24 October 2018

sanbenito

[san-buh-nee-toh]

noun, plural sanbenitos. (under the Spanish Inquisition)

1. an ornamented garment worn by a condemned heretic at an auto-da-fé.
2. a penitential garment worn by a confessed heretic, of yellow for the penitent, of black for the impenitent.

Origin of sanbenito

1550-1560; < Spanish, named after San Benito Saint Benedict, from its resemblance to the scapular believed to have been introduced by him

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for sanbenito

Historical Examples

I would rather have put on a sanbenito myself than have gone there.
The Spanish Brothers
Deborah Alcock

He had received 150,000 maraveds by selling to penitents exemptions from wearing the sanbenito, or penitential garment.
A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 1
Henry Charles Lea

This saco bendito became known as the sanbenito or, more commonly, abito and was necessarily inherited by the new Inquisition.
A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 3
Henry Charles Lea

Two years and a half were spent on the trials of Diego and Ana, ending with a sentence of irremissible prison and sanbenito.
A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 3
Henry Charles Lea

He continued his apostolate and, on a second trial, he was condemned to perpetual prison and sanbenito.
A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 3
Henry Charles Lea

Valer’s sanbenito was displayed for a long time in the metropolitan church of Seville.
The Story of Seville
Walter M. Gallichan

Anagram

into beans
Bosnia Ten
Bonsai net
neon baits
nine boats
bone satin

Today’s quote

Someone told me the other day that he felt bad for single people because they are lonely all the time. I told him that’s not true. I’m single and I don’t feel lonely. I take myself out to eat, I buy myself clothes. I have great times by myself. Once you know how to take care of yourself, company becomes an option and and not a necessity.

– Keanu Reeves

On this day

24 October 1648 – signing of the Treaty of Munster, between the Holy Roman Emperor, France and their respective allies. This treaty was the second in a series of peace treaties known as the Peace of Westphalia which paved the way for the modern sovereign state. The first was the Peace of Munster, signed on 30 January 1648, the third being the Treaty of Osnabruck, signed on 24 October 1648.

24 October 1648 – signing of the Treaty of Osnabruck, between the Holy Roman Emperor, the empire, Sweden and their respective allies. This treaty was the third in a series of peace treaties known as the Peace of Westphalia which paved the way for the modern sovereign state. The first was the Peace of Munster, signed on 30 January 1648, the second being the Treaty of Munster signed on 24 October 1648.

24 October 1929 – Black Thursday, one week before Wall Street’s infamous Black Tuesday and in a harbinger of the impending crash, investors dumped 13 million shares and the market lost 11% in value.

24 October 1930 – birth of Jiles Perry ‘J.P.’ Richardson Jr, otherwise known as the Big Bopper. 1950s rock and roll star, famous for songs such as ‘Chantilly Lace’ and ‘Running Bear’. Died in a plane crash on 3 February 1959 with other musicians, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, 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.

24 October 1945 – UN Day. The Charter of the United Nations took effect and the United Nations General Assembly declared that it ‘shall be devoted to making known to the peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations and to gaining their support for its work’.

23 October 2018

catechism

[kat-i-kiz-uh m]

noun

1. Ecclesiastical.
an elementary book containing a summary of the principles of the Christian religion, especially as maintained by a particular church, in the form of questions and answers.
the contents of such a book.
2. a similar book of instruction in other subjects.
3. a series of formal questions put, as to political candidates, to bring out their views.
4. catechetical instruction.

Origin of catechism

1495–1505; Late Latin catēchismus apparently equivalent to catēch(izāre) to catechize + -ismus -ism

Related forms

cat·e·chis·mal, adjective

Can be confused

cataclysm catechism

Dictionary.com

Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for catechism

examination, exam, questioning

Anagram

schematic
mice chats

Today’s quote

Fifty percent of people won’t vote, and fifty percent don’t read newspapers. I hope it’s the same fifty percent.

– Gore Vidal

On this day

23 October 4004BC – The day the world was created, according to Archbishop James Ussher.

23 October 42BC – death of Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger, for a while known as Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus before returning to his original name. He is more commonly known as Brutus, Roman senator. He led a group who assassinated then Emperor Julius Caesar. Brutus suicided after his Army was defeated during the Roman civil wars at the Second Battle of Philippi, by Mark Antony and Octavian.

