Word Of The Day

[Altobelli]

VITIATE verb (vish-ee-eyt)

verb
1. to impair or weaken the effectiveness of.
2. to impair the quality of; make faulty; spoil.
3. to debase; corrupt; pervert.
4. to make legally defective or invalid; invalidate: to vitiate a claim.


Quotes

... some infinitesimal excess or deficiency, some minute accession of heat or cold, some chance adulteration in this or that ingredient, can vitiate a whole course of inquiry, requiring the labour of weeks to be all begun again ...
--*Charles Lever,*One of Them, 1861


In his mad odyssey through the dark side — waterboarding, secret rendition, indefinite detention, unnecessary war and manipulation of C.I.A. analysis — Dick Cheney did his best to vitiate our system of checks and balances. His nefarious work is still warping our intelligence system more than a decade later.
--*Maureen Dowd,*"The Spies Who Didn't Love Her," New York Times, March 11, 2014



Origin

The English verb vitiate comes directly from the Latin past participle vitiātus “spoiled, impaired,” from the verb vitiāre, which is a derivative of the noun vitium “defect, fault,” a word of uncertain etymology. Vitium is the source of Old French vice, English vice. Vitiate entered English in the 15th century.

[Altobelli]

AMOUR-PROPRE noun (a-moor-praw-pruh)

noun
1. French. self-esteem; self-respect.


Quotes

From the faces round him there fell that glamour by which the amour propre is held captive in large assemblies, where the amour propre is flattered.
--*Edward Bulwar-Lytton,*What Will He Do with It?, 1858


Whatever might be the urgings of his amour propre, in his opinion he had a professional duty to tell the client his findings.
--*Louis Begley,*Matters of Honor, 2007



Origin

The French compound noun amour-propre, literally “self-love, self-regard,” is associated especially with the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78), but the phrase is found earlier in the works of Blaise Pascal (1623-62) and François de La Rochefoucauld (1613-80). For Rousseau amour-propre is self-love or self-esteem dependent upon the good opinion of others, as opposed to amour de soi, which also means “self-love” but is directed solely toward one’s own well-being and is not dependent upon the good opinion of others. The English lexicographer Henry W. Fowler (1858-1933), in his A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926), acidly comments about amour-propre, “Vanity usually gives the meaning as well, &, if as well, then better.” Amour-propre entered English in the 18th century.

[Altobelli]

ANTIGODLIN adjective (an-ti-god-lin)

adjective
1. lopsided or at an angle; out of alignment.
2. diagonal or cater-cornered.


Quotes

This was moved so as to make it set, as the witness expressed it, "antigodlin." ... we suppose he meant that it was set diagonally to the window after being moved so as to permit the party to pass between the side of the box and the window.
--*Rudolph Kleberg,*"Frank Fields v. The State," The Texas Criminal Reports, Volume 61, 1911


When the ecology of the environment is out of sorts ("anti-godlin" as my mountain neighbors might say, referring to anything that is out of balance or out of plumb or that goes against God and the laws of nature), we also see symptoms ...
--*Thomas Rain Crowe,*Zoro's Field: My Life in the Appalachian Woods, 2005



Origin

Antigodlin is an adjective used chiefly in the American South and West. The origin of the word is unclear, but it may be a combination of the familiar prefix anti- “against, opposite” and godlin or goglin, a variant pronunciation of goggling, the present participle of goggle, in the archaic sense “to squint” and originally meaning “twisted to one side, cockeyed.” The form godlin may also be reinforced by the folk etymology “against God.” Antigodlin entered English in the early 20th century.

[Altobelli]

SEMAPHORE noun (sem-uh-fawr)

noun
1. a system of signaling, especially a system by which a special flag is held in each hand and various positions of the arms indicate specific letters, numbers, etc.
2. an apparatus for conveying information by means of visual signals, as a light whose position may be changed.
3. any of various devices for signaling by changing the position of a light, flag, etc.

verb
1. to signal by semaphore or by some system of flags.


