7 September 2018

advent

[ad-vent]

noun

1. a coming into place, view, or being; arrival:
the advent of the holiday season.
2. (usually initial capital letter) the coming of Christ into the world.
3. (initial capital letter) the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas, observed in commemoration of the coming of Christ into the world.
4. (usually initial capital letter) Second Coming.

Origin of advent

Middle English, Latin

1125-1175; Middle English < Latin adventus arrival, approach, equivalent to ad- ad- + ven- (stem of venīre to come) + -tus suffix of verbal action

Synonyms

1. onset, beginning, commencement, start.

Second Coming

noun

1. the coming of Christ on Judgment Day.

Also called Advent, Second Advent.

Origin

First recorded in 1635-45

Related forms

post-Advent, adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for advent

Contemporary Examples

Like Lent, the season of advent was a period of reflection and fasting, and items such as dairy and sugar were forbidden.
One Cake to Rule Them All: How Stollen Stole Our Hearts
Molly Hannon
December 24, 2014

I would venture to say that advent is something America needs right now, religious or not.
During Advent, Lots of Waiting, But Not Enough Hope
Gene Robinson
December 7, 2014

They told me that advent was all about waiting and hoping – that they were indeed a community of waiting and hoping.
During Advent, Lots of Waiting, But Not Enough Hope
Gene Robinson
December 7, 2014

Then came the horrors of World War I, with the advent of tanks and airplanes and poison gas.
How Clausewitz Invented Modern War
James A. Warren
November 24, 2014

The writer A. Lezhnev said, “I view the incident with Shostakovich as the advent of the same ‘order’ that burns books in Germany.”
When Stalin Met Lady Macbeth
Brian Moynahan
November 9, 2014

Historical Examples

The effect was, indeed, presently accomplished by the advent of Smithson into the office.
Within the Law
Marvin Dana

The visitor’s advent was announced again by the brass knocker on the front door.
Thoroughbreds
W. A. Fraser

He had so long and so passionately looked for the advent of that moment!
The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete
Emile Zola

“I think your mother wants to speak to you, Frank,” Alice said, upon this advent.
Alice Adams
Booth Tarkington

But with the advent of the boys from the barn there appeared reinforcements of the enemy.
Frank Roscoe’s Secret
Allen Chapman

Today’s quote

There will come a time when it isn’t ‘They’re spying on me through my phone’ anymore. Eventually, it will be ‘My phone is spying on me’.

― Philip K. Dick (1928-1982)

On this day

7 September 1876 – birth of C.J. Dennis, Australian poet (Songs of a Sentimental Bloke). Died 22 June 1938.

7 September 1936 – birth of Charles Hardin Holley, otherwise known as Buddy Holly. 1950s rock star, famous for songs such as ‘Peggy Sue’ and ‘That’ll be the day’. Died in a plane crash on 3 February 1959 with other musicians, Richie Valens, J.P. ‘Big Bopper’ Richardson and the pilot, Roger Peterson. Their deaths were immortalised in the Don McLean song, ‘American Pie’, when he sang about the day the music died.

7 September 1978 – death of Keith Moon, British musician, drummer for ‘The Who’. Born 23 August 1946.

4 September 2018

dotage

[doh-tij]

noun

1. a decline of mental faculties, especially as associated with old age; senility.
2. excessive fondness; foolish affection.

Origin of dotage

Middle English

1300-1350 Middle English word dating back to 1300-50; See origin at dote, -age

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for dotage

Contemporary Examples

Being politically astute, even in her dotage, Baroness Thatcher was aware what contention that could create.
Margaret Thatcher, Divisive Even in Death
Peter Jukes
April 12, 2013

Historical Examples

And was it not more than a good old man’s dotage, God rest his soul!
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)
Samuel Richardson

Now I am getting into my dotage and look on the dark side of everything.
The Memoires of Casanova, Complete
Jacques Casanova de Seingalt

Today’s quote

A point of view can be a dangerous luxury when substituted for insight and understanding.

– Marshall McLuhan

On this day

4 September 1937 – birth of Dawn Fraser AO MBE, Australian swimming legend. Won Olympic gold medals in 1956, 1960 and 1964, as well as a number of silver medals.

4 September 2006 – death of Steve Irwin, ‘The Crocodile Hunter’, Australian wildlife expert and television personality. (Born 22 February 1962).

3 September 2018

assart

[ahs-sart]

noun

British

historical

– piece of land converted from forest to arable use.

