Word Of The Day

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ESPRIT DE CORPS noun (e-spree duh kawr)

noun

1. a sense of unity and of common interests and responsibilities, as developed among a group of persons closely associated in a task, cause, enterprise, etc.


Quotes

Still the Senator was tranquil, for he knew that there is an esprit de corps in the Senate which does not exist in the House, the result of which is to make the members complaisant towards the projects of each other ...
--*Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner,*The Gilded Age, 1873

The pay was atrocious, the facilities were run-down, and the duty was often grueling. What made it all bearable was the esprit de corps, the brotherhood, and the pride that went along with training at such a high level.
--*Vince Flynn,*Consent to Kill, 2005



Origin

Esprit de corps was borrowed into English from French around the 1770s.

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ASTROBLEME noun (ahr-key-dee-uh n)

noun

1. Geology. an erosional scar on the earth's surface, produced by the impact of a cosmic body, as a meteorite or asteroid.


Quotes

Only one astrobleme in Europe fit the description, a crater called the Ries that lay some 300 kilometers to the east, on the northern shore of the Danube River.
--*Julian May,*The Golden Torc, 1982

Love that word--astrobleme. Means 'star wound,' you know?
--*Howard V. Hendrix,*Spears of God, 2006



Origin

Astrobleme is formed from two Greek words, ástron “star” and blêma “a throw of the dice, missile, wound.” Greek ástron is akin to Latin stella (from an unrecorded sterula), and Germanic (English) star. Blêma derives from the Greek root bal-, blē-, bol- “to throw,” source of ballistic, problem (Greek próblēma “something put forward (to solve)”), parabola and parable (Greek parabolḗ “comparison, juxtaposition, something put alongside for comparison”). Astrobleme entered English in the 20th century.

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ARCADIAN adjective (ahr-key-dee-uh n)

adjective

1. rural, rustic, or pastoral, especially suggesting simple, innocent contentment.
2. of Arcadia.

noun

1. a native of Arcadia.
2. the dialect of ancient Greek spoken in Arcadia.



Quotes

From that pleasant slumber, and a dream of Heaven knows what life of Arcadian simplicity, of rippling streams and soft-eyed shepherdesses, he was destined to be somewhat suddenly, if not rudely, aroused, as Franchetti introduced a stranger who would accept no denial.
--*Charles Lever,*The Fortunes of Glencore, 1857

There had been a gorgeous sunset, and now the moon came up, nearly full and shedding a silver flood over the plain, the distant mountainside, and the curious low mounds that rose here and there. It was a peaceful Arcadian scene, but knowing what it hid I hated it.
--*H. P. Lovecraft,*"The Lurking Fear," Home Brew, April 1923



Origin

Arcadia, in the central Peloponnesus, has no outlet to the sea and is very mountainous, even for Greece. Because the population of ancient Arcadia for the most part lived in small villages in mountain valleys, Arcadia played only a very small role in the tumultuous political life of the Greeks. Arcadia was also poor, and from the early 5th century b.c., its chief export was mercenary soldiers. Theocritus, a Greek poet who flourished about 270 b.c., was the first to set his poems in Arcadia as an ideal rural spot. Arcadian entered English in the 16th century.

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NETIQUETTE noun (net-i-kit)


noun

1. the rules of etiquette that apply when communicating over computer networks, especially the internet.


Quotes

The rules of “netiquette” are not exactly static or undisputed. Are emoticons appropriate in formal emails? Are “trigger warnings” thoughtful or over-the-top? Are you irritating everyone you email with your “signature”?
--*Alice Robb,*"How Capital Letters Became Internet Code for Yelling," New Republic, April 17, 2014

While netiquette still insists on using plain text unless it is mutually agreed otherwise, it makes sense to reply to letters using the format in which they were sent.
--*Jack Schofield,*"Netiquette for email and news," The Guardian, April 25, 2001



Origin

Netiquette is a blend of the words network and etiquette. It came to English in the early 1980s.

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MORIBUND adjective (mawr-uh-buhnd)


adjective

1. in a dying state; near death.
2. on the verge of extinction or termination.
3. not progressing or advancing; stagnant: a moribund political party.


Quotes

The moribund hermit's rage and fear, swelling to grotesque proportions, seemed likely to shatter what remained of his failing physique ...
--*H. P. Lovecraft,*"Cool Air," Tales of Magic and Mystery, March 1928

"... You should get a dictionary and learn the proper words....It's easy if you really try. You could say that a man was 'dying,' or 'moribund,' if you like."
--*Arthur Conan Doyle,*"Bones, the April Fool of Harvey's Sluice," London Society, April 1882



Origin

The Latin adjective moribundus “about to die, dying,” is a derivative of the Latin (and Proto-Indo-European) root mer- (and its variants) “to die,” appearing in Sanskrit marati “he dies,” Greek émorten “he died,” Baltic (Lithuanian) mir̃sti “to die,” and Hittite mert “he died.” Moribund entered English in the 18th century.

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INTRAPERSONAL adjective (in-truh-pur-suh-nil)

adjective

1. existing or occurring within the self or within one's mind: People with high intrapersonal intelligence are aware of their strengths and weaknesses. Intrapersonal conflict can lead to emotional stress.


