de Profundis

Word of the Day for Friday, May 31, 2013

de Profundis \dey proh-FOON-dis\, adverb:

out of the depths (of sorrow, despair, etc.).

Once he spoke to himself in a low voice that shook as if with difficulty dominating sobs that were rising in his throat. "De profundis—" he said.
-- Robert Smythe Hitchens, The Garden of Allah, 1904

Her letters were written in varying spirits, sometimes cheery, sometimes de profundis.
-- Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Haunted Lives, 1868

De profundis means "out of the depths" in Latin. It is the opening of Latin translation of Psalm 130 which continues "Out of the depths I cry to you." Today the term can be used as a phrase to convey sadness or as an adverb.

thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Isolato

Word of the Day for Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Isolato \ahy-suh-LEY-toh\, noun:

a person who is spiritually isolated from or out of sympathy with his or her times or society.

Also, in the years since the events you are investigating, my life has been that of an isolato, a shepherd on a mountaintop, situated as far from so-called civilization as possible, and it has made me unnaturally brusque and awkward.
-- Russell Banks, Cloudsplitter, 1998

There is, of course, Paul's unremitting aloneness: he is in every sense an isolato, and if this state is elicited by his impertinence and his refusal to conform, it is brought about as well by the inability of all those around him to perceive either his uniqueness or his pain.
-- Philip Stevick, The American Short Story, 1984

The most predictable Justices now on the Court, Antonin Scalia and Thomas, seem brooding isolatoes, openly contemptuous of the doctrinal laxness of their brethren.
-- Louis Menand, "Decisions, Decisions," The New Yorker, July 11, 2005

Isolato was popularised by Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick. The word comes through Italian from the Latin word insulātus meaning "made into an island."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Mordacious

Word of the Day for Monday, May 27, 2013

Mordacious \mawr-DEY-shuhs\, adjective:

1. sharp or caustic in style, tone, etc.
2. biting or given to biting.

She was hoping that neither Garth nor Otto would bungle and embarrass her and that we wouldn't be the brunt of some mordacious Page Six gossip column for arriving in an old car.
-- Brian M. Wiprud, Pipsqueak, 2004

Emma had almost made it into the safety of the kitchen when out of the dark, and away from the masses, Patrick appeared. "Well, well, well." His tone was mordacious.
-- Jane Sigaloff, Technical Hitch, 2005

Mordacious came into English in the 1640s from the Latin word mordāx meaning "given to biting."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Topos

Word of the Day for Sunday, May 26, 2013

Topos \TOH-pohs, -pos\, noun:

a convention or motif, especially in a literary work; a rhetorical convention.

Each topos carries an implied meaning that is more significant than a precisely observed place could provide
-- Stephen Siddall, Landscape and Literature, 2009

How could the most universally legitimate political ideology of our time fail to become a topos in postwar fiction?
-- Homi K. Bhabha, Nation and Narration, 1990

Topos entered English in the 1930s directly from the Greek word meaning "place." It has always referred to a literary motif.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Blather

Word of the Day for Saturday, May 25, 2013

Blather \BLATH-er\, verb:

1. to talk or utter foolishly; blither; babble: The poor thing blathered for hours about the intricacies of his psyche.

noun:
1. foolish, voluble talk: His speech was full of the most amazing blather.

She was quiet, and he started to think it had been a mistake to blather out his thoughts.
-- Erin McCarthy, Heiress for Hire, 2006

Every ship is a romantic object," Tom would blather, "except we all sail in."
-- Joshua Ferris, Then We Came to the End, 2007

Blather comes from the Old Norse word blathra meaning "to chatter, blabber" or "nonsense."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Genethliac

Word of the Day for Thursday, May 23, 2013

Genethliac \juh-NETH-lee-ak\, adjective:

of or pertaining to birthdays or to the position of the stars at one's birth.

Really it must be admitted that only in England and America is there anybody who knows how to establish the genethliac theme and construct a horoscope.
-- J. K. Huysmans, translated by Keene Wallace, Down There, 1891

It must be said, however, that the Arabs went much beyond the classical doctrines of Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos and added to genethliac astrology, which was concerned with the conjunction of heavenly bodies at the moment of birth, a more popular science of interrogations and elections for every occasion in life.
-- Charles Homer Haskins, The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century, 1955

Genethalic derives from the Greek root genéthli meaning "pertaining to one's birth." It is unrelated to the word gene.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Theurgy

Word of the Day for Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Theurgy \THEE-ur-jee\, noun:

1. the working of a divine or supernatural agency in human affairs.
2. a system of beneficent magic practiced by the Egyptian Platonists and others.

