Anamnesis

Word of the Day for Saturday, December 31, 2011

anamnesis \an-am-NEE-sis\, noun:

1. The recollection or remembrance of the past.
2. Platonism. Recollection of the Ideas, which the soul had known in a previous existence, especially by means of reasoning.
3. The medical history of a patient.
4. Immunology. A prompt immune response to a previously encountered antigen, characterised by more rapid onset and greater effectiveness of antibody and T cell reaction than during the first encounter, as after a booster shot in a previously immunised person.
5. (Often initial capital letter) a prayer in a Eucharistic service, recalling the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ.

When I was writing a novel about a fourteen-year-old girl, I must remember what I was like at fourteen, but this anamnesis is not a looking back, from my present chronological age, at Madeleine, aged fourteen.
-- Madeleine L'Engle, The Irrational Season

The narrator of Dostoevsky's Dream of a Ridiculous Man visits in his sleep, in a state of anamnesis perhaps, a humanity living in the Golden Age before the loss of innocence and happiness.
-- Czesław Miłosz, To Begin Where I Am: Selected Essays

Anamnesis is derived from the Greek roots ana (meaning “re”) and mimnḗskein (meaning “to call to mind”). 

With thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Lave

Word of the Day for Friday, December 30, 2011

lave \leyv\, verb:

1. To wash; bathe.
2. (Of a river, sea, etc.) to flow along, against, or past; wash.
3. Obsolete. To ladle; pour or dip with a ladle.
4. Archaic. To bathe.

noun:
1. The remainder; the rest.

adjective:
1. (Of ears) large and drooping.

One must have a freshness of mind, a cleanliness of body. One must lave oneself in sparkling springs—
-- Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy

And sit on the hearthstone so I may lave your alabaster skin with my own hands.
-- Güneli Gün, On The Road to Baghdad

Lave may come from an Old English word gelafian meaning “to wash by pouring” or from the Latin word lavare meaning “to wash.”

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Interpolation

Word of the Day for Thursday, December 29, 2011

interpolation \in-tur-puh-LEY-shuhn\, noun:

1. The act or process of introducing something additional or extraneous between other parts.
2. Something interpolated, as a passage introduced into a text.
3. Mathematics. A. The process of determining the value of a function between two points at which it has prescribed values. B. A similar process using more than two points at which the function has prescribed values. C. The process of approximating a given function by using its values at a discrete set of points.

When men interpolate, it is because they believe their interpolation seriously needed.
-- Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason

"I am inclined to think," he added after a moment, once he had their attention again, "that if some pages were interpolated it was either done around the time of the original edition, or now, in our time.
-- Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Dumas Club

Interpolation is derived from the Latin word interpolātus, meaning “to refurbish or touch up.”

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Fusty

Word of the Day for Wednesday, December 28, 2011

fusty \FUHS-tee\, adjective:

1. Having a stale smell; moldy; musty.
2. Old-fashioned or out-of-date, as architecture, furnishings, or the like.
3. Stubbornly conservative or old-fashioned; fogyish.

He could even smell the old woman in the buggy beside him, smell the fusty camphor-reeking shawl and even the airless black cotton umbrella in which (he would not discover until they had reached the house) she had concealed a hatchet and a flashlight.
-- William Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom!

I won't stop accusing you of being fusty if you don't stop acting that way. For God's sake, what is wrong with seeing what a rock concert is like? I'd like to find out.
-- Lionel Shriver, The Female of the Species

Fusty comes from the Old French word fust, meaning a “wine cask.” As wine casks are stuffy and smelly, the adjective is a logical association.

With thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Adventive

Word of the Day for Tuesday, December 27, 2011

adventive \ad-VEN-tiv\, adjective:

1. Not native and usually not yet well established, as exotic plants or animals.

noun:
1. A not native and usually not yet well established plant or animal.

I'm sure it's hard to be adventive, temporarily naturalized, that is.
-- Gish Jen, World and Town

Carrion beetles usually avoid competition with blowflies by visiting the carcasses at a later, dried stage of decomposition. Next come the omnivores, such as wasps and ants, and finally there are the adventive insects, like spiders.
-- David Shobin, The Provider

Adventive, like adventure, is derived from the Latin word adventus meaning “an advance.” The suffix -ive denotes a noun that comes from an adjective, like detective or active.

