Word Of The Day

[Altobelli]

PASEO noun (pah-sey-oh)

noun

1. a slow, idle, or leisurely walk or stroll.
2. a public place or path designed for walking; promenade.
3. (especially in Spanish-speaking countries) a usually tree-lined thoroughfare; avenue.


Quotes

... the theme of every evening's conversation at the different houses, and in our afternoon's paseo upon the beach, was the ship ...
--*Richard Henry Dana,*Two Years Before the Mast, 1840


For the last two days in Ibarra, the foreigner has enjoyed easygoing Latina hospitality: a tour of the market where Celia's mother has a stall; a paseo to a small village hosting a bullfight, even the funeral of a family friend.
--*Kelley Aitken,*"Eating Cuy," Love in a Warm Climate, 1998



Origin

The Spanish noun paseo “a stroll” is a derivative of the verb pasear “take a walk,” itself a derivative of pasar “to come past, go past.” Pasar comes from an assumed Vulgar Latin verb passāre “to pass, go on, extend,” which is formed from Latin passus, the past participle of pandere “to unfold, extend, spread out.” The Latin noun passus “a step, pace,” also derived from pandere, is the ultimate source of pace, i.e., “a step,” and the verb pass. Paseo entered English in the 19th century.

[Altobelli]

BUSTICATE verb (buhs-ti-keyt)

verb

1. Northern U.S. to break into pieces.


Quotes

I'll have a sipe more of coffee, but if I eat another bite, I'll busticate.
--*Ivan Doig,*This House of Sky, 1978


"Elephants really busticate trees," said Brendan Washington-Jones.
--*Lawrence Anthony,*The Last Rhinos, 2012



Origin

Busticate is a facetious Northern US formation from bust “to burst” and -icate, on the model of the regularly formed rusticate “to go to the country.”

[outwoodclaret]

PETTIFOGGING

• placing undue emphasis on petty details; petty or trivial.
  "pettifogging attorneys were the bane of civil society”
  
  
  
  

[Altobelli]

PETTIFOGGING, I like that one Colner

[Altobelli]

CIRCUMFERENTIAL adjective (ser-kuhm-fuh-ren-shuh l)

adjective

1. surrounding; lying along the outskirts; of, at, or near the circumference.
2. lying within the circumference.
3. circuitous; indirect: a circumferential manner of speech.


Quotes

Now bees, as may be clearly seen by examining the edge of a growing comb, do make a rough, circumferential wall or rim all round the comb ...
--*Charles Darwin,*On the Origin of Species, 1859


Far away in the circumferential wall a little doorway looked like Heaven, and he set off in a wild rush for it.
--*H. G. Wells,*"The Country of the Blind," The Strand Magazine, April 1904



Origin

Circumferential nowadays means only “surrounding, on the outskirts or periphery of.” In the late 17th century circumferential had the additional meaning “indirect, roundabout.” Circumferential entered English in the early 17th century.

[Altobelli]

DEKKO noun (dek-oh)

noun

1. British Slang. a look or glance.


Quotes

I'll have a dekko at the furnace, and see what tools I need.
--*Helen Dunmore,*The Lie, 2014


Oh yes, he's here, replied Monteiro Rossi, but he doesn't like to burst in just like that, he's sent me on ahead to take a dekko.
--*Antonio Tabucchi,*Pereira Declares, translated by Patrick Creagh, 1995



Origin

It is hard to believe that dekko, originally British army slang meaning "to look; a look," is related to dragon. Dekko and dragon both ultimately come from the Proto-Indo-European root derk- (and its variant dṛk-) “to see, look.” The form derk- forms Greek dérkesthai “to look”; the variant dṛk- forms the Greek aorist (a kind of past tense) édrakon “I saw, looked,” the aorist active participle drakṓn “looking,” and the noun drákōn “serpent, (huge) snake,” also the name of a winged mythical monster, half reptilian, half mammalian, whose look could kill. In Sanskrit the root derk- forms the causative verb darśáyati “(he) makes see.” The Sanskrit root darś-, dṛś- develops into the Hindi root dekh- “to see,” which forms the infinitive dekhnā “to see,” and the imperative dekho “look, see.” Dekko entered English in the late 19th century.

[Altobelli]

BUNGLESOME adjective (buhng-guh l-suh m)

adjective
1. clumsy or awkward.


Quotes

He is a little awkward, a little bunglesome in starting, but if you would--could exercise just a little patience for a few days--a day, I am sure he would please you.
--*Oscar Micheaux,*The Homesteader, 1917


To the traveler coming down from Florence to Rome in the summertime, the larger, more ancient city is bound to be a disappointment. It is bunglesome; nothing is orderly or planned; there is a tangle of electric wires and tramlines, a ceaseless clamor of traffic.
--*Elizabeth Spencer,*The Light in the Piazza, 1960



Origin

Bunglesome is an Americanism dating back to 1885–90.

[Altobelli]

CRAIC noun (krak)

noun

1. fun and entertainment, especially good conversation and company (often preceded by the): Come for the beer, lads, and stay for the craic!
2. mischievous fun; laughs: We did it just for the craic.


Quotes

The public bar's men only so I haven't been in since we got back. ... I've been missing the craic there.
--*Patrick Taylor,*Fingal O'Reilly, Irish Doctor, 2013


The craic now was two doors down, where a bunch of lads were drinking Harp lager, eating fish and chips, and playing what sounded like Dinah Washington from a portable record player on a long lead outside Bobby Cameron's house.
--*Adrian McKinty,*Gun Street Girl, 2015



Origin

Craic is an Irish Gaelic spelling that represents the English pronunciation of English crack and was then taken back into English. English crack was apparently introduced from Scots into Irish English via Northern Ireland (Ulster) in the mid-20th century and was thereafter adopted into Irish Gaelic and Irish English. In Scottish English and in northern English dialect, crack has the sense “chat, gossip,” which may be the source of craic. Alternatively, craic may be a shortening of crack “witty remark, wisecrack.” Craic entered English in the 20th century.

[Altobelli]

POLEMOLOGY noun (poh-luh-mol-uh-jee)

noun
1. the analysis of human conflict and war, particularly international war.


Quotes

Closely related to the surge of interest in aggressive human behavior is the rise of a new science: polemology.
--*Walter Sullivan,*"An Attack on Man the Aggressor," New York Times, August 26, 1968


For the study of Greek warfare, or the polemology of ancient Greece, cannot be separated from the project of a general, very broadly political history of ancient Greek civic mentality, social structure and economic organization.
--*Paul Cartledge,*Spartan Reflections, 2001



Origin

Polemology was first recorded in 1935–40. It comes from Greek pólemos “war” and -logy, a combining form used in the names of bodies of knowledge.

[Altobelli]

DORNICK noun (dawr-nik)

noun
1. a small stone that is easy to throw.


Quotes

Indulging a few moments' contemplation of its freckled rind, I broke it open with a stone, a rock, a dornick, in boy's language.
--*Mark Twain,*"Mighty Mark Twain Overawes Marines," New York Times, May 12, 1907


The rock throwers must have been cads or they wouldn't have flung a dornick at that small bundle of pink-and-white loveliness ...
--*Pete Martin,*Have Tux, Will Travel, 1954



Origin

Dornick is an Americanism dating back to 1830–40 from Irish dornóg “small stone, handful,” from dorn “fist.”