19 April 2017

rebus

[ree-buh s]

noun, plural rebuses.

1. a representation of a word or phrase by pictures, symbols, etc., that suggest that word or phrase or its syllables:
Two gates and a head is a rebus for Gateshead.
2. a piece of writing containing many such representations.

Origin of rebus

Latin

1595-1605; < Latin rēbus by things (ablative plural of rēs), in phrase nōn verbīs sed rēbus not by words but by things

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for rebus

Historical Examples

The Major chuckled, and admitted this might be so; his old governor used to say, “Est modus in rebus, sunt certi denique fines.”
Somehow Good
William de Morgan

A cask; the rebus of the final syllable TON in many surnames.
The Handbook to English Heraldry
Charles Boutell

More than three weeks, and rebus Newmarketianis versatus, I have written nothing.
The Greville Memoirs
Charles C. F. Greville

Beckington’s rebus (a beacon and a tun) occurs in the bosses.
The Cathedrals of Great Britain
P. H. Ditchfield

rebus sic stantibus, what’s the use of talking about quantitative and accentual verse, as if they were really two kinds of verse?
The Voice and Spiritual Education
Hiram Corson

The rebus of the master-mason, Hyndeley (a hind lying) occurs in the capitals.
The Cathedrals of Great Britain
P. H. Ditchfield

Ita facillime quae volemus, et privatis in rebus et in re publica consequemur.
De Officiis
Marcus Tullius Cicero

One class was formed as were the canting arms in heraldry, that is, by a rebus.
The Religious Sentiment
Daniel G. Brinton

In the cases of these two gods we got the chiffre, and the rebus is still to seek.
Studies in Central American Picture-Writing
Edward S. Holden

This rebus may be found in various places where the work was due to him.
Bell’s Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Saint Albans
Thomas Perkins

Anagram

rubes

Today’s quotes

Those who suffer are not those at the top, but are the less privileged members of society.

– Bianca Jagger

On this day

19 April 1987 – The Simpsons is first aired on television in the United States.

19 April 1993 – 70 members of the cult Branch Davidian sect, led by David Koresh, perish following a fire at their Waco compound. It is believed they lit the fire deliberately as federal agents stormed the compound following a siege that began in February 1993.

19 April 1995 – Terrorist Timothy McVeigh detonates a bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children, and injuring 680 people. McVeigh was executed by lethal injection on 11 June 2001.

18 April 2017

ruminate

[roo-muh-neyt]

verb (used without object), ruminated, ruminating.

1. to chew the cud, as a ruminant.
2. to meditate or muse; ponder.
verb (used with object), ruminated, ruminating.
3. to chew again or over and over.
4. to meditate on; ponder.

Origin of ruminate

Latin
1525-1535; Latin rūminātus (past participle of rūminārī, rūmināre to ruminate), equivalent to rūmin- (stem of rūmen rumen ) + -ātus -ate1

Related forms

ruminatingly, adverb
rumination, noun
ruminative, adjective
ruminatively, adverb
ruminator, noun

Synonyms

2. think, reflect.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for ruminate

Contemporary Examples

What is it about all the rumination, all the anxiety that makes it so hard to sort of stand up for yourself, to yourself?
A Q&A with Scott Stossel, Author of ‘My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind’
Jesse Singal
February 19, 2014

The images feel like a yearbook of sorts, a rumination on the decade, and on three girls growing up.
Craig McDean’s Fashion Muses: Amber Valletta, Kate Moss, and More
Isabel Wilkinson
October 21, 2013

Published in 2006, the novel is violent and spooky, a rumination on madness and creativity.
Remedial Reader: The Essential Stephen King Back List
Jessica Ferri
April 24, 2012

Historical Examples

But Barbara did not flinch; and her mother relapsed into rumination.
The Patrician
John Galsworthy

A shiver, and a return beneath the blankets for five minutes’ rumination.
Cavalry of the Clouds
Alan Bott

Andy recalled himself with a start from his rumination over a possible speech.
Second String
Anthony Hope

His also was a “melancholy of his own,” a “humorous sadness in which his often rumination wrapt him.”
The Three Devils: Luther’s, Milton’s, and Goethe’s
David Masson

This a mass of foam from the rumination of deer, darkened by the juice of mouthfuls of grass just eaten!
The Kadambari of Bana
Bana

Complete dilatation is sometimes indicated by long addiction to habits of rumination.
A System of Practical Medicine By American Authors, Vol. II
Various

Thus you find that all animals having horns, have also a structure of stomach fit for rumination, and teeth upon one jaw only.
Aristotle
George Grote

Anagram

emu train
I rum neat
ruin team
Mr Auntie
manure it
ream unit

Today’s quote

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.

