10 April 2015

univocal

[yoo-niv-uh-kuh l, yoo-nuh-voh-]

adjective
1. having only one meaning; unambiguous.

Origin of univocal

Late Latin
1535-1545; < Late Latin ūnivōc (us) ( ūni- uni- + -vōcus, adj. derivative of vōx, stem vōc-, voice ) + -al1

Related forms
univocally, adverb

Dictionary.com

Today’s aphorism

In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.

– Buddha

On this day

10 April 1815 – Indonesia’s Mount Tambora volcano begins a three month long eruption that lasted until 15 July 1815. It killed 71,000 people and affected the world’s climate for the next two years.

10 April 1912 – the ill-fated Titanic departs the port in Southampton, England bound for New York. On 14 April 1912, she hit an ice-berg and sank, killing more than 1,500 people.

10 April 1919 – death of Emiliano Zapata Salazar, Mexican revolutionary.

10 April 1979 – birth of Rachel Corrie, American peace activist. She was killed on 16 May 2003 when run over by an Israeli bulldozer that she was trying to stop from demolishing a Palestinian house in Gaza. Rachel was committed from an early age to human rights and caring for the poor as shown in this speech she gave in the fifth grade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g__QAJ5gtQk

9 April 2015

idiosyncratic

[id-ee-oh-sin-krat-ik, -sing-]

adjective
1. pertaining to the nature of idiosyncrasy, or something peculiar to an individual:
The best minds are idiosyncratic and unpredictable as they follow the course of scientific discovery.

Related forms
idiosyncratically, adverb

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for idiosyncratic
– In short, there is no problem, except tolerating his idiosyncratic presence.
– More than a few presentations still stand out in my memory, perhaps for idiosyncratic reasons.
– It becomes much more systematic, rather than idiosyncratic.

Anagram

nosy diacritic
acidic iron sty
is do intricacy
Arc Idiocy Nits

Today’s aphorism

If you suffer it is because of you, if you feel blissful it is because of you. Nobody else is responsible – only you and you along. You are your hell and your heaven too.

– Osho (formerly known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)

On this day

9 April 1413 – Henry V crowned King of England.

9 April 1682 – Robert Cavelier de la Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River. He names it Louisiana and claims it in the name of France.

9 April 1865 – Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the Civil War.

9 April 1867 – United States Senate ratifies by one vote, a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska.

9 April 1937 – the first Japanese-made aircraft to fly to Europe lands at Croydon Airport, London. It’s name is the Kamikaze.

9 April 1945 – execution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident. He was executed at Flossenburg Concentration Camp two weeks before the camp was liberated by US soldiers. Born 4 February 1904.

8 April 2015

vulpine

[vuhl-pahyn, -pin]

adjective
1. of or resembling a fox.
2. cunning or crafty.

Origin of vulpine

Latin
1620-1630; < Latin vulpīnus, equivalent to vulp (ēs) fox + -īnus -ine1

Dictionary.com

Anagram

liven up
evil pun

Today’s aphorism

Genius without education is like silver in the mine.

– Benjamin Franklin

On this day

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

8 April 1861 – death of Elisha Graves Otis, American industrialist and founder of the Otis Elevator Company. In 1854, he put the finishing touches to his signature invention: a safety device to prevent elevators falling if the cable fails.

7 April 2015

bugbear

[buhg-bair]

noun
1. any source, real or imaginary, of needless fright or fear.
2. a persistent problem or source of annoyance.
3. Folklore. a goblin that eats up naughty children.

Origin of bugbear
1570-1580; bug2+ bear2

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for bugbear
– What had once been a bugbear was now a bullish sign of growth.
– Then came tho report of the committee on demands, anticipation of which has been a sort of bugbear to the delegates.
– He avers that this civil service pension list is simply a bugbear held up by the opponents of reform.

Anagram

bub rage
bare bug
be a grub

Today’s aphorism

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

– Eleanor Roosevelt

On this day

7 April 1933 – beer available again in 19 U.S. states since it had been banned on 16 January 1920.

7 April 1947 – death of Henry Ford, American industrialist and car maker. Born 30 July 1863.

6 April 2015

bugaboo

[buhg-uh-boo]

noun, plural bugaboos.
1. something that causes fear or worry; bugbear; bogy.

Origin of bugaboo
1730-1740; earlier buggybow. See bogy, boo

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for bugaboo
– Because of that old museum curator’s bugaboo : ultraviolet light.
– Now, free parking is a favorite bugaboo of a certain strain of microeconomists and economically minded commentators.
– As always, the bugaboo is lift, since every additional measure of weight requires a vast addition of volume to hold gas.

Anagram

ago bubo

Today’s aphorism

Nature is busy creating absolutely unique individuals, whereas culture has invented a single mold to which all must conform. It is grotesque.

– U.G. Krishnamurti

On this day

6 April 1895 – The Australian ballad, ‘Waltzing Matilda‘ is performed at the North Gregory Hotel, Winton (central-west Queensland). This is believed to be the first time the song was performed in public.

6 April 1896 – The Olympic Games recommences in Athens 1,501 years after being banned by Emperor Theodosius I in 393AD.

6 April 1909 – Robert E. Peary and Matthew A. Henson become the first men to reach the North Pole. Their claim is in dispute because of navigation techniques and lack of independent verification.

6 April 2006 – the National Geographic Society reveals the discovery of a papyrus codex in a cave near El Minya, Egypt, which it claims is the Gospel of Judas Iscariot. The codex is yet to be verified as written by Judas.