‘an assart cut from the woods a few years back’

More example sentences

‘In July 1203, at the height of the crisis in Normandy, King John instructed his chief forester, Hugh de Neville, to sell forest privileges ‘to make our profit by selling woods and demising assarts.’’
1.1 mass noun The action of converting forest to arable use.
‘heavy penalties were imposed for waste and assart’

Verb

[WITH OBJECT]

British

historical

– Convert (forest) to arable use.

‘the Earl of Salisbury was convicted of having assarted 2,300 acres of the parks in 1604’

More example sentences

‘In this system land around the village was gradually colonized from the waste (assarted), and cultivated for crops.’

‘Clearance of woodland and heath (assarting) continued, especially in the Weald of Kent and Sussex, in the Chiltern hills, and in the Arden district of Warwickshire.’

‘This land comprised dismembered lands of the old manses or lands won from the former or by assarting from the waste.’

‘In the period down to the early 1300s, he argued, it was population growth which explained the slow but steady economic expansion – the growth of towns, the process of assarting, and the quickening of activity generally.’

Origin

Late Middle English (as a noun): from Old French essarter, from medieval Latin ex(s)artare, based on ex ‘out’ + sar(r)ire ‘to weed’. The verb dates from the early 16th century.

Today’s quotes

What does it matter how many lovers you have if none of them gives you the universe?

– Jacques Lacan

On this day

3 September 1901 – Australian national flag flies for the first time. The Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne has the honours. 3 September is celebrated each year as Australia’s National Flag Day.

3 September 1939 – Britain declares war on Germany.

3 September 1970 – death of Alan Wilson from barbiturate poisoning. It’s unclear whether his death was accidental or suicide. American guitarist and singer-songwriter for Canned Heat. He was 27. His death occurred exactly 14 months after the death of Rolling Stones founder and guitarist Brian Jones, two weeks before the death of Jimi Hendrix, four weeks before the death of Janis Joplin and exactly 10 months before the death of Jimmy Morrison, all of whom were 27 when they died, fanning concerns for musicians at this age and referencing the deaths as the 27 Club. Born 4 July 1943.

2 September 2018

swidden

[swid-n]

noun

1. a plot of land cleared for farming by burning away vegetation.

Origin of swidden

Middle English, Old Norse
1951; special use of dial. (N England) swidden area of moor from which vegetation has been burned off, noun use of swidden, swithen to singe < Old Norse svithna to be singed, derivative of svītha to singe (compare dial. swithe, Middle English swithen)

Dictionary.com

Today’s quote

As technology advances, it reverses the characteristics of every situation again and again. The age of automation is going to be the age of ‘do it yourself.’

– Marshall McLuhan

On this day

2 – 5 September 1666 – Great Fire of London. It destroyed 13,200 homes, leaving 70,000 of the 80,000 inhabitants homeless, 87 churches, St Paul’s Cathedral.

2 September 1752 – last day of the Julian calendar as the British Empire adopts the Gregorian calendar. To balance the books, the next 10 days (3 – 13 September) are written off so the Gregorian commences on 14 September, which should have been 3 September in the Julian calendar.

2 September 1945 – Japan signs the ‘Instrument of Surrender’, on the USS Missouri, bringing World War II to an end.

2 September 1951 – Australia, New Zealand and United States sign the ANZUS Security Treaty, a defence pact.

2 September 1973 – death of J.R.R. Tolkien, author of ‘The Hobbit‘ and ‘Lord of the Rings‘. Born 3 January 1892.

1 September 2018

elfin

[el-fin]

adjective

1. of or like an elf.
2. small and charmingly spritely, merry, or mischievous.
noun
3. an elf.

Origin of elfin

Middle English, Old English
1560-1570; alteration of Middle English elven elf, Old English elfen, ælfen nymph, equivalent to ælf elf + -en feminine suffix (cognate with German -in); ælf cognate with German Alp nightmare, puck, Old Norse alfr elf

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for elfin

Contemporary Examples

Mickey Rooney, the elfin actor who could pull out all the stops on stage and on film, died Sunday in Los Angeles at the age of 93.
Mickey Rooney Was Hollywood’s Golden Age Showman
Lorenza Muñoz
April 7, 2014

Before these famous cartoons went viral, Santa was depicted either as a tall, thin, and less than jolly fellow or an elfin man.
8 Facts You Never Knew About Christmas
Brandy Zadrozny
December 24, 2013

Historical Examples

She forgot that her boy was of elfin as well as of mortal race.
Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 3, August, 1850.
Various

Today’s quote

Fascism is cured by reading, and racism is cured by traveling.

