Entry tags:

polish proverbs, yiddish proverbs

a sea of em dashes
paragoge
PRONUNCIATION:
(par-uh-GO-jee)

MEANING:
noun: The addition of a letter or syllable at the end of a word, either through natural development or to add emphasis. For example, height-th for height.

ETYMOLOGY:
Via Latin, from Greek paragoge, from para- (beyond) + -agogue (leader).

USAGE:
"Henry Peacham cites the expansion of 'vile' to 'vilde' as an example of the rhetorical figure paragoge."
Stephen Booth; Shakespeare's Sonnets; Yale University Press; 2000. - from wordsmith.org

kirtan
noun Hinduism a devotional song, typically about the life of Krishna, in which a group repeats lines sung by a leader.
— origin from Sanskrit kirtana. - from askoxford.com

waylay \WAY-lay\, transitive verb:

1. To lie in wait for and attack from ambush.
2. To approach or stop (someone) unexpectedly.

When his mother praised certain well-behaved and neatly dressed boys in the village, Jung was filled with hate for them, and would waylay and beat them up.
-- Frank McLynn, Carl Gustav Jung

He returned to her night after night, until his brother, Frank, waylaid him one evening outside Harriet's cabin and beat him bloody.
-- Lynne Olson, Freedom's Daughters

Furious and humiliated, the boy waylaid Martha after school.
-- Julian Barnes, England, England

The women, who hold wicker baskets filled with flowers and incense, are out to waylay tourists and to entice them into buying the blooms and scents.
-- Jacob Heilbrunn, "Mao More Than Ever", New Republic, April 21, 1997

Waylay comes from way (from Old English weg) + lay (from Old English lecgan). from dictionary.com

palmary \PAL-muh-ree\ adj
: outstanding, best

Example sentence:
Louis Pasteur is best known for originating pasteurization, but he also made palmary contributions in the field of immunology, including finding a vaccination for anthrax.

Did you know?
English speakers have been using "palmary" since the 1600s, and its history stretches back even further than that. It was the ancient Romans who first used their "palmarius" to describe someone or something extraordinary. "Palmarius" literally translates as "deserving the palm." But what does that mean exactly? Was it inspired by palms of hands coming together in applause? That would be a good guess, but the direct inspiration for "palmarius" was the palm leaf given to a victor in a sports competition. That other palm, the one on the hand, is loosely related. The Romans thought the palm tree's leaves resembled an outstretched palm of the hand; they thus used their word "palma" for both meanings, just as we do with "palm" in English. - from merriam-webster.com

maverick

Pronunciation: mæ-vêr-ik

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. A calf or other animal that has left the herd and has not been branded, so that anyone who brands it can claim ownership. 2. A garrulous individualist, an iconoclast who lives by his or her own rules, posing a threat to others.

Notes: Maverick is a maverick word, a garrulous individual with no lexical kin. It may, however, be used 'as is' adjectivally, "Buck Shott is a maverick CEO who took a chance no one else would take to produce and market electric ice skates."

In Play: A powerful source of English wordsAlthough we generally use the term to refer to iconoclasts who pose some sort of threat, we owe a lot to mavericks. Galileo and Charles Darwin were among the scientific mavericks who grandly expanded our understanding of the world. Henry Ford started out as a maverick who revolutionized manufacturing. Those of us who have been around for a while remember Bret (James Garner) and Bart (Jack Kelly) Maverick on the US TV show Maverick, popular in the 1960s or the 1994 movie reprise with Mel Gibson. They were cowboys who lived around the edge of the law, mavericks among the cowboy heroes of the time in their lack of courage.

Word History: The eponym of today's word is Texas cattleman, Samuel Maverick (1803-1870), who let the calves in his herd roam unbranded. Other ranchers, who initially "adopted" them, referred to them as "Maverick's" but the term soon migrated into mavericks. An interesting side note: Sam's grandson, Maury Maverick, coined the word gobbledygook to describe bureaucratic doubletalk. While serving in the U.S. Congress (1935-1939), he explained that he based the word on the sound of turkeys (the flying kind) back in Texas, who were ". . . always gobbledy-gobbling and strutting with ludicrous pomposity." At the end of this gobble there is, according to Maverick, a sort of "gook." - from alphadictionary.com

semasiology
PRONUNCIATION:
(si-may-see-OL-uh-jee)

MEANING:
noun: The study of meanings in a language, especially the study of semantic change.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek semasia (meaning).

USAGE:
"It must be left to students of musical semasiology to account for the psychological association that exists between the spiritual concept of goodness and saintliness and the notational accident of the absence of sharps and flats in the key signature, which results in the 'whiteness' of the music." Nicolas Slonimsky, et al.; The Listener's Companion: Great Composers and Their Works; Schirmer Trade Books; 2002.

