GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

A home for our "Off-Topic" Chats. Like to play games? Tell jokes? Shoot the breeze about nothing at all ? Here is the place where you can hang out with the IBDoF Peanut Gallery and have some fun.

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laurie
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Post by laurie »

Perhaps it's Volleyball-2004 withdrawal, Felonius? :mrgreen:
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." -- Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

"So where the hell is he?" -- Laurie
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Word of the Day for Tuesday October 19, 2004

corpulent
\KOR-pyuh-luhnt\, adjective:
Very fat; obese.

He grew ever more corpulent and suffered from "a variety of physical ailments aggravated by the greasy Tennessee food."
--Scott Morris, "Keeper of the Flame," National Review, April 28, 2001

She admonished the character played by the corpulent Welles to "lay off the candy bars."
--Peter B. Flint, "Marlene Dietrich, 90, Symbol of Glamour, Dies," New York Times, May 7, 1992

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Corpulent comes from Latin corpulentus, "fat, stout, corpulent," from corpus, "body."

/me is not saying a thing! :mrgreen:
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
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felonius
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Post by felonius »

One of the past entries for the Bulwer-Lytton contest of San Jose University, wherein one writes the first line of a really bad novel:

"Like an over-ripe beefsteak tomato rimmed with cottage cheese, the corpulent remains of Santa Claus lay dead on the hotel floor." :D
laurie wrote:Perhaps it's Volleyball-2004 withdrawal, Felonius?
That's probably it, laurie. :)
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Word of the Day for Wednesday October 20, 2004

popinjay
\POP-in-jay\, noun:
A vain and talkative person.

One popinjay shrieking from the left and another from the right about last week's headlines is not the whole of Washington's political dramas. Occasionally, American politics is more complicated and more momentous.
--R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., "Feds Go Drug Crazy," American Spectator, May 26, 2000

A writer who appreciates the seriousness of writing so little that he is anxious to make people see he is formally educated, cultured or well-bred is merely a popinjay.
--Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon

The dignified, high density of personality of [Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart] is completely missing from our popinjay contemporary actors.
--Camille Paglia, Salon, March 1998

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Popinjay is from Middle English papejay, popingay, meaning "parrot," from Old French papegai, deriving ultimately from Arabic babagha.

:mrgreen:
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
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Word of the Day for Thursday October 21, 2004

vatic
\VAT-ik\, adjective:
Of or characteristic of a prophet or prophecy; prophetic; oracular.

[He] needs to be reminded that . . . his poetry is just that -- poetry, not the vatic revelation of spiritual truth.
--Ruth Franklin, "Black Milk of Language," New Republic, December 25, 2000

One encounters plenty of vatic pronouncements in the pages devoted to, among others, Muriel Rukeyser, Kenneth Rexroth, William Everson, H. D. and Olson.
--William H. Pritchard, "Eliot, Frost, Ma Rainey and the Rest," New York Times, April 2, 2000

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Vatic comes from Latin vates, "a prophet, a soothsayer, a seer."

/does this mean that the Pope lives in the House of Seers? :mrgreen:
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
S Adams
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Word of the Day for Friday October 22, 2004

fecund
\FEE-kuhnd; FEK-uhnd\, adjective:
1. Capable of producing offspring or vegetation; fruitful; prolific.
2. Intellectually productive or inventive.

For 21 years after the birth of the Prince of Wales, the fecund royal couple produced children at the rate of two every three years -- eight boys and six girls in all.
--Saul David, Prince of Pleasure

In her first novel she portrays a lush, fecund landscape palpable in its sultriness and excess.
--Barbara Crossette, "Seeking Nirvana," New York Times, April 29, 2001

Miss Ozick can convert any skeptic to the cult of her shrewd and fecund imagination.
--Edmund White, "Images of a Mind Thinking," New York Times, September 11, 1983

Wainscott's book is . . . focused squarely and surely on probably the most astonishingly fecund period in American theater history, 1914-1929.
--James Coakley, Comparative Drama

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Fecund comes from Latin fecundus, "fruitful, prolific." The noun form is fecundity.

