A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Sun Feb 1 00:03:40 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--postpartum X-Bonus: A turtle makes progress when it sticks its neck out. post.par.tum adj. [L. post partum, after birth] Of or occurring in the period shortly after childbirth. Kathleen Kelleher, The Pre-Baby Blues, Los Angeles Times, 01-17-1995, pp E-1. "And any woman who has had severe psychiatric disorders stands a greater chance of recurrence during pregnancy and postpartum." This week's theme: words about pregnancy and childbirth. -------- Date: Mon Feb 2 00:03:59 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--glabella X-Bonus: Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a Zealous one asking what you can do for your country. -Kahlil Gibran, 1883-1931 [from The New Frontier, an article by Gibran] gla.bel.la n. [NL., fr. L. glabellus hairless, fr. glaber bald.] The space between the eyebrows, just above the nose. Rich New Hominid Site Discovered., Africa News Service, 12-22-1997. "But the frontal bone of the Drimolen infant is clearly identifiable as Paranthropus by its thin brow ridges and by the slight depression at the glabella, the point where the eyebrows meet." OK, so we all know where our noses, eyes and ears are. We learnt these names for body parts in Kindergarten. Here is another crash course in words that describe rather unusual places on our body. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Feb 3 00:04:01 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lunula X-Bonus: Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward. lu.nu.la also lunule n. [F., fr. L. lunula, dim. of luna moon.] 1: The crescent-shaped area at the base of the human fingernail 2: Anything crescent-shaped; a crescent-shaped part or mark. SerVaas, Cory, Ask Doctor Cory., Vol. 76, Child Life, 03-01-1997, pp 32(1). "All healthy fingernails have white moons or half-moons, called lunulas, at the base." This week's theme: words related to body parts. -------- Date: Wed Feb 4 00:32:13 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--uvula X-Bonus: If a person never contradicts himself, it must be that he says nothing. -Miguel de Unamuno u.vu.la n. [NL., dim of L. uva a grape, the uvula.] (Anat.) The pendent fleshy lobe in the middle of the posterior border of the soft palate. Blake Green, Improvising, As Always Anita O'Day, 76, keeps singing jazz in new ways., Newsday, 07-03-1995, pp B05. "O'Day has explained her vocal sound as the result of a botched tonsillectomy when she was 7. `I don't have a vibrato because I don't have a uvula, the little thing that hangs down in the back of the throat. That's why I sing so many notes." This week's theme: words related to body parts. -------- Date: Thu Feb 5 00:05:15 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--frenum X-Bonus: A man's manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe fre.num n. [L. Fraena. [L., a bridle.]] A connecting fold of membrane serving to support or restrain any part; as, the frenum of the tongue. Porter, Roy, Knotted Tongues: Stuttering in History and the Quest for a Cure. Vol. 212,The New Republic, 06-12-1995, pp 42(5). "His operation consisted of making a horizontal section at the root of the tongue, and excising a triangular wedge so that the impulses could get through--a far more drastic operation than dividing the frenum." This week's theme: words related to body parts. -------- Date: Fri Feb 6 00:05:06 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--axilla X-Bonus: For every action there is an equal and opposite malfunction. ax.il.la n. [L.] The armpit, or the cavity beneath the junction of the arm and shoulder. Jenner, Edward, Three Original Publications On Vaccination Against Smallpox: Part II.., Great Works of Literature, 01-01-1992. "He complained of excessive pain, which extended up his arm into the axilla." This week's theme: words related to body parts. -------- Date: Sat Feb 7 18:00:55 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--canthus X-Bonus: Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. -Henry David Thoreau can.thus n. [NL., fr. Gr. kanthos] ] The corner where the upper and under eyelids meet on each side of the eye. Williams, John D, et. al., Psychophysiological correlates of dynamic imagery, British Journal of Psychology, 1 May 1995. "Electrodes monitoring horizontal and vertical eye movement were positioned at the outer canthus of each eye and above and below the right eye." VanderKarr, Carol; Hicks, Karen, High Fashion: Skullcontouring for Everywoman, WomenWise, p. 1, 31 Jan 1989. "The desired effect of this surgery, according to Dr. Ousterhout, is `The 'open and excited' look to the eyes, slight upward tilt to the lateral canthus...