23 October 1959 – birth of ‘Weird’ Al Yankovic, American parody singer-songwriter.

23 October 1998 – Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, establish a ‘Land for Peace’ deal regarding the West Bank, after a marathon 21 hour negotiation.

22 October 2018

brazier(1)or brasier

[brey-zher]

noun

1. a metal receptacle for holding live coals or other fuel, as for heating a room.
2. a simple cooking device consisting of a container of live coals covered by a grill or thin metal top upon which the food, usually meat, is placed.

Origin of brazier(1)

1680-1690; earlier brasier < F. See braise, -er2

brazier(2)or brasier

[brey-zher]

noun

1. a person who makes articles of brass.

Origin

1275-1325; Middle English brasier, equivalent to Old English bræsi(an) to work in brass + -er -er1

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for brazier

Contemporary Examples

Photos: Remnants of Lives Lost on MH17 brazier was not “sick.”
To Truly Shame Putin, Show Us the Bodies of MH17
Tim Teeman
July 22, 2014

One of the relatives of a man who died in the incident has branded brazier “sick.”
To Truly Shame Putin, Show Us the Bodies of MH17
Tim Teeman
July 22, 2014

“You whisked in, hard, some egg white and then poured it, bit by bit, onto the yolks in a bowl,” brazier later recalled.
The Queen of the French Kitchen
Katie Baker
March 26, 2014

Anagram

bizarre

Today’s quote

Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don’t wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it’s at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored.

– Earl Nightingale

On this day

22 October 1797 – Andre-Jacques Garnerin becomes the world’s first sky-diver after jumping out of a balloon above Paris.

22 October 1920 – birth 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. Died 31 May 1996.

22 October 1934 – Notorious gangster, Pretty Boy Floyd, shot to death by FBI agents in Ohio. Born 3 February 1904.

21 October 2018

cinnabar

[sin-uh-bahr]

noun

1. a mineral, mercuric sulfide, HgS, occurring in red crystals or masses: the principal ore of mercury.
2. red mercuric sulfide, used as a pigment.
3. bright red; vermillion.

Origin of cinnabar

Middle English Latin Greek

1350-1400; Latin cinnabaris < Greek kinnábari?; replacing Middle English cynoper < Medieval Latin, Latin as above

Related forms

cinnabarine [sin-uh-buh-reen, -ber-in, -bahr-ahyn, -een] (Show IPA), cinnabaric [sin-uh-bar-ik], adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for cinnabar

Historical Examples

Only one deposit of cinnabar has so far been discovered, that was in 1867.
British Borneo
W. H. Treacher

For I have seen the Roof-ridge red in the sunlight as if it were painted with cinnabar.
The House of the Wolfings
William Morris

Them men as works in cinnabar sooner or later gets salviated.
Mrs. Skaggs’s Husbands and Other Stories
Bret Harte

cinnabar is an object which constrains us to think it as heavy and red.
A Commentary to Kant’s ‘Critique of Pure Reason’
Norman Kemp Smith

Anagram

ran cabin
a crab inn

Today’s quote

There’s no geographical solution to an emotional problem.

– Tony Soprano (Played by James Gandolfini, The Sopranos Season 6, Part 2, episode 4)

On this day

21 October 1492 – Christopher Columbus discovers America.

21 October 1772 – birth of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet. Died 25 July 1834.

21 October 1833 – birth of Alfred Bernhard Nobel, Swedish chemist and armaments manufacturer, inventor of dynamite and the Nobel Prizes. Was known as the ‘Merchant of Death’. A newspaper stated that he ‘became rich by finding ways to kill people faster than ever before‘. As a result, he decided to leave a better legacy than that and used his estate to establish and fund the Nobel Prizes, which included the Nobel Peace Prize. Died 10 December 1896.

21 October 1966 – The Aberfan disaster in which the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip in the Welsh village of Aberfan, killed 116 children and 28 adults.

21 October 1967 – Thousands of anti-Vietnam-war protestors attempt to storm the Pentagon.

21 October 1969 – death of Jack Kerouac, American beat-generation writer, ‘On the road‘. Born 12 March 1922.

21 October 2015 – Back to the Future Day. At 4.29pm on 21 October 2015, Doc Emmett Brown and Marty McFly arrived from the year 1955 in a time machine made from a Delorean in the hit 1989 film, Back to the Future 2. Apart from the time machine, the most famous invention featured in the movie was the hoverboard.

