1 July 2018

cordon sanitaire

[French kawr-dawn sa-nee-ter]

noun, plural cordons sanitaires [French kawr-dawn sa-nee-ter]

1. a line around a quarantined area guarded to prevent the spread of a disease by restricting passage into or out of the area.
2. a group of neighboring, generally neutral states forming a geographical barrier between two states having aggressive military or ideological aims against each other.

Origin of cordon sanitaire

1840-1850 From French, dating back to 1840-50; See origin at cordon, sanitary

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for cordon sanitaire

Historical Examples

Some of the French statesmen occasionally say what is not true ( cordon sanitaire); here they conceal the truth.
The Life of Albert Gallatin
Henry Adams

The plague is raging with unwonted fatality; but no cordon sanitaire is established—no adequate remedy sought.
Thoughts on African Colonization
William Lloyd Garrison

A proposal by President Carranza to draw a cordon sanitaire round the place has not yet reached Washington.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. CLVIII, January 7, 1920
Various

Today’s quote

When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it.

– Gandhi

On this day

1 July – International Reggae Day

1 July 1862 – founding of the Russian State Library in Moscow. It is the fourth largest library in the world. It has 275km of shelves, 17.5 million books, 13 million journals, 350,000 music scores and sound records, 150,000 maps.

1 July 1921 – founding of the Communist Party of China.

1 July 1943 – Tokyo City is officially dissolved following its merger with the Tokyo Prefecture. Since then no Japanese city has been named Tokyo. Modern-day Tokyo is not officially a city, instead it is a prefecture consisting of 23 wards, 26 cities, five towns and eight villages.

1 July 1961 – birth of Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales. Died in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997.

1 July 1963 – ZIP codes introduced for United States mail.

1 July 1978 – Australia’s Northern Territory is granted self-government.

1 July 2002 – establishment of the International Criminal Court to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war-crimes and the crime of aggression.

30 June 2018

agnate

[ag-neyt]

noun

1. a relative whose connection is traceable exclusively through males.
2. any male relation on the father’s side.
adjective
3. related or akin through males or on the father’s side.
4. allied or akin.

Origin of agnate

Latin

1525-1535; < Latin agnātus paternal kinsman, variant of ad(g)nātus born to (past participle of adgnāscī), equivalent to ad- ad- + -gnā be born + -tus past participle suffix

Related forms

agnatic [ag-nat-ik], agnatical, adjective

agnatically, adverb
agnation [ag-ney-shuh n] (Show IPA), noun

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for agnate

Historical Examples

The most elementary of these groups is the maegth, the association of agnatic and cognatic relations.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Part 1, Slice 1
Various

A woman by her marriage forfeited her agnatic rights, to which rule there was no exception.
Ancient Society
Lewis Henry Morgan

agnatic inheritance would be apt to assert itself in this condition of things.
Ancient Society
Lewis Henry Morgan

The gens is to be found in Greek and Roman history, where it is known as the agnatic kindred.
The Iowa
William Harvey Miner

The importance they attached to the agnatic family is largely explained by their ideas of the future life.
The Private Life of the Romans
Harold Whetstone Johnston

As they understood it, the pater familis had absolute power over his children and other agnatic descendants.
The Private Life of the Romans
Harold Whetstone Johnston

Here again it will be convenient to employ the Roman terms, agnatic and Cognatic relationship.
Ancient Law
Sir Henry James Sumner Maine

This practical limitation of the inheritance to the nearest gentile kin discloses the germ of agnatic nheritance.
Ancient Society
Lewis Henry Morgan

It shows that property was hereditary in the gens, but restricted to the agnatic kindred in the female line.
Ancient Society
Lewis Henry Morgan

Whether the wife forfeited her agnatic rights by her marriage, as among the Romans, I am unable to state.
Ancient Society
Lewis Henry Morgan

Today’s quote

Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.

– Carol Burnett

On this day

30 June 1934 – Night of the Long Knives (Operation Hummbingbird), in which Hitler purges his political enemies.

30 June 1937 – The world’s first emergency telephone number, 999, is introduced in London.

30 June 1950 – US President Truman sends troops to South Korea to assist in repelling the North Korean Army. He calls on the Soviet Union to negotiate a withdrawal from North Korea, however, the Soviets blame South Korea for an unprovoked attack.

