GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by **Ghost** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 8:52 am

Word of the Day for Monday June 27, 2005

callow \KAL-oh\, adjective: Immature; lacking adult perception, experience, or judgment.

Those who in later years did me harm I describe as I knew them then, and I beg any reader to remember that, although I was hardly callow, I was not yet wise in the ways of the world.
--Iain Pears, An Instance of the Fingerpost

George Black Jr was grateful that during his protracted courtship of Betty, his future father-in-law 'bore my callow unsophistication with benign indulgence'.
--Richard Siklos, Shades of Black

They watched in awe as Revere, at first a callow and unambitious youth, began to develop into a serious young man dedicated to books and devoted to his father.
--Sherwin B. Nuland, "The Saint," New Republic, December 13, 1999

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Callow is from Old English calu, "featherless, bald."

felonius · Post by **felonius** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 9:49 am

Callow, sallow, a field gone fallow, seconds away from an allowal to throw in the hallowed towel, Brett saw purple and yallow and collapsed to the floor of the ring like a soft marshmallow.

(DING DING)

Post by **laurie** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 11:47 am

felonius wrote:Callow, sallow, a field gone fallow, seconds away from an allowal to throw in the hallowed towel, Brett saw purple and yallow and collapsed to the floor of the ring like a soft marshmallow.

(DING DING)

WHAT has that callow young man been smoking?!?!?

Post by **Darb** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 11:50 am

Felon: Nice boxing post.

Aunflin · Post by **Aunflin** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 7:19 pm

Post by **Ghost** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 8:11 am

Word of the Day for Tuesday June 28, 2005

woebegone \WOE-bee-gon\, adjective: 1. Beset or overwhelmed with woe; immersed in grief or sorrow; woeful. 2. Being in a sorry condition; dismal-looking; dilapidated; run-down.

Socrates, condemned to death by the people of Athens, prepares to drink a cup of hemlock, surrounded by woebegone friends.
--Alain De Botton, The Consolations of Philosophy

This woebegone lot includes Henry, a real-estate developer whose dream project has, like his marriage, slipped into bankruptcy; Henry's sister, Wiloma, who has hurled herself headlong into the arms of a New Age church to survive her own divorce; and Henry and Wiloma's decrepit Uncle Brendan, a former monk whose faith has eroded along with his health, stranding him in a nursing home.
--Jennifer Howard, review of The Forms of Water, by Andrea Barrett, New York Times, June 13, 1993

After 40 years as a producer he thinks of himself as a battered, scarred but well-armoured animal, "like an old turtle"; and if such creatures could speak they would probably sound like [him], a bit woebegone but drolly unsurprised by life's vicissitudes.
--"Time for another Hugo hit," Times (London), May 22, 2000

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Woebegone is from Middle English wo begon, from wo (from Old English wa, used to express grief) + begon, past participle of begon, "to go about, to beset," from Old English began, bigan, from bi-, "around, about" + gan, "to go."

Post by **Darb** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 8:34 am

/me scores the first wordless WOTD post.

felonius · Post by **felonius** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 12:01 pm

It's kind of oxymoronic - when you say the word, it sounds more like an incantation to frighten depression away, not an adjective to describe it.

"Woebegone! Gone, gone! Get the #%*@ outta here! Scram! Vaminos! Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out!"

Post by **Ghost** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 8:12 am

Word of the Day for Wednesday June 29, 2005

lineament \LIN-ee-uh-muhnt\, noun: 1. One of the outlines, exterior features, or distinctive marks of a body or figure, particularly of the face. 2. A distinguishing or characteristic feature; -- usually in the plural.

