30 April 2017

poplin

[pop-lin]

noun

1. a finely corded fabric of cotton, rayon, silk, or wool, for dresses, draperies, etc.

Origin of poplin

French, Italian

1700-1710; < French popeline, earlier papeline < Italian papalina, feminine of papalino papal; so called from being made at the papal city of Avignon. See papal, -ine1

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for poplin

Historical Examples

She put her hand on Lucy Ann’s shoulder, to give her a little shake; but, feeling mother’s poplin, she forbore.
Tiverton Tales
Alice Brown

Even in the shade one is grateful for white duck instead of woolens, so before long I had acquired an Irish poplin coat.
The Pacific Triangle
Sydney Greenbie

Perhaps it was the royalty of the poplin that enwrapped her; but Lucy Ann looked very capable of holding her own.
Tiverton Tales
Alice Brown

Rob, foreseeing this question, had been engaged in a hasty mental estimate of the original cost of the poplin and the silk.
The Little Grey House
Marion Ames Taggart

The walls were hung with the finest Irish poplin and decorated by the most noted artists of the time.
One Irish Summer
William Eleroy Curtis

poplin or popeline is a name given to a class of goods distinguished by a rib or cord effect running width way of the piece.
Textiles
William H. Dooley

She wore a pink silk dress of Irish poplin, and on her head was a diamond tiara.
In the Days of Queen Victoria
Eva March Tappan

Anagram

nil pop
pin lop

Today’s quote

The cool thing is that jazz is really a wonderful example of the great characteristics of Buddhism and great characteristics of the human spirit. Because in jazz we share, we listen to each other, we respect each other, we are creating in the moment. At our best, we’re non-judgmental.

– Herbie Hancock

On this day

30 April – International Jazz Day.

30 April – Walpurgis Night (also called Hexennacht – which translates as Witches Night), held on the eve of St Walpurga’s Feast Day. In Germany it’s reputedly the night when witches celebrate the coming of the Spring (which occurs on 1 May) on the Brocken (the highest peak in Northern Germany). Heavy metal band, Black Sabbath, originally named one of their songs Walpurgis, but were told by their record company that it wasn’t acceptable because of the connation with Satanism, so the song was renamed War Pigs, although the lyrics remained the same. Sabbath’s bassist, Geezer Butler said of the song, ‘Walpurgis is sort of like Christmas for Satanists. And to me, war was the big Satan. It wasn’t about politics or government or anything. It was [about] evil. So I was saying ‘generals gathered in the masses / just like witches at black masses’ to make an analogy‘.

30 April 1945 – German Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, commit suicide in a bunker in Germany. Hitler had been Chancellor of Germany since 2 August 1934. He was born in Austria on 20 April 1889.

30 April 1975 – the Fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnamese civil war, when North Vietnamese tanks rumbled into Saigon, then the capital of South Vietnam, defeating the South Vietnamese army, United States military and her allies. The Fall was preceded by the largest helicopter evacuation in history, known as Operation Frequent Wind, in which 7,000 American military and civilians were evacuated. Weeks earlier, Operation Baby Lift had evacuated 2,000 orphan babies. Operation New Life evacuated 110,000 Vietnamese refugees. Tens of thousands of Vietnamese evacuated by land and sea. Following the communist take-over, hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese fled the country, resulting in a surge of refugees worldwide. 30 April and 1 May are celebrated in Vietnam as Liberation Day or Reunification Day. Those who fled refer to it as Black April.

29 April 2017

kris, creese or crease

[krees]

noun

1. a short sword or heavy dagger with a wavy blade, used by the Malays.

Origin of creese

Malay

1570-1580; < Malay kəris (spelling keris)

Dictionary.com

Historical Examples

To wait till to-night, and then lead you out of the jungle if you did not want to go, and stab you with my kris.
Middy and Ensign
G. Manville Fenn

I am only armed with a kris, and have no spear as thou hast,’ he said.
In Court and Kampong
Hugh Clifford

Besides that weapon the Mindanao uses lance, kris, and shield, as do the other nations.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 – Volume 40 of 55
Francisco Colin

The kris as a weapon of offence and defence is now almost a thing of the past.
Tales of the Malayan Coast
Rounsevelle Wildman

Anagram

risk

Today’s quote

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.

