16 September 2018

fractious

fractious

[frak-shuhs]

adjective

refractory or unruly:
a fractious animal that would not submit to the harness.
readily angered; peevish; irritable; quarrelsome:
an incorrigibly fractious young man.

Origin of fractious

First recorded in 1715–25; fracti(on) + -ous

Related forms

frac·tious·ly, adverb
frac·tious·ness, noun
un·frac·tious, adjective
un·frac·tious·ly, adverb
un·frac·tious·ness, noun

Can be confused

factional factious fractious

Synonyms

1. stubborn, difficult. 2. testy, captious, petulant, snappish, pettish, waspish, touchy.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for fractious

Contemporary Examples

Relationships in her “blood family,” a distinction her brother pointedly made at her funeral, were often strained and fractious.
The Daily Beast logo
The Day the Fairytale Died
Marilyn Johnson
July 12, 2014

Starting with the House, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) was largely successful in keeping his fractious caucus largely in check.
The Daily Beast logo
2014 New Year’s Resolutions for the D.C. Political Establishment
Ron Christie
January 2, 2014

The story told on these walls is a fractured and fractious one that consciously resists an easy narrative.
The Daily Beast logo
Finally, an Accurate Look Back at AIDS Activism in ‘Why We Fight’
Hugh Ryan
December 15, 2013

He was well aware of the fractious history between Congress and the White House on Gitmo and was determined to start anew.
The Daily Beast logo
Congress Cooperates, Obama Pushes Hard, and Closing Gitmo Has a Chance
Daniel Klaidman
December 12, 2013

We are a troubled and fractious country, in a difficult neighbourhood.
The Daily Beast logo
Rowdy Crowds At Mandela’s Memorial
Mark Gevisser
December 10, 2013

Historical Examples

Correy mooned around the Arpan sub-base like a fractious child.
The Terror from the Depths
Sewell Peaslee Wright

His voice had a fractious tone, as if he combated an unseen tyrant.
Country Neighbors
Alice Brown

I’ll break you to pieces, James H., if you are fractious; and I’ve got the weapons to do it with.
A Pessimist
Robert Timsol

You are old enough to know better, and yet you behave like a fractious child.
Menhardoc
George Manville Fenn

There’s a tray for each, of course; but a ball dress is such a fractious thing.
Moods
Louisa May Alcott

Today’s quote

I have no patience with dinosaurs.

– Adam West

On this day

16 September – International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer.

16 September 1908 – General Motors is founded by William C. Durrant.

16 September 1920 – The bombing of Wall St, New York, which kills 38 and injures 143. The crime has never been solved, but is believed to have been committed by Italian anarchists known as Galleanists, (after their leader Luigi Galleani), who were protesting against capitalism. The bomb had been placed in a horse wagon.

16 September 1927 – birth of Peter Falk, U.S. actor (Colombo) … ‘therrre ya go‘… (died 23 June 2011.

16 September 1975 – Papua New Guinea gains independence from Australia. PNG National Day.

16 September 1977 – death of Marc Bolan in a car accident. Singer/guitarist for T-Rex. (Born 30 September 1947 as Mark Feld).

16 – 18 September 1982 – Lebanese Christian militia (Phalange) massacres between 765 and 3,500 Palestinian and Lebanese civilians in Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut. An inquiry in 1983 held Israeli troops indirectly responsible as they had surrounded the camps, controlling access to them, and were aware a massacre was occurring without taking steps to stop it.

12 September 2018

Ars Goetia

noun

First section of the Lesser Key of Solomon which contains descriptions of 72 demons that Solomon is said to have evoked and confined in a bronze vessel sealed by magic symbols, and that he obliged to work for him. A revised English edition of the Ars Goetia was published in 1904 by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers and Aleister Crowley, as The Goetia based on manuscripts from the British Museum.

Today’s quote

When the peace treaty is signed, the war isn’t over for the veterans, or the family. It’s just starting.