30 June 1959 – US fighter jet, an F-100 Super Sabre, crashes into the Japanese Miyamori Elementary School at Ishikawa (now Uruma) on the US occupied island of Okinawa, Japan, killing 11 students, 6 other people from the neighbouring area and injuring 210 (including 156 students). The pilot, Captain John G. Schmitt Jr, had ejected to safety. The incident was one of many tragic events the Okinawans have suffered since the US occupation.

26 June 2018

convoke

[kuh n-vohk]

verb (used with object), convoked, convoking.

1. to call together; summon to meet or assemble.

Origin of convoke
Middle French, Latin

1590-1600; (< Middle French convoquer) < Latin convocāre, equivalent to con- con- + vocāre to call

Related forms

convocative [kuh n-vok-uh-tiv], adjective
convoker [kuh n-voh-ker], convocant [kon-vuh-kuh nt], noun

Synonyms

convene.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for convoke

Historical Examples

The Committee was assured that they intended to convoke the electors.
History of the Commune of 1871
P. Lissagary

It was high time to tell her relatives and mine and convoke a family council.
Atlantis
Gerhart Hauptmann

Malesherbes in those days, and good writers since, held that the only safe plan was to convoke the States-General.
Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 2 of 3)
John Morley

Under other conditions it might be the right thing to convoke a conference to be held after the war is over.
Face to Face with Kaiserism
James W. Gerard

Convene, which means “to come together,” should not be confused with convoke which means “to bring or call together.”
Word Study and English Grammar
Frederick W. Hamilton

Finally she found it best to convoke the family council for the purpose of deciding what was to be done with Simple Simon.
A Family of Noblemen
Mikhal Saltykov

It was not enough to convoke a Parliament or to open a negotiation with the Prince of Orange.
The History of England from the Accession of James II.
Thomas Babington Macaulay

The chancellor was therefore content to convoke a general conference of the clergy.
History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, Volume V
J. H. Merle d’Aubigné

The necessity of having a single person to convoke the great council when separated.
Commentaries on the Laws of England
William Blackstone

He advised the Regent to convoke the States-General, and declare a national bankruptcy.
Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions
Charles Mackay

Today’s quote

The writer’s curse is that even in solitude, no matter its duration, he never grows lonely or bored.

– Criss Jami

On this day

26 June – International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

26 June 1945 – 50 nations ratify the United Nations Charter in an effort to prevent another world war. The United Nations was formally established on 24 October 1945, replacing the League of Nations.

25 June 2018

mudlark

[muhd-lahrk]

noun

1. Chiefly British. a person who gains a livelihood by searching for iron, coal, old ropes, etc., in mud or low tide.
2. Chiefly British Informal. a street urchin.
3. either of two black and white birds, Grallina cyanoleuca, of Australia, or G. bruijni, of New Guinea, that builds a large, mud nest.
verb (used without object)
4. to grub or play in mud.

Origin of mudlark

1790-1800 First recorded in 1790-1800; mud + lark1

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for mudlark

Historical Examples

This was Captain Abersouth, formerly of the mudlark —as good a seaman as ever sat on the taffrail reading a three volume novel.
The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume 8
Ambrose Bierce

So I shipped as mate on the mudlark, bound from London to wherever the captain might think it expedient to sail.
The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume 8
Ambrose Bierce

On the voyage of which I write he had taken no cargo at all; he said it would only make the mudlark heavy and slow.
The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume 8
Ambrose Bierce

You wade along in this way step by step, like a mudlark at Portsmouth Hard, hoping gradually to regain the surface.
South!
Sir Ernest Shackleton

As a lad I slept with the rats, held horses, swept crossings and lived like a mudlark !
The Strollers
Frederic S. Isham

Today’s quote

Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.

– George Orwell

On this day

25 June 1903 – birth of George Orwell (born Eric Arthur Blair), Democratic Socialist and English author of works such as ‘Nineteen-Eighty Four‘, ‘Animal Farm‘, and ‘Homage to Catalonia‘. Died 21 January 1950.

25 June 1947 – The Diary of a Young Girl (better known as The Diary of Anne Frank) is first published.

25 June 1978 – the Rainbow Flag, symbol of gay pride, is flown for the first time in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.

24 June 2018

plugugly or plug-ugly

[pluhg-uhg-lee]

noun, plural pluguglies. Informal.