/ felonus the fecund professor of poetic passages! - :P
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
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Word of the Day for Monday October 25, 2004

heterogeneous
\het-uh-ruh-JEE-nee-uhs; -JEE-nyuhs\, adjective:
Consisting of dissimilar elements, parts, or ingredients -- opposed to homogeneous.

According to the historian Albert Fein, New York embodied "the challenge of a democratic nation's capacity to plan for and maintain an urban environment to meet the needs of a uniquely heterogeneous population."
--Robert A. M. Stern, et al., New York 1880

He worked texture and color into the mortar and cement with heterogeneous bits of found junk, from seashells and stones to busted chunks of Phillips' Milk of Magnesia bottles.
--Gene Santoro, Myself When I Am Real

Fragmentation was inevitable within such a heterogeneous group, whose members had little in common.
--Lilia Shevtsova, et al., Yeltsin's Russia

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Heterogeneous derives from Greek heterogenes, from heter-, "other, different" + genos, "kind."

/me thinks - the IBDoF is a heterogeneous place :mrgreen:
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
S Adams
felonius
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Post by felonius »

That's a very important word. :thumb:
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Word of the Day for Tuesday October 26, 2004

rodomontade
\rod-uh-muhn-TADE; roh-duh-; -TAHD\, noun:
Vain boasting; empty bluster; pretentious, bragging speech; rant.

These are rejoinders born out of a need to deflate a balloon filled with what others view as pomposity or rodomontade.
--Corey Mesler, "Dispatch #1: Buying the Bookstore (The Early Days)," ForeWord, August 2000

The very absurdity of some of his later claims (inventors of jazz, originators of swing) . . . has made him an easy target in a way far beyond anything generated by that other (and in some ways quite similar) master of rodomontade, Jelly Roll Morton.
--Richard M. Sudhalter, Lost Chords

. . . the me-me-me rodomontade of macho rap.
--Nicholas Barber, "In the very bleak midwinter," Independent, January 7, 1996

But what he said -- that if any official came to his house to requisition his pistol, he'd better shoot straight -- was more rodomontade than a call to arms or hatred.
--William F. Buckley, Jr., "What does Clinton have in mind?" National Review, May 29, 1995

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Rodomontade comes from Italian rodomontada, from Rodomonte, a great yet boastful warrior king in Italian epics of the late 15th - early 16th centuries. At root the name means "roller-away of mountains," from the Italian dialect rodare, "to roll away" (from Latin rota, "wheel") + Italian monte, "mountain" (from Latin mons).


/King Rodomontade, me thinks, me heard him in the soapbox :mrgreen:
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
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Word of the Day for Thursday October 27, 2004

hoary
\HOR-ee\, adjective:
1. White or gray with age; as, "hoary hairs."
2. Ancient; extremely old; remote in time past.

Once upon a time, memoirs were written by hoary chaps casting rheumy glances back towards their golden youth: no more.
--Erica Wagner, "Post-Post-Modern memoir," Times (London), July 19, 2000

Had Mozart lived to the hoary old age of 73, he might indeed have fallen out of favor in an era besotted with Rossini, becoming a "largely forgotten, neglected, unperformed composer."
--Marilyn Stasio, "Crime," New York Times, June 23, 1996

Mr. Weicker spends most of his time serving up hoary war stories and settling old political scores.
--Jeff Greenfield, "Politically Imprudent," New York Times, June 18, 1995

Compare that with the elements of a musical in about 1920: the star in a cliche story that was merely a framing device for generic musical numbers, hoary joke-book gags, and the usual specialty performers in a staging more often than not by a hack.
--Ethan Mordden, Coming Up Roses

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Hoary derives from Middle English hor, from Old English har, "gray; old (and gray-haired)."


/me thinks this word sounds too much like another for me to use it :mrgreen:
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
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Word of the Day for Thursday October 28, 2004

foundling
\FOWND-ling\, noun: A deserted or abandoned infant; a child found without a parent or caretaker.

