Word of the Day...

[Perse Jr.]

For years I've subscribed to M-W's "word of the day." I love learning new words (even if I don't use them very often), and I thought it might be fun to "share" new or favorite words with my fellow SKMB mates. There are a lot of words in SK's books that could use a good "looking up" by me too!

Piebald: adjective
"composed of incongruous parts; of different colors ; especially : spotted or blotched with black and white." (M-W Online Dictionary.)

[Haunted]

What a great idea for a thread!!! I will try to pass on the new word I get every day.!!:biggrin2:

[jenboxer77]

What a great idea Perse! Vocabulary can be fascinating! Some people have large vocabularies and some do not! I think learning, reading and life experiences add to ones vocabulary.

To use it in a sentance:

The piebald breed of the royal python is a rare specimin indeed.

:laugh:

[boogerb53]

Pie bald?! hehe! That sounds positively obscene!

[tillyn]

Well lets see you use that in a sentence! My eyes are piebald after a 12 hour shift.:laugh:

[Wendy Capps]

I like this word of the day idea. How about "dichogamy" = The production of male and female reproductive elements at different times by a hermaphroditic organism in order to ensure fertilization.

[hipmamajen]

For years I've subscribed to M-W's "word of the day." I love learning new words (even if I don't use them very often), and I thought it might be fun to "share" new or favorite words with my fellow SKMB mates. There are a lot of words in SK's books that could use a good "looking up" by me too!

Piebald: adjective
"composed of incongruous parts; of different colors ; especially : spotted or blotched with black and white." (M-W Online Dictionary.)

I had to look "piebald" up because it was used in Lisey's Story! I'm sure I had come across it before then, but I'd never noticed it. :)

[Perse Jr.]

melee: \MAY-lay\ (noun): a confused struggle; especially: a hand-to-hand fight among several people. Example Sentence: The shoppers' voices grew tense as they argued over the last Cool Sally doll, and for a moment I feared that a melee might erupt.

[~Ally~]

Thanks Perse....i always have a word of the day, unfortunately it tends to be a swear word and not a newly learnt word:blush:.

[JohnDalglish]

Hi,

My word for tomorrow is 'procrastinate' LOL.

Long days and pleasant nights

[Haunted]

hortatory \HOR-tuh-tor-ee\, adjective:

Marked by strong urging; serving to encourage or incite; as, "a hortatory speech."


He later gave up the ministry in the conviction that he could reach thousands with his beguiling pen and only hundreds with his hortatory voice.
-- Carl Van Doren, The American Novel, 1789-1939

[poisonbat]

One of my favorite words....

Convoluted [kon-vuh-loo-tid]

–adjective
1. twisted; coiled.
2. complicated; intricately involved: a convoluted way of describing a simple device.

The three dimensional puzzle was convoluted to solve. :biggrin2::bat:

[Kim L.]

Antepenultimate: Next to the next to the last.

"Today is the antepenultimate day of my work week; I'm taking Friday off."

[Perse Jr.]

I had to look "piebald" up because it was used in Lisey's Story! I'm sure I had come across it before then, but I'd never noticed it. :)

I was actually thinking about looking up "piebald" when I was reading Lisey's Story, and it was miraculously emailed to me the very same day! :smile2:

[Perse Jr.]

Pie bald?! hehe! That sounds positively obscene!

Ah, yes, the long boy (in Lisey's Story) was a bit obscene (piebald was used to describe the long boy in the book). :smile2:

[jenboxer77]

Yet another...

trammel


PRONUNCIATION:
(TRAM-uhl)


MEANING:
noun:
1. Something that limits or hinders.
2. A fishing net having three layers.
3. An instrument for drawing ellipses.
4. A shackle used in training a horse to amble.
5. An instrument for gauging and aligning parts of a machine.
6. A hook for hanging a pot or a kettle over a fire.
verb tr.: To restrain; to hinder.

My sentance:
Jiba used the ceremonial trammel to hang her cauldron over the fire.

[Patricia A]

Onomatopoeia - (on·o·mato·poe·ia)
POW! ZIP! BANG!

[Wendy Capps]

Hi,

My word for tomorrow is 'procrastinate' LOL.

Long days and pleasant nights

That sounds like a good idea John, I work too hard. LDAPN Yourself.

[Perse Jr.]

fey: \fā\ (adjective): Middle English feye, from Old English;
1. achiefly Scottish: fated to die; doomed; marked by a foreboding of death or calamity; 2. able to see into the future; visionary; marked by an otherworldly air or attitude; crazy, touched;
3. excessively refined; precious; quaintly unconventional; campy

I was inspired to look this one up while re-reading Little Sisters of Eluria in Everything's Eventual. Roland thought the sisters might be fey and magical (not verbatum).

I forget how to note my source (been years since I had to list references...gotta look that up!), but these definitions are from M-W online).

[Haunted]

espy \ih-SPY\, transitive verb:

To catch sight of; to perceive with the eyes; to discover, as a distant object partly concealed, or not obvious to notice; to see at a glance; to discern unexpectedly; to spy; as, to espy land; to espy a man in a crowd.:biggrin2:

[Perse Jr.]

Yet another...

trammel

GREAT word....love the multiple meanings.

[Kim L.]

Bhang: (Hindi) A mildly intoxicating preparation of the leaves and flowering tops of uncultivated hemp.

[Cowboy]

Several years ago I saw a documentary on Coney Island. Very good program, but at one point, they mentioned that "Coney Island was the popiosis of the ridiculous". I have never been able to locate a definition of the word popiosis and have attempted several variations of the spelling of it. Anyone have a clue?

[Moderator]

Several years ago I saw a documentary on Coney Island. Very good program, but at one point, they mentioned that "Coney Island was the popiosis of the ridiculous". I have never been able to locate a definition of the word popiosis and have attempted several variations of the spelling of it. Anyone have a clue?


Did you perhaps hear it wrong? My first thought is that they said "apotheosis".

[Cowboy]

Did you perhaps hear it wrong? My first thought is that they said "apotheosis".

I thought I heard it correctly, but you know...I would not be one bit surprised if I did hear it wrong and that is the word used. My family tells me that my hearing is going quick. I call it selective hearing. Thanks Marsha!

[JohnDalglish]

Hi,

There was a great moment on the BBC news a few years ago when the newsreader said 'The government say it's an elephant' and after a short baffled pause said 'I'm sorry, I'll read that again. The government said it's irrelevant'.

Long days and pleasant nights

[AngelZ]

wyvern

Pronunciation:
\ˈwī-vərn\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
alteration of Middle English wyvere viper, from Anglo-French wivre, guivre, from Latin vipera
Date:
1610

: a mythical animal usually represented as a 2-legged winged creature resembling a dragon

[Perse Jr.]

trull: trel (the "e" is upside down in pronunciation...not sure how to create that) (noun): probably from Middle English trollen (in trollen forth to travel about, wander), ultimately from Old French troller, treiller to hunt for game without a scent or path : prostitute, strumpet;

Sister Coquina called Jenna a little trull when she was found to be aiding Roland's escape.

[Haunted]

pother \POTH-er\, noun:

1. A commotion; a disturbance.
2. A state of nervous activity; a fuss.
3. A cloud of smoke or dust that chokes or smothers.
4. To make confused; trouble; worry.
5. To be overly concerned with trifles; fuss.

Let's hope that none of Mr. King's book signings will be a pother.:biggrin2:

[TBlack]

I took that to be a variation of Trollop.

[Kim L.]

Encomium en-'ko-me-um(long o, long e): glowing and warmly enthusiastic praise

May Under the Dome generate much encomium.

[jenboxer77]

grig


PRONUNCIATION:
(grig)

MEANING:
noun:
1. A cricket or grasshopper.
2. A small or young eel.
3. A lively or lighthearted person.


ETYMOLOGY:
The word is often used in the phrase "merry as a grig". The word is of uncertain origin, though various theories have been suggested, such as a corruption of "merry as a cricket" or "merry as a Greek", as in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida: "Then she's a merry Greek indeed."


USAGE:
"When all is reversed and we shall be like the insane, to whom the antics of the sane seem the crazy twistings of a grig."
E.B. White; Removal; 1938.

I LOVE WORDS!!!!

[Perse Jr.]

inveterate, \in-VET-uh-rut\ (adjective): firmly established by long persistence; confirmed in a habit : habitual;

Since Ernie is an inveterate liar, we naturally didn’t believe him when he told us he’d met Stephen King!

[JohnDalglish]

inveterate, \in-VET-uh-rut\ (adjective): firmly established by long persistence; confirmed in a habit : habitual;

Since Ernie is an inveterate liar, we naturally didn’t believe him when he told us he’d met Stephen King!

Hi,

Does that mean that the Creationist lobby regard Charles Darwin as an invertebrate liar? LOL

Long days and pleasant nights

[jenboxer77]

Hi,

Does that mean that the Creationist lobby regard Charles Darwin as an invertebrate liar? LOL

Long days and pleasant nights

LOL! You crack me up John!:laugh:

[marew1]

flout /verb
*1 : to treat with contemptuous disregard : scorn2 : to indulge in scornful behaviorExample Sentence:

Shawn gets annoyed by pedestrians who flout traffic laws by crossing the street outside of the crosswalk.

[Haunted]

effulgence \i-FUL-juhn(t)s\, noun:

The state of being bright and radiant; splendor; brilliance.

[Perse Jr.]

kibitzer: \KIB-it-ser\ (noun): one who looks on and often offers unwanted advice or comment; one who offers opinions.

Sybil warned Jack not to take any advice from Carl, a notorious kibitzer whose suggestions often did more harm than good.

(Source: M-W Online).

[Kim L.]

Katzenjammer \'kat-sen-'ja-mer\ n (German from Katze cat + Jammer distress) 1: Hangover 2: Distress 3: a discordant clamor

The noise in the hall worsened Wilhelm's katzenjammer.

So that's where the Katzenjammer Kids got their name!

[jenboxer77]

Here are a few oddities I came across and loved!

kerfuffle: disorder, commotion.
jobbernowl: a stupid fellow; a blockhead
ishkabibble: a dismissive statement

In a sentance...

Oh, ishkabibble...he's such a jobbernowl, he's caused quite a kerfuffle! :laugh:

[michal]

Sorry guys, but I'm afraid not being a native English speaker I am light years behind you... I'm still trying to grasp walking and you are running... :biggrin2:

[poisonbat]

Gravid \GRAV-id\ , adjective:
Being with child; heavy with young or eggs; pregnant.

The woman in the market was obviously gravid. She looked like she was due any day.:bat:

[Perse Jr.]

Sorry guys, but I'm afraid not being a native English speaker I am light years behind you... I'm still trying to grasp walking and you are running... :biggrin2:

All languages are welcome here! Why not post some of your favorites in your native language? Maybe with an English definition too? :biggrin2:

[Perse Jr.]

occiput: \AHK-sih-put\ (noun) : the back part of the head or skull

Example Sentence: During the disaster at the Gotham Cafe, Steve wondered if Guy penetrated Humboldt's occiput as well as the front of his head when he sunk his butcher knife into his skull.


"So let me suggest that everyone put away their pitchforks and firebrands and stop trying to 'bury the hatchet' by planting it in the other fellow's occiput." (Allan Falk, Michigan Lawyers Weekly, May 7, 2007)

[poisonbat]

nimiety \nih-MY-uh-tee\ The state of being too much; excess.

The buffet was a nimiety.

:bat:

[Cowboy]

Gravid \GRAV-id\ , adjective:
Being with child; heavy with young or eggs; pregnant.

The woman in the market was obviously gravid. She looked like she was due any day.:bat:

Many of the women in the workplace where I work appear to be gravid, but I believe it just an illusion.
Methinks this word will stick with me for a while.:smile2:

[jenboxer77]

caterwaul (KAT-er-wol) — 1. to utter long wailing cries, as cats in rutting time. 2. to utter a similar sound; howl or screech. 3. to quarrel like cats
I love the sound of the word, as well as the emotional connotations ... it's haunting.

[Haunted]

ebullient \ih-BUL-yuhnt\, adjective:

1. Overflowing with enthusiasm or excitement; high-spirited.
2. Boiling up or over.

A large group of members of the Stephen King Message Board were ebullient that he was going to have a book signing tour for his new book Under the Dome.

[Cody44]

A few recent favorites of mine.

pulchritude - Noun - Beautiful
Misogynist - Noun - Hatred of women
Misanthrope - Noun - One who hates all mankind

[Patricia A]

Ass Gasket - The protective paper cover placed on the seat of public toilets.

[Patricia A]

Sorry guys, but I'm afraid not being a native English speaker I am light years behind you... I'm still trying to grasp walking and you are running... :biggrin2:


All languages are welcome here! Why not post some of your favorites in your native language? Maybe with an English definition too? :biggrin2:
I agree, that sounds like a great idea! :y:
I love this thread btw.

[Perse Jr.]

Ass Gasket - The protective paper cover placed on the seat of public toilets.

I looked it up 'cause I thought you were joking!

:rofl::rofl:

[Perse Jr.]

eclogue • \ECK-log\ (noun): a poem in which shepherds converse.

Example: "Be it in the appropriation of the goatherd or shepherd in the pastoral eclogue, or the neatly controlled terraces of the Georgics, the pastoral has always been an idyllicised representation of the rural world...." (John Kinsella, The Literary Review, January 2005).

[Patricia A]

I looked it up 'cause I thought you were joking!

:rofl::rofl:
I didn't know that's what they were called either until a little old lady customer told me we were out of them in the restroom.
I just looked at her for a minute then asked her what the heck an ass gasket was and she cheerfully told me.
Just as a side note, the brand we use in the store is called "Rest Assured." :biggrin2:

[Perse Jr.]

Just as a side note, the brand we use in the store is called "Rest Assured." :biggrin2:

Rest ASSured

:rofl:

[SiN_kInG]

i've always love the word 'nada'

spanish for 'nothing'. i've always wanted to learn the spanish language in full, but haven't had the time/follow-through yet, so instead I just end up mingling spanish words into english sentences lol just like edgar freemantle in duma key :)

[Haunted]

Ass Gasket - The protective paper cover placed on the seat of public toilets.

