13 February 2017

introspection

[in-truh-spek-shuh n]

noun

1. observation or examination of one’s own mental and emotional state, mental processes, etc.; the act of looking within oneself.
2. the tendency or disposition to do this.
3. sympathetic introspection.

Origin of introspection

Latin

1670-1680; < Latin intrōspect (us), past participle of intrōspicere to look within (equivalent to intrō- intro- + spec (ere) to look + -tus past participle suffix) + -ion

Related forms

introspectional, adjective
introspectionist, noun, adjective

Synonyms

1. self-examination, soul-searching.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for introspection

Contemporary Examples

A salty pragmatism runs throughout, and only a modicum of introspection is encouraged.
Advice From the Oldest Americans
Casey Schwartz
October 28, 2011

Still, some introspection on the part of Hillel International might be worthwhile.
Swarthmore Hillel Breaks From Guidelines Over Ban on ‘Anti-Zionist’ Speakers
Elisheva Goldberg
December 9, 2013

But I really do believe that it can be a time when Republicans engage in an appropriate level of introspection.
Rightward, Ho!
Ana Marie Cox
November 17, 2008

Anagram

rot inceptions
nicotines port
corniest point
incites pronto
nicest portion
scorn petition

Today’s quote

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

– Reinhold Niebuhr

On this day

13 February 1915 – birth of General Aung San, founder of modern day Burma and Burmese Army. Father of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese politician, activist and Nobel Peace Prize Recipient.

13 February 1920 – the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland is recognised by the League of Nations (predecessor of the United Nations).

13 – 15 February 1945 – the bombing of Dresden in which 722 British and 527 USAF aircraft drop more than 3,900 tons of explosives on Dresden, Germany. At the time, Nazi Germany claimed more than 300,000 casualties, however, an official report in 2010 claimed that casualties were around 25,000, historians generally number the casualties between 35,000 and 135,000. Because of the number of refugees in the city, it is unlikely the exact figure will ever be known.

13 February 2008 – Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologises to Australia’s indigenous peoples, particularly those of the stolen generation from whom children were forcibly removed from their parents.

12 February 2017

circumspect

[sur-kuh m-spekt]

adjective

1. watchful and discreet; cautious; prudent:
circumspect behavior.
2. well-considered:
circumspect ambition.

Origin of circumspect

late Middle English Latin

1375-1425; late Middle English < Latin circumspectus (past participle of circumspicere to look around), equivalent to circum- circum- + spec (ere) to look + -tus past participle suffix

Related forms

circumspectly, adverb
circumspectness, noun
noncircumspect, adjective
noncircumspectly, adverb
noncircumspectness, noun

Synonyms

1. careful, vigilant, guarded.

Antonyms

1. careless, indiscreet.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for circumspect

Contemporary Examples

Some of the Americans joining ISIS are less than circumspect, especially online.
How Many Americans in ISIS? No One Knows
Eli Lake
September 4, 2014

But his subsequent actions will remain case by case and circumspect.
Israel: No Peace in Sight
Leslie H. Gelb
May 15, 2011

(LOC 1011-1015) One more adjective could be added to Summer’s list: circumspect.
David’s Bookclub: The New New Deal
David Frum
November 30, 2012

The poet remains coolly detached: a circumspect observer in the face of cataclysm.
Catastrophe in Verse
Eliza Griswold
April 20, 2011

Mandela did not want messy personal details in his Long Walk to Freedom, and here his handlers have been just as circumspect.
Nelson Mandela’s Revelatory Diaries
James Zug
October 15, 2010

Historical Examples

Trusting me, the little road dared to turn mad, she who had been so circumspect down below in the valley.
The Joys of Being a Woman
Winifred Kirkland

During your courtship let me entreat you to be very careful and circumspect.
The Ladies Book of Useful Information
Anonymous

After that the generals began to disperse with the solemnity and circumspect silence of people who are leaving, after a funeral.
War and Peace
Leo Tolstoy

But she was dutiful to him, and he was circumspect in his behaviour before her.
Captain Blood
Rafael Sabatini

Why has this bold and circumspect man kept his secret and become his chief adviser?
Shakespearean Tragedy
A. C. Bradley

Anagram

cecum script

Today’s quote

For me, human rights simply endorse a view of life and a set of moral values that are perfectly clear to an eight-year-old child. A child knows what is fair and isn’t fair, and justice derives from that knowledge.