1. a ruffian; rowdy; tough.
2. extremely ugly

Origin of plugugly

1855-1860 An Americanism dating back to 1855-60; plug + ugly

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for plugugly

Historical Examples

“Let the plug-ugly have what he seems to be looking for,” advised Mern.
Joan of Arc of the North Woods
Holman Day

Every criminal and plug-ugly in the country is spitting in our faces this morning.
Cavanagh: Forest Ranger
Hamlin Garland

The “ plug-ugly ” of Baltimore is another name for the same class.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 6
Various

A giant ” plug-ugly ” bellowed with triumph over his successful shot, yelled “kill ’em all!”
Tom Strong, Lincoln’s Scout
Alfred Bishop Mason

Today’s quote

Life isn’t as serious as the mind makes it out to be.

– Eckhart Tolle

On this day

24 June 1950 – The Korean War begins as North Korean forces invade South Korea in response to the dividing of the Korean Peninsula by Allied forces after World War II. The US sends troops as part of the UN response to repel North Korea. In 1953 a demilitarised zone is established between North and South Korea. Although conflict ended in 1953 following a truce, both sides have remained on military alert ever since. Political posturing and a number of border clashes in the years since 1953 have brought the peninsula to the brink of war on numerous occasions.

24 June 1997 – the United States Air Force releases a report into the so-called ‘Roswell Incident’ in which there had been claims that an alien craft had crashed near Roswell, New Mexico, and the body of an alien was retrieved by the Air Force. The USAF report claimed that the bodies witnesses had seen were actually life-sized dummies.

24 June 2010 – Julia Gillard is appointed Australia’s first female prime minister after replacing Kevin Rudd in a leadership spill. On 26 June 2013, following ongoing ructions in the Labor Party, Gillard called another leadership ballot which was won by Kevin Rudd. Julia Gillard tendered her resignation, which took effect the following day when Rudd was sworn in as prime minister.

23 June 2018

snifter

[snif-ter]

noun

1. Also called inhaler. a pear-shaped glass, narrowing at the top to intensify the aroma of brandy, liqueur, etc.
2. Informal. a very small drink of liquor.

Origin of snifter

Middle English

1840-1850; derivative of snifter to sniff, snivel, Middle English snyfter; imitative

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for snifter

Historical Examples

For the love of goodness, Fritz, give me a snifter of tanglefoot!
Frank Merriwell’s Backers
Burt L. Standish

But he was just a snifter short on that potent and undisciplined drink.
Where the Pavement Ends
John Russell

He turned, snifter in hand, and it was easy to see that his privations had tried him sorely.
Right Ho, Jeeves
P. G. Wodehouse

But picking up the sail in other blows and picking it up in a Cape Horn snifter is a horse of another color.
The Viking Blood
Frederick William Wallace

At sunset he quit, easy winner, and went without taking so much as a ” snifter.”
Tonio, Son of the Sierras
Charles King

Today’s quote

Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness.

– Euripides

On this day

23 June – International Widows’ Day – a UN ratified day to address the ‘poverty and injustice faced by millions of widows and their dependents in many countries’.

23 June 1912 – birth of Alan Turing, British mathematician and computer scientist. Turing is considered to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence. He invented the ‘Turing machine’ which formulated the computer algorithm. It’s the forerunner for the modern computer. During World War 2, Turing was instrumental in cracking German messages encrypted by the Enigma machine. Sadly, Turing’s achievements were overshadowed by him being charged with gross indecency after admitting to being in a homosexual relationship. On 31 March 1952, following his guilty plea, he was chemically castrated. Two years later, on 7 June 1954,Turing took his own life with cyanide. On 10 September 2009, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown publicly apologised on behalf of the British Government for the ‘appalling way he was treated’. On 23 December 2013, Queen Elizabeth II issued a posthumous royal pardon, clearing Turing of the charge of gross indecency.