TRULY???? That's awesome!!

:rofl:

[Haunted]

pule \PYOOL\, intransitive verb:

To whimper; to whine.

She was said to pule when she could not get to a Stephen King book signing.

[SiN_kInG]

here's one for you guys:

defictionalise - to make something originating in fiction/virtual/hyper-reality into something real.

like what they did with Duff Beer. or willy wonka's chocolate bars :D

sorry if it sounds nerdy. it's kind of my topic for my dissertation :blush:

[jenboxer77]

here's one for you guys:

defictionalise - to make something originating in fiction/virtual/hyper-reality into something real.

like what they did with Duff Beer. or willy wonka's chocolate bars :D

sorry if it sounds nerdy. it's kind of my topic for my dissertation :blush:

That's not nerdy! :D That's actually kinda cool. I didn't know there was a word for it.

There's also the Bubba Gump Shrimp factory and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans from Jelly Belly. With flavors like earwax, vomit :barf: and dirt, they are bound to be a hit! I have tried a few of them and they are so gross!

.....Back to topic!

Great word! :biggrin2:

[Perse Jr.]

...Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans from Jelly Belly. With flavors like earwax, vomit :barf: and dirt, they are bound to be a hit! I have tried a few of them and they are so gross!

I really like the flavors grass and pepper...they're pretty good!

Here's my word of the day! :)

Hypocorism \hy-POK-uh-riz-um\ (noun): a pet name or a nickname, and hypocorism is also the use of such a name.

Example sentence:
"Perse Jr." is my hypocorism on the SKMB! But, I think I would prefer "PJ" to be my hypocorism instead.

[jenboxer77]

I really like the flavors grass and pepper...they're pretty good!


Those flavors are bearable, but the tuna and booger ones, :eek2: yikes!!


daedal \DEE-duhl\, adjective:
1. Complex or ingenious in form or function; intricate.
2. Skillful; artistic; ingenious.
3. Rich; adorned with many things.

I sang of the dancing stars,
I sang of the daedal earth,
And of heaven, and the giant wars,
And love, and death, and birth.
-- Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Hymn Of Pan"

[Perse Jr.]

otiose \OH-shee-ohss\ (adjective): 1. producing no useful result; futile. 2. being at leisure; idle. 3. lacking use or effect; functionless.

Example Sentence:
Some people might accuse me of being a bit otiose on the job lately. What they don't realize is I have more important things to do on the SKMB.

[Kim L.]

I really like the flavors grass and pepper...they're pretty good!

Here's my word of the day! :)

Hypocorism \hy-POK-uh-riz-um\ (noun): a pet name or a nickname, and hypocorism is also the use of such a name.

Example sentence:
"Perse Jr." is my hypocorism on the SKMB! But, I think I would prefer "PJ" to be my hypocorism instead.

You got it, PJ! (One of my good friends goes by that hypocorism)

[Kim L.]

Infix: To insert a sound or letter between parts of a word.

This is absofrickinlutely an infix.

[jenboxer77]

From, World Wide Words:

Doohickey

An unspecified object or small device, especially a mechanical one.

Yes, yet another of these hand-waving terms for a thing that’s too unimportant to have a name of its own, or whose name you have for the moment forgotten. An example is in The Tommyknockers by Stephen King (1987): “You’re almost done with this part. Just solder that red wire to that point to the left of the long doohickey.” :D

[jenboxer77]

: je·june
Pronunciation: \ji-ˈjün\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin jejunus empty of food, hungry, meager
Date: 1646
1 : lacking nutritive value <jejune diets>
2 : devoid of significance or interest : dull (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dull) <jejune lectures
3 : juvenile (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/juvenile), puerile (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/puerile) <jejune reflections on life and art

I like the way this word sounds and it's a small tribute to the best month of the year! :)

[Perse Jr.]

: B]je·june[/B]
Great word Jen! It just floats out of your mouth like a sweet dessert.


periphrasis \puh-RIFF-ruh-sis\ (noun): 1. use of a longer phrasing in place of a possible shorter form of expression; 2. an instance of periphrasis

Example Sentence: The college English teacher warned her students against padding their essays with periphrases solely to reach the required length.

(Source: M-W Online).

[jacobtlong]

Syzygy /ˈsɪzɨdʒi/ (noun) a kind of unity, especially through coordination or alignment, most commonly used in the astronomical and/or astrological sense.

Syzygia, adjective of syzygy, describes the alignment of three or more celestial bodies in the same gravitational system along a plane.

[Charms7]

Pillock. I had to look it up! Thanks, Mr. Nobody.

http://img.tfd.com/wn/B3/698A5-pillock.gif
Noun 1. pillock - a person who is not very bright; "The economy, stupid!"
dolt, dullard, poor fish, pudden-head, pudding head, stupe, stupid, stupid person
berk - a stupid person who is easy to take advantage of
blockhead, bonehead, dumbbunny, dunce, dunderhead, knucklehead, loggerhead, lunkhead, muttonhead, numskull - a stupid person; these words are used to express a low opinion of someone's intelligence
klutz - (Yiddish) a clumsy dolt
simpleton, simple - a person lacking intelligence or common sense

I just love learning new words! Just hope I don't forget that one.

[Perse Jr.]

slag \slag\ (noun): 1. the dross or scoria of a metal.

dross \ˈdräs, ˈdrȯs\ (noun): 1. the scum that forms on the surface of molten metal; 2. waste or foreign matter; impurity; 3. something that is base, trivial, or inferior.

sco·ria \ˈskȯr-ē-ə\ (noun): 1. the refuse from melting of metals or reduction of ores; slag.

[Kim L.]

Asterism 1) A small group of stars, part of a constellation.

The Big Dipper is an asterism.

[JohnDalglish]

Hi,

BTW, alternative meanings in UK.

Slag = 'A slovenly or dissolute woman'

or

'To criticize, mock, or deride'

Long days and pleasant nights

[jenboxer77]

slag \slag\ (noun): 1. the dross or scoria of a metal.

dross \ˈdräs, ˈdrȯs\ (noun): 1. the scum that forms on the surface of molten metal; 2. waste or foreign matter; impurity; 3. something that is base, trivial, or inferior.

sco·ria \ˈskȯr-ē-ə\ (noun): 1. the refuse from melting of metals or reduction of ores; slag.

My husband is a welder so I knew that slag meant waste material that comes off of a welding bead. My husband is burned daily by slag when he welds. I like the triple definitions here! It gives a more indephth definition of the word!!! :)

[Haunted]

quidnunc \KWID-nuhngk\, noun:

One who is curious to know everything that passes; one who knows or pretends to know all that is going on; a gossip; a busybody.

Even though she was quite a quidnunc she really did know how to get tickets to a Stephen King book signing.

[Patricia A]

schadenfreude:
scha⋅den⋅freu⋅de [shahd-n-froi-duh] noun

Satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune.

Origin:
1890–95; < G, equiv. to Schaden harm + Freude joy

I would enjoy the schadenfreude of my enemy's demise, but this is just too sad.
(I have actually been struggling with schadenfreude myself lately.)

[JohnDalglish]

schadenfreude:
scha⋅den⋅freu⋅de [shahd-n-froi-duh] noun

Satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune.

Origin:
1890–95; < G, equiv. to Schaden harm + Freude joy

I would enjoy the schadenfreude of my enemy's demise, but this is just too sad.
(I have actually been struggling with schadenfreude myself lately.)

Hi,

Some things you can only say in German LOL

('Don't mention the war. I did, but I think I got away with it').

Long days and pleasant nights

[Charms7]

Hey Patricia, I tried to pronounce schadenfreude and now there's a knot in my tongue! I'm talking real funny and people are starting to notice. Is this common? I'm joking with you! Thanks for the new tongue twister!

[Kim L.]

Ostinato - noun, (fr. Latin Obstinatus A musical figure repeated persistently throughout a composition.

Playing an ostinato is harder than it sounds.

[Patricia A]

Hey Patricia, I tried to pronounce schadenfreude and now there's a knot in my tongue! I'm talking real funny and people are starting to notice. Is this common? I'm joking with you! Thanks for the new tongue twister!
I don't know but if you say it over and over real fast you'll sound like a train and people will really look at you funny... or try to board you LOL. :laugh:

[Eva9]

Attenuation
1 : to make thin or slender
2 : to make thin in consistency : rarefy
3 : to lessen the amount, force, magnitude, or value of : weaken
4 : to reduce the severity, virulence, or vitality of <an attenuated virus>

I came across it in The Gunslinger
It would have to be quick, or she would leave him. To stay now meant attenuation; perhaps her own kind of death. Already he felt her drawing away to leave the circle of the stones.

[opeth]

Miasma. I think I saw it in Owen's book
--a vaporous exhalation believed to cause disease
--an influence or atmosphere that tends to deplete or corrupt

[Haunted]

agley

Pronunciation: \ə-ˈglā, -ˈglē, -ˈglī\
Function: adverb
Etymology: Scots, from 1a- + gley to squint
Date: 1785
chiefly Scottish : awry, wrong <the best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley — Robert Burns>

[TBlack]

PooftyLa: That quick 2 second flip, twist & tie thing women with long hair do to get it outta their eyes that seems so effortless.
All right, I made it up! My daughter does it so well though... if ya blink ya might miss it!
PooftyLa is the end result....if ya skip after you tie it up like that it's called a PooftyLaLaLa!
Tomorrow I'l tell you about DoodleyDo!

[Tery]

I write a weekly "column" on another website about words. This one is on little-known and obscure words:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/6/21/743473/-The-Mad-Logophile;-Obscure-and-Little-Known-Words

[JohnDalglish]

agley

Pronunciation: \ə-ˈglā, -ˈglē, -ˈglī\
Function: adverb
Etymology: Scots, from 1a- + gley to squint
Date: 1785
chiefly Scottish : awry, wrong <the best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley — Robert Burns>

Hi,

Thankee for that, Haunted.

Today it's generally taken to mean, 'agley' = effs up.

Long days and pleasant nights

[Perse Jr.]

I write a weekly "column" on another website about words. This one is on little-known and obscure words:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/6/21/743473/-The-Mad-Logophile;-Obscure-and-Little-Known-Words

WOW! HOLY CANNOLI! Forget $10 dollars words, these are priceless. Everyone should definitely check out Tery's article for some fascinating and amazing words. I would list some of my favorites, but there are so many (and honestly, I have to go back and relearn/copy/save a ton of them).

BIG THANKS!

[THISisWHEREiMAKEmySTAND]

Here is my word of the day

Akimbo:
Etymology: Middle English in kenebowe
Date: 15th century
1 : having the hand on the hip and the elbow turned outward
2 : set in a bent position <a tailor sitting with legs akimbo>

I just love the way it sounds, and here I stand with arms akimbo.

[Haunted]

Hi,

Thankee for that, Haunted.

Today it's generally taken to mean, 'agley' = effs up.

Long days and pleasant nights


John, I came across the above in this sentence "...it looked as if the carefully crafted plans of David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel, George Soros, and the Second Chief Directorate, first department, of the old KGB were about to gang agley."


By 'effs up' are you referring to that old word used freely during the Middle Ages and, maybe too much nowadays IMO, the one consisting of 4 letters???

[JohnDalglish]

By 'effs up' are you referring to that old word used freely during the Middle Ages and, maybe too much nowadays IMO, the one consisting of 4 letters???

Hi,

Dat would be the one, Haunted LOL

Staple interjection in the West of Scotland, where the eff would we be without it?

Long days and pleasant nights

[morefutility]

excoriate: 1. to stip the skin

[Haunted]

excoriate: 1. to stip the skin

"strip"? Good one!!

[Haunted]

Gravitas

(from Latin) is a quality of substance or depth of personality.

Gravitas (specifically dignity, seriousness, and duty) is one of the several virtues that ancient Roman society expected men to possess, along with pietas, dignitas, and iustitia.

"Gravitas" should not be confused with "gravity" not in the sense of importance, although they have a common etymology, coming from the Latin for weightiness.


Gravitas include: - Discipline - Strength - Loyalty - Power [Army] - Usefulness - Steadiness

[Cola]

pick .....

:suspect:

[Kim L.]

Stipple v. t. 1. to engrave by means of dots and flicks. 2. To make by small short touches (as of paint or ink) that together produce an even or softly graded shadow.

"Gunpowder residue stippled the entrance wounds."

OK, I've been reading too many murder mysteries :blush:

[JohnDalglish]

Gravitas

(from Latin) is a quality of substance or depth of personality.

Gravitas (specifically dignity, seriousness, and duty) is one of the several virtues that ancient Roman society expected men to possess, along with pietas, dignitas, and iustitia.

"Gravitas" should not be confused with "gravity" not in the sense of importance, although they have a common etymology, coming from the Latin for weightiness.


Gravitas include: - Discipline - Strength - Loyalty - Power [Army] - Usefulness - Steadiness

Hi,

There is no gravitas.

The earth sucketh LOL

Long days and pleasant nights

[TBlack]

Weenus: The excess skin on your elbow. ( go`head, look it up!)
http://media.urbandictionary.com/image/page/weenus-41661.jpg
http://media.urbandictionary.com/image/page/weenus-41661.jpg

[Moderator]

I did and it is. Not that I don't trust you! :biggrin2:

[Perse Jr.]

neck–rein \-ˌrān\ (verb): of a saddle horse; to respond to the pressure of a rein on one side of the neck by turning in the opposite direction.

ewe–neck \ˈyü-ˈnek\ (noun): a thin neck with a concave arch occurring as a defect in dogs and horses.

bull neck (noun): a thick short powerful neck.