– Tom Stoppard

On this day

12 February 1809 – birth of Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United State of America. Assassinated 15 April 1865.

12 February 1912 – the Last Emperor of China, Hsian-T’ung is forced to abdicate by republicans, ending 2000 years of imperial rule. The Republic of China formed on 1 January 1912, followed by the People’s Republic of China, which formed on 1 October 1949.

12 February 1983 – Legendary 1960’s folk duo, Simon and Garfunkel, play a reunion concert at VFL Park, Melbourne.

12 February 2015 – death of Faith Bandler. Australian civil rights activist. Her father was from Vanuatu. Her mother of Scottish-Indian descent. Campaigned for the rights of indigenous Australians and South Sea Islanders. She was a leader in the 1967 referendum on aboriginal Australians. She was involved with the Aboriginal–Australian Fellowship and the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI). She was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in 1984 and Companion of the Order of Australia in 2009. Born 23 September 1918.

11 February 2017

intransigent or intransigeant

[in-tran-si-juh nt]

adjective

1. refusing to agree or compromise; uncompromising; inflexible.

noun

2. a person who refuses to agree or compromise, as in politics.

Origin of intransigent

Spanish

1875-1880; < Spanish intransigente, equivalent to in- in-3+ transigente (present participle of transigir to compromise) < Latin trānsigent- (stem of trānsigēns, present participle of trānsigere to come to an agreement); see transact

Related forms

intransigence, intransigency, noun
intransigently, adverb

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for intransigent

Contemporary Examples

And why is it that the Republicans can be so intransigent and Barack Obama gets blamed?
Bob Woodward and the Rules of Washington Morality
Michael Tomasky

March 2, 2013

But on the subject of marriage, Motilal was intransigent : his son would have to endure an arranged match.
Hold Onto Your Penis
David Frum, Justin Green
November 28, 2012

They know most voters want them to work things out, which is why the other guys should stop being so intransigent.
Obama’s GOP Frenemies Hit the White House
Howard Kurtz
November 29, 2010

Anagram

grannies tint
tenanting sir
in astringent
nattering sin
restating inn

Today’s quote

Kiss me and you will see how important I am.

– Sylvia Plath

On this day

11 February 1847 – birth of Thomas Edison, U.S. inventor. Died 18 October 1931.

11 February 1916 – Emma Goldman arrested for campaigning for birth control in New York.

11 February 1945 – The Yalta Agreement is signed by Josef Stalin (USSR), Winston Churchill (UK), Franklin D. Roosevelt (USA), regarding the control of Germany once World War II finishes.

11 February 1963 – death of Sylvia Plath, American poet, novelist and short story writer. Born in Boston, she travelled to the UK and studied at Cambridge University. It was here that she met British poet, Ted Hughes. In 1957 they married. For a while they lived in Boston, before returning to England and living in London and later Devon. Plath often wrote about her experiences, particularly with depression. She advanced the genre of ‘confessional poetry’. Plath struggled with the loneliness of Devon and returned to London, renting a unit in a house where the poet, William Butler Yeats once lived. The unit was owned by Assia and David Wevill. Plath’s husband, Ted Hughes, was captivated by Assia’s beauty. In September 1962, Plath left Hughes after discovering he’d been having an affair with Assia. Plath suffered bipolar disorder and had made numerous suicide attempts throughout her life. In February 1963, she suicided by turning the gas on in her oven and placing her head in it. She had sealed her children’s rooms with wet towels to avoid poisoning them. Plath had published a number of poetry collections and some were published post-humously. In 1982, she was awarded a post-humous Pulitzer Prize for her poetry. She is considered one of the great poets of the 20th century. Died 27 October 1932.

11 February 1979 – the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, is overthrown by the Iranian Revolution, and replaced by the Ayatollah Khomeini.

10 February 2017

lien(1)

[leen, lee-uh n]

noun

1. Law. the legal claim of one person upon the property of another person to secure the payment of a debt or the satisfaction of an obligation.

Origin of lien(1)

Old French, Latin
1525-1535; < Anglo-French, Old French < Latin ligāmen tie, bandage, equivalent to ligā (re) to tie + -men noun suffix of result

Related forms

lienable, adjective

lien(2)

[lahy-uh n, -en]

1. the spleen.