"The early theories of semasiology attempted to account for meaning shifts in language."
Federica Busa, et al.; The Language of Word Meaning; Cambridge University Press; 2001. - from wordsmith.org

misprize \mis-PRYZ\, transitive verb:

1. To hold in contempt.
2. To undervalue.

I hesitate to appear to misprize my native city, but how can the history of dear, sedate old London town possibly compare to Paris for sheer excitement?
-- Alistair Horne, Seven Ages of Paris

Or did he misprize such fidelity and harden his heart against so great a love as hers?
-- Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, translated by Guido Waldman

Alternatively, when disagreements are noticed, they may by chance be overemphasized by those who misprize their significance by failing to assess the pressure exerted by economic and institutional factors as opposed to the purely intellectual.
-- Ellen Handler Spitz, "Warrant for trespass/ permission to peer", The Art Bulletin, December 1, 1995

Misprize comes from Middle French mesprisier, from mes-, "amiss, wrong" + prisier, "to appraise." - from dictionary.com

sumptuous

Pronunciation: sêmp-chu-wês

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: Lavish and expensive, large and luxurious, opulent.

Notes: Here is a word sumptuously endowed with Us and Ses. The adverb is sumptuously and the noun, sumptuousness. This word has no spelling pitfalls so long as you watch your Ps and Us. Because it refers to expense, it is related to an earlier Good Word, sumptuary.

In Play: Today's Good Word is often used in discussions of entertainment: "Gilda Lilly served a sumptuous dinner on the verandah for her investment broker and his wife." What you wear to a sumptuous meal is fair game for this word, too: "Portia Radclyffe came to the ball in a sumptuous gown of taffeta and velvet dripping in jewelry."

Word History: oday's word comes via Old French sumptueux (Modern French somptueux) from Latin sumptuosus, from sumptus "expense", the past participle of sumere "to take, buy", used as a noun. Sumere was derived from sub "(from) under" + em- "to take". This root picked up an initial N in Germanic languages and went on to become German nehmen "to take". In Old Slavic it became imeti "to have", which evolved into imati in Modern Serbian and imet' in Russian. We don't find evidence of it in English except in words borrowed from Latin like example, taken directly Latin eximere 'to take out", and sample, from the same source via French. - from alphadictionary.com

cacology
PRONUNCIATION:
(ka-KOL-uh-jee)

MEANING:
noun 1. Poor choice of words. 2. Incorrect pronunciation.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek caco- (bad) + -logy (word).

USAGE:
"The phenomena described in 1985 by Amos Joel, computer controlled digital switching system pioneer, are present realities: 'The trade press, which should know better, is party to the curtain of mysticism, clichés, and cacology around which they shroud the true technology of new products." John Buckley; Telecommunications Regulation; Institution of Electrical Engineers; 2003. - from wordsmith.org

verset
noun Music a short prelude or interlude for organ.
— origin Middle English (denoting a versicle): from Old French, diminutive of vers verse. - from askoxford.com

pepperbox, n. and adj.

A. n.

1. a. A small box with a (usually domed) perforated lid, used for sprinkling pepper on food; a pepper pot. Now chiefly arch. and hist.
1543 Privy Purse Expenses Princess Mary (1831) 96 A litle peper Boxe siluer & gilt. 1546 in W. Page Inventories Church Goods York, Durham & Northumberland (1897) 86 A peper box, weying vj oz. iij quarters. a1616 SHAKESPEARE Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) III. v. 135 Hee cannot creepe into a halfe-penny purse, nor into a Pepper-Boxe. 1660 S. PEPYS Diary 24 Oct. (1970) I. 273 To be angry with my wife..about her putting up of half a crowne of mine in a pepper box. 1707 Boston News-let. 17 Feb. 2/2 One Peppar Box, a large Porringer. a1782 R. GRAVES Fable in R. Dodsley Coll. Poems (1782) V. 70 The pepper-box..upon the table. 1865 J. MACGREGOR Rob Roy on Baltic (1867) 205 There is the blind that won't pull down or stop up, and the pepper~box that won't pepper. 1882 W. D. HOWELLS Mod. Instance xiv, Besides the caster, there was a bottle of Leicestershire sauce on the table, and salt in what Marcia thought a pepper-box. 1960 D. C. BRAUNGART & R. BUDDEKE Introd. Animal Biol. (ed. 5) viii. 103 The madreporite is perforated, like the lid of a pepper-box. 1992 S. HOLLOWAY Courage High! x. 87/2 The pot is made in the shape of a large pepper box.

b. In allusive expressions, referring to the action or appearance of a pepperbox. Also attrib. in pepperbox spelling. Now rare.
1821 Sporting Mag. 7 273/2 Both now began to slash away, and the pepper box was handed from one to another. 1898 Argosy July 648 One of those rapid fire guns will make a pepper box of him in no time. 1901 Daily News 25 Feb. 6/2 The swarm of nonentities upon whom..the pepper-box of titles is shaken. 1948 J. R. FIRTH in E. P. Hamp et al. Readings in Linguistics II (1966) 178 The Romans and the English managed to dispense with those written signs called accents and avoided pepperbox spelling. 1948 N. NICHOLSON Coll. Poems (1994) 132 The poppy shakes its pepper-box of seed.

