17 December 2018

umami

[oo-mah-mee]

noun

a strong meaty taste imparted by glutamate and certain other amino acids: often considered to be one of the basic taste sensations along with sweet, sour, bitter, and salty.

Origin of umami

1975–80; < Japanese: savory quality, delicious taste

Dictionary.com

Contemporary Examples

This unsmoked, wet-cured ham is the sine qua non of Parisian butcher shops: a light, ephemeral meat, sweet but umami.
Easter’s Top Five Hams
Mark Scarbrough
March 30, 2010

If “umami” was recently accepted into the lexicon…maybe “tomato-ey” isn’t that far behind.
The Only Food That Matters
Katie Workman
August 18, 2009

Today’s quote

Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay.

– Simone de Beauvoir

On this day

17 December 1770 – baptism of Ludwig von Beethoven, German composer. One of the world’s most influential composers. He composed 9 symphonies, 5 concertos for piano, 32 piano sonatos and 16 string quartets. Died 26 March 1827.

17 December 1903 – Orville and Wilbur Wright makes the world’s first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air flight.

17 December 2010 – death of Don Van Vliet, American singer, songwriter, musician and artist, best known as Captain Beefheart. He used a rotating ensemble of musicians, called the Magic Band. Beefheart’s music was very avant-garde, blending jazz, psychedelia, blues and rock. He was friends with Frank Zappa and sometimes collaborated with him. His experimental and unrestrained style of music complimented Zappa’s often experimental but highly disciplined work. English DJ, John Peel, describe Captain Beefheart as, ‘a psychedelic shaman who frequently bullied his musicians and sometimes alarmed his fans, Don somehow remained one of rock’s great innocents‘. Born 15 January 1941.

27 November 2018

trammel

[tram-uh l]

noun

1. Usually, trammels. a hindrance or impediment to free action; restraint:
the trammels of custom.
2. an instrument for drawing ellipses.
3. Also called tram. a device used to align or adjust parts of a machine.
4. trammel net.
5. a fowling net.
6. a contrivance hung in a fireplace to support pots or kettles over the fire.
7. a fetter or shackle, especially one used in training a horse to amble.
verb (used with object), trammeled, trammeling or (especially British) trammelled, trammelling.
8. to involve or hold in trammels; restrain.
9. to catch or entangle in or as in a net.

Origin of trammel

Middle English, Middle French, Late Latin

1325-1375; Middle English tramayle < Middle French tramail, variant of tremail three-mesh net < Late Latin trēmaculum, equivalent to Latin trē(s) three + macula mesh

Related forms

trammeler; especially British, trammeller, noun
untrammeled, adjective
untrammelled, adjective

Synonyms

1. drag, hobble, curb, inhibition. 8. hinder, impede, obstruct, encumber.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for trammel

Historical Examples

What need have we of these brutal proofs which trammel our liberty?
English Conferences of Ernest Renan
Ernest Renan

Reason is confined within none of the partitions which trammel it in life.
The Book-lover
James Baldwin

I shall not trammel you with any restrictions or annoy you with any advice.
The Deep Lake Mystery
Carolyn Wells

The libraries have not killed sincerity; they have done no more than trammel it.
A Novelist on Novels
W. L. George

The most correct method of drawing an ellipse is by means of an instrument termed a trammel, which is shown in Figure 83.
Mechanical Drawing Self-Taught
Joshua Rose

A trammel was found in the solid substance of a tree in Onondaga.
Personal Memoirs Of A Residence Of Thirty Years With The Indian Tribes On The American Frontiers
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

Free-Will and Providence do not trammel each other, but harmoniously co-operate to the same end.
Homer’s Odyssey
Denton J. Snider

The bar is set with the index at zero, and the trammel is set at the muzzle velocity used in the computation for the shot.
The Gunner’s Examiner
Harold E. Cloke

This veto power was a trammel, and an unnecessary restraint on the freedom of legislation.
History of the Constitutions of Iowa
Benjamin F. Shambaugh

The National Assembly, sovereign and philosophic, soars above their errors, their trammel ; and their example.
The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 2 (of 6)
Hippolyte A. Taine

Today’s quote

Hate is a bottomless cup; I will pour and pour.