– Buddha

On this day

18 April – World Heritage Day, more formerly known as ‘International Monuments and Sites’ Day as declared by UNESCO. A day for raising awareness of monuments and sites throughout the world that are of world heritage significance.

18 April 1839 – birthday of Henry Kendall, Australian poet. Died 1 August 1882.

18 April 1897 – The Greco-Turkish War is declared between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

18 April 1955 – death of Albert Einstein, German-born theoretical physicist. He developed the theory of relativity and of course his mass-energy equivalence formula, E=mc2 (energy = mass x speed of light squared). Born 14 March 1879.

18 April 1983 – a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb that destroyed the United States Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 63 people, 17 of whom were American. Most of the victims were CIA and embassy staff, a number of soldiers and a Marine. Pro-Iranian group, Islamic Jihad Organization, claimed responsibility. However, it’s believed the attack was undertaken by Lebanese group, Hezbollah, in response to the intervention of a multinational force, comprised of western nations, in the Lebanese Civil War.

18 April 1996 – At least 106 civilians are killed in Lebanon when Israel shells a United Nations refugee compound at Quana where more than 800 Palestinians and Lebanese were sheltered. Israel claimed it was an accident and that they were trying to hit a nearby Hezbollah position that had fired at them. Hezbollah claimed they had fired because Israel breached the security zone in order to lay land-mines. Both the UN and Amnesty International investigated and found that Israel had deliberately attacked the refugee camp; a claim that Israel denies. Human Rights Watch found that Israel’s use of high-explosive shells and anti-personnel shells were designed to maximise casualities and their use so close to a civilian area, breached international humanitarian law.

16 April 2017

essay

[noun es-ey for 1, 2; es-ey, e-sey for 3–5; verb e-sey]

noun

1. a short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative.
2. anything resembling such a composition:
a picture essay.
3. an effort to perform or accomplish something; attempt.
4. Philately. a design for a proposed stamp differing in any way from the design of the stamp as issued.
5. Obsolete. a tentative effort; trial; assay.
verb (used with object)
6. to try; attempt.
7. to put to the test; make trial of.

Origin of essay

Middle French

1475-1485 Middle French essayer, cognate with Anglo-French assayer to assay < Late Latin exagium a weighing, equivalent to *exag (ere), for Latin exigere to examine, test, literally, to drive out (see exact ) + -ium -ium

Related forms

essayer, noun
preessay, verb (used without object)
unessayed, adjective
well-essayed, adjective

Can be confused

assay, essay.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for essay

Contemporary Examples

David Foster Wallace touched on this risk in his essay on television and fiction.
Boys Don’t Cry: In Praise of Sentiment
Andrew Sean Greer
June 25, 2013

Teles’ essay is important – even if its own argument explains why its powerful message is likely to go unheeded.
America’s Kludgeocracy Democracy
David Frum
December 10, 2012

There is, as he mentioned in a brilliant 1973 essay on bestselling novels, a Russian phrase that describes this condition.
Remembering Gore Vidal: He Was a Mortal After All
Nathaniel Rich
July 31, 2012

Former Artforum critic Thomas Lawson, also profiled in the essay, felt like he got off the hook.
The Artist Formerly Known as Janet Malcolm
Lauren Du Graf
June 5, 2013

In the essay, Havel imagines a grocer hanging a “Workers of the World, Unite!”
John Avlon: Vaclav Havel’s Heroic Politics of Truth and Responsibility
John Avlon
December 18, 2011

Historical Examples

Everybody read and admired an essay the style of which was new and striking.
Beacon Lights of History, Volume XIII
John Lord

With these precautions, in 1733, was published the first part of the essay on Man.
The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. in Nine Volumes
Samuel Johnson

By returning safely with that, you may enable us to renew the essay with better calculated means.
History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, Vol. I.
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark

Why did you say, Diana, that you knew something about the essay?
A harum-scarum schoolgirl
Angela Brazil

The wonder of Du Maurier’s essay, the astounding spectacle of his success, cannot be diminished by any such explanation of it.
English Society
George Du Maurier

Today’s quote

Can a nation be free if it oppresses other nations? It cannot.

– Vladimir Lenin

On this day

16 April – Panda Appreciation Day. It was on this day in 1972, that the People’s Republic of China presented US President Richard Nixon with two pandas, Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing.

