Word Of The Day

[Altobelli]

ATONEMENT noun (uh-tohn-muh nt)

noun
1. satisfaction or reparation for a wrong or injury; amends.
2. (sometimes initial capital letter) Theology. the doctrine concerning the reconciliation of God and humankind, especially as accomplished through the life, suffering, and death of Christ.
3. Christian Science. the experience of humankind's unity with God exemplified by Jesus Christ.
4. Archaic. reconciliation; agreement.


Quotes

If we do now make our atonement well, / Our peace will, like a broken limb united, / Grow stronger for the breaking.
--*William Shakespeare,*Henry IV, Part 2, 1623

Atonement takes as many forms as wishful thinking, and last February I signed up for a three-day retreat at We Care, a holistic fasting spa in Desert Hot Springs, California, that is popular with celebrities.
--*Judith Thurman,*"The Fast Lane," The New Yorker, September 3, 2007



Origin

The noun atonement derives from the verb atone “to reconcile, appease,” which dates from the 16th century and derives from the Middle English (15th century) adverbial phrase atone, at on, at oon “in harmony.” Atone, atonement, alone, and only preserve the original long “o” (oʊn, etc.) that is implied in the spelling. One and once, which preserve the etymological spelling, are now pronounced wʌn and wʌns. The gradual change of pronunciation of one and once from oʊn and oʊns to wʌn and wʌns began in Wales and the west and southwest of England about 1400 and became universal by the 18th century. Atonement entered English in the 16th century.

[Altobelli]

ANHEDONIA noun (an-hee-doh-nee-uh)

noun
1. Psychology. lack of pleasure or of the capacity to experience it.


Quotes

Anhedonia was more than a Warning Sign, it was an out-and-out symptom. A dry rot spreading from pleasure to pleasure, a fungus spoiling the delight in luxury and joy in leisure which for so many years had fueled Gary's resistance to the poorthink of his parents.
--*Jonathan Franzen,*The Corrections, 2001

Critics keep saying that in Hannah and Her Sisters Woody Allen has made peace with himself and finally kissed off his killjoy anhedonia.
--*James Wolcott,*"Upper West Side Story," Texas Monthly, April 1986



Origin

Anhedonia is used almost exclusively in psychology and psychiatry. The first syllable (an-) is a form of the Greek negative prefix an-, which is related to Germanic (English) un- and the Latin negative prefix in-, from the Proto-Indo-European negative or privative prefix ṇ- (from the Proto-Indo-European adverb ne “not”). The second element comes from Greek hēdonḗ (dialect hādonā́) “pleasure,” a derivative of the adjective hēdýs (dialect hādýs) “sweet,” from the Proto-Indo-European root swād- “sweet,” from which derive Latin suāvis “pleasant” and suādēre “to recommend,” and Germanic (English) sweet. Anhedonia entered English in the late 19th century.

[Altobelli]

THIMBLERIG noun (thim-buh l-rig)

noun
1. a sleight-of-hand swindling game in which the operator palms a pellet or pea while appearing to cover it with one of three thimblelike cups, and then, moving the cups about, offers to bet that no one can tell under which cup the pellet or pea lies.
verb
1. to cheat by or as by the thimblerig.


Quotes

Many different kinds of games were the sucker's ruin--monte, chuck-a-luck, vingt-et-un, keno, roulette, euchre, craps, loo, banco, thimblerig, and a dozen others ...
--*Richard Erdoes,*"Bucking the Tiger," Legends and Tales of the American West, 1991

Always prepare multiple plans. Life is a thimblerig. Never let anyone know which cup holds the pea.
--*Stina Leicht,*Blackthorne, 2017



Origin

The venerable swindle thimblerig is nowadays called the shell game (an Americanism dating from about 1890), in which walnut shells or small cups are used for the classic thimbles. The -rig of thimblerig is from the archaic noun rig "swindle, fraud." The verb sense of rig is alive and well in the U.S. in the meaning “manipulate fraudulently” (for example, the price of precious metals). Thimblerig entered English in the early 19th century.