19 October 2018

encomienda

[en-koh-mee-en-duh, -kom-ee-; Spanish eng-kaw-myen-dah]

noun, plural encomiendas [en-koh-mee-en-duh z, -kom-ee-; Spanish eng-kaw-myen-dahs] (formerly in Spanish America)

1. the system, instituted in 1503, under which a Spanish soldier or colonist was granted a tract of land or a village together with its Indian inhabitants.
2. the land or village together with its inhabitants.
Origin of encomienda Expand

1800-1810; Spanish: charge, commission, recommendation. See en-1, commend

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for encomienda

Historical Examples

This was known as the system of Repartimiento, or encomienda.
The History of Cuba, vol. 1
Willis Fletcher Johnson

The encomienda of Taytay is inhabited by five hundred Indians.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803, Volume V., 1582-1583
Various

Temanduque is also an encomienda, with five hundred Indians.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803, Volume V., 1582-1583
Various

The encomienda of Maragondon, with four hundred and fifty men.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803, Volume V., 1582-1583
Various

The said encomienda is instructed and visited with difficulty.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume VIII (of 55), 1591-1593
Emma Helen Blair

Where it was already under cultivation by the native peasants, they were turned into serfs attached to the encomienda.
South America Observations and Impressions
James Bryce

The régime of the encomienda, the mitas and the yanaconazgo had produced only a formal subjection of the natives.
The Social Evolution of the Argentine Republic
Ernesto Quesada

Your Majesty has commanded that no offices or places of profit shall be given to those who hold Indians in encomienda.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume XIV., 1606-1609
Various

Consequently, the encomienda of that large island was very desirable.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 – Volume 41 of 55, 1691-1700
Various

But abuses arose and the encomienda system was gradually abolished.
The Colonization of North America
Herbert Eugene Bolton

Contemporary definitions for encomienda

noun

in the US, a land grant system started in 1503 which gave certain Spaniards an estate or tract of land in America as well as the Native American inhabitants of that land; also, this tract of land and its inhabitants

Examples

Encomienda provided for Indian tribute in exchange for protection and Christian instruction.
Usage Note
encomendero n

Dictionary.com’s 21st Century Lexicon
Copyright © 2003-2014 Dictionary.com, LLC

Word Origin and History for encomienda

n. 1810, from Spanish, “commission,” from encomendar “to commit, charge.” Estate granted to a Spaniard in America with powers to tax the Indians.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Anagram

canine mode
canoed mine
menaced ion
iceman done
nomad niece
named on ice
damn ice eon
code in name

Today’s quote

In a serious struggle there is no worse cruelty than to be magnanimous at an inopportune time.

– Leon Trotsky

On this day

19 October 1924 – Leon Trotsky, one of the founders of the Soviet Union and founder of the Red Army, is thrown out of the Soviet Politburo and his followers persecuted after he opposed Stalin. Trotsky was eventually expelled from the Communist Party and in 1929 was deported from the Soviet Union. He continued his opposition to Stalinism from his base in Mexico.

19 October 1944 – birth of Peter Tosh, Jamaican reggae singer and musician. From 1963 to 1974, Tosh was a member of Bob Marley and Wailers until going solo. His most famous song is ‘Legalize It’, about legalising marijuana. Tosh’s album, ‘Bush Doctor’, included a duet with Mick Jagger in the song, ‘Don’t Look Back’. Tosh was a Rastafarian. He campaigned against apartheid, which he sang about on his album ‘Equal Rights’. Tosh was murdered on 11 September 1987, after three men broke into his house and tortured him in an effort to extort money. After several hours, one of the men shot Tosh in the head, killing him. Two other friends of Tosh’s were also killed.

19 October 2001 – 353 asylum seekers drown when the boat they are on sinks 70km south of Java. The victims included 146 children, 142 women and 65 men. They were travelling from Indonesia to Australia and were predominantly Iraqi. Australian authorities labelled the boat SIEV-X (SIEV is short for ‘Suspected Illegal Entry Vehicle’). The incident became a major political issue and coupled with other incidents, such as the ‘Tampa crisis’ and the ‘Children Overboard affair’, resulted in major changes to Australia’s migration laws, including excising 4,600 islands from Australia’s migration zone and introduction of the controversial ‘Pacific Solution’.

