Word of the Day Thread

[tp2503]

And now here on 101FM Rocks, it's that great classic,
Happy Together by The Chelonians, lol.

[ITS ME!]

luxate \ LUHK-seyt \ , verb;

1.
To put out of joint; dislocate.



Quotes:
When I began to luxate the tooth I heard a crack.
-- Nathan Jorgenson, A Crooked Number

But at the same time he thinks, that the reduced bone will not remain in it's [sic] place, but luxate itself again, and fall back into the new-formed articulation, which it has formed to itself.
-- Royal Society of London, The Philosophical Transactions and Collections



Origin:
Luxate is not related to any word for "light." Rather, it is from the Greek word for "oblique," which was loxós .

[ITS ME!]

eudemonia \ yoo-di-MOH-nee-uh \ , noun;

1.
Happiness; well-being.

2.
Aristotelianism. Happiness as the result of an active life governed by reason.



Quotes:
We all seek eudemonia , but he thinks that it takes a great deal of reflection and education to get a clear enough conception of it really to aim at it in our practice.
-- Robert Campbell Roberts, Intellectual Virtues

They may have believed that we already do value duty, utility, and eudemonia , but it is debatable whether they need to make such descriptive claims.
-- Jesse J. Prinz, The Emotional Construction of Morals



Origin:
From Aristotle, eudemonia comes from the Greek word eudaÃ*mōn which meant "a good or benevolent spirit."

[ITS ME!]

fugitive \ FYOO-ji-tiv \ , adjective;
1.
Fleeting, transitory, elusive.

2.
Having taken flight, or run away.

3.
Changing color as a result of exposure to light and chemical substances present in the atmosphere, in other pigments, or in the medium.

4.
Dealing with subjects of passing interest, as writings; ephemeral.

5.
Wandering, roving, or vagabond.



Quotes:
I started to write about Sean, and the writing, like a searchlight sweeping wildly, almost caught my fugitive feelings.
-- Edmund White, The Beautiful Room Is Empty

I fill my own glass now, and raise it, unspeaking: to her? to us? to the spirit of fugitive love? Whatever it is I mean, she nods as if to say she understands.
-- Vikram Seth, An Equal Music



Origin:
First used by Shakespeare in Antony & Cleopatra , fugitive stems from the Latin word fugere meaning "to flee."

[ITS ME!]

boon \ boon \ , noun;
1.
Something to be thankful for; blessing; benefit.

2.
Something that is asked; a favor sought.



Quotes:
China has simultaneously become the greatest boon and the biggest disappointment.
-- Adam Davidson, "Come On, China, Buy Our Stuff!," The New York Times , Jan. 29, 2012

A boon to scholars and to those surreptitiously in search of esoteric knowledge. The reader in the shadowy, out-of-the-way carrel stifled a whoop of delight.
-- Carolyn G. Hart, A Little Class on Murder



Origin:
Boon comes from the Old Norse word bōn meaning "a prayer."

[ITS ME!]

pyknic \ PIK-nik \ , adjective;

1.
Having a rounded build or body structure.

noun: 1.
A person of the pyknic type.



Quotes:
I can tell what your feelings are; I'm sensitive, doctor, even if I'm the pyknic bodytype.
-- Philip K. Dick, Now Wait for Next Year

Another short elf with the same pyknic physique wearing a scotch plaid suit and a green feather in his hat.
-- R. W. Alexander, Spark of Life

He was very pyknic -looking: neckless and bull-bodied, he showed in eyes and mouth a more dangerous volatility than his mate.
-- Anthony Burgess, Honey for the Bears



Origin:
Pyknic entered the English language in the 1920s. It came from the Greek word pykn meaning "thick."

[ITS ME!]

grouse \ grous \ , verb;
1.
To grumble; complain.

noun: 1.
A complaint.



Quotes:
Today, he went on to grouse about some "pipsqueak" new arrival at Claverack who was only thirteen.
-- Lionel Shriver, We Need To Talk About Kevin

He continued to grouse as they headed toward the taxi line.
-- James Rollins, The Doomsday Key



Origin:
Grouse originally referred to a type of bird. It is uncertain why it began to mean "to complain," though it bears a resemblance to the word grouch .

[ITS ME!]

sylph \ silf \ , noun;

1.
A slender, graceful woman or girl.

2.
(In folklore) one of a race of supernatural beings supposed to inhabit the air.



