Cull

Word of the Day for Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Cull \kuhl\, verb:

1. to choose; select; pick.
2. to gather the choice things or parts from.
3. to collect; gather; pluck.

noun:
1. act of culling.
2. something culled, especially something picked out and put aside as inferior.

...the more connections, the more chaos, and the harder it is to cull any meaning from the seas of signal.
-- David Foster Wallace, A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, 1997

Call for our chiefest men of discipline, to cull the plots of best advantage.
-- William Shakespeare, King John, 1590s

Cull entered English in the 1300s as a verb derived from the Latin colligere meaning "gather together" or "collect." It was another 300 years before the noun form of cull entered the language.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Hellion

Word of the Day for Monday, April 29, 2013

Hellion \HEL-yuhn\, noun:

a disorderly, troublesome, rowdy, or mischievous person.

I wanted to cry most of all because I had wanted to right my own wrongs, to raise a loving family, and I had instead produced a hellion.
-- Jane Hamilton, A Map of the World, 1994

Brother Bob, the only brother l had left; the good, true, and dutiful son to Mama while I the preacher's hellion son rambled and gambled out there in the Territory...
-- Ralph Ellison, Three Days Before the Shooting, 2010

Hellion entered English in the mid-1800s from the Scottish and Northern English word of unknown origin hallion meaning "worthless fellow." When this word crossed the pond, the "a" in hallion was replaced by an "e," supposedly because of associations with hell.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Stark

Word of the Day for Sunday, April 28, 2013

Stark \stahrk\, adjective:

1. extremely simple or severe: a stark interior.
2. sheer, utter, downright, or complete: stark madness.
3. harsh, grim, or desolate, as a view, place, etc.: a stark landscape.
4. bluntly or sternly plain; not softened or glamorised: the stark reality of the schedule's deadline.
5. stiff or rigid in substance, muscles, etc.
6. rigid in death.
7. Archaic. strong; powerful; massive or robust.

adverb:
1. utterly, absolutely, or quite: stark mad.
2. Chiefly Scot. and North England. in a stark manner; stoutly or vigorously.

His office was stark in comparison to Valek's and lacked personal decorations. The only object in the room that did not have a specific purpose was a hand-size statue of a black snow cat.
-- Maria V. Snyder, Poison Study, 2005

I thought of how clouds sometimes race across the sunlit canyons formed by the steep sides of skyscrapers, so that the stark divisions of dark and light are shot through with passing light and dark.
-- Teju Cole, Open City, 2001

From the Proto-Indo-European root ster- meaning "stiff" or "rigid," stark entered English around the year 1000. It shares its root with the word stare.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Decamp

Word of the Day for Thursday, April 18, 2013

Decamp \dih-KAMP\, verb:

1. to depart quickly, secretly, or unceremoniously: The band of thieves decamped in the night.
2. to depart from a camp; to pack up equipment and leave a camping ground: We decamped before the rain began.

Bemused not only by Claire’s peculiar dress—or lack of it—by the sheer impossibility of her presence—English ladies simply aren’t found in the Highlands in 1743—the Scotsmen decide to take her with them when they decamp under cover of darkness.
-- Diana Gabaldon, The Outlandish Companion, 1999

Louis XII of France at the time was invading Italy much the way his dwarf Uncle Charles had, and we were close enough we could decamp immediately back to Rome in a day or two.
-- John Faunce, Lucrezia Borgia, 2010

From the French descamper, decamp emerged in English in the late 1600s. It is a combination of Latin roots dis + campus, literally meaning "away from open field."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Bandbox

Word of the Day for Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Bandbox \BAND-boks\, noun:

1. an area or structure that is smaller in dimensions or size than the standard: It's easy to hit home runs out of this bandbox.
2. a lightweight box of pasteboard, thin wood, etc., for holding a hat, clerical collars, or other articles of apparel.

But no park fed his baseball soul as heartily as the small bandbox of Wrigley Field, the home of the Chicago Cubs.
-- Lorenzo Carcaterra, Midnight Angels, 2010

There's promises there, sir, enough to fill a bandbox with…

-- William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis, 1848

The portmanteau bandbox entered English in the 1600s. It originally described a physical box where ruffs or collars, also called "bands" at that time, were stored, though it is currently used in a metaphorical sense.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Verisimilitude

Word of the Day for Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Verisimilitude \ver-uh-si-MIL-i-tood, -tyood\, noun:

1. the appearance or semblance of truth; likelihood; probability: The play lacked verisimilitude.
2. something, as an assertion, having merely the appearance of truth.