2. Something regarded as resembling a pepperbox.

a. Freq. depreciative. A small cylindrical turret or cupola. Now rare.
1763 G. COLMAN in Terræ Filius 7 July 45 A queer Sort of Building, Ma'am, said young Bonus,—a mere Pepper-Box,—and there,—(pointing to the Turrets of All Souls) there are the Sugar-Casters. 1804 G. HUDDESFORD Wiccamical Chaplet 172 (title of poem) The Pepper-box. On the erection of a shabby clock-house on the roof of the spacious and venerable Cathedral of Winchester. 1821 SCOTT Kenilworth I. xii. 292 The monotonous stone pepper-boxes, which, in modern Gothic architecture, are employed. 1854 THACKERAY Newcomes I. xxii. 207 There are a score [of pictures] under the old pepper-boxes in Trafalgar Square as fine as the best here. 1923 D. H. LAWRENCE Birds, Beasts & Flowers 175, I wish..that I had been he in the pavilion, as in a pepper-box aloft and alone.

b. An early type of gun in which five or six barrels revolve round a central axis. Also pepperbox pistol, pepperbox revolver.
1850 A. T. JACKSON Diary of Forty-Niner 22 Sept. (1906) iii. 28 Donovan..jumped a claim, and when the rightful owner warned him off he drew an Allen's pepper box and shot Tracy. 1872 M. TWAIN Roughing It ii. 23 An old original Allen revolver, such as irreverent people called a pepper-box. 1901 W. CHURCHILL Crisis II. xviii. 280 Out of his pocket hung the curved butt of a big pepper-box revolver. 1920 C. W. SAWYER Our Rifles 65 The rifle was made about 1855, when pepper-box pistols were in everyday use. 1990 J. GASH Very Last Gambado (1991) xxv. 215 He fetched his weapons and laid them on a blanket... Three Tower service percussions.., a relic..flintlock barely clinging to its fractured walnut stock, and a pepperbox.

3. fig. A hot-tempered person. Now rare.
[1814 J. GALT Waychouse I. ii. 25 Ye're a welshman, and nae doubt as het in the temper, as a pepper box.] 1822 W. IRVING Bracebridge Hall I. 174 The continual thwartings he receives from the genuine son of a pepper-box, old Christy. 1867 H. KINGSLEY Silcote (1876) xiii. 77 Make love to Dora, if the young pepper-box will let you. 1883 C. READE & D. BOUCICAULT Foul Play V. iii. 67 That is a good woman. But what a pepper-box! 1994 Washington Times (Nexis) 23 Apr. A1 In 1954, his former coach remembered him as a pepper box and a terrific workhorse—one who wasn't even an average good player, but..he had spirit.

4. In the Eton game of fives: a buttress which protrudes into the court from the left-hand wall (see quot. 1902).
1865 W. L. COLLINS Etoniana Anc. & Mod. vii. 178 Any one who has seen the fives-courts [at Eton]..may have observed a small buttress projecting into the court..sometimes called the pepper-box. 1889 J. H. SKRINE Mem. E. Thring 17 Then, when the loose ball came, clapping it into the pepper-box, dead. 1902 C. R. STONE Eton Gloss. 25 Pepper-box.—One of the great differences between Eton fives and Rugby fives is the pepper-box, the irregular buttress sticking into the court..imitated from the original fives court in the side of Upper Chapel... Originally pepper-box was the name applied only to the Dead Man's Hole, but now generally to the whole buttress. 1975 Oxf. Compan. Sports & Games 290/2 At the end of the step, projecting from the left-hand wall, is a buttress (known as the pepper box).

B. adj. (attrib.). Of (a part of) a tower or turret: that resembles a pepperbox in shape.
1771 T. PENNANT Tour Scotl. 1769 203 A slender square tower with a pepper-box top. 1825 in W. Hone Every-day Bk. (1826) I. 949 The pepper-box towers remind the spectator more of pigeon-houses than church steeples. 1875 W. MCILWRAITH Guide Wigtownshire 103 Quaint pepper-box turrets, rope mouldings, crow-stepped gables. 1959 N. KAYE Gothic Cathedrals France 161 It rests on two enormous cylindrical piers..capped with pepper-box watch-turrets like the defences of a fortress. 1994 E. E. CRAIN Hist. Archit. Caribbean Islands Gloss. 246 Pepperbox turret, circular turret with a conical or domical roof. - from oed.com

conglobate \kahn-GLOH-bayt\ verb
: to form into a round compact mass

Example sentence:
Jack alternately conglobated and flattened the bit of clay as he talked.

Did you know?
"Conglobate" descends from the Latin verb "conglobare," which in turn comes from the prefix "con-" (meaning "with" or "together") and "globus" (meaning "globe"). "Conglobare" also means "to form into a ball," and in the 16th century it gave us the word "conglobe," of the same meaning. A century after "conglobe" first appeared in print, its cousin "conglobate" arrived on the scene. You may be wondering if the word "glob" is a relative too. "Glob" isn't linked directly to "conglobate," but it does have a possible link to "globe." Etymologists think that "glob" might have originated as a blend of "globe" and "blob." - from merriam-webster.com

obambulate
PRONUNCIATION:
(o-BAM-byuh-layt)

MEANING:
verb tr.: To walk about.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin ob- (towards, against) + ambulare (to walk). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ambhi- (around) that is also the source of ambulance, alley, preamble, and bivouac. The first print citation of the word is from 1614.