Some of her desires were more altruistic: she wanted to "send Phyllis to school for a year, take Auntie May for a winter in the Isle of Pines," and "raise foundlings."
--Tim Page, Dawn Powell: A Biography

Then one day her daughter returns home with a foundling, an abandoned baby boy.
--Charles R. Larson, Washington Post, September 26, 1999

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Foundling comes from Old English foundling, fundling, from finden, "to find" + the suffix -ling.

:cry:
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
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Word of the Day for Monday November 1, 2004

debouch
\dih-BOWCH; -BOOSH\, intransitive verb:
1. To march out (as from a wood, defile, or other narrow or confined spot) into the open.
2. To emerge; to issue.

transitive verb: To cause to emerge or issue; to discharge.

When the mill hands hassled Pete at the Manchester Cafe, he took off his apron, debouched from behind the counter and beat them senseless.
--Richard Rhodes, Why They Kill

Bangladesh, one of the most populous spots on earth, is virtually the delta of the Brahmaputra and Ganga river systems, where numerous streams and rivers debouch to the Bay of Bengal.
-- "Blood on the Border," Times of India, April 23, 2001

. . . one of those ancient towns of central France where the streets wind upward from the railway track, through scowling walls of medievalism, until they debouch in the square outside the cathedral door, surveyed by huge stone animals from the cathedral tower and prowled around on Sunday mornings by cats and desultory tourists.
--Jan Morris, Fifty Years of Europe

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Debouch comes from French déboucher, from dé- (for de), "out of" (from Latin de) + bouche, "mouth" (from Latin bucca, "cheek, mouth"). The noun form is debouchment.
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
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Word of the Day for Tuesday November 2, 2004

jejune
\juh-JOON\, adjective:
1. Lacking in nutritive value.
2. Displaying or suggesting a lack of maturity; childish.
3. Lacking interest or significance; dull; meager; dry.

Were I to make this public now, it would be dismissed as the raving of a mind at the end of its tether, unable to distinguish fiction from reality, real life from the jejune fantasies of its youth.
--Ronald Wright, A Scientific Romance

By the inflection of his voice, the expression of his face, and the motion of his body, he signals that he is aware of all the ways he may be thought silly or jejune, and that he might even think so himself.
--Jedediah Purdy, For Common Things

A while ago, Michael Kinsley wrote that Jewish Americans envied Israelis for living out history in a way that made the comfort and security of life in New York or Los Angeles seem jejune.
--Geoffrey Wheatcroft, "The Big Kibbutz," New York Times, March 2, 1997

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Jejune derives from Latin jejunus, "fasting, hence hungry, hence scanty, meager, weak."


/seems like a good name for a childish fictional character (NaNoWriMo writers) :mrgreen:
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
S Adams
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Word of the Day for Wednesday November 3, 2004

redolent
\RED-uh-luhnt\, adjective:
1. Having or exuding fragrance; scented; aromatic.
2. Full of fragrance; odorous; smelling (usually used with 'of' or 'with').
3. Serving to bring to mind; evocative; suggestive; reminiscent (usually used with 'of' or 'with').

The 142-foot-long sidewheeled steamer . . . ferried people from place to place, . . . its two decks redolent with the aroma of fresh grapes, peaches, and other fruit headed for the rail spur at the Canandaigua pier, then on to markets in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
--A. M. Sperber and Eric Lax, Bogart

The simple, semisweet and moist cake was redolent of cinnamon and nutmeg and studded with Mr. McCartney's favorite nuts, pecans.
--Bryan Miller, "Lots of Smidgens, But Hold the Meat," New York Times, September 7, 1994

Backed by soaring sax and energetic percussion, Martin makes the sort of celebratory, Spanish party music redolent of warm weather and cocktails.
--Lisa Verrico, Times (London), November 10, 2000

It's a fine word, "Fellowship", redolent of Oxbridge high tables and intellectual excellence.
--Paul Hoggart, Times (London), February 24, 2001

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Redolent derives from Latin redolens, -entis, present participle of redolere, "to emit a scent, to diffuse an odor," from red-, re- + olere, "to exhale an odor."