16 April 73AD – The Great Jewish Revolt ends when the fortress Masada falls to the Romans.

16 April 1850 – death of Marie Tussaud, French-English sculptor, founder of Madam Tussaud’s wax museum. Born 1 December 1761.

16 April 1917 – Vladimir Lenin returns to Petrograd, Russia following exile in Switzerland.

16 April 1947 – Bernard Baruch coins the term ‘Cold War’ to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.

16 April 1990 – Dr Jack Kevorkian, (euthanasia activist, otherwise known as the Doctor of Death) participates in his first assisted suicide.

15 April 2017

nowt(1)

[nout]

noun

1. an ox.
2. a herd of cattle.

Origin of nowt(1)

Middle English, Old Norse

1150-1200; Middle English < Scandinavian; compare Old Norse naut, neat2

nowt(2)

[noht]

noun, British Dialect.

1. naught; nothing.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for nowt

Historical Examples

I guv her your message, Jack, and she said nowt, but there she be a crying still.
Facing Death
G. A. Henty

“‘Appen ’twas nowt,” the postman at length allowed, peering cautiously about.
Bob, Son of Battle
Alfred Ollivant

An’ I remembered as he sat still after it and said nowt for a minute or so, same as if he was thinkin’ things over.
T. Tembarom
Frances Hodgson Burnett

Anagram

town

Today’s quote

Just as food eaten without appetite is a tedious nourishment, so does study without zeal damage the memory by not assimilating what it absorbs.

– Leonardo da Vinci

On this day

15 April 1452 – birth of Leonardo Da Vinci, Italian renaissance inventor, painter, sculptor, mathematician, writer. Died 2 May 1519.

15 April 1865 – Death of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln after being shot the day before. Born 12 February 1809.

15 April 1912 – RMS Titanic sinks after hitting an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton UK to New York City, USA, costing the lives of 1,502 people out of the 2,224 crew and passengers who were on board. The White Star Line, who owned the Titanic, had declared her unsinkable.

14 April 2017

rood

[rood]

noun

1. a crucifix, especially a large one at the entrance to the choir or chancel of a medieval church, often supported on a rood beam or rood screen.
2. a cross as used in crucifixion.
3. a unit of length varying locally from 5½ to 8 yards (5 to 7 meters).
4. a unit of land measure equal to 40 square rods or ¼ acre (0.10117 hectare).
5. a unit of 1 square rod (25.29 sq. m).
6. Archaic. the cross on which Christ died.

Origin of rood

Middle English Old English
900 before 900; Middle English; Old English rōd pole, crucifix; cognate with German Rute rod, twig

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for rood

Historical Examples

And therewith he swore upon the rood, and then came round the table, and knelt before Birdalone, and kissed her hands.
The Water of the Wondrous Isles
William Morris

Then lifting again the rood, he turned away, and with him went the Norman.
Harold, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton

He may have been the author of the Dream of the rood ; he was probably a Northumbrian.
Medieval English Literature
William Paton Ker

Anagram

door

Today’s quote

I will prepare and some day my chance will come.

– Abraham Lincoln

On this day

14 April 1865 – President Abraham Lincoln is shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater, Washington DC. Lincoln died the following day.

14 April 1912 – the RMS Titanic strikes an ice-berg just before midnight in the north Atlantic ocean as it sailed on its maiden voyage from Southampton UK to New York City USA , resulting in the deaths of 1,502 of the 3,372 people onboard.

14 April 1988 – Soviet Union begins withdrawing troops from Afghanistan after nine years of occupation.

11 April 2017

lumpenproletariat

[luhm-puh n-proh-li-tair-ee-uh t]

noun, ( sometimes initial capital letter) (esp. in Marxist theory)

1. the lowest level of the proletariat comprising unskilled workers, vagrants, and criminals and characterized by a lack of class identification and solidarity. (esp in Marxist theory) the amorphous urban social group below the proletariat, consisting of criminals, tramps, etc

Origin of lumpenproletariat

German

1920-1925; < German (Marx, 1850), equivalent to Lumpen rag or Lumpen-, combining form of Lump ragamuffin + Proletariat proletariat

Dictionary.com

Example

Insane, but internally consistent and well pitched to a growing lumpenproletariat.
‘Bernardi watched Trump thump the establishment up close and learnt nothing’
John Birmingham
6 February 2017
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/blunt-instrument/bernardi-watched-trump-thump-the-establishment-up-close-and-learnt-nothing-20170206-gu6um6.html

Anagram

a prenuptial molter
a materiel torn pulp
a altimeter plop run
a literate norm pulp
put a repairmen toll

Today’s quote

Truth is not what you want it to be; it is what it is, and you must bend to its power or live a lie.

