31 March 2018

espy

[ih-spahy]

verb (used with object), espied, espying.

1. to see at a distance; catch sight of.

Origin of espy

Middle English, Old French, German
1175-1225; Middle English espyen; Old French espier ≪ Germanic; compare German spähen to spy

Related forms

unespied, adjective

Synonyms

discern, descry, discover, perceive, make out.

Espy

[es-pee]

noun

1. James Pollard [pol-erd] (Show IPA), 1785–1860, U.S. meteorologist.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for espy

Contemporary Examples

But in 2003, Foxx hilariously sang a tribute to Serena Williams at the espy Awards.
13 Award Show Hosts Dos and Don’ts
Sujay Kumar
November 29, 2010

Historical Examples

If danger lay there I could not espy it nor detect its presence.
The House Under the Sea
Sir Max Pemberton

There were no tall trees near behind which we could run should he espy us.
My First Voyage to Southern Seas
W.H.G. Kingston

As soon as we were outside the door, whom should we espy there, in the large hall, just at the entrance?
Cuore (Heart)
Edmondo De Amicis

I’ve lodged them with the Capuchins, where not even a prying sunbeam can espy them.
Fiesco or, The Genoese Conspiracy
Friedrich Schiller

“I should like to buy the squirrel, if espy will sell him,” said Phonny.
Stuyvesant
Jacob Abbott

They rode on rapidly, intending to go to the house and inquire for espy.
Stuyvesant
Jacob Abbott

No,” said the great boy; “it belongs to espy, and I am going to keep it for him.
Stuyvesant
Jacob Abbott

But God had ane other work to wyrk then the eyes of men could espy.
The Works of John Knox, Volume 2 (of 6)
John Knox

Now and then one could espy amongst the branches a beautiful mot-mot.
A Glimpse at Guatemala
Anne Cary Maudslay

Today’s quote

What if … we stopped celebrating busy as a measurement of importance? What if instead we celebrated how much time we had spent listening, pondering, meditating, and enjoying time with the most important people in our lives?

– Greg McKeown

On this day

31 March 1992 – the Warsaw Pact ends. This was a defence treaty between the Soviet Union and Communist states in Central and Eastern Europe.

31 March 1993 – death of Brandon Lee on set, while filming ‘The Crow’, during a scene in which Lee’s character, Eric Draven, was shot. A real bullet had been lodged in the barrel of the pistol used and when the dummy bullet was loaded and fired, it triggered the real bullet which hit and fatally wounded Lee. Lee is the son of martial arts champion, Bruce Lee. He was to marry his fiance, Eliza Hutton, on 17 April 1993. ‘The Crow’ was dedicated to Brandon and Eliza.

31 March 2005 – death of Terry Schiavo who was the centre of the most prolonged right-to-die case in U.S. history. She had collapsed in 1990 from a cardiac arrest and entered a coma from which she did not recover. Doctors declared her to be in a ‘persistent vegetative state’. Her husband petitioned the court in 1998 to remove her feeding tubes, but her parents opposed the request. The case ran from 1998 – 2005 with numerous petitions to either remove the tubes or to keep them in. Terry died 13 days after her feeding tubes were removed on order of the court in 2005.

31 March 2017 – death of Gilbert Baker, American artist and gay rights activist, who designed the ‘rainbow flag’ in 1978 which came to symbolise the gay rights movement. Born 2 June 1951.

30 March 2018

rarebit

[rair-bit]

noun

1. Welsh rabbit.

Origin of rarebit

1715-1725 First recorded in 1715-25
Can be confused

rabbet, rabbit, rarebit, rebate.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for rarebit

Historical Examples

They had the Welsh rarebit, with beer, and Carl helped to make it.
The Trail of the Hawk
Sinclair Lewis

“Let’s stop in and have a rarebit,” he suggested one midnight.
Sister Carrie
Theodore Dreiser

We are going over to the Lewinsohns for four-handed rummy and then a rarebit.
Local Color
Irvin S. Cobb

Today’s quote

Be present. Make love. Make tea. Avoid small talk. Embrace conversation. Buy a plant, water it. Make your bed. Make someone else’s bed. Have a smart mouth, and quick wit. Run. Make art. Create. Swim in the ocean. Swim in the rain. Take chances. Ask questions. Make mistakes. Learn. Know your worth. Love fiercely. Forgive quickly. Let go of what doesn’t make you happy. Grow.

– Paolo Coelho

On this day

30 March – Land Day, annual day of commemoration for Palestinians following the events of 1976 in which 6 Palestinian protestors were killed campaigning against the Israeli government’s announcement of plans to expropriate large amounts of Palestinian land for Israel. Land Day is recognised as a pivotal event in the struggle over Palestinian land and Palestine’s relationship to Israel.

30 March 1853 – birthday of Vincent Van Gogh, dutch painter. Died 29 July 1890.

30 March 1878 – the USA buys Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million.

30 March 1981 – US President Ronald Reagan shot at close range by John Hinckley, who was later found not guilty by reason of insanity. Hinckley was obsessed with actress Jodie Foster and thought he could get her attention and impress her, by killing the President. Also shot were Reagan’s press secretary, a Washington police officer and a Secret Service agent. None were injured fatally. Reagan underwent emergency surgery. He was released from hospital on 11 April 1981 and is the first president to survive an assassination attempt.