/*sniff*sniff* - what's that I smell :mrgreen:
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
S Adams
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Word of the Day for Thursday November 4, 2004

imprecation
\im-prih-KAY-shuhn\, noun:
1. The act of imprecating, or invoking evil upon someone.
2. A curse.

After a while, he stopped hurling imprecations . . . and, as he often did after such an outburst, became quite remorseful.
--Wayne Johnston, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams

Would he criticize an erring colleague? "I shall," Dirksen would promise, in a voice like the finest whiskey aged in fog, "invoke upon him every condign imprecation."
--Lance Morrow, "We Lose a Great Speaker, We Gain a Great Book," Time, May 24, 2000

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Imprecation derives from Latin imprecatio, from imprecari, "to invoke harm upon, to pray against," from in- + precari, "to pray."

:mrgreen:
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
S Adams
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Word of the Day for Friday November 5, 2004

obsequious
\ob-SEE-kwee-us\, adjective: Servilely attentive; compliant to excess; fawning.

His wealth nevertheless turns the townspeople into groveling, obsequious sycophants.
--Stephen Holden, "'The Best Man': When She Says 'I Do,' She Means 'Not You'," New York Times, August 14, 1998

Politicians these days have to pretend to like football, and I am tired of their obsequious, crowd-pleasing football jokes.
--Margaret Drabble, "Will the BBC pay up?" Times (London), July 6, 2000

This is a brazenly stylish restaurant where the staff are razor-sharp and not remotely obsequious.
--Orna Mulcahy, "Brash, edgy -- and so good," Irish Times, August 1, 2000

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Obsequious comes from Latin obsequiosus, from obsequium, "compliance," from obsequi, "to comply with," from ob-, "toward" + sequi, "to follow."

/the evil overlord has a obsequious horde
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
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Word of the Day for Monday November 8, 2004

fallible
\FAL-uh-bul\, adjective:
1. Liable to make a mistake.
2. Liable to be inaccurate or erroneous.

But human beings are fallible. We know we all make mistakes.
--Robert S. McNamara, et al., Argument Without End

Jack Kerouac was neither a demon nor a saint but a fallible, notably gentle, deeply conflicted and finally self-destructive person whose dream from childhood was to be a writer.
--Morris Dickstein, "Beyond Beat," New York Times, August 9, 1998

On the other hand, mathematics does not rely on evidence from fallible experimentation, but it is built on infallible logic.
--Simon Singh, Fermat's Enigma

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Fallible derives from Medieval Latin fallibilis, from Latin fallere, "to deceive." It is related to fail, false (from falsum, the past participle of fallere), fallacy ("a false notion"), fault (from Old French falte, from fallere), and faucet (from Old Provençal falsar, "to falsify, to create a fault in, to bore through," from fallere).

/ oops! :mrgreen:
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
S Adams
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Word of the Day for Tuesday November 9, 2004

gadabout
\GAD-uh-bout\, noun:Someone who roams about in search of amusement or social activity.

In his unorthodox and callow way, he frequently upset and annoyed his countrymen, but they continued to vote for him, perhaps taking a vicarious pleasure in being led by such a world-famous gadabout.
--"Milestones of 2000," Times (London), December 29, 2000

She hugged him fiercely. "Oh, I love you, Jake Grafton, you worthless gadabout fly-boy, you fool that sails away and leaves me."
--Jack Anderson, Control

Teddy was a bon vivant and gadabout.
--Nadine Brozan, "Born in a Trunk: The Story of the Hornes," New York Times, June 20, 1986

Mr. Hart-Davis, as befits a professional literary man, is something of a gadabout.
--Daphne Merkin, "From Two Most English Men," New York Times, June 23, 1985

