Word of the Day Thread

[ITS ME!]

tawdry \TAW-dree\ , adjective;
1.
Gaudy, showy and cheap.


2.
Low or mean; base: tawdry motives.

noun: 1.

Cheap, gaudy apparel.






Quotes:

It was all worn off now: cheap as Coney Island, tawdry, tarnished as the last year's trappings of a circus, bedraggled, shabby as a harlot's painted face at noon.
-- Thomas Wolfe, Of Time and The River

She knew it was a tawdry, a squalid freedom, tawdry as the pink geraniums and squalid as the awful and inevitable bridge and poker parties.
-- D.H. Lawrence, The First Lady Chatterly



Origin:

Tawdry was originally short for (Sain)t Audrey lace, which was a kind of neck lace bought at St. Audrey's Fair in Ely, England named after St. Audrey, Northumbrian queen and patron saint of Ely, who, according to tradition, died of a throat tumor which she considered just punishment of her youthful liking for neck laces.

[ITS ME!]

loll \lol\ , verb;
1.
To recline or lean in a relaxed, lazy, or indolent manner; lounge.

2.
To hang loosely; droop; dangle.

3.
To allow to hang, droop, or dangle.

noun: 1.
The act of lolling.

2.
A person or thing that lolls.






Quotes:
Smoking-room chairs exist to be lolled in. In a well-made modern armchair you cannot do anything but loll. Now, lolling is neither dignified nor respectful.
-- Aldous Huxley, Complete Essays

Then he begins to loll—for a person who can consent to loaf his useless life away in ignominious indolence has not the energy to sit up straight.
-- Mark Twain, Sketches New and Old



Origin:
Loll is derived from the Middle English lollen, lullen which compares to the Middle Dutch lollen meaning to doze, sit over the fire.

[tp2503]

Hey, I'm hanging loosely right now, lol. lolling in MY PANTS!!! lmao

:OHBABY:

[ITS ME!]

Hey, I'm hanging loosely right now, lol. lolling in MY PANTS!!! lmao

:OHBABY:Bwa Hahahaha tp dang you I about spit coffee all over, it came out my nose!

tp's Hangin Loose and Full O'Juice!

[ITS ME!]

Word of the Day
anomie \AN-uh-mee\ , noun;
1.
A sense of loneliness and anxiety; a state or condition characterized by a breakdown or absence of




Quotes:

That Texas was a fluid situation which attracted people who were prone to anomie, and that in their continuing disorganization they killed themsevles.
-- James W. Michener, Texas

In particular, in his search to live up to his father's example, Oskar has to overcome the depressing sense of anomie that results from living in a big city.
-- Kristiaan Versluys, Out of the Blue



Origin:

Anomie comes directly from the Greek anomia meaning lawlessness, from a (without) and nomia (law).

[ITS ME!]

Word of the Day

ferly \FER-lee\ , noun;
1.
Something unusual, strange, or causing wonder or terror.

2.
Astonishment; wonder.

adjective: 1.
Unexpected; strange; unusual.






Quotes:
I had had half a thought, at the outset, of telling him about the ferly, my glimpse of the palace. But I couldn't bring myself to it.
-- Clive Staples Lewis and Fritz Eichenberg, Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold

Lord, ye'll have all the folk staring as if we were some ferly.
-- Margaret Oliphant, Kirsteen



Origin:
Ferly is derived from Old English fǣrlīc meaning fǣr (fear) and -līc (-ly). It was related to the German gefährlich meaning dangerous.

[ITS ME!]

Word of the Day
anoesis \an-oh-EE-sis\ , noun;
1.
A state of mind consisting of pure sensation or emotion without cognitive content.




Quotes:
Normally, on my long-distance walks, anoesis descends within a few miles: the mental tape loop of infuriating resentments, or inane pop lyrics, or nonce phrases gives way to the greeny-beige noise of the outdoors.
-- Will Self, Psychogeography

Wiggy felt sudden release from all tension: exalted, drawn up in a freedom like dance. Then he was staring in stillness, for a moment in anoesis.
-- Richard Henderson, Chasing Charlie



Origin:
Anoesis is derived from the Greek word noesis meaning reason or intellect and the prefix a- meaning not. Thus it means, no reason.

