2 June 2018

distaff

[dis-taf, -tahf]

noun

1. a staff with a cleft end for holding wool, flax, etc., from which the thread is drawn in spinning by hand.
2. a similar attachment on a spinning wheel.
3. Archaic.
a woman or women collectively.
women’s work.
adjective
4. Sometimes Offensive. noting, pertaining to, characteristic of, or suitable for a female.
See also distaff side.

Origin of distaff

Middle English, Old English

1000, before 1000; Middle English distaf, Old English distæf, equivalent to dis- (cognate with Low German diesse bunch of flax on a distaff; cf. dizen ) + stæf staff1

Usage note

A distaff is the stick onto which wool or flax is wound in spinning. Since spinning was traditionally done by females, distaff took on figurative meanings relating to women or women’s work. In the sense of “female,” the noun distaff is archaic, but the adjective is in current use: distaff chores, a distaff point of view; the distaff side of the family. Women who find the term offensive are probably aware of its origin in female stereotypes. Another current use of the adjective is in reference to horses: a distaff race is for fillies or mares.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for distaff

Contemporary Examples

Indeed, the distaff vote may yet again break Republican this cycle—as it did in 2010—if the polls are to be believed.
The 2014 Election Is Yet Another Scrum in the Culture Wars
Lloyd Green
October 27, 2014

As Maggie in a 1990 production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof she was more than just a slip of distaff Mississippi flesh.
Kathleen Turner’s New Broadway High
Kevin Sessums
April 17, 2011

Historical Examples

They may find they have more tow on their distaff than they know how to spin.
The White Company
Arthur Conan Doyle

Anagram

stiff ad
daft ifs
sad tiff
fit fads

Today’s quote

In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.

– Albert Camus

On this day

2 June 1951 – birth of Gilbert Baker, American artist and gay rights activist, who designed the ‘rainbow flag’ in 1978 which came to symbolise the gay rights movement. Died 31 March 2017.

2 June 1953 – Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey, England.

2 June 1965 – the first contingent of Australian combat troops arrives in Saigon to assist the American military in the Vietnam War.

2 June 1966 – The ‘Surveyor 1’ space probe lands on the moon. It is the first US space probe to do so. The Soviet Union had successfully landed a space probe, the Lunix 9, on the moon 5 months earlier, on 3 February 1966.

1 June 2018

eigenvector

[ahy-guh n-vek-ter]

noun

1. (maths, physics) a vector x satisfying an equation A x = λ x , where A is a square matrix and λ is a constant.
E.g. ‘Eigenvalues and eigenvectors can be complex-valued as well as real-valued. The dimension of the eigenspace corresponding to an eigenvalue is less than or equal to the multiplicity of that eigenvalue’. (https://www.math.hmc.edu/calculus/tutorials/eigenstuff/)

Collins English Dictionary
dictionary.com

Origin of eigenvector

German
1955-1960 First recorded in 1955-60, eigenvector is from the German word Eigenvektor

Anagram

generic vote
vine cortege
greet novice
integer cove

Today’s quote

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.

– Helen Keller

On this day

1 June 1926 – Birth of Marilyn Monroe, iconic movie star. Died 5 August 1962.

1 June 1935 – DC Comics publishes the first Superman comic, created by Jerry Siegel.

1 June 1968 – death of Helen Keller, inspirational American author, lecturer and political activist. First deaf-blind person to achieve a Bachelor of Arts degree. Born 27 June 1880.

1 June 2012 – The inaugural ‘Panda’s Word of the Day’ published at www.shaneduran.com. The word was ‘pleonasm‘.

31 May 2018

travail

[truh-veyl, trav-eyl]
noun

1. painfully difficult or burdensome work; toil.
2. pain, anguish or suffering resulting from mental or physical hardship.
3. the pain of childbirth.
verb (used without object)
4. to suffer the pangs of childbirth; be in labor.
5. to toil or exert oneself.