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Gadabout is formed from the verb gad, "to rove or go about without purpose or restlessly" (from Middle English gadden, "to hurry") + about.
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
S Adams
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Post by Kvetch »

is there a connection with the word 'gadfly'?
"I'm the family radical. The rest are terribly stuffy. Aside from Aunt - she's just odd."
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Ghost
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Post by Ghost »

I don't know :shock: :

gad•fly (g d fl )n.
1. A persistent irritating critic; a nuisance.
2. One that acts as a provocative stimulus; a goad.
3. Any of various flies, especially of the family Tabanidae, that bite or annoy livestock and other animals.
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
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Word of the Day for Wednesday November 10, 2004

ribald \RIB-uhld; RY-bawld\, adjective:Characterized by or given to vulgar humor; coarse. noun:A ribald person; a lewd fellow.

Mr. Plummer's Barrymore delights you with his own delight in his silly, ribald jokes (most of which are unprintable here).
--Ben Brantley, "A Dazzler of a Drunk, Full of Gab and Grief," New York Times, March 26, 1997

The blues took form in the late nineteenth century as a musical synthesis that combined "worksongs, group seculars, field hollers, sacred harmonies, proverbial wisdom, folk philosophy, political commentary, ribald humor and elegiac lament."
--Constance Valis Hill, Brotherhood in Rhythm

Their contrasting habits and preoccupations are telling and endearing: Piccard, the fussy one, sleeps in pajamas, Jones in the nude. Piccard scribbles homages in his journal to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, while Jones tosses off ribald limericks.
--Louise Jarvis, "Are We There Yet?" New York Times, November 14, 1999

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Ribald derives from Old French ribaud, from riber, "to be wanton," from Old High German riban, "to be amorous" (originally, "to rub").

/me is not going to say who (MK) :mrgreen:
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
S Adams
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laurie
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Post by laurie »

Only one, Judge?

Come on, we're all a bit ribald at times. :shock: :mrgreen:
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." -- Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

"So where the hell is he?" -- Laurie
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Word of the Day for Thursday November 11, 2004

turbid
\TUR-bid\, adjective:
1. Muddy; thick with or as if with roiled sediment; not clear; -- used of liquids of any kind.
2. Thick; dense; dark; -- used of clouds, air, fog, smoke, etc.
3. Disturbed; confused; disordered.

Although both are found in the same waters, black crappies usually prefer clearer, quieter water, while white crappies flourish in warmer, siltier and more turbid water.
--Tim Eisele, "Crappie Facts," Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin), May 8, 1998

Rough or smooth, the Irish Sea at Blackpool is always turbid. Beneath the murk float unspeakable things.
--David Walker, "Is Labour right to end its affair with Blackpool? YES says David," Independent, March 26, 1998

Wesley's mind seems at this time to have been in a turbid and restless state.
--W. B. Stonehouse, The History and Topography of the Isle of Axholme

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Turbid comes from Latin turbidus, "confused, disordered," from turba, "disturbance, commotion."
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
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Word of the Day for Friday November 12, 2004

propitiate
\pro-PISH-ee-ayt\, transitive verb: To render favorably inclined; to appease; to conciliate (one offended).

Azorka, a black house-dog, probably conscious of his guilt in barking for nothing and anxious to propitiate us, approached us, diffidently wagging his tail.
--Anton Chekhov, "Lights"

Yet the Fairy Bridge . . . didn't get its name for nothing. Here the locals lift a hand ever so slightly and mutter "Hello, little people," to propitiate the fairies underneath.
--Helen Gibson, "Rewards and Fairies," Time Europe, April 30, 2001

Cultivated pagans long survived but retreated to form private societies, practicing secret rites to propitiate the gods to avert drought or earthquake from their home cities.
--Henry Chadwick, "Greasing the 4th-Century Palm," New York Times, November 15, 1992

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Propitiate derives from Latin propitius, "favorable."

/me makes Salmagundi to propitiate me new friends :twisted:
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
S Adams
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Post by Darb »

Little bald Johnnie tried to propetiate the follicles on his scalp by slathering them with propetia

Splat :slap:

Rubbin in in :crazy:
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