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.

18 June 2018

harry

[har-ee]

verb (used with object), harried, harrying.

1. to harass, annoy, or prove a nuisance to by or as if by repeated attacks; worry:
He was harried by constant doubts.
2. to ravage, as in war; devastate:
The troops harried the countryside.
verb (used without object), harried, harrying.
3. to make harassing incursions.

Origin of harry

Middle English, Old English
900 before 900; Middle English herien, Old English her(g)ian (derivative of here army); cognate with German verheeren, Old Norse herja to harry, lay waste

Related forms Expand

unharried, adjective

Synonyms

1. molest, plague, trouble. 2. plunder, strip, rob, pillage.

Today’s quote

I used to think anyone doing anything weird was weird. Now I know that it is the people that call others weird that are weird.

– Paul McCartney

On this day

18 June 1942 – birth of Paul McCartney, member of The Beatles and his writing partnership with John Lennon made them one of the world’s most successful song-writing duos. After the break-up of the Beatles, McCartney went on to have a successful solo career. He was knighted in 1997.

16 June 2018

fetor

or foe·tor

[fee-ter]

noun

a strong, offensive smell; stench.

Origin of fetor

1475–1500; < Latin, equivalent to fēt- (stem of fētēre to stink) + -or -or1; replacing earlier fetour < Middle French < Latin fētōr-, stem of fētor

Dictionary.com

Historical Examples

The fetor of the skin, so characteristic of the negro, is not found in the Bushman.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4
Various

Fetor of the breath, the perspiration and the skin are likewise noticeable.
Gilbertus Anglicus
Henry Ebenezer Handerson

Do they, as many saints have done, smell the fetor of sin, the foul reek of evil in the souls that pass by them?
The Cathedral
Joris-Karl Huysmans

Fetor exhaled from its gaping jaws, smoke from its nostrils; its eyes were flame.
The Romance of Leonardo da Vinci
Dmitry Sergeyevich Merezhkovsky

When fetor exists, as during the detachment of patches of exudation, antiseptic and detergent sprays may be employed.
A System of Practical Medicine By American Authors, Vol. II
Various

Today’s quote

I love not man the less, but Nature more

– Lord Byron

On this day

16 June – International Day of the African Child, which remembers those who participated in the Soweto protests in 1976, as well as raises awareness of the need for improved education provided to African children.

16 June 1816 – Lord Byron reads his poem Fantasmagoriana to his four house guests, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Claire Clermont and John Polidori, challenging them to write a ghost story. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. Polidori wrote the short story, The Vampyre, which in turn influenced numerous vampire stories, including Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Byron himself went on to write the poem, Darkness.

16 June 1951 – birth of Roberto Duran, Panamanian boxer nicknamed ‘Manos de Piedra’ (Hands of Stone). He held world titles at four different levels; lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight. He was the second boxer to fight over five decades. He retired from professional boxing in 2002 at the age of 50. He is considered one of the greatest boxers of all time.

16 June 1961 – Soviet ballet dancer, Rudolf Nureyev defects to the West. Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev allegedly issued an order for Nureyev to be killed, which did not eventuate.

16 June 1967 – The Monterey Pop Festival is held over three days at Monterey, California. Over 200,000 people attended to experience performers such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, The Who, The Byrds, The Animals and The Grateful Dead.

16 June 1976 – Soweto Uprising in South Africa, when up to 20,000 students marched in a non-violent protest against poor quality education and demanding to be taught in their own language after Afrikaans was introduced as the medium of instruction. The protest turned violent when police opened fire on the crowd, killing 23 people. Violence continued for two weeks, with 176 people being killed. The day is now a public holiday in South Africa and commemorated as Youth Day. Internationally it is recognised as Day of the African Child.

15 June 2018

execrate

[ek-si-kreyt]

verb (used with object), ex·e·crat·ed, ex·e·crat·ing.

to detest utterly; abhor; abominate.
to curse; imprecate evil upon; damn; denounce:

He execrated all who opposed him.

verb (used without object), ex·e·crat·ed, ex·e·crat·ing.

to utter curses.