The intention of the unities is to enhance the verisimilitude of dramatic works by making the time the spectator is watching the performance coincide with the time in which the entire action takes place (unity of time)...
-- Federica Brunori Deigan, Alessandro Manzoni's The Count of Carmagnola and Adelchis, 2004

Todorov argues most persuasively that verisimilitude is not to be confused with truth in narrative, and indeed truth is dispensable while verisimilitude is not.
-- Terry J. Peavler, Individuations, 1987

Verisimilitude comes from the Latin roots vērum + similis literally meaning "likeness to truth."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Chuffed

Word of the Day for Sunday, April 14, 2013

Chuffed \chuhft\, adjective:

1. annoyed; displeased; disgruntled.
2. delighted; pleased; satisfied.

He was really chuffed about the fire as well, because Mrs Pearson from up the stairs had her washing ruined by the smoke.
-- Irvine Welsh, Marabou Stork Nightmares, 1997

Well, we can discuss that when we get there. Declan will be chuffed when I tell him, the family never usually goes to these things.
-- Cecelia Ahern, P.S. I Love You, 2007

This British term comes from the obsolete chuff meaning "chubby," used in the seventieth to nineteenth centuries. In the 1800s, chuff took on the sense of "pleased." Since the mid-1900s, chuffed has been used to mean both "pleased" or "displeased," depending upon the context.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Lilt

Word of the Day for Thursday, April 11, 2013

Lilt \lilt\, noun:

1. rhythmic swing or cadence.
2. a lilting song or tune.

verb:
1. to sing or play in a light, tripping, or rhythmic manner.

In this way, the movement of the lines is both slowed and varied, bringing them closer to a lilt, or even, at times, a slow chant.
-- Declan Kiberd, The Irish Writer and the World, 2005

Lucilla pitched her voice in the merry lilt: "Good morning, Dama."
-- Frank Herbert, Chapterhouse: Dune, 1985

The origin of lilt is unknown, though it may be related to the Norwegian lilla meaning "to sing" or to the Low German lul meaning "pipe." The verb form entered English more than 300 years before the noun form, in the late 1300s.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Ingress

Word of the Day for Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Ingress \IN-gres\, noun:

1. the act of going in or entering.
2. the right to enter.
3. a means or place of entering; entryway.
4. Astronomy. immersion (def. 5).

The unknown of my beginning has ingress into me, through my spirit. My spirit is troubled, it is uneasy. Far off it hears the approach of footsteps through the night. Who is coming? Ah, let the newcomer arrive, let the newcomer arrive.
-- D.H. Lawrence, Reflections on the Death of a Porcupine, 1915

We have not succeeded in finding such a test as anyone can apply; we have been forced to allow ingress to innumerable dull and tedious books…
-- T.S. Eliot, "The Function of Criticism," Essays of Generalization, 1918-1930

From the Latin in- + gradī literally meaning "to go in" or "enter," ingress entered English as a verb in the 1200s and as a noun in the 1300s.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Machinate

Word of the Day for Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Machinate \MAK-uh-neyt\, verb:

to contrive or plot, especially artfully or with evil purpose: to machinate the overthrow of the government.

...his malevolent memory would machinate on [it], until the day the darkness he so passionately believed in but just as passionately tried to avoid finally descended.
-- Michael Walsh, Early Warning, 2010

You do not think I am intelligent enough to scheme? Then I haven't the wits necessary to machinate?
-- Connie Brockway, So Enchanting, 2009

Machinate entered English from the Latin machina in the first half of the fifteenth century.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Plethoric

Word of the Day for Monday, April 8, 2013

Plethoric \ple-THAWR-ik, -THOR-, PLETH-uh-rik\, adjective:

1. overfull; turgid; inflated: a plethoric, pompous speech.
2. of, pertaining to, or characterised by plethora.

He is a plethoric sleeper: literally a sleeper having an excess of red corpuscles in the blood (the opposite of anaemic), suggesting "unhealthy repletion", but here a "heavy" sleeper.
-- Arthur Conan Doyle, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, 1903

And I did these things, not that I was an egotist, not that I was impervious to the critical glances of my fellows, but because of a certain hogskin belt, plethoric and sweat-bewrinkled, which buckled next the skin above the hips.
-- Jack London, "The Dignity of Dollars," Revolution and Other Essays, 1900

Plethoric came to English in the late 1300s from the Greek plethore meaning "fullness."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Demimonde

Word of the Day for Sunday, April 7, 2013

Demimonde \DEM-ee-mond; Fr. duh-mee-MAWND\, noun:

1. a group characterised by lack of success or status: the literary demimonde.
2. (especially during the last half of the 19th century) a class of women who have lost their standing in respectable society because of indiscreet behaviour or sexual promiscuity.
3. a demimondaine.
4. prostitutes or courtesans in general.
5. a group whose activities are ethically or legally questionable: a demimonde of investigative journalists writing for the sensationalist tabloids.

