20 April 2015

pinnate

[pin-eyt, -it]

adjective
1. resembling a feather, as in construction or arrangement; having parts arranged on each side of a common axis:
a pinnate branch; pinnate trees.
2. Botany. (of a leaf) having leaflets or primary divisions arranged on each side of a common stalk.

Also, pinnated.

Origin of pinnate
Latin
1695-1705; < Latin pinnātus feathered, winged. See pinna, -ate1

Related forms
pinnately, pinnatedly, adverb
multipinnate, adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for pinnate
– Leaves are alternate, about six inches long, pinnate lobed or coarsely toothed.
– Subsequent rosette leaves oblanceolate, entire to pinnate -lobed.
– The leaves are alternate, odd- pinnate, and the five-nine leaflets are glandular-dotted.

Anagram

neat pin
an inept
tape inn

Today’s aphorism

You’re not stuck where you are! You can grow, you can change, you can be more than you are.

– Zig Ziglar

On this day

20 April 1889 – birth of Adolf Hitler in Austria. Austrian-German politician. German Chancellor from 2 August 1934 – 30 April 1945. Genocidal megalomaniac. Died 30 April 1945.

20 April 1908 – first day of competition in the New South Wales Rugby League.

20 April 1912 – death of Bram Stoker, Irish novellist, author of ‘Dracula’. Born 8 November 1847.

20 April 1918 – German flying ace, Manfred Von Richthoffen (the Red Baron), shoots down his 79th and 80th victims. The following day he was fatally wounded while pursuing a Sopwith Camel. Before yielding to his injuries, Richthoffen landed his plane in an area controlled by the Australian Imperial Force. Richthoffen died moments after allied troops reached him. Witnesses claim his last word was ‘kaputt’, which means broken, ruined, done-in or wasted.

20 April 1939 – Billie Holiday records the first civil rights song, ‘Strange Fruit’.

19 April 2015

rangy

[reyn-jee]

adjective, rangier, rangiest.

1. (of animals or people) slender and long-limbed.

2. given to or fitted for ranging or moving about, as animals.

3. mountainous.

Origin of rangy

1865-1870; range + -y1

Related forms

ranginess, noun

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for rangy

– He was a rangy, charming workhorse of a photographer.

– It’s in the blood of a rangy stud, and the heart of a mustang mare.

– The tall, rangy shrubs are creosote bush, an incredibly durable desert plant that forms clones in an expanding ring.

Anagram

angry

Today’s aphorism

Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.

– John Steinbeck

On this day

19 April 1987 – The Simpsons is first aired on television in the United States.

19 April 1993 – 70 members of the cult Branch Davidian sect, led by David Koresh, perish following a fire at their Waco compound. It is believed they lit the fire deliberately as federal agents stormed the compound following a siege that began in February 1993.

19 April 1995 – Terrorist Timothy McVeigh detonates a bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children, and injuring 680 people. McVeigh was executed by lethal injection on 11 June 2001.

18 April 2015

collywobbles

[kol-ee-wob-uh lz]

noun, ( used with a singular or plural verb) Informal.
1. intestinal cramps or other intestinal disturbances.
2. a feeling of fear, apprehension, or nervousness.
3. (Australian) – used to describe Australian Football League (AFL) team, Collingwood and their habit of losing finals matches.

Origin of collywobbles
1815-1825; coinage presumably based on colic, wobble; see -s3

Dictionary.com

Anagram

wobbly cellos
blob cows yell

Today’s aphorism

We’ve got this gift of love, but love is a precious plant. You can’t just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it’s going to get on by itself. You’ve got to keep watering it. You’ve got to really look after it and nurture it.

– John Lennon

On this day

18 April – World Heritage Day, more formerly known as ‘International Monuments and Sites’ Day as declared by UNESCO. A day for raising awareness of monuments and sites throughout the world that are of world heritage significance.

18 April 1839 – birthday of Henry Kendall, Australian poet. Died 1 August 1882.

18 April 1897 – The Greco-Turkish War is declared between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

18 April 1955 – death of Albert Einstein, German-born theoretical physicist. He developed the theory of relativity and of course his mass-energy equivalence formula, E=mc2 (energy = mass x speed of light squared). Born 14 March 1879.

18 April 1983 – a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb that destroyed the United States Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 63 people, 17 of whom were American. Most of the victims were CIA and embassy staff, a number of soldiers and a Marine. Pro-Iranian group, Islamic Jihad Organization, claimed responsibility. However, it’s believed the attack was undertaken by Lebanese group, Hezbollah, in response to the intervention of a multinational force, comprised of western nations, in the Lebanese Civil War.