[TBlack]

I did and it is. Not that I don't trust you! :biggrin2:
No You Don't!
And ya can't lick your own weenus Mod... See? You just had to try it dint you?
And you can't lick mine either!
Well ya could...but I ain't gunna let ya!:glare:

[Moderator]

Don't want any weenus cooties anyway....so there!! :tongue::biggrin2:

[FlakeNoir]

Don't want any weenus cooties anyway....so there!! :biggrin2:

Oh heck, you really wouldn't want to read this one wrong (or in a hurry) would you?
:eek2: :oo: :oh: :biggrin2:

[Moderator]

Cooties

is a non-scientific term in North American English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_English) used by children for an imaginary disease or condition perceived to infect others, particularly members of the opposite sex. One catches cooties through any form of bodily contact, proximity, or touching an infected person's possessions. The phase typically passes by age 5-14.



[not to be confused with cooters--that would be very different :blush: :biggrin2:]

[FlakeNoir]

Cooties

is a non-scientific term in North American English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_English) used by children for an imaginary disease or condition perceived to infect others, particularly members of the opposite sex. One catches cooties through any form of bodily contact, proximity, or touching an infected person's possessions. The phase typically passes by age 5-14.



[not to be confused with cooters--that would be very different :blush: :biggrin2:]

:laugh:

I've heard of cooties, but... I was reading super fast and heard something else.

[Moderator]

I know. :biggrin2:

[Patricia A]

Titular - tit·u·lar
Pronunciation: \ˈti-chə-lər, ˈtich-lər\

Etymology: Latin titulus title

A titular ruler, or titular head, is a person in an official position of leadership who possesses few, if any, actual powers.

The first time I heard someone called a titular head I laughed my buttox off, then I looked it up and found out what it really meant.
I think what I thought it meant is better but oh well.

[Kim L.]

[not to be confused with cooters--that would be very different :blush: :biggrin2:]


Ms. MOD!! :blush:

[Perse Jr.]

fractious \FRAK-shus\ (adjective): 1. tending to be troublesome : unruly; 2. quarrelsome, irritable.

Example Sentence: The children at the playground became fractious when their mommies couldn't find any money to buy ice creams from the ice cream man.

[Kim L.]

Oenophile - n. A lover or conneisseur of wine.

Many oenophiles live in Northern California.

[Patricia A]

P's and Q's -
One origin story of "mind your Ps and Qs" comes from English pubs and taverns of the seventeenth century. Bartenders would keep a watch on the alcohol consumption of the patrons; keeping an eye on the pints and quarts that were consumed. As a reminder to the patrons, the bartender would recommend they "mind their Ps and Qs."

[Haunted]

pastiche \pas-TEESH; pahs-\, noun:

1. A work of art that imitates the style of some previous work.
2. A musical, literary, or artistic composition consisting of selections from various works.
3. A hodgepodge; an incongruous combination of different styles and ingredients.


Whoever said the unexamined life is not worth living apparently never intended to go into book publishing, where there is almost no research and where much of the conventional wisdom is a pastiche of folklore, myth and wishful thinking.
-- Edwin McDowell, "Publishing: And They All Said It Wouldn't Sell", New York Times, February 6, 1989

Pastiche comes from Italian pasticcio, "a paste," hence "a hodgepodge, literary or musical," ultimately from Latin pasta, "paste."

[Mary Strickland]

Susurrus OR su-sur-rus, noun. A soft rustling or murmuring sound.

Found this one in a John Connolly novel--never saw it before this week.

[Haunted]

cal·i·brate


1: to ascertain the caliber of (as a thermometer tube)
2: to determine, rectify, or mark the graduations of (as a thermometer tube)
3: to standardize (as a measuring instrument) by determining the deviation from a standard so as to ascertain the proper correction factors
4: to adjust precisely for a particular function
5: to measure precisely ; especially : to measure against a standard


A word we hearing a lot of here in the States lately.:oo:

[Patricia A]

Luddite [n. LUH-dite]
The noun Luddite specifically refers to one of a group of early 19th century English workmen who were campaigning against the automation of the power loom. Under cover of night and generally masked, the workers often destroyed the equipment that had displaced them. Today the word broadly refers to anyone who is opposed to technological change or new working methods.

This is a really a killer website I ran across tonight.

http://www.geocities.com/kristenjean77/coolwords.html

I seriously thought Stephen King made that word up. :biggrin2:

[jenboxer77]

eurybathic


PRONUNCIATION:
(yoor-uh-BATH-ik)

MEANING:
adjective:: Capable of living in a wide range of depths in water.

This makes me think of Leviathan the movie with that creepy scary underwater creature or maybe 10,000 Leagues Under the Sea or the Abyss, the Lockness Monster, you get the idea! :D

[jenboxer77]

jackleg • \JACK-leg\ • adjective
1 a : characterized by unscrupulousness, dishonesty, or lack of professional standards* b : lacking skill or training : amateur2 : designed as a temporary expedient : makeshiftExample Sentence:

"Ted Dawson was a pretty good jackleg carpenter." (Stephen King, It) :D
Did you know?

Don't call someone "jackleg" unless you're prepared for that person to get angry with you. Throughout its more than 150-year-old history in English, "jackleg" has most often been used as a term of contempt and deprecation, particularly in reference to lawyers and preachers. Its form echoes that of the similar "blackleg," an older term for a cheating gambler or a worker opposed to union policies. Etymologists know that "blackleg" appeared over a hundred years before "jackleg," but they don't have any verifiable theories about the origin of either term.

[smooth operator]

aplomb (uh-PLOM) noun - Assurnace of manner or of action; self-assurance, confidence, coolness.

Smooth Operator showed such aplomb when meeting Stephen King that it was if they were old friends, and not strangers.

[Haunted]

el⋅ee⋅mos⋅y⋅nar⋅y  /ˌɛləˈmɒsəˌnɛri, -ˈmɒz-, ˌɛliə-/
[el-uh-mos-uh-ner-ee, -moz-, el-ee-uh-] adjective

1. of or pertaining to alms, charity, or charitable donations; charitable.
2. derived from or provided by charity.
3. dependent on or supported by charity: an eleemosynary educational institution.

[Perse Jr.]

skosh \SKOHSH\ (noun): a small amount; bit, smidgen

Example Sentence: I only like a skosh of lemon in my iced tea.

[Haunted]

sui generis \soo-eye-JEN-ur-us; soo-ee-\, adjective:

Being the only example of its kind; constituting a class of its own; unique.


William Randolph Hearst did not speak often of his father. He preferred to think of himself as sui generis and self-created, which in many ways he was.
-- David Nasaw

Sui generis is from Latin, literally meaning "of its own kind": sui, "of its own" + generis, genitive form of genus, "kind."

[jenboxer77]

brio

\BREE-oh\ , noun:
1.Enthusiastic vigor; vivacity; liveliness; spirit.



(http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/brio)

Quotes:

Though my judgment was no doubt affected by all the wine we'd consumed, I remember being elated by our performance that night: our inspired spur-of-the-moment dialogue, the actors fleshing out their roles with such brio.-- Gail Godwin, Evensong


For him, life must be a party, a ball, an endless carnival. Each person must invent a role for himself and play it with brio.-- Lydia Flem, Casanova: The Man Who Really Loved Women (translated by Catherine Temerson)


The Internet has always been home to plenty of unvarnished brio.-- Timothy L. O'Brien, "Corporate Love Letters: Youstink.Com", New York Times, April 4, 1999

[Kim L.]

Myxopoiesis (mik-so-poy-e-sis) n. Mucus production.

Tristram blamed his allergies for his excessive myxopoiesis

[Nutty Bavarian]

Defenestration
Pronunciation:\(ˌ)dē-ˌfe-nə-ˈstrā-shən\
Function:noun
Etymology:de- + Latin fenestra window
1 : a throwing of a person or thing out of a window
2 : a usually swift dismissal or expulsion (as from a political party or office)

[Perse Jr.]

nyctalopia \nik-tuh-LOH-pee-uh\ (noun): reduced visual capacity in faint light (as at night); night blindness

Example Sentence: Bernard suffers from progressive nyctalopia; as a result, he can no longer drive at night. (source: M-W online.)

[Eva9]

skosh \SKOHSH\ (noun): a small amount; bit, smidgen

Example Sentence: I only like a skosh of lemon in my iced tea.
My brother uses this word a lot. I always thought it was just some funny word he made up. :biggrin2:


Duenna (do̵̅o̅ en′ə, dyo̵̅o̅-)
noun
1.an elderly woman who has charge of the girls and young unmarried women of a Spanish or Portuguese family
2.a chaperon or governess
Etymology: Sp dueña < L domina, mistress: see dame

from Needful Things
"If Nettie's willing to go see him without a duenna, I ought to check him out. The guy must really be a charmer"

[smooth operator]

Hebetude (heb-i-tood) - noun - mental dullness or sluggishness; lethargy

My lack of sleep led to a day of hebitude for me.

[Haunted]

Adipocere

or grave wax or mortuary wax is a water-insoluble material consisting mostly of saturated fatty acids. It is formed by the slow hydrolysis of fats in decomposing material such as a human cadaver by action of anaerobic bacteria. The transformation of fats into adipocere occurs best in the absence of oxygen in cold and humid environment, such as in wet ground or mud at the bottom of a lake or a sealed casket, and it can occur with both embalmed and untreated bodies. Corpses of infants and overweight persons are particularly prone to adipocere transformation. Adipocere formation begins within a month of death, and in the absence of air it can persist for centuries.[1] An exposed, infested body or a body in a warm environment is unlikely to form deposits of adipocere.

It is generally believed to have first been discovered by the Frenchman Fourcroy in the 18th century; however, Sir Thomas Browne describes this substance in his discourse, Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial of 1658:

"In a Hydropicall body ten years buried in a Church-yard, we met with a fat concretion, where the nitre of the Earth, and the salt and lixivious liquor of the body, had coagulated large lumps of fat, into the consistence of the hardest castle-soap: wherof part remaineth with us."
In essence, in this process the usual dissolution of putrefaction is replaced by a permanent firm cast of fatty tissues and even internal organs and face. This allows some estimation of body shape and facial features, and injuries are often well-preserved. Dr Augustus Granville is believed to have somewhat unwittingly made candles from the adipocere of a mummy and used them to light the public lecture he gave to report on the mummy's dissection.[2]

The Mütter Museum possesses the Soap Lady, the body of an extremely obese woman, which was almost entirely saponified

[Kim L.]

Curtain lecture: A private lecture by a wife to her husband.

Eugene's first curtain lecture was sufficiently unpleasant that he hoped it would be his last.

[jenboxer77]

Adipocere

or grave wax or mortuary wax is a water-insoluble material consisting mostly of saturated fatty acids. It is formed by the slow hydrolysis of fats in decomposing material such as a human cadaver by action of anaerobic bacteria. The transformation of fats into adipocere occurs best in the absence of oxygen in cold and humid environment, such as in wet ground or mud at the bottom of a lake or a sealed casket, and it can occur with both embalmed and untreated bodies. Corpses of infants and overweight persons are particularly prone to adipocere transformation. Adipocere formation begins within a month of death, and in the absence of air it can persist for centuries.[1] An exposed, infested body or a body in a warm environment is unlikely to form deposits of adipocere.

The Mütter Museum possesses the Soap Lady, the body of an extremely obese woman, which was almost entirely saponified

:eek2: Ewwww. That left some pretty gross images in my mind!

[tipsana]

SK uses the word "rugose" frequently in his early books. Like Ingo Montoya's son, 'I do not thing that word means what you think'!

[Haunted]

caul
Pronunciation: \ˈkȯl\
Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English calle net, omentum, probably from Old English cawl basket

Date: 14th century

1 : the large fatty omentum covering the intestines (as of a cow, sheep, or pig)
2 : the inner fetal membrane of higher vertebrates especially when covering the head at birth


Danny, in The Shining, was born with a caul covering his head.

[Haunted]

Gentleman's Relish

is a type of anchovy paste. It is also known as Patum Peperium.

It was created in 1828 by an Englishman called John Osborn. It tastes very strong, very salty and slightly fishy (a bit like trout) and contains anchovies (minimum 60%), butter, herbs and spices. The exact recipe however has remained a secret and was passed down by word of mouth over the years. Today, only Elsenham Quality Foods in Elsenham, England, is licensed to make it.

The traditional way of eating Gentleman's Relish is on thin slices of buttered white bread toast, either on its own, or with cucumber, or mustard and cress.

Gentleman's Relish can also be added to mince for a different-tasting shepherd's pie or to the mixture for fish cakes, potato cakes and croquettes. Alternatively it can be melted into scrambled eggs or be used as a topping for jacket potatoes.

(Came across this in The Sweetness and the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley.
Also, evidently has another, more 'modern', meaning according to Urban dictionary that I am not touching with a ten foot pole.:eek2:)

[jenboxer77]

birl


(burl)

MEANING:
verb tr., intr.:
1. To rotate (a floating log) by running on it in place.
2. To spin or rotate.


ETYMOLOGY:
Of uncertain origin, perhaps a blend of birr and whirl.


USAGE:
"Area lumberjacks compete in events ranging from axe throwing to birling."
Robert J. Hughes; Driving Off the Beaten Path; The Wall Street Journal; May 10, 2002.

"The ball broke to him on the right of the box and he birled round in one motion to score with a fierce low shot into the opposite corner of Poom's goal."
Martin Hannan; Dobbie Arrives in Fine Style at Hibs; Scotland on Sunday (Edinburgh, Scotland); Jul 27, 2003.

http://wordsmith.org/words/images/birl.jpg

[Perse Jr.]

cynosure \SY-nuh-shoor; SIN-uh-shoor\ (noun): An object that serves as a focal point of attention and admiration; that which serves to guide or direct; [Capitalized]. The northern constellation Ursa Minor, which contains the North Star; also, the North Star itself.

Examples:
The monarch, at the apex of court power and centre of its ritual, and the greatest patron of the arts, was the cynosure of this culture, standing (or, more usually, sitting) at the centre of a system of artistic practice intended to represent his or her sacred omnipotence and monopoly of power.
-- John Brewer, The Pleasures of the Imagination

Lucy is very pretty and becomes the cynosure not only of the aforementioned characters, but also of several faceless and epicene young men who also loiter about.
-- John Simon, "Stealing Beauty", National Review, July 15, 1996

Then, feeling himself the cynosure of every eye in the library, he extemporized a brief speech on his "lucky day."
-- Peter Schneider, Eduard's Homecoming

(source: Dictionary.com)

[Haunted]

bowdlerize \BODE-luh-rise; BOWD-\, transitive verb:

1. To remove or modify the parts (of a book, for example) considered offensive.
2. To modify, as by shortening, simplifying, or distorting in style or content.