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Solatium

Word of the Day for Monday, December 26, 2011

solatium \soh-LEY-shee-uhm\, noun:

1. Something given in compensation for inconvenience, loss or injury.
2. Law. Damages awarded to a plaintiff as compensation for personal suffering or grief arising from an injury.

Perhaps something could be done. And the following week it was. Arthur found himself awarded a solatium of £7, which had accumulated in some overlooked fund, and which the authorities graciously felt could be applied to his purpose.
-- Julian Barnes, Arthur & George

It is essential to emphasize that I was in no way “fired” that afternoon; rather, for the record, I merely committed my signature to a number of documents resigning tenure, accepting a none too liberal severance solatium, agreeing to vacate my offices within the week.
-- Tim O'Brien, Tomcat in Love

Solatium is a variation on the Medieval Latin word sōlācium, which shares the root with the word solace.

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Hiemal

Word of the Day for Sunday, December 25, 2011

hiemal \HAHY-uh-muhl\, adjective:

Of or pertaining to winter; wintry.

Since snow and frost lasted from October well into April, no wonder the mean of my school memories is definitely hiemal.
-- Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory

We took hours to make camp and hours to break camp, and in between tottered like children across the immensity of that bleak and hiemal playground.
-- Beryl Bainbridge, The Birthday Boys

Hiemal is derived from the Sanskrit word hima meaning “cold, frost, snow.”

Thanks go to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Canticle

Word of the Day for Saturday, December 24, 2011

canticle \KAN-ti-kuhl\, noun:

1. A song, poem, or hymn especially of praise.
2. One of the nonmetrical hymns or chants, chiefly from the Bible, used in church services.

And, yes, finally, I understood the love in this canticle not just as love between man and woman as they unite, but between the Creator and His people, our Israel.
-- Donna Jo Napoli, Song of the Magdalene

Of course, anyone who writes canticles must know the life of the saint to perfection, to the least trivial detail.
-- Anton Chekhov, The Bishop and Other Stories

Canticle comes from the Latin word canticum meaning “song.” (That is also the root of “canto.”) The suffix -ule implies a diminutive version, like the word capsule.

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Swaddle

Word of the Day for Friday, December 23, 2011

swaddle \SWOD-l\, verb:

1. To bind an infant with long, narrow strips of cloth to prevent free movement.
2. To wrap (anything) round with bandages.

noun:
1. A long, narrow strip of cloth used for swaddling or bandaging.

A child is our natural company; it is a delight to us to make a fright of it, to fondle it, to swaddle it, to dress and undress it, to cuddle it, to sing it lullabies, to cradle it, to get it up, to put it to bed, and to nourish it...
-- Honoré de Balzac, Droll Stories

But that was a little later—just now Narlikar and Bose were tending to Ahmed Sinai's toe; midwives had been instructed to wash and swaddle the newborn pair; and now Miss Mary Pereira made her contribution.
-- Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children

Swaddle is related to the Old English word swath meaning “a bandage or wrap.”

Thanks to; http://www.dictionary.com/

Calvous

Word of the Day for Thursday, December 22, 2011

calvous \KAL-vuhs\, adjective:

Lacking all or most of the hair on the head; bald.

The wit's voluminous neckerchief unraveled and slipped to the mold, and the spangled silver wig fell from the telltale calvous head.
-- D. M. Cornish, Lamplighter

Admittedly most old, bloated, calvous Germans could double for me, and even if he hadn't been doppelganger material, with the beard I had started growing and the two black eyes, you'd need x-rays to spot the difference.
-- Tibor Fischer, The Thought Gang

Calvous is derived from the Latin word calvus which meant simply “bald.”

