31 January 2017

accretion

[uh-kree-shuh n]

noun

1. an increase by natural growth or by gradual external addition; growth in size or extent.
2. the result of this process.
3. an added part; addition:
The last part of the legend is a later accretion.
4. the growing together of separate parts into a single whole.
5. Law. increase of property by gradual natural additions, as of land by alluvion.

Origin of accretion

Latin

1605-1615; < Latin accrētiōn- (stem of accrētiō), equivalent to accrēt (us), past participle of accrēscere to grow ( ac- ac- + crē- grow + -tus past participle suffix) + -iōn- -ion

Related forms

accretive, accretionary, adjective
nonaccretion, noun
nonaccretive, adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for accretion

Contemporary

Accretion of incremental, imperceptible changes which can constitute progress and which render our era dramatically different from the past, a contrast obscured by the undramatic nature of gradual transformation punctuated by occasional tumult.
Rebecca Solnit
TED Talk: Danny Dorling: Maps that show us who we are (not just where we are)

The powerful forces of gravity and magnetism channel matter into huge flattened spinning platters known as accretion disks.
The Black Hole Tango
Matthew R. Francis
November 23, 2014

The direction of polarization for a quasar is determined by the accretion disk surrounding it.
The Black Hole Tango
Matthew R. Francis
November 23, 2014

Their gravitational pull can draw in huge amounts of gas, which swirls in a thick donut-shaped pattern known as an accretion disk.
The Supermassive Black Hole Smokescreen
Matthew R. Francis
June 21, 2014

The accretion of interest groups is not a uniquely American problem.
So What Would I Do About China?
David Frum
August 21, 2012

Historical Examples

The appearance greatly improved, and the accretion in seven years after thinning showed 160 per cent.
Garden and Forest Weekly, Volume 1 No. 1, February 29, 1888
Various

With any accretion allowed, the concentration of wealth is irresistible.
Usury
Calvin Elliott

Organisms are not added to by accretion, as in the case of minerals, but by growth.
Natural Law in the Spiritual World
Henry Drummond

The only difficulty in this accretion is to secure debtors that will not die.
Usury
Calvin Elliott

Nor must we despise them when we reflect upon their power of accretion.
Lippincott’s Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. XII, No. 28. July, 1873.
Various

She was in a state of rare contentment, an accretion to the gaiety that was hers by nature.
The Intrusions of Peggy
Anthony Hope

Anagram

a necrotic
circa tone
react icon

Today’s quote

In your 20s you can be pretty, but you don’t accomplish real beauty until you find wisdom and depth.

– Evangeline Lilly

On this day

31 January 1606 – death 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. Born 13 April 1570.

31 January 1961 – Ham the Astrochimp, returns safely to Earth after completing a NASA mission into outer space. HAM is an acronym for Holloman Aerospace Medical Centre, which was located at the Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico.

31 January 1991 – McDonald’s opens its first restaurant in Moscow.

30 January 2017

Occident

[ok-si-duh nt]

noun

1. the Occident.
the West; the countries of Europe and America.
Western Hemisphere.

2. (lowercase) the west; the western regions.

Origin of Occident

Middle English, Middle French, Latin, Middle English < Middle French < Latin occident- (stem of occidēns) present participle of occidere to fall, (of the sun) to set, equivalent to oc- oc- + cid- (combining form of cadere to fall) + -ent- -ent

Can be confused

accident, Occident.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for Occident

Historical Examples

Her affiliation with the Occident is so much the more complete; but her Eastern origin is never in doubt.
Studies of Contemporary Poets
Mary C. Sturgeon

In the Occident, giving to the poor is lending to the devil.
Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 11 (of 14)
Elbert Hubbard

He established a periodical, “Orient and Occident,” in 1862.
Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ
Rev. A. Bernstein, B.D.

Anagram

edict con

Today’s quote

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.

– Mahatma Gandhi

On this day

30 January 1648 – signing of the Peace of Munster, between the Dutch Republic and the Kingdom of Spain and was officially ratified on the 15 May 1648. This treaty was the first in a series of peace treaties known as the Peace of Westphalia which paved the way for the modern sovereign state. The second being the Treaty of Munster and the Treaty of Osnabrück, both signed on 24 October 1648.