Quotes

Besides the physical and musical varieties, Gardner has defined six other types of intelligences: spatial (visual), interpersonal (the ability to understand others), intrapersonal (the ability to understand oneself), naturalist (the ability to recognize fine distinctions and patterns in the natural world) and, finally--the ones we worked so hard on in school--logical and linguistic.
--*Christopher Koch,*"The Bright Stuff," CIO, March 15, 1996

The final product works as both an interpersonal drama, creating a harrowing conflict between four believable characters, and an intrapersonal drama, dramatizing the internal debate a person goes through when faced with a traumatic situation.
--*Matt Bird,*The Secrets of Story, 2016



Origin

The prefix intra- is clearly from the Latin adverb and preposition intrā “on the inside, within.” In classical Latin intrā- as a prefix does not occur; such usage arose in Late Latin but became common only in modern times in the formation of biological and other scientific terms. The Latin noun persōna is obscure. Persōna originally meant “(actor’s) mask,” and by extension, “character, part.” Gabius Bassus, a Roman grammarian of the first century b.c., derived persōna from personāre “to sound through” (but persōna has a long -ō-, and personāre a short -o-). It is more likely that Latin persōna is a borrowing from the Etruscan noun φersu or phersu “(actor’s) mask,” borrowed from Greek prósōpon “face, countenance, mask.” Intrapersonal entered English in the early 20th century.

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PESTIFEROUS adjective (pe-stif-er-uh s)

adjective

1. bringing or bearing disease.
2. pestilential.
3. pernicious; evil.
4. Informal. mischievous; troublesome or annoying.


Quotes

So when in that Stinksmeech Mission he breathed pestiferous air and drank pestiferous water, he was finished up. They've got typhus down there ...
--*Charlotte Mary Yonge,*The Long Vacation, 1895

I have already told you that what I want to speak about is the great discovery I have made lately--the discovery that all the sources of our moral life are poisoned and that the whole fabric of our civic community is founded on the pestiferous soil of falsehood.
--*Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906),*An Enemy of the People, translated by R. Farquharson Sharp, 1911



Origin

Pest nowadays usually refers to a smaller sibling who won’t leave you in peace. In Latin, however, pestis, a noun of uncertain origin, means an infectious deadly disease and, by extension, ruin, destruction, death. The Latin combining form -ferus (-ferous in English) is a derivation of the verb ferre “to carry, bear.” The Latin root fer- derives from the very widespread Proto-Indo-European root bher- “to carry, bear” and appears in Greek phérein “to carry,” Sanskrit bhárati “he carries,” and Slavic (Czech) beru “I take.” Pestiferous entered English in the 15th century.

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JAWBREAKER noun (jaw-brey-ker)

noun

1. Informal. a word that is hard to pronounce.
2. a very hard, usually round, candy.
3. Also called jaw crusher. Mining. a machine used to break up ore, consisting of a fixed plate and a hinged jaw moved by a toggle joint.


Quotes

Nor you cannot say, 'Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychyndrobwlantysiligogog och!'--You try? I say it slowly--" Though Howell had repeated the jaw-breaker twenty times, John Willie Garden would still have maintained the silence of defence.
--*Oliver Onions,*Mushroom Town, 1914


Even that word she couldn't say--suppose it was a jawbreaker like "discorporated" or "discorporeal," so what?
--*Stephen King,*Pet Sematary, 1983



Origin

Jawbreaker was first recorded in the 1830s. It’s a blend of the words jaw and breaker

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MEALY-MOUTHED adjective (mee-lee-moutht)

adjective

1. avoiding the use of direct and plain language, as from timidity, excessive delicacy, or hypocrisy; inclined to mince words; insincere, devious, or compromising.


Quotes

He is trying to restrict his social life, because he finds it difficult now to be even normally courteous to the self-satisfied, the place-seekers, the mealy-mouthed--and that is a fair description of polite society in Arras.
--*Hilary Mantel,*A Place of Greater Safety, 1992

Mealy-mouthed may be the worst adjective one can apply to a critic, but I think the only fair answer to this question is “both.”
--*Thomas Mallon,*"Should Critics Aim to be Open-Minded or to Pass Judgment?" New York Times, August 29, 2017



Origin

The earliest written occurrence of a form of mealy-mouthed is mealmouth (1546); mealmouthed and mealy-mouthed (also mealymouthed) appear in 1570 and 1571, respectively. German has a similar expression about avoiding direct language, Mehl im Maule behalten “to keep meal in one’s mouth,” used by the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546).

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GORGONIZE verb (gawr-guh-nahyz)

verb

1. to affect as a Gorgon; hypnotize; petrify.


Quotes

He says people who travel--young people especially--ought to be in time, and not disturb folks who are punctual--a sentiment in such strict accord with the views of the rest of the company, that they give a murmur of approval, and Gorgonize me for the next twenty miles or so with a petrifying equanimity.
--*Frank Fowler,*Dottings of a Lounger, 1859


Dropping into chairs, they will sit puffing away and trying to gorgonize the President with their silent stares until their boorish curiosity is fully satisfied.
--*Henry Villard,*November 17, 1860 dispatch in the New York Herald, "Here I have lived"; a history of Lincoln's Springfield, 1821-1865, by Paul M. Angle, 1935



Origin

Latin Gorgō (stem Gorgon-) is the immediate source of gorgonize. Gorgō is a direct borrowing from Greek Gorgṓ (one of whose stems is Gorgón-), a clear derivative of the adjective gorgós “terrible, dreadful.” The very productive English verb suffix -ize comes from Late Latin -izāre, from Greek -izein, as in Greek baptízein “to dip, plunge,” borrowed into Christian Latin as baptizāre “to baptize,” whence English baptize. Gorgonize entered English in the 17th century.