GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Friday March 17, 2006

verdant \VUR-dnt\, adjective: 1. Covered with growing plants or grass; green with vegetation. 2. Green. 3. Unripe in knowledge, judgment, or experience; unsophisticated; green.

Drab in winter, then suddenly sodden with alpine runoff, the region turns dazzlingly verdant in spring.
-- Patricia Albers, Shadows, Fire, Snow

Dry as the region just outside the delta may be, it would still be covered with grasses, yellowish in the dry season, verdant in the wet.
-- Niles Eldredge, Life in the Balance

I was verdant enough to think her Agrippine very fine.
-- Henry James, "The Théâtre Français"

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Verdant comes from French verdoyant, present participle of verdoyer, "to be verdant, to grow green," from Old French verdoier, verdeier, from verd, vert, "green," from Latin viridis, "green," from virere, "to be green."

- (Mr. Verdant)

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Monday March 20, 2006

paragon \PAIR-uh-gon; -guhn\, noun: A model of excellence or perfection; as, "a paragon of beauty; a paragon of eloquence."

Even his friends and business associates, men and women alike, were paragons of health: avoiders of fatty foods, moderate drinkers, health-club habitues, lovers of cross-country skiing, weekend canoe trips, and daylong hikes in the North Woods.
-- Alvin Greenberg, How the Dead Live

Voters, if they chose, could easily convince themselves that the people running their government were faithful spouses and temperate drinkers, paragons whose public images were in perfect accord with their private behavior.
-- Gail Collins, Scorpion Tongues

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Paragon comes from Middle French, from Old Italian paragone, literally, "touchstone," from paragonare, "to test on a touchstone," from Greek parakonan, "to rub against, to sharpen," from para-, "beside" + akone, "a whetstone."

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Tuesday March 21, 2006

aubade \oh-BAHD\, noun: A song or poem greeting the dawn; also, a composition suggestive of morning.

He was usually still awake when the birds began to warble their aubade.
-- Christopher Buckley, "What was Robert Benchley?," National Review, June 16, 1997

And there he lingered till the crowing cock...
Sang his aubade with lusty voice and clear.
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Emma and Eginhard

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Aubade comes from the French, from aube, dawn + the noun suffix -ade: aube ultimately derives from Latin albus, white, pale, as in "alba lux," the "pale light" of dawn.

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Wednesday March 22, 2006

succor \SUH-kuhr\, noun: 1. Aid; help; assistance; especially, assistance that relieves and delivers from difficulty, want, or distress. 2. The person or thing that brings relief.

transitive verb: 1. To help or relieve when in difficulty, want, or distress; to assist and deliver from suffering; to relieve.

In Asakusa, a crowd sought succor around an old and lovely Buddhist temple, dedicated to Kannon, goddess of mercy.
-- Richard B. Frank, Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire

Ever since I was five, I have inserted myself into every movie I've seen and gratefully, humbly found succor there.
-- Laurie Fox, My Sister from the Black Lagoon

There was some talk about the perils of the sea, and a landsman delivered himself of the customary nonsense about the poor mariner wandering in far oceans, tempest-tossed, pursued by dangers, every storm blast and thunderbolt in the home skies moving the friends by snug firesides to compassion for that poor mariner, and prayers for his succor.
-- Mark Twain, "Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion," The Atlantic, November 1877

He honors the old, succors the infirm, raises the downtrodden, destroys fanaticism.
-- Alan Jolis, Love and Terror

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Succor derives from Latin succurrere, "to run under, to run or hasten to the aid or assistance of someone," from sub-, "under" + currere, "to run."

[felonius]

Though haplessly verdant and often painfully inept in the delicate discipline of banjo construction, Anton was nonetheless a veritable paragon of virtuosity regarding obscure bird calls – his lengthy, blood-stirring aubades in the early hours often bringing much-needed succor to the more infirm and somnambulistic tenants of the mental ward.

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Thursday March 23, 2006

paterfamilias \pay-tuhr-fuh-MIL-ee-uhs; pat-uhr-; pah-\, noun; plural patresfamilias \pay-treez-; pat-reez-; pah-treez-\: 1. The male head of a household or the father of a family.

