Pilikia

Word of the Day for Saturday, June 30, 2012

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

Trouble.

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

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

Pilikia stems from a Hawaiian word meaning "trouble". 

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Syndic

Word of the Day for Thursday, June 28, 2012

Syndic \SIN-dik\, noun:

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

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

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

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

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Makebate

Word of the Day for Monday, June 25, 2012

Makebate \MEYK-beyt\, noun:

A person who causes contention or discord.

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

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

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

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Instauration

Word of the Day for Sunday, June 24, 2012

Instauration \in-staw-REY-shuhn\, noun:

1. Renewal; restoration; renovation; repair.
2. Obsolete. An act of instituting something; establishment.

Warm friendship, indeed, he felt for her; but whatever that might have done towards the instauration of a former dream was now hopelessly barred by the rivalry of the thing itself in the guise of a lineal successor.
-- Thomas Hardy, The Well-Beloved

For the first time since the instauration of the Republic of Cuba, the military caste was going to have to manage on its own.
-- Norberto Fuentes and Anna Kushner, The Autobiography of Fidel Castro

Instauration is derived from the Latin word instaurātiōn- which meant "a renewing" or "repeating". 

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Chockablock

Word of the Day for Saturday, June 23, 2012

chockablock \CHOK-uh-BLOK\, adjective:

1. Extremely full; crowded; jammed.
2. Nautical. Having the blocks drawn close together, as when the tackle is hauled to the utmost.

adverb:
1. In a crowded manner: books piled chockablock on the narrow shelf.

This town is chockablock with restaurants that are just clones of the same old themes.
-- Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club

lf opossum and skunk and raccoon can hide there, survive there, year after year, decade after decade, almost in the middle of a teeming metropolitan chockablock, think how an enterprising monkey might fare.
-- Tom Robbins, Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas

Chockablock is of uncertain origin. It is likely related to the word chock-full which means "crammed". The word chock refers to a wooden block that holds something in place.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Enchiridion

Word of the Day for Thursday, June 21, 2012

Enchiridion \en-kahy-RID-ee-uhn\, noun:

A handbook; manual.

For you offer us the postulation that we can, in the shadow, or rather the radiance, of your own enchiridion, go and do likewise.
-- Marcel Proust, Swann's Way

Sarah and Isaac were romping noisily about and under the beds; Rachel was at the table, knitting a scarf for Solomon; grandmother pored over a bulky enchiridion for pious women, written in jargon.
-- Israel Zangwill, Children of the Ghetto

Enchiridion stems from the Greek root cheir meaning "hand". The prefix en- means "within", so the noun means "in the hand". The suffix -idion denotes a diminutive form of another word.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Noctilucent

Word of the Day for Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Noctilucent \nok-tuh-LOO-suhnt\, adjective:

Visible during the short night of the summer.

So Sax would sit on the Western sea cliff, rapt through the setting of the sun, then stay through the hour of twilight, watching the sky colours change as the sun's shadow rose up, until all the sky was black; and then sometimes there would appear noctilucent clouds, thirty kilometers above the planet, broad streaks gleaming like abalone shells.
-- Kim Stanley Robinson, Blue Mars

The shells of 155-mm howitzers whistled away through the dark air, orange flashes popped like noctilucent flowers on the western ridge of Hon Heo Mountain and disappeared shortly after, and then the sound of explosions rumbled through the ground.
-- Junghyo Ahn, White Badge

Noctilucent entered English in the late 1800s. It is a combination of the prefix nocti- (which means "night") and lucent (which means "shining"). 

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Pensée

Word of the Day for Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Pensée \pahn-SEY\, noun:

A reflection or thought.

He rose from his deep chair and at his desk entered on the first page of a new notebook a pensee: The penalty of sloth is longevity.
-- Evelyn Waugh, Unconditional Surrender

In a pensee that could have been cribbed from Mae West's daybook, she also said, “If you want to sacrifice the admiration of many men for the criticism of one, go ahead, get married!”
-- Karen Karbo, How to Hepburn

Pensée comes directly from the French word of the same spelling which means "a thought". 