[ITS ME!]

Word of the Day

mesmerize \MEZ-muh-rahyz\ , verb;
1.
To spellbind; fascinate.

2.
To hypnotize.

3.
To compel by fascination.






Quotes:
What a joy it was to mesmerize his audience, delight them, sell them the medicine, trick them.
-- Jeffery Deaver, The Vanished Man

“This gentleman," said Fraisier, darting at Schmucke one of those poisonous glances wherewith he was wont to mesmerize his victims, just as a spider mesmerizes a fly...
-- Honoré de Balzac, The Human Comedy



Origin:
Mesmerize is an eponym from Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815), an Austrian physician who developed a theory of animal magnetism and a mysterious body fluid which allows one person to hypnotize another.

[ITS ME!]

Word of the Day
animadvert \an-uh-mad-VURT\ , verb;
1.
To comment unfavorably or critically.

2.
Obsolete. To take cognizance or notice of.



Quotes:
I have a proposition which I am desirous of making to Mr. Gilmore, as a magistrate acting in this part of the county. Of course, it is not for me to animadvert upon what the magistrates may do at the bench tomrorrow.
-- Anthony Trollope, The Vicar of Bullhamptom

It is not our business to animadvert upon these lines; we are not critics, but historians.
-- Andrew Lang, The Blue Fairy Book



Origin:
Animadvert comes from the Latin animadvertere meaning to heed or censure.

[ITS ME!]

Word of the Day
perdition \per-DISH-uhn\ , noun;
1.
A state of final spiritual ruin; loss of the soul; damnation.

2.
The future state of the wicked.

3.
Hell.

4.
Utter destruction or ruin.

5.
Obsolete. Loss.






Quotes:
So my suspicions are confirmed, then, and you have determined to hand over your son to eternal perdition.
-- Henry Kingsley, Ravenshoe, Volume 1

I will rescue you from perdition in spite of yourself; Penance and mortification shall expiate your offense, and Severity force you back to the paths of holiness.
-- Matthew Lewis, The Monk



Origin:
Perdition stems from the Latin perditiōn- meaning destruction. It was the equivalent of perdit, the past participle of perdere meaning to do in, ruin or lose.

[ITS ME!]

Word of the Day

berserk \ber-SURK\ , adjective;
1.
Violently or destructively frenzied; wild; crazed; deranged.

noun: 1.
Scandinavian legend. An ancient Norse warrior who fought with frenzied rage in battle, possibly induced by eating hallucinogenic mushrooms.



Quotes: I was shaking like a washing machine gone berserk.
-- Francisco Goldman, The Long Night of White Chickens

She had had lots of power, in her own way, but she had no more motherly instinct than a berserk rhino.
-- Gregory Maguire, Son of a Witch



Origin:
The English usage of berserk lies in an Old Norse story introduced by Sir Walter Scott in 1822. It is from the Old Norse word berserkr (n.) meaning a raging warrior of superhuman strength. Linguistically, it probably from stems from ber- meaning bear and serkr meaning shirt, thus literally "a warrior clothed in bearskin."

[ITS ME!]

Word of the Day

sepulchral \suh-PUHL-kruhl\ , adjective;
1.

Proper to or suggestive of a tomb; funereal or dismal.

2.
Of or pertaining to burial.

3.
Of, pertaining to, or serving as a tomb.

4.
Hollow and deep: sepulchral tones.






Quotes:
I expect you are aware that my brother had an abiding interest in sepulchral art and tomb antiquities, sir.
-- Amanda Quick, Mischief

For, except in one or two doubtful instances, these mountainous sepulchral edifices have not availed to keep so much as the bare name of an individual or a family from oblivion.
-- Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun



Origin:
Sepulchural is derived from the Latin sepulcrum, from sepul- meaning to bury and -crum which was the suffix denoting place, so it literally meant “place to bury.”

[ITS ME!]

Word of the Day
thanatopsis \than-uh-TOP-sis\ , noun;
1.
A view or contemplation of death.

2.

A poem (1817) by William Cullen Bryant.