His father served as paterfamilias to the entire García clan, dispensing money and advice to those who needed it, and the family, in turn, revered him.
-- Leslie Stainton, Lorca: A Dream of Life

Just after World War II the paterfamilias, Eric, briefly abandons his wife and children for a doomed romance in Paris.
-- John Domini, "review of Drowning, by Lee Grove," New York Times, July 21, 1991

On the face of it, Henry Spencer Ashbee was a typical middle-class Victorian: a successful businessman, a strict paterfamilias.
-- Iain Finlayson, "Victorian erotic values," Times (London), February 21, 2001

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Paterfamilias is from Latin pater, "father" + familias, "of the family or household," the archaic genitive form of familia, "family or household."

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Friday March 24, 2006

stolid \STOL-id\, adjective: Having or revealing little emotion or sensibility; not easily excited.

Normally stolid, she occasionally joined in the frequent applause and smiled along with the laughter at the high-spirited session.
-- Seth Mydans, "Indonesia Leader Imposes a Decree to Fight Removal," New York Times, July 23, 2001

The inherent irrationality of markets was first demonstrated in the 17th century, when the normally stolid Dutch population was seized by a tulip craze that caused the people to pay insane prices for a single bulb.
-- Robert Reno, "Analysis: A market that rides on bubbles," Newsday, August 7, 2002

Republicans hailed Kemp as a quick-tongued charmer who would . . . appear in attractive contrast to the stolid Al Gore.
-- James Fallows, "An Acquired Taste," The Atlantic, July 1, 2000

Ulster Protestants are a slow, stolid, quiet, decent, law-abiding people, unstylish and unfashionable.
-- John Derbyshire, "Paisley Goes to Washington," National Review, March 15, 2001

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Stolid derives from Latin stolidus, "unmoving, stupid."

[felonius]

"Uncompromising force? Meet immovable object..."



(sorry, didn't actually use the word)

[Darb]

Though haplessly verdant and often painfully inept in the delicate discipline of banjo construction, Anton was nonetheless a veritable paragon of virtuosity regarding obscure bird calls – his lengthy, blood-stirring aubades in the early hours often bringing much-needed succor to the more infirm and somnambulistic tenants of the mental ward.

/~ sorry for being AWOL lately ... been busy, and sick, and what little time I have has been spent on data entry. ~/

[felonius]

I've been AWOL too. AWOL happens sometimes...

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Monday March 27, 2006

confluence \KON-floo-uhn(t)s\, noun: 1. A flowing or coming together; junction. 2. The place where two rivers, streams, etc. meet. 3. A flocking or assemblage of a multitude in one place; a large collection or assemblage.

At the confluence of continents, at the narrow neck of the Nile Valley just before it spreads into the flat water-maze of the Delta, this has always been a place where elements mingle and cultures collide.
-- Max Rodenbeck, Cairo: The City Victorious

It's the combination of these various factors, then -- their historical confluence, if you will -- that must be held responsible for the rapid erosion of the church's authority over sexual matters since the Second Vatican Council.
-- Michael W. Cuneo, The Smoke of Satan

A remarkable confluence of technological and economic forces is enabling women to join the paid labor force around the world.
-- Helen E. Fisher, The First Sex

At the time, I did not appreciate what an unusually fortunate confluence of circumstances was reigning in the cinematic heavens; I thought it would go on forever with the same incandescence.
-- Phillip Lopate, Totally, Tenderly, Tragically

Outside, about a mile below, the Monongahela River met the Allegheny and the Ohio, forming the confluence of waters upon which stood Pittsburgh.
-- Stanley Bing, Lloyd: What Happened

But it is not New-York streets built by the confluence of workmen and wealth of all nations, though stretching out toward Philadelphia until they touch it, and northward until they touch New Haven, Hartford, Springfield, Worcester, and Boston, -- not these that make the real estimation.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "American Civilization," The Atlantic, April 1862

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Confluence is from Latin confluens, "flowing together," from confluere, "to flow together," from con-, "with, together" + fluere, "to flow."