Origin of travail

Middle English, Old French, Late Latin

1200-1250; (v.) Middle English travaillen < Old French travaillier to torment < Vulgar Latin *trepaliāre to torture, derivative of Late Latin trepālium torture chamber, literally, instrument of torture made with three stakes (see tri-, pale2); (noun) Middle English < Old French: suffering, derivative of travailler

Synonyms

1. labor, moil. 2. torment, agony.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for travail

Historical Examples

As he drove he mused over what travail would say when he saw these shells.
Made in Tanganyika
Carl Richard Jacobi

But it could be that travail knew of the value of Sutter’s shell collection.
Made in Tanganyika
Carl Richard Jacobi

“I was looking for my tobacco pouch,” travail replied easily.
Made in Tanganyika
Carl Richard Jacobi

Anagram

larva it
vial art

Today’s quote

I’ve left specific instructions that I do not want to be brought back during a Republican administration.

– Timothy Leary

On this day

31 May 1921 – 1 June 1921 – The Tulsa Race Riots in which a large group of white people attacked the black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, including aerial attacks that dropped bombs and fired on the community. It resulted in the Greenwood District, also known as the ‘Black Wall Street’ being burned to the ground. The Greenwood District was the wealthiest black community in the USA at the time.More than 800 people were admitted to white hospitals after two hospitals in the black community were burned down. Police arrested or detained more than 6,000 black residents. More than 10,000 were left homeless and 35 city blocks comprising of 1,256 destroyed. Official figures state that 39 people were killed, however, other sources estimate that between 55 and 300 black residents were killed with 9 white people killed. The riots were precipitated when a black man was suspected of raping a white girl in an elevator. White residents gathered with rumours of a lynching to happen. As the whites descended on Greenwood, a group of black men assembled to confront them. During this, some of the whites began torching buildings

31 May 1930 – birth of Clint Eastwood, American actor, director, producer and politician.

31 May 1948 – birth of John Bonham, Led Zeppelin drummer. Died 25 September 1980.

31 May 1965 – birth of Brooke Shields, American actor, model and producer.

31 May 1996 – death of Timothy Leary, American psychologist and author. Leary was a major proponent of the use of pscyhedelic drugs, particularly LSD and psilocybin (mushrooms). He conducted numerous psychiatric experiments using psychedelics, particularly during the 1950s and and 1960s, when the drugs were legal. LSD was banned by the USA in 1966. Leary popularised 1960’s catch-phrases such as ‘turn on, tune in and drop out’, ‘set and setting’, and ‘think for yourself and question authority’. He was friends with beat generation poets, such as Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac. Leary was arrested numerous times over his possession and use of drugs. He wrote a number of books on the benefits of psychedelic drugs. Leary became fascinated with computers, declaring that ‘the PC is the LSD of the 1990s’. He encouraged bohemians to ‘turn on, boot up, jack in’. Leary was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1995. He chose to stream his dying moments over the internet. Seven grams of Leary’s ashes were placed aboard a Pegasus rocket, launched on 21 April 1997. It remained in orbit around the Earth for six years until it burned up in atmosphere. Born 22 October 1920.

30 May 2018

callow

[kal-oh]

adjective

1. immature or inexperienced:
a callow youth.
2. (of a young bird) featherless; unfledged.
noun
3. a recently hatched worker ant.

Origin of callow

Old English

1000, before 1000; Middle English, Old English calu bald; cognate with Dutch kaal, German kahl bald, OCS golŭ bare

Related forms

callowness, noun

Synonyms

1. untried, green, raw; naive, puerile, jejune.

Antonyms

1. mature, adult, experienced.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for callow

Contemporary Examples

Anyone going through Prozac Nation can certainly find plenty of callow moments when Wurtzel does whine.
Thank You, Elizabeth Wurtzel: ‘Prozac Nation’ Turns 20
Nicolaus Mills
July 31, 2014

But now that veneer is gone, and what remains is a callow man-child at odds with himself.
What’s Happened to Don Draper? Why Everyone’s Favorite ‘Mad Men’ Stud Needs His Mojo Back
Lizzie Crocker
April 16, 2014

This is clearly not a boast; it seems, rather, a shamed admission of petty, callow cruelty.
In Defense of Jonathan Franzen
Michelle Goldberg
September 26, 2013

Anagram

all cow

Today’s quote

Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.