18 April 1996 – At least 106 civilians are killed in Lebanon when Israel shells a United Nations refugee compound at Quana where more than 800 Palestinians and Lebanese were sheltered. Israel claimed it was an accident and that they were trying to hit a nearby Hezbollah position that had fired at them. Hezbollah claimed they had fired because Israel breached the security zone in order to lay land-mines. Both the UN and Amnesty International investigated and found that Israel had deliberately attacked the refugee camp; a claim that Israel denies. Human Rights Watch found that Israel’s use of high-explosive shells and anti-personnel shells were designed to maximise casualities and their use so close to a civilian area, breached international humanitarian law.

17 April 2015

bombastic

[bom-bas-tik]

adjective
1. (of speech, writing, etc.) high-sounding; high-flown; inflated; pretentious.

Also, bombastical.

Origin of bombastic
1695-1705; bombast + -ic

Related forms
bombastically, adverb
unbombastic, adjective
unbombastically, adverb

Synonyms
pompous, grandiloquent, turgid, florid, grandiose. Bombastic, flowery, pretentious, verbose all describe a use or a user of language more elaborate than is justified by or appropriate to the content being expressed. Bombastic suggests language with a theatricality or staginess of style far too powerful or declamatory for the meaning or sentiment being expressed: a bombastic sermon on the evils of cardplaying. Flowery describes language filled with extravagant images and ornate expressions: a flowery eulogy. Pretentious refers specifically to language that is purposely inflated in an effort to impress: a pretentious essay designed to demonstrate one’s sophistication. Verbose characterizes utterances or speakers that use more words than necessary to express an idea: a verbose speech, speaker.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for bombastic
– They are quite traditionally liberal in their views–optimistic and indeed bombastic in their beliefs.
– When her narrators are bombastic, they are usually winningly bombastic.
– You are correct that my analogy was a little too bombastic.

Word Origin and History for bombastic
adj.
1704, “inflated,” from bombast + -ic. Meaning “given to bombastic language” is from 1727.

Anagram

bobcat ism
bimbo cats
a bomb tics

Today’s aphorism

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.

– Epicurus

On this day

17 April 1521 – Martin Luther appears before the Diet of Worms to be questioned by representatives the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, over the alleged possession of heretical books. (Worms is a town in Germany and Diet is a formal assembly).

17 April 1961 – the U.S. government sponsor 1,500 Cuban exiles to invade the Bay of Pigs, Cuba in an effort to overthrow the socialist government of Fidel Castro. The attacks fails, resulting in the deaths or capture of all of the exiles.

17 April 1969 – Sirhan Sirhan convicted of 1968 assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. He was originally given a death sentence, which was later commuted to life imprisonment. Robert Kennedy was the brother of assassinated President John F. Kennedy.

17 April 2010 – A Manhattan library reveals that first President George Washington failed to return two library books, accruing overdue fees of $300,000. The library said they weren’t pursuing payment of the fees.

16 April 2015

deprecate

[dep-ri-keyt]

verb (used with object), deprecated, deprecating.
1. to express earnest disapproval of.
2. to urge reasons against; protest against (a scheme, purpose, etc.).
3. to depreciate; belittle.
4. Archaic. to pray for deliverance from.

Origin of deprecate
Latin
1615-1625; < Latin dēprecātus prayed against, warded off (past participle of dēprecārī), equivalent to dē- de- + prec (ārī) to pray + -ātus -ate1

Related forms
deprecatingly, adverb
deprecation, noun
deprecator, noun
half-deprecating, adjective
half-deprecatingly, adverb

Can be confused
deprecate, depreciate (see usage note at the current entry)

Synonyms
1. condemn, denounce, disparage. See decry.

Usage note
An early and still the most current sense of deprecate is “to express disapproval of.” In a sense development still occasionally criticized by a few, deprecate has come to be synonymous with the similar but etymologically unrelated word depreciate in the sense “belittle”: The author modestly deprecated the importance of his work.In compounds with self-, deprecate has almost totally replaced depreciate in modern usage: Her self-deprecating account of her career both amused and charmed the audience.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for deprecate
– Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.
– To use this tactic is merely to deprecate the motives of one’s opponents rather than to argue the evidence.
– The first and fully accepted meaning of deprecate is to express disapproval of.

