11 January 2015

lassitude

[las-i-tood, -tyood]

Word

noun

1. weariness of body or mind from strain, oppressive climate, etc.; lack of energy; listlessness; languor.
2.a condition of indolent indifference:
the pleasant lassitude of the warm summer afternoon.

Origin

Latin

1525-1535; < Latin lassitūdō weariness, equivalent to lass(us) weary + -i- -i- + -tūdō -tude
Dictionary.com

Anagram

details us
lust ideas
tidal uses

Today’s aphorism

One day, you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. DO IT NOW.

– Paulo Coelho

On this day

11 January 1986 – Brisbane’s Gateway Bridge opens.

11 January 2008 – death of Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist. Hillary and sherpa Tbeenzing Norgay became the first men to reach the summit of Mt Everest.

11 January 2011 – flood-waters from the Lockyer Valley reach the Brisbane River catchment, causing the river to break its banks, flooding the CBD and other river-side suburbs, including New Farm, Fortitude Valley, West End, St Lucia, Rocklea and Graceville, inundating 20,000 homes. The Brisbane River peaked on 13 January 2013 at a height of 4.46m. The city of Ipswich was also inundated, with the Bremer River peaking on 12 January 2011. The worst affected areas included Goodna and Gailes. There were reports of bull sharks in the city centre of Goodna. A total of 35 people died as a result of the flooding in Toowoomba, the Lockyer Valley, Brisbane and Ipswich.

10 January 2015

antsy

[ant-see]

adjective, antsier, antsiest. Informal.
1. unable to sit or stand still; fidgety:
The children were bored and antsy.
2. apprehensive, uneasy, or nervous:
I’m a little antsy since hearing those storm warnings.

Origin
1950-1955; ant + -s3+ -y1; cf. -sy

Related forms
antsiness, noun

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for antsy
– As the prayers and hymns flow one after the other, they become antsy.
– No surprise that lawmakers, goaded by civil-liberties groups, began to get antsy.
– After too many hours cramped in that place you start to get antsy.

Anagram

Nasty

Today’s aphorism

To write well, express yourself like the common people, but think like a wise man.

– Aristotle

On this day

10 January 1946 – the inaugural meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, with 51 nations, convenes in London.

10 January 1949 – RCA introduces the world’s first vinyl record which played at 45rpm while Columbia released the world’s first vinyl record which played at 33rpm.

10 January 1998 – Night of Noah, Townsville. The city was drenched with rains from ex-Tropical Cyclone Sid. In a 24-hour period, 549mm fell on the city as recorded by the Bureau of Meteorology, however of this, more than 500mm during a 12 hour period. There were unofficial recordings that exceeded 700mm during this period.

10 January 2011 – Flash flooding strikes Toowoomba, Queensland, after 160mm of rain falls in 36 hours, killing four people. The flood water flowed down the Toowoomba range, inundating properties in the Lockyer Valley, including Grantham, Withcott, Helidon, killing nine people.

9 January 2015

doctrinaire

[dok-truh-nair]

noun
1. a person who tries to apply some doctrine or theory without sufficient regard for practical considerations; an impractical theorist.
adjective
2. dogmatic about others’ acceptance of one’s ideas; fanatical:
a doctrinaire preacher.
3. merely theoretical; impractical.
4. of, relating to, or characteristic of a doctrinaire.

Origin
French
1810-1820; < French; see doctrine, -aire

Related forms
doctrinairism, noun
nondoctrinaire, adjective
overdoctrinaire, adjective
undoctrinaire, adjective

Can be confused
doctrinal, doctrinaire.

Synonyms
2. authoritarian, uncompromising, inflexible, unyielding.

Antonyms
2. reasonable, flexible.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for doctrinaire
– Neither doctrinaire socialism nor unrestricted individualism nor any other ism will bring about the millennium.
– Both of you are acting if the others belief systems are rigid, doctrinaire and utterly hopeless to approach by rational argument.
– Which shows that, when it comes to art and the doctrinaire temperament, the ends meet.

Anagram

coriander it
action rider
rated ironic
rare diction

Today’s aphorism

What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other’s folly – that is the first law of nature.

– Voltaire

On this day

9 January 1324 – death of Marco Polo, Italian explorer. Born 15 September 1254.

9 January 1944 – birth of Jimmy Page, legendary British guitarist and song-writer. Co-founder of iconic rock band, Led Zeppelin.

8 January 2015

adventitious

[ad-vuh n-tish-uh s]

adjective
1. associated with something by chance rather than as an integral part; extrinsic.
2. Botany, Zoology. appearing in an abnormal or unusual position or place, as a root.

Origin

Latin
1595-1605; < Latin adventīcius literally, coming from without, external, equivalent to ad- ad- + ven- (stem of venīre to come) + -t (us) past participle suffix + -īcius -itious

Related forms

adventitiously, adverb
adventitiousness, noun
nonadventitious, adjective
nonadventitiously, adverb
nonadventitiousness, noun

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for adventitious
– These climbing roots are adventitious ; that is, they do not arise from the young root of the germinating seed.
– The poem obtained adventitious fame.
– Stilt roots are adventitious roots that grow out of the main trunk, a yard or so above the ground.