― Euripides

On this day

27 November 1940 – birth of Bruce Lee. (born as Lee Jun-fan), martial artist and actor. Died 20 July 1973.

27 November 1942 – birthday of Jimi Hendrix. American guitarist and singer-songwriter. Died 18 September 1970.

27 November 1975 – Ross McWhirter, co-founder of the Guinness Book of World Records, is shot dead outside his house in North London. Police suspect the Irish Republican Army (IRA) of the murder, as McWhirter had posted a £50,000 reward for information that lead to the arrest of IRA bombers.

27 November 1999 – Helen Clark is elected as New Zealand’s first female Prime Minister. She represented the centre-left of the Labour Party.

25 November 2018

vagary

[vuh-gair-ee, vey-guh-ree]

noun, plural vagaries.

1. an unpredictable or erratic action, occurrence, course, or instance:
the vagaries of weather; the vagaries of the economic scene.
2. a whimsical, wild, or unusual idea, desire, or action.

Origin of vagary

Latin

1565-1575, in sense “wandering journey”; apparently < Latin vagārī to wander

Synonyms

2. caprice, whim, quirk, crotchet.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for vagary

Historical Examples

How near they would pass depended on the vagary of the waves and the tide.
Blow The Man Down
Holman Day

The storm still raged, and she thought it was a vagary of the lightning.
Southern Stories
Various

What vagary had sent a girl who looked like this upon such a task!
Before the Dawn
Joseph Alexander Altsheler

If we could civilize our schools, we should have no mention of legislation by vagary.
The Ethics of Medical Homicide and Mutilation
Austin O’Malley

So, Stephen, after a lifetime of vagary and wandering, this is the result.
The Pillar of Light
Louis Tracy

They longed for a vagary into the country, and now they are fitted.
The Works of John Marston
John Marston

Now all the weird fancies of the night had been just a vagary of mind.
Bulldog Carney
W. A. Fraser

He was ready for any illusion, susceptible to any vagary of the imagination.
The World For Sale, Complete
Gilbert Parker

In this particular case, however, Bertram’s vagary of fancy had some excuse.
Miss Billy
Eleanor H. Porter

But such is the vagary of the human mind, that safety was the least of his thoughts.
The Broncho Rider Boys with the Texas Rangers
Frank Fowler

Today’s quote

Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing.

– Euripides

On this day

5 November 1947 – The ‘Hollywood Ten’ are blacklisted for their allegiance with, or sympathy for the American Communist Party. They were cited for Contempt of Congress when they refused to testify to the House Committee on Unamerican Activities. The Hollywood Ten were unable to work in the movie industry again. The ten were Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner Jr., John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott and Dalton Trumbo.

25 November 1963 – funeral of assassinated President John F. Kennedy in Washington DC. Over 800,000 people lined the streets. He was interred at Arlington Cemetery.

25 November 2016 – death of Fidel Castro, former Cuban President. Born 13 August 1926.

22 November 2018

squib

[skwib]

noun

1. a short and witty or sarcastic saying or writing.
2. Journalism. a short news story, often used as a filler.
3. a small firework, consisting of a tube or ball filled with powder, that burns with a hissing noise terminated usually by a slight explosion.
4. a firecracker broken in the middle so that it burns with a hissing noise but does not explode.
5. Australian. a coward.
6. an electric, pyrotechnic device for firing the igniter of a rocket engine, especially a solid-propellant engine.
7. Obsolete. a mean or paltry fellow.
verb (used without object), squibbed, squibbing.
8. to write squibs.
9. to shoot a squib.
10. to explode with a small, sharp sound.
11. to move swiftly and irregularly.
12. Australian.
to be afraid.
to flee; escape.
verb (used with object), squibbed, squibbing.
13. to assail in squibs or lampoons.
14. to toss, shoot, or utilize as a squib.

