Word Of The Day

[Altobelli]

BRIGHTWORK noun (brahyt-wurk)

noun
1. polished metal parts, as on a ship or automobile.
2. Nautical. all plain or varnished woodwork that is kept scoured on a vessel.


Quotes

One other mode of passing time while in port was cleaning and polishing your bright-work; for it must be known that, in men-of-war, every sailor has some brass or steel of one kind or other to keep in high order ...
--*Herman Melville,*White Jacket; or, The World in a Man-of-War, 1850


Under the unblinking gaze of the sun, windshields blazed and brightwork gleamed.
--*Dean Koontz,*The Husband, 2006



Origin

Brightwork is an Americanism dating back to 1835–45.

[Altobelli]

PATZER noun (path-ser)

noun
1. a casual, amateurish chess player.


Quotes

Anatoly Karpov, the champion before Kasparov, once said the only difference between a prodigy and a patzer was how far into the future a player could look.
--*Mitch Silver,*The Bookworm, 2018


You're a patzer. Look that up in your dictionary.
--*Mark Coggins,*The Immortal Game, 2006



Origin

Patzer was first recorded in 1955–60. It is probably from German Patzer “bungler,” equivalent to patz(en) “to bungle” (compare Austrian dialect Patzen “stain, blot,” patzen “to make a stain”).

[sinkov]

POSTERN noun (poh-stern)

noun
1. a back door or gate.
2. a private entrance or any entrance other than the main one.
adjective
1. of, relating to, or resembling a postern.


Quotes

It was the second gate, a postern in the north wall, that accounted for the most noticeable change.
--*James A. Michener,*The Source, 1965


A practicable postern was ajar on the yellow wood of the studded gates.
--*Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Ford,*Romance, 1903



Origin

English postern comes from Old French posterne, originally “a concealed exit from a fort, a sally port,” later “a small door, a back door.” Posterne is an alteration of Old French posterle “a back door, back way," from Late Latin posterula “a small back door or gate; back way, byway,” a diminutive noun formed from the adjective posterus “(coming or being) after or in the future” and -ula, the feminine form of the common diminutive noun suffix -ulus. The -n- in posterne is likely due to the influence of the Old French adjectives interne (from Latin internus) and externe (from Latin externus). Postern entered English in the early 14th century.

Strangely, in the light of that explanation, I've never heard the phrase 'taking it up the postern', you'd think it would have caught on, it explains succinctly a bit of uphill gardening.

[Altobelli]

LINGUAPHILE noun (ling-gwuh-fahyl)

noun
1. a language and word lover.


Quotes

The collection has so many good passages — whole paragraphs that move into pages with never a misstep — that any linguaphile could spend a great afternoon in a little spasm of dazzle.
--*Robin Romm,*"Baser Instincts," New York Times, July 19, 2013


In the story “Entourage,” a linguaphile travels to Poland, Denmark, Germany, Turkey, and more, collecting suitcases full of books in their original languages.
--*Nathan Scott McNamara,*"Everything Was a Fake," Los Angeles Review of Books, June 8, 2018



Origin

Linguist has existed in English since the 16th century. It means “one who is adept at learning and using foreign languages; one who is a student of language or linguistics; a translator or interpreter.” Linguaphile has a somewhat different meaning: “one who loves words or languages.” The originally Greek suffix -phile (“lover of”) is completely naturalized in English. Lingua in Latin means “tongue, language”; its Old Latin form was dingua, from Proto-Indo-European dṇghwā, which is also the source of Germanic (English) tongue, and of Celtic (Old Irish) teng, Baltic inžũ-, and Slavic (Polish) język (with Baltic and Slavic loss of initial d-; ę represents a nasalized vowel). Linguaphile entered English in the late 20th century.

[Altobelli]

THUNDERSTONE noun (thuhn-der-stohn)

noun
1. any of various stones or fossils formerly thought to be fallen thunderbolts.
2. Archaic. a thunderbolt or flash of lightning.


Quotes

Palta might not be hidden from the sky; thus the sacred thunder-stone of Terminus at Rome stood under a hole in the roof of Jupiter's temple ...
--*Robert Graves,*The Greek Myths, 1955


In Germany until the early 20th century people believed in the magic properties of the devil's fingers, known also as catstones, thunderstones, wombstones or even candles of the dead. According to ancient lore these strange stones are falling from the sky and witches can use them to cause thunderstorms.
--*David Bressan,*"Fire burn, and cauldron bubble ... The Thunderstone," Scientific American, October 28, 2013



Origin

Thunderstone in the sense “thunderbolt” dates from the end of the 16th century; the sense “stone or fossil” dates from the late 17th century.

