Word of the Day
Monday, November 05, 2012climacteric
\ klahy-mak-TER-ik \, noun;
1.
A critical period.
2.
Physiology: a period of decrease of reproductive capacity in men and women,
culminating, in women, in the menopause.
3.
A year in which important changes in health, fortune, etc., are held by some theories
to occur, as one's sixty-third year
4.
The period of maximum respiration in a fruit, during which it becomes fully ripened.
Ernestine, who was the elder, asked one day, after her sister's visit had terminated
in a climacteric of sisterly love, kisses, admonitions, and promises.
-- Jack London, The Grilling of Loren Ellery
I had reached an intellectual and artistic climacteric, a life climacteric of some sort.
-- Jack London, The Mutiny of the Elsinore
Climacteric originates in the Greek klimakter, "rung of a ladder."
Thanks to: www.dictionary.com
No comments:
Post a Comment