Origin

1645-55; < Latin liēn spleen

Related forms

lienal [lahy-een-l, lahy-uh-nl], adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for lien

Contemporary Examples

lien kept going and the bikers pursued him, horns beeping, the big buzz now sounding frenzied, furious.
How New York City’s ‘Sons of Anarchy’ Terrorized a Young Family
Michael Daly
October 1, 2013

Georgia revenue officials declined to comment on the matter except to say the lien was withdrawn.
Cain’s Tax Delinquency
Daniel Stone
October 24, 2011

lien and Ng were celebrating a much happier marker, their first wedding anniversary.
How New York City’s ‘Sons of Anarchy’ Terrorized a Young Family
Michael Daly
October 1, 2013

But lien was a 33 year-old e-commerce executive with his young family.
How New York City’s ‘Sons of Anarchy’ Terrorized a Young Family
Michael Daly
October 1, 2013

lien had been taken to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, where he was treated and released.
How New York City’s ‘Sons of Anarchy’ Terrorized a Young Family
Michael Daly
October 1, 2013

Historical Examples

He is said to have a lien on the goods or proceeds of the sale, for his compensation.
Cyclopedia of Commerce, Accountancy, Business Administration, v. 3
Various

But there was—that of debtor and creditor—a lien not always conferring friendship.
The Death Shot
Mayne Reid

His brother proved a lien on it for L300 and the rest went by will to his wife.
Put Yourself in His Place
Charles Reade

The sale of the property was threatened by those who held the lien on the church.
History of Linn County Iowa
Luther A. Brewer

A land tax was certain—it might, and undoubtedly would, be made a lien on the real estate on which it was laid.
Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. II (of 16)
Thomas Hart Benton

Anagram

line
nile

Today’s quote

The finest plans have always been spoiled by the littleness of them that should carry them out. Even emperors can’t do it all by themselves.

– Bertolt Brecht

On this day

10 February 1837 – death of Aleksandr Pushkin, Russian poet and author from the romantic era. Considered the father of modern Russian literature. He was born into Russian nobility. His matrilineal great grandfather, Abram Gannibal, was brought over as a slave from Africa and had risen to the aristocracy. Died during a duel. Born on 6 June 1799. His birthday is recognised by the UN as Russian Language Day.

10 February 1898 – birth of Bertolt Brecht, German playwright, writer and theatre practitioner. Died 14 August 1956.

10 February 1992 – death of Alex Haley, U.S. author of ‘Roots‘, ‘Malcolm X‘. Born 11 August 1921.

10 February 2014 – death of Shirley Temple, American actress, singer, dancer and former U.S. ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia. Born 23 April 1928.

9 February 2017

impugn

[im-pyoon]

verb (used with object)

1. to challenge as false (another’s statements, motives, etc.); cast doubt upon.
2. Archaic. to assail (a person) by words or arguments; vilify.
3. Obsolete. to attack (a person) physically.

Origin of impugn

Middle English, Middle French, Latin
1325-1375; Middle English impugnen < Middle French impugner < Latin impugnāre to attack, equivalent to im- im-1+ pugnāre to fight, derivative of pugnus fist; see pugnacious

Related forms

impugnable, adjective
impugnability, noun
impugner, noun
impugnment, noun
unimpugnable, adjective

Can be confused

impugn, impute.

Synonyms

1. attack, asperse, malign, criticize, censure.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for impugn

Contemporary Examples

Defense lawyers will look for inconsistencies in the same records as they try to impugn her credibility further.
The Evidence That Could Doom DSK
Christopher Dickey, John Solomon
July 25, 2011

“I think the jury will see it as a desperate attempt to try and impugn his character,” Slotnick says.
Jodi Arias’s Baffling Defense Strategy
Christine Pelisek
February 16, 2013

Historical Examples

No one, I think, will venture to impugn the motives or the purity of the intentions of Miss Heald in taking this step.
Lola Montez
Edmund B. d’Auvergne

Not being able to impugn her beauty, they attacked her costume.
Notre-Dame de Paris
Victor Hugo

We take refuge in a grievance rather than impugn the supremacy of our ego.
Appletons’ Popular Science Monthly, Vol. 56, March 1900
Various

“I am not attempting to impugn the qualifications of the witness,” I snapped.
…Or Your Money Back
Gordon Randall Garrett

His choice was unexceptionable: and those who impugn it are blind.
Northern Spain
Edgar T. A. Wigram

Nor in the town, nor among the caste, could any one impugn the act.
Tara
Philip Meadows Taylor

What we have to do is an act of justice, and I don’t wish that anyone should be able to impugn my motives.
Jack Harkaway and His Son’s Escape From the Brigand’s of Greece
Bracebridge Hemyng

To suppose it so little as most people do, is to impugn the justice of Providence.
Life Without and Life Within
Margaret Fuller

Anagram

mug pin

Today’s quote

I have fallen in love with the imagination. And if you fall in love with the imagination, you understand that it is a free spirit. It will go anywhere, and it can do anything.