30 January 1882 – birth of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), who was a member of the Democratic Party and became the 32nd President of the USA. He is the only president to serve four consecutive terms. FDR served from 4 March 1933 until his death on 12 April 1945. In 1921, FDR contracted polio, which left him paralysed from the waist down.

30 January 1948 – assassination of Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi by a Hindu nationalist opposed to the partitioning of India, who believed Gandhi was favouring the creation of the Muslim state of Pakistan. Gandhi led the campaign for Indian independence from British rule through non-violent disobedience. Born 2 October 1869.

30 January 1972 – ‘Bloody Sunday’ in Derry, Northern Ireland when 26 unarmed protesters were shot by British soldiers, killing 13 instantly, with a 14th dying some months later from his injuries. Seventeen were injured. John Lennon recorded a song about the incident, entitled ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday‘, which appeared on his ‘Sometime in New York City‘ album.

29 January 2017

daguerreotype

[duh-gair-uh-tahyp, -ee-uh-tahyp]

noun

1. an obsolete photographic process, invented in 1839, in which a picture made on a silver surface sensitized with iodine was developed by exposure to mercury vapor.
2. a picture made by this process.
verb (used with object), daguerreotyped, daguerreotyping.
3. to photograph by this process.

Origin of daguerreotype

1830-1840; named after L. J. M. Daguerre; see -o-, -type

Related forms

daguerreotyper, daguerreotypist, noun
daguerreotypic [duh-gair-uh-tip-ik, -ee-uh-tip-] (Show IPA), adjective
daguerreotypy, noun

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for daguerreotype

Contemporary Examples

We can feel her sensuality and willfulness in the first daguerreotype we have of Mary, taken in 1846, when she was twenty-seven.
Lincoln in Love
Jerome Charyn
February 13, 2014

Historical Examples

The daguerreotype was followed in 1850 by the present “photograph.”
Invention
Bradley A. Fiske

It was a daguerreotype, faded and silvered; but the features were those of his wife!
The Crusade of the Excelsior
Bret Harte

Anagram

a deeper yogurt
a greedy troupe
a retyped rouge

Today’s quote

We have to condemn publicly the very idea that some people have the right to repress others. In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand fold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers … we are ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations.

– Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

On this day

29 January 1979 – 16 year old, Brenda Spencer shoots two men dead and wounds nine children at the Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego. She allegedly claimed that she did it because it was a Monday and she didn’t like Mondays. She was sentenced to 25 years jail. The Boomtown Rats released a song about the incident, entitled ‘I Don’t Like Mondays‘.

28 January 2017

hackneyed

[hak-need]

adjective

1. made commonplace or trite; stale; banal:
the hackneyed images of his poetry.

Origin of hackneyed

1740-1750; hackney + -ed2

Related forms

nonhackneyed, adjective
unhackneyed, adjective

Synonyms

overdone, overused. See commonplace.

hackney

[hak-nee]

noun, plural hackneys.

1. Also called hackney coach. a carriage or coach for hire; cab.
2. a trotting horse used for drawing a light carriage or the like.
3. a horse used for ordinary riding or driving.
4. (initial capital letter) one of an English breed of horses having a high-stepping gait.
adjective
5. let out, employed, or done for hire.
verb (used with object)
6. to make trite, common, or stale by frequent use.
7. to use as a hackney.