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Tuesday March 28, 2006

superfluous \soo-PER-floo-us\, adjective:
More than is wanted or is sufficient; rendered unnecessary by superabundance; unnecessary; useless; excessive.
-- SUPERFLUOUSLY, adverb
-- SUPERFLUOUSNESS, noun

And it's hard to realize economies of scale without shedding superfluous jobs.
-- "The Health of Valley Hospitals: Merger of Holy Cross, Providence Made Sense but Still Caused Pain," Los Angeles Times, July 27, 1999

Power Grubs make a dead skunk smell like a rose by comparison. The 'Not for human consumption' warning is superfluous.
-- "Smelly grub a smash," Toronto Star, May 1, 1999

[E]verything superfluous is more noticeable in him [Hemmingway] than in other writers.
-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "Gabriel Garcia Marquez Meets Ernest Hemingway," New York Times, July 26, 1981

An authority which makes all further argument or illustration superfluous.
-- E. Everett

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Superfluous comes ultimately from the Latin superfluus, from superfluo, superfluere, to overflow, from super-, over, above + fluo, fluere, to flow.

[felonius]

Every see that Woody Allen film Mighty Aprhrodite? He sets up a girl with a well-meaning-but-not-quite-the-sharpest-tool-in-the-shed kind of guy. He introduces the two of them, then:

WOODY: Well, I'm gonna go now. You kids have fun.

MAN: Uh...you're not gonna stick around?

WOODY: No! I'm completely superfluous.

MAN: What, you don't feel well?

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Wednesday March 29, 2006

invidious \in-VID-ee-uhs\, adjective: 1. Tending to provoke envy, resentment, or ill will. 2. Containing or implying a slight. 3. Envious.

But to the human hordes of Amorites -- Semitic nomads wandering the mountains and deserts just beyond the pale of Sumer -- the tiered and clustered cities, strung out along the green banks of the meandering Euphrates like a giant's necklace of polished stone, seemed shining things, each surmounted by a wondrous temple and ziggurat dedicated to the city's god-protector, each city noted for some specialty -- all invidious reminders of what the nomads did not possess.
-- Thomas Cahill, The Gifts of the Jews

In his experience people were seldom happier for having learned what they were missing, and all Europe had done for his wife was encourage her natural inclination toward bitter and invidious comparison.
-- Richard Russo, Empire Falls

The lover's obsessiveness may also take the form of invidious comparisons between himself, or herself, and the rival.
-- Ethel S. Person, "Love Triangles," The Atlantic, February 1988

For five decades, Indian liberals, and some from Europe and America, have been shaming the Western world with its commercialism, making invidious comparisons with Indian spirituality.
-- Leland Hazard, "Strong Medicine for India," The Atlantic, December 1965

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Invidious is from Latin invidiosus, "envious, hateful, causing hate or ill-feeling," from invidia, "envy," from invidere, "to look upon with the evil eye, to look maliciously upon, to envy," from in-, "upon" + videre, "to look at, to see."

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Thursday March 30, 2006

benignant \bih-NIG-nuhnt\, adjective: 1. Kind; gracious. 2. Beneficial; favorable.

After the captain and ladies had sat down, the autocratic steward rang a second bell, and with a majestic wave of the hand, and a calm, benignant smile, signified his pleasure that we should sit down.
-- Sir Henry Stanley, "Grand tours - Mind your manners at the captain's table," Independent, August 18, 2002

At the meeting it was strange to see, amidst the peaceful, benignant faces, this woe-begone old man, with his thick white hair and his deeply furrowed placid cheeks, looking wistfully from one to the other, and listening anxiously, hoping some day to hear the words which should bring peace to his soul.
-- Alexander L. Kielland, Skipper Worse

Human beings . . . are forever ascribing malignant or benignant motives even to inanimate forces such as the weather, volcanoes, and internal-combustion engines.
-- Stephen Budiansky, "The Truth About Dogs," The Atlantic, July 1999

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Benignant comes from the present participle of Late Latin benignare, from Latin benignus, "kind, friendly."


/the benignant Mr. Green!

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Friday March 31, 2006

edacious \i-DAY-shus\, adjective: Given to eating; voracious; devouring.

Swallowed in the depths of edacious Time.
-- Thomas Carlyle

[S]omething that... will dismay edacious lips.
-- "The late showman", Independent, August 21, 1999

Our... high-toned irritability, edacious appetites, and pampered constitutions.
-- Isaac Taylor, Natural History of Enthusiasm

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Edacious is from Latin edax, edac-, gluttonous, consuming, from edo, edere, to eat.