– Alice Walker

On this day

9 February 1944 – birth of Alice Walker, American author, poet and activist. She grew up in the America’s deep south, under the notorious ‘Jim Crow’ laws which segrated whites and blacks. She has since written numerous books, including the Pulitzer Award winning ‘The Color Purple’ which addressed much of the issues facing society in Georgia in the 1930s.

9 February 1981 – death of Bill Haley, who arguably had the world’s first ever rock’n’roll song, ‘Rock Around the Clock’. He was born 6 July 1925.

9 February 1997 – death of Brian Connolly, Scottish rocker, lead singer of Sweet (Fox on the Run, Ballroom Blitz, Teenage Rampage, Action). Born 5 October 1945.

8 February 2017

discommode

[dis-kuh-mohd]

verb (used with object), discommoded, discommoding.

1. to cause inconvenience to; disturb, trouble, or bother.

Origin of discommode

French

1715-1725; < French discommoder, equivalent to dis- dis-1+ -commoder, verbal derivative of commode convenient; see commode

Related forms

discommodious, adjective
discommodiously, adverb
discommodiousness, noun

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for discommode

Historical Examples

An air of breathlessness about Rachel seemed to discommode her friends.
Erik Dorn
Ben Hecht

To ask for a guarantor for a reputable resident is simply to discommode two people instead of one.
A Library Primer
John Cotton Dana

“Yet not so far aside as to discommode any one,” responded Mason.
From Farm House to the White House
William M. Thayer

The boys shouted to their animals, who flew across the plain as though the snow did not discommode them in the least.
The Young Ranchers
Edward S. Ellis

For this end it was necessary to discommode myself of my cloak, and of the volume which I carried in the pocket of my cloak.
Edgar Huntley
Charles Brockden Brown

I objected, for I did not wish to discommode him in the least and told him a good bed could be fixed in the mess wagon.
Dangers of the Trail in 1865
Charles E Young

Anagram

discoed mom
medic moods

Today’s quote

It’s always good to remember where you come from and celebrate it. To remember where you come from is part of where you’re going.

– Anthony Burgess

On this day

8 February 1238 – Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir.

8 February 1587 – Mary Queen of Scots is executed for her apparent role in the failed Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.

8 February 1952 – Princess Elizabeth declares herself Queen of the British Commonwealth, taking the title, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

8 February 1960 – Queen Elizabeth II issues an Order-in-Council declaring that her family would be known as the House of Windsor and her descendants will take the name ‘Mountbatten-Windsor’.

8 February 1983 – At 3pm, Australia’s second largest city, Melbourne, is hit by a massive dust-storm, towering 320m high, reducing visibility to 100m and turning day into night. The dust-storm came during the most severe drought on record and was caused by loose top-soil in the Mallee and Wimmera districts of western Victoria being whipped up by fierce northerly winds. Other places in Victoria recorded dust as high as 1,000m. This photo was taken by a motorist heading west on the Princes Highway at Werribee.

Melbourne-dust-storm

7 February 2017

mendicant

[men-di-kuh nt]

adjective

1. begging; practicing begging; living on alms.
2. pertaining to or characteristic of a beggar.
noun
3. a person who lives by begging; beggar.
4. a member of any of several orders of friars that originally forbade ownership of property, subsisting mostly on alms.

Origin of mendicant

late Middle English Latin

1425-1475; late Middle English < Latin mendīcant- (stem of mendīcāns), present participle of mendīcāre to beg, equivalent to mendīc (us) beggarly, needy + -ant- -ant

Related forms

nonmendicant, adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for mendicant

Historical Examples

Or else, we have representations of those interested visits that mendicant friars paid to the dying.