It had not always been that way; it had begun as something more like a network of friends, or the part of the underground that lived in the demimonde.
-- Kim Stanley Robinson, Blue Mars, 2003

Although it had not been important upon her ascension to the apex of the demimonde, once there, impending poverty created a stench of failure.
-- Linda Berdoll, Darcy and Elizabeth, 2006

Demimode comes to English from the French demi- + monde literally meaning "half world." The phrase was coined and popularised by Alexander Dumas, fils.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Idiolect

Word of the Day for Saturday, April 6, 2013

Idiolect \ID-ee-uh-lekt\, noun:

a person's individual speech pattern. Compare dialect (def. 1).

Marvin Spevack's recent Shakespeare Thesaurus attempts to classify the whole of Shakespeare's vocabulary in order to reveal Shakespeare's idiolect: the linguistic system peculiar to Shakespeare."
-- William Shakespeare, introduction by Peter Hobley Davison, "Introduction," The First Quarto of King Richard III, 1996

That Elderly ambassador...had said "Avice Benner Cho, is it?" with a cadence so splendidly stilted it had become part of my internal idiolect, so whenever I introduced myself by my full name, a little is it? trailed the words in my head, in her voice.
-- China Miéville, Embassytown, 2011

Idiolect is the blend of the Greek idio + legein literally meaning "personal speak."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Aperture

Word of the Day for Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Aperture \AP-er-cher\, noun:

1. an opening, as a hole, slit, crack, gap, etc.
2. Also called aperture stop. Optics. an opening, usually circular, that limits the quantity of light that can enter an optical instrument.

He remained motionless and pensive, his eyes fixed on the gloomy aperture that was open at his feet.
-- Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo, 1844

He made for it a large aperture with a cover pierced with numerous holes, and, taking forth some new nails, said to the young lion, Enter... The young lion therefore rejoiced at this, and advanced to the aperture; but he saw that it was narrow.
-- Edward William Lane and Edward Stanley Poole, The Thousand and One Nights, 1865

Aperture entered English in the mid-1600s from the Latin aperīre meaning "to open."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Splenetic

Word of the Day for Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Splenetic \spli-NET-ik\, adjective:

1. irritable; peevish; spiteful.
2. of the spleen; splenic.
3. Obsolete. affected with, characterised by, or tending to produce melancholy.

noun:
1. a splenetic person.

You see, she stoutly maintained the belief that beneath this splenetic and ogreish exterior there beat a heart of gold, though this I imagine was something she had to do, the idea that her father was splenetic and ogreish all the way through being just too grim to contemplate.
-- Patrick McGrath, The Grotesque, 1989

It is true, when the wind is easterly, or the gout gives him a gentle twinge, or he hears of any new successes of the French, he will become a little splenetic; and heaven help the man...that crosses his humor.
-- Washington Irving, Samalagundi, 1807

Sharing its root with spleen, splenetic entered English at the turn of the fourteenth century, and comes from the Proto-Indo-European splegh-.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Ha-ha

Word of the Day for Monday, April 1, 2013

ha-ha \HAH-hah\, noun:

sunk fence.

After sitting a little while Miss Crawford was up again. "I must move," said she; "resting fatigues me. I have looked across the ha-ha till I am weary. I must go and look through that iron gate at the same view, without being able to see it so well."
-- Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, 1851

He wondered from which window Hamilton Rowan had thrown his hat on the ha-ha and had there been flowerbeds at that time under the windows.
-- James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man, 1916

A ha-ha is a boundary wall concealed in a ditch so that it does not intrude upon the view... The name ha-ha derives from the exclamation that a stranger might make upon coming upon such a ditch unexpectedly from the top of the wall. An experience of this kind could, of course, be highly dangerous to the unwary.
-- Dave King, The Ha-Ha, 2005

But the peril is an illusion, because the main surfaces are separated from the edges by a ha-ha, a sunken walkway that functions as a barrier.
-- David Owen, "The Psychology of Space," The New Yorker, January 21, 2013

Ha-ha comes from the French ha!, a common exclamation of surprise. Because ha-has are designed to be difficult to see, people would shout in surprise upon stumbling into them.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com