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Thread: Word Of The Day

  1. #1071
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    RATIOCINATE verb (rash-ee-os-uh-neyt)

    verb
    1. to reason; carry on a process of reasoning.


    Quotes

    Scholars, and such that love to ratiocinate, will have more and better matter to exercise their wits upon.
--*Sir William Petty,*Letter to Samuel Hartlib, January 8, 1647–8


    It also authorized the Senate's Revenue Laws Study Committee to (ahem) "study" the concept through this year, then study it some more next year, and, we presume, gradually ratiocinate the complexities of the question into the sunset.
--*Matthew Lasar,*“Municipal broadband haters in NC dealt a blow,” Ars Technica, July 12, 2010



    Origin

    English ratiocinate comes straight from Latin ratiōcinātus, the past participle of the verb ratiōcinārī “to reckon, calculate, reason.” The Latin noun ratio “reckoning, act of reckoning, calculation” is a derivative of the verb rērī “to hold a belief or opinion, believe, think,” from the root rē-, rēi- “to reason, count, reckon,” a very complicated and problematic root that is also the source of English read and rede (from Old English rǣdan “to read, give counsel”) and riddle (from Old English rǣdels, rǣdelse “counsel, opinion, imagination, riddle”). The Latin combining form -cinārī is a verb suffix formed from nouns to denote a specific activity; its further etymology is unknown. Ratiocinate entered English in the 17th century.

  2. #1072
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    AKIMBO adjective (uh-kim-boh)

    adjective, adverb
    1. with hand on hip and elbow bent outward: to stand with arms akimbo.
    2. (of limbs) splayed out in an awkward or ungainly manner: After the strenuous hike, she sat on the floor with her legs akimbo.
    3. (of limbs) fully extended in opposite directions: The dancer warmed up with his arms and legs stretched akimbo.
    4. to one side; askew; awry: They wore their hats akimbo. He woke up from his nap, hair akimbo.


    Quotes

    when a knowing, self-important old gentleman, in a sharp cocked hat, made his way through the crowd ... and planting himself before Van Winkle, with one arm akimbo, the other resting on his cane, his keen eyes and sharp hat penetrating, as it were, into his very soul ...
--*Washington Irving,*Rip Van Winkle, 1819


    Placed on top was a primitive wooden statue of the general himself, left arm akimbo and eyes fixed on uptown.
--*"Arch of Pride," New York Times, June 1, 1991



    Origin

    The origin of English akimbo is disputed. The various Middle English spellings include in kenebowe, a kenbow, on kenbow, a canne-bow.... The Middle English forms look like a prepositional phrase composed of in or on (reduced to a) and another word (or other words) of uncertain origin and meaning. Some authorities consider the rest of the phrase to be native English words meaning “(a) sharp angle,” with keen in the sense of “sharp” and bow in the sense of “angle, bow” (as in elbow). Others consider the source to be Old Norse í keng boginn “bent in a bow or curve,” but the sense “with hand on hip and elbow bent outward” does not occur in Old Norse or Icelandic; yet others go to Old French chane, kane, quenne “pitcher, jug, flagon” and English bow “handle.” Akimbo entered English in the 15th century.

  3. #1073
    Skullduggery
    /skʌlˈdʌɡ(ə)ri/Submit
    noun
    noun: skullduggery
    underhand, unscrupulous, or dishonest behaviour or activities.
    "a firm that investigates commercial skulduggery"
    synonyms: trickery, swindling, fraudulence, double-dealing, sharp practice, unscrupulousness, underhandedness, chicanery, machinations;

    In relation to our wonderful politicians.

  4. #1074
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    GADABOUT noun (gad-uh-bout)

    noun
    1. a person who moves about restlessly or aimlessly, especially from one social activity to another.
    2. a person who travels often or to many different places, especially for pleasure.


    Quotes

    My mother-in-law calls me ... a gadabout? accuses me of going to unheard-of places, and thinks it ought to be joy enough for me to sit at home and count over my ancestors on my fingers.
--*Henry James,*The American, 1877


    Oh Dapple, Dapple, you wild gadabout, how footloose you have become!
--*Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547–1616),*Don Quixote, translated by John Rutherford, 2000



    Origin

    Gadabout is a noun use of the verb phrase (to) gad about “to move restlessly or aimlessly from place to place.” The Middle English verb gad, gadden is likely a back formation from the Old English noun gædeling “companion in arms, kinsman, fellow” and in the 16th century, “vagabond, wanderer”). Gadabout entered English in the 18th century.

  5. #1075
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    PERFUNCTORY adjective (per-fuhngk-tuh-ree)

    adjective
    1. performed merely as a routine duty; hasty and superficial: perfunctory courtesy.
    2. lacking interest, care, or enthusiasm; indifferent or apathetic: In his lectures he reveals himself to be merely a perfunctory speaker.