– Miguel de Unamuno

On this day

1 September 1875 – birth of Edgar Rice Burroughs, American science fiction author: Tarzan, Mars series (on which the 2012 movie ‘John Carter‘ was based). Died 19 March 1950.

1 September 1939 – official commencement date of World War II, when Germany invaded Poland.

30 August 2018

salve(1)

[sav, sahv]

noun

1. a medicinal ointment for healing or relieving wounds and sores.
2. anything that soothes, mollifies, or relieves.
verb (used with object), salved, salving.
3. to soothe with or as if with salve; assuage:
to salve one’s conscience.

Origin of salve(1)

Middle English, Old English
900 before 900; (noun) Middle English; Old English sealf; cognate with German Salbe salve, Sanskrit sarpis melted butter; (v.) Middle English salven, Old English sealfian

Synonyms

3. ease, alleviate, mollify.

salve(2)

[salv]

verb (used with or without object), salved, salving.

1. to save from loss or destruction; to salvage.

Origin

First recorded in 1700-10; back formation from salvage

salve(3)

[sal-vee; Latin sahl-wey]

interjection

1. hail!

Origin

1400-50; late Middle English < Latin salvē! literally, be in good health!; cf. salute

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for salve

Contemporary Examples

Its readership expands in times when more of us need its particular brand of salve.
What the Forward Prize Doesn’t Recognize About Poets
Mandy Kahn
July 13, 2014

His only salve has been counting down the days until graduation.
Mormon U. Forces Gays to Be Celibate
Emily Shire
May 13, 2014

Then came remedies: the powder, the salve, the wondrous elixir.
New Study Says Doctors Can’t “Just Say No” to Their Patients
Kent Sepkowitz
March 31, 2014

“Anything that tries to solve an issue in Northern Ireland, to put a salve on it, tends to enflame the situation,” he said.
Belfast in Chaos After Days of Protestant Rioting, Police Injuries
Nico Hines
July 16, 2013

In France, we are supposed to salve our consciences with the knowledge that draft horses are raised to be eaten.
My Horsemeat Lunch
Christopher Dickey
February 27, 2013

Historical Examples

He spoke with the sureness of a man of wealth, confident that money will salve any wound.
Within the Law
Marvin Dana

And this time the thing he wanted was to get the dervish to rub some of the salve on his other eye.
Tom Sawyer Abroad
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

And he hollered the first thing that “he wanted some of Hall’s salve.”
Samantha Among the Brethren, Part 2.
Josiah Allen’s Wife (Marietta Holley)

His wounded pride demanded a salve to be procured at any cost.
The Snare
Rafael Sabatini

But Gage was endeavoring to salve his smart and conceal his own shame.
The Siege of Boston
Allen French

Today’s quote

Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save. They just stand there shining.

– Anne Lamott

On this day

30 August 580 – birth of Muhammad, prophet and founder of Islam.

30 August 1146 – European leaders optimistically outlaw the cross-bow with the belief that it will end war for evermore. The ban was flouted and cross-bows continued to be used until they were replaced by fire-arms in the 16th century.

30 August 2003 – Death of Charles Bronson, American actor. Born 3 November 1921 as Charles Dennis Buchinsky.

29 August 2018

beano

[bee-noh]

noun

noun (pl) beanos
1. (Brit, slang) a celebration, party, or other enjoyable time
Collins English Dictionary

Word Origin and History for beano Expand
n. 1888, colloquial shortening of beanfest “annual dinner given by employers for their workers” (1805); they had a reputation for rowdiness. From bean (n.) + fest (n.).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Examples

The chairman said that he remembered the last beano very well.
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
Robert Tressell

The intelligent foreigner may take it that beano simply means the worship of Bacchus.
Cakes & Ale

Today’s quote

One of the best ways to recharge is by simply being in the presence of art. No thoughts, no critiques. Just full-on absorption mode.

― Dean Francis Alfar

On this day

29 August 29AD – John the Baptist beheaded.

29 August 1991 – the Supreme Soviet of the USSR suspends the Communist Party. The Soviet Union was formally dissolved on 26 December 1991.

29 August 2001 – death of Graeme ‘Shirley’ Strachan, in a helicopter crash near Maroochydore, Queensland. Lead singer of Australian band, Skyhooks. Born 2 January 1952.

29 August 2005 – Hurricane Katrina strikes southeastern United States with wind speeds reaching 280km/h. New Orleans is one of the worst hit areas. At least 1,836 people died in the storm and subsequent flooding.

29 August 2012 – Hurricane Isaac strikes southeastern United States with wind speeds reaching 130km/h, making landfall in Louisiana, leaving at least 400,000 houses in New Orleans without power.