Quotes

The gymnasts were like the diagrams to illustrate the semaphore alphabet, arms thrust firmly out in precise positions, a flag in each hand, the little figures in naval uniform like her brother, Ben, drawn over and over.
--*Peter Rushforth,*Pinkerton's Sister, 2005


His younger brother admired his speed and what looked like his precision, though semaphore signals were a closed book to the major.
--*Harry Turtledove,*Fort Pillow, 2006



Origin

Semaphore came into English from French sémaphore, a device for making and transmitting signals by line of sight. From the point of view of a purist or pedant, semaphore is a malformed word. The Greek noun sêma means “mark, sign, token,” and its combining form, which should have been used in semaphore, is sēmat-, which would result in sematophore. The combining form -phore comes from the Greek combining form -phoros “carrying, bearing,” a derivative of the verb phérein “to carry, bear.” Semaphore entered English in the 19th century.

[Altobelli]

NACREOUS adjective (ney-kree-uhs)

adjective
1. resembling nacre or mother-of-pearl; lustrous; pearly.
2. of or relating to nacre.


Quotes

Nacreous pearl light swam faintly about the hem of the lilac darkness; the edges of light and darkness were stitched upon the hills.
--*Thomas Wolfe,*Look Homeward, Angel, 1929


It should not have surprised them to find the angel in that preserved condition. The fingernails, nacreous as the inside of an oyster shell ...
--*Danielle Trussoni,*Angelology, 2010



Origin

The English adjective nacreous is a derivative of nacre “mother-of-pearl.” Nacre comes from Middle French nacre, from Medieval Latin nacchara, nacara, nacrum. Other Romance languages have similar forms: Old Italian nacacra, nacchera, Catalan nacre, and Spanish nácar, all meaning “mother-of-pearl.” The further origin of nacre is uncertain: the most common etymology is that it comes from Arabic naqqāra “small drum,” or from Arabic naqur "hunting horn," a derivative of the verb nakara "hollow out," from the shape of the mollusk shell that yields mother-of-pearl. Nacreous entered English in the 19th century.

[Altobelli]

STANCHLESS adjective (stawnch-lis)

adjective
1. incessant: a stanchless torrent of words.
2. not to be stanched.


Quotes

The flow of his language was slow, but steady and apparently stanchless.
--*Aldous Huxley,*After Many a Summer Dies the Swan, 1939


The machine can only repeat, and if we repeated we should be machines and untrue to the stanchless creative mystery of the life within us.
--*H. F. Heard,*"Wingless Victories," The Great Fog and Other Weird Tales, 1944



Origin

English stanchless is an awkward, uncommon word. Its meaning is obvious: “unable to be stanched.” Stanch comes from the Old French verb estanchier “to close, stop” and is probably from an unattested Vulgar Latin verb stanticāre, equivalent to Latin stant- (stem of stāns, the present participle of stāre “to stand”) and the causative suffix -icāre; stanticare means “to make stand or stop.” Stanchless entered English in the 17th century.

[Altobelli]

PARAGON noun (par-uh-gon)

noun
1. a model or pattern of excellence or of a particular excellence: a paragon of virtue.
2. someone of exceptional merit: Just who is this paragon whose name is on everyone's lips?
3. Printing. a 20-point type.
4. an unusually large, round pearl.

verb
1. Rare. to compare; parallel.
2. Archaic. to be a match for; rival.
3. Obsolete. to surpass.
4. Obsolete. to regard as a paragon.


Quotes

As that paragon of fatherhood Homer Simpson once told his brood, “Remember, as far as anyone knows, we're a nice, normal family.”
--*Andy Simmons,*"People Shared Their Funniest Family Stories and It Got Heartwarming Real Fast," Reader's Digest, April 2018


He has variously been considered a military icon who won a total victory; a presidential model for overcoming his own considerable flaws and a tragic weakness for scoundrels to achieve fame and glory; a literary phenomenon who crafted the most famous deathbed writing in American letters; and a celebrity who was a paragon of humility and modesty.
--*David W. Blight,*"The Silent Type," New York Review of Books, May 24, 2018



Origin

The English noun paragon comes from Middle French, from Old Italian paragone “touch stone,” a derivative of the verb paragonare “to test on a touchstone or whetstone.” The Italian words perhaps derive from Greek parakonân “to sharpen, whet,” formed from the prefix and preposition para-“beside, alongside” and akonân “to sharpen, whet,” a derivative of akónē “whetstone, bone.” Paragon entered English in the mid-16th century.