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Volant

Word of the Day for Monday, June 18, 2012

volant \VOH-luhnt\, adjective:

1. Moving lightly; nimble.
2. Engaged in or having the power of flight.

noun:
1. Also called volant piece. Armour. A reinforcing piece for the brow of a helmet.

But here in the present case, to carry on the volant metaphor, (for I must either be merry or mad) is a pretty little Miss, just, come out of her hanging-sleeve coat, brought to buy a pretty little fairing; for the world, Jack, is but a great fair thou knowest; and, to give thee serious reflection for serious, all its toys but tinselled hobby horses, gilt gingerbread, squeaking trumpets, painted drums, and so forth.
-- Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young Lady

With Rube winging it that spring, the band blared, and the volant baseball team was unbeatable.
-- Alan Howard Levy, Rube Waddell]

Volant stems from the Latin word volāre which meant "to fly". In English, it acquired the sense of moving nimbly in the early 1600s.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Agnate

Word of the Day for Sunday, June 17, 2012

Agnate \ag-neyt\, noun:

1. A relative whose connection is traceable exclusively through males.
2. Any male relation on the father's side.

adjective:
1. Related or akin through males or on the father's side.
2. Allied or akin.

It was considered abomination; no agnate gives up its infant kin in Igboland, no matter the crime.
-- M. O. Ené, Blighted Blues

His uncle in the third segment was the only other agnate who shared patriotic sentiments with Yat-Kuan.
-- Saikaku Ihara, Tales of Japanese Justice

Agnate is derived from the Latin word agnātus which referred to paternal kinsmen. 

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Sardanapalian

Word of the Day for Saturday, June 16, 2012

Sardanapalian \sahr-dn-uh-PEYL-yuhn\, adjective:

Excessively luxurious.

Rich papers with gold borders, bronze chandeliers, mahogany engravings in the dining-room, and blue cashmere furniture in the salon, … all details of a chilling and perfectly unmeaning character, but which to the eyes of Ville-aux- Fayes seemed the last efforts of Sardanapalian luxury.
-- Honoré de Balzac, Sons of Soil

Here, in this half-destroyed Tartar town, surrounded by steppes, he indulged himself in a Sardanapalian effulgence that beggared even his jassy Court.
-- Simon Sebag Montefiore, Potemkin

First used in English in the 1860s, Sardanapalian is an eponym that comes from the legendary Assyrian king Sardanapal who was famous for his decadence.

Thanks to: www. dictionary.com 

Cunctation

Word of the Day for Friday, June 15, 2012

cunctation \kuhngk-TEY-shuhn\, noun:

Delay; tardiness.

Lord Eldon however was personally answerable for unnecessary and culpable cunctation, as he called it in protracting the arguments of counsel, and in deferring judgment from day to day, from term to term, and from year to year after the arguments had closed and he had irrevocably decided in his own mind what the judgment should be.
-- Baron John Campbell, Lives of Lord Lyndhurst and Lord Brougham

"What it's about," Goldman said, with tantalising cunctation, "is a whole lot of things, as a matter of fact."
-- Philip Kerr, The Shot

Cunctation stems from the Latin word cunctātiōn- meaning "delay" or "hesitation".

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Imponderable

Word of the Day for Thursday, June 14, 2012

imponderable \im-PON-der-uh-buhl\, noun:

1. A thing that cannot be precisely determined or measured.

adjective:
1. Not ponderable; that cannot be precisely determined, measured, or evaluated.

Of course he had always been a huge imponderable, if not to say the biggest challenge of her admittedly young life.
-- Lindsay Armstrong, The Constantin Marriage

Of course there's always the imponderable, the unpredictable which can't be foreseen...
-- Leonardo Sciascia, Peter Robb and Sacha Rabinovitch, The Moro Affair

Imponderable comes directly from the Medieval Latin word imponderābilis which had the same meaning.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Mewl

Word of the Day for Wednesday, June 13, 2012

mewl \myool\, verb:

To cry, as a baby, young child, or the like; whimper.