– Miyamoto Musashi

On this day

13 April 1570 – birth of Guy Fawkes, English soldier and one of the masterminds behind the failed ‘Gunpowder Plot’ to blow up English Parliament in an effort to assassinate King James 1 and VI of Scotland. Died 31 January 1606.

13 April 1923 – birth of Don Adams, American actor, most famous for his character Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) in the TV show ‘Get Smart’. Died 25 September 2005.

13 April 1947 – birth of Mike Chapman, Australian songwriter and record producer. Hailing from Nambour, Queensland, Chapman became one of the most influential record producers in Britain when he teamed with Nicky Chinn, with hits for Sweet, Smokie, Suzi Quatro, Mud, Racey and others, including Bow Wow Wow, Pat Benatar, Huey Lewis, Toni Basil. He also produced albums for the Knack and Blondie.

13 April 1975 – The 15 year long Lebanese Civil War starts when Christian Phalangists attack a bus, massacring 26 members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

12 April 2017

torsion

[tawr-shuh n]

noun

1. the act of twisting.
2. the state of being twisted.
3. Mechanics.
the twisting of a body by two equal and opposite torques.
the internal torque so produced.
4. Mathematics.
the degree of departure of a curve from a plane.
a number measuring this.

Origin of torsion

late Middle English Old French Late Latin
1375-1425; 1535-45 for def 1; late Middle English torcion wringing one’s bowels < Old French torsion < Late Latin torsiōn- (stem of torsiō) torment, equivalent to tors (us) twisted (see torse ) + -iōn- -ion

Related forms

torsional, adjective
torsionally, adverb

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for torsion

Historical Examples

Coulomb was the maker of the first instrument for measuring a current, which was known as the torsion balance.
Steam Steel and Electricity
James W. Steele

In the b-position, on the other hand, the torsion is against the hands of a clock.
Life Movements in Plants, Volume II, 1919
Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose

The torsion rod mirror reflected a distant scale by which the deflection could be read.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 4
Various

Even if it is only halved, the torsion is reduced sixteenfold.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 717, September

Anagram

in torso
sin root
son riot

Today’s quote

Crocodiles are easy. They try to kill and eat you. People are harder. Sometimes they pretend to be your friend first.

– Steve Irwin

On this day

12 April 1961 – Uri Gagarin (Russian) becomes the first man in space.

12 April 1989 – death of Sugar Ray Robinson (Walker Smith Jr), American welterweight and middleweight professional boxing champion, declared to be the greatest boxer of all time. Sugar Ray stood at 5′ 11″ (1.80m). He fought 200 fights, winning 173 (108 by knock-out), lost 19, drew six, with two no contests. By 1946 Sugar Ray had won 40 fights straight, but was denied a shot at the world welterweight championship because he refused to cooperate with the mafia, which controlled much of boxing. In December 1946, he was finally allowed to contest the world championship and won. In 1947 Sugar Ray defended his welterweight title against Jimmy Doyle. In the eighth round, Doyle was knocked out and died later that night. Sugar Ray crossed weight classes and also won the world middleweight championship. In 1950, he broke the record for the shortest fight by knocking out Jose Basora 50 seconds into the first round. The record wasn’t broken for a further 38 years. in 1951, he fought Jake La Motta in what became known as the St Valentine’s Day massacre after the fight was stopped in the 13th round when La Motta was out on his feet, unable to even lift his arms throw a punch. That fight and some of the other matches with La Motta were adapted for the Martin Scorsese movie, Raging Bull. Born 3 May 1921.

11 April 2017

Manichean or Manichaean

[man-i-kee-uh n]

noun

1. Also, Manichee [man-i-kee] (Show IPA). an adherent of the dualistic religious system of Manes, a combination of Gnostic Christianity, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, and various other elements, with a basic doctrine of a conflict between light and dark, matter being regarded as dark and evil.
adjective
2. of or relating to the Manicheans or their doctrines.