Bowdlerize derives from the name Thomas Bowdler, an editor in Victorian times who rewrote Shakespeare, removing all profanity and sexual references so as not to offend the sensibilities of the audiences of his day.

[jacobtlong]

Trichinosis -

Noun

Definition:

Trichinosis, also called trichinellosis, or trichiniasis, is a parasitic disease caused by eating raw or undercooked pork and wild game infected with the larvae of a species of roundworm Trichinella spiralis, commonly called the trichina worm. There are eight Trichinella species; five species are encapsulated and three are non-encapsulated. Only three Trichinella species are known to cause Trichinosis: T. spiralis, T. nativa, and T. britovi. The few cases in the United States are mostly the result of eating undercooked game, bear meat, or home reared pigs. It is most common in the developing world and where pigs are commonly fed raw garbage.

Encapsulated -

adjective

Definition:

protected by membrane: describes an organ or tumor covered by a thin protective membrane

[Tery]

A few from this week's dairy, Words About Words...

An abbreviation is a shortened or contracted form of a word or phrase, used to represent the whole, as Dr. for Doctor, U.S. for United States, lb. for pound.
To abridge is to shorten by editing while retaining the basic contents of the book, speech, etc.
An abecedarian is a person who is learning the letters of the alphabet. Abecedary means something pertaining to the alphabet or placed in alphabetical order. Like this list.
Accidence is the study of inflection as a grammatical device. It can also describe a book of grammar fundamentals.
An acronym is word formed by combining the beginning letters of a name or phrase, as in NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), or by combining the initial syllables of a series of words, as in radar (radio detecting and ranging. If it can't be said as a word, it is an initialism. The puzzle called an acrostic is a series of lines or verses in which the first, last, or other particular letters when taken in order spell out a word, phrase, etc.
Something we see quite a bit of on the Web is adoxography, fine writing in praise of trivial or base subjects.
Forming new words by combining other words and/or word elements is called agglutination.

Allegory is a form of extended metaphor in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative are equated with meanings that lie outside the narrative. The underlying meaning may have moral, social, religious, or political significance. Often, characters are personifications of abstract ideas such as charity, greed, or envy. The allegory is then a story with two meanings; a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning. Pilgrim's Progress is a good example of an allegorical novel.
Alliteration is the repetition of the same sound at the beginning of a word, commonly used for emphasis. It occurs in everyday speech in such phrases as tit-for-tat, bag and baggage, primrose path, look before you leap. Specifically, consonance repeats consonants and assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds.
An allusion is a brief reference to a person, event, place, or phrase which the writer assumes will be recognized. Allusions have the possible drawback of being dated. For example, a reference to Peck's Bad Boy might be understood by an older audience, but younger readers won't get it. On the other hand, an older audience might not catch a reference to Naruto.
An anagram is a word or phrase made by transposing the letters. Examples include god/dog, weird/wired, love/vole and Bolton/Notlob.
If you've taken the SAT, you will recognize the analogy, the comparison of two pairs which have the same relationship.

ASL, American Sign Language, is the dominant form of communication among the deaf communities of North America. Sign language is as old as mankind but it took Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet to standardize and popularize the signing technique.
Back-formation is creating a new word by removing an affix from an already existing word, (grunge from grungy) or by removing what is mistakenly thought to be an affix (pea from pease).
Needless and/or wearisome repetition of words in speaking or writing is something we've been exposed to quite a bit lately. We now have a name for it, battology.
Any book, reference work, periodical, etc., accepted as authoritative, informative, or reliable is a bible. The Greek root biblio also gave us bibliophile for a booklover and bibliography for a list of written references used in a text.
Coarse or vulgar language is known as billingsgate. The Billingsgate was a fish market in London.
A commonplace remark or a trite platitude is a bromide. These usually express a popular thought which has lost originality and impact by long overuse. Older but wiser and you snooze, you lose are examples.
With the invention of telegrams came a language that was adopted for writing them. Cablese arose because telegraph messages were charged on a per-word basis. It is the shorthand forbear of texting.
The Greek root kakos (bad) gives us several words. Cacoepy or cacology is the incorrect pronunciation of a word or socially unacceptable diction. Cacography is poor handwriting or incorrect spelling. Using an intentionally harsh word or expression (usually deliberately offensive) instead of a polite one is cacophemism, and the word used is a caconym.

More later.....

[doowopgirl]

Hi,

My word for tomorrow is 'procrastinate' LOL.

Long days and pleasant nights
Dear John, I like the idea,too. I have to do some thinking to come up with one. By the way I like you sign off

[Perse Jr.]

Trichinosis -

It is most common in the developing world and where pigs are commonly fed raw garbage.



Just more reasons/arguments why I haven't eaten pork (pig) in 14 years!


abstemious \ab-STEE-mee-us\ (adjective): marked by restraint especially in the consumption of food or alcohol; also, reflecting such restraint;

Example Sentence: Anthony's midlife heart attack opened his eyes to the importance of taking care of his body and turned him to a more abstemious and healthful lifestyle. (source: M-W online).

[jenboxer77]

I have actually had these things happen to me! Too funny!

From the Urban Dictionary:

blinker beat (http://www.stephenking.com/define.php?term=blinker%20beat&defid=4169949)

(javascript:void(0))When the tic-toc of the blinkers syncs with the music playing on the car radio.
"Dude check it out, I got blinker beat happening on this Jay-Z song."
the_elder (http://www.stephenking.com/author.php?author=the_elder) share this (http://www.stephenking.com/forums/#)
buffer race (http://www.stephenking.com/define.php?term=buffer%20race&defid=3098091)

(javascript:void(0))The race between the playback line and the buffer bar on an internet video.
"Damn i cant hear a freekin thing this guys saying it keeps skipping because of the damn buffer race. the buffer bar is losing."

[Drawn to Ka-tet]

From the Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce:

Felon,n.
A person of greater enterprise than discretion, who in embracing an opportunity has formed an unfortunate attachment.

[Drawn to Ka-tet]

From the Devil's Dictionary:
Love,n.
A temporary insanity curable by marriage or by the removal of the patient from the influences under which he incurred the disorder. This disease, like caries and many other ailments, is prevalent only among civilized races living in artificial conditions; barbarous nations breathing pure air and eating simple food enjoy immunity from its ravages. It is sometime fatal, but more frequently to the physician than to the patient.

[jenboxer77]

smalto


http://wordsmith.org/words/images/smalto.jpg (http://wordsmith.org/words/images/smalto_large.jpg)

sillabub/syllabub: a drink of sweetened milk/cream & wine/cider
qaid/caid: a Muslim tribal chief or judge
smaragd: emerald

PRONUNCIATION:
(SMAHL-to)

MEANING:
noun: Colored glass or enamel used in mosaic.


ETYMOLOGY:
From Italian smalto (enamel, glaze), related to smelt (to melt).


USAGE:
"Using Carrara marble, Venetian gold, and glass smalto, Elaine M. Goodwin creates mosaics inspired by the Classical, Byzantine, Victorian, and contemporary worlds."
Going out; Staying in; The Times (London, UK); Jan 14, 2009.

[Perse Jr.]

smalto


http://wordsmith.org/words/images/smalto.jpg (http://wordsmith.org/words/images/smalto_large.jpg)

sillabub/syllabub: a drink of sweetened milk/cream & wine/cider
qaid/caid: a Muslim tribal chief or judge
smaragd: emerald



LOVE and ADORE the illustration with the definition....neat! :)

[Perse Jr.]

empyreal \em-pye-REE-ul\ (adjective): *1: of or relating to the firmament; celestial 2: sublime;

Example Sentence: Night after night, the comet shone brightly against the empyreal tapestry of the sky (source M-W online).

[BlackThorn]

Word: Abhorrence
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: disgust
Synonyms:
detestation, enmity, hate, hatred, horror, loathing, malice, odium, repugnance, revulsion

[Srbo]

Well, there is actually three questins for today:

"Dum-a-chum?"
"Dad-a-cham?"
"Dod-a-chock?"

Man, did Roland ever scratch his head over this....:biggrin2:

[Tery]

And now, a story. See if you can figure out what the words mean...


At cockshut, Squire Chriss and his boonfellow, Alan, entered the kidliwink and had a seat. They looked forward to some bellytimber and a jubbe of aleberry. There was a mung of people there already. The fopdoodle sat in the corner listening to the blob-tale gossip about the backstress who had made the tipsy-cake he was eating. There was a porknell tenterbelly in the other corner, gloping his lubberwort, his lambition as a noisy accompaniment. By the time their spitchcock came, it was firefanged. So they ordered some crug and a lagenarious vessel of kill-priest. With much bawdreaming, the whoopubb lasted until sparrow-fart.




Translation: At the end of the day, Chriss and his best buddy Alan went down pub. They anticipated food and a large vessel of ale boiled with sugar and spices. There was already a crowd there. The simpleton in the corner was being regaled by the gossip as she talked about the female baker who had made the cake saturated with wine, stuck with almonds and served with custard that he was eating. There was an obese glutton in the other corner gulping down his junk food and smacking and licking his fingers loudly. When their eel cooked with breadcrumbs came it was scorched. So they ordered some bread dipped in beer along with port wine in a flagon-shaped vessel. There was a lot of bawdy mischief and the hubbub lasted until dawn.

[aneaglesangel]

I don't know about today yet, but yesterday the word of the day in my guild on World of Warcraft was "chubby" LOL! Don't ask.......LMAO!! For some reason, since I've joined the guild, there seems to be lots of laughter and silliness going on! Yup, I'm a monster, I am, I am! (Not the chubby as in the child was chubby because he ate so much. More like the chubby as in, look! I got a chubby!)

[AngelZ]

quakebuttock
a coward; a sissy; a pussy

Man, just jump! Dont be such a quakebuttock

[Sugar Marie]

salubrious: Conducive to health; as, salubrious food; healthful.

How my son might use it in a sentence : "I don't care how salubrious Brussels sprouts are, if you make me eat that crap it's coming back up."

[Tery]

saturnine

http://cache.lexico.com/g/d/speaker.gif (http://dictionary.reference.com/audio.html/lunaWAV/S01/S0123300)
Gloomy or sullen in disposition.
Having a sardonic or bitter aspect.
Born under or being under the astrological influence of the planet Saturn.

[jenboxer77]

rimy


PRONUNCIATION:
(RY-mee)

MEANING:
adjective: Covered with frost; frostlike.


ETYMOLOGY:
From rime (frost), from Old English hrim.



http://wordsmith.org/words/images/rimy.jpg http://wordsmith.org/words/images/magnify.png (http://wordsmith.org/words/images/rimy_large.jpg)
Cartoonist: Doug Pike (http://www.doubtfulaccounts.com/)

routh: abundance

USAGE:
"Wild and frozen and mad, nothing but slow-cracking glaciers and phenomenally unfriendly seas and long-broken huts on rimy windswept beaches haunted by the spectres of chill Russian miners."
Euan Ferguson; Why Are They Cool? The Observer (London, UK); Apr 23, 2006.

Explore "rimy (http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=rimy)" in the Visual Thesaurus.

[Haunted]

soi–di·sant


Pronunciation: \ˌswä-dē-ˈzäⁿ\
Function: adjective
Etymology: French, literally, saying oneself
Date: 1752
: self-proclaimed, so-called <threw the soi{ndash}disant epic novel aside in disgust>
or
soi-disant elite

[Haunted]

abecedarian \ay-bee-see-DAIR-ee-uhn\, noun:

1. One who is learning the alphabet; hence, a beginner.
2. One engaged in teaching the alphabet.
3. Pertaining to the letters of the alphabet.
4. Arranged alphabetically.
5. Rudimentary; elementary.

Do you think that when we get inside Barnes and Noble bookstore and Mr. King is at the end of the room that we will be have to line up abecedarian?

[jenboxer77]

Spanish Word of the day:'la lástima' [LAS-tee-mah]
English translation:pity
Synonyms: pena, dolor
Phrase:
¡Que lástima!
What a pity!

[Perse Jr.]

holus-bolus \hoh-lus-BOH-lus\ (adverb): all at once.

Example Sentence: During the fall season, it sometimes seems as if the leaves fall to the ground holus-bolus.

[poisonbat]

Jejune
 
–adjective
1. without interest or significance; dull; insipid: a jejune novel.
2. juvenile; immature; childish: jejune behavior.
3. lacking knowledge or experience; uninformed: jejune attempts to design a house.
4. deficient or lacking in nutritive value: a jejune diet.

Algebra is jejune to me.
The punks in my class are jejune.
My knowledge of Algebra is jejune.

:eyebrow:

[Haunted]

Neurocysticercosis: (NEW-row SIS-tuh-sir-KO-sis).

Neurocysticercosis can form giant cysts in the brain. It is caused by the larval form of the pork tapeworm. It is the most common worm infection of the central nervous system.


A truly cool word but...EWWWWWW:oo:

[Shoshonni]

Palaver.

You'll find that one in a lot of old "dime store" Westerns.

It's basic definition in those book (and old western movies) is to discuss or chit chat.

I love it. It's never used in modern day writing.

[Perse Jr.]

ripsnorter \RIP-SNOR-ter\ (noun): something extraordinary; humdinger

Example Sentence: The SKMB is the most ripsnorting board online.

I don't know if I can change it like that, but I like it! :)

[JohnDalglish]

ripsnorter \RIP-SNOR-ter\ (noun): something extraordinary; humdinger

Example Sentence: The SKMB is the most ripsnorting board online.

I don't know if I can change it like that, but I like it! :)

Hi,

Yes, I think that you can change it any which way you want, PJ.

