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