Sycophant

Tuesday 11^th October 2016

Sycophant - /ˈsɪkəfant/

Noun

A person who acts obsequiously towards someone important in order to gain advantage.

Example sentences

Noun

‘However, they’re surrounded by sycophants, so they hardly ever get any constructive criticism’

‘Needless to say, if you only look at what your sycophants write, you’re not going to gain much’

Origin

Mid 16th century (denoting an informer): from French sycophante, or via Latin from Greek sukophantēs informer, from sukon fig + phainein to show, perhaps with reference to making the insulting gesture of the ‘fig’ (sticking the thumb between two fingers) to informers.

Thanks to: www.oxforddictionaries.com

Elusive

Monday 10^th October 2016

Elusive - /ɪˈluːsɪv

Adjective

1.    Difficult to find, catch, or achieve.

2.    Difficult to remember.

Example sentences

Adjective

‘success will become ever more elusive’

‘the elusive thought he had had moments before’

Origin

Early 18th century: from Latin elus- eluded (from the verb eludere) + -ive.

Thanks to: www.oxforddictionaries.com

Irony

Friday 7^th October 2016

Irony /ˈʌɪrəni/

Noun

1.    The expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.

2.    A state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often wryly amusing as a result.

3.    A literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy, by which the full significance of a character's words or actions is clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character.

Adjective

Of or like iron.

Example sentences

Noun

‘‘Don't go overboard with the gratitude,’ he rejoined with heavy irony’

‘The irony is that I thought he could help me’

‘One of life's little ironies’

Adjective

‘An irony grey colour’

Origin

Early 16th century (also denoting Socratic irony): via Latin from Greek eirōneia simulated ignorance, from eirōn dissembler.

Thanks to: www.oxforddictionaries.com

Stubborn

Thursday 6^th October 2016

Stubborn /ˈstʌbən/

Adjective

1.    Having or showing dogged determination not to change one's attitude or

position on something, especially in spite of good reasons to do so.

2.   Difficult to move, remove, or cure.

Example sentences

‘you're a silly, stubborn old woman’

‘the removal of stubborn screws’

Origin

Middle English (originally in the sense ‘untameable, implacable’): of unknown origin.

Thanks to: www.oxforddictionaries.com

platonic

Wednesday 5^th October 2016

platonic /pləˈtɒnɪk/

Adjective

(Of love or friendship) intimate and affectionate but not sexual.

 

Example sentences

‘Their relationship is purely platonic’

‘Platonic love’

Origin

Mid 17th century: from Platonic, with reference to a discussion of love in the "Symposium" by Plato.

Thanks to: www.oxforddictionaries.com

Epiphany

Tuesday 4^th October 2016

Epiphany /ɪˈpɪfənɪ/

Noun (pl) -nies

1. The manifestation of a supernatural or divine reality

2. Any moment of great or sudden revelation

3. A Christian festival held on Jan 6 commemorating in the Western

Church the manifestation of Christ to the Magi and in the Eastern Church the baptism of Christ

Derived Forms

Adjective

Epiphanic (ˌɛpɪˈfænɪk) 

Quote

What also, if anything, was the epiphany which convinced you that you

could complete it to your satisfaction?

Aravind Adiga Responds to Our Readers – The Daily Beast 29 July 2009

Origin

Early 14c., "festival of the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles"

(celebrated Jan. 6; usually with a capital -E)

Of divine beings other than Christ, first recorded 1660’s; general literary

sense of "any manifestation or revelation" appeared 1840, first in DeQuincey

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

Poke

Friday 30^th September 2016

Poke /pəʊk/

Verb

1. (Transitive) to jab or prod, as with the elbow, the finger, a stick, etc

2. (Transitive) to make (a hole, opening, etc) by or as by poking

3. When intr, often foll by at. to thrust (at)

4. (Transitive) ( informal) to hit with the fist; punch

5. Usually foll by in, out, out of, through, etc. to protrude or cause to

protrude: don't poke your arm out of the window

6. (Transitive) to stir (a fire, pot, etc) by poking

7. (Intransitive) to meddle or intrude

8. (Intransitive; often foll by about or around) to search or pry

9. (Intransitive) often foll by along. to loiter, potter, dawdle, etc

10. (Transitive) ( slang) (of a man) to have sexual intercourse with

11. Poke fun at, to mock or ridicule

12. Poke one's nose into

Noun

13. A jab or prod

14. Short for slowpoke

15. (Informal) a blow with one's fist; punch

Quote

This initiative highlights activists from Cuba to China, who use satire to poke

fun at their blundering and oppressive regimes.

Celebrate Dictator Appreciaition Month David Keyes 19 June 2013

Origin

Verb

"To push, prod, thrust," especially with something pointed, c.1300, puken

"to poke, nudge," of uncertain origin, perhaps from or related to Middle

Dutch poken "to poke" (Dutch beuken), or Middle Low German poken "to

stick with a knife" (cf. German pochen "to knock, rap"), both from Proto-Germanic root *puk-, perhaps imitative. Related: Poked ; poking. To poke

fun "tease" first attested 1840; to poke around "search" is from 1809. To

poke along "advance lazily; walk at a leisurely pace" is from 1833.

Noun

"Small sack" early 13c probably from Old North French poque (12c Old

French poche) "purse, poke, purse-net" probably from a Germanic source from 

Proto-Germanic *puk (cf. Old English pohha, pocca "bag, pocket,"

Middle Dutch poke / Old Norse poki "bag, pouch, pocket," dialectal German

Pfoch) from PIE root *beu- an imitative root associated with words for "to

swell".

"Pokeweed; a weed used in medicine and dyeing," colonial American, from

native words, possibly a confusion of similar-sounding Native American plant

names; from 1630’s in English as "tobacco plant," short for uppowoc(1580’s), from 

Algonquian (Virginia) *uppowoc. 

Later (1708) the word isused in the sense "pokeweed," as a shortened form of puccoon, 

from Algonquian (Virginia) *puccoon, name of a plant used for dyeing." Native

roots for "smoke" and "stain" have been proposed as the origin or origins.

"An act of poking," 1796, originally pugilistic slang, from poke. Also(1809) the name of a device, like a yoke with a pole, attached to domestic

animals such as pigs and sheep to keep them from escaping enclosures. Hence slowpoke and  pokey. 

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com