Author Topic: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com  (Read 137574 times)

Offline ifyoucantfixit

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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #130 on: June 25, 2012, 08:38:13 pm »


makebate \MEYK-beyt\, noun:

A person who causes contention or discord.

The man was a hater of the great Governor and his life-work, the Erie; a makebate, a dawplucker, a malcontent politicaster.
-- Samuel Hopkins Adams, Grandfather Stories

But after all he pays well that pays with gold; and Mike Lambourne was never a makebate, or a spoil-sport, or the like.
-- Sir Walter Scott, Kenilworth

Makebate stems from the Middle English word bate which meant "contention".




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Offline ifyoucantfixit

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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #131 on: June 26, 2012, 04:36:50 pm »



glutch \gluhch\, verb:

1. to swallow.

noun:
1. a mouthful.

And now Robert Creedle will be nailed up in parish boards 'a b'lieve; and nobody will glutch down a sigh for he!"
-- Thomas Hardy, The Woodlanders

I was, at the time, standing near Uncle Ral and I distinctly heard him gasp, swallow what must have been an overdue expectoration, glutch, and at last emit a long, slow exhalation.
-- David George Pitt, Tales from the Outer Fringe

Glutch is of unknown origin. It was first used in southwestern England in the early 1800s.




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Offline ifyoucantfixit

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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #132 on: June 27, 2012, 12:31:08 pm »


 
abstergent \ab-STUR-juhnt\, adjective:

1. Cleansing.
2. Purgative.

noun:
1. A cleansing agent, as a detergent or soap.

We prize them for their rough-plastic, abstergent force; to get people out of the quadruped state; to get them washed, clothed, and set up on end; to slough their animal husks and habits; compel them to be clean; overawe their spite and meanness, teach them to stifle the base, and choose the generous expression, and make them know how much happier the generous behaviors are.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Conduct of Life

Those of them which are of an abstergent nature, and purge the whole surface of the tongue, if they do it in excess, and so encroach as to consume some part of the flesh itself, like potash and soda, are all termed bitter.
-- Plato, Timaeus

Abstergent comes from the Latin word abstergēre which meant "to wipe off".

 



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Offline ifyoucantfixit

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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #133 on: June 28, 2012, 06:36:38 pm »


syndic \SIN-dik\, noun:

1. A person chosen to represent and transact business for a corporation.
2. A civil magistrate having different powers in different countries.

Procuring the keys, which had been left at the office of the Syndic of the town, Mr. Bellingham and Isabel sallied forth to inspect their new abode, leaving Dulcie in charge of the English nurse who had accompanied them.
-- Robert Reginald and Douglas Menville, Ancient Hauntings

For instance, Sillem, the most junior, the "fourth," syndic, the one normally responsible for criminal investigations, had supposedly been "promoted" to the position of third, the one most directly responsible for foreign affairs.
-- Mary Lindemann, Liaisons Dangereuses

Known more commonly through its related word syndicate, syndic stems from the Greek word sýndikos which referred to a defense lawyer, from the prefix syn- (meaning "co") and the root dikos (meaning "justice").




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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #134 on: June 29, 2012, 04:38:30 pm »


agemate \EYJ-meyt\, noun:

A person of about the same age as another.

She tolerates the family, especially an agemate named Isabelle, although they kid her about getting letters from a mysterious swain every day.
-- Faye Moskowitz, Her face in the Mirror

She had no agemate in that house, no one she could think of as an ally.
-- Julie Orringer, The Invisible Bridge

Agemate entered English in the late 1500s when the word mate meant "guest" in Old English.




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Offline ifyoucantfixit

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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #135 on: June 30, 2012, 05:53:24 pm »


pilikia \pee-lee-KEE-ah\, noun:

Trouble.

After a while this older man spoke: “Remember, we never asked you to cause pilikia. We only asked that you help set things right.”
-- Rodney Morales, When the Shark Bites

Otherwise, pilikia, particularly in the form of illness, will result for the mover.
-- Karen Lee Ito, Lady Friends

Pilikia stems from a Hawaiian word meaning "trouble".



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Offline ifyoucantfixit

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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #136 on: July 01, 2012, 07:07:42 pm »

mumpsimus \MUHMP-suh-muhs\, noun:

1. Adherence to or persistence in an erroneous use of language, memorization, practice, belief, etc., out of habit or obstinacy.
2. A person who persists in a mistaken expression or practice.

"I profess, my good lady," replied I, "that had any one but you made such a declaration, I should have thought it as capricious as that of the clergyman, who, without vindicating his false reading, preferred, from habit's sake, his old Mumpsimus...
-- Sir Walter Scott, The Talisman

Mr. Burgess, who sticks (I fancy) to his old mumpsimus, thought that the other gentleman might have given the canoe a shove to get it clear of the lock…
-- Ronald A. Knox, The Footsteps at the Lock

Mumpsimus comes from a story (perhaps first told by Erasmus) about an illiterate priest who mispronounced a word while reciting the liturgy. The priest refused to change the word, even when he was corrected.


Now we have a word for George W Bush's malaprops.   Perfect explanation of his "Nook u lar."  Instead of Nuclear.    I think his pronounciation was incorporated into the language, so people would be able to say it could be pronounced either way. 
I have to say, it still bugs the crap out of me to hear it pronounced that way...jus sayin



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Offline ifyoucantfixit

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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #137 on: July 02, 2012, 09:21:11 am »


sumpsimus \SUHMP-suh-muhs\, noun:

1. Adherence to or persistence in using a strictly correct term, holding to a precise practice, etc., as a rejection of an erroneous but more common form (opposed to mumpsimus).
2. A person who is obstinate or zealous about such strict correctness (opposed to mumpsimus).

And now let all defenders of present institutions, however bad they may be — let all violent supporters of their old mumpsimus against any new sumpsimus whatever, listen to a conversation among some undergraduates.
-- Frederic William Farrar , Julian Home

She is a master of sumpsimus, more anal in language usage than Doc in his rigid professionalism. She insists on saying It is I, or He gave the book to John and me.
-- Ann Burrus, Astride the Pineapple Couch

Like its counterpart mumpsimus, sumpsimus comes from to a story about an illiterate priest. In this case, sumpsimus refers to the opposite practice as mumpsimus.





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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #138 on: July 03, 2012, 06:04:10 pm »

surfeit \SUR-fit\, noun:

1. Excess; an excessive amount: a surfeit of speechmaking.
2. Excess or overindulgence in eating or drinking.
3. An uncomfortably full or crapulous feeling due to excessive eating or drinking.
4. General disgust caused by excess or satiety.

verb:
1. To bring to a state of surfeit by excess of food or drink.
2. To supply with anything to excess or satiety; satiate.

In both adults a surfeit of prudence and a surfeit of energy, and with the couple two boys still pretty much all soft surfaces, young children of youthful parents, keenly attractive and in good health and incorrigible only in their optimism.
-- Philip Roth, The Plot Against America



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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #139 on: July 06, 2012, 04:51:31 pm »
   
 
 
 
 

tractate \TRAK-teyt\, noun:

A treatise; essay.

Divide up all the tractates and commit yourselves to learn them during the coming year.
-- Yair Weinstock, Holiday Tales for the Soul

Jean-Pierre Mahé has rightly insisted that we should explore possible explanations other than mere haphazard collection, not only for the presence of the Hermetic tractates within Codex VI…
-- Michael Allen Williams, Rethinking "Gnosticism"

Tractate comes from the Medieval Latin word tractātus meaning "a handling, treatment."

 
 



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