`" This week's theme: words related to body parts. -------- Date: Sun Feb 8 06:04:59 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--gular X-Bonus: The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. -Bertrand Russell gu.lar a. [Cf. F. gulaire.] Pertaining to the gula or throat; as, gular plates. De Roy, Tui, Whose funny valentine? (courtship behavior of the frigate-bird)., Vol. 33, National Wildlife, 02-12-1995, pp 16(2). "From his coastal perch in a low bush or tree, he inflates his red throat pouch, or gular sac, until it resembles a large red balloon. Then he turns it skyward to attract females hovering overhead, spreads and shakes his wings and makes a whinnying sound to complete the valentine show." This week's theme: words related to body parts. -------- Date: Mon Feb 9 02:04:56 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--motile X-Bonus: If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us. -Hermann Hesse mo.tile a. [See Motive.] 1. (Biol.) Having powers of self-motion, though unconscious; as, the motile spores of certain seaweeds. 2. Producing motion; as, motile powers. mo.tile n. (Psychol.) A person whose prevailing mental imagery takes the form of inner feelings of action, such as incipient pronunciation of words, muscular innervations, etc. mo.tile a. [See Motive.] 1. (Biol.) Exhibiting, or capable of, spontaneous movement; as, motile cilia, motile spores, etc. "Hungry Joe was a ragged mass of motile irritability." Catch-22 from Joseph Heller would have to rate as my second favourite book of all time. It is an intoxicating tale of a bomber trying to survive and stay sane amidst the chaos of WW2. Not only does Heller wield his cutting wit to highlight the insanity of war, but he also uses a rich vocabulary to keep the reader interested and sate the appetite of the most ardent wordsmith. -Nigel Cross (nigel.crossATsss.co.nz) (This week's Guest Wordsmith, Nigel, works for a computer company in Wellington, New Zealand. On a slightly different note, subscribership of AWAD has crossed into six figures. Welcome lucky 100,000th linguaphile Jade Eremenko of Canada, and thanks to the previous 99,999 for making the list what it is. -Anu) -------- Date: Tue Feb 10 02:05:01 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--mellifluous X-Bonus: Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will never do any harm to the world. -Voltaire mel.lif.lu.ous a. [L. mellifluus; mel, mellis, honey Goth. milip) + fluere to flow. See Mildew, Fluent, and cf. Marmalade.] Flowing as with honey; smooth; flowing sweetly or smoothly; as, a mellifluous voice. melifluously, adv. "The engines crooned mellifluously." This week's theme: words from Joseph Heller's Catch-22. -------- Date: Wed Feb 11 00:05:07 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--obstreperous X-Bonus: The young wish to give their elders the full benefits of their inexperience. ob.strep.er.ous a. [L. obstreperus, from obstrepere to make a noise at; ob (see Ob-) + strepere to make a noise.] Attended by, or making, a loud and tumultuous noise; clamorous; noisy; vociferous. "It was a violent, guzzling saturnalia that spilled obstreperously through the woods." This week's theme: words from Joseph Heller's Catch-22. -------- Date: Thu Feb 12 00:05:03 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--rubicund X-Bonus: Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art. -Leonardo da Vinci ru.bi.cund a. [L. rubicundus, fr. rubere to be red, akin to ruber red. See Red.] Inclining to redness; ruddy; red. "His cheeks aglow with the jovial, rubicund warmth of nostalgic recollection." This week's theme: words from Joseph Heller's Catch-22. -------- Date: