Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 28 of 101 1 2 26 27 28 29 30 100 101
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,710
Likes: 2
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,710
Likes: 2
ZEN

PRONUNCIATION: (zen)

MEANING: noun: An activity, approach, state of mind, etc., emphasizing intuition and insights, instead of fixation on goals.
adjective: Calm, peaceful, unruffled.

ETYMOLOGY: After Zen, a school of Mahayana Buddhism. From Japanese zen (meditation), from Chinese chan (meditation), from Pali jhanam (jhanam), from Sanskrit dhyana (meditation). Earliest documented use: 1727. Also see satori.
____________________________

ZZ-EN - (German) infinitive verb: to sleep or snore

pZEN - the negative logarithm of serenity

ZIN - Wine not?

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,710
Likes: 2
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,710
Likes: 2
BUTTERFINGERED

PRONUNCIATION: (BUHT-uhr fing-guhrd)

MEANING: adjective: Clumsy or careless, especially frequently dropping things.

ETYMOLOGY: From butter, from Old English butere, from Latin butyrum, from Greek boutyron, from bous (cow) + tyros (cheese) + finger, from Old English. Earliest documented use: 1615.
_____________________________

BUTLERFINGERED - having blackened thumbs (from polishing the family silver so much)

BUTTER FINE RED - 1. churned wine; 2. a purebred crimson goat

BUTTERFIN GERE - a dolphin who's still Looking for Mr Goodbar

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,710
Likes: 2
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,710
Likes: 2
CANARY

PRONUNCIATION: (kuh-NAYR-ee)

MEANING: noun:
1. A small finch, native to the Canary Islands, having greenish to yellow color, and known for its melodious song.
2. A bright yellow color.
3. A singer.
4. An informer.

ETYMOLOGY: From French canari (canary), from Spanish canario (canary; of the Canary Islands), from Latin canis (dog). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kwon- (dog), which also gave us canine, chenille (from French chenille: caterpillar, literally, little dog), kennel, canary, hound, dachshund, corgi, cynic, cynosure, canaille, canicular, and cynophobia. Earliest documented use: 1568.

NOTES: The Canary Islands, a group of islands off the coast of Africa, are named after an animal, but it’s not canaries. It’s dogs. The island’s name is, literally, the Island of the Dogs, from Latin Canariae insulae...
_______________________________

CABNARY - needing a ride when it's raining in the city

CANERY - walking-stick factory

CANART - Andy Warhol's Campbell Soup pictures

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,710
Likes: 2
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,710
Likes: 2
PANACHE

PRONUNCIATION: (puh-NASH)

MEANING: noun:
1. A confident, stylish manner; swagger.
2. A tuft of feathers on a headdress, such as a helmet, hat, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: From French panache, from Italian pennacchio, from Latin pinnaculum (small wing), diminutive of pinna (wing, feather). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pet- (to rush or fly), which also gave us feather, petition, compete, perpetual, pterodactyl, and helicopter. Earliest documented use: 1584.
________________________________

PA NICHE - a corner where Pop fits in perfectly

PIÑA CHE - pineapple served à la Cuban revolutionary

PA. NOCHE - night in Philadelphia's "Little Havana" neighborhood

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,710
Likes: 2
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,710
Likes: 2
ALTERITY

PRONUNCIATION: (al-TER-uh-tee)

MEANING: noun: Otherness: the state or quality of being other or different.

ETYMOLOGY: From French altérité, from Latin alteritas (otherness), from alter (other), from Greek heteros (other). Earliest documented use: 1500.
_____________________________________

ALGERITY - a fortuitous occurrence that ultimately leads to the success of an honest, charitable, kind, hard-working young man

ALTERIFY - scare the daylights out of everybody

ASTERITY - when money is so tight you can buy only a few simple fall flowers

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,710
Likes: 2
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,710
Likes: 2
UNSHIRTED

PRONUNCIATION: (uhn-SHUHR-tid)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Serious; unmitigated.
2. Plain; undisguised.