Quotes:
The sylph had been as slender as a willow, with long silver hair and eyes like the dark between the stars.
-- Jenna Reynolds, Kiss of Honor

Ben was frantic. He lifted the stricken sylph in his arms and held her close against him
-- Terry Brooks, Magic Kingdom for Sale – Sold!

The girl's slender and sylph- like figure, tinged with radiance from the sunset clouds, and overhung with the rich drapery of the silken curtains, and set within the deep frame of the window, was a perfect picture.
-- Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Snow-Image, and Other Tales



Origin:
Sylph was coined by Paracelsus. It is a blend of sylva , which meant "forest" in Latin, and the Greek word nymph.

[tp2503]

Then the word morphed into mylph, lmao. [milf]

[ITS ME!]

ephebe \ ih-FEEB \ , noun;
1.
A young man.



Quotes:
His glance touched their faces lightly as he smiled, a blond ephebe.
-- James Joyce, Ulysses

The three Florentine Davids, those of Donatello, Verrocchio, and Michelangelo, represent the changes in the ideal of male beauty and the model of an ephebe . They are ever smaller, more strained, girlish.
-- Jan Kott, Shakespeare Our Contemporary

The summer before his senior year of college, in 1997, he worked as an intern at The Paris Review. James Linville, who was then the magazine’s editor, recalled Rowan as an “ ephebe type, almost Truman Capote-like.”
-- Lizzie Widdicombe, “The Plagiarist’s Tale,” The New Yorker , Feb. 13, 2012



Origin:
Ephebe stems from the Greek word for a young man just entering manhood and commencing training for full Athenian citizenship. It comes from the roots ep- meaning "near" and hḗbē meaning "manhood."

[ITS ME!]

agley \ uh-GLEE \ , adjective;

1.
Off the right line; awry; wrong.



Quotes:
Reasoning closely, I deduced that her interview with LP Runkle must have gone awry or, as I much prefer to put it, agley.
-- P. G. Wodehouse, Much Obliged, Jeeves

This had been one of those agley days.
-- Alisa Craig, The Grub-and-Stakers Move a Mountain



Origin:
Agley comes from the Middle English word glien meaning "a squint," as in "to look at sideways."

[ITS ME!]

pleach \ pleech \ , verb;
1.
To interweave branches or vines for a hedge or arbor.

2.
To make or renew (a hedge, arbor, etc.) by such interweaving.

3.
To braid (hair).



Quotes:
Robert got up very early, and went off to pleach the big hedge at the foot of the far pasture.
-- Mary Webb, Seven for a Secret

I might not be able to install plumbing fixtures or to pleach apple trees, but I know how to throw a good party.
-- Nancy Atherton, Aunt Dimity and the Family Tree



Origin:
Pleach is derived from the Middle French word plais , which meant "a hedge."

[ITS ME!]

apotropaic \ ap-uh-truh-PEY-ik \ , adjective;

1.
Intended to ward off evil.



Quotes:
Ritualistic behaviour used as an apotropaic to ward off private demons, yes. Except to Raymond there's danger everywhere.
-- Leonore Fleischer, Rain Man

In an older kind of fairy story, the magic of the flowers would be potent but unspecified, vaguely apotropaic.
-- Anthony Burgess, J.G. Ballard, "Introduction," The Best Short Stories of J.G. Ballard



Origin:
Apotropaic came into common usage in the 1880s. It comes from the Greek word apotrópai meaning "averting evil."

[ITS ME!]

cumshaw \ KUHM-shaw \ , noun;
1.

A present; gratuity; tip.



Quotes:
Many had nothing to give, but the younger wives always brought a modest cumshaw —a gift—for whatever mysterious service Dr. Ransome provided.
-- J.G. Ballard, Empire of the Sun

No one in the filthy streets (but for the blessed sea breezes San Francisco would enjoy cholera every season) interfered with my movements, though many asked for cumshaw.
-- Rudyard Kipling, From Sea to Sea

You know, cumshaw is not really understood by Westerners. It is not a bribe in the Western sense. More accurately, it is like a tip that is given in advance.
-- David Desauld, Twilight in Tientsin



Origin:
Cumshaw stems from the Chinese word gân xiè meaning "grateful thanks."

[ITS ME!]

caparison \ kuh-PAR-uh-suhn \ , verb;
1.
To dress richly; deck.

2.
To cover with a caparison.

noun: 1.
A decorative covering for a horse or for the tack or harness of a horse; trappings.

