21 June 2018
recumbent
[ri-kuhm-buh nt]
adjective
1. lying down; reclining; leaning.
2. inactive; idle.
3. Zoology, Botany. noting a part that leans or reposes upon its surface of origin.
noun
4. a recumbent person, animal, plant, etc.
Origin of recumbent
Latin
1765-1775; < Latin recumbent- (stem of recumbēns), present participle of recumbere to lie back, equivalent to re- re- + cumb-, akin to cubāre to lie down + -ent- -ent
Related forms
recumbency, recumbence, noun
recumbently, adverb
unrecumbent, adjective
unrecumbently, adverb
Synonyms
1. prone, supine; prostrate; inclined.
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for recumbent
Historical Examples
As he approached the recumbent figure he yelled a panted “Hi, there!”
The Woman-Haters
Joseph C. Lincoln
“Truss him up, Kenneth,” he commanded, pointing to the recumbent figure.
The Tavern Knight
Rafael Sabatini
The repulsive task of searching the recumbent figure now lay before him.
The Vagrant Duke
George Gibbs
Today’s quote
There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights.
– Smedley Butler
On this day
21 June 1940 – death of Smedley Butler, U.S. Marine Corp Major-General. He received 19 medals, five of which were for bravery. He twice received the Medal of Honor. Butler was, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in history. Nonetheless, he was an outspoken critic of war and military actions. He wrote a book called ‘War is a Racket’, which exposed the links between the military and industry, in which he stated that business interests directly benefit from warfare. Butler wrote a summary of the book, which stated: ‘War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small ‘inside’ group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes‘. He was born on 30 July 1881.
21 June 1953 – birth of Benazir Bhutto, elected Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1988, becoming the first female leader of a Muslim country. She was dismissed as Prime Minister in 1996 amid accusations of corruption. She went into exile, living in the United Arab Emirates. In 2007, against the orders of President Musharraf, she returned to Pakistan to contest the 2008 election. She was assassinated at a rally on 27 December 2007.
21 June 1964 – Three civil rights activists (James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner) disappear in Mississippi while investigating an allegation that the Ku Klux Klan had burned down an African-American church. Their bodies were discovered six weeks later. In 1966, seven Ku Klux Klan members were found guilty of the murders, while eight others were found not guilty, including Edgar Ray ‘Preacher’ Killen who was retried in 2005 and found guilty.
21 June 2001 – death of John Lee Hooker, American blues guitarist. Born 22 August 1917.
21 June 2005 – Edgar Ray ‘Preacher’ Killen, former Ku Klux Klansman, is found guilty of manslaughter for his part in the 1964 killing of three civil rights activists and sentenced to 60 years imprisonment.