USAGE:
"We have often seen noble statesmen obambulating (as Dr. Johnson would say) the silent engraving-room, obviously rehearsing their orations." The Year's Art; J.S. Virtue & Co.; 1917. - from wordsmith.org

bidentate
PRONUNCIATION:
(by-DEN-tayt)

MEANING:
adjective: Having two teeth or toothlike parts.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin bi- (two) + dens (tooth).

USAGE:
"Noah and his wife humorously feed all the beasts; Noah pours a pail of milk into the hippo's gaping bidentate mouth." - Jon Solomon; The Ancient World in the Cinema; Yale University Press; 2001. - from wordsmith.org

traghetto
noun (pl. traghetti) (in Venice) a landing place or jetty for gondolas.
a gondola ferry.
— origin Italian. - from askoxford.com

recondite (adjective)

Pronunciation: ['re-kên-dIt]

Definition: Deep, profound, complex (knowledge, understanding); secret, hidden, out of view (motivation, principles); obscure, abstruse (source, cause).

Usage: The adverb is "reconditely" and the noun "reconditeness." (Today's word in not related to "condition.")

Suggested Usage: Today's word is most commonly associated with thought and study, "I'm glad Freeman went to college though I'm surprised that he would major in anything so recondite as Sumerian archeology." However, the clever conversationalist can create household uses such as, "Mom! I fail to fathom the recondite principle underlying your refusal to let me spend the weekend with Flash."

Etymology: Latin reconditus, past participle of recondere "to put away" comprising re- "back, backwards" + condere "to put together, preserve" from con- "together, with" + d?- "put, set." The origin of d?- is the same *dhe-/*dho that produced English "do" and "deed" (thing done). Suffixed with –m, it shows up in English "doom," whose Germanic foremother also produced Gothic doms "judgement," which Russian borrowed as Duma "parliament." Suffixed with –k, it found its way into Greek –theka and thence to French "discotheque" and Latin apotheca "storehouse" (whence our "apothecary") based on Greek apo "away" + theka. "Apotheca" ultimately became the remarkably unrecondite Spanish bodega "wineshop." - from yourdictionary.com

shunpike \SHUN-pyke\ noun
: a side road used to avoid the toll on or the speed and traffic of a superhighway

Example sentence:
When people request directions to our house, I ask them if they prefer to take the turnpike or the shunpike.

Did you know?
America's love affair with the automobile and the development of a national system of superhighways (along with the occasional desire to seek out paths less-traveled) is a story belonging to the 20th century. So the word "shunpike," too, must be a 20th-century phenomenon, right? Nope. Toll roads have actually existed for centuries (the word "turnpike" has meant "tollgate" since at least 1678). In fact, toll roads were quite common in 19th-century America, and "shunpike" has been describing side roads since the middle of that century, almost half a century before the first Model T rolled out of the factory. - from merriam-webster.com

palinode
PRONUNCIATION:
(PAL-uh-noad)

MEANING:
noun: A poem in which the author retracts something said in an earlier poem.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek palinoidia, from palin (again) + oide (song). It's the same palin that shows up in the word palindrome. Here's a palindromic web address:
http://wordsmith.org/words/sdrow/gro.htimsdrow//:ptth

NOTES:
The illustrator and humorist Gelett Burgess (1866-1951) once wrote a poem called The Purple Cow:
I never saw a purple cow,
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one.

The poem became so popular and he became so closely linked with this single quatrain that he later wrote a palinode:
Confession: and a Portrait, Too,
Upon a Background that I Rue!
Oh, yes, I wrote 'The Purple Cow,'
I'm sorry now I wrote it!
But I can tell you anyhow,
I'll kill you if you quote it."

USAGE:
"The more lighthearted palinodes were more successful, such as Geoff Horton's recantation of his youthful view that a martini should be shaken rather than stirred." Jaspitos; I Take It Back; The Spectator (London, UK); Jan 24, 2004. - from wordsmith.org

mikva
noun a bath in which certain Jewish ritual purifications are performed.
— origin mid 19th cent.: from Yiddish mikve, from Hebrew miqweh, literally collection (usually of water). - from askoxford.com

synecdoche \si-NEK-duh-kee\, noun:

a figure of speech by which a part is put for the whole or whole for a part or general for the special or vice versa

Photographers had to resort to visual synecdoche, hoping that a small part of the scene -- a wailing child, an emaciated mother, a pile of corpses in a freshly dug trench -- would suggest the horrors of the whole.
-- Paul Gray, Looking At Cataclysms, Time, August 1, 1994

We're using the part-for-whole type of synecdoche, for instance, when we describe a smart person as a "brain."
-- We Live by the Brand, Hartford Courant, August 9, 1995

By 1388, from Middle Latin synodoche, from Late Latin synecdoche, from Greek synekdokhe, literally "a receiving together or jointly," from synekdekhesthai "supply a thought or word, take with something else," from syn- "with" + ek "out" + dekhesthai "to receive," related to dokein "seem good". - from dictionary.com

lacuna \luh-KOO-nuh\ noun
1 : a blank space or a missing part : gap
2 : a small cavity, pit, or discontinuity in an anatomical structure

Example sentence:
The newly discovered Civil War documents filled many lacunae in the museum's archives.