A Literary History of the English People
Jean Jules Jusserand

The strength of the mendicant orders was in their popularity.
Folkways
William Graham Sumner

“Well-disposed” persons, with a good word from the priests, can obtain food at the convents of the mendicant friars.
Rome in 1860
Edward Dicey

The mendicant orders furnished the 218army of papal absolutism.
Folkways
William Graham Sumner

As in the case of Cybele, mendicant priests were attached to her service.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 6
Various

Other mendicant orders prove the dominant ideas of the time.
Folkways
William Graham Sumner

The mendicant monks stirred up the populace to acts of fanatical 35 enmity.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 15, Slice 1
Various

You may be certain there was a mendicant priest in attendance on his godship.
In Eastern Seas
J. J. Smith

The mendicant orders were subject only to their own general or superior, not to the bishops.
Chaucer’s Works, Volume 5 (of 7) — Notes to the Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer

As she came closer to him, the mendicant acted very strangely.
Monte-Cristo’s Daughter
Edmund Flagg

Anagram

caned mint
mind enact

Today’s quote

You are the slave of what you say and the master of what you do not.

– Francisco Franco

On this day

7 February 1812 – birth of Charles Dickens, English writer and social critic. Author of numerous works, including The Pickwick Papers, David Copperfield, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist. Died 9 June 1870.

7 February 1967 – Black Tuesday bushfires in Tasmania, which kill 62 and injure 900.

7 February 1967 – Death of David Uniapon, indigenous preacher, author and inventor. He is on the Australian $50 note. David influenced government decision making regarding aboriginal issues and invented a hand-piece for shearing sheep. Born 28 September 1872.

7 February 1971 – Switzerland gives women the right to vote.

7 February 1984 – Bruce McAndless becomes the first man to fly freely in space when he unclips his harness and uses a jet-pack to fly 300 feet away from the space shuttle, Challenger, before flying safely back to it.

7 February 1992 – Twelve members of the European Union ratify the Maastricht Treaty for greater economic integration, security and policing. The Treaty is implemented in November 1993. The nations were Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Denmark, Greece, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Irish Republic.

5 February 2017

ambivert

[am-bi-vurt]

noun, Psychology.

1. one whose personality type is intermediate between extrovert and introvert.

Origin of ambivert

1925-1930; ambi- + -vert, as in extrovert, introvert

Dictionary.com

Example

I like meeting new people, but I also need time out by myself. I’m an ambivert, which Sylvester McNutt III has provided the best description: ‘I’m both: introvert and extrovert. I like people, but I need to be alone. I’ll go out, vibe and meet new people but it has an expiration, because I have to recharge. If I don’t find the valuable alone time I need to recharge I cannot be my highest self’.

Anagram

verbatim

Today’s quote

He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak.

– Michel de Montaigne

On this day

5 February 1914 – birth of William Seward Burroughs, otherwise known as William S. Burroughs or William Lee, Beat Generation author, painter, spoken word performer. The beat generation rose to prominence in the 1950s and experimented with innovation in art, style, rules and drugs. Burroughs work includes Junkie, Queer, and Naked Lunch. Burroughs died on 2 August 1997.

5 February 1922 – Readers Digest first published by DeWitt and Lila Wallace.

5 February 2009 – China tells Canada not to accept 17 Chinese Uyghur prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. The Uyghurs had applied for refugee status in Canada. They had been arrested in Afghanistan during the 2001 US invasion.

4 February 2017

sporran

[spor-uh n]

noun

1. (in Scottish Highland costume) a large pouch for men, commonly of fur, worn, suspended from a belt, in front of the kilt.

Origin of sporran

Scots Gaelic, Irish

1745-1755; Scots Gaelic sporan; compare Irish sparán purse

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for sporran

Historical Examples

He put a pickle money in his sporran, and gave him a place a little way down his table.
The Lost Pibroch
Neil Munro

He sprang up and thrust the stocking and needles into his sporran.
The Sleuth of St. James’s Square
Melville Davisson Post

It’s no a verra suitable dress for rinnin’—the spleughan—or ” sporran,” is it?
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 109, October 19 1895
Various

This must be the sporran following us close with grim disregard of danger.
The Mystery of the Sea
Bram Stoker

I wonder if these bags are related to the sporran of the Highlanders.
Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland, First Series
Lady Gregory

At noon he sat down to eat his “piece,” which he carried in his sporran.
The Wee Scotch Piper
Madeline Brandeis

They wear a tight coat, and in front of them hangs the sporran, a pocket made of white fur.
The Great Round World And What Is Going On In It, April 22, 1897, Vol. 1, No. 24
Various

One of them dragged at the frogs of his kilt, and then at his ” sporran.”
The Egyptian campaigns, 1882 to 1885
Charles Royle

Do the kilt and sporran bring in brawny youngsters of five-foot nine, and thirty-nine inch round the chest?
From Sea to Sea
Rudyard Kipling

Its skin makes the “ sporran ” of the kilted Highlander, and its hair makes our shaving brushes.
Records of Woodhall Spa and Neighbourhood
J. Conway Walter

Anagram

nor rasp

Today’s quote

The person who comes up to you and makes the most noise and is the most intrusive is invariably the person in the room who has no respect for you at all, and it’s really all about them.