    Quotes

    Rep. Nancy Pelosi issued what seemed like a perfunctory statement backing her colleagues in Democratic leadership.
--*Paul Kane,*"House Democratic leaders find strength in numbers to fight challenge to Pelosi," Washington Post, November 20, 2018


    ... the House whooped through the beer bill with only perfunctory debate.
--*William F. Kerby,*"House Passes 3.2 Per Cent Beer Measure," Berkeley Daily Gazette, March 14, 1933



    Origin

    Perfunctory comes from the Late Latin adjective perfunctōrius “done carelessly or superficially.” Perfunctōrius is a derivative of the verb perfungī “to carry through, discharge one’s part or duty,” a compound of the prefix per- signifying completeness, thoroughness, or intensity and the verb fungī “to perform, discharge, carry out.” It is therefore curious that the Latin adjective (and its English derivative) means “done carelessly” and not “done thoroughly and completely.” Perfunctory entered English in the 16th century.

  6. #1076
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    FREEGAN noun (free-guhn)

    noun
    1. a person who buys as little as possible and makes use of recycled or discarded goods and materials, in an effort to reduce waste and limit environmental impact.


    Quotes

    While Kalish and the freegans work to educate people about the amount of waste we generate, they essentially want to put themselves out of business.
--*Eillie Anzilotti,*"New York's Freegans Expose the Insane Waste of Our Food System," Fast Company, March 30, 2018


    Don't get hung up on the foraging. ... Everybody gets all freaked out about the diving, the whole Freegan thing.
--*Jonathan Miles,*Want Not, 2013



    Origin

    Freegan is a blend of free and vegan. One who practices freeganism is usually also but not necessarily a vegetarian or vegan. Freeganism differs from the usually disparaging term dumpster diving in that freegans are anticonsumerist and anticapitalist in their ideology, but are actively engaged in alternative lifestyles. Freegan entered English in the late 20th century.

  7. #1077
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    ALTILOQUENT adjective (awl-til-uh-kwuh nt)

    adjective
    1. Archaic. (of language) high-flown or pretentious.


    Quotes

    The altiloquent talker may be called a word-fancier, searching for all the fine words discoverable ...
--*John Bate,*Talkers, 1878


    My altiloquent style takes too much energy. I'm the best in the business, but I'm seven thousand years old and slowing down.
--*Stanley Elkin,*Searches & Seizures, 1973



    Origin

    Altiloquent, “(in language) high-flown, pretentious,” comes from Latin alti-, a combining form of the adjective altus “high” and loquent-, the stem of the present participle loquēns “speaking, talking, having the power of speech,” from the verb loquī. (The adjective altiloquēns does not exist in Latin.) Altiloquent dates from the 17th century.

  8. #1078
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    CREED noun (kreed)

    noun
    1. any system or codification of belief or of opinion.
    2. any system, doctrine, or formula of religious belief, as of a denomination.
    3. an authoritative, formulated statement of the chief articles of Christian belief, as the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, or the Athanasian Creed.
    4. the creed. Apostles' Creed.


    Quotes

    I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
--*Martin Luther King, Jr.,*"I Have a Dream," delivered August 28, 1963


    Blight was most impressed by Douglass’s mental, physical and intellectual endurance, his “ability to still believe, and to demand a place in the country’s creed.
--*"Big New Biographies of Two Big American Lives," New York Times, November 9, 2018



    Origin

    Creed has existed in English since before the year 1000. Its Middle English form crede and its Old English form crēda ultimately derive from Latin crēdō meaning “I believe.”

  9. #1079
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    SHIRTY adjective (shur-tee)

    adjective
    1. Informal. bad-tempered; irritable; cranky.


    Quotes

    ... she was usually all right about most things, if you woke her before she was ready she could get a bit shirty.
--*Beryl Kingston,*London Pride, 1991


    There's no need to get shirty, young man. My ticket is right there.
--*André Alexis,*"Maupassant," Beauty and Sadness, 2010



    Origin

    The adjective shirty derives from the phrase “to have one’s shirt out, get one’s shirt out, get someone’s shirt out, to be or become annoyed.” “Getting one’s shirt out” is one possible result of swinging one’s arms in an argument in a pub; a head-butt is another. Shirty entered English in the 19th century.

  10. #1080
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    ADRENALIZE verb (uh-dreen-l-ahyz)

    verb
    1. to stir to action; excite: The promise of victory adrenalized the team.


    Quotes

    It all seemed some sort of overblown, middle-American hysteria, a desire to adrenalize an otherwise sleepy existence.
--*Adam Buckley Cohen,*"A Psychological Twister," New York Times, May 28, 2011


    Stocco is being touted as a guy who can adrenalize a program that has gone a mediocre 13-19 in the Big Ten over the last five years.
--*Clete Campbell,*"Stocco a cool QB," Telegraph-Herald, August 21, 2004



    Origin

    Adrenalize is an unimaginative compound of the noun adrenaline and -ize, a Greek verb suffix completely naturalized. Adrenalize was first used in the early 20th century in the now rare sense “to treat with adrenaline.” In the 1930s it acquired a metaphorical meaning, “to stir to action, excite; be stirred to action, be excited.”

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