But it is with the later evolution of theurgy in the Platonist milieu that we are mainly concerned, and here we find some compensation for the lacunosity of the Oracula.
-- Garth Fowden, The Egyptian Hemes, 1993

I wandered around, trailing my fingers over the spines of books written in Hebrew and Greek, Old Testaments and New Testaments, books on theurgy and theology and philosophy.
-- Jodi Picoult, Change of Heart, 2008

Theurgy entered English in the 1560s. It comes from the Greek word theourgeía meaning "magic."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Pasquinade

Word of the Day for Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Pasquinade \pas-kwuh-NEYD\, noun:

1. a satire or lampoon, especially one posted in a public place.

verb:
1. to assail in a pasquinade or pasquinades.

On the outer wall of the building, there was a vicious pasquinade of the deposed despot.
-- D.V. Bernard, Intimate Relations with Strangers, 2007

In the course of his career, Dosoo had written fourteen books that included political commentaries on India, a slight obloquy on New York, an autobiography, and a pasquinade of Bombay society.
-- Leila Hadley, Give Me the World, 2003

In Rome in 1501 a sculpture was disinterred and placed in Palazzo Orsini. The sculpture was nicknamed Pasquino, and once a year Romans posted humorous verses to the sculpture. Over time these satirical poems became named pasquinades because of the name of the statue. The statue is still in Rome with pasquinades on its base.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Coalesce

Word of the Day for Monday, May 20, 2013

Coalesce \koh-uh-LES\, verb:

1. to blend or come together: Their ideas coalesced into one theory.
2. to grow together or into one body: The two lakes coalesced into one.
3. to unite so as to form one mass, community, etc.: The various groups coalesced into a crowd.
4. to cause to unite in one body or mass.

All the small discoveries might soon coalesce into a major breakthrough—even a revolutionary one—but perhaps not in her lifetime, and certainly not bearing her name.
-- Deanna Fei, A Thread of Sky, 2010

He is like a child learning what is too hot to touch, and he hopes all this experience will coalesce into a philosophy of life, or at least a philosophy of relationships, that will transform itself into instinct.
-- Steve Martin, Shopgirl, 2000

Coalesce comes from the Latin roots co- meaning "with" and al- which is the stem of alere meaning "to nourish, make grow."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Darg

Word of the Day for Sunday, May 19, 2013

Darg \dahrg\, noun:

1. Scot. and North England. a day's work.
2. Australian. a fixed or definite amount of work; a work quota.

...as I thought myself entitled to a young man, and did not relish the apparition of him coming in at the gloaming, when the day's darg was done, and before candles were lighted.
-- Carl MacDougall, The Devil and the Giro, 2010

Man does not live by money alone, where would we be without our daily darg?
-- Alasdair Gray, McGrotty and Ludmilla, or, The Harbinger Report, 1990

Darg derives from the Old English word dægweorc, from the roots dæg meaning "day" and weorc meaning "work."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Consortium

Word of the Day for Saturday, May 18, 2013

Consortium \kuhn-SAWR-shee-uhm, -tee-\, noun:

1. any association, partnership, or union.
2. a combination of financial institutions, capitalists, etc., for carrying into effect some financial operation requiring large resources of capital.
3. Law. the legal right of husband and wife to companionship and conjugal intercourse with each other: In a wrongful death action the surviving spouse commonly seeks damages for loss of consortium.

A consortium of companies that make radio-based identification tags, scanners and related software said yesterday that they planned to pool their patents in a venture that would provide one-stop licensing and royalty management.
-- Barnaby J. Feder, "Consortium to Pool Radio-Tag Patents," New York Times, August 10, 2005

This new foundation would assist the consortium to make policy, and advise the U.N. on Mars-related matters.
-- Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars and Green Mars, 1993

Consortium entered English in the 1820s. It comes from the Latin word for partnership, consort.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Allochthonous

Word of the Day for Thursday, May 16, 2013

Allochthonous \uh-LOK-thuh-nuhs\, adjective:

not formed in the region where found.