I firmly believe that language, particularly the hybrid we call English, is a living, evolving, developing creature and not only CAN you change it, but it's almost your duty to change it LOL

(Mind you, the little guy with the red squiggly underlining pen that lives in Firefox doesn't agree with me!)

Long days and pleasant nights

[Haunted]

refulgent \rih-FUL-juhnt\, adjective:

Shining brightly; radiant; brilliant; resplendent.

If Moore was not quite a burned-out case, his once refulgent light flickered only dimly in his sad last years.
-- Martin Filler, "The Spirit of '76", New Republic, July 9, 2001

Refulgent comes from the present participle of Latin refulgere, "to flash back, to shine brightly," from re-, "back" + fulgere, "to shine."

[Luli]

My word of the day is: Epicene

epicene adjective
/ˈep.ɪ.siːn/

belonging to both sexes, or characteristic of the opposite sex

[Haunted]

Plebiscite - noun


1. A direct vote in which the entire electorate is invited to accept or refuse a proposal: The new constitution was ratified in a plebiscite.

2.A vote in which a population exercises the right of national self-determination.

[French plébiscite, from Latin plēbiscītum : plēbis, genitive of plēbs, the people + scītum, decree, from neuter past participle of scīscere, to vote for.]

[Haunted]

crapulous \KRAP-yuh-lus\, adjective:

1. Given to or characterized by gross excess in drinking or eating.
2. Suffering from or due to such excess.

The new money was spent in so much riotous living, and from end to end there settled on the country a mood of fretful, crapulous irritation.
-- Stephen McKenna, Sonia

Crapulous is from Late Latin crapulosus, from Latin crapula, from Greek kraipale, drunkenness and its consequences, nausea, sickness, and headache.

[Sugar Marie]

crapulous \KRAP-yuh-lus\, adjective:

1. Given to or characterized by gross excess in drinking or eating.
2. Suffering from or due to such excess.

The new money was spent in so much riotous living, and from end to end there settled on the country a mood of fretful, crapulous irritation.
-- Stephen McKenna, Sonia

Crapulous is from Late Latin crapulosus, from Latin crapula, from Greek kraipale, drunkenness and its consequences, nausea, sickness, and headache.

Haunted, I'll refrain from the obvious - but that is just too good:)

[Haunted]

lucubration \loo-kyoo-BRAY-shun; loo-kuh-\, noun:

1. The act of studying by candlelight; nocturnal study; meditation.
2. That which is composed by night; that which is produced by meditation in retirement; hence (loosely) any literary composition.

A point of information for those with time on their hands: if you were to read 135 books a day, every day, for a year, you wouldn't finish all the books published annually in the United States. Now add to this figure, which is upward of 50,000, the 100 or so literary magazines; the scholarly, political and scientific journals (there are 142 devoted to sociology alone), as well as the glossy magazines, of which bigger and shinier versions are now spawning, and you'll appreciate the amount of lucubration that finds its way into print.
-- Arthur Krystal, "On Writing: Let There Be Less", New York Times,
March 26 1989

One of his characters is given to lucubration. "Things die on us," he reflects as he lies in bed, "we die on each other, we die of ourselves."
-- "Books of The Times", New York Times, February 7, 1981

Naturally, these fictions ran the risk of tumbling down the formalist hill and ending up at the bottom without readers -- except the heroic students of Roland Barthes or Umberto Eco, professors whose lucubrations were much more interesting than the books about which they theorized.
-- Mario Vargas Llosa, "Thugs Who Know Their Greek", New York Times, September 7, 1986

Lucubration comes from Latin lucubratus, past participle of lucubrare, "to work by night, composed at night (as by candlelight)," ultimately connected with lux, "light." Hence it is related to lucent, "shining, bright," and lucid, "clear." The verb form is lucubrate.

Truly awesome.

[Tery]

Appoggiatura - A nonharmonic tone, usually a half or whole step above the harmonic tone, which is performed on the beat and then resolved.

[Haunted]

logorrhea \law-guh-REE-uh\, noun:

1. Pathologically incoherent, repetitious speech.
2. Incessant or compulsive talkativeness; wearisome volubility.

By his own measure, he is a man of many contradictions, beginning with the fact that he is famous as a listener but suffers from "a touch of logorrhea." He is so voluble that one wonders how his subjects get a word in edgewise.
-- Mel Gussow, "Listener, Talker, Now Literary Lion: It's Official.", New York Times, June 17, 1997

It's also not good if your date has logorrhea.
-- Monte Williams, "8 Minutes in the Life of a Jewish Single: Not Attracted? Next!", New York Times, March 5, 2000


Logorrhea is derived from Greek logos, "word" + rhein, "to flow."

(Is this where diarrhea of the mouth comes from?)

[Haunted]

Wanted to research this as it was included in my previous submit of the word
logorrhea. Further reviews of Ms. Slung's attempts of her own independent writings not so warm and fuzzy. :oo:


SCARE TACTICS (New York Times)
Date: May 10, 1981, Sunday, Late City Final Edition Section 7; Page 15, Column 1; Book Review Desk
Byline: By MICHELE SLUNG; Michele Slung has edited two anthologies of suspense stories, ''Crime on Her Mind'' and ''Women's Wiles.''
Lead:

DANSE MACABRE By Stephen King. Illustrated. 400 pp. New York: Everest House. $13.95.

FANS of Stephen King will not be surprised to learn that Mr. King is a fan himself, for he regularly lets his enthusiasms show through in his books, ''best-scarers'' such as '' 'Salem's Lot,'' ''The Dead Zone'' and recently ''Firestarter.'' He has now assembled a trick-ortreat bag of goodies - childhood reminiscences, anecdotes about fellow writers, plot synopses of favorite films, novels, stories and television programs, a selected reading list, even a quiz -that deals with the genre in which he has so far chosen to work.
Text:

''Danse Macabre,'' a one-man flea market of opinions and ideas, will certainly be a treat for those avid readers of horror, fantasy and science fiction who like nothing better than to sit around, after a George Romero double-feature followed by a late-night rerun of ''The Twilight Zone,'' and recall the great days of E.C. Comics. However, for those who have little interest in accompanying Mr. King on a highly discursive ramble through byways lined with other people's monsters and mad scientists, this book may prove both boring and baffling, a trick instead of a treat. (On the other hand, since Mr. King is not only a fan but a proselytizer, some unsuspecting types may buy ''Danse Macabre,'' not noticing that it's nonfiction, and end up happily conversing about press runs at Arkham House.)

Excess is Mr. King's stock-in-trade, and he has used his prodigious energies over the years to soak up vast quantities of material about weird literature and film. In a spirit of the utmost good humor and generosity, he now spews out all the thoughts he's been storing up, sharing his crotchets and promoting his pets. Mr. King, who possesses an enviable superabundance of imagination, suffers from a less enviable logorrhea. Along with hundreds of names, relevant and irrelevant - from Shirley Jackson to Joan Didion, from H.P. Lovecraft to Ronald McDonald - we are exposed to thousands of Kingian pronouncements; there is nothing that doesn't elicit an opinion from him - or a definitive statement.

I happen to love every opinion of Mr. King's on the written word at least!!! Sounds like a very bitter, bitter lady to me.

[jenboxer77]

Spanish Word of the day: 'el zahorí' [thah-oh-REEH] (http://spanish-word-a-day.com/audio/zahori.wav)
English translation: fortune teller, seer, diviner
Synonyms: adivino, adivinador, brujo
Phrase:

¿Qué te dijo el zahorí?
What did the fortune teller say to you?

[Felipe]

Hi, I have a little word:
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Main Entry: pneu·mo·no·ul·tra·mi·cro·scop·ic·sil·i·co·vol·ca·n o·co·ni·o·sis

Pronunciation: \ˈn(y)ü-mə-(ˌ)nō-ˌəl-trə-ˌmī-krə-ˈskäp-ik-ˈsil-i-(ˌ)kō-väl-ˈkā-nō-ˌkō-nē-ˈō-səs\

Definition: Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "a factitious word alleged to mean 'a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust, causing inflammation in the lungs.'" A condition meeting the word's definition is normally called silicosis.

[Perse Jr.]

[B][FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Hi, I have a little word:
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Main Entry: pneu·mo·no·ul·tra·mi·cro·scop·ic·sil·i·co·vol·ca·n o·co·ni·o·sis


Whoa! Try saying that one 5 times quickly! GOOD ONE!

[Perse Jr.]

ab ovo \ab-OH-voh\ (adverb): from the beginning.

Example Sentence: The documentary presented the history of the city ab ovo, beginning with its inception as a frontier trading post in the 1800s and running through the present (source: M-W online).

[poisonbat]

Instead of just a word, I have a phrase. It is in Japanese but it is an important one.

Ai shinji te wasuru koto.

It means, loosely translated, Respect one another.

:bat:

[Haunted]

efficacious \ef-ih-KAY-shuhs\, adjective:

Capable of having the desired result or effect; effective as a means, measure, remedy, etc.

Lawyers make claims not because they believe them to be true, but because they believe them to be legally efficacious.
-- Paul F. Campos, Jurismania

Henri IV wrote to his son's nurse, Madame de Montglat, in 1607 insisting 'it is my wish and my command that he be whipped every time he is stubborn or misbehaves, knowing full well from personal experience that nothing in the world is as efficacious'.
-- Katharine MacDonogh, Reigning Cats and Dogs: A History of Pets at Court Since the Renaissance

Plagued by rats, the citizens of Hamelin desperately seek some efficacious method of pest control.
-- Francine Prose, review of The Pied Piper of Hamelin, as retold by Robert Holden, New York Times, August 16, 1998

Efficacious is from Latin efficax, -acis, from efficere, "to effect, to bring about," from ex-, "out" + facere, "to do or make."

[Haunted]

gno·mon
Pronunciation: \ˈnō-mən, -ˌmän\
Function: noun

1 : an object that by the position or length of its shadow serves as an indicator esp. of the hour of the day: as a : the pin of a sundial b : a column or shaft erected perpendicular to the horizon

2 : the remainder of a parallelogram after the removal of a similar parallelogram containing one of its corners

Etymology: Latin, from Greek gnōmōn interpreter, pointer on a sundial, from gignōskein Date: 1546

[Haunted]

eldritch \EL-drich\, adjective:

Strange; unearthly; weird; eerie.

In the eldritch light of evening in Nevada's Black Rock Desert, the eye plays tricks on the brain.
-- Thom Stark, "Something's Burning", Boardwatch, November 2000

The immitigable mountains and their stark, eldritch trees; coasts where earth abruptly snapped off, never to be continued, or beaches which gnawed it to bright dust and sucked it gently away. . . .
-- Carolyn Kizer, "A Childhood South of Nowhere", New York Times, April 9, 1989

Eldritch perhaps derives from a Middle English word meaning "fairyland," from Middle English elf, "elf" (from Old English aelf) + riche, "kingdom" (from Old English rice).

[Perse Jr.]

Here is a new word in the English language as created by my little one who is a big drama queen.

Padappadow: what one exclaims when they fall down or knock something over.

[Haunted]

incarnadine \in-KAR-nuh-dyn\, adjective:

1. Having a fleshy pink color.
2. Red; blood-red.

transitive verb:
1. To make red or crimson.

Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
-- Shakespeare, Macbeth (*Ah, sweet Will*)

In a night of rain, the ruddy reflections of their lights incarnadine the clouds till the entire city appears to be the prey of a monster conflagration.
-- Alvan F. Sanborn, "New York After Paris", The Atlantic, October 1906

The more he scrubbed it, the more it bled.
It made the seas incarnadine, he said.
-- Judy Driscoll, "Biddy takes pink gin to the country dance", Hecate, May 1, 1993


From Italian incarnatino, which came from the Latin incarnato, something incarnate, made flesh, from in + caro, carn-, "flesh." It is related to carnation, etymologically the flesh-colored flower; incarnate, "in the flesh; made flesh"; and carnal, "pertaining to the body or its appetites."

[jenboxer77]

spindrift • \SPIN-drift\• noun
1 : sea spray; especially : spray blown from waves during a gale*2 : fine wind-borne snow or sandExample Sentence:

"The winds around the mountain were fierce and a long white plume of spindrift trailed from the summit." (Michael Palin, [London] Sunday Times, September 26, 2004)

Did you know?

"Spindrift" first set sail in the mid-18th century under Scottish command. During its first voyage, it was known by the Scottish moniker "speendrift." "Speen" meant "to drive before a strong wind," so a "speendrift" was a drift of spray during such action. In 1823, English speakers recruited the word, but signed it up as "spindrift." At that time, its sole duty was to describe the driving sprays at sea. However, English speakers soon realized that "spindrift" had potential to serve on land as well, and the word was sent ashore to describe driving snow and sand. Today, "spindrift" still serves us commendably at sea and on land.

[Haunted]

esurient \ih-SUR-ee-uhnt; -ZUR-\, adjective:

Hungry; greedy.

The enemy then was an esurient Soviet Union which, having swallowed up Eastern Europe, had imposed a totalitarian system on countries just liberated from Nazism.
-- Arnold Beichman, "As Truman envisioned our role", Washington Times, April 23, 2002

These new censors, the deconstructionists, take the most luscious and delicious apple and show it to a hungry person. They then seal the fruit with plastic wrap and demand that the esurient victim enjoy its flavour.
-- Michael Coren, "Behold the deconstructionist, who liberates literature by confining it to a cult", Alberta Report, April 10, 1995

Whilst Yeats contemplates the lake and its water-fowl, esurient Edward devours huge loin chops, followed by stewed chicken and platesful of curried eggs, for he is suffering terrific qualms of conscience.
-- George Moore, Hail and Farewell

Esurient comes from the present participle of Latin esurire, "to be hungry, to desire eagerly," from edere, "to eat."

[Haunted]

en·co·mi·um \en-ˈkō-mē-əm\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural en·co·mi·ums also -mia\-mē-ə\

glowing and warmly enthusiastic praise; also : an expression of this

synonyms encomium, eulogy, panegyric, tribute, citation mean a formal expression of praise. encomium implies enthusiasm and warmth in praising a person or a thing <received encomiums from literary critics>.

