Sylph

Word of the Day for Wednesday, April 4, 2012

sylph \silf\, noun:

1. A slender, graceful woman or girl.
2. (In folklore) one of a race of supernatural beings supposed to inhabit the air.

The sylph had been as slender as a willow, with long silver hair and eyes like the dark between the stars.
-- Jenna Reynolds, Kiss of Honor

Ben was frantic. He lifted the stricken sylph in his arms and held her close against him
-- Terry Brooks, Magic Kingdom for Sale – Sold!

The girl's slender and sylph-like figure, tinged with radiance from the sunset clouds, and overhung with the rich drapery of the silken curtains, and set within the deep frame of the window, was a perfect picture.
-- Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Snow-Image, and Other Tales

Sylph was coined by Paracelsus. It is a blend of sylva, which meant "forest" in Latin, and the Greek word nymph.

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Grouse

Word of the Day for Monday, April 2, 2012

grouse \grous\, verb:

1. To grumble; complain.

noun:
1. A complaint.

Today, he went on to grouse about some "pipsqueak" new arrival at Claverack who was only thirteen.
-- Lionel Shriver, We Need To Talk About Kevin

He continued to grouse as they headed toward the taxi line.
-- James Rollins, The Doomsday Key

Grouse originally referred to a type of bird. It is uncertain why it began to mean "to complain," though it bears a resemblance to the word grouch.

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Pyknic

Word of the Day for Sunday, April 1, 2012

pyknic \PIK-nik\, adjective:

1. Having a rounded build or body structure.

noun:
1. A person of the pyknic type.

I can tell what your feelings are; I'm sensitive, doctor, even if I'm the pyknic bodytype.
-- Philip K. Dick, Now Wait for Next Year

Another short elf with the same pyknic physique wearing a scotch plaid suit and a green feather in his hat.
-- R. W. Alexander, Spark of Life

He was very pyknic-looking: neckless and bull-bodied, he showed in eyes and mouth a more dangerous volatility than his mate.
-- Anthony Burgess, Honey for the Bears

Pyknic entered the English language in the 1920s. It came from the Greek word pykn meaning "thick."

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Boon

Word of the Day for Saturday, March 31, 2012

boon \boon\, noun:

1. Something to be thankful for; blessing; benefit.
2. Something that is asked; a favour sought.

China has simultaneously become the greatest boon and the biggest disappointment.
-- Adam Davidson, "Come On, China, Buy Our Stuff!," The New York Times, Jan. 29, 2012

A boon to scholars and to those surreptitiously in search of esoteric knowledge. The reader in the shadowy, out-of-the-way carrel stifled a whoop of delight.
-- Carolyn G. Hart, A Little Class on Murder

Boon comes from the Old Norse word bōn meaning "a prayer."

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Fugitive

Word of the Day for Friday, March 30, 2012

fugitive \FYOO-ji-tiv\, adjective:

1. Fleeting, transitory, elusive.
2. Having taken flight, or run away.
3. Changing colour as a result of exposure to light and chemical substances present in the atmosphere, in other pigments, or in the medium.
4. Dealing with subjects of passing interest, as writings; ephemeral.
5. Wandering, roving, or vagabond.

I started to write about Sean, and the writing, like a searchlight sweeping wildly, almost caught my fugitive feelings.
-- Edmund White, The Beautiful Room Is Empty

I fill my own glass now, and raise it, unspeaking: to her? to us? to the spirit of fugitive love? Whatever it is I mean, she nods as if to say she understands.
-- Vikram Seth, An Equal Music

First used by Shakespeare in Antony & Cleopatra, fugitive stems from the Latin word fugere meaning "to flee."

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Eudemonia

Word of the Day for Thursday, March 29, 2012

eudemonia \yoo-di-MOH-nee-uh\, noun:

1. Happiness; well-being.
2. Aristotelianism. Happiness as the result of an active life governed by reason.

We all seek eudemonia, but he thinks that it takes a great deal of reflection and education to get a clear enough conception of it really to aim at it in our practice.
-- Robert Campbell Roberts, Intellectual Virtues

They may have believed that we already do value duty, utility, and eudemonia, but it is debatable whether they need to make such descriptive claims.
-- Jesse J. Prinz, The Emotional Construction of Morals

From Aristotle, eudemonia comes from the Greek word eudaímōn which meant "a good or benevolent spirit."

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/

Luxate

Word of the Day for Wednesday, March 28, 2012

luxate \LUHK-seyt\, verb:

To put out of joint; dislocate.

When I began to luxate the tooth I heard a crack.
-- Nathan Jorgenson, A Crooked Number

But at the same time he thinks, that the reduced bone will not remain in it's [sic] place, but luxate itself again, and fall back into the new-formed articulation, which it has formed to itself.
-- Royal Society of London, The Philosophical Transactions and Collections

Luxate is not related to any word for "light." Rather, it is from the Greek word for "oblique," which was loxós.

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/