2.
Rich and sumptuous clothing or equipment.



Quotes:
The fruit, the fountain that's in all of us; in Edward; in Eleanor; so why caparison ourselves on top?
-- Virginia Woolf, The Years

And he followed her order, bridling and saddling the horse and making every effort to caparison it well.
-- Chrétien de Troyes, The Complete Romances of Chrétien de Troyes



Origin:
Caparison originally referred to an elaborate covering for horses. It is related to the word chaperon .

[ITS ME!]

tony \ TOH-nee \ , adjective;

1.
High-toned; stylish.



Quotes:
When we ate lunch in a tony restaurant near the Empire State Building, Ricky ordered a turkey sandwich and a glass of milk. I followed suit, not really knowing what to order in a restaurant.
-- David Appleton, Son: Saved from Myself

Then she had an appointment for a massage, and was ending her day by trying on wedding gowns at a tony dress shop on Fifth Avenue that Ava had located during her visit.
-- E. Lynn Harris, Not a Day Goes By



Origin:
An Americanism, tony entered the language in the 1870s. Its precise origin is unclear, but it is related to the word tone meaning "a particular quality or way of sounding."

[ITS ME!]

macaronic \ mak-uh-RON-ik \ , adjective;
1.
Composed of a mixture of languages.

2.
Composed of or characterized by Latin words mixed with vernacular words or non-Latin words given Latin endings.

3.
Mixed; jumbled.

noun: 1.
Macaronics, macaronic language.

2.
A macaronic verse or other piece of writing.



Quotes:
The tradition is even more significant in Folengo's Italian works and especially in his macaronic writings.
-- Mikhail Bakhtin, Rabelais and His World

The macaronic mode swivels between different languages. I believe Beckett chose French against English for similar reasons to those of Jean Arp in selecting French against German.
-- W. D. Redfern, French Laughter: Literary Humour from Diderot to Tournier

The journalistic multiplicity of voices found in the Magazine corresponded with the poetic multi-vocality of Fergusson's macaronic compositions, texts that combined elements of neo-classical English and vernacular Scots diction.
-- Ian Brown, The Edinburgh History of Scottish Literature



Origin:
Macaronic is related to the word macaroni . Specifically, the pasta is named after the Southern Italian dialect maccarone, which was also associated with a mixture of Latin and vernacular languages.

[ITS ME!]

approbate \ AP-ruh-beyt \ , verb;
1.
To approve officially.



Quotes:
And as for that one, let him work, let him work all he likes, as long as he doesn't interfere with anybody or touch anybody; let him work—I agree and I approbate!
-- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Double and the Gambler

By that logic, it is only the creation of a domestic crowd that can truly approbate the doings of the nation.
-- John Plotz, The Crowd: British literature and Public Politics




Origin:
Approbate stems from the Latin word approbāre , from the root ap- which is a variation of ad- , meaning "towards," and probātus meaning "proved."

[ITS ME!]

irriguous \ ih-RIG-yoo-uhs \ , adjective;
1.

Well-watered, as land.




Quotes:
For if the old cress-woman, the sole inhabitant of that secluded valley, had been inclined to make observations, she could not have failed to perceive that irriguous as were the windings of the brook, Miss Margaret and her friends preferred following them to their utmost.
-- Catherine Grace Frances Gore, "Blanks and Prizes, Or The Wheel of Fortune," Tait's Edinburgh Magazine

As nothing, at the opening of Spring, can exceed the luxuriant vegetation of these irriguous valleys; so, no term could be chosen more expressive of their verdure.
-- William Beckford, Vathek



Origin:
Irriguous comes from the Latin word irrigāre meaning "to wet" and the suffix -ous which turns a verb into an adjective, like nervous.

[ITS ME!]

palladium \ puh-LEY-dee-uhm \ , noun;
1.
Anything believed to provide protection or safety; safeguard.

2.
A statue of Athena, especially one on the citadel of Troy on which the safety of the city was supposed to depend.

3.
A rare metallic element of the platinum group, silver-white, ductile and malleable, harder and fusing more readily than platinum; used chiefly as a catalyst and in dental and other alloys. Symbol: Pd; atomic weight: 106.4; atomic number: 46; specific gravity: 12 at 20°C.



Quotes:
Trial by jury is the palladium of our liberties.
-- Mark Twain, Roughing It

So, representative institutions are the talismanic palladium of the nation, are they? The palladium of the classes that have them, I daresay.
-- Charles Kingsley, Alton Locke: Novels, Poems and Letters of Charles Kingsley



Origin:
Palladium is related to the Greek word pallas meaning "little maiden." The sense of a protective talisman comes from the name of a statue of Athena that guarded the city of Troy.