandidates or public officials.
3. a person whose job it is to executeunpleasant tasks for a superior, asdismissing employees.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hatchet+man)

"General Reyes had long seemed a likely heir to Díaz; and under a new cover of a party, the Reyista Democrats now looked forward to a personal deal in the old style.  For that, they might use Escandón's military and social connections.  Chief among this group was the Organizing Club's other executive secretary, Heriberto Barrón, a notorious Reyes hatchetman."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: hacienda

The word of the day is hacienda:

1. a large landed estate, especially one used for farming or ranching.
2. the main house on such an estate.
3. a stock raising, mining, or manufacturing establishment in the country. 

1760, from Sp., "estate, plantation," from L. facienda "things to be done," from facere "to do" (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hacienda)

"They knew the meeting must be important.  To make sure everyone could come, the elders had called for this evening, on a Sunday.  And to hide it from the hacienda foremen, they had passed the word around in private instead of ringing the church bell."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: locum tenens

The word of the day is locum tenens:

a temporary substitute, especially for a doctor or member of the clergy. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/locum+tenens)

"I did some locum tenens work and then got into the new field of radioisotopes and radioisotope drugs."

 - Frances Kelsey, "Autobiographical Reflections", 2014 (http://www.fda.gov/downloads/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/History/OralHistories/SelectedOralHistoryTranscripts/UCM406132.pdf)

Word of the day: pharmacognosy

The word of the day is pharmacognosy:

the study of natural product molecules (typically secondary metabolites) that are useful for their medicinal, ecological, gustatory, or other functional properties (http://www.pharmacognosy.us/what-is-pharmacognosy/)

"In CAS databases, pharmaceutical patents are categorized in right subsections.  Majority of Chinese pharmaceutical patents fall in the categories of biologics, pharmacognosy, pharmaceutics, formulation and compounding, and prosthetics and medical goods."

 - Matthew J. McBride and Roger J. Schenck, "Pharmaceuticals lead Chinese patent applications in 2014", C&EN Supplement, August 2015

Word of the day: dynamo

The word of the day is dynamo:

1. an electric generator, especially for direct current

1882, short for Ger. dynamoelektrischemaschine, coined 1867 by its inventor, Ger. electrical engineer Werner Siemans (1816-92), from Gk. dynamis "power."

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

"Mercury and Earth both have an internal magnetic field similar to that of a giant magnet...  Both fields are thought to be generated by core dynamos, where the electrically conducting, liquid iron is stirred by convective motion..., sustaining the magnetic lines of force."

 - Julien Aubert, "Ancient planetary dynamos, take two: Magnetic studies of Earth and Mercury constrain their ancient core dynamics", Science 349:475 (31 July 3015)

Word of the day: blowzy

The word of the day is blowzy:

1. having a coarse, ruddy complexion.
2. disheveled in appearance; unkempt.

c.1770, from obsolete blouze (1570s), "wench, beggar's trull," perhaps originally a cant term. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/blowzy)

"One of the funny, but doom-laden, elements in 'A Christmas Garland' is the mockery of Glasworthy's and Bennett's loquaciousness, which carried within it the seeds of the idea that anything big and long is blowsy."

 - Adam Gopnik, "The Comparable Max: Max Beerbohm's cult of the diminutive", 3 August 2015 The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/03/the-comparable-max)

No, I'm not convinced that's what he meant.

Word of the day: po-faced

The word of the day is po-faced:

—adjective Chiefly British.

1. having an overly serious demeanor or attitude; humorless. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/po-faced)

"The tones tend to reappear as needed: 'Zuleika Dobson' (1911) is, with its po-faced climax of mass suicide among the Oxford undergraduates in despair at Zuleika's beauty, very much in the first, aesthetic manner."

- Adam Gopnik, "The Comparable Max: Max Beerbohm's cult of the diminutive", 3 August 2015 The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/03/the-comparable-max)

Unrelated, but I'd like to note here that I think the sole reason he wrote this article was so that he could say, "Reading Max, you can sense why Paris, in that last great exhalation of writing before the Great War, remade human consciousness, while London, during the same time, remade only its manners.  Dandies, it seems, are dandy; but belles-lettres is better."

Word of the day: bellwether

The word of the day is bellwether:

1. a wether or other male sheep that leads the flock, usually bearing a bell.
2. a person or thing that assumes the leadership or forefront, as of a profession or industry: Paris is a bellwether of the fashion industry.
3. a person or thing that shows the existence or direction of a trend; index.
4. a person who leads a mob, mutiny, conspiracy, or the like; ringleader.

mid-15c., from bell + wether; the lead sheep (on whose neck a bell was hung) of a domesticated flock; used earlier in the figurative sense of "chief, leader" (early 15c.). (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bellwether)

"This inventive take on the traditional family novel nods at bellwethers of the genre but feels as if it could only have been written yesterday."

- "Briefly Noted", 3 August 2015 The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/03/briefly-noted-among-the-ten-thousand-things)

Phrase of the day: the yips

The phrase of the day is the yips:

The Yips is no mythological plague. For reasons unknown, players can encounter a mental hurdle that flat-out won't permit them to complete one of the game's mundane on-field tasks. (http://m.mlb.com/news/article/47124896/the-yips-difficult-to-understand-difficult-to-cure)

"Performers are often reluctant to discuss stagefright.  They think it's bad luck.  (Likewise, most baseball players do not want to discuss the yips.)"