– Robbie Coltrane

On this ay

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

4 February 1948 – birth of Alice Cooper, (Vincent Damon Furnier), legendary American shock rocker.

4 February 1948 – Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) is granted independence from Britain, but remains a member of the British Commonwealth.

4 February 1959 – the barbie doll is invented by Ruth Handler.

4 February 1993 – Yugoslavia is dissolved and replaced by a union between Serbia and Montenegro.

4 February 2004 – Facebook founded by Mark Zuckerberg.

3 February 2017

suitor

[soo-ter]

noun

1. a man who courts or woos a woman.
2. Law. a petitioner or plaintiff.
3. a person who sues or petitions for anything.
4. Informal. an individual who seeks to buy a business.

Origin of suitor

Latin, Middle English, Anglo-French

1250-1300; Middle English s (e) utor, suitour < Anglo-French < Latin secūtor, equivalent to secū-, variant stem of sequī to follow + -tor -tor

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for suitor

Contemporary Examples

When Cato still refused, the suitor then asked Cato for Cato’s own wife.
Who Was the Real Cato?
David Frum
December 19, 2012

I find both “admirer” and “ suitor ” to be presumptuous and one-sided.
What Should I Call the Man I Love?
Dushka Zapata
November 17, 2014

Soni and Goodman attribute the complicated story to the shared Stoic philosophy of Cato and the suitor.
Who Was the Real Cato?
David Frum
December 19, 2012

Historical Examples

One child advances as “ suitor,” and says the three first verses.
The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol I of II)
Alice Bertha Gomme

In reality, Madeleine had entirely forgotten her suitor and his letter.
Fairy Fingers
Anna Cora Mowatt Ritchie

It was a love-scene, and rather of an impassioned character; Villebecque was her suitor.
Coningsby
Benjamin Disraeli

Julien was by no means the only suitor who pressed for the honour of dancing with Estelle.
Chatterbox, 1906
Various

The suitor had to bribe every one, from the doorkeeper to the pope, or his case was lost.
History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science
John William Draper

She had had an Insurrecto general for a suitor, and had turned him down.
The Great White Tribe in Filipinia
Paul T. Gilbert

It has the advantage of enabling a suitor to reckon as well as to admire the objects of his affection.
Eothen
A. W. Kinglake

Anagram

sir out
us riot
I tours

Today’s quote

I think television has betrayed the meaning of democratic speech, adding visual chaos to the confusion of voices. What role does silence have in all this noise?

– Federico Fellini

On this day

3 February 1830 – Greece achieves full independence from the Ottoman Empire following Great Britain, France and Russia agreeing to the London Protocol (1830). This followed on from Greece obtaining internal autonomy through the London Protocol (1829) on 22 March 1829. The borders of Greece were finalised in the London Conference of 1832.

3 February 1904 – birth of Charles Arthur ‘Pretty Boy’ Floyd, American gangster. Shot to death by FBI agents in Ohio on 22 October 1934.

3 February 1919 – Inaugural meeting of the League of Nations (the predecessor of the United Nations), which was headed by US President Woodrow Wilson, aimed at promoting world peace and security.

3 February 1959 – ‘The Day the Music Died’. Plane crash during a storm near Clear Lake, Iowa, claims the lives of some of America’s finest rock and roll stars: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson). The pilot, Roger Peterson, also died. Another rock star, Dion Di Mucci, decided not to board the plane. The stars had performed at Clear Lake as part of ‘The Winter Dance Party Tour’ and were on their way to the next venue. Don McLean’s iconic song ‘American Pie’ paid homage to the tragedy, declaring it the ‘Day the Music Died’.

3 February 1966 – The Soviet Union achieves the first moon landing when the unmanned Lunix 9 spacecraft touches down on the moon’s Ocean of Storms area.