6 January 2018

prorogue

[proh-rohg]

verb (used with object), prorogued, proroguing.

1. to discontinue a session of (the British Parliament or a similar body).
2. to defer; postpone.

Origin of prorogue

late Middle English Latin

1375-1425; late Middle English proroge < Latin prōrogāre to prolong, protract, defer, literally, to ask publicly, equivalent to prō- pro-1+ rogāre to ask, propose

Related forms

prorogation [proh-ruh-gey-shuh n] (Show IPA), noun
nonprorogation, noun
unprorogued, adjective

Synonyms

1. suspend.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for prorogue

Historical Examples

The sovereign had never dared to prorogue them against their will, they argued.
The Scottish Parliament
Robert S. (Robert Sangster) Rait

This view of q bears upon the theory of words like prorogue, &c.
The English Language
Robert Gordon Latham

The Governor had the right to summon, to prorogue, and to dissolve the Assembly.
Give Me Liberty
Thomas J. Wertenbaker

The Governor may prorogue or dissolve the Legislative Assembly by proclamation or otherwise whenever the Governor considers it expedient.
Queensland Constitution

Anagram

grope our
pour ogre
urge poor

Today’s quote

How terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to he that is wise.

– Sophocles

On this day

6 January – the Epiphany, which commemorates when the Three Wise Men of the East (the Magi) visited the baby Jesus, with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The Epiphany is celebrated the day after the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’, which conclude on 5 January.

6 January 1925 – birth of John DeLorean, founder of the DeLorean Motor Company in Detroit, Michigan. The DeLorean with Gull-Wing doors was featured in the movie, ‘Back to the Future‘.

6 January 1973 – one of Hitler’s cars, a Mercedes 770K sedan, was auctioned on this day for $153,000,000.

6 January 1994 – Figure-skater Nancy Kerrigan is knee-capped in a violent attack as she was about to speak to reporters. Her rival, Tonya Harding, was accused of orchestrating the attack, resulting in Harding and four men being charged and sentenced to jail.

6 January 2005 – Ku Klux Klan leader, Ray Killen, is arrested and charged over the murders of three civil rights activists in Philadelphia, more than 40 years previously. On 21 June 2005, (exactly 41 years to the day of the murders) Killen is found guilty of three counts of manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years jail on each count.

4 January 2018

bestial

[bes-chuh l, bees-]

adjective

1. of, relating to, or having the form of a beast :
the belief that a person could assume bestial form after death; the bestial signs of the zodiac.
2. without reason or intelligence; brutal; inhuman:
bestial treatment of prisoners.
3. beastlike in gratifying one’s sensual desires; carnal; debased.

Origin of bestial

Middle English Anglo-French Late Latin Latin

1350-1400; Middle English (< Anglo-French) < Late Latin bēstiālis (Latin bēsti(a) beast + -ālis -al1)

Related forms
bestially, adverb

Dictionary.com

Anagram

sit able
set bale

Today’s quote

The fewer our wants the more we resemble the Gods.

– Socrates

On this day

4 January – the eleventh day of the 12 days of Christmas (Western Christianity).

4 January 1903 – Thomas Edison electrocutes an elephant to prove the dangers of ‘alternating current’ electricity. He had previously electrocuted stray cats and dogs and even horses and cows. He snidely referred to it as ‘getting Westinghoused’. Topsy, the elephant, had squashed 4 trainers at the Luna Park Zoo on Coney Island, so the zoo had decided to hang her, before someone suggested she ‘ride the lightning’. More on this at http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/01/dayintech_0104

4 January 1961 – death of Erwin Schrödinger, Nobel prize-winning Austrian physicist who developed a number of fundamental results in the field of quantum theory, which formed the basis of wave mechanics. He was the author of many works in various fields of physics: statistical mechanics and thermodynamics, physics of dielectrics, colour theory, electrodynamics, general relativity, and cosmology, and he made several attempts to construct a unified field theory. He paid great attention to the philosophical aspects of science, ancient and oriental philosophical concepts, ethics, and religion.[4] He also wrote on philosophy and theoretical biology. He is also known for his “Schrödinger’s cat” thought-experiment. Born 12 August 1887.