 - Joan Acocella, "I Can't Go On!", 3 August 2015 The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/03/i-cant-go-on)

Word of the day: pelagic

The word of the day is pelagic:

1. of or pertaining to the open seas or oceans.
2. living or growing at or near the surface of the ocean, far from land, as certain organisms.

"pertaining to the sea," 1656, from L. pelagicus, from Gk. pelagikos, from pelagos "sea," from PIE *p(e)lag- "to spread out" (cf. Gk. plagos "side," L. plaga "hunting net, curtain, region"), from base *pele- "spread out, flat" (see plane (1)).

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

"Between August and October, hunting can be poor as seals reduce ice surface time.  Additionally, in about two-thirds of the polar bear range, seals become largely pelagic as ice retreats from the continental shelf."

- J. P. Whiteman et al., "Summer declines in activity and body temperature offer polar bears limited energy savings", Science 349:6245 (17 July 2015)

Word of the day: wattled

The word of the day is wattled:

—noun

1. Often, wattles. a number of rods or stakes interwoven with twigs or tree branches for making fences, walls, etc.
2. wattles, a number of poles laid on a roof to hold thatch

2. —adjective

9. built or roofed with wattle or wattles.

"stakes interlaced with twigs and forming the framework of the wall of a building," O.E. watol "hurdle," in plural "twigs, thatching, tiles," related to weðel "bandage," of unknown origin. Surviving in wattle-and-daub "building material for huts, etc." (1808).

"In Chapter 4, titled "Yugao," Genji comes across a run-down house, the abode of a young woman he is about to seduce.  Waley describes the entrance like this; 'There was a wattled fence over which some ivy-like creeper spread its cool green leaves, and among the leaves were white flowers with petals half-unfolded like the lips of people smiling at their own thoughts.'"

 - Ian Buruma, "The Sensualist: What makes 'The Tale of Genji' so seductive", 20 July 2015 The New Yorker

Word of the day: lugubrious

The word of the day is lugubrious:

mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially in an affected, exaggerated, or unrelieved manner

c.1600, from L. lugubris "mournful, pertaining to mourning," from lugere "to mourn," from PIE base *leug- "to break, to cause pain" (cf. Gk. lygros "mournful, sad," Skt. rujati "breaks, torments," Lettish lauzit "to break the heart").

"Suci ate with what seemed to me to be lugubrious determination."

 - Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: an Unnatural History

Word of the day: estivate

The word of the day is estivate:

1. to spend the summer, as at a specific place or in a certain activity.
2. Zoology. to spend a hot, dry season in an inactive, dormant state, as certain reptiles, snails, insects, and small mammals.

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

"Everywhere on the surface of the earth temperatures fluctuate.  They fluctuate from day to night and from season to season.  Even in the tropics, where the difference between winter and summer is minimal, temperatures can vary significantly between the rainy and the dry seasons.  Organisms have developed all sorts of ways of dealing with these variations.  They hibernate or estivate or migrate."

 - Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: an Unnatural History

Word of the day: bolster

The word of the day is bolster:

1. a long, often cylindrical, cushion orpillow for a bed, sofa, etc.
2. anything resembling this in form or inuse as a support.
3. any pillow, cushion, or pad.

O.E. bolster "bolster, cushion, something stuffed so that it swells up," especially "long, stuffed pillow," from P.Gmc. *bolkhstraz (cf. O.N. bolstr, Dan., Swed., Du. bolster, Ger. polster), from PIE *bhelgh- "to swell" (see belly). The verb in the figurative sense is from c.1500, on the notion of "to support with a bolster, prop up." (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bolster)

"On the Great Barrier Reef, the sea cucumbers are the size of bolster cushions."

 - Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: an Unnatural History

Word of the day: limpet

The word of the day is limpet:

1. any of various marine gastropods with a low conical shell open beneath, often browsing on rocks at the shoreline and adhering when disturbed. 

O.E. lempedu, from M.L. lampreda"limpet" (see lamprey) (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/limpet)

"The limpet Patella caerula is shaped like a Chinese straw hat."

 - Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: an Unnatural History

Word of the day: viscus

The word of the day is viscus: 

— noun

1. singular of viscera.

viscus²

— plural noun, singular vis·cus .

1. Anatomy, Zoology . the organs in thecavities of the body, especially thosein the abdominal cavity.
2. (not used scientifically) the intestines; bowels.

"inner organs of the body," 1651, from L.viscera, pl. of viscus "internal organ," ofunknown origin.(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/viscus)

"Lamarck, according to Cuvier, was a fantasist.  Like the 'enchanted palaces of our old romances,' his theories were built on 'imaginary foundations,' so that while they might 'amuse the imagination of a poet,' they could not 'for a moment bear the examination of anyone who has dissected a hand, a viscus, or even a feather.'"

 - Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: an Unnatural History

Word of the day: ceria

The word of the day is ceria:

a white-to-yellow, heavy powder,cerium dioxide, CeO ₂ , usually derived from cerium nitrate by decomposition with heat: used chiefly in ceramics, glass polishing, and decolorizing (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ceria)

"CMP [chemical mechanical planarization] slurries are waterborne formulations of abrasives and chemicals.  The abrasives are normally particles of ceria, alumina, or colloidal or fumed silica."

 - Alexander Trullo et al., "Chip polishing shines bright", 6 July 2015 Chemical & Engineering News

Word of the day: juke

The word of the day is juke:

to make a move intended to deceive (an opponent) (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/juke)

"He juked past her and back through the door the other way."

 - Lev Grossman, The Magician's Land