The input of plant matter of allochthonous origin contributes energy, nutrients, and substrates in a variety of important ways.
-- Thomas F. Waters, "Dynamics in Stream Ecology," Production of Juvenile Atlantic Salmon, Salmo Salar, in Natural Waters, 1993

However, coals which have formed from plant remains which have been transported considerable distances from their original growth site are known as allochthonous coals, e.g. large rafts of peat or trees drifting on lakes or estuaries.
-- Larry Thomas, Coal Geology, 2002

Allochthonous entered English in the late 19th century. It was modeled as an antonym to autochthonous, meaning "indigenous."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Circadian

Word of the Day for Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Circadian \sur-KEY-dee-uhn, -KAD-ee-, sur-kuh-DEE-uhn\, adjective:

noting or pertaining to rhythmic biological cycles recurring at approximately 24-hour intervals.

My circadian clock, which puts me to sleep at night and wakes me up in the morning in a regular twenty-four-hour fashion, has a larger arc that seems set at twenty-four weeks.
-- Jeanette Winterson, Written on the Body, 1993

Even a guard on night duty succumbs to the body's natural circadian rhythms and would be far from alert.
-- Clive Cussler, The Jungle, 2010

Circadian was first used to apply to the "circadian rhythms" of the body, primarily our daily internal cycles of hunger, rest and wakefulness. It comes from the Latin roots circā meaning "about" and di meaning day.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Quacksalver

Word of the Day for Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Quacksalver \KWAK-sal-ver\, noun:

1. a charlatan.
2. a quack doctor.

And there was that quacksalver Mellowes again, with his pernicious theory that consumption was caused by an excess of oxygen.
-- Patrick O'Brian, Desolation Island, 1978

Anon, we grow persuaded that he traded both eyes for hooks and beneath the roof of his friend, Prince of Hesse Cassel, this Quacksalver expired to the winding from a strange horn one overcast night at Sleswig — and doubt not that at the bar he lifted up both hands to please innocent!
-- Evan S. Connell, The Alchymist's Journal, 1991

Even more outlandish than she is, he thought. "We shall not have her degraded as some quacksalver's drab.
-- Ariana Franklin, Mistress of the Art of Death, 2007

Quacksalver comes from an early Dutch word of the same spelling referring to someone who prescribes home remedies. It is the root of the more common word quack.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Melliferous

Word of the Day for Monday, May 13, 2013

Melliferous \muh-LIF-er-uhs\, adjective:

yielding or producing honey.

He writes of the melliferous odour of linden blossoms; of the fields rushing to meet him; of trees, castles and people; of the greensward that serves him as a dining table; and of the little old ladies who joyfully smile at him.
-- Mikhail A. Osorgin, translated by Donald M. Fiene, Selected Stories, Reminiscences, and Essays, 1982

Already he had the melliferous taste of victory on his tongue.
-- Wilbur Smith, The Eye of the Tiger, 2001

Melliferous derives from the Latin word mellifer meaning "honey-bearing."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Feminacy

Word of the Day for Sunday, May 12, 2013

Feminacy \FEM-uh-nuh-see\, noun:

feminine nature.

Educated even to learning, courageous even to a want of feminacy, she delighted to sport with ignorance and pretension, even in the highest places...
-- Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton, Ernest Maltravers, 1837

As they coached her in movements of preposterous feminacy, coaxing her to sit neatly and ease her muscles out of sight.
-- Paul West, The Tent of Orange Mist, 1997

Feminacy entered English in the 18th century from the Latin roots fēmin meaning "woman" and -acy, a suffix denoting nouns of quality, such as papacy and legacy.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Snafu

Word of the Day for Saturday, May 11, 2013

Snafu \sna-FOO, SNAF-oo\, noun:

1. a badly confused or ridiculously muddled situation: A ballot snafu in the election led to a recount.

adjective:
1. Rare. in disorder; out of control; chaotic: a snafu scheme that simply won't work.

verb:
1. Rare. to throw into disorder; muddle: Losing his passport snafued the whole vacation.

