Hoosgow

Word of the Day for Thursday, October 3, 2013

Hoosgow \HOOS-gou\, noun:

Slang. a jail.

“You told Vera that Carl Webster dropped you off here. This policeman who wants to put me in the hoosgow.”
-- Elmore Leonard, Up in Honey's Room, 2007

"...I got on his tail when they sprung him yesterday noon. He went from the hoosgow to a hotel on Kearny Street and got himself a room."
-- Dashiell Hammett, The Dain Curse, 1929

Hoosgow is likely a mispronunciation of the Mexican Spanish juzgao meaning "tribunal, court." This ultimately comes from the Latin judicare meaning "to judge."

 

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Instauration

Word of the Day for Monday, September 30, 2013

Instauration \in-staw-REY-shuhn\, noun:

1. renewal; restoration; renovation; repair.
2. Obsolete. an act of instituting something; establishment.

Hence, the Pope proclaimed the instauration of the Roman Empire, under two Emperors, a Northern Emperor and a Southern Emperor; and confirmed the same to the King of Prussia and the King of Italy as representatives of the dynasties of Hohenzollern and Savoy respectively.
-- Frederick Rolfe, Hadrian the Seventh, 1904

Books such as those of Galileo and Copernicus were meant to stir up debates among scholars and astronomers, he insisted, to challenge old prejudices and enlighten the ignorant, to work towards a great instauration of knowledge.
-- Ross King, Ex Libris, 1913

Instauration comes from the Latin word instaurātiōn- meaning "a renewing, repeating."

Fleer

Word of the Day for Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Fleer \fleer\, verb:

1. to grin or laugh coarsely or mockingly.
2. to mock or deride.
3. a fleering look; a jeer or gibe.

Talley's lips fleer back, baring his teeth.
-- David L. Robbins, Scorched Earth, 2009

They fleered at Kit; they jostled.
-- Kelly Link, Trampoline, 2003

Fleer originally comes from the Norwegian word flire meaning "a grin."

 

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Orrery

Word of the Day for Monday, September 16, 2013

Orrery \AWR-uh-ree, OR-\, noun:

1. an apparatus for representing the positions, motions, and phases of the planets, satellites, etc., in the solar system.
2. any of certain similar machines, as a planetarium.

For part of the clock was an orrery: a mechanical model of the solar system that displayed the current positions of the planets and many of their moons.
-- Neal Stephenson, Anathem, 2010

But now he lies in hospital, mortally ill; and while his orrery still rests on the grand cherrywood desk, his photograph still hangs on the office wall (smiling mirthlessly, like a king who has wearied of his crown) and his iridescent fish still shimmer through the gloom of the aquarium on the dresser, his many bookcases are empty, save for dust and a single stress-busting executive toy like a hastily planted flag.
-- Paul Murray, Skippy Dies, 2010

Orrery is an eponym named after Charles Boyle, Earl of Orrery. Orrery was the patron of George Graham who created a mechanical model of solar system. It entered English in the early 1700s.

 

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Dissilient

Word of the Day for Saturday, September 14, 2013

Dissilient \dih-SIL-ee-uhnt\, adjective:

bursting apart; bursting open.

I imagined the dissilient pod of rumours a creative bureau chief up for promotion might hatch. Stories, once sprung, would snowball out of control, growing more damaging with each repetition.
-- Susan Daitch, L.C., 2002

The court was dissilient, generationally fractured, manned (as it were) by an increasingly impatient and acquisitive nobility.
-- Eric Scott Mallin, Inscribing the Time, 1995

Dissilent comes from the Latin word dissilīre meaning "to leap apart."

 

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Bordereau

 

Word of the Day for Thursday, September 12, 2013

bordereau \bawr-duh-ROH; Fr. bawr-duh-ROH\, noun:

a detailed memorandum, especially one in which documents are listed.

At the War Office, Dreyfus was told to take a letter from dictation, "'so phrased as to include some passages'" from the bordereau.
-- Richard Clark Sterne, Dark Mirror, 1994

“We need a photograph of the bordereau,” he said when he met Dubon at his office that evening.
-- Kate Taylor, A Man in Uniform, 2011

Bordereau comes from the French word of the same spelling, which is a diminutive form of the French word for board. It entered English in the late 1800s.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Ikat

Word of the Day for Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Ikat \ee-kaht\, noun:

1. a method of printing woven fabric by tie-dyeing the warp yarns (warp ikat), the weft yarns (weft ikat), or both (double ikat) before weaving.
2. a fabric made by this method.

I saw a collection of monumental tombs and watched a group of village ikat weavers using plants like indigo leaf to dye and make the fabric I'd always admired.
-- Carol Field, Mangoes and Quince, 2008

"Ikat," said Glenda. "From Bali. The most romantic place on the planet." Counting out the money, Simone discovered that she had only one more dollar than the scarf cost, with tax.
-- Francine Prose, Primitive People, 1992

Ikat is derived from the Malay word meaning "to tie" because of the method of dyeing. It entered English in the 1930s.

 

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com