Origin of Manichean

Middle English, Late Latin, Late Greek
1300-1350; Middle English Maniche (< Late Latin Manichaeus < Late Greek Manichaîos of Manes) + -an

Related forms

Manicheanism, Manicheism, noun

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for Manichean

Contemporary Examples

The attempts to argue it was someone else strike me as a stomach-turning example of how far people will go to force reality to fit into a Manichean worldview.
The Sarin Gas Attack in Context
Louis Proyect
8 April 2017

Now that same Manichean worldview has led the neocons to support an Afghan surge.
How the Surge Hurts Israel
Peter Beinart
December 5, 2009

Historical Examples

We are going to make a party to hear this Manichean of poesy.
Life of Lord Byron, Vol. II
Thomas Moore

His mythology, when he came to paint the world in myths, was Manichean.
Shelley, Godwin and Their Circle
H. N. Brailsford

Anagram

chain mane
China name
each man in
Ace hame inn
a manic hen

Today’s quote

Pleasure is a shadow, wealth is vanity, and power a pageant; but knowledge is ecstatic in enjoyment, perennial in frame, unlimited in space and indefinite in duration.

– DeWitt Clinton

On this day

11 April 1979 – Ugandan President Idi Amin (Dada) is ousted when Tanzanian rebels sieze power. Amin flees to Libya and eventually settles in Saudi Arabia. Amin had been responsible for ethnic cleansing, killing an estimated 80,000 to 300,000 people.

11 April 1981 – Riots in Brixton, South London commence following the arrest of a black man. On a day known as ‘Black Saturday’, up to 5,000 youths confront police and run riot through the streets, looting, throwing petrol bombs, burning hundreds of cars and buildings, and injuring hundreds of people. Police arrested 82 people.

10 April 2017

obverse

[noun ob-vurs; adjective ob-vurs, ob-vurs]

noun

1. the side of a coin, medal, flag, etc., that bears the principal design (opposed to reverse ).
2. the front or principal surface of anything.
3. a counterpart.
4. Logic. a proposition obtained from another by obversion.
adjective
5. facing the observer.
6. corresponding to something else as a counterpart.
7. having the base narrower than the top, as a leaf.

Origin of obverse

Latin

1650-1660; < Latin obversus turned toward or against (past participle of obvertere), equivalent to ob- ob- + vert (ere) to turn + -tus past participle suffix, with tt > s

Can be confused

converse, inverse, obverse, reverse.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for obverse

Contemporary Examples

As for the obverse, my liberal allies, this explains why information that seems so obvious to us never gets through.
Bob Woodward and the Rules of Washington Morality
Michael Tomasky
March 2, 2013

The old Kaiser Franz Joseph, faithful and hardworking, was the obverse of the feckless and impetuous German kaiser.
Before the Fall: What Did the World Look Like in 1913?
Jacob Heilbrunn
June 8, 2013

Historical Examples

The piece was struck, with a tin backing applied, and the edges of the obverse were then crimped over.
American Military Insignia 1800-1851
J. Duncan Campbell and Edgar M. Howell.

This name was given them from the legend, on the obverse, iam.
The Works of John Knox, Vol. 1 (of 6)
John Knox

It has an obverse and a reverse side, but it is always the same medal.
The Recollections of Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis De Tocqueville

The reverse of the sheet contained a will exactly like that on the obverse.
Philo Gubb Correspondence-School Detective
Ellis Parker Butler

In passing from the obverse of our coins to the examination of the opposite side, we do this by inverting the piece.
The New England Magazine Volume 1, No. 6, June, 1886, Bay State Monthly Volume 4, No. 6, June, 1886
Various

Now this lady and her husband were in obverse relative positions.
Evan Harrington, Complete
George Meredith

The obverse has the king’s head in profile, and the reverse the usual fire-altar and supporters.
The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 7. (of 7): The Sassanian or New Persian Empire
George Rawlinson

I don’t think nature intended to have them the obverse of men.
Evan Harrington, Complete
George Meredith

Anagram

verbose
be servo

Today’s quote

Madness is rare in individuals – but in groups, parties, nations, and ages it is the rule.

– Friedrich Nietzsche

On this day

10 April 1815 – Indonesia’s Mount Tambora volcano begins a three month long eruption that lasted until 15 July 1815. It killed 71,000 people and affected the world’s climate for the next two years.

10 April 1912 – the ill-fated Titanic departs the port in Southampton, England bound for New York. On 14 April 1912, she hit an ice-berg and sank, killing more than 1,500 people.

