Preconcert

Word of the Day for Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Preconcert \pree-kuhn-SURT\, verb:

1. To arrange in advance or beforehand, as by a previous agreement.

adjective:
1. Preceding a concert: a preconcert reception for sponsors.

Indeed she did not really suspect the visitor, who was one too ingenuous in his nature to preconcert so subtle and so wicked a scheme.
-- Anthony Trollope, Dr. Wortle's School

If personal accidents, and accidents so trivial, could, to any serious extent, be amongst the causes of war, then it would become a hopeful duty to preconcert personal combinations that should take an opposite direction.
-- Thomas De Quincey, The Works of Thomas De Quincey

Though today concert is most often a noun, it was usually used as a verb in the 1700s typically in the sense of "to bring together" or "to arrange." Preconcert thus meant "to arrange beforehand."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Vertex

Word of the Day for Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Vertex \VUR-teks\, noun:

1. The highest point of something; apex; summit; top: the vertex of a mountain.
2. Anatomy, Zoology. The crown or top of the head.
3. Craniometry. The highest point on the midsagittal plane of the skull or head viewed from the left side when the skull or head is in the Frankfurt horizontal.
4. Astronomy. A point in the celestial sphere toward which or from which the common motion of a group of stars is directed.
5. Geometry. A. The point farthest from the base: the vertex of a cone or of a pyramid. B. A point in a geometrical solid common to three or more sides. C. The intersection of two sides of a plane figure.

When the six-pointed star was laid perfectly over the Great Seal of the United States, the star's top vertex fit perfectly over the Masonic all-seeing eye…
-- Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol

Some way off from its near vertex (which happened to be between terrible Dino and Pemphredo the stinger), I hid behind a shrub of briar to reconnoiter…
-- John Barth, Chimera

Vertex stems from the Latin word of the same spelling which meant "a whirl" or "top (of the head)." It comes from the same stem as the word vortex, vert meaning "to turn." The sense of "the highest point" arose in the 1640s.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Pseudepigraphy

Word of the Day for Friday, January 11, 2013

pseudepigraphy \soo-duh-PIG-ruh-fee\, noun:

The false ascription of a piece of writing to an author.

But the apocalyptic seers were usually not content with mere anonymity; they generally practiced pseudepigraphy.
-- Shaye J. D. Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah

Even this gimmick exactly parallels the ancient scriptural practice of pseudepigraphy whereby a later, undistinguished writer, would hide behind the name of a greater figure of the past, claiming venerable authority for his own innovations.
-- R. M. Price, C. A. Smith, The Book of Eibon

Pseudopigraphy was first used in the 1830s, but a related word pseudepigrapha dates back to the 1600s. In Greek, the word epigraph meant "title, ascription to an author." With the prefix pseud, it literally means "false ascription to an author."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Pseudology

Word of the Day for Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Pseudology \soo-DOL-uh-jee\, noun:

Lying considered as an art.

For example, listening to the life history account of András Albert, a Transylvanian lumberman, the outsider may wonder how to distinguish fact from fiction, poetry from lie, and how to regard the relationship between pseudology and storytelling.
-- Linda Dégh, Narratives in Society

So many people would love to get their hands on a machine that can inhibit pseudology, mendacity and falsehood. The police, Intelligence services, all sorts and conditions of interested agencies and institutions.
-- Stephen Fry, The Liar

Pseudology comes from two Greek roots, pseudo- meaning "false" and -logy meaning "study of." The word does not literally mean "the study of lying" but has come to embody the sense of "the art of lying."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Couthie

Word of the Day for Friday, January 4, 2013

Couthie \KOO-thee\, adjective:

Agreeable; genial; kindly.

Occasionally he'd stab one of the buttons, never managing to stop the machines' couthie chatter of grunts and whistles.
-- James Meek, The Heart Broke In

… That her coming away from home was no small loss to England, not but that England, as we all knew, had many ladies, yet could not have many so couthie, and kind, and willing to help, as Mrs. Doctor More.
-- William Tait, "The Roads Through the World," Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 24

Couthie stems from the Old English word cūth, originally meaning "to know." It arose in the 1700s in Scotland in the sense of "agreeable."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Violescent

Word of the Day for Thursday, January 3, 2013

Violescent \vahy-uh-LES-uhnt\, adjective:

Tending to a violet colour: a violescent twilight sky.

Scriabin's prelude is dark in colour, violescent, like moiré unfurling in the evening wind.
-- Gabriele D'Annunzio, Notturno

The portrait was vile, a dirty grey colour with large violescent patches.
-- Emile Zola, Thérèse Raquin

Violescent is clearly related to the more common word violet. The suffix -escent means "beginning to show" as in the word luminescent.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Advert

Word of the Day for Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Advert \ad-VURT\, verb:

1. To remark or comment; refer (usually followed by to): He adverted briefly to the news of the day.
2. To turn the attention (usually followed by to): The committee adverted to the business at hand.

To understand the nature of those commotions, and the part which Baxter took in them, it will be necessary to advert to the state of religion in the country at large.
-- Richard Baxter, William Orme, The Practical Works of Richard Baxter

He had not the tact, or the art, to effect such a purpose by skillfully drawing out my sentiments or ideas through the real or apparent statement of his own, or leading the conversation by imperceptible gradations to such topics as he wished to advert to: but such gentle abruptness, and such single-minded straightforwardness, could not possibly offend me.
-- Anne Bronte, Agnes Grey

Advert comes from the Latin word advertere meaning "to pay attention."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com