There was no snafu in the five-year plan. There was a deliberate strategy of recycling very-low-grade nuclear waste in building materials.
-- Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections, 2001

He'd say it was a snafu, by no means the first, from what I hear. Anyway, no sense in making a fuss.
-- Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin, 2000

Snafu is a neologism that originated as an acronym for "s(ituation) n(ormal): a(ll) f(ouled) u(p)." During World War II, soldiers used the phrase to describe the general disorder of war.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Whangdoodle

Word of the Day for Thursday, May 9, 2013

Whangdoodle \HWANG-dood-l, WANG-\, noun:

a fanciful creature of undefined nature.

A whangdoodle would eat ten Oompa-Loompas for breakfast and come galloping back for a second helping.
-- Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, 1964

...he told her she was the most beautiful horse he'd ever seen but he wouldn't care if she were the ugliest whangdoodle in all creation, he'd still love her...
-- Robert Coover, Ghost Town, 1998

Whangdoodle is a neologism from the 1850s. It is most likely a nonsense formation.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Dais

Word of the Day for Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Dais \DEY-is, DAHY-, deys\, noun:

a raised platform, as at the front of a room, for a lectern, throne, seats of honor, etc.

Some spoke to the man on the dais and were sent through the door behind him and up a turnpike stair.
-- George R. R. Martin, A Feast for Crows, 2005

It was set upon a dais that Jemma was quite sure hadn't been there the day before.
-- Chris Adrian, The Children's Hospital, 2006

The sense of dais as a platform entered English from the modern French word of the same spelling. An earlier sense of the word as a "raised table" briefly entered English from an Old French word, but the more modern definition has become the predominant sense.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Spang

Word of the Day for Monday, May 6, 2013 Spang \spang\, adverb:

directly, exactly: The bullet landed spang on target.

He had been knocked spang out of his Keds.
-- Stephen King, Different Seasons, 1983

"And you say Stephanie has hidden this notebook in Daddy's cow-cream?" "Plumb spang in the cow-creamer."
-- P.G. Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters, 1938

Spang is an Americanism of uncertain origin. It first entered English in the 1830s.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Quibble

Word of the Day for Sunday, May 5, 2013

Quibble \KWIB-uhl\, verb:

1. to equivocate.
2. to carp; cavil.

noun:
1. an instance of the use of ambiguous, prevaricating, or irrelevant language or arguments to evade a point at issue.
2. the general use of such arguments.

3. petty or carping criticism; a minor objection.

Don't quibble. You're in deep enough now, young man.
-- Kurt Vonnegut, Welcome to the Monkey House, 1968

I didn't quibble about the price. No man can say that. I just wanted peace; I paid them their price without quibbling.
-- William Faulkner, Light in August, 1932

Quibble is related to the more common word quip. They both come from the Latin word quibus meaning "indeed."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Saccharine

Word of the Day for Thursday, May 2, 2013

Saccharine \SAK-er-in, -uh-reen, -uh-rahyn\, adjective:

1. exaggeratedly sweet or sentimental: a saccharine smile; a saccharine song of undying love.
2. of the nature of or resembling that of sugar: a powdery substance with a saccharine taste.
3. containing or yielding sugar.
4. a very sweet to the taste; sugary: a saccharine dessert.
5. cloyingly agreeable or ingratiating: a saccharine personality.

Nellie's saccharine Bryn Mawr voice tried to turn away the other voice that again said, "Your incredible Bryn Mawr, Nell."
-- H.D., HERmione, 1927

There are lovely if saccharine ballads destined to be played at weddings in the year 2020...
-- Ben Greenman, "The Wonder Stuff," The New Yorker, October 17, 2005

We need a harder-edged piece to balance all the saccharine in this issue.
-- Sherri Wood Emmons, The Weight of Small Things, 2013

Saccharine comes from the Sanskrit word śarkarā meaning "sugar."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Polliwog

Word of the Day for Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Polliwog \POL-ee-wog\, noun:

a tadpole.

“Why, less than nothing, my furry polliwog!” chugged the frog, amused.
-- Tad Williams, Tailchaser's Song, 2000

She had begun life as a polliwog in the womb. She remembered the lesson in school again before she had quit.
-- Diane Glancy, Trigger Dance, 1990

Polliwog was originally a combination of the words poll and wiggle. The word poll referred to a head. With the association of the verb wiggle, the portmanteau closely describes the shape and behaviour of a polliwog.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com