A.Word.A.Day Archives
from https://wordsmith.org/awad

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Date: Mon, 14 Mar 1994 07:58:02 -0500
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--zephyr
X-Bonus: I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent. -Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948)


zeph.yr \'zef-*r\ n
  1: a breeze from the west; also : a gentle breeze
  2: any of various lightweight fabrics and articles of clothing

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Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 07:58:02 -0500
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--zwieback
X-Bonus: One must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them, to have the right ones form themselves into the proper patterns at the right moment. -Hart Crane, poet (1899-1932)

zwie.back \'swe_--.bak, 'swi_--\ n : a usu. sweetened bread that is
  baked and then sliced and toasted until dry and crisp

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Date: Wed, 16 Mar 1994 07:58:02 -0500
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--prophylactic
X-Bonus: Correction does much, but encouragement does more. Encouragement after censure is as the sun after a shower. -Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832)

1 pro.phy.lac.tic \.pro_--f*-'lak-tik, .pra_:f-*-\ adj
  1: preventing or guarding from disease
  2: PROTECTIVE, PREVENTIVE

2 prophylactic n : something (as a drug or device) that protects from
  disease

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Date: Thu, 17 Mar 1994 07:58:02 -0500
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sidereal
X-Bonus: There is also this benefit in brag, that the speaker is unconsciously expressing his own ideal. Humor him by all means, draw it all out, and hold him to it. -Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

si.de.re.al \si_--'dir-e_--*l\ adj
  1: of or relating to the stars
  2: measured by the apparent motion of the fixed stars <sidereal
     time>

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Date: Fri, 18 Mar 1994 07:58:02 -0500
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--demesne
X-Bonus: How can we expect another to keep our secret if we have been unable to keep it ourselves. -Francois de La Rochefoucauld

de.mesne \di-'ma_-n, -'me_-n\ n
  1: manorial land actually possessed by the lord and not held by
     free tenants
  2: ESTATE
  3: REGION
  4: REALM

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Date: Sat, 19 Mar 1994 07:58:02 -0500
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--dressage
X-Bonus: A Friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of Nature. -Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

dres.sage \dr*-'sa_:zh\ n : the execution by a horse of complex
  maneuvers in response to barely perceptible movements of a rider's
  hands, legs, and weight

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Date: Sun, 20 Mar 1994 00:03:04 -0500
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--arboretum
X-Bonus: Consider how much more you often suffer from your anger and grief, than from those very things for which you are angry and grieved. -Marcus Antonius

ar.bo.re.tum \.a_:r-b*-'re_-t-*m\ n, pl -tums or -ta \-'re_-t-*\ : a
  place where trees and plants are grown for scientific and
  educational purposes

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Date: Mon, 21 Mar 1994 00:03:05 -0500
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--caryatid
X-Bonus: The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers. -Hamming  

car.y.at.id \.kar-e_--'at-*d\ n, pl -atids or -at.i.des
  \-'at-*-.de_-z\ : a sculptured draped female figure used as an
  architectural column

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Date: Sun, 27 Mar 1994 00:03:07 -0500
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--xebec
X-Bonus: The difficult part in an argument is not to defend one's opinion, but rather to know it. -Andre Maurois [A Little Book of Aphorisms]   

xe.bec \'ze_--.bek\ n : a usu. 3-masted Mediterranean sailing ship
  with long overhanging bow and stern

--
there were no postings during the last six days due to system outage.

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Date: Mon, 28 Mar 1994 00:03:05 -0500
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--colporteur
X-Bonus: acquaintance: a person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to. A degree of friendship called slight when its object is poor or obscure, and intimate when he is rich or famous. -Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) [The Devil's Dictionary]

col.por.teur \'ka_:l-.po_-rt-*r\ n : a peddler of religious books

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Date: Tue, 29 Mar 1994 00:03:05 -0500
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--coloratura
X-Bonus: In the long run the pessimist may be proved right, but the optimist has a better time on the trip. -Daniel L. Reardon

col.or.a.tu.ra \.k*l-*-r*-'t(y)u_.r-*\ n
  1: florid ornamentation in vocal music
  2: a soprano specializing in coloratura

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Date: Wed, 30 Mar 1994 00:03:06 -0500
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--intaglio
X-Bonus: Talk not of wasted affection; affection never was wasted. -Longfellow

in.ta.glio \in-'tal-yo_-\ n : an engraving or incised figure in a
  hard material (as stone) depressed below the surface of the
  material

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Date: Thu, 31 Mar 1994 00:03:07 -0500
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pithecanthropus
X-Bonus: Some fellows pay a compliment like they expected a receipt. -Kin Hubbard

pith.ec.an.thro.pus \.pith-i-'kan-thr*-p*s\ n, pl -thro.pi \-.pi_-\
  : any of several primitive extinct men from Java