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WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
ifyoucantfixit:
ventose \VEN-tohs\, adjective:
Given to empty talk; windy.
Anyhow, it is better to wind up that way than to go growling out one's existence as a ventose hypochondriac.
-- Thomas Henry Huxley, Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley
The ventose orator was confounded, and put himself and his glass down together.
-- L. J. Bigelow, Bench and Bar
First used in English in the 1700s, ventose is derived from the Latin word for wind, "vent."
ifyoucantfixit:
varlet \VAHR-lit\, noun:
1. A knavish person; rascal.
2. A. An attendant or servant. B. A page who serves a knight.
Is he not a lying, stinking, contemptible varlet?
-- Jude Morgan, Indiscretion
A varlet scrambled forward at once and attempted to wrestle our luggage away from me.
-- Eric Kraft, On the Wing
Varlet is a variation on the French word valet.
Front-Ranger:
I wonder if it evolved into varmint in the American West. :)
ifyoucantfixit:
skirr \skur\, verb:
1. To go rapidly; fly; scurry.
2. To go rapidly over.
noun:
1. A grating or whirring sound.
Looking up, he perceived, to his horror, the figure of a man which seemed to skirr along the surface of the water...
-- Ambrose Marten, The Stanley Tales
If they'll do neither, we will come to them, and make them skirr away as swift as stones enforced from the old Assyrian slings.
-- William Shakespeare, Henry V
Skirr is related to the word scour, which comes from the Old Norse word skur meaning "shower."
ifyoucantfixit:
var·mint /ˈvɑrmənt/ Show Spelled[vahr-muhnt] Show IPA
noun
1. Chiefly Southern and South Midland U.S.
a. vermin.
b. an objectionable or undesirable animal, usually predatory, as a coyote or bobcat.
2. a despicable, obnoxious, or annoying person.
Also, var·ment.
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Origin:
1530–40; variant of vermin (with regular outcome of Middle English ĕr before consonant ( compare argal3 , parson) and parasitic t )
Front Ranger--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I wonder if it evolved into varmint in the American West? :)
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This is what I found in regards to that being the possible variant of "varmint" It seems rather related to me for sure. An undesirable and unwanted thing or person.
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