ETYMOLOGY: From un- (not) + shirt, from Old English scyrte. Earliest documented use: 1932.
_________________________________

UNS HURTED - we were in pain in Berlin

UNSHIRRED - I actually prefer my eggs unbaked like this

UNSHORTED - the safe way to use electrical appliances

UNSHIRED - exiled from the land of the Hobbits

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,710
Likes: 2
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,710
Likes: 2
ARROW-COLLAR

PRONUNCIATION: (AR-o-kol-uhr)

MEANING: adjective: Conventionally attractive and suave.

ETYMOLOGY: After the detachable Arrow Collars sold by Cluett, Peabody & Co. in the early 1900s. The collars were shown on a supposedly idealized man, known as the Arrow Collar Man, in ads drawn by the illustrator J.C. Leyendecker. Earliest documented use: 1915.
__________________________________

ARROW-CO. LIAR - advertising agent for the Arrow Shirt Company in the early 1900s

NARROW-COLLAR - dated, out of style

ARROW COLLARD - a leafy green vegetable with lanceolate foliage

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,710
Likes: 2
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,710
Likes: 2
BUTTON-DOWN

PRONUNCIATION: (BUHT-uhn-daun)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Conservative, unimaginative, conventional, staid, repressed, etc.
2. Relating to a collar that can be fastened to the garment.
3. Relating to a garment having such a collar or having buttons from the collar to the waist.

ETYMOLOGY: From the association of a button-down shirt with people having such an outlook. Earliest documented use: 1883. The term also appears in the form buttoned-down.
______________________________

BUST ON DOWN - what's covered by a strapless gown

BUTT ON DAWN - hit with your head the moment the sun rises

BUT TEN-DOWN - I've solved everything from one-down to nine-down...

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,710
Likes: 2
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,710
Likes: 2
SLEEVELESS

PRONUNCIATION: (SLEEV-luhs/lis)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Unprofitable; futile; unreasonable; irrelevant.
2. Without sleeves.

ETYMOLOGY: From sleeve, from Old English sliefe + less, from Old English laes (less). Earliest documented use: 950. Also see shirtsleeve.

NOTES: What does a sleeve have to do with profit? In former times, a lady would give her detachable sleeve (also known as a maunch/manche, from French) to a knight as a symbol of love and he would wear it as he went around in his adventures. A knight without a sleeve was, well, sleeveless. The Encyclopedia Britannica (1880) mentions: “Bayard took a lady’s sleeve and proclaimed it, with a valuable ruby, as a prize to be contended for.”
___________________________

SLEEVELETS - tiny openings in the fingers of gloves, to display the fingertips

SLEEVELASS - an itinerant seamstress who rides around repairing worn elbow holes for the Bourgeoisie (true gentry wouldn't stoop to having worn clothing repaired)

SLEEVELES - a nonsense word meaning a mild illness - see A.A.Milne: "Christopher Robin had Weevils and Sleeveles; they bundled him up in his bed..." etc. ;-)

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,710
Likes: 2
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,710
Likes: 2
SHIRTTAIL

PRONUNCIATION: (SHUHRT-tayl)

MEANING: noun: 1. The part of a shirt reaching below the waist, especially in the back.
2. A brief item added at the end of a newspaper article.
3. Something small or unimportant.
adjective: 1. Very young or immature.
2. Very small or trivial.
3. Distantly related.

ETYMOLOGY: From shirt, from Old English scyrte (shirt) + tail, from Old English toegl (tail). Earliest documented use: 1659. Also see coattail.
______________________________

SHIFT-TAIL - the seventh, eighth, and even ninth and tenth hours of your scheduled work time

SHIRT TAMIL - garment for the upper body and arms, of a distinctive fabric made only in India and Sri Lanka

SHORT-TAIL - to follow and observe someone for just fifteen minutes

Page 28 of 101 1 2 26 27 28 29 30 100 101

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,577
Members9,187
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
Karin, JeffMackwood, artguitar, Jim_W, Rdbuffalo
9,187 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 148 guests, and 2 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
wofahulicodoc 10,710
tsuwm 10,542
LukeJavan8 9,931
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5