[Altobelli]

WOKE adjective (wohk)

adjective

1. Slang. actively aware of systemic injustices and prejudices, especially those related to civil and human rights: In light of recent incidents of police brutality, it’s important to stay woke. He took one African American history class and now he thinks he’s woke.

2. Slang. aware of the facts, true situation, etc. (sometimes used facetiously): The moon landing was staged. Stay woke! A tomato is a fruit and not a vegetable. Stay woke.

verb

1. a simple past tense of wake.


Quotes

It wasn't that I set out to do the first woke black-superhero show. It’s just that I wanted “Luke Cage” to reflect, in many ways, some of the people that I've come across on my journey.
--*Cheo Hodari Coker, interviewed by Jelani Cobb,*"Creating 'Luke Cage,' the First Woke Black Superhero Show," The New Yorker, October 5, 2016

John Rickford, a linguistics professor at Stanford University and co-author of “Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English,” told me that he was struck by how “woke,” which in standard English is simply a past-tense form of “wake,” has taken on new life as an adjective. He characterized it as “a creative extension of the grammar to achieve greater impact.” That grammatical creativity has been extended even further, as when a GQ article last year stated, “When it comes to wokeness, few are woker than [“Grey’s Anatomy” actor] Jesse Williams. ”
--*Ben Zimmer,*"‘Woke,’ From a Sleepy Verb to a Badge of Awareness," Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2017



Origin

Woke in the figurative sense “well informed, up-to-date” is first recorded in the early 1960s. Its most recent sense, “actively aware of injustices and prejudices related to civil and human rights,” is associated with the Black Lives Matter movement (based on a slogan from the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter after the 2013 killing of Trayvon Martin), but the political sense also appears in the lyrics of the song “Master Teacher” (2008) by Erykah Badu (born 1971), in which “I stay woke” is the refrain.

[Altobelli]

CUCURBIT noun (kyoo-kur-bit)

noun
1. any plant of the gourd family.
2. a gourd.
3. Chemistry. the gourd-shaped portion of an alembic, a vessel formerly used in distilling.


Quotes

The Seminole pumpkin is not merely prolific; the fruit of this cucurbit also has distinctive forms, flavors, and textures.
--*David Cavagnaro,*"Seminole Pumpkin," Renewing America's Food Traditions: Saving and Savoring the Continent's Most Endangered Foods, edited by Gary Paul Nabhan, 2008

And certainly there are few blossoms more colorful and rich than those borne by practically all the cucurbits.
--*Grace Tabor,*"The Twofold Garden," Woman's Home Companion, January 1921



Origin

Cucurbit in the sense "gourd" is a modern development of Old French cucurbite, from Latin cucurbita “gourd, cupping glass.” In medieval Latin cucurbita also meant, because of its shape, “a flask or vessel used in distillation.” Cucurbit entered English in the 14th century.

[Altobelli]

AERIE noun (air-ee, eer=ee)

noun

1. an apartment or office on a high floor in a high-rise building: a penthouse aerie with a spectacular view.
2. the nest of a bird of prey, as an eagle or a hawk.
3. a lofty nest of any large bird.
4. a house, fortress, or the like, located high on a hill or mountain.
5. Obsolete. the brood in a nest, especially of a bird of prey.


Quotes

This impressive penthouse aerie is hogged by five emergency generators.
--*David W. Dunlap,*"Building to the Sky, With a Plan for Rising Waters," New York Times, January 26, 2017

Salvatore was enjoying his regular evening's caffè corretto when pounding footsteps on the stairs to his aerie caused him to turn from his view of the city.
--*Elizabeth George,*Just One Evil Act, 2013



Origin

Everything about aerie is confusing: its spellings, its pronunciations, its meanings. So it is only consistent that the etymology of aerie is also confusing. Aerie comes from a Medieval Latin noun with many spellings: aerea, aeira, airea, aeria (feminine); aerius, erius (masculine); or ayerium (neuter) “nest or brood of a bird of prey.” The many Latin forms show confusion with or contamination from Latin ārea “level ground, area” and āerius, a borrowing from Greek meaning “airy, aerial.” All of the Latin forms are Latinizations of Old French aire, ere, and haire (among other forms) “nest of a predatory bird, kind, stock, family,” itself of uncertain origin. The Old French forms may derive from Latin ager “field,” or from agrum “nest,” an unattested Vulgar Latin derivative of Latin ager. Aerie entered English in the 16th century.

