1 January 2018
élan
[ey-lahn, ey-lan; French ey-lahn]
noun
1. dash; impetuous ardor:
to dance with great élan.
2. a combination of style and vigour: he performed the concerto with élan
Origin of élan
Middle French
1875-1880; French, Middle French eslan a dash, rush, noun derivative of eslancer to dart, equivalent to es- ex-1+ lancer to lance1
Can be confused
éclat, élan.
Dictionary.com
Contemporary Examples
The romance of elan energized the volunteers who flocked to the colors in the early years of the struggle.
Lawrence of Arabia Became Popular as the Dashing Antithesis of the War in Europe
Jack Schwartz
December 21, 2013
Now that we know about DNA, we no longer need an elan vital.
Is the Brain No Different From a Light Switch? The Uncomfortable Ideas of the Philosopher Daniel Dennett
Jonathan Weiner
May 19, 2013
As the indictment notes, Martoma was regarded by an SAC official as a “one-trick pony with elan.”
The Insider-Trading Cloud Hanging Over SAC Capital’s Steven A. Cohen
Daniel Gross
November 27, 2012
Historical Examples
Besides, there isnt any dead body awaiting his elan on that ship or any ship.
A Place in the Sun
C.H. Thames
The course of the aqueduct from elan to Birmingham was marked by a thin red line.
The Blue Germ
Martin Swayne
My friend Sarakoff and I introduced the germ that we discovered into the elan reservoirs.
The Blue Germ
Martin Swayne
On the north lay the river elan and on the south the steep side of a mountain towered up against the luminous sky.
The Blue Germ
Martin Swayne
elan was its characteristic—but it was hard to reduce to the stratified regularity of an army.
Four Years in Rebel Capitals
T. C. DeLeon
Daim is the French for deer, and cerf for stag; elan is the true term, when one would speak of an elk.
The Last of the Mohicans
James Fenimore Cooper
It was not an ordinary movement, but an intense rush made with all the elan and vigour of hardy and highly-trained men.
The Lady of the Shroud
Bram Stoker
Anagram
lean
lane
Today’s quote
Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood, let alone believed, by the masses.
– Plato
On this day
1 January – the eighth day of the 12 days of Christmas (Western Christianity).
1 January – the official birthday for all thoroughbred horses in the Northern Hemisphere. (see 1 August for Southern Hemisphere).
1 January 1901 – Federation of Australia. The six self-governing colonies in Australia formed a single nation known as the Commonwealth of Australia.
1 January 1915 – Battle of Broken Hill. Two Turkish men shot dead four people and wounded seven others in the remote Australian town of Broken Hill, New South Wales. They claimed it was in relation to ongoing hostilities between the Ottoman Empire and the British Empire.
1 January 1942 – the United Nations is established by representatives of 26 nations in order to enforce peace-keeping campaigns throughout the world. There are now 193 member states and 2 non-member states (the Holy See and Palestine).
1 January 1959 – Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista flees Cuba following a revolution led by Fidel Castro. Batista allegedly fled with around $700 million of art and cash, the result of graft and corruption.
1 January 1985 – the UK’s first mobile phone call is made by British comedian, Ernie Wise (from ‘Morecombe and Wise’), to Vodafone.