Fri Feb 13 00:05:00 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--expurgate X-Bonus: All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence. -Martin Luther King, Jr. ex.pur.gate v. t. [L. expurgatus, p. p. of expurgare to purge, purify; ex out, from + purgare to cleanse, purify, purge. See Purge, and cf. Spurge.] To purify; to clear from anything noxious, offensive, or erroneous; to cleanse; to purge. "Yossarian was busy expurgating all but romance words from the text." This week's theme: words from Joseph Heller's Catch-22. -------- Date: Sat Feb 14 00:05:52 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--rancor X-Bonus: We think caged birds sing, when indeed they cry. -John Webster ran.cor n. [OE. rancour, OF. rancor, rancur, F. rancune, fr. L. rancor rancidity, rankness; tropically, an old grudge, rancor, fr. rancere to be rank or rancid.] The deepest malignity or spite; deep-seated enmity or malice; inveterate hatred. "As the seeds of rancor took root in the soldiers all around him." This week's theme: words from Joseph Heller's Catch-22. -------- Date: Sun Feb 15 00:05:05 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--subcutaneous X-Bonus: I care not for a man's religion whose dog or cat are not the better for it. -Abraham Lincoln sub.cu.ta.ne.ous a. Situated under the skin; hypodermic. subcutaneously, adv. "Twitching veins squirming subcutaneously in the blackened hollow behind his eyes." This week's theme: words from Joseph Heller's Catch-22. -------- Date: Mon Feb 16 01:32:06 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--piliferous X-Bonus: The traveler has to knock at every alien door to come to his own, and he has to wander through all the outer worlds to reach the innermost shrine at the end. -Rabindranath Tagore [Gitanjali] pi.lif.er.ous a. [L. pilus hair + -ferous: cf. F. pilifere.] 1. Bearing a single slender bristle, or hair. 2. Beset with hair. Anne Billson, The Arts: It's hairy, it's scary, it's Bruce's wig Cinema, The Sunday Telegraph, 11 Jan 1998. "If there's one thing that separates us from the stars, it's hair. Film-star hair, like film-star orthodontia, bears scant relation to life as we know it; it comes and goes, changes colour at will, or sprouts overnight into rolling acres of luxuriant growth. Sometimes you can see an entire range of exciting piliferous activity within a single movie..." This week's theme: Hair today, gone tomorrow. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Feb 17 01:32:41 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pilgarlic X-Bonus: People who live in windowed environments shouldn't cast pointers. pil.gar.lic n. [fr. peeled garlic] 1. A bald-headed person. 2 : someone looked upon with humorous contempt or mock pity Irving Long, Eye on Long Island: A Weekly Look Behind the News Inside Long Island: Historic Roots The Hairiest of Political Cover-ups, Newsday, 12 Mar 1995. "Moving from pogonotrophy to pilgarlics, many politicians perceive that the voters won't go for a bald-headed candidate, according to John T. Capps III of (where else?) Morehead City, N.C., president and founder of Bald-Headed Men of America. Capps believes there is a cover-up in Washington where he suspects that many members of Congress are wearing rugs. "In these circles, a word like `pilgarlic' can come in handy. Besides being a real word in the dictionary that means a bald-headed man, `pilgarlic' is to `bald' as `statesman' is to `political hack.'" This week's theme: Hair today, gone tomorrow. -------- Date: Wed Feb 18 01:32:03 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hispid X-Bonus: When I play with my cat, how do I know that she is not passing time with me rather than I with her? -Montaigne his.pid a. [L. hispidus: cf. F. hispide.] Beset with stiff hairs or bristles. Tony Snow, Washington -- Has anybody figured out why we're bombing Iraq? Gannett News Service, 9 Sep 1996. "The administration says it wanted to teach the hispid Hussein about the primacy of human rights." This week's theme: Hair today, gone tomorrow. -------- Date: Thu Feb 19 01:32:50 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--glabrous X-Bonus: The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. -Saint Augustine