5 April 2015

circumlocution

[sur-kuh m-loh-kyoo-shuh n]

noun
1. a roundabout or indirect way of speaking; the use of more words than necessary to express an idea.
2. a roundabout expression.

Origin of circumlocution

late Middle English Latin

1375-1425; late Middle English < Latin circumlocūtiōn- (stem of circumlocūtiō). See circum-, locution

Related forms
circumlocutory [sur-kuh m-lok-yuh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee], circumlocutional, circumlocutionary, adjective
uncircumlocutory, adjective

Synonyms
1. rambling, meandering, verbosity, prolixity.

Dictionary.com

Anagram

comic uncoil rut
occur tunic limo

Today’s aphorism

The tragedy of life, Howard, is not that the beautiful die young, but that they grow old and mean.

– Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye

5 April 1994 – death of Kurt Cobain. Lead singer, guitarist and lyricist for Nirvana. He was 27. Born 20 February 1967. The exact date of his death is unknown as his body wasn’t discovered until 8 April 1994.

5 April 1997 – death of Allen Ginsberg, leading American beat-generation writer and poet. Born 3 June 1926.

4 April 2015

instantiate

[in-stan-shee-eyt]

verb (used with object), instantiated, instantiating.
1. to provide an instance of or concrete evidence in support of (a theory, concept, claim, or the like).

Origin of instantiate
Latin
1945-1950; < Latin instanti (a) (taken as combining form of instance ) + -ate

Related forms
instantiation, noun
instantiative, adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for instantiate
– Advocates of this perspective instantiate their claims to the health benefits accrued therefrom.
– We present formal models of both processes and instantiate each in computer simulations.
– Of course, the user has to take care of the engine objects he is going to instantiate.

Anagram

A titan stein
tin satan tie
a saint it ten

Today’s aphorism

My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors.

– Maya Angelou

On this day

4 April 1928 – birth of Maya Angelou (born Marguerite Ann Johnson), American author, poet and civil rights activist. Maya wrote seven autobiographies, three books of essays, and several books of poems. She had numerous occupations, including fry cook, dancer, actor, director and journalist. Her civil rights activism saw her work with Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Died 28 May 2014.

4 April 1968 – assassination of Martin Luther King. American civil rights activist and clergyman. Born 15 January 1929.

3 April 2015

apocalypse

[uh-pok-uh-lips]

noun
1. (initial capital letter) revelation (def 4).
2. any of a class of Jewish or Christian writings that appeared from about 200 b.c. to a.d. 350 and were assumed to make revelations of the ultimate divine purpose.
3. a prophetic revelation, especially concerning a cataclysm in which the forces of good permanently triumph over the forces of evil.
4. any revelation or prophecy.
5. any universal or widespread destruction or disaster:
the apocalypse of nuclear war.

Origin
Middle English, Late Latin, Greek
1125-1175; Middle English < Late Latin apocalypsis < Greek apokálypsis revelation, equivalent to apokalýp (tein) to uncover, reveal ( apo- apo- + kalýptein to cover, conceal) + -sis -sis

Dictionary.com

Anagram

papacy sole
soapy place
cosy appeal
calypso ape

Today’s aphorism

I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.

– Socrates

On this day

3 April 1973 – the world’s first mobile phone call is made from a Manhattan street corner, by Motorola’s Martin Cooper to his rival, Joel Engel from Bell.

3 April 1882 – death of Jesse James, U.S. outlaw. (Born 5 September 1847).

2 April 2015

apposition

[ap-uh-zish-uh n]

noun
1. the act of placing together or bringing into proximity; juxtaposition.
2. the addition or application of one thing to another thing.
3. Grammar. a syntactic relation between expressions, usually consecutive, that have the same function and the same relation to other elements in the sentence, the second expression identifying or supplementing the first. In Washington, our first president, the phrase our first president is in apposition with Washington.
4. Biology. growth of a cell wall by the deposition of new particles in layers on the wall.
Compare intussusception (def 2).

Origin
late Middle English Latin Late Latin
1400-1450; late Middle English apposicioun < Late Latin appositiōn- (stem of appositiō) < Latin apposit (us) (see apposite ) + -iōn- -ion

Related forms
– appositive, noun – a word or phrase in apposition.(e.g. If I write, “The car, a Lamborghini, sped away,” “a Lamborghini” is an appositive. It names “the car,” the noun that came right before it. – See more by Grammar Girl at: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/where-do-i-use-commas?page=1#sthash.vik9agAW.dpuf)
– appositional, adjective
– appositionally, adverb

Can be confused
apposition, opposition.

Dictionary.com

Anagram
pita poison
piano posit

Today’s aphorism

Nothing in the world can bother you as much as your own mind, I tell you. In fact others seem to be bothering you, but it is not others, it is your own mind.

– Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

On this day

2 April 1926 – birth of Sir John Arthur ‘Jack’ Brabham AO OBE, Australian racing legend, 3 times Formula One world champion (1959, 1960, 1966).

2 April 1972 – Charlie Chaplin returns to the U.S. after 20 years of self-imposed exiled for ‘un-American’ activities. He had been accused during the McCarthy era of being a communist sympathiser.

2 April 1982 – Argentina invades the Falkland Islands, a British-controlled territory. The conflict escalates with Britain sending troops to expel Argentina. The conflict ends on 14 June 1982 when Britain regains control of the Islands.

2 April 2007 – Argentina restates its claim that the Falkland Islands belong to Argentina. Britain continues to oppose the claim.