– Voltaire

On this day

30 May 1778 – death of François-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire. French enlightment writer, historian and philosopher. A man of wit who advocated freedom of religion, freedom of expression and separation of church and state. Voltaire wrote more than 20,000 letters, 2,000 books and pamphlets. He criticised intolerance, religious dogma and social institutions. Born 21 November 1694.

30 May 1911 – death of Milton Bradley, U.S. board-game maker, credited with launching the board-game industry. Born 8 November 1836.

29 May 2018

hotspur

[hot-spur]

noun

1. an impetuous or reckless person; a hothead.

Origin of hotspur

late Middle English

1425-1475; late Middle English; after Sir Henry Percy, to whom it was applied as a nickname

Related forms

hotspurred, adjective

Examples from the Web for hotspur

Contemporary Examples

hotspur : 
Why, so can I, or so can any man; 
But will they come when you do call for them?

The Contraception Fight
David Frum
February 9, 2012

Historical Examples

hotspur interrupts her by calling the servant and giving him orders.
The Man Shakespeare
Frank Harris

One condition she insisted on, however, namely, that Arthur should be her hotspur.
Evenings at Donaldson Manor
Maria J. McIntosh

Anagram

posh rut
rush pot

Today’s quote

To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.

– Gilbert K. Chesterton

On this day

29 May 1874 – birth of Gilbert Keith Chesterton (otherwise known as G.K. Chesterton), English writer, lay theologian, poet, philosopher, dramatist, journalist, orator, literary and art critic, biographer and Christian apologist. Died 14 June 1936.

29 May 1917 – birthday of John F. Kennedy. 35th president of the United States. Assassinated 22 November 1963.

29 May 1953 – Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepalese sherpa, Tenzing Norgay, become the first men to reach the summit of Mt Everest.

27 May 2018

sortie

[sawr-tee]

noun

1. a rapid movement of troops from a besieged place to attack the besiegers.
2. a body of troops involved in such a movement.
3. the flying of an airplane on a combat mission.
verb (used without object), sortied, sortieing.
4. to go on a sortie; sally forth.

Origin of sortie

1680-1690; < French, noun use of feminine past participle of sortir to go out

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for sortie

Contemporary Examples

My grandfather, his father, was a WW1 ace and was on the sortie which downed the Red Baron.
The Story Behind This Photo of an RAF Pilot
David Frum
March 17, 2013

Historical Examples

But the British have retreated, you say, and there was a sortie from the fort?
In the Valley
Harold Frederic

It was difficult to reply to this, for a sortie was out of the question.
The Field of Ice
Jules Verne

Anagram

rise to
sir toe

Today’s quote

True peace is not merely the absence of war, it is the presence of justice.

– Jane Addams

On this day

27 May – 3 June – National Reconciliation Week, which is celebrated in Australia every year on these dates. The dates commemorate two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey — the anniversaries of the successful 1967 referendum (27 May) and the High Court Mabo decision (3 June 1992). The 1967 referendum saw over 90 per cent of Australians vote to give the Commonwealth the power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and recognise them in the national census. On 3 June, 1992, the High Court of Australia delivered its landmark Mabo decision which legally recognised that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a special relationship to the land—that existed prior to colonisation and still exists today. This recognition paved the way for land rights called Native Title. 2012 marked the 20th anniversary of the Mabo decision. http://www.reconciliation.org.au/nrw

27 May 1703 – Tsar Peter the Great founds the Russian city of St Petersburg.

27 May 1907 – bubonic plague breaks out in San Francisco.

27 May 1911 – birth of Vincent Price, American actor, starred in a number of horror films, including House of Wax, House of Usher and The Raven. He also acted in the 1960s television series Batman, in which he played the evil mastermind, Egghead; a master criminal with a fixation on eggs. Price provided a voice-over on Alice Cooper’s 1975 album Welcome to My Nightmare. In 1976, Price recorded a cover version of Bobby Pickett song, Monster Mash. Died 25 October 1993.

27 May 1922 – birth of Christopher Lee, CBE, English actor and singer. Lee starred in hammer horror movies, including Dracula (in which he played the title character), Dracula has risen from the grave, Taste the Blood of Dracula, and Scars of Dracula. Fearing that he would become type-cast in horror roles as had happened to Vincent Price and Peter Cushing, he went in search of other roles. Lee starred in the 1974 James Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun. He played Saruman in Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit trilogies, and Count Dooku in two of the Star Wars prequel films, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Died 7 June 2015.

