28 February 2015

cabotage

[kab-uh-tij, kab-uh-tahzh]

noun
1. navigation or trade along the coast.
2. Aviation. the legal restriction to domestic carriers of air transport between points within a country’s borders.

Origin
Middle French, Spanish
1825-1835; < French, derivative of caboter to sail coastwise, verbal derivative of Middle French cabo < Spanish cabo headland, cape2; see -age

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for cabotage
– cabotage services are reserved to national companies.

Anagram

boat cage

Today’s aphorism

Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.

– Fred Rogers

On this day

28 February 1942 – birth of Brian Jones. English guitarist for the Rolling Stones.

28 February 2007 – death of Billy Thorpe, English-born Australian rock legend. Front man for ‘Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs’. Born 29 March 1946.

26 February 2015

subrogate

[suhb-ruh-geyt]

verb (used with object), subrogated, subrogating.
1. to put into the place of another; substitute for another.
2. Civil Law. to substitute (one person) for another with reference to a claim or right.

Origin
late Middle English Latin
1400-1450; 1540-50 for def 1; late Middle English (past participle) < Latin subrogātus (past participle of subrogāre to nominate (someone) as a substitute), equivalent to sub- sub- + rogā (re) to request + -tus past participle suffix

Related forms
subrogation, noun
unsubrogated, adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for subrogate
– Waives the state’s right to subrogate with regard to any party to a contract, lease, or other written agreement.
– On occasion, one carrier may subrogate against the other in either property or casualty losses.
– We do however strongly object to the use of fee demonstration projects to harm, displace or subrogate concessioner operations.

Anagram

bat rogues
bags route

Today’s aphorism

Be tolerant of those who are lost on their path. Conceit, Anger, Jealousy and Greed stem from a lost soul. Pray that they will find guidance.

– Native American proverb

On this day

26 February 1829 – birth of Levi Strauss, German-born, American clothing manufacturer. Most notable for Levi jeans. Died 26 September 1902.

26 February 1928 – birth of Fats Domino, American rhythm and blues, and rock and roll musician. He sold more than 5 million records and had 35 U.S.A. Top 40 hits. His songs included Blueberry Hill, When My Dreamboat Comes Home, Whole Lotta Loving.

26 February 1932 – birth of Johnny Cash, American singer and musician. Cash was considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Hits included Folsom Prison Blues, Ring of Fire, Get Rhythm, I Walk the Line, A Boy Named Sue. Died 12 September 2003.

26 February 1945 – birth of Peter Brock, Australian car racing legend. Died 8 September 2006.

24 February 2015

obviate

[ob-vee-eyt]

verb (used with object), obviated, obviating.
1. to anticipate and prevent or eliminate (difficulties, disadvantages, etc.) by effective measures; render unnecessary:
to obviate the risk of serious injury.

Origin
Latin
1590-1600; < Latin obviātus, past participle of obviāre to act contrary to, derivative of obvius; see obvious, -ate1

Related forms
obviable [ob-vee-uh-buh l] (Show IPA), adjective
obviation, noun
obviator, noun
preobviate, verb (used with object), preobviated, preobviating.
unobviable, adjective

Can be confused
ameliorate, obviate, vitiate.

Synonyms
preclude, avert, anticipate.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for obviate
– The new system also would not obviate concerns about the accidental or malicious storage of images.

Anagram

above it

Today’s aphorism

The duty of a true patriot is to protect his country from its government.

– Thomas Paine

On this day

24 February 1872 – death of William Webb Ellis, Anglican clergyman who is credited for creating Rugby Union after allegedly picking up the ball during a soccer match and running with it, while a student at Rugby School. Born 24 November 1806.

24 February 1955 – birth of Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple. Died 5 October 2011.

24 February 2008 – death of Larry Norman, pioneering Christian rock musician. Born 8 April 1947.

23 February 2015

amative

[am-uh-tiv]

adjective
1. disposed to love; amorous.

– With an amative look in his eye, he gave her flowers and a kiss.

Origin
Medieval Latin
1630-1640; < Medieval Latin amātīvus, equivalent to amāt (us) (past participle of amāre to love) + -īvus -ive

Related forms
amatively, adverb
amativeness, noun
unamative, adjective
unamatively, adverb

Dictionary.com

Anagram

via mate

Today’s aphorism

We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.

– Benjamin Franklin

On this day

23 February 1836 – the Battle of the Alamo commences. It was a 13 day siege and a pivotal point in the Texas Revolution, in which Mexican forces attacked Texan forces stationed at the Alamo Mission. All 100 Texans were killed. Several months earlier, all Mexicans had been driven out of Mexican Texas.

23 February 1896 – the Tootsie Roll is invented.

23 February 1944 – the Soviet Union begins the forced deportation of Chechen and Ingush people from the North Caucasus to Central Asia.

23 February 1954 – Polio vaccines first become available.

23 February 1958 – Five time Formula 1 racing car driver, Juan Manuel Fangio, is kidnapped by Cuban rebels led by Fidel Castro. The Batista Dictatorship had established a non-Formula 1 race (the Cuban Grand Prix) in 1957, so the rebels were hoping to embarrass Batista by forcing him to cancel the race. The race went ahead and the captors let Fangio listen to it on the radio. Fangio was released unharmed. Castro’s forces overthrew Batista in January 1959 and cancelled the race that year.