Origin

1300-50; Middle English hakeney, special use of placename Hackney, Middlesex, England

Related forms

hackneyism, noun

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for hackneyed

Contemporary Examples

Sometimes Allen retools a hackneyed plot and the bones show through—not this time.
Woody Allen’s Best & Worst Movies: ‘Annie Hall’ ‘Match Point’ & More (Video)
Malcolm Jones
July 25, 2013

It was slit-your-wrists dull, but in a hackneyed avant-garde manner.
Whitney Museum’s Biennial: A Big Yawn
Blake Gopnik
February 29, 2012

Even the harmonized choral accents are hackneyed, ripped straight from her previous mega-hit “You Belong with Me.”
Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’: Country’s Prodigal Daughter Creates the Best Pop Album of the Year
Marlow Stern
October 24, 2014

hackneyed chestnuts like that are reserved for old toastmasters, and yet, there we were.
From Moscow to Queens, Down Sergei Dovlatov Way
Daniel Genis
September 14, 2014

Under normal circumstances, a politician being grilled by fifth-graders is hackneyed political theater.
Biden Grilled by Fifth-Graders
Alex Pasternack
May 10, 2009

Historical Examples

We can only refer the reader’s imagination to the one old, hackneyed but expressive, word—fairyland!
Blown to Bits
Robert Michael Ballantyne

Reason three, a hackneyed but very present trouble was the weather.
A harum-scarum schoolgirl
Angela Brazil

The hackneyed simile of the cat and the mouse seemed to me to be especially applicable in the present instance.
Princess Zara
Ross Beeckman

His anger thrilled out in a feeble stream of hackneyed profanities.
The Wonder
J. D. Beresford

Such was the creation of Scott’s Abbotsford, a real ‘romance in stone and lime,’ to use the Frenchman’s hackneyed phrase.
Abbotsford
Anonymous

Anagram

hacked yen
needy hack

Today’s quote

The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say.

– Anais Nin

On this day

28 January 1853 – birth of José Julián Martí Pérez, (José Martí), Cuban national hero, nicknamed The Maestro. He was a poet, essayist, revolutionary philosopher. Fought for Cuba’s independence from Spain. Martí’s poetry is respected across the globe. One of his poems was adapted into the song, Guantanamera. Died 19 May 1895.

28 January 1968 – 4 hydrogen bombs are lost when the B-52 bomber that was carrying them, crashes near Thule, Greenland. The bombs are eventually located, but it took nine months to clear the area of radiation.

28 January 1939 – death of William Butler Yeats (W.B. Yeats), Irish poet, Nobel Prize laureate. One of the foremost literary figures of the 20th century. He served as an Irish senator for two terms. He led the Irish Literary Revival. In 1921 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for ‘inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation‘. Born 13 June 1865.

28 January 1986 – the space shuttle, Challenger, explodes moments after lift-off, killing all seven astronauts on board, including Christa MacAuliffe, a teacher from New Hampshire, who was scheduled to deliver a lesson from outer-space as part of the ‘Teacher in Space’ project.

27 January 2017

ecru

[ek-roo, ey-kroo]

adjective

1. very light brown in color, as raw silk, unbleached linen, etc.

noun

2. an ecru color.

Also, écru [French ey-kry]

Origin of ecru

1865-1870; French, equivalent to é- completely (< Latin ex- ex-1) + cru raw (< Latin crūdus; see crude )

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for ecru

Historical Examples

You can take my ecru lace scarf, if you wish, and that will cover most of the spots.
The Wit and Humor of America, Volume II. (of X.)
Various

In giving a brownish hue to such light colors as beige, ecru, etc., it is invaluable.
The Practical Ostrich Feather Dyer
Alexander Paul

ecru : Continue the foregoing operation for blue by passing the goods through a solution of prussiate of potash.
Burroughs’ Encyclopaedia of Astounding Facts and Useful Information, 1889
Barkham Burroughs

A nervous tug-of-war was taking place between her right and left hand, with a twisted-up pair of ecru gloves for the cable.
The Shadow
Arthur Stringer

In color it runs from ecru drab to hair-brown with streaks of the latter, and it is very viscid when moist.
Studies of American Fungi. Mushrooms, Edible, Poisonous, etc.
George Francis Atkinson

He was slightly smaller than a load of hay in his belted suit of ecru pongee; he wore a satisfied air and a pleased mustache.
The Sin of Monsieur Pettipon
Richard Connell

Madame had, cried madame’s maid, running to fetch one with little pink flowers and green leaves on an ecru ground.
A Modern Chronicle, Complete
Winston Churchill

If they are of an ecru shade, put a little coffee in the water and they will look like new.
Guide to Hotel Housekeeping
Mary E. Palmer

And the curtains are just simple cotton voiles, ecru in the living and dining rooms, and white in the bedrooms.
A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband
Louise Bennett Weaver

The chief end of man is to witness an ecru coyote and a few absolute human failures like you and me.
Heart’s Desire
Emerson Hough

Anagram

cure

Today’s quote

I still call myself a communist, because communism is no more what Russia made of it than Christianity is what the churches make of it.

