Word Of The Day

[Altobelli]

TABERNACLE noun (tab-er-nak-uh l)

noun

1. any place or house of worship, especially one designed for a large congregation.
2. (often initial capital letter) the portable sanctuary in use by the Israelites from the time of their wandering in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt to the building of the Temple in Jerusalem by Solomon. Ex. 25–27.
3. Ecclesiastical. an ornamental receptacle for the reserved Eucharist, now generally found on the altar.
4. a canopied niche or recess, as for an image or icon.
5. a temporary dwelling or shelter, as a tent or hut.
6. a dwelling place.
7. the human body as the temporary abode of the soul.

verb
1. to place or dwell in, or as if in, a tabernacle.


Quotes

He had a tabernacle and preached every night.
--*Carson McCullers,*The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, 1940


He had an idea what the cube-shaped structure was--it was a tabernacle of some sort, a holy chamber not unlike those found atop Aztec or Mayan pyramids.
--*Matthew Reilly,*Temple, 1999



Origin

One of the meanings of Latin tabernāculum, a diminutive of taberna “hut, booth, cottage” is “(soldier’s) tent.” In Roman religious usage, the technical phrase tabernāculum capere means “to choose a place outside the city walls to erect a tent from which to observe the auspices.” The Roman religious usage passed over easily into the Vulgate (St. Jerome’s edition or translation of the Bible) to translate the Hebrew Sukkoth (sukkōth) “(Feast of Tabernacles”), mishkan “residence, dwelling place,” and ōhel (mōʽēd) “tent of (meeting).” Tabernacle entered English in the late 14th century.

[Altobelli]

BEDIZEN verb (bih-dahy-zuh n)

verb

1. to dress or adorn in a showy, gaudy, or tasteless manner.


Quotes

Prithee, young one, who art thou, and what has ailed thy mother to bedizen thee in this strange fashion?
--*Nathaniel Hawthorne,*The Scarlet Letter, 1850


Things begin passably but unexcitingly with the fantasies of fif****-year-old Janet-Ann, who imagines herself an Oscar-winning movie star as she extracts various gewgaws from her truck and proceeds to bedizen herself with them ...
--*John Simon,*"Of, By, and For the Birds," New York, June 25, 1984



Origin

Bedizen is not a common verb in English. It is a derivative of the even more uncommon verb dizen, which occurs only from the 16th century and becomes obsolescent by the end of the 19th century. The element diz- is probably the same as in distaff “a staff for holding flax or wool for spinning” and is probably related to Middle Low German dise “bunch of flax on a staff for spinning.” Bedizen entered English in the 17th century.

[Altobelli]

WHOOP-DE-DO noun (hoop-dee-doo)

noun

1. Informal. lively and noisy festivities; merrymaking: New Year's Eve whoop-de-do.
2. Informal. heated discussion or debate, especially in public: a whoop-de-do over the new tax bill.
3. Informal. extravagant publicity or fanfare: the whoop-de-do of a movie premiere.


Quotes

The 1497 whoop-de-do turned out to be no fun at all.
--*William Safire,*"On Language: Title Search," New York Times, March 5, 1989


Tonight's a big Georgetown party night. ... You know. Frats. Alumni. Lots of politicos. Come down here for a big whoop-de-do.
--*William Bernhardt,*Capitol Murder, 2006



Origin

Whoop-de-do is an Americanism of uncertain origin. It entered English in the 1920s.

[Altobelli]

INSTAURATION noun (in-staw-rey-shuh n)

noun

1. renewal; restoration; renovation; repair.
2. Obsolete. an act of instituting something; establishment.


Quotes

In the period of strongest social division (before the instauration of democratic cultures), reading and writing were equally class privileges ...
--*Roland Barthes,*"From Work to Text," The Rustle of Language, translated by Richard Howard, 1986


Warm friendship, indeed, he felt for her; but whatever that might have done towards the instauration of a former dream was now hopelessly barred by the rivalry of the thing itself in the guise of a lineal successor.
--*Thomas Hardy,*The Well-Beloved, 1897



Origin

English instauration comes directly from the Latin noun instaurātiōn- (stem of instaurātiō) “renewal, repetition,” a derivative of instaurāre “to renew, repeat,” originally “to set up stakes or poles (in building),” from the obsolete noun staurus. The Latin root of the verb and noun is stau-, an uncommon extension of the Proto-Indo-European root stā-. The same rare variant also appears in Greek staurόs “upright stake, pile (for a foundation).” Staurόs is also the word used in the gospels, e.g., Matthew 27:40, for the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Instauration entered English in the early 17th century.