– George Bernard Shaw

On this day

29 April 711 – Islamic conquest of Hispania as Moorish forces led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad land on Gibraltar in preparation for the invasion of Spain.

29 April 1770 – Captain James Cook names Botany Bay after landing there on this day.

29 April 1910 – British Parliament passes ‘The People’s Budget’, the first budget in British history that is aimed at redistributing wealth to all.

29 April 1945 – the Dacchau concentration camp near Munich is liberated by US forces.

29 April 1967 – Muhammad Ali stripped of his boxing title after refusing, on religious grounds, being drafted into the Army.

29 April 1980 – death of Alfred Hitchcock, English movie producer and director. Born 13 August 1899.

(Updated to included corrected On This Day)

28 April 2017

lees

[leez]

noun

1. protective shelter:
The lee of the rock gave us some protection against the storm.
2. the side or part that is sheltered or turned away from the wind:
We erected our huts under the lee of the mountain.
3. Chiefly Nautical. the quarter or region toward which the wind blows.
adjective
4. pertaining to, situated in, or moving toward the lee.
Idioms
5. by the lee, Nautical. accidentally against what should be the lee side of a sail:
Careless steering brought the wind by the lee.
6. under the lee, Nautical. to leeward.

Origin of lee(1)

Middle English, Old English

900, before 900; Middle English; Old English hlēo (w) shelter, cognate with Old Frisian hli, hly, Old Saxon hleo, Old Norse hlé
lee(2)

[lee]

noun

1. Usually, lees. the insoluble matter that settles from a liquid, especially from wine; sediment; dregs.

Origin

1350-1400; Middle English lie; Middle French; Medieval Latin lia, probably; Gaulish *lig (j) a; compare Old Irish lige bed, akin to Old English gelege bed. See lie(2)

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for lees

Contemporary Examples

She sent at once for lees and a séance was held in the Palace.
How Queen Victoria’s Affection For John Brown Sprang From His Contact With Dead Albert’s Shade
Tom Sykes
June 12, 2013

The lees were the 1st Black Family to move into the predominantly Italian-American Brooklyn Neighborhood of Cobble Hill.
Spike Lee Blasts The New York Times’ Story on Brooklyn Gentrification in Fiery Op-Ed
Marlow Stern
March 30, 2014

The voice phenomenon produced by lees was instantly recognisable as that of the late Consort.
How Queen Victoria’s Affection For John Brown Sprang From His Contact With Dead Albert’s Shade
Tom Sykes
June 12, 2013

Historical Examples

Only a short while; then the thought comes to them in the shape of a dilemma—Miss lees being the first to perceive it.
Gwen Wynn
Mayne Reid

Deuce of a straight line she had taken about Mrs. lees Noel!
The Patrician
John Galsworthy

This year, the entire company of Johnson and lees theatre was engaged for the Marylebone.
The Old Showmen and the Old London Fairs
Thomas Frost

What work would they make with your Shakespears, Otways, and lees ?
Joseph Andrews, Vol. 2
Henry Fielding

When my brother was sick there was nothing to give him to drink but lees that we’d been putting water to for a year.
Germinie Lacerteux
Edmond and Jules de Goncourt

Anagram

else

Today’s quote

Being so closely related to the South, barbecue was part of segregation and helped defeat it.

– Bobby Seale

On this day

28 April 1789 – Mutiny on the ‘Bounty’. Lieutenant Bligh and 18 of his crew from the Royal Navy ship HMS Bounty, are set afloat in an open boat following a mutiny led by Christian Fletcher. After 47 days Bligh landed the boat on Timor, in the Dutch East Indies. The mutineers settled on Pitcairn Island and in Tahiti. In 1856, the British Government granted Norfolk Island to the Pitcairners because population growth had outgrown the small island.

