Author Topic: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com  (Read 137567 times)

Offline Mandy21

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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #120 on: June 18, 2012, 06:44:18 am »
Unfortunately, their choice of words hasn't really tripped my trigger enough to comment lately, Janice, but I *am* still reading every one you post.  Thank you.
Dawn is coming,
Open your eyes...

Offline ifyoucantfixit

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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #121 on: June 18, 2012, 08:37:03 am »
 
 
 
 
 
volant \VOH-luhnt\, adjective:

1. Moving lightly; nimble.
2. Engaged in or having the power of flight.

noun:
1. Also called volant piece. Armor. A reinforcing piece for the brow of a helmet.

But here in the present case, to carry on the volant metaphor, (for I must either be merry or mad) is a pretty little Miss, just, come out of her hanging-sleeve coat, brought to buy a pretty little fairing; for the world, Jack, is but a great fair thou knowest; and, to give thee serious reflection for serious, all its toys but tinselled hobby horses, gilt gingerbread, squeaking trumpets, painted drums, and so forth.
-- Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young Lady

With Rube winging it that spring, the band blared, and the volant baseball team was unbeatable.
-- Alan Howard Levy, Rube Waddell

Volant stems from the Latin word volāre which meant "to fly". In English, it acquired the sense of moving nimbly in the early 1600s.

This is a very odd word.  IMO.  I am not sure it is even needed.  I place it here, because they presented it.  Not because I will probably ever use it.  I suppose these words are more for us to know if we encounter them.  Than for us to necessarily use ourselves.

I am sorry you havent cared for most of them, but I don't mind.  I don't have a particular attachment for them. 
 I do thank you for continuing to read them however.



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Offline ifyoucantfixit

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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #122 on: June 19, 2012, 09:14:12 pm »

pensée \pahn-SEY\, noun:

A reflection or thought.

He rose from his deep chair and at his desk entered on the first page of a new notebook a pensee: The penalty of sloth is longevity.
-- Evelyn Waugh, Unconditional Surrender

In a pensee that could have been cribbed from Mae West's daybook, she also said, “If you want to sacrifice the admiration of many men for the criticism of one, go ahead, get married!”
-- Karen Karbo, How to Hepburn

Pensée comes directly from the French word of the same spelling which means "a thought".


*Quite certain this is the root word for the word pensive, as well.  The word pensive being the verb form of pensee.
Being in a pensive mood, she also said, "If you want to sacrifice the admiration of many men for the criticism of one, go ahead, get married."




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Offline ifyoucantfixit

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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #123 on: June 21, 2012, 04:17:44 am »


noctilucent \nok-tuh-LOO-suhnt\, adjective:

Visible during the short night of the summer.

So Sax would sit on the Western sea cliff, rapt through the setting of the sun, then stay through the hour of twilight, watching the sky colors change as the sun's shadow rose up, until all the sky was black; and then sometimes there would appear noctilucent clouds, thirty kilometers above the planet, broad streaks gleaming like abalone shells.
-- Kim Stanley Robinson, Blue Mars

The shells of 155-mm howitzers whistled away through the dark air, orange flashes popped like noctilucent flowers on the western ridge of Hon Heo Mountain and disappeared shortly after, and then the sound of explosions rumbled through the ground.
-- Junghyo Ahn, White Badge

Noctilucent entered English in the late 1800s. It is a combination of the prefix nocti- (which means "night") and lucent (which means "shining").




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Offline Mandy21

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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #124 on: June 21, 2012, 08:39:14 am »
Yay, I finally like this one.  It's fun to say (especially if you draw out the LOO syllable), fairly easy to remember, and possible to squeeze into a conversation.  Will have to look for opportunities to throw this one in:)
Dawn is coming,
Open your eyes...

Offline ifyoucantfixit

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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #125 on: June 21, 2012, 07:12:25 pm »



                                :)



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Offline ifyoucantfixit

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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #126 on: June 22, 2012, 12:06:43 am »

   

   
enchiridion \en-kahy-RID-ee-uhn\, noun:

A handbook; manual.

For you offer us the postulation that we can, in the shadow, or rather the radiance, of your own enchiridion, go and do likewise.
-- Marcel Proust, Swann's Way

Sarah and Isaac were romping noisily about and under the beds; Rachel was at the table, knitting a scarf for Solomon; grandmother pored over a bulky enchiridion for pious women, written in jargon.
-- Israel Zangwill, Children of the Ghetto

Enchiridion stems from the Greek root cheir meaning "hand". The prefix en- means "within", so the noun means "in the hand". The suffix -idion denotes a diminutive form of another word.




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Offline ifyoucantfixit

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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #127 on: June 22, 2012, 06:36:29 pm »

 
subitize \SOO-bi-tahyz\, verb:

To perceive at a glance the number of items presented.

Below seven the subjects were said to subitize; above seven they were said to estimate.
-- H. Gutfreund and G. Toulouse, Biology and Computation: A Physicist's Choice

I wanted to see if Pedro could subitize, so I asked, “Pedro, how many stars are in the first circle?”
-- Melissa Conklin, It Makes Sense!

Subitize comes from the Latin word subitāre which meant "to appear suddenly".

 



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Offline Mandy21

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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #128 on: June 23, 2012, 07:41:32 am »
I'm struck by the spelling vs. pronunciation conundrum of the last syllable on that one.  How can "tize" be pronounced "tahyz"?  Hmm...  Did that strike you odd, Janice?  Good word, though.
Dawn is coming,
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Offline ifyoucantfixit

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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #129 on: June 24, 2012, 04:49:37 pm »


instauration \in-staw-REY-shuhn\, noun:

1. Renewal; restoration; renovation; repair.
2. Obsolete. An act of instituting something; establishment.

Warm friendship, indeed, he felt for her; but whatever that might have done towards the instauration of a former dream was now hopelessly barred by the rivalry of the thing itself in the guise of a lineal successor.
-- Thomas Hardy, The Well-Beloved

For the first time since the instauration of the Republic of Cuba, the military caste was going to have to manage on its own.
-- Norberto Fuentes and Anna Kushner, The Autobiography of Fidel Castro

Instauration is derived from the Latin word instaurātiōn- which meant "a renewing" or "repeating".




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