4 January 1965 – death of Thomas Stearns Eliot (T.S. Eliot), poet, playwright, publisher, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, described as ‘arguably the most important English language poet of the 20th century’. Wrote ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock‘, ‘The Waste Land‘, ‘Ash Wednesday‘, ‘The Hollow Men‘. Born 26 September 1888.

3 January 2018

axiom

[ak-see-uh m]

noun

1. a self-evident truth that requires no proof.
2. a universally accepted principle or rule.
3. Logic, Mathematics. a proposition that is assumed without proof for the sake of studying the consequences that follow from it.

Origin of axiom

Latin

1475-1485; < Latin axiōma < Greek: something worthy, equivalent to axiō-, variant stem of axioûn to reckon worthy + -ma resultative

noun suffix

Can be confused

adage, aphorism, apothegm, axiom, maxim, proverb.
assumption, axiom, premise, presumption.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for axiom

Contemporary Examples

Whether or not Hippocrates ever actually said “First, do no harm,” the axiom is central to medical ethics.
Why So Many Surgeons Are Psychos
Russell Saunders
December 16, 2014

Jakes says he believes in the axiom that the act of forgiveness is not really a gift to others as much as it is a gift to oneself.
Bishop T.D. Jakes on His New Book and Whitney Houston’s Death
Allison Samuels
March 9, 2012

Historical Examples

It is an axiom in all progress that the more we conquer the more easily we conquer.
The Conquest of Fear
Basil King

Anagram

am I ox

Today’s quote

All your children are poor, unfortunate victims of lies you believe. A plague upon your ignorance which keeps the young form the truth they deserve.

– Frank Zappa

On this day

3 January – the tenth day of the 12 days of Christmas (Western Christianity).

3 January 106BC – birth of Marcus Tullius Cicero (sometimes anglicised as Tully), Roman statesman, politician, philosopher, orator. Tully’s influence on Latin and other European languages was immense and still felt up to the 19th century. The history of prose in Latin and other languages was said to be either a reaction against, or a return to, his style. Died 7 December 43BC.

3 January 1521 – Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.

3 January 1892 – birth of J.R.R. Tolkien, author of ‘The Hobbit‘ and ‘Lord of the Rings‘. Died 2 September 1973. ‘The road goes ever on … ‘

3 January 1956 – birth of Mel Gibson, Australian actor.

3 January 1962 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.

3 January 1969 – birth of Michael Schumacher, German Formula 1 racing car driver.

3 January 1977 – Apple Computers is incorporated.

2 January 2018

ergot

[ur-guh t, -got]

noun

1. Plant Pathology.
a disease of rye and other cereal grasses, caused by a fungus of the genus Claviceps, especially C. purpurea, which replaces the affected grain with a long, hard, blackish sclerotial body.
the sclerotial body itself.
2. Pharmacology. the dried sclerotium of C. purpurea, developed on rye plants: used in the production of ergotamine and ergotoxine.

Origin of ergot

Old French

1675-1685; French: literally, a rooster’s spur; Old French argos, argoz, argot spur(s)

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for ergot

Historical Examples

A peculiar variety of sugar, extracted by alcohol from ergot of rye.
Cooley’s Practical Receipts, Volume II
Arnold Cooley

All the poisonous symptoms of ergot are induced from continuously partaking of bread made with ergot ised flour.
Cooley’s Cyclopdia of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades…, Sixth Edition, Volume I
Arnold Cooley

To prevent this the ergot should be well dried, and then placed in bottles or tin canisters, and closely preserved from the air.
Cooley’s Cyclopdia of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades…, Sixth Edition, Volume I
Arnold Cooley