28 April 1926 – birth of Harper Lee, American author. Harper wrote the iconic ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, which detailed the racism that she witnessed as she grew up in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. Died 19 February 2016.

28 April 1945 – Italians execute former dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci.

28 April 1996 – Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, when Martin Bryant shoots 35 people dead. He is currently serving a life sentence for the murders.

28 April 2017

lees

[leez]

noun

1. protective shelter:
The lee of the rock gave us some protection against the storm.
2. the side or part that is sheltered or turned away from the wind:
We erected our huts under the lee of the mountain.
3. Chiefly Nautical. the quarter or region toward which the wind blows.
adjective
4. pertaining to, situated in, or moving toward the lee.
Idioms
5. by the lee, Nautical. accidentally against what should be the lee side of a sail:
Careless steering brought the wind by the lee.
6. under the lee, Nautical. to leeward.

Origin of lee(1)

Middle English, Old English

900, before 900; Middle English; Old English hlēo (w) shelter, cognate with Old Frisian hli, hly, Old Saxon hleo, Old Norse hlé
lee(2)

[lee]

noun

1. Usually, lees. the insoluble matter that settles from a liquid, especially from wine; sediment; dregs.

Origin

1350-1400; Middle English lie; Middle French; Medieval Latin lia, probably; Gaulish *lig (j) a; compare Old Irish lige bed, akin to Old English gelege bed. See lie(2)

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for lees

Contemporary Examples

She sent at once for lees and a séance was held in the Palace.
How Queen Victoria’s Affection For John Brown Sprang From His Contact With Dead Albert’s Shade
Tom Sykes
June 12, 2013

The lees were the 1st Black Family to move into the predominantly Italian-American Brooklyn Neighborhood of Cobble Hill.
Spike Lee Blasts The New York Times’ Story on Brooklyn Gentrification in Fiery Op-Ed
Marlow Stern
March 30, 2014

The voice phenomenon produced by lees was instantly recognisable as that of the late Consort.
How Queen Victoria’s Affection For John Brown Sprang From His Contact With Dead Albert’s Shade
Tom Sykes
June 12, 2013

Historical Examples

Only a short while; then the thought comes to them in the shape of a dilemma—Miss lees being the first to perceive it.
Gwen Wynn
Mayne Reid

Deuce of a straight line she had taken about Mrs. lees Noel!
The Patrician
John Galsworthy

This year, the entire company of Johnson and lees theatre was engaged for the Marylebone.
The Old Showmen and the Old London Fairs
Thomas Frost

What work would they make with your Shakespears, Otways, and lees ?
Joseph Andrews, Vol. 2
Henry Fielding

When my brother was sick there was nothing to give him to drink but lees that we’d been putting water to for a year.
Germinie Lacerteux
Edmond and Jules de Goncourt

Anagram

else

Today’s quote

Being so closely related to the South, barbecue was part of segregation and helped defeat it.

– Bobby Seale

On this day

27 April 1904 – The Australian Labor Party wins the federal election, making Chris Watson Australia’s third prime minister. The ALP was the first such labour party in the world to win a national election.

27 April 1950 – apartheid formally commences in South Africa with the implementation of the Group Areas Act that segrated races.

27 April 1951 – birth of Paul Daniel ‘Ace’ Frehley, former lead guitarist with Kiss. Frehley’s character with the band was the ‘Spaceman’. He has since launched a solo career and formed a band called Frehley’s Comet.

27 April 1953 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs Executive Order 10450 ‘Hiring and Firing Rules for Government Employment’. The order declared homosexuality, communism and moral perversion to be national security threats and grounds for sacking a government employee or not hiring an applicant.

27 April 1994 – South Africa’s first democratic election in which citizens of all races could vote. The interim constitution is enacted. The African National Congress won the election with 62% of the vote, bringing Nelson Mandela to power. 27 April is celebrated as Freedom Day in South Africa.