Many thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Brogue

Word of the Day for Wednesday, December 21, 2011

brogue \brohg\, noun:

1. Any strong regional accent.
2. An Irish accent in the pronunciation of English.
3. A durable, comfortable, low-heeled shoe, often having decorative perforations and a wing tip.
4. A coarse, usually untanned leather shoe once worn in Ireland and Scotland.
5. Brogan.
6. A fraud; trick; prank.

“Nothing like hair of the dog that bit ya, as long as it's green hair,” he said in that brogue that was getting old.
-- Michael Connelly, The Lincoln Lawyer

His brogue grew less heavy, his speech more formal, tailoring it to his audience.
-- James Rollins, The Doomsday Key

Brogue originally referred to a type of shoe worn by rural Irish and Scottish highlanders. The word came to be associated with the accent of these people by the early 1700s.

With thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Lucent

Word of the Day for Tuesday, December 20, 2011

lucent \LOO-suhnt\, adjective:

1. Shining.
2. Translucent; clear.

The film of evening light made the red earth lucent, so that its dimensions were deepened, so that a stone, a post, a building had greater depth and more solidity than in the daytime light...
-- John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

His lucent top-hat, his dark frock-coat, indeed, every detail, from the pearl pin in the black satin cravat to the lavender spats over the varnished shoes, spoke of the meticulous care in dress for which he was famous.
-- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 1

Lucent comes from the Latin word lucentum meaning “to shine.”

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Ectype

Word of the Day for Monday, December 19, 2011

ectype \EK-tahyp\, noun:

A reproduction; copy.

Were it not for the existence of the prototype, the ectype would not exist. And the characters of the ectype are determined entirely by those of the prototype, being again simply their reflections.
-- Robert W. Jenson, The Knowledge of Things Hoped For

The development of ectype from prototype occurs as a concatenation, so that each dimension arises out of the previous one without wholly seperating itself.
-- Martin Wallen, City of Health, Fields of Disease

As opposed to prototype, ectype originally meant “wrought in relief” in Greek. Its roots are ec, a variant of “ex,” and týpos, a “figure on a wall.”

Thanks go to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Word of the Day for Sunday, December 18, 2011

gangrel \GANG-gruhl\, noun:

1. A lanky, loose-jointed person.
2. A wandering beggar; vagabond; vagrant.

Patrick had a likeness to his father, but was still just a gangrel of a boy with long arms and a slouching posture.
-- David Farland, Worlds of the Golden Queen

I longed to tell you so when you threw me over at the meeting for that pretentious pedant, that long-backed Leslie, whom I remember as a gangrel gawky with his sleeves half-way up his arms.
-- Elizabeth Lynn Linton, The Rebel of the Family

Gangrel dates back to Middle English and is related to the word gangling. The suffix -rel has a very precise use: to denote nouns that are seen as trivial or worthless, as in mongrel or wastrel.

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Procellous

Word of the Day for Saturday, December 17, 2011

procellous \proh-SEL-uhs\, adjective:

Stormy, as the sea.

Amongst other effects he had a surpassing notion for the storm. Kean has seen a mechanical exhibition in Spring Gardens (the remains of Loutherburg's “Eidophusicon”) in which very striking procellous effects has been produced, and which he fancied very available to his purpose.
-- George Raymond, Memoirs of Robert William Elliston: Comedian

The plan traced on our chart will lead us through oceans procellous and perilous straits, amid regions where the atmosphere is cheerless and the sun's rays are pale, and the spring blossoms no sooner unfold their petals than they droop and languish.
-- C.C.C.P. Silva, M.D., The Western Medical Reporter, Vol. 10

Procellous is derived from the Latin word procella meaning “storm” and the suffix -ous which implies a general sense, like in the word operose.

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Abrade

Word of the Day for Friday, December 16, 2011

abrade \uh-BREYD\, verb:

1. To scrape off.
2. To wear off or down by scraping or rubbing.

The cuff digs into Landsman's wrist, sharp enough to abrade the flesh.
-- Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policemen's Union

He was shorter than Lloyd but heavier in the chest, a wiry-limbed man with bristling dark hair and a quick harsh laugh and a way of crinkling his face so you knew he would say something to abrade your skin like sandpaper.
-- Joyce Carol Oates, High Lonesome

Related to abrasion, abrade is from the Latin roots ab meaning “away from” and rādere meaning “to scrape.”

With thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Veriest

Word of the Day for Thursday, December 15, 2011

veriest \VER-ee-ist\, adjective:

1. Utmost; most complete.
2. Superlative of very.

Abagail had held her tongue when Molly said that—Molly and Jim and the others were young and didn't understand anything but the veriest good and the veriest bad.
-- Stephen King, The Stand

Though in the course of his continual voyagings Ahab must often before have noticed a similar sight, yet, to any monomaniac man, the veriest trifles capriciously carry meanings.
-- Herman Melville, Moby-Dick: Or the Whale

Veriest is obviously related to the word very, which derives from the Old French word verai meaning “true, real or genuine.” The suffix -est makes a word a superlative, like fastest.

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Cleave

Word of the Day for Wednesday, December 14, 2011

cleave \kleev\, verb:

1. To adhere closely; stick; cling.
2. To remain faithful.
3. To split or divide by or as if by a cutting blow, especially along a natural line of division, as the grain of wood.
4. To make by or as if by cutting.
5. To penetrate or pass through (air, water, etc.).
6. To cut off; sever.
7. To part or split, especially along a natural line of division.
8. To penetrate or advance by or as if by cutting.

It bothers him as much as it bothers you, but he is a man of faith and the Bible says that a man should leave his mother and father and cleave unto his wife.
-- H.O. Fischer, For This Land

I will confide in thee. But if you betray my confidence, a father's curse shall cleave to you.
-- Sir Walter Scott, Peveril of the Peak

Cleave is actually related to two separate but similar Old English words. Cleofan meant “to split,” while clifian meant “to adhere.” Today the same word carries both meanings.

With thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Cortege

Word of the Day for Tuesday, December 13, 2011

cortege \kawr-TEZH\, noun:

1. A procession, especially a ceremonial one.
2. A line or train of attendants; retinue.

From her parlor window, Susan Kidwell saw the white cortege glide past, and watched until it had rounded the corner and the unpaved street's easily airborne dust had landed again.
-- Truman Capote, In Cold Blood

As the cortege neared the downtown section more cars joined it. The hearse was followed by six Packard touring cars with tops back, driven by liveried chauffeurs and filled with flowers.
-- William Faulkner, Sanctuary

Cortege is related to the Old French word curt meaning “an enclosed yard.” By the 1600s, it referred to “a train of attendants.”

Thanks go to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Felonious

Word of the Day for Monday, December 12, 2011

felonious \fuh-LOH-nee-uhs\, adjective:

1. Wicked; base; villainous.
2. Law. Pertaining to, of the nature of, or involving a felony: as in, felonious homicide; felonious intent.

Now, there was much in your manuscript and the accompanying material which was evidence of indiscreet, and possibly criminal, and in some cases undeniably felonious behaviour.
-- Richard S. Prather, The Cheim Manuscript

Felonious malfeasance. Jimmy, you never talked like that when you were a cop. The term is—crooked scams.
-- Jeff Sherratt, Six to Five Against

Felonious dates back to the the 1500s. The word felon is from the Old French meaning “villan” and the suffix -ous which applies a quality to a general sense, as in nervous or glorious.

With thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

à la mode

Word of the Day for Sunday, December 11, 2011

à la mode \ah luh MOHD\, adjective:

1. In or according to the fashion.
2. Cookery. A.(Of pie or other dessert) Served with a portion of ice cream, often as a topping: apple pie à la mode. B.(Of beef) Larded and braised or stewed with vegetables, herbs, etc., and served with a rich brown gravy.

I do not yet know what is the fashion in England, but naturally if you assure me it is not à la mode, I won't have a lover. Can I have a house in town?
-- Georgette Heyer, The Talisman Ring

However that may be, Wilhelm was undeniably à la mode; the greatest ladies in England would beseech and entreat of him to write but one line in their albums...
-- Hamilton Murray, Falkenburg: A Tale of the Rhine

À la mode literally means “of the fashion” in French. (The sense of a scoop of ice cream on top of pie arose in 1903 in America.)