Anagram

situated vino
vest audition
native studio
devious titan
a divine stout
soviet unit ad
invades it out
avoid site nut

Today’s aphorism

A person, seasoned with a just sense of the imperfections of natural reason, will fly to revealed truth with the greatest avidity: while the haughty Dogmatist, persuaded that he can erect a compleat system of Theology by the mere help of philosophy, disdains any further aid, and rejects this adventitious instructor.

– David Hume

On this day

8 January 1935 – birth of Elvis Aaron Presley, the King of Rock and Roll. Died 16 August 1977.

8 January 1947 – birthday of David Bowie, British musician and actor, born David Robert Jones.

8 January 1959 – Fidel Castro’s rebel forces take control of Cuba. Castro eventually became President and ruled the nation until 2011.

8 January 1964 – US President Lyndon B. Johnson introduces legislation that results in the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, otherwise known as the War on Poverty, in an effort to reduce the increasing poverty rate, which at that time was around 19%. Through this a number of poverty-reduction strategies were implemented, including Social Security Act 1965, Food Stamp Act of 1964, Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965), Community Action Program, Job Corps, and Volunteers in Services to America. Within 10 years the poverty rate had been reduced to around 11%. In 2014, the rate has risen to around 15%.

7 January 2015

panivorous

[pa-niv-er-uh s]

adjective
1. subsisting on bread; bread-eating.
– In days gone by, prisoners were forced into a paniverous diet.

Origin

Latin

1820-1830; < Latin pān (is) bread + -i- + -vorous meaning ‘eating, gaining sustenance from’.

Dictionary.com

Anagram

ravine soup
nova uprise
a vine pours
open a virus
a nervous pi

Today’s aphorism

I’ll read my books and I’ll drink coffee, and I’ll listen to music, and I’ll bolt the door.

– J.D. Salinger

On this day

7 January 1943 – Death of Nikola Tesla, Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer and futurist. Inventor of alternating current (A/C) electricity supply. Born 10 July 1856.

7 January 1979 – Brutal Cambodian dictator, Pol Pot, is overthrown as Vietnamese forces invade Phnom Penh. Pol Pot and his army, the Khmer Rouge, were responsible for killing approximately 1.7 million people.

6 January 2015

pinko

[ping-koh]

noun, plural pinkos, pinkoes.
1. a person with left-wing, but not extreme, political opinions.
2. a person who leans toward communist ideology.
– He was proud to be labelled a pinko.

adjective
3. pink1(def 10).

Origin
1935-1940; pink1+ -o
Dictionary.com

Anagram

no kip

Today’s aphorism

If our principles are right, why should we be cowards?

– Lucretia Mott, suffragist

On this day

6 January – the Epiphany, which commemorates when the Three Wise Men of the East visited the baby Jesus, with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The Epiphany is celebrated the day after the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’, which conclude on 5 January.

6 January 1925 – birth of John DeLorean, founder of the DeLorean Motor Company in Detroit, Michigan. The DeLorean with Gull-Wing doors was featured in the movie, ‘Back to the Future‘.

6 January 1973 – one of Hitler’s cars, a Mercedes 770K sedan, was auctioned on this day for $153,000,000.

6 January 1994 – Figure-skater Nancy Kerrigan is knee-capped in a violent attack as she was about to speak to reporters. Her rival, Tonya Harding, was accused of orchestrating the attack resulting in Harding and four men being charged and sentenced to jail.

6 January 2005 – Ku Klux Klan leader, Ray Killen, is arrested and charged over the murders of three civil rights activists in Philadelphia, more than 40 years previously. On 21 June 2005, (exactly 41 years to the day of the murders) Killen is found guilty of three counts of manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years jail on each count.

5 January 2015

refrain (1)
[ri-freyn]

verb (used without object)
1. to abstain from an impulse to say or do something (often followed by from):
I refrained from telling him what I thought.
verb (used with object)
2. Archaic. to curb.

Origin
Middle English, Old French, Latin
1300-1350; Middle English refreinen < Old French refrener < Latin refrēnāre to bridle, equivalent to re- re- + frēn (um) bridle + -āre infinitive suffix

Related forms
refrainer, noun
refrainment, noun
unrefrained, adjective
unrefraining, adjective

Can be confused
refrain, restrain.

Synonyms
1. forbear, desist.

refrain(2)
[ri-freyn]

noun
1. a phrase or verse recurring at intervals in a song or poem, especially at the end of each stanza; chorus.
2. Music.
a musical setting for the refrain of a poem.
any melody.
the principal, recurrent section of a rondo.