– Karl Marlantes

On this day

12 September 1869 – death of Peter Roget, British lexographer and creator of Roget’s Thesaurus. (Born 18 January 1779).

12 September 1885 – the highest scoring soccer match in history is a Scottish Cup match played between Arbroath and Bon Accord. Arbroath won 36-0.

12 September 1990 – formal end of World War II. In 1945 there was no formal German state to accept the terms of surrender or the ongoing governing of Germany. The 1945 Potsdam Agreement set the provisional terms under which the Allies would govern Germany. The lack of a German government at the time, became known as ‘The German Question’ and was used by the U.S.A. as the reason for maintaining American bases in West Germany throughout the Cold War. It wasn’t until German re-unification in 1990, that the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) unified. To achieve full sovereignty the new unified state was required to accept the terms of the Potsdam Agreement. A settlement was then negotiated with the new German government between the new German state, the U.S.A, France, U.S.S.R and Britain, formally ending World War II. It should be noted, that hostilities between Russia and Japan have never formally ceased and talks for a treaty are still ongoing.

12 September 2001 – Ansett, Australia’s first commercial airline, collapses.

12 September 2003 – death of Johnny Cash, American singer and musician. Born 26 February 1932.

11 September 2018

lamia

[ley-mee-uh]

noun, plural lamias, lamiae [ley-mee-ee]

1. Classical Mythology. one of a class of fabulous monsters, commonly represented with the head and breast of a woman and the body of a serpent, said to allure youths and children in order to suck their blood.
2. a vampire; a female demon.
3. (initial capital letter, italics) a narrative poem (1819) by John Keats.

Origin of lamia

Middle English Latin Greek

1350-1400; Middle English < Latin < Greek lámia a female man-eater

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for lamia

Contemporary Examples

“The uprising has been a big challenge for us…really, the situation is awful,” said lamia Assem, director of marketing.
Winston Churchill’s Egyptian Getaway: The Old Cataract Hotel
Lauren Bohn
December 15, 2013

Historical Examples

But before it falls, a lamia comes to his aid and kills his sister.
Russian Fairy Tales
W. R. S. Ralston

“We had better get the lamia in condition first,” Trask said.
Space Viking
Henry Beam Piper

Suppose Dunnan comes and finds nobody here but Spasso and the lamia ?
Space Viking
Henry Beam Piper

The lamia bore a coiled snake with the head, arms and bust of a woman.
Space Viking
Henry Beam Piper

From the way the Space Scourge and lamia people laughed, it evidently was.
Space Viking
Henry Beam Piper

lamia can separate the elements and give beauty and pleasure unalloyed.
Keats: Poems Published in 1820
John Keats

Ceres was the goddess of harvest, the mother of Proserpine ( lamia, i. 63, note).
Keats: Poems Published in 1820
John Keats

Compare this conception of melancholy with the passage in lamia, i. 190-200.
Keats: Poems Published in 1820
John Keats

lamia struck his imagination, but his heart was given to Isabella.
Keats: Poems Published in 1820
John Keats

Today’s quote

As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves.

– Mahatma Gandhi

On this day

11 September 1297 – William Wallace leads Scottish forces to victory against the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge.

11 September 1941 – construction of the Pentagon commences in Washington DC. (Completed on 15 January 1943).

11 September 1948 – death of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the father of Pakistan. Leader of the Muslim League calling for the creation of Pakistan. Served as Pakistan’s first Governor-General from 15 August 1947 until his death. In Pakistan, his birthday is a national holiday. Born 25 December 1876.

11 September 1972 – Democratically elected President Salvador Allende of Chilé, is overthrown in a U.S. sponsored coup which brings to power General Augusto Pinochet. The Church Committee, commissioned by the U.S. Department of State to investigate covert C.I.A. operations in Chilé, found that Henry Kissinger had directed the C.I.A. to prevent the socialist Allende from being elected, then to undermine his presidency, before supplying arms to a military junta which succeeded in overthrowing Allendé. Thousands of people died or disappeared under Pinochet’s rule, with approximately 40,000 suffering human rights violations, including torture.