Did you know?
Exploring the etymology of "lacuna" involves taking a plunge into the pit -- or maybe a leap into the "lacus" (that's the Latin word for "lake"). Latin speakers modified "lacus" into "lacuna," and used it to mean "pit," "cleft," or "pool." English speakers borrowed the term in the 17th century. Another English word that traces its origin to "lacuna" is "lagoon," which came to us by way of Italian and French. - from merriam-webster.com

damn, v.

Forms: 3-6 dampne, (4 dempne, damp), 4-7 damne, (5 dame, 5-6 damme, 5-7 dam, 7 damb), 7- damn. [a. OF. dampne-r, damne-r, ad. L. damnare, dampnare, orig. to inflict damage or loss upon, to condemn, doom to punishment; taken early into F. in legal and theological use. Cf. Pr. dampnar, It. damnare.]

1. a. trans. To pronounce adverse judgement on, affirm to be guilty; to give judicial sentence against; = CONDEMN 1 (in part), 2. Obs.
a1300 Cursor M. 13756 (Cott.), I damp the not quar-so thou far, But go nu forth and sin na mar. 1382 WYCLIF John viii. 10 Womman, wher ben thei that accusiden thee? no man dampnede thee. c1385 CHAUCER L.G.W. Prol. 387 It is no maysterye for a lord To dampne a man with-oute answere. 1440 J. SHIRLEY Dethe K. James (1818) 23 This same Erle of Athetelles was endited, arreyned, and dampned. 1483 CAXTON G. de la Tour Niij, Ye hadde made hym to be dampned and destroyed withoute cause. 1495, 1551 [see DAMNED 1].

b. To condemn to a particular penalty or fate; to doom; = CONDEMN 3, 6. Obs.
a1300 Cursor M. 20888 (Gött.) Bat ananias and his wijf For suilk he dampned thaim of lijf. c1320 R. BRUNNE Medit. 556 Pylat..dampnede his Lorde to dye on the croys. c1460 Towneley Myst. 209 Pylate, do after us, And dam to deth Jesus. 1483 CAXTON Gold. Leg. 382/2, ii. thousand peple cristen which had been longe there dampned for to hewe the marble. 1557 K. Arthur (Copland) VIII. ii, So she was dampned by the assent of the barons to be brente. 1559 Mirr. Mag., Tresilian xvii, I poore Tresilyan..was dampned to the galowes. 1611 SPEED Hist. Gt. Brit. VI. xlviii. 168 Let the Edict be dambd to eternal silence. 1734 POPE Ess. Man IV. 284 See Cromwell damned to everlasting fame. 1872 BLACKMORE Maid of Sk. (1881) 69, I will take it as a separate case, and damn the country in the fees.

2. a. To adjudge and pronounce (a thing, practice, etc.) to be bad; to adjudge or declare forfeited, unfit for use, invalid, or illegal; to denounce or annul authoritatively; to CONDEMN. Obs. exc. as in b, or as associated with other senses.
c1386 CHAUCER Wife's Prol. 70 For hadde God comaundid maydenhede, Than had he dampnyd weddyng with the dede. 1387 TREVISA Higden (Rolls) VIII. 289 Kyng Edward dampned sodeynliche fals money that was slyliche i-brought up. 1483 RICH. III in Ellis Orig. Lett. III. xlii. I. 105 Damnyng and utterly distroying all the stamps and Irons. 1556 Chron. Grey Friars (Camden) 20 And also there [Paul's Cross]..ware many bokes of eryses..damnyd and brent be fore hys face. 1635 E. PAGITT Christianogr. III. (1636) 40 A Councell, in which Image-worshippe was damned. 1676 WYCHERLEY Pl. Dealer Prol., And with faint praises one another damn [cf. Pope Prol. Sat. 200]. 1700 WELWOOD Mem. (ed. 3) 231 All the Charters in the Kingdom were damn'd in the space of a Term or two. 1797 GODWIN Enquirer II. vii. 266 We should [not] totally damn a man's character for a few faults. 1868 G. DUFF Pol. Surv. 9 An assembly..gathered together for the express purpose of damning modern civilization.