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Wednesday April 5, 2006

cum \KUM; KUHM\, preposition: With; along with; combined with; -- often used in combination.

In 1999 he finished converting an old dairy into a sort of village -- a hip warren of apartments adjoining a restaurant and bar, some art galleries, some studios, and an "e-mat" (a laundromat-cum-cybercafé).
-- Bill Donahue, "Byte, Byte, Against the Dying of the Light", The Atlantic, May 2001

Pretty soon, we're digging up the lunch, washing it off at a stand pipe and heading for the shed-cum-kitchen, where the two burners are quickly pressed into working overtime.
-- Bob Granleese, "A bumper crop", The Guardian, September 14, 2002

The memorial service cum political rally for Senator Wellstone brought the sacred low.
-- William J. Bennett, "A Party of Corruption?", National Review, November 4, 2002

Mark Humphrey, the rising star among interior designers, has created a highly-collectable dual-function, chrome and walnut candlestick-cum-rose vase.
-- Nick Pandya, "Making Christmas a one-off", The Guardian, November 2, 2002

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Cum is from the Latin cum, "with."

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Word of the Day for Thursday April 6, 2006

hobbledehoy \HOB-uhl-dee-hoy\, noun: An awkward, gawky young fellow.

For early on, girls become aware -- as much from their fathers' anguished bellows of "You're not going out dressed like that, Miss" as from the buffoonish reactions of the spotty hobbledehoys at the end-of-term disco -- of the power of clothes to seduce.
-- Jane Shilling, "Soft-centred punk", Times (London), October 27, 2000

His memories, even only reveries, of incomparable women, made me feel like a hulking hobbledehoy.
-- Edith Anderson, Love in Exile

Unfortunately, they have to contend with ignorant hobbledehoys who, on seeing these rows of shingle heaps, feel compelled to jump on them.
-- Susan Campbell, "He grows seakale on the seashore", Daily Telegraph, March 27, 1999

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The origin of hobbledehoy is unknown , though it perhaps derives from hobble, from the awkward movements of a clumsy adolescent.

[felonius]

/me blinks, attempting to decipher Ghost's subliminal word concatenations...

[Darb]

Gee, doesn't that last WOTD belong in the velvet room ?

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Monday April 10, 2006

stripling \STRIP-ling\, noun: A youth in the state of adolescence, or just passing from boyhood to manhood; a lad.

But at that time he was too young to drive a car, and I wasn't, so I took it upon myself to tell the stripling a thing or two.
-- Geoffrey Wolff, "Advice My Brother Never Took", New York Times, August 20, 1989

It is even possible that some . . . who might be thought to have a chance of election as Pope because of their youthful vigour -- by Vatican standards, a man of 60 is a stripling -- will see their chances come and go in turn.
-- Andrew Medichini, "Cardinal secrets", Times (London), January 23, 2001

There are precious few constants in the story of the yen. For a start, it is a stripling among the monies of the world, being not much more than a century old.
-- Pico Iyer, "Tacos in Kyoto, Kimonos in Peru", New York Times, April 28, 1991

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Stripling is a diminutive of strip, as if a small strip from the main stock or stem.

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Tuesday April 11, 2006

panoply \PAN-uh-plee\, noun: 1. A splendid or impressive array. 2. Ceremonial attire. 3. A full suit of armor; a complete defense or covering.

Every step taken to that end which appeases the obsolete hatreds and vanished oppressions, which makes easier the traffic and reciprocal services of Europe, which encourages nations to lay aside their precautionary panoply, is good in itself.
-- Winston Churchill, quoted in This Blessed Plot, by Hugo Young

The beige plastic bedpan that had come home from the hospital with him after his deviated-septum operation . . . now held ail his razors and combs and the panoply of gleaming instruments he employed to trim the hair that grew from the various features of his face.
-- Michael Chabon, Werewolves in Their Youth

To the east, out over the Ocean, the winter sky is a brilliant panoply of stars and comets, beckoning to adventurers, wise and foolish alike, who seek to divine its mysteries.
-- Ben Green, Before His Time

Labor was hard pressed to hold the line against erosion of its hard-won social wage: the panoply of government-paid benefits such as unemployment insurance, workers' compensation, Medicare, and Social Security.
-- Stanley Aronowitz, From the Ashes of the Old

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Panoply is from Greek panoplia, "a full suit of armor," from pan, "all" + hoplia, "arms, armor," plural of hoplon, "implement, weapon."