26 May 2018

untenable

[uhn-ten-uh-buh l]

adjective

1. incapable of being defended, as an argument, thesis, etc.; indefensible.
2. not fit to be occupied, as an apartment, house, etc.

Origin of untenable

1640-1650 First recorded in 1640-50; un-1+ tenable

Related forms

untenability, untenableness, noun

Synonyms

1. baseless, groundless, unsound, weak, questionable.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for untenable

Contemporary Examples

What exists now is unworkable, untenable, and damn near unendurable.
Memo to the South: Go Ahead, Secede Already!
Lee Siegel
April 30, 2013

Some calculating pol, realizing that his position had become unpopular or untenable, would execute a backflip off the high board.
The New Era of Evolution Helps Pols Switch Stance on Issues from Gay Marriage to Immigration
Howard Kurtz
April 3, 2013

The idea of suffering this nausea another day, let alone another 34 weeks, was untenable.
Prue Clarke on Her Battles With Kate Middleton’s Illness, Hyperemesis Gravidarum
Prue Clarke
December 5, 2012

The war between Israel and Hamas shows that the situation on the ground is fundamentally unstable and untenable.
The Death of Israel’s “Quality Minority”
Hussein Ibish
November 30, 2012

Historical Examples

Calendar surrendered an untenable position as gracefully as could be wished.
The Black Bag
Louis Joseph Vance

Without it, Pete’s claim would be so vague as to be untenable.
The Best Made Plans
Everett B. Cole

Have the distressed defenders of this untenable Citadel any such?
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 104, March 18, 1893
Various

The thought that He suffered through fear of death is untenable.
Jesus the Christ
James Edward Talmage

But he dismissed the notion as untenable and absurd on second thoughts.
The Wild Man of the West
R.M. Ballantyne

Anagram

nebula ten
enable nut
unbent ale

Today’s quote

Never ruin an apology with an excuse.

– Unknown

On this day

26 May – National Sorry Day. Since 1998, National Sorry Day occurs on 26 May every year to commemorate the maltreatment of Australia’s indigenous population.

26 May 1890 – Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, is released in England.

26 May 1913 – birth of Peter Cushing OBE, English actor who mostly appeared in Hammer Horror films, including The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula (in which he played vampire hunter, Van Helsing). Died 11 August 1994.

26 May 2012 – death of Festus, our beloved and most awesome budgie.

25 May 2018

portcullis

[pawrt-kuhl-is, pohrt-]

noun

1. (especially in medieval castles) a strong grating, as of iron, made to slide along vertical grooves at the sides of a gateway of a fortified place and let down to prevent passage.

Origin of portcullis

Middle English, Middle French

1300-1350; Middle English portecolys < Middle French porte coleice, equivalent to porte port4+ coleice, feminine of coleis flowing, sliding < Vulgar Latin *cōlātīcius; see coulee, -itious

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for portcullis

Historical Examples

When Corkran got to his portcullis, he thought he’d reached the reward of his labours.
It Happened in Egypt
C. N. Williamson

Bid the varlets lower the draw-bridge and raise the portcullis.
The Nebuly Coat
John Meade Falkner

Turning, they wished to flee into the castle and pull down the portcullis.
King Arthur’s Knights
Henry Gilbert

Anagram

citrus poll
pilot curls

Today’s quote

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

– Douglas Adams

On this day

25 May – Towel Day. A tribute to Douglas Adams, author of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, which states that a towel is ‘about the most massively useful thing that an interstellar hitchhiker can have‘. First held in 2001, two weeks after the death of Adams. Fans carry a towel with them on this day in appreciation of Adams and his work.

25 May 1999 – Bill Morgan, who had been resuscitated after spending 14 minutes clinically dead following a heart-attack, wins a $27,000 car from a Tatts Scratch lotto ticket. During a reenactment of the event for a Melbourne TV station, Bill won $250,000 from a Scratch-It ticket. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBYuxQBSc0o