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WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
ifyoucantfixit:
hieratic \hahy-uh-RAT-ik\, adjective:
1. Highly restrained or severe in emotional import: Some of the more hieratic sculptures leave the viewer curiously unmoved.
2. Also, hi·er·at·i·cal. of or pertaining to priests or the priesthood; sacerdotal; priestly.
3. Noting or pertaining to a form of ancient Egyptian writing consisting of abridged forms of hieroglyphics, used by the priests in their records.
4. Noting or pertaining to certain styles in art in which the representations or methods are fixed by or as if by religious tradition.
noun:
1. Ancient Egyptian hieratic writing.
She raised her hands from the side of the pen in a gesture hieratic and profound.
-- Flannery O'Connor, Everything That Rises Must Converge
ifyoucantfixit:
demulcent \dih-MUHL-suhnt\, adjective:
1. Soothing or mollifying, as a medicinal substance.
noun:
1. A demulcent substance or agent, often mucilaginous, as for soothing or protecting an irritated mucous membrane.
It will do you no harm to keep close, drink nothing but demulcent barley-water and eat gruel, thin gruel—no beef or mutton, no wine or spirits.
-- Patrick O'Brian, Master and Commander
She knew where sour grass grew, which you chew for dyspepsy, and mint, excellent for the nau-shy, and the slippery elm, whose fragrant inner bark was the favorite demulcent of a hundred years ago—the thing to use for raw throat and other sore tishas.
-- James Thurber, Writings and Drawings
Demulcent comes from the Latin word dēmulcere which meant "to soften."
ifyoucantfixit:
ataraxia \at-uh-RAK-see-uh\, noun:
A state of freedom from emotional disturbance and anxiety; tranquility.
The former breathes only peace and liberty; he desires only to live and be free from labor; even the ataraxia of the Stoic falls far short of his profound indifference to every other object.
-- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality and a Discourse on Political Economy
Thus, hedonism ends in ataraxia, which confirms the paradoxical relation between sadism and stoicism.
-- Marquis de Sade, 120 Days of Sodom and Other Writings
Ataraxia stems from the Greek word of the same spelling that meant "impassiveness."
ifyoucantfixit:
ramose \REY-mohs\, adjective:
1. Having many branches.
2. Branching.
The exquisite naivete with which, in this passage, the Greek and Anglican Churches are represented as springing into vigorous ramose existence at the precise moment of abscission was too much even for my Protestant simplicity.
-- James Kent Stone, The Invitation Heeded
The ramose or branched root is more frequent than any other.
-- James Lawson Drummond, First Steps to Botany
Ramose is derived from the Latin word rāmōsus which meant "full of boughs."
ifyoucantfixit:
vigorish \VIG-er-ish\, noun:
1. Interest paid to a moneylender, especially a usurer.
2. A charge paid on a bet, as to a bookie.
But a washed and polished white bread car driven by a single white man in this neighborhood could mean a cop, or worse yet, a Wise Guy hit man looking for somebody who was behind in their vigorish.
-- Alan Souter, Enclave
We are speaking in a range of one thousand dollars a week vigorish.
-- Don DeLillo, Libra
Vigorish is an Americanism that arose in the 1910s. It is most likely an adaptation of the Yiddish slang výigrysh from the Russian word meaning "profit."
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