Word of the day: expropriate

The word of the day is expropriate:

1. to take possession of, especially for public use by the right of eminent domain, thus divesting the title of the private owner
2. to dispossess (a person) of ownership
3. to take (something) from another's possession for one's own use

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

  

"In public proceedings he declared the generals expropriated, the pueblo entitled to the fields in question, as well as the cooperative's farm machinery, and Francisco Franco guaranteed against political abuse."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: truckle

The word of the day is truckle (the verb, this time):  

1. to submit or yield obsequiously or tamely (usually followed by to )

"give up or submit tamely," 1612, "sleep in a truckle bed" (see truckle (n.)). Meaning "give precedence, assume a submissive position" (1656, implied in truckling) is perhaps in allusion to that type of bed being used by servants and inferiors, or from it simply occupying the lower position. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/truckle)

"In the end neither Deloy nor Córdova nor Aguilar nor Palafox could entice Mendoza to break with the local movement he had soldiered for so long.  If he would not truckle to Magaña, by now one of the clan, much less would he front for Peláez, a perfect outlander."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: perdure

The word of the day is perdure:

1. to continue or last permanently; endure.  

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

"To 'irredentist Morelenses, to those who perdure in the unhealthy labor of irreducibles,' he made a special call to stop 'their rebel attitude' and cooperate in 'the reconstructive work.'...

"Garbled, obscure, repetitive, and contradictory, Tajonar's manifesto proved a reliable guide to his administration."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: irredentist

The word of the day is irredentist:

  

1. ( usually initial capital letter ) amember of an Italian association thatbecame prominent in 1878,advocating the redemption, or theincorporation into Italy, of certainneighboring regions (Italia irredenta)having a primarily Italian population.
2. a member of a party in any countryadvocating the acquisition of someregion included in another country byreason of cultural, historical, ethnic,racial, or other ties.

1882, member of It. political party which (after 1878) demanded the annexation of neighboring It.-speaking regions (Trieste, S. Tyrol, Nice, Corsica, etc.), from It. Irredentista, from (Italia) irredenta "unredeemed (Italy)." (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/irredentist)

"To 'irredentist Morelenses, to those who perdure in the unhealthy labor of irreducibles,' he made a special call to stop 'their rebel attitude' and cooperate in 'the reconstructive work.'...

"Garbled, obscure, repetitive, and contradictory, Tajonar's manifesto proved a reliable guide to his administration."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: plebiscite

The word of the day is plebiscite:

1. a direct vote of the qualified voters of a state in regard to some important public question.
2. the vote by which the people of a political unit determine autonomy or affiliation with another country.

"direct vote of the people," 1860 (originally in ref. to Italian unification), from Fr. plébiscite (1776 in modern sense), from L. plebiscitum "a decree or resolution of the people," from plebs (gen. plebis) "the common people" + scitum "decree," properly neuter pp. of sciscere "to assent, vote for, approve," inchoative of scire "to know" (see science). Used earlier (1533) in a purely Roman historical context. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/plebiscite)

   

"The manifesto served as a kind of plebiscite among revolutionaries.  Those who signed it set themselves not only against Carranza's false revolutionary government but also against Félix Díaz's false opposition."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Phrase of the day: put on the dog

The phrase of the day is put on the dog:

to ​act as if you are more ​important than you are

(http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/put-on-the-dog)

  

"The people there were not mere Catholics but clericalists, who cherished their cathedral and churches not as sanctuaries but as glorious monuments to their own superior unction.  For them religion was less a way of worship than a way of putting on the dog."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: neurasthenia

The word of the day is neurasthenia:

 

1. Psychiatry. (not in technical use) nervous debility and exhaustion occurring in the absence of objective causes or lesions; nervous exhaustion.

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

"'His normally taciturn character,' a young headquarters guard later remembered, 'had become dark, crabbed, irascible, somewhat neurasthenic, to the point that even the men of his escort feared him when he called them.'"

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: kermess

The word of the day is kermess:

1. (in the Low Countries) a local, annual outdoor fair or festival.
2. a similar entertainment, usually for charitable purposes.

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

  

"Not all the kermesses he attended in the metropolitan suburbs could comfort him."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: de jure

The word of the day is de jure:

1. by right; according to law (distinguished from de facto ).

1610s, from L. de jure, lit. "of law," thus "legitimate, lawful, by right of law, required by law." (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/de+jure)

"And in the United States the newly elected President Woodrow Wilson have no sign that he would recognize de jure a government that was not even de facto."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: fustian

The word of the day is fustian:

1. a stout fabric of cotton and flax.
2. a fabric of stout twilled cotton or of cotton and low-quality wool, with a short nap or pile.
3. inflated or turgid language in writing or speaking

"thick cotton cloth," c.1200, from O.Fr. fustaigne, from M.L. fustaneum, probably from L. fustis "staff, stick of wood," probably a loan-translation of Gk. xylina lina "linens of wood" (i.e. "cotton"), but the M.L. word is also derived from Fostat, town near Cairo where this cloth was manufactured. Figurative sense of "pompous, inflated language" first recorded c.1590. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fustian)

  

"As the Carrancistas drove into the Zapatista capital, it seemed that the local revolution had failed completely, that the villagers' efforts to carry out their own changes had been a profound mistake and that only on dictation from Mexico City could reform occur and last in Morelos.  If so, the idea of a popular revolution was a delusion.  If so, the Plan de Ayala was mere rural fustian, and Zapata not an insightful leader but simply a brave and angry clod."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the American Revolution

Word of the day: suborn

The word of the day is suborn:

 

1. to bribe or induce (someone) unlawfully or secretly to perform some misdeed or to commit a crime.
2. Law.
1. to induce (a person, especially a witness) to give false testimony.
2. to obtain (false testimony) from a witness.

"to procure by bribery, to lure (someone) to commit a crime," 1528 (implied in subornation), from M.Fr. suborner (13c.), from L. subornare "suborn," originally "equip," from sub "under, secretly" + ornare "equip," related to ordo "order." (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/suborn)

"On February 20 Zapata authorized Pacheco to communicate secretly with General Pablo González, who commanded the Constitutionalist forces at La Cima.  What Zapata intended—to initiate peace talks, arrange a local truce, or suborn González—remains unclear, though it was probably the last."

 - John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution

Word of the day: homburg

The word of the day is homburg: 

type of soft felt had with a curled brim and a dented crown, 1894, from Homburg, resort town in Prussia, where it was first made. Introduced to England by Edward VII. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/homburg)

"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: 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)