Quotes:
Once upon a time not too long ago I was married to a young woman whose every waking moment was underlain by a preoccupation with thanatopsis.
-- Harlan Ellison, Edgeworks

Yet, having heard Khideo's playful thanatopsis—he meant it to be playful—Ilihi looked at him with strange concern. “You sound as if you long for death, but I know it's not true.” said Ilihi.
-- Orson Scott Card, Earthborn



Origin:
Thanatopsis was first used in English by poet William Cullen Bryant in his 1817 poem. The word literally comes from the Greek thanato- meaning death and -opsis meaning likeness or idea.

[ITS ME!]

Word of the Day
nyctophobia \nik-tuh-FOH-bee-uh\ , noun;
1.
An abnormal fear of night or darkness.






Quotes:
Hardly right for him to do that if you're here by yourself, Miss Laetitia—all alone with your nyctophobia—but if Miss Templeton were here as well, you could all chaperone one another.
-- Barbara Cleverly, A Darker God

For as long as she could remember, Jerry Gates had been terrified of the dark. The cause of this nyctophobia was beyond the reach of recollection: some early trauma at the top of the stairs, perhaps.
-- Christopher Fowler, Seventy-Seven Clocks



Origin:
Nyctophobia stems from the Greek nyktos- meaning night and phobia meaning fear.

[ITS ME!]

Word of the Day
aioli \ahy-OH-lee\ , noun;
1.
A sauce made of oil and eggs, usually flavored with garlic, from the Provence region of France.






Quotes:
He said he was treating. There was roast artichoke topped with a sort of sly aioli. Mutton stuffed with foie gras, double chocolate rum cake. Seven kinds of cheese.
-- David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest

A beef sirloin is good, too, slightly charred on the outside and reddish pink in the middle, nicely peppered, with mustard aioli.
-- Garrison Keillor, Love Me



Origin:
Aioli comes from the Provençal word for garlic, ai and the Latin word for oil, oli.

[Rowdy Yates]

twiterpated? lets have that one lol. from Bambi not the twitter site. haha

[ITS ME!]

twiterpated? lets have that one lol. from Bambi not the twitter site. haha


Main Entry:
twitterpated


Part of Speech:
adj


Definition:
confused by affection or infatuation


Etymology:
twitter + -pated 'pertaining to the head'

[ITS ME!]

Word of the Day

metempirical \met-em-PIR-i-kuhl\ , adjective;
1.
Beyond or outside the field of experience.

2.
Of or pertaining to metempirics.






Quotes:
...but the quality of her innate wit had deepened, strange “metempirical” (as Van called them) undercurrents seemed to double internally, and thus enrich, the simplest expression of her simplest thoughts.
-- Vladimir Nabokov, Ada, or Ardor, a Family Chronicle

Still however, instead of aspiring to becoming rigorous and metempirical, poetry lives by the heart, the sense and singing.
-- Kahlil Gibran with Andrew Dib Sherfan, The Third Treasury of Kahlil Gibran



Origin:
Metempircal derives from the Greek words met- meaning “beyond or before” and empirical meaning “experience.”

[ITS ME!]

Word of the Day

obscurantism \uhb-SKYOORr-uhn-tiz-uhm\ , noun;
1.
Opposition to the increase and spread of knowledge.

2.
Deliberate obscurity or evasion of clarity.






Quotes:
Of course they're not. That's why there were all those confrontations, all that aggression and obscurantism. Because the forces of darkness are dying, and they are thrown back on such things as a last resort.
-- Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

In these he had shown himself a stalwart champion of Christian doctrine at its most precise and purest, equally remote from the modern laxity and obscurantism of the past.
-- Albus Camus, The Plague



Origin:
Obscurantism originally comes from the Latin root obscur meaning “dark” and the suffix -ant which turned a verb into a noun (as in the word servant), so the word literally meant “one that makes dark.”

[ITS ME!]

prehensible \pri-HEN-suh-buhl\ , adjective;
1.
Able to be seized or grasped.




Quotes:
Do they not give the obvious signified a kind of difficultly prehensible roundness, cause my reading to slip?
-- Roland Barthes, Image, Music, Text

And I, having only the name Divers as a visible, prehensible asperity for grasping the invisible, shall contort it so as to make it enter mine, mingling the letters of both.
-- Jean Genet, Miracle of the Rose



Origin:
Prehensible comes from the Latin word prehension meaning “a taking hold.”