23 June 2000 – 15 backpackers perish in a fire at the Palace Backpackers Hostel, in Childers, Queensland, Australia.

23 June 2011 – death of Peter Falk, U.S. actor (Colombo) … ‘therrre ya go‘… (born 16 September 1927).

22 June 2018

shank

[shangk]

noun

1. Anatomy. the part of the lower limb in humans between the knee and the ankle; leg.
2. a corresponding or analogous part in certain animals.
3. the lower limb in humans, including both the leg and the thigh.
4. a cut of meat from the top part of the front (foreshank) or back (hind shank) leg of an animal.
5. a narrow part of various devices, as a tool or bolt, connecting the end by which the object is held or moved with the end that acts upon another object.
6. a straight, usually narrow, shaftlike part of various objects connecting two more important or complex parts, as the stem of a pipe.
7. a knob, small projection, or end of a device for attaching to another object, as a small knob on the back of a solid button, or the end of a drill for gripping in a shaft.
8. the long, straight part of an anchor connecting the crown and the ring.
9. the straight part of a fishhook away from the bent part or prong.
10. Music. crook1(def 8).
11. Informal.
the early part of a period of time:
It was just the shank of the evening when the party began.
the latter part of a period of time:
They didn’t get started until the shank of the morning.
12. the narrow part of the sole of a shoe, lying beneath the instep.
13. shankpiece.
14. Printing. the body of a type, between the shoulder and the foot.
15. Golf. a shot veering sharply to the right after being hit with the base of a club shaft.
16. the part of a phonograph stylus or needle on which the diamond or sapphire tip is mounted.
17. Jewelry. the part of a ring that surrounds the finger; hoop.

verb (used with object)
18. Golf. to hit (a golf ball) with the base of the shaft of a club just above the club head, causing the ball to go off sharply to the right.
verb (used without object)
19. Chiefly Scot. to travel on foot.
Compare shanks’ mare.
Idioms
20. shank of the evening, the main or best part of the evening:
Don’t leave yet—it’s just the shank of the evening.

Origin of shank

Middle English, Old English

before 900; Middle English (noun); Old English sc(e)anca; cognate with Low German schanke leg, thigh; akin to German Schenkel thigh, Schinken ham

Related forms

unshanked, adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for shank

Contemporary Examples

If she got caught with a shank, they would up her custody level.
How a ‘Real Housewife’ Survives Prison: ‘I Don’t See [Teresa Giudice] Having a Cakewalk Here’
Michael Howard
January 6, 2015

Seager writes about being threatened by a patient with a shank carved out of an eyeglass stem.
Inside a Hospital for the Criminally Insane
Caitlin Dickson
September 15, 2014

You see, the victim can slip up behind you on any given day and stick a shank in your ribs—or pay someone else to do it.
How Will Chelsea Manning Be Treated in Prison?
Mansfield Frazier
August 22, 2013

Everyone complains that Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, and Murray shank shots but stubbornly stick to the same strategy.
How to Play a Tennis Monster
Sujay Kumar
September 10, 2012

The bloodthirsty Young Turks of Bohane bide their time, waiting in the shadows to shank and supplant their revelry-addled elders.
Must Reads: Kennedy, Sontag and Paris, ‘A Partial History of Lost Causes,’ ‘City of Bohane,’ ‘Flatscreen’
Lauren Elkin, Mythili Rao, Drew Toal, Nicholas Mancusi
April 6, 2012

Historical Examples

He struck the rivet such a blow that he snapped one shank of his spur short off.
Chip, of the Flying U
B. M. Bower

This plate is soldered to the shank of the screw-eye and the cleat is complete.
Boys’ Book of Model Boats
Raymond Francis Yates

He’s in the shank of his honeymoon as we stands chattin’ yere.’
Faro Nell and Her Friends
Alfred Henry Lewis

He’s had just about time to make the trip on shank ‘s mare by takin’ short cuts.
Dwellers in the Hills
Melville Davisson Post

Next to the blade on the end of which is the cutting edge, is the shank, Fig. 65.
Handwork in Wood
William Noyes

Today’s quote

The first World Cup I remember was in the 1950 when I was 9 or 10 years old. My father was a soccer player, and there was a big party, and when Brazil lost to Uruguay, I saw my father crying.

– Pele

On this day

22 June 1938 – death of C.J. Dennis, Australian poet (Songs of a Sentimental Bloke). Born 7 September 1876. Note, that C.J. Dennis foretold email by about 90 years with his reference to ‘ethergrams thro’ space’ which appears in ‘The Stoush of Day‘, in ‘The Sentimental Bloke‘.