Origin of squib

1515-1525 First recorded in 1515-25; origin uncertain

Related forms

squibbish, adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for squib

Historical Examples

Here is a pistol, it is not loaded, but there is powder in the pan, and you can squib it.
The Buccaneer Chief
Gustave Aimard

He arrived at his climax like a squib that attains its ideal.
When Ghost Meets Ghost
William Frend De Morgan

But the squib is run to the end of the rope: room for the prodigy of valour.
Character Writings of the 17th Century
Various

Would Leonidas have fastened a squib to the robe of the Spartan mother?
Damon and Delia
William Godwin

With eleven illustrations, designed by squib, and engraved by Point.
Life of Charles Dickens
Frank Marzials

We entreat our readers not to receive the above as a squib of invention.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction
Various

Equally acceptable for its rarity would be a squib on Mrs. Piozzi without a reference to the brewery.
Autobiography, Letters and Literary Remains of Mrs. Piozzi (Thrale) (2nd ed.) (2 vols.)
Mrs. Hester Lynch Piozzi

“I could turn him with a bit of a bush,” said squib, glancing at Gouws, who was drawing gradually nearer to the party.
Six Months at the Cape
R.M. Ballantyne

It is generally believed that squib has not gone guinea-fowl shooting among ostriches since that day!
Six Months at the Cape
R.M. Ballantyne

The squib had long burnt out by the time we got there; but the sight that met our astonished gaze was magnificent.
A Veldt Official
Bertram Mitford

Today’s quote

It’s always good to remember where you come from and celebrate it. To remember where you come from is part of where you’re going.

– Anthony Burgess

On this day

22 November 1819 – birth of Mary Ann Evans. One of England’s greatest novelists, she published under the name ‘George Eliot’ in order to be taken seriously. Some of her novels include ‘Adam Bede’, ‘Mill on the Floss’, ‘Silas Marner’, and ‘Daniel Deronda’. Her novel, ‘Middlemarch’, was described as the greatest novel in the English language. Died 22 December 1880.

22 November 1906 – the use of the morse code signal ‘SOS’ is implemented as a global distress call. The SOS signal is three dots, three dashes and three dots

(· · · — — — · · ·)

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

22 November 1963 – death of Aldous Huxley, English writer. Most famous for his vision of the future, ‘Brave New World’, as well as his work ‘The Doors of Perception’, based on his use of psychedelic drugs. Jim Morrison named his 60’s psychedelic rock band, ‘The Doors’ after Huxley’s book. Born 26 July 1894.

22 November 1963 – death of Clive Staples (C.S.) Lewis, Irish novelist, author of ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ and ‘The Screwtape Letters’. Born 29 November 1898.

22 November 1990 – UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher forced to resign by her own Cabinet who refused to endorse her as leader. She had come to power in 1979 and had become known as the ‘Iron Lady’. She is the longest-serving UK Prime Minister and the only female to hold the post. She fought numerous battles with unions over her economic and deregulation reforms. She introduced a ‘Community Charge’ or ‘Poll Tax’, which replaced rates with a flat-tax rate on every adult. It was extremely unpopular even within her own Cabinet and was a crucial catalyst for her disendorsement and subsequent resignation.

22 November 1993 – death of Anthony Burgess, English writer. Most famous for his dystopian novel, ‘The Clockwork Orange’, which Stanley Kubrick made into a controversial movie. Born 25 February 1917.

21 November 2018

swain

[sweyn]

noun

1. a male admirer or lover.
2. a country lad.
3. a country gallant.

Origin of swain

Middle English, Old Norse

1150 before 1150; Middle English swein servant < Old Norse sveinn boy, servant; cognate with Old English swān

Related forms

swainish, adjective
swainishness, noun
underswain, noun

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for swain

Contemporary Examples

The more costly the musical ingredients, the greater the swain ‘s devotion!
Jane Journeys On
Ruth Comfort Mitchell

A swain touched then his lute, or whatever you may call it, to his Dulcinea.
The Lady and the Pirate
Emerson Hough

Her own swain was waiting for her, but not for that would she abjure the quest.
Country Neighbors
Alice Brown

Today’s quote

One of the benefits of being bi-cultural is simply awareness that how you live is not the only way.