18 October 2018

paternoster

[pey-ter-nos-ter, pah‐, pat-er‐]

noun

1. (often initial capital letter). Also, Pater Noster. the Lord’s Prayer, especially in the Latin form.
2. a recitation of this prayer as an act of worship.
3. one of certain beads in a rosary, regularly every 11th bead, differing in size or material from the rest and indicating that the Lord’s Prayer is to be said.
4. any fixed recital of words used as a prayer or magical charm.
5. a doorless, continuously moving elevator for passengers or goods, having numerous platforms or compartments that rise or descend on a moving chain.
6. (initial capital letter) Architecture. pearl molding.

Origin of paternoster

Latin

1000 before 1000; Middle English, Old English: Lord’s prayer < Latin pater noster our father, its first two words in the Vulgate (Matthew VI: 9
pearl molding

noun, Architecture.

1. a molding having the form of a row of pearls.

Also called bead molding, Paternoster.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for paternoster

Historical Examples

paternoster rises sheer from the water to a height of more than 900 feet.
The Last Voyage
Lady (Annie Allnutt) Brassey

I will say my paternoster in English with anybody, and my Belief too, for that matter.
In the Days of Drake
J. S. Fletcher

Christians we are,” said Pharaoh, “and will say our paternoster and Credo with any man.
In the Days of Drake
J. S. Fletcher

Death gave him time only to recite an Ave Maria, and a paternoster.
Italian Popular Tales
Thomas Frederick Crane

Not a thought of prayer, not one paternoster entered his mind.
The French Prisoners of Norman Cross
Arthur Brown

She began to repeat her paternoster, but she forgot how the words came.
Stories By English Authors: France
Various

She had not been able to pray; ave and paternoster alike had failed her.
Remember the Alamo
Amelia E. Barr

Some said “Our Father” and some ” paternoster,” and they all meant the same.
The Transformation of Job
Frederick Vining Fisher

Such a bill as came in this week past from a silkman in paternoster Row!
It Might Have Been
Emily Sarah Holt

Then to paternoster Row to buy things for my wife against her going.
Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete
Samuel Pepys

Anagram

eastern port
neater sport
parent store
near protest

Today’s quote

Modern slavery is a hidden crime and notoriously difficult to measure.

– Mo Ibrahim

On this day

18 October – Anti-slavery day, created by an act of the U.K. Parliament in 2010. It defines modern day slavery as child trafficking, forced labour, domestic servitude and trafficking for sexual exploitation. It provides an opportunity to draw attention to the subject and to pressure government, local authorities, public institutions and private and public companies to address the scale and scope of human trafficking.

18 October 1776 – the ‘cocktail’ is invented when a customer requests a drink decorated with a bird-tail, in a New York bar.

18 October 1867 – Formal transfer of Alaska from Russia to the United States. Every year, 18 October is celebrated as Alaska Day.

18 October 1926 – birth of Chuck Berry, legendary American musician and pioneer of rock and roll and famous for songs such as ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ and ‘Johnny B. Goode’. Died 18 March 2017.

18 October 1931 – death of Thomas Edison, U.S. inventor. Born 11 February 1847.

17 October 2018

cherchez la femme

[sher-shey la-fam]

French.

1. look for the woman: advice offered facetiously in any situation, especially one of doubt or mystery.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for cherchez la femme

Historical Examples

I dare say that wasn’t all of it—might have been cherchez la femme, don’t you think?
The Gentleman From Indiana
Booth Tarkington

It is sometimes just as poignant to say, ‘Cherchez l’homme’ as, ‘ cherchez la femme.’
The Rhodesian
Gertrude Page

They drink in order to say or do something or cherchez la femme.
Ulysses
James Joyce

In reply I can only quote the old saying, cherchez la femme.
Glories of Spain
Charles W. Wood

Oh, yes, Prescott sniffed; distrust the obvious is as hackneyed a phrase as cherchez la femme !
The Luminous Face
Carolyn Wells

This is not a cherchez la femme story, so we will leave the lady’s name out of it altogether.
A Little Book of Christmas
John Kendrick Bangs

Win was instantly sure that here was the man in the case; now, cherchez la femme !
Winnie Childs
C. N. Williamson

Someone has said that ” cherchez la femme ” is written over every phase of Parisian life, and the thing is true.
In Vanity Fair
Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd

But when a man acts with apparently inexplicable foolishness, it is generally safe to say, ” cherchez la femme !”
Anti-Suffrage Essays
Various

“ cherchez la femme,” one comic paper had the audacity to remark, propos l’affaire Svensen and Burnley.
Mystery at Geneva
Rose Macaulay

Word Origin and History for cherchez la femme

French, literally “seek the woman,” on the notion that a woman is the cause for whatever crime has been committed, first used by Alexandre Dumas père in “Les Mohicans de Paris” (1864) in the form cherchons la femme. French chercher is from Latin circare, in Late Latin “to wander hither and thither,” from circus “circle” (see circus ).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Anagram

feel Czech hammer

Today’s quote

Fun is one of the most important – and underrated – ingredients in any successful venture. If you’re not having fun, then it’s probably time to call it quits and try something else.

