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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2010 18:08:08 GMT -5
The Word of the Day for March 28 is:
pullulate \PUL-yuh-layt\ verb 1 a : germinate, sprout b : to breed or produce freely *2 : swarm, teem
Example sentence: The coastal resort town is quiet now, but with summer approaching it will soon be pullulating with tourists.
Did you know? To remember the history of "pullulate," think chickens. This may sound like odd advice, but it makes sense if you know that "pullulate" traces ultimately to the Latin noun "pullus," which means not only "sprout," but also "young of an animal" and, specifically, "chick." "Pullus" is also an ancestor of "pullet" ("young hen"), "poult" (meaning "young fowl" and especially "young turkey"), and even "poultry" ("domesticated fowl"). At first "pullulate" referred to sprouting, budding, and breeding around the farm; only later did it gain its "swarm" sense.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2010 9:00:09 GMT -5
The Word of the Day for March 29 is:
uxorial \uk-SOR-ee-ul\ adjective : of, relating to, or characteristic of a wife
Example sentence: "He watered the plants, cleared aspen leaves and debris from the rock garden, and cut the lawn...without any uxorial prompting." (Rois M. Beal, The Washington Post, July 19, 2007)
Did you know? With help from "-ial," "-ious," and "-icide," the Latin word "uxor," meaning "wife," has given us the English words "uxorial," "uxorious" (meaning "excessively fond of or submissive to a wife"), and "uxoricide" ("murder of a wife by her husband" or "a wife murderer"). Do we have equivalent "husband" words? Well, sort of. "Maritus" means "husband" in Latin, so "marital" can mean "of or relating to a husband and his role in marriage" (although "maritus" also means "married," and the "of or relating to marriage or the married state" sense of "marital" is far more common). And while "mariticide" is "spouse killing," it can also be specifically "husband-killing."
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2010 19:48:42 GMT -5
The Word of the Day for April 10 is:
tatterdemalion \tatt-er-dih-MAIL-yun\ adjective 1 : ragged or disreputable in appearance *2 : being in a decayed state or condition : dilapidated
Example sentence: "What he wants to do is to get the tatterdemalion main building into shape so that it can be used as a retreat for priests and laymen, perhaps with profitable results." (Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post, August 15, 2007)
Did you know? The exact origin of "tatterdemalion" is uncertain, but it's probably connected to either the noun "tatter" ("a torn scrap or shred") or the adjective "tattered" ("ragged" or "wearing ragged clothes"). We do know that "tatterdemalion" has been used in print since the 1600s. In its first documented use in 1608, it was used as a noun (as it still can be) to refer to a person in ragged clothing -- the type of person we might also call a ragamuffin. ("Ragamuffin," incidentally, predates "tatterdemalion" in this sense. Like "tatterdemalion," it may have been formed by combining a known word, "rag," with a fanciful ending.) Within half a dozen years of the first appearance of "tatterdemalion," it came to be used as an adjective to describe anything or anyone ragged or disreputable.
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Post by honore on Apr 13, 2010 4:39:24 GMT -5
Why is the word dictionary in the dictionary?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2010 10:25:04 GMT -5
The Word of the Day for June 2 is:
nidifugous \nye-DIFF-yuh-gus\ adjective : leaving the nest soon after hatching
Example sentence: "Little is known about the mortality of nidifugous shorebird chicks." (Hans Schekkerman, et al., Journal of Ornithology, January 2009)
Did you know? "Nidifugous" hatched from the Latin words "nidus," meaning "nest," and "fugere," meaning "to flee." Its contrasting word "nidicolous," meaning "reared for a time in a nest," combines "nidus" with the English combining form "-colous" ("living or growing in or on"). Another relevant term is "precocial." A precocial bird is capable of a high degree of independent activity as soon as it emerges from the egg. While all nidifugous birds are also necessarily precocial, some nidicolous birds are also precocial -- that is, they are capable of leaving the nest soon after hatching, but instead they stick around. Other nidicolous birds are "altricial," which is to say they are hatched in a very immature and helpless condition and require care for some time.
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Post by lonewolf on Jun 3, 2010 13:35:18 GMT -5
Did the dictionary not have words for the past month and a half
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Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2010 11:46:01 GMT -5
The Word of the Day for June 21 is:
macerate \MASS-uh-rayt\ verb 1 : to cause to waste away by or as if by excessive fasting *2 : to cause to become soft or separated into constituent elements by or as if by steeping in fluid; broadly : steep, soak 3 : to soften and wear away especially as a result of being wetted or steeped
Example sentence: "Absinthe is made by macerating herbs and spices, including anise and fennel, with the grand wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) that gives the drink its name." (Julia Reed, Newsweek, April 12, 2010)
Did you know? "Macerate" is derived from the Latin verb "macerare," meaning "to soften" or "to steep." That meaning was borrowed into English in 1563. However, the first English use of "macerate" refers to the wasting away of flesh especially by fasting. That use manifested itself in 1547. A few other manifestations sprouted thereafter from the word's figurative branch (e.g., Laurence Sterne (1713-1768) once wrote of "a city so macerated with expectation"); however, those extensions wilted in time. Today, the "steeping" and "soaking" senses of "macerate" saturate culinary articles (as in "macerating fruit in liquor") as well as other writings (scientific ones, for instance: "the food is macerated in the gizzard" or "the wood is macerated in the solution").
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2010 14:30:14 GMT -5
The Word of the Day for June 25 is:
scuttlebutt \SKUTT-ul-butt\ noun : rumor, gossip
Example sentence: After he retired, Bob regularly stopped by his old office to visit his buddies and catch up on the latest scuttlebutt.
Did you know? Nowadays, office workers catch up on the latest scuttlebutt around the water cooler, and when they do, they are continuing a long-standing (although not necessarily honorable) tradition. That kind of gossip sharing probably also occurred on the sailing ships of yore. Back in the early 1800s, the cask containing a ship's daily supply of freshwater was called a "scuttlebutt"; that name was later applied to a drinking fountain on a ship or at a naval installation. By the early 20th century, the term for the water source was also applied to the gossip and rumors generated around it, and the latest chatter has been called "scuttlebutt" ever since.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2018 16:46:08 GMT -5
Also, been a while ...
mansuetude noun | MAN-swih-tood Definition: the quality or state of being gentle : meekness, tameness
Did You Know? Mansuetude was first used in English in the 14th century, and it derives from the Latin verb mansuescere, which means "to tame." Mansuescere itself comes from the noun manus (meaning "hand") and the verb suescere ("to accustom" or "to become accustomed"). Unlike manus, which has many English descendants (including manner, emancipate, and manicure), suescere has only a few English progeny. One of them is desuetude, which means "disuse" and comes to us by way of Latin desuescere ("to become unaccustomed"). Two others are custom and accustom, which derive via Anglo-French from Latin consuescere, meaning "to accustom."
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Post by Sorry Ass Sal on Feb 8, 2018 17:00:53 GMT -5
Eight years later? Really?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2018 18:30:27 GMT -5
Eight years later? Really? I've been waiting for a good word.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2020 18:34:17 GMT -5
The word of the day is
octothorpe
noun | AHK-tuh-thorp Definition: the symbol #
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Post by Mocha on Nov 12, 2020 22:54:46 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2020 14:59:02 GMT -5
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