gla.brous a. [L. glaber] Smooth; having a surface without hairs or any unevenness. Justin Davidson, The Streamlined Vienna Could Use a Push, Newsday, 10 Mar 1997. "Details that might have been bristles of energy were slicked down instead, leaving the performance glabrous and undifferentiated." Sam Orbaum, Me, An Embarrassment, Jerusalem Post, 26 Sep 1997. "They scrutinize me from my flat feet to my glabrous scalp, dismayed that their daddy is so flawed." This week's theme: Hair today, gone tomorrow. -------- Date: Fri Feb 20 01:32:08 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hirsute X-Bonus: Contentment is, after all, simply refined indolence. -Richard Haliburton hir.sute a. [L. hirsutus; prob. akin to horridus horrid. Cf. Horrid.] 1. Rough with hair; set with bristles; shaggy. 2. Rough and coarse; boorish. 3. (Bot.) Pubescent with coarse or stiff hairs. 4. (Zool.) Covered with hairlike feathers, as the feet of certain birds. Annette Foglino, Space: Is Anyone Out There? Most astronomers say yes; Life; ; 07-01-1989. "From the malevolent Martians of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds to the hirsute hunks in this summer's hit film Earth Girls Are Easy, extraterrestrials have long been the subject of earthly speculation." This week's theme: Hair today, gone tomorrow. -------- Date: Sat Feb 21 01:32:00 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--alopecia X-Bonus: I never think of the future. It comes soon enough. -Albert Einstein al.o.pe.ci.a n. [L. alopecia, fox-mange, fr. Gk alopekia, fr. alopex, because loss of the hair is common among foxes.] Loss of the hair; baldness. People: Monaco's 700th birthday bash, Maclean's, 20 Jan 1997. "She has appeared completely bald lately, a condition suspected to be the result of alopecia." This week's theme: Hair today, gone tomorrow. -------- Date: Sun Feb 22 01:32:05 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--chevelure X-Bonus: In matters of conscience, the law of majority has no place. -Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi cheve.lure n. [F., fr. LL capillatura, fr. L. capillatus having long hair, fr. capillus hair] : a head of hair Schoolfield, George C., Charlie Boy.(book reviews), World Literature Today, 1 Sep 1996. "`Prince Valiant', perhaps the best of the lot here, dwells on the medieval chevelure of a shy adolescent, enamored of a female barber..." This week's theme: Hair today, gone tomorrow. -------- Date: Mon Feb 23 01:31:57 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--mephitic X-Bonus: No man is more unhappy than the one who is never in adversity; the greatest affliction of life is never to be afflicted. me.phit.ic a. [L. mephiticus, fr. mephitis mephitis: cf. F. mephitique.] Tending to destroy life; poisonous; noxious; as, mephitic exhalations; mephitic regions. 2. Offensive to the smell; as, mephitic odors. Bulfinch, Thomas, Age Of Fable Or Beauties Of Mythology: Chapter XXXII: The Infernal Regions - The Sibyl., History of the World, 1 Jan 1992. "Mephitic vapors rise from its waters, so that no life is found on its banks,and no birds fly over it." China Wakes.(book reviews), Vol. 334, The Economist, 7 Jan 1995, pp. 72(1). "The result is a mephitic system, or what the authors call `a rotting state'". Many people find the subject of poisoning fascinating. There is a certain mystery about it. Perhaps the mysteriousness derives from the gulf between the knowledge held by the victim vs. poisoner. Actually, the poison is in the dose. A lot of it may be deadly, but a little bit can be a cure. Many of the words used to talk about the rather specialized topic of poisons are also rich figuratively. A caustic wit is, it may be argued, harmless, but a caustic splash usually isn't. -Linda Bandy (linda.bandyATmcmail.vanderbilt.edu) (Linda, a Poison Control Specialist for the Middle Tennessee Poison Center is Guest Wordsmith for this week. -Anu) -------- Date: Tue Feb 24 01:32:01 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--envenom X-Bonus: Some people would not recognize subtlety if it hit them on the head. en.ven.om v. t. [OE. envenimen, F. envenimer; pref. en- (L. in) + F. venin poison. See {Venom}.] 