– Richard Branson

On this day

17 October 1814 – London Beer Flood causes the deaths of 8 people. The flood occurred when a vat containing 610,000 litres (135,000 gallons) of beer ruptured, causing other vats in the building to also rupture, resulting in a total of 1,470,000 litres (323,000 gallons) to flood nearby streets, destroying two homes and the wall of a pub. Those killed were living in the basement of houses which filled with the beer. The brewery was sued, however, the court ruled the event an ‘Act of God’.

17 October 1901 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt issues an Executive Order changing name of the ‘Executive Mansion’ to the ‘White House’.

17 October 1938 – birth of U.S. daredevil, Evel Knievel (Robert Craig Knievel). Knievel was best known for his failed attempt to jump over the Grand Canyon on a rocket-propelled motor-bike. He also successfully, and often unsuccessfully, attempted long distance motor-bike jumps, such as jumping 14 buses. Through his career, Knievel broke 35 bones. Died 30 November 2007.

17 October 1989 – Mother Teresa awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

17 October 2010 – Mary McKillop is canonised by Pope Benedict XVI, becoming Australia’s first saint.

17 October 2011 – Richard Branson, of Virgin Group, opens the world’s first commercial space-port, which he has based in Mexico. Although there have been a number of sub-space test flights, to date there have been no commercial space flights.

16 October 2018

knavery

[ney-vuh-ree]

noun, plural knaveries.

1. action or practice characteristic of a knave.
2. unprincipled, untrustworthy, or dishonest dealing; trickery.
3. a knavish act or practice.

Origin of knavery

1520-1530 First recorded in 1520-30; knave + -ery

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for knavery

Historical Examples

They know that their knavery is no secret but they don’t mind.
Albert Durer
T. Sturge Moore

To “resist not evil” seemed to him then only a rather feeble sort of knavery.
Dr. Sevier
George W. Cable

From this retreat we could see the proof of knavery in the villages below.
John Splendid
Neil Munro

Anagram

ark envy

Today’s quote

The truth is rarely pure and never simple.

– Oscar Wilde

On this day

16 October – Dictionary Day (in the U.S.A), coinciding with the birth of Noah Webster (born 1758), creator of Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language and known as the ‘Father of American Scholarship and Education’.

16 October 1834 – London’s House of Lords and House of Commons damaged by fire caused by an over-heating chimney flue during the destruction of tally sticks.

16 October 1854 – birth of Oscar Wilde, Irish writer and poet. Wilde wrote a number of plays, poems and epigrams. His only novel was ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’. His plays included ‘The Importance of Being Ernest’, and ‘Salome’. In addition to English, he was fluent in German and French. In 1895, Wilde was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ which related to some of his homosexual relationships. He received the maximum sentence of two years hard labour. On his release from prison in 1897, Wilde moved to Paris, living in exile and poverty. He died on 30 November 1900 from cerebral meningitis. He was buried at Cimetière de Bagneux, but in 1909 his remains were transferred to Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris.

16 October 1962 – start of the Cuban Missile Crisis, known in Cuba as the October Crisis and in Russia as Kарибский кризис (Caribbean Crisis), one of the major events of the Cold War as it brought the world to the brink of nuclear conflict. It started when a USAF U-2 plane photographed evidence of Soviet air bases being constructed in Cuba on 14 October 1962. The U.S. considered bombing the bases, but ended up blockading Cuba, preventing Soviet weapons being delivered. Soviet President Nikita Khrushchev wrote to U.S. President John F. Kennedy, stating the blockade constituted an act of war. For 13 days, the Americans and Soviets conducted talks to resolve the crisis. On 28 October 1962, Kennedy and UN Secretary General U. Thant reached a public and secret agreement with Khrushchev. Publicly, the Soviets agreed to dismantle their weapons in Cuba, while the U.S. gave an agreement to never invade Cuba. Secretly, the U.S. agreed to dismantle its ballistic missiles in Turkey.