11 September 1987 – death of Peter Tosh, Jamaican reggae singer and musician. From 1963 to 1974, Tosh was a member of Bob Marley and Wailers until going solo. His most famous song is ‘Legalize It’, about legalising marijuana. Tosh’s album, ‘Bush Doctor’, included a duet with Mick Jagger in the song, ‘Don’t Look Back’. Tosh was a Rastafarian. He campaigned against apartheid, which he sang about on his album ‘Equal Rights’. Tosh was murdered on 11 September 1987, after three men broke into his house and tortured him in an effort to extort money. After several hours, one of the men shot Tosh in the head, killing him. Two other friends of Tosh’s were also killed. Born 19 October 1944.

11 September 2001 – 9/11 Terrorist Attacks in which four commercial airliners were hijacked by Al Qaeda terrorists. Two planes hit the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City, one plane hit the Pentagon in Washington DC and one crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers fought with the hijackers. Approximately, 3,000 people died in the attacks.

7 September 2018

advent

[ad-vent]

noun

1. a coming into place, view, or being; arrival:
the advent of the holiday season.
2. (usually initial capital letter) the coming of Christ into the world.
3. (initial capital letter) the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas, observed in commemoration of the coming of Christ into the world.
4. (usually initial capital letter) Second Coming.

Origin of advent

Middle English, Latin

1125-1175; Middle English < Latin adventus arrival, approach, equivalent to ad- ad- + ven- (stem of venīre to come) + -tus suffix of verbal action

Synonyms

1. onset, beginning, commencement, start.

Second Coming

noun

1. the coming of Christ on Judgment Day.

Also called Advent, Second Advent.

Origin

First recorded in 1635-45

Related forms

post-Advent, adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for advent

Contemporary Examples

Like Lent, the season of advent was a period of reflection and fasting, and items such as dairy and sugar were forbidden.
One Cake to Rule Them All: How Stollen Stole Our Hearts
Molly Hannon
December 24, 2014

I would venture to say that advent is something America needs right now, religious or not.
During Advent, Lots of Waiting, But Not Enough Hope
Gene Robinson
December 7, 2014

They told me that advent was all about waiting and hoping – that they were indeed a community of waiting and hoping.
During Advent, Lots of Waiting, But Not Enough Hope
Gene Robinson
December 7, 2014

Then came the horrors of World War I, with the advent of tanks and airplanes and poison gas.
How Clausewitz Invented Modern War
James A. Warren
November 24, 2014

The writer A. Lezhnev said, “I view the incident with Shostakovich as the advent of the same ‘order’ that burns books in Germany.”
When Stalin Met Lady Macbeth
Brian Moynahan
November 9, 2014

Historical Examples

The effect was, indeed, presently accomplished by the advent of Smithson into the office.
Within the Law
Marvin Dana

The visitor’s advent was announced again by the brass knocker on the front door.
Thoroughbreds
W. A. Fraser

He had so long and so passionately looked for the advent of that moment!
The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete
Emile Zola

“I think your mother wants to speak to you, Frank,” Alice said, upon this advent.
Alice Adams
Booth Tarkington

But with the advent of the boys from the barn there appeared reinforcements of the enemy.
Frank Roscoe’s Secret
Allen Chapman

Today’s quote

There will come a time when it isn’t ‘They’re spying on me through my phone’ anymore. Eventually, it will be ‘My phone is spying on me’.

― Philip K. Dick (1928-1982)

On this day

7 September 1876 – birth of C.J. Dennis, Australian poet (Songs of a Sentimental Bloke). Died 22 June 1938.

7 September 1936 – birth of Charles Hardin Holley, otherwise known as Buddy Holly. 1950s rock star, famous for songs such as ‘Peggy Sue’ and ‘That’ll be the day’. Died in a plane crash on 3 February 1959 with other musicians, Richie Valens, J.P. ‘Big Bopper’ Richardson and the pilot, Roger Peterson. Their deaths were immortalised in the Don McLean song, ‘American Pie’, when he sang about the day the music died.

7 September 1978 – death of Keith Moon, British musician, drummer for ‘The Who’. Born 23 August 1946.