Anagram

aced peter
deter cape
deep trace

Today’s aphorism

One of the secrets of a long and fruitful life is to forgive everybody everything everynight before you go to bed.

– Bernard Baruch

On this day

16 April – Panda Appreciation Day. It was on this day in 1972, that the People’s Republic of China presented US President Richard Nixon with two pandas, Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing.

16 April 73AD – The Great Jewish Revolt ends when the fortress Masada falls to the Romans.

16 April 1850 – death of Marie Tussaud, French-English sculptor, founder of Madam Tussaud’s wax museum. Born 1 December 1761.

16 April 1917 – Vladimir Lenin returns to Petrograd, Russia following exile in Switzerland.

16 April 1947 – Bernard Baruch coins the term ‘Cold War’ to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.

16 April 1990 – Dr Jack Kevorkian, (euthanasia activist, otherwise known as the Doctor of Death) participates in his first assisted suicide.

15 April 2015

piquant

[pee-kuh nt, -kahnt, pee-kahnt]

adjective
1. agreeably pungent or sharp in taste or flavor; pleasantly biting or tart:
a piquant aspic.
2. agreeably stimulating, interesting, or attractive:
a piquant glance.
3. of an interestingly provocative or lively character:
a piquant wit.
4. Archaic. sharp or stinging, especially to the feelings.

Origin of piquant
Italian
1515-1525; < French: literally, pricking (see pique1, -ant ); replacing pickante < Italian piccante

Related forms
piquancy, piquantness, noun
piquantly, adverb

Synonyms
1. spicy. 2. intriguing. 3. sharp, clever.

Antonyms
1. insipid.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for piquant
– Unusual settings give a piquant, humorous tilt to her characters’ misery.
– Green sauces are invariably piquant and herbacious.
– It’s much more piquant to read that two powerful and rich ladies are feuding than a couple of small-town, small-time ones.

Anagram

quit nap

Today’s aphorism

Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.

– Abraham Lincoln

On this day

15 April 1452 – birth of Leonardo Da Vinci, Italian renaissance inventor, painter, sculptor, mathematician, writer. Died 2 May 1519.

15 April 1865 – Death of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln after being shot the day before. Born 12 February 1809.

15 April 1912 – RMS Titanic sinks after hitting an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton UK to New York City, USA, costing the lives of 1,502 people out of the 2,224 crew and passengers who were on board. The White Star Line, who owned the Titanic, had declared her unsinkable.

14 April 2015

adumbrate

[a-duhm-breyt, ad-uh m-breyt]

verb (used with object), adumbrated, adumbrating.
1. to produce a faint image or resemblance of; to outline or sketch.
2. to foreshadow; prefigure.
3. to darken or conceal partially; overshadow.

Origin of adumbrate
Latin
1575-1585; < Latin adumbrātus shaded (past participle of adumbrāre), equivalent to ad- ad- + umbr (a) shade, shadow + -ātus -ate1

Related forms
adumbration, noun

Dictionary.com

Anagram

A drumbeat
trauma bed
at Bermuda
bad mature
a mute bard

Today’s aphorism

Happy the man who has been able to learn the causes of things.

– Virgil

On this day

4 April 1865 – President Abraham Lincoln is shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater, Washington DC. Lincoln died the following day.

14 April 1912 – the RMS Titanic strikes an ice-berg just before midnight in the north Atlantic ocean as it sailed on its maiden voyage from Southampton UK to New York City USA , resulting in the deaths of 1,502 of the 3,372 people onboard.

14 April 1988 – Soviet Union begins withdrawing troops from Afghanistan after nine years of occupation.

13 April 2015

venerate

[ven-uh-reyt]

verb (used with object), venerated, venerating.
1. to regard or treat with reverence; revere.

Origin of venerate

Latin

1615-1625; < Latin venerātus, past participle of venerārī to solicit the goodwill of (a god), worship, revere, verbal derivative of vener-, stem of venus, presumably in its original sense “desire”; see Venus )

Related forms
venerator, noun
unvenerated, adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for venerate
– And when fans search the past, they look to venerate artists who were once pariahs.
– We venerate those willing to shake up the status quo.
– Obey and venerate the old people, particularly your parents.

Anagram

nerve tea
ever neat

Today’s aphorism

If you are not making someone else’s life better, then you are wasting your time. Your life will become better by making others lives better.