Origin of execrate

1555–65; < Latin ex(s)ecrātus (past participle of ex(s)ecrārī to curse), equivalent to ex- ex-1 + secr- (combining form of sacrāre to consecrate; see sacrament) + -ātus -ate1

Related forms

ex·e·cra·tor, noun
un·ex·e·crat·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for execrate

Historical Examples

We but smile at the one, we would learn to execrate the other.
Leading Articles on Various Subjects
Hugh Miller

I execrate the enslavement of the mind of our young children by the ecclesiastics.
The Necessity of Atheism
Dr. D.M. Brooks

And yet, have I a right to execrate the thrall of the beaker?
Cleopatra, Complete
Georg Ebers

You are not the only one who will execrate the destiny that brought us here.
Arachne, Complete
Georg Ebers

He longed to execrate aloud, to bring his fist down on something violently.
Dubliners
James Joyce

To howls of execration from the world’s media, his insistence has torpedoed efforts to update the treaty.
Donald Trump was right. The rest of the G7 were wrong
George Monbiot
13 June 2018, The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/13/trump-nafta-g7-sunset-clause-trade-agreement

Today’s quote

Every age and generation must be as free to act for itself, in all cases, as the ages and generations which preceded it. The vanity and presumption of governing beyond the grave is the most ridiculous and insolent of all tyrannies.

– Thomas Paine

On this day

15 June 1215 – King John of England seals the Magna Carta (Latin for ‘Great Charter’) which established the ‘rule of law’ that was to become fundamental to the modern legal system. It ensured that no man, no monarch, was above the law. Monarchs could no longer arbitrarily deal with or dispossess their subjects. It didn’t mean equality or liberty for all, however, as it applied only to ‘all the free men’, and not all men were free in 13th century England.

15 June 1752 – Benjamin Franklin proves that lightning is electricity by launching a kite during a storm. The kite was tied to a key and a Leyden Jar, which was used to store electrical charge. The negative ions in the thunder storm charged the kite, flowing down the wet silk string and into the jar. Franklin was holding the silk at the time and was unaffected, however when he moved his hand near the key he received an electric shock, proving that lightning was static electricity. (Traditional date, the exact date is unknown).

15 June 1920 – a 5000-strong mob in Minnesota lynches three African-American who were convicted of the rape of a 17 year old white woman.

15 June 1946 – birth of Noddy Holder, British musician and singer. Holder was the lead singer with 1970’s glam rock band, Slade, which was famous for songs such as ‘Mama Weer All Crazee Now’, ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’, ‘Gudbuy T’ Jane’, and ‘Skweeze Me Pleeze Me’. Their second studio album, ‘Slayed’, spent 34 weeks at Number 1 in the UK. Slade had 17 consecutive Top 20 hits, six of which reached number one. In 2000 Holder was awarded an MBE for his services to spelling.

13 June 2018

shivaree or charivari

[shiv-uh-ree]

noun

1. a mock serenade with kettles, pans, horns, and other noisemakers given for a newly married couple; charivari.
2. Informal. an elaborate, noisy celebration.
verb (used with object), shivareed, shivareeing.
3. to serenade with a shivaree.

Origin of shivaree

French

1835-1845, Americanism; alteration of Mississippi Valley French, French charivari charivari

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for shivaree

Historical Examples

Scales had fixed up for a crowd of hoodlums to shivaree them as they went.
Yellowstone Nights
Herbert Quick

I came to tell you that there’s a scheme to raise—to ‘ shivaree ‘ you two, tonight.
Lonesome Land
B. M. Bower

It isn’t so long, though, since you were just as determined to stay and have the shivaree, you remember.
Lonesome Land
B. M. Bower

Today’s quote

Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth, We are happy when we are growing.

– William Butler Yeats

On this day

13 June 1381 – The Peasants Revolt (a brief rebellion against poll tax), led by Wat Tyler, culminates in the burning down of the Savoy Palace in London.

13 June 1525 – Martin Luther, a German monk and Catholic priest, marries a nun, Katharina von Bora, which violated the rule of celibacy decreed by the Roman Catholic church for priests and nuns. The couple went on to have six children together.

13 June 1865 – birth of William Butler Yeats (W.B. Yeats), Irish poet, Nobel Prize laureate. One of the foremost literary figures of the 20th century. He served as an Irish senator for two terms. He led the Irish Literary Revival. In 1921 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for ‘inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation‘. Died 28 January 1939.

13 June 1927 – birth of Slim Dusty AO, MBE, Australian country music singer, song-writer and producer. He was born as David Gordon Kirkpatrick and adopted the name of Slim Dusty at 11 years of age. He released his first record when he was 18. In 1957, he released ‘The Pub With No Beer‘, which became the biggest selling Australian song to that time, and the first Australian single to go gold. He won 36 Golden Guitar Awards at the Tamworth Country Music Festival. In 2000, he recorded his 100th album, ‘Looking Forward, Looking Back‘. He is the only artist in the world to have recorded 100 albums with the same record label (EMI). Died 19 September 2003.

13 June 1944 – Germany launches 10 of its new rockets, known as the V1 (also called a doodlebug or buzz bomb). The V1s were pilot-less, pulse-jet-propelled rockets with a one ton payload with a 500km range. The Germans rained V1s over London. The V1 was an early version of the Cruise Missile.