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)

Word of the day: miasma

The word of the day is miasma:

1. noxious exhalations from putrescent organic matter; poisonous effluvia or germs polluting the atmosphere.
2. a dangerous, foreboding, or deathlike influence or atmosphere.

from Gk. miasma (gen. miasmatos) "stain, pollution," related to miainein "to pollute" (<a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/miasma"></a>)

"Now staff and volunteers—mostly children and spouses of medical workers who had sought shelter at the hospital—hunched over the infirm, dispensing sips of water and fanning the miasma with bits of cardboard."

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

Word of the day: bathymetry

The word of the day is bathymetry:

1. the measurement of the depths of oceans, seas, or other large bodies of water.
2. the data derived from such measurement, especially as compiled in a topographic map.  (<a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bathymetry">dictionary.com</a>)

"Also sensitive to sea floor roughness are the internal waves in oceans that bring up deep, cold, nutrient-rich waters to the surface and carry dissolved atmospheric carbon dioxide to ocean depths.  'Knowing the sea floor bathymetry better would definitely improve the mixing models that we use," says Steven Jayne, a physical oceanographer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts."

 - Eric Hand, "New satellite radar could find 100,000 underwater mountains", 20 March 2015 <a href="http://news.sciencemag.org/earth/2015/03/new-satellite-radar-could-find-100000-underwater-mountains">Science</a>