1. To taint or impregnate with venom, or any substance noxious to life; to poison; to render dangerous or deadly by poison, as food, drink, a weapon; as, envenomed meat, wine, or arrow; also, to poison (a person) by impregnating with venom. 2. To taint or impregnate with bitterness, malice, or hatred; to imbue as with venom; to imbitter. Shakespeare, William, Julius Caesar: Scene III. "For piercing steel and darts envenomed Shall be as welcome to the ears of Brutus As tidings of this sight." -------- Date: Wed Feb 25 01:31:57 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bane X-Bonus: The value of the average conversation could be enormously improved by the constant use of four simple words: "I do not know." -Andre Maurois bane n. [OE. bane destruction, AS. bana murderer; akin to Icel. bani death, murderer, OHG. bana murder, bano murderer, OIr. bath death,] 1. That which destroys life, esp. poison of a deadly quality. 2. Destruction; death. 3. Any cause of ruin, or lasting injury; harm; woe. Dana, Richard Henry, Jr., Two Years Before The Mast: Twenty-Four Years After: Part I, Great Works of Literature, 1 Jan 1992. "But Captain Wilson tells me that the climate has altered; that the southeasters are no longer the bane of the coast they once were, and that vessels now anchor inside the kelp at Santa Barbara and San Pedro all the year round." Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Contagiousness Of Puerperal Fever: Part I., Great Works of Literature, 1 Jan 1992. "It seems proper, therefore, to remind those who are in the habit of referring to the works for guidance that there may possibly be some sources of danger they have slighted or omitted, quite as important as a trifling irregularity of diet, or a confined state of the bowels, and that whatever confidence a physician may have in his own mode of treatment, his services are of questionable value whenever he carries the bane as well as the antidote about his person." -------- Date: Thu Feb 26 00:05:04 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cyanosis X-Bonus: Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind. -Seneca cy.a.no.sis n. [NL. See {Cyanic}.] A condition in which, from insufficient oxygenation of the blood, the surface of the body becomes blue. Christopher Lockwood, International: Bodies in the ice may help solve 1918 flu mystery, The Daily Telegraph, 3 Oct 1997, pp. 20. "The hideous blue-black patches typical of cyanosis, caused by oxygen deprivation, spread across their bodies." -------- Date: Fri Feb 27 00:05:05 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--toxicant X-Bonus: The highest reward for a man's toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it. -John Ruskin tox.icant n. A poisonous agent or drug, as opium; an intoxicant. Stone, Richard, Analysis of a toxic death., Discover Magazine, 1 Apr 1995, pp. 66(10). "The hazmat team was after a smoking gun--some volatile toxicant that might yet be lurking in the air of the emergency room." -- bscullyATworldchat.com writes: While your description of the body colour (blue) usually indicates oxygen deprivation it is my understanding that CO carbon monoxide actually turns the skin bright red! Checked with my doctor and I am correct. So suffocation = blue; Carbon monoxide = red. Thanks also to Iain McClatchie and Michael Burkhart for correction. -Anu -------- Date: Sat Feb 28 00:05:16 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--noxious X-Bonus: The only time you don't fail is the last time you try anything--and it works. -William Strong nox.ious a. [L. noxius, fr. noxa harm; akin to nocere to harm, hurt. Cf. {Nuisance}, {Necromancy}.] 1. Hurtful; harmful; baneful; pernicious; injurious; destructive; unwholesome; insalubrious; as, noxious air, food, or climate; pernicious; corrupting to morals; as, noxious practices or examples. The Arrival, Magill's Survey of Cinema, 21 Sep 1996. "In the meantime, a climatologist named Ilana Green (Lindsay Crouse) has discovered that certain spots in Central and South America are producing unusually large quantities of noxious gases." Emerson, Ralph Waldo, American Scholar, The: The Influences Of The Mind Of The Past, Great Works of Literature, 1 Jan 1992. "Instantly the book becomes noxious; the guide is a tyrant."