When Celia was growing up, her father had taken in a stray kitten, an avid hunter who – by the time Celia had left for college – still had not gotten over a formative, stray-life trauma that compelled it to mewl between mouthfuls of food.
-- Myla Goldberg, The False Friend

They have mouths that twitch, and eyes that stare, and they babble and they mewl and they whimper.
-- Neil Gaiman, Smoke and Mirrors

Mewl is an imitative word that mimics the sound of a whimper. 

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Fantast

Word of the Day for Tuesday, June 12, 2012

fantast \FAN-tast\, noun:

A visionary or dreamer.

I wouldn't allow the unwashed fantast in my house, but, I have to remind myself, it isn't my house he is being admitted to.
-- Wallace Earle Stegner, All the Little Live Things

The floor of the shop had been sprinkled with water; it had probably been sprinkled by a great fantast and freethinker, because it was all covered with patterns and cabbalistic signs.
-- Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, The Steppe

Fantast entered English from German, though it is based on the Greek word phantastḗs which meant "boaster". It is related to the other English word fantastic.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Ravelment

Word of the Day for Monday, June 11, 2012

ravelment \RAV-uhl-muhnt\, noun:

Entanglement; confusion.

Hampered as I was by my well-known connection with the Gillespie poisoning case, I could not personally make a move towards the ravelment of its mystery without subjecting myself to the curiosity of the people among whom my attention of the District Attorney's office and the suspicion of the men whose business I was in a measure attempting to usurp.
-- Anna Katharine Green, One of My Sons

What I could see clearly, though, was the lower course of the burn: this bisected the small valley and appeared to loop around the far side of the dwelling, partly enfolding it before it broadened out and spread thence through arable to a ravelment of stone and incoming sea.
-- Clifford Geddes, Edge of the Glen

Ravelment derives from the word ravel which means "to become tangled". It entered English in the early 1800s. 

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Mignon

Word of the Day for Sunday, June 10, 2012

mignon \min-YON\, adjective:

Small and pretty; delicately pretty.

And here Jasmin caressed his own arm, and made as if it were a baby's, smiling and speaking in a mignon voice, wagging his head roguishly.
-- William Chambers and Robert Chambers, Chambers's Edinburgh Journal

As the village princeling and household cosset, the toast of the family, the mignon of the minions, the darling of the staff, my feelings about the proposed adoption would not be hard to divine.
-- Martin Amis, Success

Mignon stems from the French word of the same spelling which means "delicate" or "charming". It is also related to the word "minion" through the sense of "small".

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Pochismo

Word of the Day for Saturday, June 9, 2012

pochismo \poh-CHEEZ-moh\, noun:

1. An English word or expression borrowed into Spanish.
2. A form of speech employing many such words.
3. An adopted U.S. custom, attitude, etc.

Along the Texas border, in the towns on both sides of the Rio Grande, they call a similar blending of languages pochismo.
-- Robert Wilder, Plough the Sea

The assimilation of English with Spanish speech and of Hispanic with Anglo traits in the mixed culture termed pochismo has brought contrasting values and characteristics into play within families and even within individuals.
-- Milo Kearney and Manuel Medrano, Medieval Culture and the Mexican American Borderlands

Pochismo entered English in the 1940s. It is a variation of the word pocho which refers to a person of Mexican heritage who has adopted American customs. The suffix -ismo is usually the Spanish equivalent of the English suffix -ism.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Divulse

Word of the Day for Friday, June 8, 2012

divulse \dahy-VUHLS\, verb:

To tear away or apart.

A perforation having been so made, it is safer to divulse the opening rather than to enlarge it by cutting in order to avoid the possibility of opening a blood vessel in an inaccessible region.
-- Eugene Fuller, M.D., The Journal of the American Medical Association

Even if you are the kooper of the winkel over measure never lost a license. Nor a duckindonche divulse from bath and breakfast.
-- James Joyce, Finnegans Wake

Divulse comes from the Latin root vellere meaning "plucked". The prefix di- is a variation of dis- before the letter v meaning "apart" or "away", as in disown.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Larrup

Word of the Day for Wednesday, June 6, 2012

larrup \LAR-uhp\, verb:

To beat or thrash.