26 April 2017

spear carrier or spear-carrier

noun

1. a supernumerary in a theatrical or operatic production, as one of a group of soldiers or a member of a crowd; extra.
2. any minor member of a group, profession, political party, etc.; subordinate; underling.

Origin of spear carrier

1950-1955

Dictionary.com

spear carrier

noun phrase

An unimportant participant; supernumerary : What helped me most was having been a catcher and a ”spear carrier” definitely not a star/ like last-minute walk-ons in the closing scene, spear-carriers in Valhalla

[1960+; fr the persons who appear on stage, esp in operas, as soldiers in the background]

The Dictionary of American Slang, Fourth Edition by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD. and Robert L. Chapman, Ph.D.
Copyright (C) 2007 by HarperCollins Publishers.

Anagram

Racer Repairs

Today’s quote

To the wise, life is a problem; to the fool, a solution.

– Marcus Aurelius

On this day

26 April 121AD – birth of Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor. Died 17 March 180AD.

26 April 1865 – Union troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, the man who fired the fatal bullet on 14 April 1865 that assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.

26 April 1894 – birth of Rudolf Hess. Prominent Nazi politician who served as Deputy Fuhrer under Adolf Hitler. In 1941, Hess flew solo to Scotland in an effort to negotiate peace after being ignored by Hitler in various plans associated with the war. The flight was not sanctioned by Hitler. Hess was taken prisoner and charged with crimes against peace. He served a life sentence and remained in prison until his death. Died 17 August 1987.

26 April 1945 – birth of Dick Johnson, Australian racing car legend. Five-time Australian Touring Car Champion, three-time winner of the Bathurst 1000, inducted into the V8 Supercar Hall of Fame in 2001.

26 April 1986 – the Chernobyl nuclear disaster when an explosion and fire at the No 4 reactor in the Chernobyl nuclear plant, Ukraine, releases radioactive gas across Northern Europe. It is estimated to have killed up to 1 million people from radioactive related cancers.

26 April 1989 – the deadliest tornado in world history strikes Central Bangladesh, killing more than 1300, injuring 12,000 and leaving up to 80,000 homeless.

25 April 2017

matelot or matelow

[mat-loh, mat-l-oh]

noun, British Slang.

1. a sailor.

Origin of matelot

French, Middle Dutch

1910-1915; < French ≪ Middle Dutch mattenoot sailor, equivalent to matte mat1+ noot companion ( Dutch genoot)

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for matelot

Historical Examples

Finally a matelot advanced—a common sailor—a man before the mast.
Petals Plucked from Sunny Climes
Sylvia Sunshine

The Buccaneers went in pairs, every hunter having his camerade or matelot (sailor), as well as his engags.
The Monarchs of the Main, Volume I (of 3)
Walter Thornbury

No excuse was allowed; and if illness prevented the man elected taking the office, his matelot, or companion, took his place.
The Monarchs of the Main, Volume I (of 3)
Walter Thornbury

We do not know whether, in peculiar cases, a matelot became his camarade’s heir.
The Monarchs of the Main, Volume I (of 3)
Walter Thornbury

I prove to you I am not; but a good, sound, safe, French matelot !
Seven Frozen Sailors
George Manville Fenn

He had been a matelot, he said,—made a long voyage, and once touched at an English port.
Rambles in the Islands of Corsica and Sardinia
Thomas Forester

Anagram

two male
ow metal
late mow
meat owl

Today’s quote

History is a cyclic poem written by time upon the memories of man.

– Percy Bysshe Shelley

On this day

25 April – Anzac Day. National day of remembrance for Australia and New Zealand to commemorate ANZACs who fought at Gallipoli during World War I, honouring all service-men and women who served their country.

25 April – World Penguin Day.

25 April 1915 – World War I: the battle of Gallipoli begins, when Australian, New Zealand, British and French forces invade Turkey’s Gallipoli Peninsula, landing at Cape Helles, and what is now called Anzac Cove. The attack followed a failed British attempt on 18 March 1915 to seize Constantinople by sailing a fleet into the Dardenelle Straits. The Turks laid naval mines and sank three British ships. The Gallipoli Campaign resulted in the deaths of 56,643 Turks, 56,707 allies, which included 34,072 from Britain, 9,798 from France, 8,709 from Australia, 2,721 from New Zealand, 1,358 from British India, 49 from Newfoundland. More than 107,000 Turks and 123,000 allies were injured. The Gallipoli Campaign is seen as a defining moment in the national histories of both Australia and Turkey.