If she saw herself, even in her memory, she did not see the brightness that had been hers as a wife; she saw the lined and ageing woman she had become, as if these lineaments had been waiting to emerge since her features had first been formed.
--Anita Brookner, Visitors

Biography -- and, by definition, autobiography -- is the form of the moment. In the shape of a well-lived, well-told life we can discern the lineaments of the day and even, if the life to hand signifies more than itself, the age.
--Fred Inglis, "No Discouragement: An Autobiography," New Statesman, December 6, 1996

Crazy wooden galleries common to the backs of half a dozen houses, with holes from which to look upon the slime beneath; windows, broken and patched, with poles thrust out, on which to dry the linen that is never there; rooms so small, so filthy, so confined, that the air would seem too tainted even for the dirt and squalor which they shelter; wooden chambers thrusting themselves out above the mud, and threatening to fall into it--as some have done; dirt-besmeared walls and decaying foundations; every repulsive lineament of poverty, every loathsome indication of filth, rot, and garbage; all these ornament the banks of Folly Ditch.
--Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

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Lineament comes from Latin lineamentum, "feature, lineament," from linea, "line."

Charles Dickens

Post by **Ghost** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 8:57 am

Word of the Day for Thursday June 30, 2005

abscond \ab-SKOND\, intransitive verb:
To depart secretly; to steal away and hide oneself -- used especially of persons who withdraw to avoid arrest or prosecution.

The criminal is not concerned with influencing or affecting public opinion: he simply wants to abscond with his money or accomplish his mercenary task in the quickest and easiest way possible so that he may reap his reward and enjoy the fruits of his labours.
--Bruce Hoffman, Inside Terrorism

Pearl, now an orphan (her father having absconded shortly after her conception), has been taken to live with her great-aunt Margaret in the north of England.
--Zoe Heller, Everything You Know

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Abscond comes from Latin abscondere, "to conceal," from ab-, abs-, "away" + condere, "to put, to place."

Post by **Darb** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 10:34 am

I think felon's waiting for a few more choice words to build up before hitting the bait in a big way.

Post by **laurie** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 7:43 pm

Either that or he already absconded with the bait.

You know - the really big one that got away ...

Post by **Darb** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 7:49 pm

{Brad yawps excitedly as his linguistic fishing pole suddenly bends double, and the reel starts screaming ... only to sag back in frustration and disappointment when the line suddenly snaps}

/me kicks open tacklebox, and rummages though the pile of spare hooks, sinkers, and lineaments ...

Post by **Ghost** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 9:13 am

Word of the Day for Friday July 1, 2005

garrulous \GAIR-uh-lus; GAIR-yuh-\, adjective: 1. Talking much, especially about commonplace or trivial things; talkative. 2. Wordy.

Without saying a single word she managed to radiate disapproval . . . the air seemed to grow heavy with it and the most garrulous talker would wilt and fall silent.
--Mark Amory, Lord Berners: The Last Eccentric

He was as garrulous as a magpie.
--Ferdinand Mount, Jem (and Sam)

The garrulous ancient was for once holding his tongue.
--William Black, Madcap Violet

Crammed with gossip, anecdotes, and confessions . . ., his garrulous, untidy narratives read like a good novel.
--James Atlas, "A Modern Whitman," The Atlantic, December 1984

He took a great liking to this Rev. Mr. Peters, and talked with him a great deal: told him yarns, gave him toothsome scraps of personal history, and wove a glittering streak of profanity through his garrulous fabric that was refreshing to a spirit weary of the dull neutralities of undecorated speech.
--Mark Twain, "Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion II," The Atlantic, November 1877

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Garrulous is from Latin garrulus, from garrire, "to chatter, to babble."

BONUS Word of the Day

magpie, n 1: long-tailed black-and-white bird that utters a chattering call 2: someone who collects things that have been discarded by others [syn: scavenger, pack rat] 3: an obnoxious and foolish and loquacious talker [syn: chatterer, babbler, prater, chatterbox, spouter]

Double BONUS Word of the Day

loquacious \loh-KWAY-shuhs\, adjective: 1. Very talkative. 2. Full of excessive talk; wordy.

The meeting went on for hours, accommodating loquacious bores who were each allowed their say.
--Andrew Sullivan, "Gay Life, Gay Death," The New Republic, December 17, 1990

In drawing a sharp contrast with the loquacious Ginsburg, her new lawyers appeared for just a few moments and said virtually nothing to reporters before retreating into the building.
--Peter Baker, "Lewinsky Replaces Ginsburg," Washington Post, June 3, 1998

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Loquacious comes from Latin loquax, "talkative," from loqui, "to speak."