[Altobelli]

TUROPHILE noun (toor-uh-fahyl)

noun
1. a connoisseur or lover of cheese.


Quotes

For any New York turophile ... there is irritation, frustration and dismay when visiting most of the town's restaurants whether grand luxe or bistro. The cheeses, if available at all, are more often than not overripe or underaged, too cold or too few ...
--*Craig Claiborne,*"Cheese Lover Dismayed by Restaurant Selection," New York Times, October 12, 1965


... as any turophile knows, microbes are the source of cheese’s vast diversity of flavors, textures, and smells.
--*Casey Quackenbush,*"The FDA Is Coming Around to the Idea That Cheese, Microbes, and Mold Can Work Just Fine," Time, September 22, 2017



Origin

Turophile a rare word not only in meaning but also in its spelling. The combining form -phile is very common in English, but the combining form turo- is unique: it comes from the Greek noun tȳrós, which is nearly always Romanized as tyro-, as in the technical term tyrosine (an amino acid). Tȳrós comes from a complicated Proto-Indo-European root tēu, tewe, teu, tū “to swell, coagulate, be or become thick”: for the Greeks cheese was “thickened milk.” The Latin word būtȳrum “butter” is a borrowing from Greek boútyron “butter,” literally “cow cheese.” Būtȳrum “butter” was adopted by the West Germanic languages, e.g., Old English butere, English butter, Dutch boter, Old High German butera, and German Butter. Turophile entered English in the 20th century.

[Altobelli]

THIGMOTROPISM noun (thig-mo-truh-piz-uhm)

noun
1. Biology. oriented growth of an organism in response to mechanical contact, as a plant tendril coiling around a string support.


Quotes

When touch is the stimulus, the response is thigmotropism. Positive thigmotropism occurs when a tendril touches an object and, by growing toward it, wraps around it.
--*James D. Mauseth,*Botany: An Introduction to Plant Biology, 2009


Thigmotropism is what makes a vine curl around a stake or an epiphyte cling to a branch in the wild.
--*Deb Wandell,*"Flora Grubb reinvents the plant stand with Thigmotrope Perch," San Francisco Chronicle, January 30, 2015



Origin

Thigmotropism is a very rare word, restricted to biology, especially botany. All three of the components of the word come from Greek: thígma means “a touch”; trópos and tropḗ are both nouns meaning “a turning, turn”; and -ism comes from the Greek suffixes -ismós, isma, used to form nouns denoting the result of an action. Thigmotropism entered English in the early 20th century.

[Altobelli]

COEVAL adjective (koh-ee-vuhl)

adjective
1. of the same age, date, or duration; equally old: Analysis has proved that this manuscript is coeval with that one.
2. coincident: Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo were only approximately coeval.

noun
1. a contemporary: He is more serious than his coevals.



Quotes

An old woman, who seemed coeval with the building ... received us at the gate ...
--*Henry Fielding,*The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, 1749


... the Serpent mentioned that very jest, and called it the First Chestnut, and said it was coeval with the creation.
--*Mark Twain,*The Private Life of Adam and Eve, 1906



Origin

The English adjective coeval comes from the Late Latin coaevus “of the same age.” The common Latin prefix co- is a variant of the prefix con-, from the preposition cum “with.” The noun aevum “age, the past, history” comes from the Proto-Indo-European root aiw-, ayu- “life force, long life, *****ity,” from which Gothic derives awis “time, eternity,” German ewig “eternal, everlasting,” Old English ā “ever, always,” and Old Norse ei “ever,” the source of English ay (also aye). Coeval entered English in the 17th century.