25 April 1983 – American schoolgirl, Samantha Smith, is invited to the Soviet Union after its leader, Yuri Andropov, reads her letter expressing her fears of nuclear war.

24 April 2017

Cathay

[ka-they]

noun, Literary or Archaic.

1. China.

Origin of Cathay

Medieval Latin, Tatar; Medieval Latin Cat (h) aya < Turkic; compare Tatar Kïtai

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for Cathay

Contemporary Examples

One airline that has already banned shipments on its passenger flights is Cathay Pacific.
Passenger Flights Must Stop Carrying Lithium-Ion Batteries as Cargo
Clive Irving
May 4, 2014

This is the story of the Jesuit who more than 500 years ago made himself part of Cathay.
James Fallows: 5 Favorite ‘Outsiders In China’ Books
James Fallows
May 10, 2012

Historical Examples

At last the game was won, the passage to Cathay was discovered.
History of the United Netherlands, 1590-1599, Vol. III. Complete
John Lothrop Motley

Yet if she did, he was sure that it would have been impossible not to use them in defense of the colony of Cathay.
Victory
Lester del Rey

Once more he talked over the finding of Cathay with the priests and the sailors of Palos.
Children’s Literature
Charles Madison Curry

If one of those titans was to be used against Cathay, Earth’s colony was doomed.
Victory
Lester del Rey

Cathay is a country where it is necessary to be very careful.
A Bicycle of Cathay
Frank R. Stockton

The humans of Cathay might try a return raid, but he was unworried.
Victory
Lester del Rey

Our hero and heroine instantly ceased their own discourse, when they found that the subject was the voyage to Cathay.
Mercedes of Castile
J. Fenimore Cooper

He leaned back in his chair, wondering where “ Cathay ” might be.
At the Sign of the Jack O’Lantern
Myrtle Reed

Anagram

cat hay
chat ya

Today’s quote

If you knew when you began a book what you would say at the end, do you think that you would have the courage to write it? What is true for writing and for a love relationship is true also for life. The game is worthwhile insofar as we don’t know what will be the end.

– Michel Foucault

On this day

24 April 1581 – birth of St Vincent de Paul, Catholic priest, born in France, who dedicated himself to serving the poor. Died 27 September 1660.

24 April 1915 – arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals and leaders in Istanbul, Turkey, leads to the Armenian Genocide. It is estimated that the Ottoman Empire massacred between 1 million and 1.5 million Armenians.

24 April 1916 – Easter Rising (or Easter Rebellion) in which Irish republicans rose up against British rule with an armed insurrection in order to establish an independent Irish Republic. The Rising lasted for six days and resulted in the deaths of 500 people, of whom 54% were civilians, 30% were British military and 16% were Irish rebels. Most of the civilians deaths were caused by the British military using artillery or mistaking them for rebels. Fighting occurred mainly in Dublin, although there were also fights in counties Meath, Galway, Louth and Wexford. The rebels surrendered after six days. Most of their leaders were subsequently tried and executed. 3,430 men and 79 women were arrested. 90 were sentenced to death, however 15 were actually executed. The evidence against many of them was flimsy at best and with many them prohibited from defending their charges, accusations were made that the trials and sentences were illegal. There were also claims of British atrocities involving extrajudicial killings during the Rising. The executions and extrajudicial killings further fed the anger of the Irish against British rule.

24 April 1933 – Hitler begins persecuting Jehovah’s Witnesses by shutting down the Watch Tower Society office in Magdeburg. Around 10,000 Witnesses were incarcerated during Hitler’s reign, with approximately 1,200 dying in custody, including 250 who were executed.