22 December 2012

curmudgeon

[ker-muhj-uh n]
noun

– a bad-tempered, difficult, cantankerous person.

Origin:

1570–80; unexplained; perhaps cur- representing cur

Related forms
curmudgeonly, adjective.

Synonyms
grouch, crank, bear, sourpuss, crosspatch.

Example sentence:

‘Famous now as Britain’s most lovable curmudgeon, Arthur Smith arrived at UEA in 1973 to study Comparative Literature’.

21 December 2012

uxorious

[uhk-sawr-ee-uh s, -sohr-, uhg-zawr-, -zohr-]

adjective

1. doting upon, foolishly fond of, or affectionately submissive toward one’s wife.

Example sentence:

‘I am not uxorious by nature, just ask my wife’.

20 December 2012

wassail

[WOS-uhl, wo-SAYL]

verb tr.: To toast.

verb intr.:

To go from house to house singing carols at Christmas.

noun:

1. A toast to someone’s health.
2. A festivity with much drinking.
3. A drink for toasting, especially spiced ale.

Example:

Wassailing the apple tree is a traditional ritual carried out on twelfth night.

19 December 2012

cahoots

[kuh-hoot]
Idioms
1. go cahoots, to share equally; become partners: They went cahoots in the establishment of the store. Also, go in cahoot with, go in cahoots.
2. in cahoot / cahoots,
a. in partnership; in league.
b. in conspiracy: in cahoots with the enemy.

18 December 2012

chary

chary

[chair-ee]

adjective, charier, chariest.
1. cautious or careful; wary: He was chary of investing in oil wells.
2. shy; timid.
3. fastidious; choosy: She is excessively chary about her friends.
4. sparing (often followed by of ): chary of his praise.

Related forms

charily, adverb.
unchary, adjective.

Synonyms
1. circumspect. 4. frugal.

Antonyms
1. trustful. 2. confident. 3. uncritical. 4. lavish.

Example sentence:

‘As a materialist, Marx was chary of ideas which were divorced from historical reality, and thought that there were usually good historical reasons for this separation’.

– from ‘Why Marx Was Right‘, by Terry Eagleton.

17 December 2012

obsequious

[uh b-see-kwee-uh s]

adjective

1. characterized by or showing servile complaisance or deference; fawning: an obsequious bow.
2. servilely compliant or deferential: obsequious servants.
3. obedient; dutiful.

16 December 2012

haptic

[hap-tik]

adjective

– of or relating to the sense of touch, tactile.

‘She was a very haptic person, expressed through her habit of hugging everyone she met’.

15 December 2012

convivial

[kuh n-viv-ee-uh l]

adjective

1. friendly; agreeable: a convivial atmosphere.
2. fond of feasting, drinking, and merry company; jovial.
3. of or befitting a feast; festive.

14 December 2012

apposite

[ap-uh-zit, uh-poz-it]

adjective

– suitable; well-adapted; pertinent; relevant; apt: e.g. ‘an apposite answer.’

Origin:

1615–25; < Latin appositus added to, put near (past participle of appōnere ), equivalent to ap- ap-1 + positus placed ( posi- place + -tus past participle suffix)

Related forms

ap·po·site·ly, adjective.
ap·po·site·ness, noun.
un·ap·po·site, adjective.
un·ap·po·site·ly, adverb.
un·ap·po·site·ness, noun.

Example sentence:

‘The term ” lifeless pallor ” seems very apposite’.

13 December 2012

bifurcate

[bahy-fer-keyt, bahy-fur-keyt; bahy-fer-kit, bahy-fur-]

verb, bifurcated, bifurcating, adjective.
verb (used with object), verb (used without object)

1. to divide or fork into two branches.

adjective
2. divided into two branches.

Example sentence:

He speaks with bifurcated tongue.

12 December 2012

elysian

[i-LIZH-uhn]

adjective:

– Blissful; delightful.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin Elysium, from Greek elysion pedyon (Elysian plain/fields). In Greek mythology, Elysium (or the Elysian Fields) was the final resting place for the souls of heroes and the virtuous after their death. Earliest documented use: 1579.

USAGE:
“Our neighbour stuck his head over the fence one arvo* and regaled me with Elysian illusions involving the company he worked for.”
Doug Anderson; Summer Job: Toilet Assembler; The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia); Jan 10, 2012
* Australian slang for ‘afternoon’

11 December 2012

natal

[neyt-l]

adjective

1. of or pertaining to a person’s birth: celebrating one’s natal day.
2. presiding over or affecting a person at birth: natal influences.
3. (of places) native: nostalgia for one’s natal town.

