GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

[Algot Runeman]

bodhisattva

Pronunciation: /ˌbɒdɪˈsɑːtvə/
noun
(in Mahayana Buddhism) a person who is able to reach nirvana but delays doing so through compassion for suffering beings.

Origin
Sanskrit, ‘a person whose essence is perfect knowledge’, from bodhi ‘perfect knowledge’ (from budh- ‘know perfectly’) + sattva ‘being, essence’.

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Concern for the welfare of one's constituents should be the demonstrated behavior of all who seek to be in politics, though aspiration to bodhisattva status is too much to ask. Concern for corporate supporters cannot be construed as the same thing.

[Algot Runeman]

baile

Pronunciation: /ˈbʌɪleɪ/
noun
(in the south-western US and parts of Central and South America) a gathering for dancing.

Origin
Spanish, ‘dance, dancing’.

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Sebastien and Charlie organized the even together. They publicized it as a baile/hoedown. They each had lots of friends who had friends and the gathering was a big success.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

baile

For as long as I can remember (which is quite long), the resort towns of the Flemish coast have always had their annual "baile popular". But they never called it that, except for the rare Spanish tourists.

Then today there is the much younger Bai Ling. She bailed out ...

Spoiler: show

[Algot Runeman]

manzanilla

Pronunciation: /ˌmanzəˈniːjə//ˌmanzəˈnɪlə/
noun
mass noun
A pale, very dry Spanish sherry.

Origin
Spanish, literally ‘camomile’ (because the flavour is reminiscent of that of camomile tea).

--==--==--==--

Martin munched chips and sipped his manzanilla in the shade of his porch. A faint breeze kept him company.

[Algot Runeman]

chipotle

Pronunciation: /tʃɪˈpəʊtleɪ/
noun
A smoked hot chilli pepper used in Mexican cooking.

Origin
Mexican Spanish, from Nahuatl.

-=-=-=-=-

Chipotles, jalapeños, and a variety of other peppers enrich Mexican foods, but also turn some away who think the food is too spicy-hot.

[Algot Runeman]

saxicoline

Pronunciation: /sakˈsɪk(ə)lʌɪn/
(also saxicolous)
adjective
rare
Living or growing on or among rocks.

Origin
Late 19th century: from modern Latin saxicolus (from saxum ‘rock’ + colere ‘inhabit’) + -ine.

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Standing on the crest of most mountain ridges in New England means you are on blocks of granite. Joining you there are the many saxicoline lichens which grip the rock surface. It is also common to find hardy, if stubby, trees finding some hold between the blocks where they attempt to deny the description "above the treeline".


Photo Credit: Dave McShaffrey, Marietta College Department of Biology

[Algot Runeman]

octrain

Pronunciation: /ˈɒktreɪn/
noun
rare
A group or stanza of eight lines; an octet.

Origin
Early 19th century: from oct- + -rain, on the pattern of quatrain.

-=-=-=-=-

It's far easier to create a quatrain
Four flows faster than eight, in the main.
But I suppose an octrain has its place
In the realm of poetic space.
It's just that I'm so used to four
That it is hard to write out more.
Now forcing through with number seven...
Making eight -- a struggle -- Is this heaven?

[Algot Runeman]

overweening

Pronunciation: /əʊvəˈwiːnɪŋ/
adjective
Showing excessive confidence or pride.

-=-=-=-=-

With overweening sense of self
The lout did shout and point
To expose the flaws of others.

And taking toys down from the shelf
Saw the world as out of joint,
Enemies or dupes, not brothers.

No mirrors for himself,
He chose his children to anoint.
Look just to us, not others.

[Algot Runeman]

enfleurage

Pronunciation: /ˌɒ̃fləˈrɑːʒ/
noun
mass noun
The extraction of essential oils and perfumes from flowers using odourless animal or vegetable fats.

Origin
Mid 19th century: French, from enfleurer ‘saturate with the perfume from flowers’.

-=-=-=-=-

Max felt that the childhood Christmas present of a chemistry set was a big factor in his development of skill with enfleurage and his ultimate career in the perfume industry.

[Algot Runeman]

obdurate

Pronunciation: /ˈɒbdjʊrət/
adjective
Stubbornly refusing to change one's opinion or course of action.

Origin
Late Middle English (originally in the sense ‘hardened in sin, impenitent’): from Latin obduratus, past participle of obdurare, from ob- ‘in opposition’ + durare ‘harden’ (from durus ‘hard’).

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The colonel was obdurate. Once he made a decision, no matter how rash, he was determined to follow through to the end.

[Algot Runeman]

suspension

/səˈspenʃn/
n. The act of suspending or the condition of being suspended, especially:
n. A temporary abrogation or cessation, as of a law or rule.
n. A device from which a mechanical part is suspended.