The ergot is placed in a wide-mouth stoppered bottle, and covered with a thick layer of the powdered charcoal.
Cooley’s Cyclopdia of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades…, Sixth Edition, Volume I
Arnold Cooley

A small quantity of ether is dropped on the ergot contained in a bottle, and the latter closed with a well-fitting stopper.
Cooley’s Cyclopdia of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades…, Sixth Edition, Volume I
Arnold Cooley

M. Tancret states that he has succeeded in obtaining an alkaloid from ergot of rye, which he names ergot inine.
Cooley’s Cyclopdia of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades…, Sixth Edition, Volume I
Arnold Cooley

According to M. Bonjean, this preparation possesses all the hmostatic without any of the poisonous qualities of ergot.
Cooley’s Cyclopdia of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades…, Sixth Edition, Volume I
Arnold Cooley

There was ergot in it, cleverly concealed by the natural smell and taste of the sauce.
The Social Gangster
Arthur B. Reeve

The history of ergot of Rye is too fresh in the memory of most people to require more than an allusion here.
Epidemics Examined and Explained: or, Living Germs Proved by Analogy to be a Source of Disease
John Grove

ergot and turpentine are administered in case of hemorrhage—the former best, perhaps, hypodermatically.
A System of Practical Medicine By American Authors, Vol. II
Various

Anagram

or get

Today’s quote

In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we’ve discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We’ve learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose.

– Jimmy Carter

On this day

2 January – the ninth day of the 12 days of Christmas (Western Christianity).

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

2 January 1979 – Sid Vicious, former bass player with the Sex Pistols, goes on trial for the murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spugen. Vicious and Spungen had allegedly been using heroin, and Vicious claimed he woke to find her dead on the bathroom floor. He was released on bail on 1 February 1979. It was later revealed that Mick Jagger paid the bail. That night he celebrated his release with friends. Vicious had stopped using heroin, however, his mother provided some that night. Early the following morning (2 February 1979), Vicious died of an overdose.

1 January 2018

élan

[ey-lahn, ey-lan; French ey-lahn]

noun

1. dash; impetuous ardor:
to dance with great élan.
2. a combination of style and vigour: he performed the concerto with élan

Origin of élan

Middle French

1875-1880; French, Middle French eslan a dash, rush, noun derivative of eslancer to dart, equivalent to es- ex-1+ lancer to lance1

Can be confused

éclat, élan.

Dictionary.com

Contemporary Examples

The romance of elan energized the volunteers who flocked to the colors in the early years of the struggle.
Lawrence of Arabia Became Popular as the Dashing Antithesis of the War in Europe
Jack Schwartz
December 21, 2013

Now that we know about DNA, we no longer need an elan vital.
Is the Brain No Different From a Light Switch? The Uncomfortable Ideas of the Philosopher Daniel Dennett
Jonathan Weiner
May 19, 2013

As the indictment notes, Martoma was regarded by an SAC official as a “one-trick pony with elan.”
The Insider-Trading Cloud Hanging Over SAC Capital’s Steven A. Cohen
Daniel Gross
November 27, 2012

Historical Examples

Besides, there isnt any dead body awaiting his elan on that ship or any ship.
A Place in the Sun
C.H. Thames

The course of the aqueduct from elan to Birmingham was marked by a thin red line.
The Blue Germ
Martin Swayne

My friend Sarakoff and I introduced the germ that we discovered into the elan reservoirs.
The Blue Germ
Martin Swayne

On the north lay the river elan and on the south the steep side of a mountain towered up against the luminous sky.
The Blue Germ
Martin Swayne

elan was its characteristic—but it was hard to reduce to the stratified regularity of an army.
Four Years in Rebel Capitals
T. C. DeLeon

Daim is the French for deer, and cerf for stag; elan is the true term, when one would speak of an elk.
The Last of the Mohicans
James Fenimore Cooper

It was not an ordinary movement, but an intense rush made with all the elan and vigour of hardy and highly-trained men.
The Lady of the Shroud
Bram Stoker

Anagram

lean
lane

Today’s quote

Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood, let alone believed, by the masses.