– Pete Seeger

On this day

27 January – International Holocaust Memorial Day in remembrance of the 11 million victims of the Nazi holocaust before and during the Second World War. Victims included 6 million Jews (3 million of whom were Polish), 3 million Polish Christians, 2 million gypsies, and millions of others, including Africans, Asians, people with mental or physical disabilities, Communists, Socialist, Unionists, intellectuals, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Slavs, Freemasons, political activists and anyone else either opposed to Nazi ideology, or living in land Hitler wanted (particularly Poland) or who didn’t fit his idea of a perfect master race. The date was chosen because 27 January 1945 was the date that Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz-Birchenau, the largest of the Nazi death camps.

27 January 1756 – birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer. Died 5 December 1791.

27 January 1926 – In London, John Logie Baird publicly demonstrates a revolutionary new invention, the television system.

27 January 1945 – The Soviet Army liberates survivors of the largest Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz in Poland, where it is estimated more than 1,000,000 Jews and tens of thousands of others were executed.

27 January 1967 – Outer Space Treaty was signed by 60 countries, including the USA and USSR, prohibiting the placement of weapons of mass destruction in space.

27 January 1973 – the Vietnam War formally ends with a treaty signed between the USA, North Vietnam and South Vietnam.

27 January 1984 – Michael Jackson’s hair catches on fire while he is singing ‘Billy Jean’ during filming of a Pepsi commercial.

27 January 2014 – death of Peter Seeger, American singer-songwriter, musician, activist. Born 3 May 1919.

26 January 2017

non-U

[non-yoo]

adjective

1. not characteristic of or appropriate to the upper class, common, especially of Great Britain:
For example: certain words and phrases are considered absolutely non-U.

Origin of non-U
non- + U (adj.)
Dictionary.com

anagram

noun

Today’s quote

Writing the first draft is like hitting the beach on D Day. You don’t stop to mourn the dead or comfort the wounded. You get off the beach because, if you don’t, you’ll die there.

– Matt Hughes

On this day

26 January 1788 – Australia Day – the day that Captain Arthur Phillip landed at Botany Bay and took possession of Australia in the name of King George III of Britain.

26 January 1939 – During the Spanish Civil War, Nationalist forces loyal to General Francisco Franco enter Barcelona, overthrowing the Republican forces headquartered there.

26 January 1945 – Soviet troops liberate 7,000 survivors of the Auschwitz network of concentration camps in Poland.

26 January 1950 – India becomes a republic, freed from British rule. The new President, Dr Rajenda Prasad had campaigned with Mahatma Gandhi for Indian self-rule. Jawaharlal Nehru becomes the country’s first Prime Minister on 10 February 1952.

26 January 1965 – Hindi becomes the official language of India.

26 January 1988 – Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Phantom of the Opera’ opens on Broadway for its first performance. The musical becomes a world-wide smash and is the longest running show on Broadway.

25 January 2017

het up

[het]

adjective, Informal.

1. indignant; irate; upset:
She was really het up about the new city tax.
2. enthusiastic:
John is suddenly het up about racing cars.

Origin of het up

1920-1925; het, archaic or dial. past participle of heat + up

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for het up

Contemporary Examples

Elsewhere in the post, Silver explains, as he has many times, why no one should get too het up over one single poll.
Silver on Gallup’s Galloping Numbers
Michael Tomasky
October 18, 2012

Historical Examples

It was by standin’ out all het up where she had hitched me after she’d rid’ me to one of the witch conventions.
The Skipper and the Skipped
Holman Day

Why would your grandfather get all het up if he heard about it?
David Lannarck, Midget
George S. Harney

Anagram

he put

Today’s quote

I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.