[Altobelli]

AULD LANG SYNE noun (awld lang zahyn)

noun

1. Scot. and North England. old times, especially times fondly remembered.
2. Scot. and North England. old or long friendship.


Quotes

Have a glass of champagne with me for the sake of auld lang syne.
--*Sarah Mason,*Party Girl, 2003


"We had meant," the elder woman said, "to have a quiet little dinner--we two and you, before the party--for auld lang syne...."
--*Ford Madox Ford,*Some Do Not ..., 1924



Origin

Auld lang syne in modern American English is associated just about exclusively with New Year’s Eve and the song of the same name by the Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759–96), but the phrase is recorded in Scotland in the 17th century. The phrase in Scots literally means “old long since,” that is, “old, long-ago, (for) old times’ sake.” Auld lang syne entered Scots English in the 17th century.

[Acido]

Ive got one for you Alto, and like I was saying earlier... it always makes me laugh on here when I see it.

'Bastid'... one who comes from the Rovers part of Blacky in Lancs, according to the Burnsley dingles.

[Altobelli]

Oh no Acido, you have hit a word I dislike very much, Dingles, I cringe every time.

[Acido]

I dont like it either Alto, because we also get called it. Dingles eh, what the heck does it mean ?.

[Altobelli]

PATRICIAN noun (puh-trish-uh n)

noun

1. a person of noble or high rank; aristocrat.
2. a person of very good background, education, and refinement.
3. a member of the original senatorial aristocracy in ancient Rome.
4. (under the later Roman and Byzantine empires) a title or dignity conferred by the emperor.
5. a member of a hereditary ruling class in certain medieval German, Swiss, and Italian free cities.

adjective

1. of high social rank or noble family; aristocratic.
2. befitting or characteristic of persons of very good background, education, and refinement: patrician tastes.
3. of or belonging to the patrician families of ancient Rome.


Quotes

His books became real for everyone who read them, whether the humble labourer in the Strand or the patrician in Mayfair.
--*Matthew Pearl,*The Last Dickens, 2009


When he began the book in November or December 1821, James Cooper was, nominally at least, a man of substance--patrician, gentleman farmer, owner of a whaling ship, and (as the only surviving son of the late Judge William Cooper of Cooperstown) heir to numerous farms and some thousands of acres of undeveloped land in New York State.
--*James Franklin Beard,*"Historical Introduction," The Pioneers (1823) by James Fenimore Cooper, 1980



Origin

The Latin adjective and noun patricius, patritius dates to the comedies of the Roman dramatist Plautus (c254-c184 b.c.). The word means having the rank and dignity of the patrēs (Roman senators), or a person with that dignity, a noble. According to the Roman historian Livy (59 b.c.–17 a.d.), Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome, appointed the first 100 senators and named them patrēs (fathers). From the time of the reign of the emperor Constantine (288?–337 a.d.) onward, patricius was a high honorary title that entailed no specified duties and was only occasionally awarded. Patrician entered English in the 15th century.

[Altobelli]

MOIRA noun (moi-ruh)

noun

1. (among ancient Greeks) a person's fate or destiny.
2. Classical Mythology. (initial capital letter) a. the personification of fate. b. Moirai, the Fates.
3. (initial capital letter) a female given name.


Quotes

Everyone has a moira that "spins the thread" of one's fate, the day of death.
--*Barry B. Powell,*"Introduction" The Iliad by Homer, 2014


Hermes tells Calypso that 'it is not his [Odysseus'] aisa to perish far away from his loved ones, but it is still his moira to see his loved ones and reach his high-roofed house and fatherland' ...
--*Ahuvia Kahane,*Homer: A Guide for the Perplexed, 2012



Origin

Moira comes straight from Greek moȋra “part, portion of booty, one’s portion in life, division (of land, people), political party.” The Greek noun comes from a widespread Proto-Indo-European root (s)mer- to remember,” the source of Latin memoria “memory,” and Germanic (Old English) murnan “to be anxious, care,” English mourn. In Greek mythology there were three Moirai (Moerae), the “Fates” that controlled human life: Clotho (Klōthṓ) “the Spinner (of the thread of human life”), who determined when a person was to be born and was in charge of the present; Lachesis (Láchesis) “the Disposer (of lots or portions),” who was in charge of the past and measured the length of human life; and Atropos (átropos) “the Unturnable, Inflexible,” who was in charge of the future and cut the thread of human life, causing death.