10 December 2012

dumbledore

[duhm-buhl-daw/dohr)

— n
dialect ( English ) Also (Southwest English): a drumbledrane – otherwise known as a bumblebee

[Old English dumble , variant of drumble to move sluggishly + dor humming insect]

9 December 2012

rime

[RAHYM]

noun

A coating of tiny, white, granular ice particles, caused by the rapid freezing of water droplets.

Example:

The Chief’s follow spot cast a light like a rime of ice into the murk, and mom swam inside this circle across the entire length of the lake.
— Karen Russell, Swamplandia!

When it got real fierce, when your very speech would freeze as it emanated from your lips and blow back in stinging rime against the cheeks, we hung close to the tepees and ate the dried meat taken the summer before and stored in rawhide parfleches and pemmican, the greasier the better on account of a bellyful of melting fat will warm you sooner and stick longer than most anything I know.
— Thomas Berger, Little Big Man

Origin

Rime, also known as hoarfrost, comes from the Old English hrim. Used mainly in Northern England and Scotland for centuries, it was revived in literature in the 19th century.

8 December 2012

pontificate

[pon-tif-i-kit, -keyt; pon-tif-i-keyt]

noun

1. the office or term of office of a pontiff.

verb (used without object), pontificated, pontificating.

2. to perform the office or duties of a pontiff.
3. to speak in a pompous or dogmatic manner: Did he pontificate about the responsibilities of a good citizen?
4. to serve as a bishop, especially in a Pontifical Mass.

Example:

‘The taxi driver spent his day pontificating about politics, religion and current affairs to every one of his passengers’.

7 December 2012

Poe’s Law

– Relates to internet discussions, usually in relation to politics or religion, in which it is difficult to distinguish an extremist view from a parody of an extremist view unless emoticons are used, such as smileys and winks. Named after Nathan Poe.

One example is a Japanese Youtube user named Tamtampamela, who did a satire of extremist Christian beliefs. When an earthquake devastated Japan, she published a video thanking God for the earthquake striking Japan’s atheist population. Many people took her seriously and she received death-threats even after apologising and closing her Youtube account.

There is also the reverse of Poe’s Law, in which a sincere extremist opinion may be mistaken for a parody of that belief.

Of course, the issue of parodies being taken seriously did not start with the internet. For instance, Spanish artist, Salvador Dali once sent a telegram to Romanian dictator Nikolai Ceauşescu stating he should adopt a scepter as part of his regalia. Ceauşescu took his leadership seriously and had the telegram published in a national newspaper. When he found out the telegram was a joke, he had the editor fired.

6 December 2012

louche

[loosh]

adjective

– dubious; shady; disreputable in an appealing sort of way.

Example sentence:

‘Though Rancid just celebrated 20 years together, the lovably louche No Cal punks are still preoccupied with teenage rebellion’.

Origin:
1810–20; < French: literally, cross-eyed; Old French losche, feminine of lois < Latin luscus blind in one eye

5 December 2012

al desko

Adverb

– At a desk (typically used of eating).

1981, Stephanie Mansfield, “The Last Memo”, The Washington Post, 30 January 1981:
Lunches usually consist of cold sandwiches consumed al desko.

1994, “Workers Are Increasingly In To Lunch”, Philadelphia Daily News, 29 March 1994: The number of folks who have taken to dining al desko is causing some new problems in the workplace.

2004, Alex Elgar, “Dining ‘Al desko’”, The CB Friday, 12 November 2004:
A recent study published in a British daily claimed that dining ‘al desko’ was fast becoming the new norm for office workers.

(from Wiktionary)

Etymology
An adaptation of alfresco

4 December 2012

anodyne

[an-uh-dahyn]

noun

1. a medicine that relieves or allays pain.
2. anything that relieves distress or pain.

Example:

The music was an anodyne to his grief.

3 December 2012

fainaigue

[fuh-NEYG]

verb:

1. To shirk; evade work or responsibility.
2. To renege at cards.

Examples:

I finally fainaigue a tin plate out of the mess department, for which I am required to give two lire.
— Harry Partch, Thomas McGeary, Bitter Music: Collected Journals, Essays, Introductions, and Librettos

I’ve a two-year stretch up here, unless I quit or fainaigue a transfer.
— “Astounding Science fiction, Volume 31, issue 21943”

Fainaigue stems from British dialect, but its exact origins are unclear. Whether or not it has a relationship to finagle is a source of debate.

2 December 2012

flummox

[fluhm-uh ks]

verb (used with object), Informal.

– to bewilder; confound; confuse.

Example:

‘The lecturer’s rambling presentation, which jumped from one apparently irrelevant notion to the next, left the class flummoxed’.