– W. C. Fields

On this day

25 January 1947 – Infamous gangster, Al Capone, dies of pneumonia and heart failure. He was born on 17 January 1899.

25 January 1971 – Ugandan General, Idi Amin seizes power while President Milton Obote is away. Amin’s brutal, 8-year dictatorship resulted in the murders of between 100,000 to 500,000 people. In 1979, Amin fled to Libya and later to Saudi Arabia, where he remained until his death on 16 August 2003.

25 January 1974 – Record flooding in Brisbane caused by Tropical Cyclone Wanda. During a 36 hour period, 642mm fell on Brisbane city, causing the deaths of 14 people, and flooding at least 6,700 houses.

24 January 2017

braggadocious

[brag-uh-doh-shuhs]

adjective

1. (US, informal) boastful

Word Origin

from braggadocio

Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons& Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Contemporary definitions for braggadocious

adjective

overly proud, bragging in excess

Word Origin

derivative of the mock-Italian braggadocio meaning ‘idle boaster’

Dictionary.com’s 21st Century Lexicon
Copyright © 2003-2014 Dictionary.com, LLC

Anagram

Airbag Scud Goo

Today’s quote

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.

– Winston Churchill

On this day

24 January 41AD – death of Caligula, also known as Gaius Caesar, 3rd Roman Emperor from 37 – 41AD. Died 24 January 41AD. First Roman Emperor to be assassinated following a conspiracy to restore the Roman Republic. While the plot to kill Caligula succeeds, the restoration of the Republic fails when the Praetorian Guard appoint Caligula’s uncle, Claudius, as Emperor.

24 January 1965 – death of U.K. Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill. Born 30 November 1874.

24 January 1974 – Cyclone Wanda makes land-fall at Maryborough, bringing the worst flooding to Queensland in decades, including the infamous Brisbane floods.

23 January 2017

Naugahyde

[naw-guh-hahyd]

Trademark.

1. a brand of strong vinyl-coated fabric made to look like leather and used for upholstery, luggage, etc.

Dictionary.com

Word Origin and History for Naugahyde

trademark name patented (U.S.) Dec. 7, 1937, by United States Rubber Products Inc., for an artificial leather made from fabric base treated with rubber, etc. From Naugatuk, rubber-making town in Connecticut, + hyde, an arbitrary variant of hide (n.). The town name is Southern New England Algonquian *neguttuck “one tree,” from *negut- “one” + *-tugk “tree.”

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Anagram

handy ague
Hey Uganda

Today’s quote

Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.

– Salvador Dali

On this day

23 January 1803 – death of Sir Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer and founder of the Guinness brewery. Born 24 September 1725.

23 January 1989 – death of Salvador Dali, Spanish surrealist painter. Born 11 May 1904.

22 January 2017

palooka

[puh-loo-kuh]

noun, Slang.

1. an athlete, especially a boxer, lacking in ability, experience, or competitive spirit.
2. a stupid, clumsy person.

Origin of palooka

1920-1925, Americanism; origin uncertain

Dictionary.com

Contemporary example

Butch: You lookin’ at something, friend?
Vincent: You ain’t my friend, Palooka.
Butch: What’s that?
Vincent: I think you heard me just fine, Punchy.

– Pulp Fiction screenplay

Anagram

oak opal

Today’s quote

This is how you control your domestic population – by making people afraid and by identifying an enemy.

– Roger Waters

On this day

22 January 1973 – In the landmark ‘Roe v Wade’ case and decided simultaneously with ‘Doe v Bolton’, the United States Supreme Court rules that abortion is a Constitutional right because of the application of the due process clause of the 14th Amendment to a woman’s right to privacy, which includes the right to abortion. This was to be balanced with other state interests, namely the right to protect prenatal life and the protection of women’s health.

22 January 1930 – construction commences of the Empire State Building. It was completed 410 days later and was the world’s tallest building at that time.