10 April 1919 – death of Emiliano Zapata Salazar, Mexican revolutionary. Born 8 August 1879.

10 April 1979 – birth of Rachel Corrie, American peace activist. She was killed on 16 May 2003 when run over by an Israeli bulldozer that she was trying to stop from demolishing a Palestinian house in Gaza. Rachel was committed from an early age to human rights and caring for the poor as shown in this speech she gave in the fifth grade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g__QAJ5gtQk

9 April 2017

supercilious

[soo-per-sil-ee-uh s]

adjective

1. haughtily disdainful or contemptuous, as a person or a facial expression.

Origin of supercilious

Latin

1520-1530; Latin superciliōsus. See supercilium, -ous

Related forms

superciliously, adverb
superciliousness, noun
unsupercilious, adjective
unsuperciliously, adverb
unsuperciliousness, noun

Synonyms

arrogant, scornful.

Antonyms

humble.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for supercilious

Contemporary Examples

Gore comes off as a supercilious grandstander who gets swatted away dismissively by the brilliant Bill Clinton.
The Quiet General Strikes Back
Lloyd Grove
October 14, 2010

To point that out, of course, will only strengthen her sense of being persecuted by supercilious elites.
How Palin Flunks Feminism
Michelle Goldberg
November 25, 2010

Too often, it’s just our supercilious attitude to this thing called relief.
The Pointlessness of Some Disaster Charity After the Indian Floods
Dilip D’Souza
June 25, 2013

Historical Examples

I replied with, perhaps, some superfluous ardor to this supercilious speech, and a very hot discussion ensued.
Ilka on the Hill-Top and Other Stories
Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen

Her reception of the Currans, while supercilious in expression, was really sincere.
The Art of Disappearing
John Talbot Smith

He never saluted me with other than what I regarded as a supercilious nod of the head.
Wilfrid Cumbermede
George MacDonald

There was no concealing the fact, Cecil had meant to be supercilious, and he had succeeded.
A Room With A View
E. M. Forster

He did not care what criticism the supercilious might make, the act was to him spontaneous and natural.
The Candidate
Joseph Alexander Altsheler

My gray thought him a supercilious snob, no doubt, and hated him.
Starlight Ranch
Charles King

The haughtiness which the psalmist disclaims has its seat in the heart and its manifestation in supercilious glances.
The Expositor’s Bible: The Psalms, Volume III
Alexander Maclaren

Anagram

luscious ripe

Today’s quote

It is very easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements in comparison with what we owe others.

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer

On this day

9 April 1413 – Henry V crowned King of England.

9 April 1682 – Robert Cavelier de la Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River. He names it Louisiana and claims it in the name of France.

9 April 1865 – Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the Civil War.

9 April 1867 – United States Senate ratifies by one vote, a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska.

9 April 1937 – the first Japanese-made aircraft to fly to Europe lands at Croydon Airport, London. It’s name is the Kamikaze.

9 April 1945 – execution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident. He was executed at Flossenburg Concentration Camp two weeks before the camp was liberated by US soldiers. Born 4 February 1904.

9 April 1948 – around 120 fighters from the Zionist paramilitary groups Irgun and Lehi attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, a Palestinian Arab village of roughly 600 people. The assault occurred as Jewish militia sought to retaliate against the blockade of Jerusalem by Palestinian Arab forces during the civil war that preceded the end of British rule in Palestine. The Palestinians tried to resist the attack, but the village fell after fierce house-to-house fighting. 107 Palestinians were murdered during and after the battle for the village, including women and children—some were shot, while others died when hand grenades were thrown into their homes. Several villagers were taken prisoner and may have been killed after being paraded through the streets of West Jerusalem. Four of the attackers were killed, with around 35 injured. The killings were condemned by the leadership of the Haganah—the Jewish community’s main paramilitary force—and by the area’s two chief rabbis. The Jewish Agency for Israel sent Jordan’s King Abdullah a letter of apology, which he rebuffed. Abdullah held the Jewish Agency responsible for the massacre, because they were the head of Jewish affairs in Palestine. He warned about “terrible consequences” if more incidents like that occurred. The deaths became a pivotal event in the Arab–Israeli conflict for their demographic and military consequences. The narrative was embellished and used by various parties to attack each other—by Palestinians against Israeli forces; by the Haganah to hide their complicity in the affair; and by the Israeli left to accuse the Irgun and Lehi of violating the Jewish principle of purity of arms, thus exposing Israel’s behaviour to the world. News of the killings sparked terror among Palestinians, encouraging them to flee from their towns and villages in the face of Jewish troop advances, and it strengthened the resolve of Arab governments to intervene, which they did five weeks later. (Wikipedia.org)