Primrose

Word of the Day for Monday, September 10, 2012

Primrose \PRIM-rohz\, noun:

1. Pale yellow.
2. Any plant of the genus Primula, as P. vulgaris (English primrose), of Europe, having yellow flowers, or P. sinensis (Chinese primrose), of China, having flowers in a variety of colors. Compare primrose family.
3. Evening primrose.

The thoughts circling Sarah's head kept time with the rhythm of her spoon as she stirred the pale-primrose mixture of egg yolks and cream in the pan.
-- India Grey, Powerful Italian, Penniless Housekeeper

The room was high and white and primrose gold, flanked by Greek columns that caught the lickety amber light of a thousand candles.
-- Don DeLillo, Underworld

Primrose literally meant "first rose" in Old French. It was so called because the yellow rose is one of the earliest blooming roses in the Spring.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Spleenful

Word of the Day for Sunday, September 9, 2012

Spleenful \SPLEEN-fuhl\, adjective:

1. Ill-humoured; irritable or peevish; spiteful; splenetic.
2. Full of or displaying spleen.

For a blink, Ratcliffe himself, who hated almost beyond telling this spleenful fellowman now well handcuffed and clamped at the ankles with cold stout bilboes, did believe in his intentions, and would have resigned all proceedings if he could; but once the doctor prescribes a purge, how can he countermand himself?
-- William T. Vollmann, Argall

Their attention was focused on Guy Fowler, a surly, spleenful man, but one of few old-salts of white blood.
-- Virginia Van Druten, Bound to Sea

The spleen was regarded as the seat of morose feelings and bad tempers in Medieval physiology. The adjective spleenful arose from this association in the late 1500s. 

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Manifold

Word of the Day for Saturday, September 8, 2012

Manifold \MAN-uh-fohld\, adjective:

1. Of many kinds; numerous and varied: manifold duties.
2. Having numerous different parts, elements, features, forms, etc.: a manifold program for social reform.

noun:
1. Something having many different parts or features.
2. A copy or facsimile, as of something written, such as is made by manifolding

verb:
1. To make copies of, as with carbon paper.

The possible moves being not only manifold, but involute, the chances of such oversights are multiplied; and in nine cases out of ten, it is the more concentrative rather than the more acute player who conquers.
-- Edgar Allen Poe, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe

Whatever his arrangements are, however, they are always a pattern of neatness; and every one of the manifold articles connected with his manifold occupations is to be found in its own particular place.
-- Charles Dickens, Master Humphrey's Clock

Manifold comes from the Old English word monigfald meaning "varied in appearance." The English suffix -fold originally meant "of so many parts."

thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Rollick

Word of the Day for Friday, September 7, 2012

Rollick \ROL-ik\, verb:

To move or act in a carefree, frolicsome manner; behave in a free, hearty, gay, or jovial way.

Also in old, jolly fishwives, squatted under arches, obscene old women, how deeply they laugh and shake and rollick, when they walk, from side to side, hum, ha!
-- Virginia Woolf, "The String Quartet," Monday or Tuesday: Eight Stories

A deeper ripple of mirth this time and Bronzini was sad for the boy, skinny Alfonse, but did not rebuke them, kept talking, talked over the momentary rollick—skinny sorry Alfonse, grape-stained with tragic acne.
-- Don DeLillo, Underworld

Rollick is a portmanteau of "frolic" and "romp." It arose in the 1820s.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Piceous

Word of the Day for Thursday, September 6, 2012

Piceous \PIS-ee-uhs\, adjective:

1. Inflammable; combustible.
2. Of, pertaining to, or resembling pitch.
3. Zoology. Black or nearly black as pitch.

In the silent and piceous hour just before dawn, they advanced at a slow trot, fanning out through the slave quarters and into the yard that divided the gin house, the mill, and the buildings where Canning and I slept unaware.
-- Geraldine Brooks, March

Dark pink for the brick buildings, dark green for the doorjambs and the benches, dark iron for the hinges, dark stone for Nathaniel's Tomb; darkness in the piceous roots of trees that broke through the earth like bones through skin.
-- Roger Rosenblatt, Beet

Piceous stems from the Latin word piceus meaning "made of pitch."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Ataraxia

Word of the Day for Monday, September 3, 2012

Ataraxia \at-uh-RAK-see-uh\, noun:

A state of freedom from emotional disturbance and anxiety; tranquility.

The former breathes only peace and liberty; he desires only to live and be free from labour; even the ataraxia of the Stoic falls far short of his profound indifference to every other object.
-- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality and a Discourse on Political Economy

Thus, hedonism ends in ataraxia, which confirms the paradoxical relation between sadism and stoicism.
-- Marquis de Sade, 120 Days of Sodom and Other Writings

Ataraxia stems from the Greek word of the same spelling that meant "impassiveness."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Demulcent

Word of the Day for Saturday, September 1, 2012 Demulcent \dih-MUHL-suhnt\, adjective: 1. Soothing or mollifying, as a medicinal substance. noun: 1. A demulcent substance or agent, often mucilaginous, as for soothing or protecting an irritated mucous membrane. It will do you no harm to keep close, drink nothing but demulcent barley-water and eat gruel, thin gruel—no beef or mutton, no wine or spirits. -- Patrick O'Brian, Master and Commander She knew where sour grass grew, which you chew for dyspepsy, and mint, excellent for the nau-shy, and the slippery elm, whose fragrant inner bark was the favorite demulcent of a hundred years ago—the thing to use for raw throat and other sore tishas. -- James Thurber, Writings and Drawings Demulcent comes from the Latin word dēmulcere which meant "to soften." Thanks to: www.dictionary.com