25 May 2013

venal

[veen-l]

adjective

1. willing to sell one’s influence, especially in return for a bribe; open to bribery; mercenary: a venal judge.
2. able to be purchased, as by a bribe: venal acquittals.
3. associated with or characterized by bribery: a venal administration; venal agreements.

Origin:
1645–55; < Latin vēnālis, equivalent to vēn ( um ) (accusative) for sale (cf. vend) + -ālis -al1

Related forms
ve·nal·ly, adverb
non·ve·nal, adjective
non·ve·nal·ly, adverb
un·ve·nal, adjective

Can be confused: venal, venial.

Synonyms
1. bribable, corruptible. See corrupt.

Antonyms
1. incorruptible.

Today’s aphorism

‘A towel, [The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy] says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough’.

― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

On this day

25 May – Towel Day. A tribute to Douglas Adams, author of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, which states that a towel is ‘about the most massively useful thing that an interstellar hitchhiker can have‘. First held in 2001, two weeks after the death of Adams. Fans carry a towel with them on this day in appreciation of Adams and his work.