Origin
1325-75; Middle English refreyne < Old French refrain, derivative of refraindre to break sequence < Vulgar Latin *refrangere, for Latin refringere to refract

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for refrain
– The oft-repeated refrain that more ice makes the drink cooler is an error.
– Please refrain from calling them anything else, even in small print, at the end of the last paragraph.
– He has heard the refrain that earthquakes are chaotic and unpredictable.

Anagram

fire ran
near fir
rare fin

Today’s aphorism

Not until the creation and maintenance of decent conditions of life for all people are recognized and accepted as a common obligation of all people and all countries – not until then shall we, with a certain degree of justification, be able to speak of mankind as civilized.

– Albert Einstein.

On this day

5 January 1914 – Henry Ford introduces the $5 per day wage, which was double the rate previously offered. Ford believed it would help him keep his best people and that it would enable his workers to buy Ford cars.

5 January 1933 – work commences on San Fransisco’s Golden Gate bridge. It was completed on 19 April 1937. The bridge is 2.7km long and 227.4m high.

5 January 1945 – First use of kamikaze pilots. Battle of Lingayan Gulf, Philippines. Allied forces attack Japanese positions. Japan had a seriously weakened air force that was now mainly comprised of inexperienced pilots, so authorised the first use of kamikaze (divine wind) attacks. USA ships included the USS Mississippi, New Mexico and Colorado. Australian ships included the HMAS Australia, Shropshire, Arunta, Warramunga, Gascoyne and Warrego. The Allies lost 30 ships, with 67 others damaged. Japanese casualties are unknown, however, the battle was a victory for the Allies.

5 January 1968 – the ‘Prague Spring’ in Czechoslovakia occurred through the political and economic reforms of leader Alexander Dubcek aimed at introducing ‘socialism with a human face’. The reforms included freedom of speech and allowing non-communist political organisations. The Soviet Union were less enthusiastic about these reforms and invaded Czechoslovakia with 600,000 troops.

4 January 2015

acme

[ak-mee]

noun
1. the highest point; summit; peak:
The empire was at the acme of its power.

Origin
Greek
1610-1620; < Greek akmḗ point, highest point, extremity

Related forms
acmic [ak-mik], acmatic [ak-mat-ik] (Show IPA), adjective

Can be confused
acme, acne.

Dictionary.com

Anagram

mace
came

Today’s aphorism

The people who were trying to make this world worse are not taking the day off. Why should I?

– Bob Marley

On this day

4 January 1903 – Thomas Edison electrocutes an elephant to prove the dangers of ‘alternating current’ electricity. He had previously electrocuted stray cats and dogs and even horses and cows. He snidely referred to it as ‘getting Westinghoused’. Topsy, the elephant, had squashed 4 trainers at the Luna Park Zoo on Coney Island, so the zoo had decided to hang her, before someone suggested she ‘ride the lightning’. More on this at http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/01/dayintech_0104

4 January 1965 – death of Thomas Stearns Eliot (T.S. Eliot), poet, playwright, publisher, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, described as ‘arguably the most important English language poet of the 20th century’. Wrote ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock‘, ‘The Waste Land‘, ‘Ash Wednesday‘, ‘The Hollow Men‘. Born 26 September 1888.

3 January 2015

archetype

[ahr-ki-tahyp]

noun
1. the original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on which they are based; a model or first form; prototype.
2. (in Jungian psychology) a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches.

Origin
Latin, Greek
1595-1605; < Latin archetypum an original < Greek archétypon a model, pattern (neuter of archétypos of the first mold, equivalent to arche- arche- + týp (os) mold, type + -os adj. suffix)

Related forms
archetypal, archetypical [ahr-ki-tip-i-kuh l], archetypic, adjective
archetypally, archetypically, adverb

Can be confused
archetype, prototype.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for archetype
– It is difficult to establish any archetype for failure from the past two years.
– The emperor himself was an archetype of what the modern world calls a constitutional monarch: he reigned but did not govern.
– Short-term electricity is the very archetype of an extremely inelastic good

Anagram

peach tyre
preach yet
cheat prey
yacht peer

Today’s aphorism

When one door closes, another opens, but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us.

– Alexander Graham Bell

On this day

3 January 106BC – birth of Marcus Tullius Cicero (sometimes anglicised as Tully), Roman statesman, politician, philosopher, orator. Tully’s influence on Latin and other European languages was immense and still felt up to the 19th century. The history of prose in Latin and other languages was said to be either a reaction against, or a return to, his style. Died 7 December 43BC.

3 January 1521 – Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.

3 January 1892 – birth of J.R.R. Tolkien, author of ‘The Hobbit‘ and ‘Lord of the Rings‘. Died 2 September 1973. ‘The road goes ever on … ‘

3 January 1956 – birth of Mel Gibson, Australian actor.

3 January 1962 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.

3 January 1969 – birth of Michael Schumacher, German Formula 1 racing car driver.

3 January 1977 – Apple Computers is incorporated.