Eulogy applies to a prepared speech or writing extolling the virtues and services of a person <delivered the eulogy at the funeral service>.

Panegyric suggests an elaborate often poetic compliment <her lyrical memoir was a panegyric to her mentor>.

Tribute implies deeply felt praise conveyed either through words or through a significant act <the concert was a musical tribute to the early jazz masters>.

Citation applies to the formal praise of a person offered in a military dispatch or in awarding an honorary degree <earned a citation for bravery>.

Etymology: Latin, from Greek enkōmion, from en in + kōmos revel, celebration
Date: 1567

[Haunted]

titivate \TIT-uh-vayt\, transitive and intransitive verb:

1. To make decorative additions to; spruce.

intransitive verb:

1. To make oneself smart or spruce.

It's easy to laugh at a book in which the heroine's husband says to her, "You look beautiful," and then adds, "So stop titivating yourself."
-- Joyce Cohen, review of To Be the Best, by Barbara Taylor Bradford, New York Times, July 31, 1988

In The Idle Class, when Chaplin is titivating in a hotel room, the cloth on his dressing table rides up and down, caught in the same furious gusts.
-- Peter Conrad, Modern Times, Modern Places

She works in Make-Up at Heartland, and sits in the wings during recordings of The People Next Door, ready to dart forward and titivate Debbie's hair when required, or powder the actors' noses if they get shiny under the lights.
-- David Lodge, Therapy

Titivate is perhaps from tidy + the quasi-Latin ending -vate. When the word originally came into the language, it was written tidivate or tiddivate. The noun form is titivation.

[Perse Jr.]

sockdolager: \sock-DAH-lih-jer\ (noun): 1. something that settles a matter; a decisive blow or answer; finisher. 2. something outstanding or exceptional.

Example Sentence: For a while I was completely stumped, but then, all of a sudden, I got a sockdolager of an idea. (source: M-W Online).

[Haunted]

foofaraw \FOO-fuh-raw\, noun:

1. Excessive or flashy ornamentation or decoration.
2. A fuss over a matter of little importance.

A somber, muted descending motif opens and closes the work, which is brief but effective. It provided much needed relief from the fanfares and foofaraw in which brass-going composers so often indulge.
-- Philip Kennicott, "Brass Spectacular is a Spectacle of Special Sound", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 17, 1997

As usual, with all cooperation with Tom Lea, Art becomes a "taking away" process rather than the adding of ornaments, rules, and other foofaraw.
-- David R. Farmer, Calgary Sun

Making the Times best-seller list, or a movie, or all that other foofaraw is not necessarily proof of [a novel's] lasting significance.
-- Roger K. Miller, "Peyton Place' was remarkably good bad novel", Minneapolis Star Tribune, December 29, 1996


Foofaraw is perhaps from Spanish fanfarrón, "a braggart."

[Perse Jr.]

foofaraw \FOO-fuh-raw\, noun:

1. Excessive or flashy ornamentation or decoration.
2. A fuss over a matter of little importance.



It's a real word?!?! LOL! We have this friend of the family, her name is...let's say Helen, and she uses this word a lot. I always thought it was a made-up word. HAHA! How 'bout that!! Thanks Haunted!

[jenboxer77]

pukka

\PUHK-uh\ , adjective:
1.Authentic; genuine.

2.Superior; first-class.

Quotes:
He talks like the quintessential pukka Englishman and quotes Chesterton and Kipling by the yard and yet he has chosen to live most of his adult life abroad.
-- Lynn Barber, "Bell book . . . and then what?", The Observer, August 27, 2000

If he does not have a house, the government gives him a pukka residence, not a . . . shack on the pavement but a solid construction.
-- Salman Rushdie, The Ground Beneath Her Feet

Origin:
Pukka comes from Hindi pakka, "cooked, ripe," from Sanskrit pakva-, from pacati, "he cooks."

[Haunted]

pukka

\PUHK-uh\ , adjective:
1.Authentic; genuine.

2.Superior; first-class.

Quotes:
He talks like the quintessential pukka Englishman and quotes Chesterton and Kipling by the yard and yet he has chosen to live most of his adult life abroad.
-- Lynn Barber, "Bell book . . . and then what?", The Observer, August 27, 2000

If he does not have a house, the government gives him a pukka residence, not a . . . shack on the pavement but a solid construction.
-- Salman Rushdie, The Ground Beneath Her Feet

Origin:
Pukka comes from Hindi pakka, "cooked, ripe," from Sanskrit pakva-, from pacati, "he cooks."

Not to be confused with yukka.:biggrin2:

[tracie]

seen as we're on new words excuse my ignorance or irish culture but what does LOL mean??????????

[Perse Jr.]

seen as we're on new words excuse my ignorance or irish culture but what does LOL mean??????????

LOL! :biggrin2:

Laugh - Out - Loud :)

[jenboxer77]

LOL= Laugh Out Loud
LMAO= Laugh My @ss Off
LMAFO= Laugh My eFfing @ss Off

And a few others:
ROFL= Rolling On the Floor Laughing
BBL= Be Back Later
BRB= Be Right Back
TTYL= Talk To You Later
TX= Thanks
IMO= In My Opinion
IMHO= In My Honest Opinion
ILY= I Love You
IDK= I Don't Know

[tracie]

LOL= Laugh Out Loud
LMAO= Laugh My @ss Off
LMAFO= Laugh My eFfing @ss Off

And a few others:
ROFL= Rolling On the Floor Laughing
BBL= Be Back Later
BRB= Be Right Back
TTYL= Talk To You Later
TX= Thanks
IMO= In My Opinion
IMHO= In My Honest Opinion
ILY= I Love You
IDK= I Don't Know
reading this i feel like langdon in the da vinci code

[Tery]

A few from my latest word diary:

Angiogenesis (biology): Angiogenesis, the growth of new capillary blood vessels in the body, is an important natural process used for healing and reproduction. The body controls this by producing a precise balance of growth and inhibitory factors. If this balance is disturbed it can lead to diseases like cancer, skin diseases, age-related blindness, diabetic ulcers, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and many others. A new class of cancer treatments that block angiogenesis are now approved and available.

Kwashiorkor (biology): [kwah-shee-awr-kawr] A severe malnutrition of infants and young children (primarily in tropical and subtropical regions) caused by deficiency in the quality and quantity of protein in the diet. It is characterized by anemia, edema, potbelly, depigmentation of the skin, loss or change in hair color, an digestion problems. This is what we are trying to stop when we donate time and money to charities that feed children in undeveloped countries.

Monotreme (biology): The most primitive order of mammals, characterized by certain birdlike and reptilian features; hatching young from eggs, and having a single opening for the digestive, urinary, and genital organs. Only the duckbill platypus and the echidnas of Australia and New Guinea belong to the Monotremata order.

Xerophyte (biology): [zee-roh-fite] A type of plant that is well-adapted to water shortages and exhibits adaptations that enable it to store or conserve water. Plants like the cactus and other succulents are typically found in deserts where low rainfall amounts are the norm, but xerophytes such as the bromeliads can also be found in moist habitats such as tropical forests, exploiting niches where water supplies are limited or intermittent. In desert areas, home owners are encouraged (sometimes by law) to plant xerophytes so as to conserve water resources.

[Haunted]

fetor \FEE-tuhr; FEE-tor\, noun:

A strong, offensive smell; stench.

Inside it's pitch black & the air is hot & wet with the sweet fetor of rotting grass.
-- Peter Blegvad, "The Free Lunch", Chicago Review, June 22, 1999

When I close my eyes and summon the fond smells of childhood . . . the aroma that fills, as it were, the nostrils of my memory is the sulfurous, protein-dissolving fetor of Nair.
-- Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex

I heard the secrets passed by flapping ravens and smelled, when the wind blew right, the fetor of damp bear fur floating down the trails.
-- Doug Peacock, Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness

Fetor comes from Latin foetor, from foetere, "to stink."

[Perse Jr.]

bromeliad: (noun) - any of numerous, usually epiphytic tropical American plants, having long, stiff leaves and showy flowers, and including the pineapple, Spanish moss, and many species grown as houseplants or ornamentals.

[B]pineapple: [pahy-nap-uhl] (noun) - 1. the edible, juicy, collective fruit of a tropical, bromeliaceous plant, Ananas comosus, that develops from a spike or head of flowers and is surmounted by a crown of leaves; 2. the plant itself, having a short stem and rigid, spiny-margined, recurved leaves; 3. Military Slang: a fragmentation hand grenade.

epiphyte: [ep-uh-fahyt] (noun) - a plant that grows above the ground, supported nonparasitically by another plant or object, and deriving its nutrients and water from rain, the air, dust, etc.; air plant; aerophyte.

(Source: dictionary.com).

[Prince of Darkness]

Hi,

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, a factitious word alleged to mean 'a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust, causing inflammation in the lungs.

It is the longest word in any major dictionary.

Long days and pleasant nights

[marew1]

For years I've subscribed to M-W's "word of the day." I love learning new words (even if I don't use them very often), and I thought it might be fun to "share" new or favorite words with my fellow SKMB mates. There are a lot of words in SK's books that could use a good "looking up" by me too!

Piebald: adjective
"composed of incongruous parts; of different colors ; especially : spotted or blotched with black and white." (M-W Online Dictionary.)

I just created a Social Group called All Words are Stephen King. These are words (or one word) with or without definition associated with Stephen King. Check it out. You're welcome to join.

Mary

[Haunted]

fugacious \fyoo-GAY-shuhs\, adjective:

Lasting but a short time; fleeting.

As the rain conspires with the wind to strip the fugacious glory of the cherry blossoms, it brings a spring delicacy to our dining table.
-- Sarah Mori, "A spring delicacy", Malaysian Star

The thick, palmately lobed lead is lapped around the bud, which swiftly outgrows its protector, loses its two fugacious sepals, and opens into a star-shaped flower, one to each stem, with several fleshy white petals and a mass of golden stamens in the center.
-- Alma R. Hutchens, A Handbook of Native American Herbs

When he proposed the tax in May, Altman thought it would follow the fugacious nature of some flowers: bloom quickly and die just as fast.
-- Will Rodgers, "Parks proposal falls on 3-2 vote", Tampa Tribune, June 27, 2001

Fugacious is derived from Latin fugax, fugac-, "ready to flee, flying; hence, fleeting, transitory," from fugere, "to flee, to take flight." Other words derived from the same root include fugitive, one who flees, especially from the law; refuge, a place to which to flee back (re-, "back"), and hence to safety; and fugue, literally a musical "flight."

[Nutty Bavarian]

Plethora:pleth·o·ra
Pronunciation: \ˈple-thə-rə\
Function: noun
Etymology: Medieval Latin, from Greek plēthōra, literally, fullness, from plēthein to be full — more at full
Date: 1541
1 : a bodily condition characterized by an excess of blood and marked by turgescence and a florid complexion

"Would you say I have a plethora of sweaters?" El Guapo, "¡Three Amigos!"

[Perse Jr.]

fugacious \fyoo-GAY-shuhs\, adjective:

The thick, palmately lobed lead is lapped around the bud, which swiftly outgrows its protector, loses its two fugacious sepals, and opens into a star-shaped flower, one to each stem, with several fleshy white petals and a mass of golden stamens in the center.
-- Alma R. Hutchens, A Handbook of Native American Herbs



sepal: se·pal \ˈsē-pəl\ (noun) - one of the modified leaves comprising a calyx.

calyx: ca·lyx \ˈkā-liks also ˈka-\ (noun) - 1. the usually green outer whorl of a flower consisting of sepals; 2. a cuplike animal structure (as the body wall of a crinoid).

crinoid: cri·noid \ˈkrī-ˌnȯid\ (noun) - any of a large class (Crinoidea) of echinoderms usually having a somewhat cup-shaped body with five or more feathery arms — compare feather star, sea lily

(Source: M-W Online).

[marew1]

serendipity- karma, luck, fortune, coincidence

[jenboxer77]

macabre


/mhttp://www.askoxford.com/images/phonetics/schwa.gifkaabrhttp://www.askoxford.com/images/phonetics/schwa.gif, -bhttp://www.askoxford.com/images/phonetics/schwa.gifr/ • adjective disturbing and horrifying because concerned with death and injury.

— ORIGIN French, from Danse Macabre ‘dance of death’, perhaps from Macabé ‘a Maccabee’ (a member of a 2nd-century bc Jewish sect led by Judas Maccabaeus), with reference to a miracle play depicting the slaughter of the Maccabees.

[jenboxer77]

daymare


PRONUNCIATION:
(DAY-mayr)

MEANING:
noun: A terrifying experience, similar to a nightmare, felt while awake.


ETYMOLOGY:
Coined after nightmare, from a combination of day + mare (an evil spirit believed to produce nightmares). Ultimately from the Indo-European root mer- (to rub away or to harm) that is also the source of mordant, amaranth, morbid, mortal, mortgage, ambrosia, and nightmare.


USAGE:
"Reports like these give me a deep and sickening feeling, somewhere between a daymare and deja vu."
Margaret McCartney; A Swiss Cheese Method to Eliminate Fatal Errors; Financial Times (London, UK); Feb 18, 2006.

[jenboxer77]

lentiginous


PRONUNCIATION:
(len-TIJ-uh-nuhs)

MEANING:
adjective: Covered with freckles.


ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin lentiginosus (freckled), from lentigo (freckle), from lens (lentil).


USAGE:
"I realised that my freckly Celtic complexion wasn't a curse I had to endure for life, and my offensively lentiginous skin could be smoothed into picture-perfect ivory."
Simon Price; Cover-up, Powder and Eyeliner; The Guardian (London, UK); Dec 14, 2002.

[Perse Jr.]

nudnik • \NOOD-nik (the "OO" is as in "good")\ (noun) - a person who is a bore or nuisance.

Example Sentence:
I've known my fair share of nudniks over the years, and I must admit to some I've probably been a nudnik too!

:)

[Haunted]

irenic \eye-REN-ik; -REE-nik\, adjective:

Tending to promote peace; conciliatory.

