26 October 2017
balalaika
[bal-uh-lahy-kuh]
noun
1. a Russian musical instrument having a triangular body and a neck like that of a guitar.
Origin of balalaika
1780-1790; Russian balaláĭka, equivalent to balalaĭ-, probably originally a v. base, akin to balabólitʾ, balákatʾ chatter, talk nonsense (compare Russian dial., Ukrainian balabáĭka balalaika), expressive derivatives of Slavic *bay- speak, tell, akin to fate, -phasia + -ka noun suffix
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for balalaika
Historical Examples
And from every saddle dangled a balalaika and the terrible Cossack whip.
The Crimson Tide
Robert W. Chambers
The sound of music came from somewhere outside, notes of the balalaika.
The Secret of the Night
Gaston Leroux
One of the children played a balalaika and sang in a broken, mournful voice that did not at all belong to her age.
Trapped in ‘Black Russia’
Ruth Pierce
Today’s quote
I love people. Everybody. I love them, I think, as a stamp collector loves his collection. Every story, every incident, every bit of conversation is raw material for me.
– Sylvia Plath
On this day
26 October 1863 – Football Association forms in England, standardising the rules of soccer.
26 October 1881 – Gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, the most famous gunfight in the Wild West. It is believed the gunfight lasted around 30 seconds and was between outlaws Billy Clanton, Ike Clanton, Billy Claiborne, Tom McLaury and Frank McLaury and lawmen Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp, Doc Holliday. Three of the outlaws were killed, Billy Clanton, Tom McLaury and Frank McLaury. The gunfight has been immortalised in a number of movies and songs.
26 October 1917 – birth of Felix the Cat, legendary cartoon character.
26 October 1940 – Brisbane’s beer riot shuts down the CBD, with trams and traffic brought to a standstill as hundreds of soldiers and civilians take to the streets protesting against the 8pm hotel closing time. Although 8pm had been the closing time for years, it hadn’t been enforced until this time when temperance organisations pressured the government. As the hotels were forced to close by police, hundreds of drinkers poured out of the hotels and into the street attacking trams, traffic and kicking in doors and windows of nearby businesses. The angry mob stormed down Queen Street chanting ‘roll out the barrel, we want beer’. Some of them kicked in the doors of the Grand Central Hotel in Ann Street and stole a beer barrel, which they managed to crack open. Civilian and military police were brought in and the riot was finally quelled in the early hours of the next morning.