30 March 1987 – an anonymous buyer purchases the Vincent Van Gogh painting, ‘Sunflowers‘ for $36.3 million.

30 March 2002 – the Queen Mother dies at the age 101. Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was born 4 August 1900. She was the wife of King George VI and the mother of Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret Countess of Snowden. She was the Queen Consort of the United Kingdom and its Dominions. After the death of King George VI, she was known as Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother to avoid confusion with her daughter.

25 March 2018

gomero/gomera

noun

Mexican term for opium poppy worker. The person who slashes the poppy so that the “goma” will exude. During the 1950’s, the term was used to describe people who worked in the opium business in the golden triangle of Mexico (where Sinaloa, Durango and Chihuahua meet in the Sierra Madre Oriental). Un gomero is a male, una gomera is a female.

In the 1950’s, a nickname for people from Culiacán Sinaloa was “gomero”. Los gomeros from Sinaloa were also called “gangsters with huaraches”.

Example

His father had been a gomero, an opium farmer, like all his uncles and everyone else he knew, tending the fields, irrigating the crops, then slicing the seed head with razor blades and carefully collecting the thick white sap until they had enough to sell to the middlemen who drove around the area and screwed everyone on price: everyone except his father.
Chapter 48
Solomon Creed (Book #1)
Simon Toyne

Today’s quote

Don’t judge each day by the harvest that you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.

– Robert Louis Stevenson

On this day

25 March 1947 – birth of Elton John (Reginald Dwight), British singer-songwriter.

25 March 1957 – the Treaty of Rome is signed by France, West Germany, Holland, Belgium, Italy and Luxembourg, establishing the European Economic Community (EEC). In 1993, following the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty, the European Union (EU) was created, and the EEC incorporated to became known as the European Community (EC).

24 March 2018

goma

noun

– Crude opium (1960s+ Narcotics), ‘they were smoking goma’.

The Dictionary of American Slang, Fourth Edition by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD. and Robert L. Chapman, Ph.D.
Copyright (C) 2007 by HarperCollins Publishers.

Examples from the Web for goma

Historical Examples

Soon after Holy Week, I was hurriedly implored one morning to go and see an old man who was suffering from “goma.”
A Glimpse at Guatemala
Anne Cary Maudslay

Today’s quote

You may never know what results come of your actions, but if you do nothing, there will be no results.

– Mahatma Gandhi

On this day

24 March 1958 – Elvis Presley is conscripted into the U.S. Army as a Private. He was discharged on 2 March 1960 with the rank of Sergeant.

24 March 1989 – the oil-tanker, Exxon Valdez, is seriously damaged after running aground on a reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. Over 11 million gallons of crude oil was released, resulting in a five mile oil slick, which caused severe environmental damage, including the deaths of 250,000 birds, 3,000 sea otters, 300 seals, 22 killer whales and an untold number of fish.

24 March 1973 – Pink Floyd release their iconic ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ album, which is the 6th best-selling album of all time with over 40 million sales worldwide.

23 March 2018

gomer

[goh-mer]

noun, Slang.

1. an undesirable hospital patient.
2. an enemy aviator, especially in a dogfight.
3. an inept or stupid colleague, especially a trainee (US military slang)

Origin of gomer

1965-1970 First recorded in 1965-70; of disputed orig.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for gomer

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

gomer stands for the Germans in part, for those who descended from gomer.
The Lost Ten Tribes, and 1882
Joseph Wild

The gomer chamber (which see) is generally adopted in our service.
The Sailor’s Word-Book
William Henry Smyth

That the descendants of the gomer moved northward and established themselves in parts of Germany seems to be an established fact.
The Prophet Ezekiel
Arno C. Gaebelein

Slang definitions; phrases for gomer

gomer

noun

A patient needing extensive care; a vegetative comatose patient : We got a real gomer in from ICU yesterday/ He says the guy’s a total gomer now (1960s+ Medical)
A first-year Air Force Academy cadet, esp a clumsy trainee (1950s+)
[origin uncertain; medical sense said to be an acronym of ”get out of my emergency room”]

The Dictionary of American Slang, Fourth Edition by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD. and Robert L. Chapman, Ph.D.
Copyright (C) 2007 by HarperCollins Publishers.

Today’s quote

The unexamined life is not worth living.

– Socrates

On this day

23 March 1919 – Benito Mussolini establishes the Italian National Fascist Party. In 1936, Mussolini joins forces with Adolf Hitler through the Axis Pact. Following Mussolini’s arrest in 1943, the party was dissolved. The Italian Constitution has banned the reformation of the INF.

23 March 1924 – birth of Bette Nesmith Graham in Dallas, Texas. Bette is the inventor of Liquid Paper. Her son, Mike Nesmith, was a member of 1960s UK/American pop/rock band, The Monkees.

23 March 1956 – Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic in the world. Republic Day in Pakistan.