[Altobelli]

UPCYCLE verb (uhp-sahy-kuh l)

verb

1. to process (used goods or waste material) so as to produce something that is often better than the original: I upcycled a stained tablecloth into curtains.
2. to process goods or material in this way.
noun

1. Economics. a period or cycle during which business activity is at a high point: The whole industry has entered an upcycle.


Quotes

Upcycling is an emerging trend whereby one sees the value in both the composition and the form of an object but not the intention. That crumpled bag that once held a few handfuls of chips can be folded into a purse or bracelet. The used toothbrush can become a pen, a doormat, or one of any number of useful objects. Although more energy is used to upcycle an object than is needed to simply reuse it, it is usually a relatively small amount.
--*Tom Szaky,*Outsmart Waste: The Modern Idea of Garbage and How to Think Our Way Out of It, 2014

"Well," I said, "sometimes I buy it, but as often as I can I try to work with metal that I find. Junkyards and metal yards and even yard sales. I guess the buzzword is upcycle. You know, recycle into something more valuable."
--*Claire Cook,*Time Flies, 2013



Origin

Upcycle is a blend of the words up and recycle. It entered English in the early 1990s.

[alfinyalcabo]

SACRIFICIAL- ANODES

Sacrificial Anodes are highly active metals that are used to prevent a less active material surface from corroding. Sacrificial Anodes are created from a metal alloy with a more negative electrochemical potential than the other metal it will be used to protect.

[Altobelli]

COLLOGUE verb (kuh-lihg)

verb

1. Dialect. to confer secretly.
2. Dialect. to plot mischief; conspire.


Quotes

"Why," he replied, "ever since I came here, you have done nothing but collogue--collogue--an' whisper, an' lay your heads together, an' divil a syllable can I hear that hasn't murdher at the front an' rear of it ..."
--*William Carleton,*The Black Prophet: A Tale of Irish Famine, 1847

What! shall we not collogue together, and warm the cockles of our ancient kindness?--shall we not collogue, I say?
--*Sir Walter Scott,*Kenilworth, 1821



Origin

The etymology of collogue is obscure. The sense of the English verb may somehow have developed from the French noun colloque “conference, seminar,” from Latin colloquium “conversation, conference.” The sense “to confer secretly” may derive from the uncommon verb colleague “to enter an alliance, ally” from Old French colliquer, from Latin colligāre “to tie together.” Collogue entered English in the 16th century.

[Altobelli]

ANTHROPOCENTRIC adjective (an-thruh-poh-sen-trik)


adjective

1. viewing and interpreting everything in terms of human experience and values.
2. regarding the human being as the central fact of the universe.
3. assuming human beings to be the final aim and end of the universe.


Quotes

I've never understood the narrow-minded tendency most people have to judge animals by completely inappropriate, anthropocentric standards ...
--*Donna Andrews,*The Penguin Who Knew Too Much, 2007

Unfortunately, the popular conception of A.I., at least as depicted in countless movies, games and books, still seems to assume that humanlike characteristics (anger, jealousy, confusion, avarice, pride, desire, not to mention cold alienation) are the most important ones to be on the lookout for. This anthropocentric fallacy may contradict the implications of contemporary A.I. research, but it is still a prism through which much of our culture views an encounter with advanced synthetic cognition.
--*Benjamin H. Bratton,*"Outing A.I.: Beyond the Turing Test," New York Times, February 23, 2015



Origin

The Greek noun ánthrōpos means “human being.” Like 60 percent of ancient Greek vocabulary, ánthrōpos has no sure etymology. The combining form -centric derives ultimately from Greek kentrikós “of a point,” a derivative of kéntron “needle, spur, pivoting point in drawing a circle,” borrowed into Latin as centrum, whence Old French and Middle English centre.