18 January 2013

ignoble

[ig-noh-buh l]

adjective

1. of low character, aims, etc.; mean; base: his ignoble purposes.
2. of low grade or quality; inferior.
3. not noble; of humble descent or rank.
4. Falconry. noting any hawk with short wings that chases or rakes after the quarry.

Origin:
1400–50; late Middle English < Latin ignōbilis unknown, inglorious, equivalent to in- in-3 + OL gnōbilis ( Latin nōbilis ) noble

Related forms
ig·no·bil·i·ty, ig·no·ble·ness, noun.
ig·no·bly, adverb.

Synonyms
1. degraded, dishonorable, ignominious, contemptible. 3. lowly, obscure, plebeian, peasant.

Antonyms
1. honorable. 2. superior.

Today’s aphorism

‎’The liberties of none are safe unless the liberties of all are protected’.

– William O. Douglas

On this day

18 January 1977 – The Granville Rail Disaster, in which a crowded commuter train derailed and collided with an overpass that collapsed onto it, killing 83 people and injuring more than 210.

18 January 1779 – birth of Peter Roget, British lexographer and creator of Roget’s Thesaurus. (died 12 September 1869).

18 January 1904 – birthday of Cary Grant, born Archibald Alexander Leach, actor (‘North by Northwest‘, ‘To Catch a Thief‘, ‘An Affair to Remember‘, ‘Gunga Din‘).