Pilar \PAHY-ler\
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Adjective
1. Of, pertaining to, or covered with hair. |
Quotes
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Their bodies are remarkably smooth, and devoid of pilar hair…
-- James Cowles Prichard, Researches Into the Physical History of Mankind, 1826 |
Origin
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Pilar came to English in the mid-1800’s from the New Latin pilāris meaning
"of hair."
Thanks to: www.dictionary.com
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Galoot \guh-LOOT\
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Noun
1. Slang. An awkward, eccentric, or foolish person. |
Quotes
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Only
the galoot still looks ready to fight, and
Henry almost hopes they will fight…
-- Stephen King, Dreamcatcher, 2001 |
Origin
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Galoot entered English in the early 1800’s and
is of unknown origin.
Thanks to: www.dictionary.com
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Samovar \SAM-uh-vahr, sam-uh-VAHR\
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Noun
1. A metal urn, used especially by Russians for heating water for making tea. |
Quotes
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She
never used the samovar except on special occasions, for
example during the visits of her sisters-in-law. Then she made tea and set it
on the table to flatter them.
-- Tamar Yellin, The Genizah at the House of Shepher, 2005 |
Origin
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Samovar entered English in the 1800’s from the
Russian samovár, which means
"self-boiler."
Thanks to: www.dictionary.com
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Flapdoodle \FLAP-dood-l\
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Noun
1. Informal. Nonsense; bosh. |
Quotes
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Well,
by-and-by the king he gets up and comes forward a little, and works himself
up and slobbers out a speech, all full of tears and flapdoodle about
its being a sore trial for him and his poor brother…
-- Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 1884 |
Origin
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Flapdoodle came to English in the 1800’s and is of
uncertain origin.
Thanks to: www.dictionary.com
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Rapt \rapt\
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Adjective
1. Deeply engrossed or absorbed: a rapt listener. 2. Transported with emotion; enraptured: rapt with joy. |
Quotes
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He
was an excellent orator and thrived before his rapt and
amused audiences.
-- Joelle Herr, Mark Twain: The Essential Works in One Sitting, 2013 |
Origin
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Rapt can be traced to the Latin verb rapere meaning "to seize." The
term entered English in the late 1300’s.
Thanks to: www.dictionary.com
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Ursprache \OOR-shprah-khuh; German OOR-shprah-khuh\
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Noun
1. A hypothetically reconstructed parent language, as Proto-Germanic, the ancestor of the Germanic languages. |
Quotes
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He
might have been speaking Ursprache, for all that I
understood. I was firmly in the present, watching the starlings cavort over
and under the telegraph wires and the wind shimmer the young leaves into a
muzzy Monet.
-- Will Self, My Idea of Fun, 1993 |
Origin
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Ursprache came to Enlgish in the 20th century from
the German prefix ur- meaning "earliest,
original" and Sprache meaning "speech."
Thanks to: www.dictionary.com
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Tintinnabular \tin-ti-NAB-yuh-ler\
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Adjective
1. Of or pertaining to bells or bell ringing. |
Quotes
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Mr.
Squills was about to reply, when ring—a-ting—ring— ting! there came such a
brisk, impatient, make-one's-self-at-home kind of tintinnabular alarum
at the great gate, that we all started up and looked at each other in
surprise.
-- Edward Bulwer-Lytton, The Caxtons: A Family Picture, 1849 |
Origin
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Tintinnabular comes from the Latin tintinnābulum meaning "bell."
Thanks to: www.dictionary.com
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Word
of the Day for Wednesday 17th September 2014
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Curlicue \KUR-li-kyoo\
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Noun
1. An ornamental, fancy curl or twist, as in a signature. |
Quotes
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Line
by line, alphabet curlicue by curlicue, note by note, the
two of them finicked with each piece of music, her jotting, him resonating.
-- Ivan Doig, Prairie Nocturne, 2003 |
Origin
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Curlicue came to English in the mid-1800’s. The cue component comes from the French queue meaning "tail," and
ultimately is derived from the Latin word cōda.
Thanks to: www.dictionary.com
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Calvous \KAL-vuhs\
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Adjective
1. Lacking all or most of the hair on the head; bald. |
Quotes
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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, 1994 |
Origin
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Calvous is derived from the New Latin word calvus meaning “bald.”
Thanks to: www.dictionary.com
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Pratfall \PRAT-fawl\
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Noun
1. A fall in which one lands on the buttocks, often regarded as comical or humiliating. 2. A humiliating blunder or defeat. |
Quotes
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Jerry Lewis, one of the most brilliant physical comedians, built his
persona on deep sympathy for the sufferer of pratfalls, but he
has paid a terrible price for the ones he took.
-- Richard Brody, "The Demise of Physical Comedy," The New Yorker, June 28, 2013 |
Origin
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Pratfall entered English in the 1930’s. It combines prat and fall.
The origin of prat is unknown. Fall comes
from the Old English feallan.
Thanks to: www.dictionary.com
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Word
of the Day for Thursday 11th September 2014
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Word
of the Day for Wednesday 10th September 2014
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Word
of the Day for Tuesday 9th September 2014
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\BLET-ing\
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noun
1. The ripening of fruit, especially of fruit stored until the desired degree of softness is attained. |
Quotes
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… the strange fruit was not good if eaten before ageing and bletting,
when its taste became like chocolate.
-- Leslie Forbes, Waking Raphael, 2003 |
Origin
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Bletting comes from the French word blet meaning
"overripe." It entered English in the 1830s.
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