With an irenic spirit they join the debate, at times ugly and vicious, about the historicity of the Bible (by which they mean the Hebrew Scriptures, also known as the Old Testament).
-- Phyllis Trible, "God's Ghostwriters", New York Times, February 4, 2001

Indeed, for Cozzi -- as for several scholars -- the Interdict controversy of 1606-7 became the emblematic struggle that defined the Venetian Republic as tolerant and open, free from the tyranny of the Counter Reformation Church, animated by an aristocracy steeped in the values of civic humanism and evangelism, and committed to commerce and an irenic diplomacy.
-- John Martin (Editor) and Dennis Romano (Editor), Venice Reconsidered

Taylor was always irenic by temperament and desire, and his sensitivity to others enabled him to bring together and work with people of very diverse views.
-- "The Right Rev John Taylor", Times (London), February 1, 2001

Irenic comes from Greek eirenikos, from eirene, "peace."

[Haunted]

tenebrous \TEN-uh-bruhs\, adjective:

Dark; gloomy.

He found the Earl, who is eight feet tall and has the family trait of a Cyclops eye, standing stock still, dressed from head to foot in deepest black, in one of the most tenebrous groves in all his haunted domains.
-- Peter Simple, "At Mountwarlock", Daily Telegraph, March 20, 1998

We are so used to the tenebrous atmosphere that can be created in indoor theatres that it's a shock to realise that this murkiest of tragedies first saw the literal light of day at the Globe theatre.
-- Paul Taylor, "Cool, calm, disconnected", Independent, June 7, 2001

And lurking behind our every move is the knowledge of our own mortality. It gives life its edgy disquiet, its tenebrous underside.
-- Douglas Kennedy, "Sudden death", Independent, June 3, 1999

Tenebrous derives from Latin tenebrosus, from tenebrae, "darkness."

[Haunted]

fungible \FUHN-juh-buhl\, adjective:

1. (Law) Freely exchangeable for or replaceable by another of like nature or kind in the satisfaction of an obligation.
2. Interchangeable.

noun:
1. Something that is exchangeable or substitutable. Usually used in the plural.

People think this tax is for Social Security. But tax monies are really fungible. They get raided all the time.
-- Eugene Ludwig, "Motivated to Work," interview by Kerry A. Dolan", Forbes, March 20, 2000

The setting is Ireland in the 1950's, but, a cynical reader might reflect, this sort of fiction is so common that the characters will be completely fungible.
-- Susan Isaacs, "Three Little Girls From School", New York Times, December 30, 1990

Genuine eros makes us desire a particular person; crude desire is satisfiable by fungible bodies.
-- Edward Craig (general editor), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Fungible comes from Medieval Latin fungibilis, from Latin fungi (vice), "to perform (in place of)."

[Haunted]

scuttlebutt \SKUHT-l-buht\, noun:

1. A drinking fountain on a ship.
2. A cask on a ship that contains the day's supply of drinking water.
3. Informal. Gossip; rumor.

What were they talking about? Sports? Neighborhood scuttlebutt? Off-color jokes? I didn't know; I knew only how exciting it was to see Dad in action.
-- Eric Liu, The Accidental Asian

It was written in the optimistic belief that open debate beats backroom scuttlebutt.
-- Jon Entine, Taboo

In snooping around, my mother overheard the pageant scuttlebutt, which was that Snow White was the big winner.
-- Delta Burke with Alexis Lipsitz, Delta Style

Scuttlebutt comes from scuttle, "a small opening" + butt, "a large cask" -- that is, a small hole cut into a cask or barrel to allow individual cups of water to be drawn out. The modern equivalent is the office water cooler, also a source of refreshment and gossip.

[rose key]

horripilation (hor·rip·i·la·tion) n.

the raising of the hairs on the skin as a response to cold or fear; goose bumps or goose pimples.

"Suddenly he was swept by horripilation. The goosbumps swept up from his ankles all the way to the nape of his neck, where the hairs stirred and tried to lift."
-SK UTD pg 42

Isn't that a wonderful word? I had to look it up, because I've never heard of it. Thought it would be properly appreciated here.

[Haunted]

asseverate \uh-SEV-uh-rayt\, transitive verb:

To affirm or declare positively or earnestly.

But of course it is! asseverates Herman Woodlife.
-- Miles Kington, "Child slavery: the half-truth", Independent, June 12, 1998

Castro's been known to snow people, but he didn't snow me, Mr. Weicker asseverated.
-- "Fading Fidel and his gulled groupies", Washington Times, July 6, 2001

Mr. Vidal asseverates that McVeigh is "very, very bright." He writes with "perfect" spelling, punctuation and grammar.
-- R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., "When grim opportunity knocks . . .", Washington Times, May 11, 2001

Asseverate comes from Latin asseverare, "to assert seriously or earnestly," from ad- + severus, "severe, serious."

[Haunted]

Cholecystectomy (pronounced /ˌkɒləsɪsˈtɛktəmi/, plural: cholecystectomies) is the surgical removal of the gallbladder. It is the most common method for treating symptomatic gallstones. Surgical options include the standard procedure, called laparoscopic cholecystectomy, and an older more invasive procedure, called open cholecystectomy. A cholecystectomy is performed when attempts to treat gallstones with ultrasound to shatter the stones (lithotripsy) or medications to dissolve them have not proved feasible.

[Haunted]

benison \BEN-uh-suhn; -zuhn\, noun:

Blessing; benediction.

In the beginning, Gibran's small estate was worth some $50,000, benison enough for a village of ten thousand souls.
-- Stefan Kanfer, "But is it not strange that elephants will yield -- and that The Prophet is still popular?", New York Times, June 25, 1972

Yet to be with him was a benison, a curiously exhilarating and anarchic experience, as the lightning celerity of his thought processes took you on a kind of helter-skelter ride of surreal non-sequiturs, sudden accesses of emotion and ribald asides, made all the more bizarre for being uttered in those honeyed tones by the impeccably elegant gent before you.
-- Simon Callow, "A life full of frolics", The Guardian, May 19, 2001

Benison comes from Old French beneison, from Latin benedictio, from benedicere, "to bless," from bene, "well" + dicere, "to say."

[jenboxer77]

esprit de corps


PRONUNCIATION:
(eh-SPREE duh COR)

MEANING:
noun: A spirit of solidarity; a sense of pride, devotion, and honor among the members of a group.


ETYMOLOGY:
From French esprit (spirit), de (of), corps (body, group).


USAGE:
"Using cooking to promote an esprit de corps and employee bonding had its beginnings on the West Coast."
Jonnie Bassaro; Corporate Employees Bond Through Cooking; News-Times (Danbury, Connecticut); Sep 17, 2007.

[Haunted]

myrmidon \MUR-muh-don; -duhn\, noun:

1. (Capitalized) A member of a warlike Thessalian people who followed Achilles on the expedition against Troy.
2. A loyal follower, especially one who executes orders without question.

He risked assassination, torture or . . . retaliation, the defining signatures of Mr. Milosevic and his ultranationalist myrmidons.
-- Bruce Fein, "Follow U.S. war crimes advice?", Washington Times, May 10, 2001

I felt quite sure that the myrmidon on duty in Gadsby Row would tell you all about my visit.
-- Georgette Heyer, Behold, Here's Poison

The best hotel, and all its culinary myrmidons, were set to work to prepare the feast.
-- Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit

Myrmidon derives from Greek Myrmidones, a warlike people of ancient Thessaly.

[Haunted]

ratiocination \rash-ee-ah-suh-NAY-shun; rash-ee-oh-\, noun:

The process of logical reasoning.

For all their vaunted powers of ratiocination, grand masters of chess tend to be a skittery lot.
-- "People", Time, October 26, 1987

The adventures of Sherlock Holmes proved so popular that it became a given that mystery tales should include a sleuth who investigates a murder or other crime, and by virtue of intelligence, ratiocination and perseverance solves a case that initially seemed unsolvable.
-- Maxim Jakubowski, "A beginner's guide to crime fiction", The Guardian, October 29, 1999

Anticipating Sir Arthur Conan Doyle by more than 20 years, an American physician named John Babbington Williams was scribbling stories extolling the fictional exploits of James Brampton, a New York detective with uncanny gifts of observation and ratiocination.
-- Marilyn Stasio, "Guilt's Companion ", New York Times, December 26, 2008

Ratiocination is from Latin rationcinatio, from ratiocinari, "to compute, to calculate, to reason," from ratio, "reckoning, calculation, reason," from reri, "to reckon, to think."

[17021jude]

I love a word challenge!! Great idea! Well, this word should suit me for today, as we recieved a foot of snow last night and I am the only one who made it to work today...

and I haven't even seen the mailman, yet....

Soliloquy L.solus, alone loqui, speak 1.a talking to oneself 2. lines in a drama spoken by a character as if to himself.

[boogerb53]

Class, today's word is a simple one, with a followup word....

Liar-Someone who would rather lie than tell the truth.

Moron-Someone who repeatedly believes these lies.

[Felipe]

Hi everyone, a ''little'' word:

:exclaim:Caution: If you have fear of long words don't see this.

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, a fear of long words.

Pronunciation: hɪ.pə.pɒ.təˈmɒn.strəˌsɛ.skwɪ.pɪˈdeɪ.lɪəˌfoʊ.bɪə

Etymology: Extension of sesqui(p)pedalophobia with monstrum "monster" and a truncated form of hippopotamus, intended to exaggerate the length of the word itself and the idea of the size of the words being feared. The word consists of 36 letters.

[Haunted]

triskaidekaphobia \tris-ky-dek-uh-FOH-bee-uh\, noun:

Fear or a phobia concerning the number 13.

Thirteen people, pledged to eliminate triskaidekaphobia, fear of the number 13, today tried to reassure American sufferers by renting a 13 ft plot of land in Brooklyn for 13 cents . . . a month.
-- Daily Telegraph, January 14, 1967

Past disasters linked to the number 13 hardly help triskaidekaphobics overcome their affliction. The most famous is the Apollo 13 mission, launched on April 11, 1970 (the sum of 4, 11 and 70 equals 85 - which when added together comes to 13), from Pad 39 (three times 13) at 13:13 local time, and struck by an explosion on April 13.
-- "It's just bad luck that the 13th is so often a Friday", Electronic Telegraph, September 8, 1996

Despite NASA's seemingly ingrained case of triskaidekaphobia, which forced managers to impose the bizarre, '13-free' numbering system on its flights, the crew of perhaps the most important Shuttle mission to date clearly were unsure if STS-41C was supposed to be unlucky or not.
-- Ben Evans, Space Shuttle Challenger: Ten Journeys into the Unknown

Triskaidekaphobia is from Greek treiskaideka, triskaideka, thirteen (treis, three + kai, and + deka, ten) + phobos, fear.

Some famous triskaidekaphobes:

Napoleon
Herbert Hoover
Mark Twain
Richard Wagner
Franklin Roosevelt


1. Source: "It's just bad luck that the 13th is so often a Friday," Electronic Telegraph, September 8, 1996

[Perse Jr.]

namby-pamby \nam-bee-PAM-bee\ (adjective): lacking in character or substance; insipid; weak, indecisive.

Example Sentence: The candidate criticized her opponent during the debate, calling him a namby-pamby flip-flopper who could not stand up for what he believed in.

The word itself matches the definition perfectly! Namby-pamby!

[Mr. Jingles]

namby-pamby \nam-bee-PAM-bee\ (adjective): lacking in character or substance; insipid; weak, indecisive.

Namby Pamby is also a character in "Drop Dead Fred", one of my FAVE movies ever!!! Rik Mayall is awesome!:laugh:

[jprendable]

seraphic....a word I often use to describe my wife....it means angelic...

[Samantha_]

frosty adj. 1. Freezing, frozen, icy, glacial, frigid, arctic, wintry, bitter.

2. Unfriendly, cold, unwelcoming, hostile.

Source: Oxford Dictionary, Thesaurus & Wordpower Guide

Or ... Frosty, the name of a certain famous snowman :grinning:

[coolambindang]

Anthropomorphism : attribution of human characteristics to non-human creatures, beings, objects, or abstract forms and ideas.

"Such a great word"

[Haunted]

clinquant \KLING-kunt\,

adjective:
1. Glittering with gold or silver; tinseled.

noun:
1. Tinsel; imitation gold leaf.

Leaves flicker celadon in the spring, viridian in summer, clinquant in fall, tallying the sovereign seasons, graying and greening to reiterate the message of snow and sun.
-- Ann Zwinger, Beyond the Aspen Grove

The room had a twelve-foot high ceiling: hanging from it, four dimly lit antique brass chandeliers cast a clinquant glow on this sunless day.
-- Sally Koslow, The Late, Lamented Molly Marx: A Novel

The water, turned clinquant by the sunset, lay rather than stood.
-- William Least Heat-Moon, River-Horse: The Logbook of a Boat Across America

Clinquant is from French, glistening, tinkling, present participle of obsolete clinquer, to clink, perhaps from Middle Dutch klinken.

[Haunted]

aubade \oh-BAHD\, noun:

A song or poem greeting the dawn; also, a composition suggestive of morning.

He was usually still awake when the birds began to warble their aubade.
-- Christopher Buckley, "What was Robert Benchley?", National Review, June 16, 1997

And there he lingered till the crowing cock...Sang his aubade with lusty voice and clear.
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Emma and Eginhard

Gwynn was up the back, playing a soft aubade on the piano that Feni had installed years ago when business was brisker and he could afford to pay entertainers.
-- K.J. Bishop, The Etched City

Aubade comes from the French, from aube, dawn + the noun suffix -ade: aube ultimately derives from Latin albus, white, pale, as in "alba lux," the "pale light" of dawn.

[Haunted]

quietus \kwy-EE-tuhs\, noun:

1. Final discharge or acquittance, as from debt or obligation.
2. Removal from activity; rest; death.
3. Something that serves to suppress or quiet.