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Wednesday April 12, 2006

coeval \koh-EE-vuhl\, adjective: 1. Of the same age; originating or existing during the same period of time -- usually followed by 'with'.

noun: 1. One of the same age; a contemporary.

According to John Paul, this longing for transcendent truth is coeval with human existence: All men and women "shape a comprehensive vision and an answer to the question of life's meaning."
-- "Culture, et cetera", Washington Times, October 6, 2000

Coeval with human speech and found among all peoples, poetry appeals to our sense of wonder, to our unending quest for answers to the timeless questions of who we are and why we are.
-- Mark Mathabane, "A Poet Can Lead Us Toward Change", Newsday, January 20, 1993

Unhappily, however, the writers speak almost wholly to those who already regard Lewis as not just the coeval but the equal of T. S. Eliot, Joyce and Pound.
-- Julian Symons, "Prophecy and Dishonor", New York Times, February 10, 1985

The 1,500 years of [Barcelona's] existence had produced only five names that came easily to mind: the cellist Pau Casals, the artist Joan Miró and his somewhat tarnished coeval Salvador Dali, both of whom were still very much alive, and the dead architect Antoni Gaudí.
-- Nicholas Shrady, "Glorious in Its Very Stones", New York Times, March 15, 1992

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Coeval comes from Medieval Latin coaevus, from Latin co- + aevum, "a period of time, lifetime."

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Tuesday April 18, 2006

expeditious \ek-spuh-DISH-uhs\, adjective: Characterized by or acting with speed and efficiency.

His problem was to get from Lookout Valley to Chattanooga Valley in the most expeditious way possible.
-- Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs

The criminal may of course use some short-term act of violence to 'terrorize' his victim, such as waving a gun in the face of a bank clerk during a robbery in order to ensure the clerk's expeditious compliance.
-- Bruce Hoffman, Inside Terrorism

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Expeditious is derived from Latin expeditus, "unshackled, unimpeded, ready for action," from expedire, "to free (one's feet) from a snare; hence, to get out, to set free, to get ready for action," from ex-, "out of" + pes, ped-, "foot."

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Wednesday April 19, 2006

implacable \im-PLAK-uh-bull\, adjective: Not placable; not to be appeased; incapable of being pacified; inexorable; as, an implacable foe.

For it is my office to prosecute the guilty with implacable zeal.
-- Paola Capriolo, Floria Tosca (translated by Liz Heron)

He... then continued on up the road, his shoulders bent beneath the implacable sun.
-- Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Fencing Master

She conducted her life and her work with all the steady and implacable seriousness of a steamroller.
-- "The Stein Salon Was The First Museum of Modern Art", New York Times, December 1, 1968

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Implacable ultimately comes from Latin implacabilis, from in-, not + placabilis, placable, from placo, placare, to soothe, calm, appease.

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Thursday April 20, 2006

patina \PAT-n-uh; puh-TEEN-uh\, noun: 1. The color or incrustation which age gives to works of art; especially, the green rust which covers ancient bronzes, coins, and medals. 2. The sheen on any surface, produced by age and use. 3. An appearance or aura produced by habit, practice, or use. 4. A superficial layer or exterior.

[The ship] was sleek and black, her decks scrubbed smooth with holystones, her deckhouses glistening with the yellowed patina of old varnish.
-- Gary Kinder, Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea

A patina of coal dust lies over everything.
-- "A Railroad Runs Through It," review of Stations: An Imagined Journey, by Michael Flanagan, New York Times, October 23, 1994

Rothko himself was guilty of making ponderous statements about the religious and mythic dimensions of his art; and Mrs. Ashton has adopted this clumsy impulse, laying over his work a heavy patina of commentary that seems designed to show off her own wide-ranging intellect.
-- Michiko Kakutani, review of About Rothko, by Dore Ashton, New York Times, November 7, 1983

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Patina is adopted from Italian, from Latin patina, "a dish" (from the incrustation on ancient metal plates and dishes).