[SERVERNOTRESPONDING]

Peristeronic


Definition: of or relating to pigeons

Pigeons get short-shrift in our stable of avian metaphors. We speak of someone with fine eyesight as eagle-eyed, and hawk lends itself to a variety of words (hawk-like, hawkish, etc.), but rarely do we compare anyone to the humble, intelligent pigeon. Truth be told, it is unlikely that you have a distinct need to use this word anytime soon, but if it happens we want you to be prepared.

[Altobelli]

CRYONAUT noun (krahy-uh-nawt)

noun
1. a person whose dead body has been preserved by the technique of cryonics.


Quotes

... cryonics ... has now been around for 60 years, since the death of retired psychology professor James H. Bedford. Alcor, the company that still has his body in a frozen chamber, calls him the first “cryonaut.”
--*Kat Eschner,*"The First Cryonic Preservation Took Place Fifty Years Ago Today," Smithsonian, January 12, 2017


For the moment, preservation is a pricey proposition, largely because each "cryonaut" must set aside enough capital to pay for maintenance indefinitely out of interest alone.
--*Michael Cieply,*“They Freeze Death if Not Taxes,” Los Angeles Times, September 9, 1990



Origin

The rare noun cryonaut derives clearly and simply from the Greek nouns krýos “icy cold” and naútēs “sailor.” Krýos comes from the Proto-Indo-European root kreus-, krus- “to freeze, form a crust,” from which Greek also derives krýstallos “ice” (English crystal). Krus- is also the source of Latin crusta “a hard covering, scab, crust.” Naútēs is a derivative of the noun naûs “ship,” from the same Proto-Indo-European source as Latin nāvis “ship,” nauta “sailor,” and nāvigāre “travel by ship.” Cryonaut entered English in the 20th century.

[Altobelli]

PLOCE noun (ploh-see)

noun
1. Rhetoric. the repetition of a word or phrase to gain special emphasis or to indicate an extension of meaning, as in Ex. 3:14: “I am that I am.”


Quotes

Ploce is the repetition of the same word under different forms or with different meanings in the same sentence.... as--"Judge not, that ye be not judged."
--*James De Mille,*The Elements of Rhetoric, 1878


There he found examples of such figures or tropes as synechdoche, metonymy, meiosis, amplification, ploce, polyptoton, etc., all designed to enhance the style of the would-be poet and preacher.
--*Donald E. Stanford,*"Edward Taylor," Major Writers of Early American Literature, 1976



Origin

The uncommon English rhetorical term ploce comes via Late Latin plocē from Greek plokḗ, a noun with many meanings: “twining, twisting, braid; complication (of a dramatic plot); construction (of a syllogism); web, web of deceit; (in biology) histological structure; (in rhetoric) repetition of the same word in close succession in a slightly different sense or for emphasis” (e.g., “A man should act like a man”). Greek plokḗ comes from the verb plékein “to weave, braid, twine,” from the Proto-Indo-European root plek-, plok-, source of Latin plicāre “to fold, bend, roll, twine” and the combining form -plex, used in forming numerals, e.g. simplex, duplex, triplex (equivalent to English -fold). The Proto-Indo-European neuter noun ploksom becomes flahsam in Germanic and flax in English. In Slavic (Polish), plek- forms the verb pleść “to plait, weave.” Ploce entered English in the 16th century.

[Altobelli]

SINGLE-HEARTED adjective (sing-guhl-hahr-tid)

adjective
1. sincere and undivided in feeling or spirit; dedicated; not reflecting mixed emotions: He was single-hearted in his patriotism.


Quotes

Whatever becomes of me, I shall remember always this single-hearted devotion of yours, Margaret, and I shall thank God that I know of it and love you for it.
--*Edward Boltwood,*"The Touchstone," The Smart Set, May 1910


... one gets what one goes after with single-hearted purpose, but otherwise not.
--*Anya Seton,*The Turquoise, 1946



Origin

Single-hearted was first recorded in 1570–80.

[Altobelli]

HUMDINGER noun 9huhm-ding-er)

noun
1. Informal. a person, thing, action, or statement of remarkable excellence or effect.


Quotes

... Beethoven gave the Viennese a humdinger, something to make them sit up and take notice.
--*Michael Steinberg,*The Concerto: A Listener's Guide, 1998


Streep, whose speeches are perfect, delivered a humdinger of a tribute to Emma Thompson, who was receiving the best-actress honor, for “Saving Mr. Banks.”
--*Michael Schulman,*"Meryl Streep Pokes Back at Male Hollywood," The New Yorker, January 9, 2014



Origin

The origin of humdinger is speculative. It was originally American slang, first appearing in print at the beginning of the 20th century and in British English about 1926.