23 February 1987 – the light from Supernova 1987A reaches Earth, 170,000 years after it exploded. The supernova was 1 million trillion miles away.

23 February 2010 – death of Cuban plumber and activist, Orlando Zapata. Zapata was arrested in 2002 by Cuban police for contempt. In 2003 he was arrested during a crackdown on dissidents, for undertaking a hunger strike aimed at securing the release of prisoners. He was sentenced to 36 years imprisonment. Amnesty International recognised him as a ‘prisoner of conscience’. In December 2009 he began a hunger strike which ultimately led to his death. Born 15 May 1967.

22 February 2015

woebegone

[woh-bi-gawn, -gon]

adjective
1. beset with woe; affected by woe, especially in appearance.
2. showing or indicating woe:
He always had a woebegone look on his face.

Origin
Middle English, Old English
1300-1350; Middle English wo begon orig., woe (has or had) surrounded (someone); wo woe + begon, past participle of begon, Old English begān to surround, besiege (see be-, go1)

Related forms
woebegoneness, noun

Synonyms
2. suffering, troubled, forlorn, gloomy.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for woebegone
– Redemption for the poem’s woebegone mariner comes when he embraces all life, no matter how lowly.
– Reasons and results couldn’t be worse than the woebegone state of expression to which human discord has devolved.
– Woebegone wooden houses, many of them falling down, dot the hillsides along the road.

Anagram

one web ego

Today’s aphorism

When a great moment knocks on the door of your life, it is often no louder than the beating of your heart, and it is very easy to miss it.

– Boris Pasternak

On this day

22 February 1512 – Death of Amerigo Vespucci in Seville, Spain. Italian explorer, financier, navigator and cartographer. Vespucci believed that Christopher Columbus’s discovery of the ‘New World’ or ‘East Asia’ (now known as the Bahamas) and the land mass beyond it, was not part of Asia, but a separate ‘super-continent’. America is named after Vespucci. Born 9 March 1454 in Florence, Italy.

22 February 1962 – birth of Steve Irwin, ‘The Crocodile Hunter’, Australian wildlife expert and television personality. (Died 4 September 2006).

22 February 1987 – death of Andy Warhol, American pop artist.

21 February 2015

niveous

[niv-ee-uh s]

adjective
1. resembling snow, especially in whiteness; snowy.

E.g. You contemplate all the hours you sat attentive and alert on the flight deck, and how you never grew less enamored of the niveous white magnificence of clouds as you gazed down at them from thirty or thirty-five thousand feet.
-Chris Bohjalian, The Night Strangers, 2011

Origin
Latin
1615-1625; < Latin niveus snowy, snow-white, of, from snow, equivalent to niv- (stem of nix) snow + -eus -eous
Dictionary.com

Anagram

envious

Today’s aphorism

A mind that is stretched by new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.

– Oliver Wendell Holmes

On this day

21 February 1903 – birth of Anais Nin, French-Cuban author. Died 14 January 1977.

21 February 1965 – assassination of Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little), also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist. He campaigned for the rights of African-Americans. At the age of 20, while in prison, he joined the ‘Nation of Islam’, a group that preached black supremacy. He eventually became disillusioned with it and its leader, Elijah Muhammad. On 8 Mach 1964, he publicly announced he had the Nation of Islam. Malcolm X founded Muslim Mosque Inc and the Organisation of Afro-American Unity. He converted to Sunni Islam, revoked black supremacy and preached equal rights. He was assassinated on 21 February 1965 by three members of the Nation of Islam; Talmadge Hayer (also known as Thomas Hagan), Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson. All three were convicted, although Butler and Johnson maintained their innocence. Born 19 May 1925.

19 February 2015

lenity

[len-i-tee]

noun, plural lenities.
1. the quality or state of being mild or gentle, as toward others.
2. a lenient act.

Origin

Latin
1540-1550; < Latin lēnītās. See lenis, -ty2

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for lenity

– The jury was informed of the factual basis for each charge and the rule of lenity does not apply.
– Under the rule of lenity, any ambiguity is interpreted to favor the defendant.
– Court declines to apply the common law rule of lenity and applies the common law no fractions of the day rule.

Anagram

ye lint
yet nil

Today’s aphorism

You have been criticizing yourself for years and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.

– Louise Hay

On this day

19 February 1950 – Cyprus independence is granted with the signing of a joint agreement by Britain, Greece and Turkey.

19 February 1980 – death of Ronald Belford ‘Bon’ Scott, Scottish-born Australian rock musician. Most famous as the lead-singer of legendary hard rock band, AC/DC. Scott died after choking on his own vomit following a heavy drinking session. Born 9 July 1946.

19 February 2006 – Hamas leader, Ismail Haniya, becomes Prime Minister of Palestine following Palestinian Legislative Council elections.

19 February 2008 – Fidel Castro retires as leader of Cuba after 49 years at the helm, following the revolution he led in 1959. At 81 years old, Castro had been unwell.