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Adytum

Word of the Day for Saturday, December 10, 2011

adytum \ad-i-tuhm\, noun:

1. A sacred place that the public is forbidden to enter; an inner shrine.
2. The most sacred or reserved part of any place of worship.

The girls stood in old-fashioned awe of the presence of betrothed lovers, and the schoolroom, by tacit consent, was treated as an adytum into which no third person would venture to penetrate.
-- Bertha Thomas, “Cressida,” London Society, Vol. 33, March 1878

And they, Père Silas and Modeste Maria Beck (that these two wrought in concert I could not doubt) opened up the adytum of his heart...
-- Charlotte Brontë, Villette

Adytum is from the Greek roots a- meaning “not” and -dyton meaning “to enter.”

With thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Bough

Word of the Day for Friday, December 9, 2011

bough \bou\, noun:

A branch of a tree, especially one of the larger or main branches.

In the background, behind the pool and beneath the dramatic sidereal display, there is a little tree with a bird perched in its uppermost bough, exactly as there is on the Star card.
-- Tom Robbins, Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas

He ran up the creeper as easily as though it had been a ladder, walked upright along the broad bough, and brought the pigeon to the ground. He put it limp and warm in Elizabeth's hand.
-- George Orwell, The Orwell Reader: Fiction, Essays, and Reportage

Bough can be traced back to the Sanskrit word bāhu, meaning “shoulder.”

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Copse

Word of the Day for Thursday, December 8, 2011

copse \kops\, noun:

A thicket of small trees or bushes; a small wood.

The sun was setting behind a thick forest, and in the glow of sunset the birch trees, dotted about in the aspen copse, stood out clearly with their hanging twigs, and their buds swollen almost to bursting.
-- Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Despite the December afternoon sunlight, the interior of the copse looked dark and impenetrable. The fact that none of the trees were covered in snow appeared to him to be improbable but welcome.
-- John Berger, Once in Europa

Copse is derived from the Old French word copeiz meaning “a cut-over forest” which originates in the Latin word colpaticum meaning “having been cut.”

With thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Weald

Word of the Day for Tuesday, December 6, 2011

weald \weeld\, noun:

1. Wooded or uncultivated country.
2. A region in SE England, in Kent, Surrey, and Essex counties: once a forest area; now an agricultural region.

I am tempted to give one other case, the well-known one of the denudation of the Weald.
-- Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species

And your advertisements must refer to the other, which is Great Willingden or Willingden Abbots, and lies seven miles on the other side of Battle. Quite down in the weald.
-- Jane Austen, Sanditon

Related to the word wild, weald comes from the Old English word weald meaning “forest.”

Thanks go to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Frondescence

Word of the Day for Monday, December 5, 2011

frondescence \fron-DES-uhns\, noun:

1. Leafage; foliage.
2. The process or period of putting forth leaves, as a tree, plant, or the like.

What we found were three hundred pristine, mostly level acres with a forty-five-acre pond, completely undeveloped, covered with exquisite wildflowers and frondescence.
-- Paul Newman, In Pursuit of the Common Good

I now become aware of the sound of rumbling water, emanating from somewhere inside the rain forest next to my tropical rest stop. I approach the wet and abundant frondescence of the forest.
-- Richard Wyatt, Fathers of Myth

Frondescence is from the Latin root frondēre meaning “to have leaves.” It is clearly related to frond meaning “leaves.”

With thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Collop

Word of the Day for Sunday, December 4, 2011

collop \KOL-uhp\, noun:

1. A small slice of meat.
2. A small slice, portion, or piece of anything.
3. A fold or roll of flesh on the body.

He took up a knife and fork, and collop after collop disappeared.
-- Allan Cunningham, Gowden Gibbie

There was cheesecake and spicecake, along with a most extraordinary dish, exactly like collops of bacon only sweet to the taste...
-- Maria McCann, As Meat Loves Salt

Collop is derived from the Middle English word colhoppe meaning “a dish of stewed meat.”

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/