b. spec. To condemn (a literary work, usually a play) as a failure; to condemn by public expression of disapproval.
1654 WHITLOCK Zootomia 254 We glosse him with Invectives, or damne the whole Book for Erratas. 1696 tr. Du Mont's Voy. Levant Avij, The Book must be damn'd for the Clownishness of the Author. 1749 FIELDING Tom Jones XIII. xi, A new play, at which two large parties met, the one to damn, and the other to applaud. 1791 BOSWELL Johnson an. 1777, A comedy by Mr. Hugh Kelly, which..in the play-house phrase, was damned. 1860 J. P. KENNEDY W. Wirt I. xx. 309 The ordeal of facing the authorship of a play that has been damned.

c. Used by Coverdale as a rendering of Heb. hederîm to devote to destruction. Obs.
1535 COVERDALE Josh. vi. 18 Howbeit this cite, & all that is therin, shalbe damned vnto the Lorde..Onely bewarre of it that is damned, lest ye damne youre selues (yf ye take ought of it which is damned). Ibid. xi. 11 He..smote all the soules that were therin with the edge of the swerde, and damned it..& damned Hasor with fyre.

3. transf. To bring condemnation upon; to prove a curse to, be the ruin of.
1477 EARL RIVERS (Caxton) Dictes 68 The wikked werkes dampne and distroye the good. 1611 SHAKES. Cymb. III. iv. 76 Hence vile Instrument, Thou shalt not damne my hand. 1607 —— Timon IV. iii. 165. 1691 T. H[ALE] New Invent. p. lxxxiii, He would damn all Patents that damned the River. 1728 YOUNG Love Fame iii. (1757) 101 Who borrow much..And damn it with improvements of their own. 1848 LD. G. BENTINCK in Croker Papers III. xxv. 165 The Budget has damned the Whig Government in the country. 1893 Publishers' Circular 3 June 623/1 Chapman's..remarkable preface..if written by a modern author would at once damn his book.

4. Theol. a. To doom to eternal punishment in the world to come; to condemn to hell.
c1325 Metr. Hom. 112 Sain Jon hafd gret pite That slic a child suld dampned be. a1340 HAMPOLE Psalter i. 6 Wicked sall noght rise..for to deme, bot for to be demed and dampned. 1483 CAXTON G. de la Tour Eij, He wold pray god for hym that he myght knowe whether she was dampned or saued. a1533 LD. BERNERS Huon xlv. 151 Haue pyte of your owne soule, the whiche shal be dampnyd in hell. 1638 CHILLINGW. Relig. Prot. I. ii. §101 You damne all to the fire, and to Hell, that any way differ from you. 1727 SWIFT To Very Young Lady, Some people take more pains to be damned, than it would cost them to be saved. 1870 M. CONWAY Earthw. Pilgr. xxiii. 270 He had rather be damned with Plato than saved with those who anathematised him.

b. transf. To cause or occasion the eternal damnation of.
1340 Ayenb. 115 He is manslaghte and him-zelue damneth ase zayth the wrytinge. 1377 LANGL. P. Pl. B. XII. 92 Right so goddes body bretheren but it be worthily taken, Dampneth vs atte daye of dome. c1440 York Myst. xlviii. 161 The dedis that vs schall dame be-dene. 1547 BAULDWIN Mor. Philos. II. iii, The iustice of God and their owne desertes damne them vnto euerlasting death. 1658 Whole Duty Man xvi. §I. 127 Some..make it their only comfort, that their enemies will damn themselves by it. a1703 BURKITT On N.T., Luke i. 66 'Tis..the contempt and neglect of the sacrament that damns. 1837 J. H. NEWMAN Par. Serm. (ed. 2) III. xv. 235 You have the power to damn yourself.

c. In passive sense: = be damned. Obs. rare.
1611 BEAUM. & FL. Philaster IV. ii, Cle. Sir, shall I lie? King. Yes, lie and damn, rather than tell me that. 1625 MASSINGER New Way II. i, So he serve My purpose, let him hang or damn, I care not.

5. Used profanely (chiefly in optative, and often with no subject expressed) in imprecations and exclamations, expressing emphatic objurgation or reprehension of a person or thing, or sometimes merely an outburst of irritation or impatience. (Now very often printed d——n or d——, in pa. pple. d——d.) Also, damn (one's) eyes!, used as an abusive expression.
[1431 JOAN OF ARC in De Barante Ducs de Bourgogne vi. 116 Mais, fussent-ils [les anglais] cent mille Goddem de plus qu'à présent, ils n'auront pas ce royaume.] 1589 Pappe w. Hatchet (1844) 16 Hang a spawne? drowne it; alls one, damne it! 1605 SHAKES. Macb. V. iii. 11 The diuell damne thee blacke, thou cream-fac'd Loone. 1633 T. STAFFORD Pac. Hib. vi. (1821) 292 His owne manifold Letters..(full of God damne him). 1709 STEELE Tatler No. 13 page 1 Call the Chairmen: Damn 'em, I warrant they are at the Ale-house already! 1751 SMOLLETT Per. Pic. viii, I'll be d——d if ever I cross the back of a horse again. 1761 STERNE Tr. Shandy III. xii. 64 From the great and tremendous oath of William the Conqueror, (By the splendour of God) down to the lowest oath of a scavenger, (Damn your eyes). 1815 SCOTT Guy M. xxxvi, Then take broadswords and be d——d to you. 1836 DICKENS Let. 20 Sept. (1965) I. 175, I will see them d——d before I make any further alteration. 1849 THACKERAY Pendennis xxvii, D—— it, I love you: I am your old father. 1850 H. MELVILLE White Jacket II. xxvi. 170 What man-of-war's-men call a damn-my-eyes-tar, that is, a humbug. And many damn-my-eyes humbugs there are in this man-of-war world of ours. 1859 DICKENS T. two Cities I. ii, One pull more and you're at the top, and be damned to you. 1906 Q Mayor of Troy xi. 151 D——n your eyes, it's twins—and both girls! 1912 KIPLING As Easy as A.B.C. 5 It's refreshing to find any one interested enough in our job to damn our eyes. 1922 JOYCE Ulysses 287, I was just passing the time of day with old Troy..and be damned but a bloody sweep came along and he near drove his gear into my eye. 1943 N. BALCHIN Small Back Room xiv. 200, I shall have to let go of the other wrench. Damn and blast. 1953 H. MILLER Plexus (1963) v. 175 Those things never happen to me. So you peddled candies in the Café Royal? I'll be damned.