When a seagoing canoe beached on the stones, or when a neighbour came larruping from around back of the house, Martha Obenchain, peeling potatoes at a table in the sun, rose and put the kettle on, tickled pink.
-- Annie Dillard, The Living

A fast white boat comes larruping around the point from the direction of Mercer Island and banks towards him.
-- Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon

Larrup may derive from the Dutch word larpen meaning "to beat with flails".

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Apoplectic

Word of the Day for Tuesday, June 5, 2012

apoplectic \ap-uh-plek-tik\, adjective:

1. Intense enough to threaten or cause a stroke.
2. Of or pertaining to apoplexy.
3. Having or inclined to apoplexy.

noun:
1. A person having or predisposed to apoplexy.

When Abie used to shout, Rebecca always used to make a joke that he was having one of his apoplectic fits.
-- Alan Grayson, Mile End

...four years, one recession and a host of battles — over financial regulation and the nomination of Elizabeth Warren, over Dodd-Frank and the Buffett Rule — have taken their toll. Some on Wall Street are apoplectic. One former supporter, Dan Loeb, compared Obama to Nero; the president’s enemies insinuated worse.
-- Nicholas Confessore, "Obama’s Not-So-Hot Date With Wall Street", The New York Times Magazine, May 2, 2012

Apoplectic stems from the Greek word apoplēktikós which meant "pertaining to stroke". It literally meant "struck down".

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Histrionics

Word of the Day for Monday, June 4, 2012

histrionics \his-tree-ON-iks\, noun:

1. Behaviour or speech for effect, as insincere or exaggerated expression of an emotion.
2. Dramatic representation; theatricals; acting.

You are constantly talking about Beate's histrionics, her showing off.
-- Alberto Moravia, 1934

Of course it is not only southern writers, of lyrical bent, who engage in such histrionics and shout, "Look at me!" Perhaps it is a parable of all artists.
-- Tennessee Williams, New Selected Essays

Though it sounds like the word history, histrionics has a different root. It comes from the Etruscan root histriōn- which meant "actor".

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Levigate

Word of the Day for Sunday, June 3, 2012

Levigate \LEV-i-geyt\, verb:

1. To rub, grind, or reduce to a fine powder.
2. Chemistry. To make a homogeneous mixture of, as gels.

adjective:
1. Botany. Having a smooth, glossy surface; glabrous.

It is sufficient to levigate them with water to obtain them very white.
-- M. Richter, Philosophical Magazine, Volume 23

This clay, carefully levigated, and covered with an excellent glaze, yielded a red ware…
-- Samuel Smiles, Josiah Wedgwood

Levigate is derived from the Latin word lēvigātus meaning "to smooth."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Bosh

Word of the Day for Saturday, June 2, 2012

bosh \bosh\, noun:

Absurd or foolish talk; nonsense.

You know perfectly well — and it is all bosh, too. Come, now, how do they proceed?
-- Mark Twain, The Gilded Age

Bosh, bosh, bosh! Why is it right for him to follow his nature ? Because it is right. Why is it wrong for me to follow my nature? Because it is wrong. That's the whole of your argument…
-- George Dyre Eldridge, In the Potter's House

Bosh stems from the Turkish word bos meaning "empty". It was popularised in English by the British writer James J. Morier.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Armamentarium

Word of the Day for Friday, June 1, 2012

armamentarium \ahr-muh-muhn-TAIR-ee-uhm\, noun:

1. A fruitful source of devices or materials available or used for an undertaking.
2. The aggregate of equipment, methods, and techniques available to one for carrying out one's duties.

You can almost hear the crash as my medical armamentarium smashes to the ground.
-- Emily R. Transue, M.D., On Call

In addition to the past lying available in his memory, he had always had a technical armamentarium second to none; even the hostile critics had granted him that.
-- Orson Scott Card, Masterpieces

Litvikov led the way over to his long conference table, which was covered in green felt and stocked with an armamentarium of mineral-water bottles that the commissar never seemed to offer.
-- Robert Ludlum, The Tristan Betrayal

Armamentarium comes from the Latin root armament, which refers to equipment used by a military unit. The suffix -arium denotes a location or receptacle.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com