-=--=--=--=-

A suspension bridge is an act of faith. The sane among us know it's going to eventually fall. Those with a fear of heights who have anxiety attacks think that "eventually" is today.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

suspension

After Sus designed and built his "suspension bridge" for "Top Gear", he was awarded an extra pension.

Spoiler: show

[Algot Runeman]

Sus's pension!

Marvellous.

[Algot Runeman]

wayang

Pronunciation: /ˈwɑːjaŋ/
noun
(in Indonesia and Malaysia) a theatrical performance employing puppets or human dancers.

Origin
Javanese.

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The wayang performance was brilliant. It was the signature event of the school year for Mai and Tommy. Their puppet performance brought the house down.

[Algot Runeman]

porte-bonheur

/ˌpɔːt bɒˈnəː/
noun
A charm, an amulet, or a trinket carried after the fashion of an amulet, suspended to a bracelet or other article of personal adornment.

-=-=-=-=-

My wife has a charm bracelet which has accumulated many charms over the years to mark important events, but I'm not sure any of them qualifies as a porte-bonheur. When she wears it, I sometimes take her hand and say, "Charmed, I'm sure."

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

porte-bonheur

This thing is a porte-bonheur too.
Not for the cat though, but for the little birds in the garden.

Spoiler: show

I've been told some harem wives used to wear several of those little bells on their ankles. But I'm sure they took them off before ..., erm ..., well, you know.

Spoiler: show

[Algot Runeman]

eucatastrophe

Pronunciation: /ˌjuːkəˈtastrəfi/
noun
rare
A sudden and favourable resolution of events in a story; a happy ending.

Origin
Mid 20th century: said to have been coined by Tolkien.

CONTRAST WITH (Especially definition 3:
catastrophe
[kuh-tas-truh-fee]

noun
1. a sudden and widespread disaster:
2. any misfortune, mishap, or failure; fiasco:
3. a final event or conclusion, usually an unfortunate one; a disastrous end:

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Tolkein is notable for his epic fantasy in which the main characters are saved by the re-appearance of the wizard, who, after long absence, shows up to wave his magic wand, turning away the vast opposing army and providing a eucatastrophe.

[Algot Runeman]

curriculum

/kəˈrɪkjʊləm/
noun
The subjects comprising a course of study in a school or college.

Origin
Early 19th century: from Latin (see curricle).

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The tightly constrained curriculum left George with a degree, though one which neglected to encourage imagination.

[Algot Runeman]

daube

/dəʊb/
noun
A stew of meat, typically beef, braised slowly in wine.

Origin
French; compare with Italian addobbo ‘seasoning’.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Stewart seared the slab of beef with onions tomatoes and peppers, browning them quickly, then added some wine and a little beef broth with potato wedges and reduced the heat. About an hour later, he and his happy family enjoyed consuming every morsel of the daube.

[Algot Runeman]

slurry

/ˈslʌri/
noun
mass noun
A semi-liquid mixture, typically of fine particles of manure, cement, or coal and water.

Origin
Late Middle English: related to dialect slur ‘thin mud’, of unknown origin.

-=-=-=-=-

You cannot be in a big hurry
When sluicing ore down chutes as slurry.
The mountain's mud must quickly rush
So gold sinks out of the passing slush.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

slurry

She daubed the cucumber slurry on the client's wrinkled face and said aloud: "Now Miz' Johnson, you'll have to stay quiet for an hour. otherwise the cucumber slides off.", but thought silently: "I hope that forces the old hag to shut up for that long."

Spoiler: show

[Algot Runeman]

interpreter

/ɪnˈtəːprɪtə/
noun
1 A person who interprets, especially one who translates speech orally or into sign language.

2 Computing
A program that can analyse and execute a program line by line.

Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French interpreteur, from late Latin interpretator, from Latin interpretari (see interpret).

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Alexei really wasn't a successful interpreter. But people kept using him because the technology always told the listener what they wanted to hear.

[Algot Runeman]

pombe

/ˈpɒmbeɪ/
noun
(in Central and East Africa) a fermented drink made from various kinds of grain and fruit.

Origin
Kiswahili.

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Bob wondered if he should call his mix of Arabica and pombe as "East African coffee", thinking of the more well known "Irish coffee". He did, of course, add the sugar and a layer of cream.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

pombe

I searched with Google to find out whether Tshombe liked pombe, but I found nothing conclusive.

Spoiler: show

[Algot Runeman]

fletch

/flɛtʃ/
verb
[WITH OBJECT]
Provide (an arrow) with feathers for flight.
noun
Each of the feathered vanes of an arrow.

Origin
Mid 17th century: alteration of fledge, probably influenced by fletcher.

>>>----------->

Frank Fletcher felt it was inevitable that he would achieve his goals. He stood as relaxed as possible under the circumstances. Here he was competing for Olympic gold, his three perfectly balanced and carefully fletched arrows ready at his side.