22 June 1986 – the controversial ‘hand of God’ incident in the FIFA World Cup match between Argentina and England, when Diego Maradona scored a goal that came off his hand. The referee didn’t see the hand infringement and awarded the goal. Four minutes after the ‘hand of God’ goal, Maradona scored the ‘goal of the century’, which is claimed to be the greatest individual goal of all time, which he scored after playing the ball for 60 metres within 10 seconds, through four English defenders to slot the goal. Argentina won the match 2-1 and went on to win the World Cup.

21 June 2018

recumbent

[ri-kuhm-buh nt]

adjective

1. lying down; reclining; leaning.
2. inactive; idle.
3. Zoology, Botany. noting a part that leans or reposes upon its surface of origin.
noun
4. a recumbent person, animal, plant, etc.

Origin of recumbent

Latin

1765-1775; < Latin recumbent- (stem of recumbēns), present participle of recumbere to lie back, equivalent to re- re- + cumb-, akin to cubāre to lie down + -ent- -ent

Related forms

recumbency, recumbence, noun
recumbently, adverb
unrecumbent, adjective
unrecumbently, adverb

Synonyms

1. prone, supine; prostrate; inclined.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for recumbent

Historical Examples

As he approached the recumbent figure he yelled a panted “Hi, there!”
The Woman-Haters
Joseph C. Lincoln

“Truss him up, Kenneth,” he commanded, pointing to the recumbent figure.
The Tavern Knight
Rafael Sabatini

The repulsive task of searching the recumbent figure now lay before him.
The Vagrant Duke
George Gibbs

Today’s quote

There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights.

– Smedley Butler

On this day

21 June 1940 – death of Smedley Butler, U.S. Marine Corp Major-General. He received 19 medals, five of which were for bravery. He twice received the Medal of Honor. Butler was, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in history. Nonetheless, he was an outspoken critic of war and military actions. He wrote a book called ‘War is a Racket’, which exposed the links between the military and industry, in which he stated that business interests directly benefit from warfare. Butler wrote a summary of the book, which stated: ‘War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small ‘inside’ group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes‘. He was born on 30 July 1881.

21 June 1953 – birth of Benazir Bhutto, elected Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1988, becoming the first female leader of a Muslim country. She was dismissed as Prime Minister in 1996 amid accusations of corruption. She went into exile, living in the United Arab Emirates. In 2007, against the orders of President Musharraf, she returned to Pakistan to contest the 2008 election. She was assassinated at a rally on 27 December 2007.

21 June 1964 – Three civil rights activists (James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner) disappear in Mississippi while investigating an allegation that the Ku Klux Klan had burned down an African-American church. Their bodies were discovered six weeks later. In 1966, seven Ku Klux Klan members were found guilty of the murders, while eight others were found not guilty, including Edgar Ray ‘Preacher’ Killen who was retried in 2005 and found guilty.

21 June 2001 – death of John Lee Hooker, American blues guitarist. Born 22 August 1917.

21 June 2005 – Edgar Ray ‘Preacher’ Killen, former Ku Klux Klansman, is found guilty of manslaughter for his part in the 1964 killing of three civil rights activists and sentenced to 60 years imprisonment.

19 June 2018

navvy

[nav-ee]

noun, plural navvies. British Informal.

1. an unskilled manual laborer.

Origin of navvy

1825-1835 First recorded in 1825-35; short for navigator

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for navvy

Historical Examples

A duke may become a navvy for a joke, but a clerk cannot become a navvy for a joke.
Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens
G. K. Chesterton

And I was a navvy before the war, and joined up for a change.
Pushed and the Return Push
George Herbert Fosdike Nichols, (AKA Quex)

They came from the navvy shelter, and Tom could hear plainly every word.
Chatterbox, 1905.

Today’s quote

Eloquence is a painting of the thoughts.

– Blaise Pascall

On this day

19 June 1623 – birth of Blaise Pascal, controversial French mathematician, physicist, inventor and writer. Formulated ‘Pascal’s Triangle’, a tabular presentation for binomial coefficients, challenged Aristotle’s followers who claimed that ‘nature abhors a vacuum’. The computer programming language, ‘Pascal’, is named in his honour. Died 19 August 1662.

19 June 1945 – birthday of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese politician, activist and Nobel Peace Prize Recipient.

19 June 1978 – The original Grumpy Cat, Garfield, first appears in newspaper comic strips in the USA.