28 December 2018

congeries

[kon-jeer-eez, kon-juh-reez]

noun (used with a singular or plural verb)

a collection of items or parts in one mass; assemblage; aggregation; heap:

From the airplane the town resembled a congeries of tiny boxes.

Origin of congeries

1610–20; < Latin: a heap, equivalent to conger- (stem of congerere to collect, heap up, equivalent to con- con- + gerere to bear, carry) + -iēs noun suffix; cf. rabies, series

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for congeries

Historical Examples

Tim and his congeries hate the clerics, but they fear the flagellum.
Ireland as It Is
Robert John Buckley (AKA R.J.B.)

Inside the congeries of glazed houses he was somewhat at sea.
The Market-Place
Harold Frederic

I cannot imagine such a congeries of blunders as a war for the Poles.
Cornelius O’Dowd Upon Men And Women And Other Things In General
Charles Lever

To speak Johnsonically it is a congeries of inexplicable nonsense.
The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor
Stephen Cullen Carpenter

A boarding-house is a congeries of people who have come down.
Marge Askinforit
Barry Pain

Today’s quote

It is the obligation of every person born in a safer room to open the door when someone in danger knocks.

— Dina Nayeri

On this day

28 December – the fourth day of the 12 days of Christmas (Western Christianity).

28 December 1945 – the United States Congress officially recognises the pledge of allegiance to the flag, which states, ‘I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all’.

28 December 1981 – the world’s first test-tube baby is born after being conceived in a lab dish. Her name is Elizabeth Jordan Carr and she weighed 5lb 12oz.