– Plato

On this day

1 January – the eighth day of the 12 days of Christmas (Western Christianity).

1 January – the official birthday for all thoroughbred horses in the Northern Hemisphere. (see 1 August for Southern Hemisphere).

1 January 1901 – Federation of Australia. The six self-governing colonies in Australia formed a single nation known as the Commonwealth of Australia.

1 January 1915 – Battle of Broken Hill. Two Turkish men shot dead four people and wounded seven others in the remote Australian town of Broken Hill, New South Wales. They claimed it was in relation to ongoing hostilities between the Ottoman Empire and the British Empire.

1 January 1942 – the United Nations is established by representatives of 26 nations in order to enforce peace-keeping campaigns throughout the world. There are now 193 member states and 2 non-member states (the Holy See and Palestine).

1 January 1959 – Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista flees Cuba following a revolution led by Fidel Castro. Batista allegedly fled with around $700 million of art and cash, the result of graft and corruption.

1 January 1985 – the UK’s first mobile phone call is made by British comedian, Ernie Wise (from ‘Morecombe and Wise’), to Vodafone.

31 December 2017

halitosis

[hal-i-toh-sis]

noun

1. a condition of having offensive-smelling breath; bad breath.

Origin of halitosis

1870-1875 From New Latin, dating back to 1870-75; See origin at halitus, -osis

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for halitosis

Contemporary Examples

Otherwise the halitosis of the old, their extreme make up and the heavy jewels they wear on their tired ears, get in the way.
The 10 Rules of Kissing Hello
Claire Howorth
September 4, 2010

Anagram

Haiti loss
hoist sail
it so hails

Today’s quote

Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness.

– Anne Frank

On this day

31 December – the seventh day of the 12 days of Christmas (Western Christianity).

31 December 1948 – birth of Disco star, Donna Summer. Died 17 May 2012.

31 December 1967 – Evel Knievel unsuccessfully attempts a motorcycle jump over the fountains of Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. He received concussion and numerous broken bones, which left him in a coma for 29 days.

31 December 2007 – Murder statistics in the United States reveal that murder rate is 0.055 per head of population, which is slightly less than it was in 1947, when the rate was 0.0551. The population in 1947 was 145,000,000 and there were 8,000 murders. In 2007, the population was 300,000,000 and there were 16,500 murders.

30 December 2017

Poujadism

/ˈpuːʒɑːdɪzəm/

noun

1. a conservative reactionary movement to protect the business interests of small traders

Derived Forms

Poujadist, noun, adjective

Word Origin
named after Pierre Poujade (1920–2003), French publisher and bookseller who founded such a movement in 1954
Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example

It is a mistake to disqualify such people as racist. Their concerns are widespread, genuine and not to be dismissed. Unfortunately, populist xenophobes such as Nigel Farage exploit these emotions, linking them to subterranean English nationalism and talking, as he did in the moment of victory, of the triumph of “real people, ordinary people, decent people”. This is the language of Orwell hijacked for the purposes of a Poujade.
As an English European, this is the biggest defeat of my political life
Timothy Garton Ash
The Guardian
24 June 2016

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/commentisfree/2016/jun/24/lifelong-english-european-the-biggest-defeat-of-my-political-life-timothy-garton-ash-brexit

Anagram

adios jump
jam duo sip
I jump soda

Today’s quote

I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.

– Angela Davis

On this day

30 December – the sixth day of the 12 days of Christmas (Western Christianity).

30 December 1922 – Lenin establishes the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

30 December 1945 – birth of Davy Jones, singer with British 1960’s rock band, The Monkees. Died 29 February 2012.

30 December 2006 – Former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, hanged after being found guilty of committing crimes against humanity.