I won't say another word.

nzilla · Post by **nzilla** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 2:26 pm

Ken Putts Crazy Octopi From Garrulous Sandwiches

This was my mnemonic in sixth grade to remember the taxonomic tree (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species). What can I say, I was a weird kid. I even drew a picture to illustrate. FORE!

Post by **laurie** » Sat Jul 02, 2005 12:23 am

Not very garrulous or loquacious today, are we? Definitely not a bunch of magpies ...

NZILLA: Nice mnemonic - wish I'd had that during my schooldays. I always screwed up "order" and "family".

Post by **Ghost** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 9:32 am

Word of the Day for Thursday July 7, 2005

ameliorate \uh-MEEL-yuh-rayt\, transitive verb: To make better; to improve.
intransitive verb: To grow better.

Among the pressures provoking these distresses were a father's financial inadequacy and a growing awareness that, by finding employment himself, he could ameliorate the family's exiguous circumstances.
--Terence Brown, The Life of W. B. Yeats: A Critical Biography

In the socially fluid and (until the crash of 1837) economically expansive 1830s, the legislature frequently appropriated public money to investigate social problems, forestall dependency, and ameliorate human suffering.
--Elisabeth Gitter, The Imprisoned Guest

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Ameliorate is derived from Latin ad + meliorare, "to make better," from melior, "better."

Post by **Ghost** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 8:51 am

Word of the Day for Friday July 8, 2005

somnolent \SOM-nuh-luhnt\, adjective: 1. Sleepy; drowsy; inclined to sleep. 2. Tending to cause sleepiness or drowsiness.

n his case, restrained ultimately meant boring, as the audience was lulled into a somnolent state.
--Teresa Wiltz, "The Hip, the Flip, the Flop," Washington Post, March 3, 2000

Meanwhile, many a somnolent local authority has been stirred into action by Davidson's blunt approach.
--John Lucas, "Memorials are made of these on the eve of Remembrance Sunday," Daily Telegraph, November 7, 1998

Back in the somnolent heat of Bangalore he wrote a revealing novel entitled Savrola.
--David Stafford, Churchill and Secret Service

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Somnolent is from Latin somnolentus, from somnus, "sleep." A related word is insomnia (in-, "not" + somnus).

Post by **Darb** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 10:06 am

After ameliorating his ravenous appetite with a pile of thousand-year-old eggs, Felonius was feeling more than a little somnolent.

Post by **Ghost** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 10:16 am

Not to mention, colicky and flatulent.

Winship · Post by **Winship** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 2:45 pm

The somnolent man drifted through traffic on his way to work. He had been up too late trying to finish his manuscript about the War of Seven. He dreamed it would ameliorate his life and free him from the drudgery of nine to five work.

Post by **Ghost** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 8:09 am

Word of the Day for Monday July 11, 2005

temerarious \tem-uh-RAIR-ee-uhs\, adjective: Recklessly or presumptuously daring; rash.

Becket's slayers insist that the king had indeed authorized or directed murder, an interpretation fortified by Henry's known enmity toward the temerarious priest for protesting the subordination of ecclesiastical to secular authority.
--Bruce Fein, "Free speech or call to violence?" Washington Times, April 10, 2001

I have confessed myself a temerarious theologian, and in that passage from boyhood to manhood I ranged widely in my search for some permanently satisfying Truth.
--H. G. Wells, The New Machiavelli

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Temerarious comes from Latin temerarius, "rash," from temere, "rashly, heedlessly."

Winship · Post by **Winship** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 12:21 pm

With a reckless abandonment, the young journalist penned his temerarious story of love and hate.

Post by **Darb** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 2:43 pm

In between the post-quake tremors, the temerarious geologist sang a sacriligious little ditty (poking fun at the Volcano Goddess), in a strong tenor tinged with a slightly terrified tremulo ... eliciting nervous titters from those hunkered nearby.

We will ... we will ... ROCK YOU

Post by **laurie** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 8:31 pm

The above-mentioned geologist then segued into a "Bohemian Rhapsody":

... if I'm not back again this time tomorrow ... Carry on ... Carry on ... It doesn't really matter ...