I have put a quietus upon that ticking. Depend upon it, the ticking will trouble you no more.
-- Herman Melville, "The Apple-Tree Table"

Consider a small police-blotter report from an 1875 issue of The Grant County Herald in Silver City, N[ew] M[exico]: "We learn that on Friday, Jose Garcia, who lives at the Chino copper mines, caught his wife in flagrante delicto -- we leave the reader to guess the crime -- Jose, then and there, gave her the quietus with an axe."
-- Thomas Kunkel, "The Pen Is Mightier Than the Six-Shooter", New York Times, August 30, 1998

It was after eleven when Fanning put the quietus to his day, retreating to the "Hospitality Suite" where he'd been hanging his hat these past weeks.
-- David Long, The Daughters of Simon Lamoreaux

During his final illness, someone asked Schiller how he felt: "calmer and calmer" was the reply. It was a quietus he richly deserved.
-- Roger Kimball, "Schiller's 'Aesthetic Education", New Criterion, March 2001

Quietus is from Medieval Latin quietus (est), "(it is) at rest" (said of an obligation that has been discharged), from Latin quietus, "at rest."

[JohnnyHack]

This word makes me laugh. Gynandromorph meaning a bug having both male and female parts

[Haunted]

Human chorionic gonadotropin or (hCG) is a glycoprotein hormone produced in pregnancy that is made by the developing embryo soon after conception and later by the syncytiotrophoblast (part of the placenta). Its role is to prevent the disintegration of the corpus luteum of the ovary and thereby maintain progesterone production that is critical for a pregnancy in humans. hCG may have additional functions; for instance, it is thought that hCG affects the immune tolerance of the pregnancy. Early pregnancy testing, in general, is based on the detection or measurement of hCG. Because hCG is produced also by some kinds of tumor, hCG is an important tumor marker, but it is not known whether this production is a contributing cause or an effect of tumorigenesis.


So the baby makes this hormone so he/she won't be rejected as a foreign object by the mother's body.

[Haunted]

tarradiddle \tair-uh-DID-uhl\, noun; also taradiddle:

1. A petty falsehood; a fib.
2. Pretentious nonsense.

Oh please! Even in the parallel universe, tarradiddles of this magnitude cannot go unchallenged.
-- "Taxation in the parallel universe", Sunday Business, June 11, 2000

Mr B did not tell a whopper. This was no fib, plumper, porker or tarradiddle. There was definitely no deceit, mendacity or fabrication.
-- "Looking back", Western Mail, May 11, 2002

Other amendments, such as a chef at the birthday party, a dancing bear in the hunting scene, and a brief solo for the usually pedestrian Catalabutte, seemed more capricious, and the synopsis suggested further changes had been planned but perhaps found impractical. Some tarradiddle with roses for death and rebirth also necessitated different flowers for the traditional Rose Adagio.
-- John Percival, "The other St Petersburg company", Independent, November 22, 2001

Tarradiddle is of unknown origin.

[JohnnyHack]

My Word of the day is something that I have, just without the fat. Stealth Abs - When your ripped six pack is covered by a thick layer of fat.

[Sigmund]

Weenus-the wrinkly skin on your elbows

[Haunted]

mulct \MULKT\, noun:

1. A fine or penalty.

transitive verb:
1. To punish for an offense or misdemeanor by imposing a fine or demanding a forfeiture.
2. To obtain by fraud or deception.
3. To defraud; to swindle.

Officials repaid such loans by mulcting the public in a variety of legal and extra-legal ways.
-- William H. McNeill, A World History
The fact that major corporations don't have to pay their own way, and instead are able to enlist legislators to mulct common citizens -- and businesses with more modest Washington connections -- deforms the entire political system.
-- Doug Bandow, "The Bipartisan Scandal of U.S. Corporate Welfare"
State lawmakers and state courts . . . [have] ditched old common law rules so as to charge deep-pocket defendants with harms that were once considered other people's fault, thus making it thinkable to mulct automakers for the costs of drunk drivers' crashes
-- Walter Olson, "Firing Squad", Reason, May 1999
Mulct comes from Latin multa, "a fine."

[spanishjoe74]

CONTRAFIBULARITIES.

a word of congratulations as featured in an episode of blackadder the third, when blackadder (rowan atkinson) meets samuel johnson(?)(robbie coltrane) , who has just finished compiling a book of every word in the english language!
upon finding out its not in his newly finished dictionary, blackadder apologises by saying he is 'anaspeptic and frasmotic to have caused him such pericobobulations'!!

still laugh my head off whenever i see this one!!

[Haunted]

phantasmagoria \fan-taz-muh-GOR-ee-uh\, noun:

1. A shifting series or succession of things seen or imagined, as in a dream.
2. Any constantly changing scene.

The significant items in the ensuing phantasmagoria soon appear, however -- a dry well, a house abandoned because of a series of tragedies, a so-called alley blocked at both ends, the statue of a bird looking sadly unable to fly, and the unidentified wind-up bird that creaks invisibly in a nearby tree.
-- Phoebe-Lou Adams, review of The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, The Atlantic, November 1997

The new writings more and more take the form of apocalypses -- that is, of supernatural visions which reveal past, present and future under the guise of a phantasmagoria of symbolic persons and animals, divine and diabolical beings, celestial and infernal phenomena.
-- Edmund Wilson, The Dead Sea Scrolls: 1947-1969

David Nixon created this version of the fairy tale -- a phantasmagoria of grim goblins, dancing cushions, flying fish and magical mirrors -- for his former company, BalletMet Columbus, in 1997.
-- Stephanie Ferguson, "Beauty and the Beast", The Guardian, January 6, 2003

Phantasmagoria is from French phantasmagorie, from phantasme, "phantasm" (from Greek, from phantazein, "to make visible," from phantos, "visible," from phainein, "to show") + -agorie, perhaps from Greek agora, "assembly."

[Haunted]

gravitas \GRAV-uh-tahs\, noun:

High seriousness (as in a person's bearing or in the treatment of a subject).

At first sight the tall, stooped figure with the hawk-like features and bloodless cheeks, the look of extreme gravitas, seems forbidding and austere, the abbot of an ascetic order, scion of an imperial family who has foresworn the world.
-- John Lehmann, "T.S. Eliot Talks About Himself and the Drive to Create", New York Times, November 9, 1953

And we want to tell our readers about sharp, clever books, utterly lacking in gravitas, that we know will delight them on the beach or the bus.
-- Benjamin Schwarz, "(Some of) the best books of 2001", The Atlantic, December 2001

That gravitas and germaphobic hypersensitivity sometimes led to situations bordering on slapstick.
-- Pauline W. Chen, M.D., "Why Don't Doctors Wash Their Hands More? ", New York Times, September 17, 2009

Gravitas is from the Latin gravitas, "heaviness, seriousness," from gravis, "heavy, serious."

[Haunted]

matutinal \muh-TOOT-n-uhl\, adjective:

Relating to or occurring in the morning; early.

Get up early and wash your face in the matutinal May Day dew; it will make your skin beautiful and your heart pure.
-- Ray Murphy, "Hurray, Hurray, the Month of May", Boston Globe, April 28, 1988

We had to rehearse at an hour at which no actor or actress has been out of bed within the memory of man; and we sardonically congratulated one another every morning on our rosy matutinal looks and the improvement wrought by our early rising in our health and characters.
-- George Bernard Shaw, "The Author's Apology", Mrs. Warren's Profession

Harry Truman, was -- like Winston Churchill -- known to take a matutinal shot of whisky. He did it after his regular very vigorous early-morning walk.
-- R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., "Plainly presidential", The Washington Times, January 18, 2002

Matutinal is from Late Latin matutinalis, from Latin matutinus, "early in the morning; pertaining to the morning."

[Haunted]

portentous \por-TEN-tus\, adjective:

1. Foreboding; foreshadowing, especially foreshadowing ill; ominous.
2. Marvelous; prodigious; wonderful; as, a beast of portentous size.
3. Pompous.

This victory is without doubt a very special and portentous gift of the gods, she said, "for I believe that there now stands before you the one leader who is the single most qualified to lead us to the peace we long for."
-- Seth Mydans, "Wounded Sri Lankan Sees 'Gift of Gods' in Re-election.", New York Times, December 23, 1999

Death of a Salesman has been debunked as a didactic commentary on the bankruptcy of the American dream of success, while Miller has been dismissed as an epigone of Ibsenism, a preachy, pompous and, yes, portentous writer who belongs, like Clifford Odets and Lillian Hellman, to a middlebrow, pre-modernist past.
-- Michiko Kakutani, "Death of a Salesman': A Salesman WhoTranscends Time.", New York Times, February 7, 1999

Portentous is from Latin portentosus, from portendere, to stretch out before or into the future, to predict, from por- (variant of pro-), before + tendere, to stretch out.

[Matthew.Degnan]

i signed up for this by your suggestion, working out good for me so far!

[Haunted]

malversation \mal-vur-SAY-shun\, noun:

Misconduct, corruption, or extortion in public office.

The Inspector General Act was designed to protect patriotic whistle-blowers who seek to reveal malversation in government.
-- Arthur Schlesinger Jr., "How History Will Judge Him", Time, February 22, 1999

Aniano Desierto, the government ombudsman, said that the preliminary investigation would take 60 days and involve six charges: plunder, malversation (misuse of funds), violations of the anti-graft law, perjury, bribery and possession of unexplained wealth.
-- "Estrada faces plunder inquiry", Times (London), January 22, 2001

Malversation comes, via French, from Latin male, "badly" + versari, "to be engaged in, to take part in."

[Haunted]

tri·ni·tro·tol·u·ene
Pronunciation: \ˌtrī-ˌnī-trō-ˈtäl-yə-ˌwēn\
Function: noun
Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary
Date: circa 1900


Tnt

[Haunted]

interlard \in-tuhr-LARD\, transitive verb:

To insert between; to mix or mingle; especially, to introduce something foreign or irrelevant into; as, "to interlard a conversation with oaths or allusions."

Every night we lined up books on the floor, interlarding mine with his before putting them on the shelves.
-- Anne Fadiman, Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader

At home, she made herself understood in Friulian, but on jaunts with her mother around the village, conversations were interlarded with Italian, German, and Slovenian.
-- Patricia Albers, Shadows, Fire, Snow

But should a grave preacher interlard his discourses with such fooleries?
-- Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Interlard comes from Middle French entrelarder, from Old French, from entre, "between" (from Latin inter-) + larder, "to lard," from larde, "lard," from Latin lardum. The original sense of the word, now obsolete, was "to place lard or bacon amongst; to mix, as fat meat with lean."

[Haunted]

defenestrate \dee-FEN-uh-strayt\, transitive verb:

To throw out of a window.

Some of his apparent chums . . . would still happily defenestrate him if they caught him near a window.
-- Andrew Marr, "No option bar the radical one", Independent, July 5, 1994

I defenestrated a clock to see if time flies!
-- Lane Smith, quoted in "Who's News", Time for Kids, September 25, 1998

A woman, driven to fury by the manner in which her lover prefers to lavish his attention on a match on the telly rather than her, starts to throw his possessions out of the window. He's finally moved to stop her when she tries to defenestrate his new Puma boots.
-- Jim White, "Budgets substantial enough to buy most of the clubs in the Endsleigh", Independent, April 6, 1996

Defenestrate is derived from Latin de-, "out of" + fenestra, "window." The noun form is defenestration.

[bopropadop]

perspicacious [pur-spi-key-shuhhttp://sp.ask.com/dictstatic/dictionary/graphics/luna/thinsp.pngs] –adjective

1. having keen mental perception and understanding; discerning: to exhibit perspicacious judgment.
2. Archaic. having keen vision.

Origin:
1610–20; perspicaci(ty) (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/perspicacity) + -ous (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/-ous)

—Related forms
per·spi·ca·cious·ly, adverb
per·spi·ca·cious·ness, noun

—Synonyms
1. perceptive, acute, shrewd, penetrating.

—Antonyms
1. dull, stupid.

[Srbo]

am·i·ca·ble (m-k-bl)
adj.
Characterized by or exhibiting friendliness or goodwill; friendly.


****

To be practiced as often as possible.:)
Thank you Ms Mod for this one, never heard it before.

[Sigmund]

Trypanophobiais the extreme and irrational fear (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrational_fear) of medical procedures (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_procedure) involving injections (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injection_(medicine)) or hypodermic needles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypodermic_needle). It is occasionally referred to as aichmophobia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aichmophobia), belonephobia, or enetophobia, names that are technically incorrect because they simply denote a “fear of pins/needles” and do not refer to the medical aspect of trypanophobia. Trypanophobia is a term that is rarely used among medical professionals. In the United States National Library of Medicine database (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MEDLINE) of medical journal articles, the term "trypanophobia" cannot be found, although the database contains several journal articles referencing needle phobia.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_of_needles#cite_note-0) The name that is in common usage is simply needle phobia. (Wiki)

[Sigmund]

jeal·ous [ jélləss ] http://www.bing.com/s/playbtn.png (http://www.bing.com/caption/image/?bid=A5Crrzfgz2YBcw&bn=EDPG&FORM=DTPDIA)

envious: feeling bitter and unhappy because of another's advantages, possessions, or luck
suspicious of rivals: feeling suspicious about a rival's or competitor's influence, especially in regard to a loved one
watchful: possessively watchful of something


Synonyms: envious (http://www.bing.com/Dictionary/search?q=define+envious&FORM=DTPDIA), green-eyed, covetous, resentful (http://www.bing.com/Dictionary/search?q=define+resentful&FORM=DTPDIA), green with envy, desirous (http://www.bing.com/Dictionary/search?q=define+desirous&FORM=DTPDIA), bitter (http://www.bing.com/Dictionary/search?q=define+bitter&FORM=DTPDIA), green (http://www.bing.com/Dictionary/search?q=define+green&FORM=DTPDIA)

Sockpuppet
A sockpuppet is an online identity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_identity) used for purposes of deception within an online community (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_community). In its earliest usage, a sockpuppet was a false identity through which a member of an Internet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet) community speaks with or about himself or herself, pretending to be a different person,[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sockpuppet_(Internet)#cite_note-wordspy-0) like a ventriloquist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventriloquist) manipulating a hand puppet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_puppet).