Inglenook

Word of the Day for Friday 7^th February 2014

Inglenook \ING-guhl-nook\, noun:

a corner or nook near a fireplace.

I seized his sleeve and drew him off a little into an inglenook where we could be less readily observed.
-- Sara Poole, The Borgia Betrayal, 2011

From the pile of wood, stacked at one side of the inglenook, he drew out a pair of bellows and began to blow new life into the ashes.
-- Marcia Willett, A Week in Winter, 2002

His kingdom is/ His inglenook-/ All this is his/ Who hath a book.
-- Wilbur D. Nesbit, A Book of Poems, 1906

Inglenook is of obscure origin, though etymologists associate ingle with the Gaelic aingel meaning "fire." It entered English in the 1770’s.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Posy

Word of the Day for Thursday 6^th February 2014

Posy \POH-zee\, noun:

1. a flower, nosegay, or bouquet.
2. Archaic. a brief motto or the like, as one inscribed within a ring.

HAMLET: Is this a prologue, or the posy of a ring?
OPHELIA: ’Tis brief, my lord.
HAMLET: As woman’s love.
-- William Shakespeare, Hamlet, 1603

This time I have to bring her in an hour a posy of the rarest flowers, and where am I to find them?
-- Andrew Lang, The Orange Fairy Book, 1906

Posy is a variant of the word poesy, meaning "poem, poetry." Sometimes called nosegays or tussie-mussies, posies were popular accessories among fashionable women in Victorian England, and, harkening the word's literary origin, became vehicles for the floral "language of love."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Perspicuous

Word of the Day for Wednesday 5^th February 2014

Perspicuous \per-SPIK-yoo-uhs\, adjective:

1. clearly expressed or presented; lucid.
2. perspicacious.

This perspicuous presentation makes possible that understanding which consists just.
-- Iris Murdoch, Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals, 1992

My first memory of Funes is very perspicuous. I can see him on an afternoon in March or February of the year 1884.
-- Jorge Luis Borges, translated by Anthony Kerrigan, "Funes the Memorious," Ficciones, 1954

Perspicuous stems from the Latin word perspicere meaning "to look or see through." It is related to the word inspect.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Galligaskins

Word of the Day for Tuesday 4^th February 2014

Galligaskins \gal-i-GAS-kinz\, noun:

1. leggings or gaiters, usually of leather.
2. loose hose or breeches worn in the 16th and 17th centuries.

He was generally seen trooping like a colt at his mother's heels, equipped in a pair of his father's cast-off galligaskins, which he had much ado to hold up with one hand, as a fine lady does her train in bad weather.
-- Washington Irving, Rip Van Winkle, 1819

In galligaskins and filthy leather, his hat lost, his hair all elf-locks, he staggered toward WS.
-- Anthony Burgess, Nothing Like the Sun: A Story of Shakespeare's Love Life, 1964

Galligaskins is of obscure origin, though it's often associated with the now-obsolete French word garguesques. It entered English in the 1570’s.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Slake

Word of the Day for Monday 3^rd February 2014

Slake \sleyk\, verb:

1. to allay (thirst, desire, wrath, etc.) by satisfying.
2. to make less active, vigorous, intense, etc.: His calm manner slaked their enthusiasm.
3. to cause disintegration of (lime) by treatment with water.

My companions never drink pure water and the manioc beer serves as much to slake their thirst as to fill their stomachs and lubricate conversation.
-- Philippe Descola, The Spears of Twilight: Life and Death in the Amazon Jungle, 1996

She had the money he gave her (never enough to slake her anxieties).
-- Nuala O'Faolain, Are You Somebody?: The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman, 1996

Slake comes from Middle English slaken, "to become or render slack," hence "to abate," from Old English slacian, from slæc, "slack."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Boffin

Word of the Day for Sunday 2^nd February 2014

Boffin \BOF-in\, noun:

a scientist or technical expert.

A brilliant boffin — well, everyone attached to Tea Clipper was brilliant in one way or another.
-- Tom Clancy, The Cardinal of the Kremlin, 1988

Two years thinking of nothing else. Nobel laureate, balding boffin, government appointee, in the dock, fighting to stay out of jail.

-- Ian McEwan, Solar, 2010

Boffin arose in the early 1940’s. Though there are many hypotheses about its etymology, its origin remains unknown.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Ugsome

Word of the Day for Saturday 1^st February 2014

Ugsome \UHG-suhm\, adjective:

Scot. and North England. horrid; loathsome.

Slowly she turned to find herself facing a man with a scarred hollow at his temple, a very ugsome fellow. “I don't know you,” she said. “Leave me alone.”
-- Lisa Klein, Love Disguised, 2013

“Whatever would compel a young lass to look so ugsome?” While Rose ducked her head, embarrassed, Leana curtsied and extended her hand.
-- Liz Curtis Higgs, Whence Came a Prince, 2005

Ugsome is from the Middle English word ugg meaning "to fear, cause loathing" which is probably rooted in the Old Norse word ugga.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com