6. To imprecate damnation upon; to curse, swear at (using the word damn). Also absol.
1624 MASSINGER Parl. Love I. v, If you have travelled Italy, and brought home Some remnants of the language, and can..Protest, and swear, and damn. 1665 DRYDEN Indian Emp. Epil., Their proper business is to damn the Dutch. 1796 STEDMAN Surinam I. vii. 135 Insulted by a row-boat, which damned him, and spoke of the whole crew in the most opprobrious terms. 1848 MACAULAY Hist. Eng. (1871) II. xiii. 49 The dragoons..cursing and damning him, themselves, and each other, at every second word.

DRAFT ADDITIONS JUNE 2006

damn, v.

* to damn with faint praise and variants: to praise so half-heartedly or disingenuously as to imply condemnation.
1676 W. WYCHERLEY Plain-dealer Prol., And with faint praises one another damn. 1723 POPE in J. Markland Cythereia xii. 91 Damn with faint Praise, assent with civil Leer, And, without Sneering, teach the rest to Sneer. 1763 Apol. for Monthly Rev. 25 If this be not to damn with faint praise, it is surely something worse. 1821 E. QUILLINAN Retort Courteous 23 Critics have oft assail'd my careless verse, Or damn'd it with faint praise, that direst curse. 1885 Longman's Mag. Dec. 151 Could I not damn with faint praise and stab with sharp insinuendo? 1930 Economica 29 204 It is invidious to damn with faint praise; but useful as the book may very well prove on occasion, one can hardly call it great or first-rate. 1970 Jrnl. Eng. & Germanic Philol. 69 72 Contemporary criticism has tended to damn with faint praise by suggesting that Old English poems were largely collections of formulae indicative of oral composition. 2005 Morning Star (Nexis) 31 Jan. 2 [He] suggests that employers now have less incentive to oppose unions because their impact on productivity and profits is so modest, which is to damn the unions with faint praise. - from oed.com

fracas

Pronunciation: fræ-kês, fray-kês

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: A fight, scuffle, or loud argument.

Notes: We need to remember a couple of things about this word. First, there is no K in its spelling. If it were an original English word it would need the digraph CK for the [k] sound. Second, in pluralizing it, we need to insert an E between the Ss: fracases. With these two notes in mind, we should have no problem using today's Good Word.

In Play: A fracas is first and foremost a fight: "Rather than starting a fracas when the motorcyclists insulted him, Gerald simply left the diner and 'accidentally' backed over the row of bikes outside as he drove his tractor-trailer away." It has been extended, however, to cover loud, raucous arguments where tempers flare: "A fracas broke out at the office meeting when the boss asked Marsha Lartz to get him a cup of coffee."

Word History: French borrowed fracas from Itallian fracasso "fracas", the noun from fracassare "to smash, shatter". This verb was derived from Latin fractus "broken", the past participle of frangere "to break", a verb with a notorious Fickle N. We see it in the infinitive frangere but not in the derived adjective fragilis "breakable", the origin of fragile. Notice that English also borrowed fracture and infraction, two other words based on the N-less past participle fractus. - from alphadictionary.com

meeken
PRONUNCIATION:
(MEEK-en)

MEANING:
verb tr., intr.: To make or become meek or submissive.

ETYMOLOGY:
From meek, from Old Norse mjúkr (soft, meek).