– Will Smith

On this day

13 April 1570 – birth of Guy Fawkes, English soldier and one of the masterminds behind the failed ‘Gunpowder Plot’ to blow up English Parliament in an effort to assassinate King James 1 and VI of Scotland. Died 31 January 1606.

13 April 1923 – birth of Don Adams, American actor, most famous for his character Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) in the TV show ‘Get Smart’. Died 25 September 2005.

13 April 1947 – birth of Mike Chapman, Australian songwriter and record producer. Hailing from Nambour, Queensland, Chapman became one of the most influential record producers in Britain when he teamed with Nicky Chinn, with hits for Sweet, Smokie, Suzi Quatro, Mud, Racey and others, including Bow Wow Wow, Pat Benatar, Huey Lewis, Toni Basil. He also produced albums for the Knack and Blondie.

13 April 1975 – The 15 year long Lebanese Civil War starts when Christian Phalangists attack a bus, massacring 26 members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

12 April 2015

burnish

[bur-nish]

verb (used with object)
1. to polish (a surface) by friction.
2. to make smooth and bright.
3. Engraving. to flatten and enlarge the dots of (a halftone) by rubbing with a tool.
noun
4. gloss; brightness; luster:
the burnish of brass andirons.

Origin of burnish
Middle English, Middle French, Anglo-French
1275-1325; Middle English burnissh < Anglo-French burniss-, Middle French bruniss- (long stem of burnir, brunir to darken, polish), equivalent to brun- brown + -iss- -ish2

Related forms
burnishable, adjective
burnishment, noun
unburnished, adjective

Synonyms
1. buff, shine.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for burnish
– He must be careful not to trade away his goal of near-universal coverage to burnish his credentials as a deficit-cutter.
– The burnish of private money also helped make the college more of a supportive community.
– It is also keen to burnish its anti-inflation credentials.

Anagram

brush in
burn his
shun rib

Today’s aphorism

I still find each day too short for the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.

– John Burroughs

On this day

12 April 1961 – Uri Gagarin (Russian) becomes the first man in space.

12 April 1989 – death of Sugar Ray Robinson (Walker Smith Jr), American welterweight and middleweight professional boxing champion, declared to be the greatest boxer of all time. Sugar Ray stood at 5′ 11″ (1.80m). He fought 200 fights, winning 173 (108 by knock-out), lost 19, drew six, with two no contests. By 1946 Sugar Ray had won 40 fights straight, but was denied a shot at the world welterweight championship because he refused to cooperate with the mafia, which controlled much of boxing. In December 1946, he was finally allowed to contest the world championship and won. In 1947 Sugar Ray defended his welterweight title against Jimmy Doyle. In the eighth round, Doyle was knocked out and died later that night. Sugar Ray crossed weight classes and also won the world middleweight championship. In 1950, he broke the record for the shortest fight by knocking out Jose Basora 50 seconds into the first round. The record wasn’t broken for a further 38 years. in 1951, he fought Jake La Motta in what became known as the St Valentine’s Day massacre after the fight was stopped in the 13th round when La Motta was out on his feet, unable to even lift his arms throw a punch. That fight and some of the other matches with La Motta were adapted for the Martin Scorsese movie, Raging Bull. Born 3 May 1921.

11 April 2015

fracas

[frey-kuh s; British frak-ah]

noun
1. a noisy, disorderly disturbance or fight; riotous brawl; uproar.

Origin of fracas
French, Italian
1720-1730; < French < Italian fracasso, derivative of fracassare to smash, equivalent to fra- (< Latin infrā among) completely + cassare to break; see cassation

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for fracas
– The fracas is occurring amid the release of the first comprehensive industrywide study of commercial costs.
– When it responded with subtraction, a public-relations fracas ensued.
– But more worrying is what the fracas reveals about the bank’s management.

Anagram

a scarf

Today’s aphorism

You must learn a new way to think before you can master a new way to be.

– Marianne Williamson

On this day

11 April 1979 – Ugandan President Idi Amin (Dada) is ousted when Tanzanian rebels sieze power. Amin flees to Libya and eventually settles in Saudi Arabia. Amin had been responsible for ethnic cleansing, killing an estimated 80,000 to 300,000 people.

11 April 1981 – Riots in Brixton, South London commence following the arrest of a black man. On a day known as ‘Black Saturday’, up to 5,000 youths confront police and run riot through the streets, looting, throwing petrol bombs, burning hundreds of cars and buildings, and injuring hundreds of people. Police arrested 82 people.