– Ann Campanella

On this day

21 November 164BC – Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, restores the Temple in Jerusalem. This event is commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah.

21 November 1694 – birth 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. Died 30 May 1778.

21 November 1936 – birth of Victor Chang, a Chinese-Australian cardiac surgeon who pioneered heart transplants. Chang was shot dead on 4 July 1991, in a failed extortion attempt.

21 November 1965 – birth of Bjork (Björk Guðmundsdóttir), Icelandic singer-songwriter, producer and actress.

21 November 1986 – Oliver North, National Security Council staffer, begins shredding documents associated with the Iran-Contra debacle that could have implicated themselves and others within the Reagan administration in the illegal sale of arms to Iran in order to fund the rebel Nicaraguan Contras.

20 November 2018

flimflam

[flim-flam] Informal.

noun

1. a trick or deception, especially a swindle or confidence game involving skillful persuasion or clever manipulation of the victim.
2. a piece of nonsense; twaddle; bosh.
verb (used with object), flimflammed, flimflamming.
3. to trick, deceive, swindle, or cheat:
A fortuneteller flimflammed her out of her savings.

Origin of flimflam

1530-1540 First recorded in 1530-40; gradational compound of expressive orig.

Related forms

flimflammer, noun
flimflammery, noun

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for flimflam

Historical Examples

As long as there is plenty of flimflam to distract the viewer.
Toy Shop
Henry Maxwell Dempsey

I tried my darndest to flimflam the information out of him, but it was no use.
The Gray Phantom’s Return
Herman Landon

A flimflam offer by a theologian of inchoate title to improved real estate in the Sky for real estate, rentals and cash on Earth.
The Roycroft Dictionary
Elbert Hubbard flimflam

Today’s quote

The day before something is a breakthrough it’s a crazy idea.

– Peter Diamandis

On this day

20 November 1900 – birth of Chester Gould, American creator of the cartoon strip, ‘Dick Tracy’. He drew the comic strip from 1931 to 1977. Died 11 May 1985.

20 November 1910 – death of Leo Tolstoy, Russian writer, (‘Anna Karenina‘, ‘War and Peace‘). Born 9 September 1828.

20 November 1947 – Princess Elizabeth, who is crowned Queen Elizabeth II in 1952, marries Phillip Mountbatten in Westminster Abbey.

20 November 1985 – Microsoft launches Windows 1.01, a graphical user interface for personal computers. The program required MS-DOS to operate.

19 November 2018

tant pis

[tahn pee]

French.

1. so much the worse.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for tant pis

Historical Examples

” tant pis, and tant mieux” said Clarence, and so they parted.
Tales And Novels, Volume 3 (of 10)
Maria Edgeworth

If the father or mother should then exclaim “ tant pis pour eux!”
“Gombo Zhbes”
Lafcadio Hearn

Well, ” tant pis,” as Guépratte would say with a shrug of his shoulders.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I
Ian Hamilton

If you outrun them, well and good; if not, tant pis pour vous.
Mr. Fortescue
William Westall

” tant pis pour Sorrente,” said the homme de lettres, carelessly.
The Parisians, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton

If the facts showed them irreconcilable, tant pis pour les faits.
The Riddle of the Sands
Erskine Childers

“So much the worse both for you and your son;” tant pis pour vous et pour votre fils, said Rousseau.
Life and Correspondence of David Hume, Volume II (of 2)
John Hill Burton

That ancient wall destroying the value of a good building site—’ tant pis !’
The Cape Peninsula
Rn Juta

He knew equally that he should presently have to write a note of apology—and that it would not do an atom of good, tant pis.
Life at High Tide
Various

Today’s quote

The straight line, a respectable optical illusion which ruins many a man.

– Victor Hugo

On this day

19 November 1863 – President Lincoln delivers the ‘Gettysburg Address’ during the American Civil War, while dedicating the Soldiers’ National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The speech commenced with the now-famous words, ‘Four score and seven years ago …’, which was referring to the Declaration of Independence in 1777. The speech addressed equality, freedom and democracy being representative of all people.

19 November 2007 – share markets across the globe crashed, as the world entered the Global Financial Crisis.