USAGE:
"Whenever Helen sleeps, her fevered rest meekens her; hence, she re-emerges enfeebled -- her strength, expended; her reserves, depleted." Christian Bök; Eunoia; Coach House Book; 2001. - from wordsmith.org

boudin
noun
1. (pl. same) a French type of black pudding.
2. (boudins) Geology a series of elongated parallel sections formed by the fracturing of a sedimentary rock stratum during folding.
— origin French. - from askoxford.com

plenary \PLEE-nuh-ree; PLEN-uh-ree\, adjective:

1. Full in all respects; complete; absolute; as, plenary authority.
2. Fully attended by all qualified members.

Judges like to quote a 1936 Supreme Court opinion that spoke of "the very delicate, plenary and exclusive power of the President as the sole organ of the Federal Government in the field of international relations."
-- "Like Interpreting the Dreams of Pharaoh", New York Times, November 6, 1988

Tito called a plenary session of the Central Committee.
-- Milovan Djilas, Fall of the New Class

Plenary comes from Late Latin plenarius, from Latin plenus, "full." It is related to plenty. - from dictionary.com

scofflaw \SKAHFF-law\ noun
: a contemptuous law violator

Example sentence:
The governor's office set up a database listing the names of scofflaws who hadn't paid their traffic fines.

Did you know?
In 1924, a wealthy Massachusetts Prohibitionist named Delcevare King sponsored a contest in which he asked participants to coin an appropriate word to mean "a lawless drinker." King sought a word that would cast violators of Prohibition laws in a light of shame. Two respondents came up independently with the winning word: "scofflaw," formed by combining the verb "scoff" and the noun "law." Henry Dale and Kate Butler, also of Massachusetts, split King's $200 prize. Improbably, despite some early scoffing from language critics, "scofflaw" managed to pick up steam in English and expand to a meaning that went beyond its Prohibition roots, referring to one who violates any law, not just laws related to drinking. - from merriam-webster.com

clochard \kloh-SHAR\ noun
: tramp, vagrant

Example sentence:
"He lives on the Pont Neuf, the oldest and most beautiful bridge in Paris, which has become a secret home to clochards ... while closed for extensive repairs." (Vincent Canby, The New York Times, October 6, 1992)

Did you know?
Why such a fancy French word for a bum? The truth of the matter is, nine times out of ten, you will find "clochard" used for not just any bum, but a French bum -- even more specifically, a Parisian bum. And, sometimes, it's even a certain type of Parisian bum -- a type that has been romanticized in literature and is part of the local color. Nevertheless, as "francais" as this word (which comes from the French verb "clocher," meaning "to limp") may seem, its regular appearance in English sources since 1937 makes it an English word, too. - from merriam-webster.com



Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught. - Winston Churchill

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. - Rachel Carson

I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them. - Jane Austen

The aeroplane has unveiled for us the true face of the earth. - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy. - John Galsworthy

Let us enrich ourselves with our mutual differences. - Paul Valery

What the public criticizes in you, cultivate. It is you. - Jean Cocteau

A graceful taunt is worth a thousand insults. - Louis Nizer

Conscience is a dog that does not stop us from passing but that we cannot prevent from barking. - Nicolas de Chamfort

Do not ask the name of the person who seeks a bed for the night. He who is reluctant to give his name is the one who most needs shelter. - Victor Hugo

The most interesting thing in the world is another human being who wonders, suffers and raises the questions that have bothered him to the last day of his life, knowing he will never get the answers. - Will Durant

We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and everyone seems to think yesterday was better than today. I don't think it was, and I would advise you not to wait ten years before admitting today was great. If you're hung up on nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and just go out and have one hell of a time. - Art Buchwald

It is wonderful to be despised, if, deep down, we know we are right. - Pierre Elliott Trudeau

Clarity is the counterbalance of profound thoughts. - Luc de Clapiers

It's not enough to bash in heads. You've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer

The greatest oaks have been little acorns. - Polish proverb

A penny is a lot of money, if you have not got a penny. - Yiddish proverb



As a special bonus this week, the ten most difficult words to translate:

Mamihlapinatapei
From Yagan, the indigenous language of the Tierra del Fuego region of South America. This word has been translated in several ways in English, always implying a wordless yet meaningful look shared by two people who both desire to initiate something but are both reluctant to start.

Jayus
From Indonesian, meaning a joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh.

Prozvonit
In both Czech and Slovak language, this word means to call a mobile phone only to have it ring once so that the other person would call back, allowing the caller not to spend money on minutes.

Kyoikumama
In Japanese, this word refers to a mother who relentlessly pushes her children toward academic achievement.

Tartle
A Scottish verb meaning to hesitate while introducing someone due to having forgotten his/her name.

Iktsuarpok
From the Inuit, meaning to go outside to check if anyone is coming.

Cafuné
From Brazilian Portuguese, meaning to tenderly run one’s fingers through someone’s hair.

Torschlusspanik
From German, this word literally means “gate-closing panic” and is used to describe the fear of diminishing opportunities as one ages. This word is most frequently applied to women who race the ‘biological clock’ to wed and bear children.

Tingo
From the Pascuense language of Easter Island, it is the act of taking objects one desires from the house of a friend by gradually borrowing all of them.

Ilunga
From the Tshiluba language spoken in south-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, this word has been chosen by numerous translators as the world’s most untranslatable word. Ilunga indicates a person who is ready to forgive any abuse the first time it occurs, to tolerate it the second time, but to neither forgive nor tolerate a third offense.