Word Of The Day

[Altobelli]

Have I made the 1000th post on this thread?

Should I give a speech?

As long as it contains NO pro Royalist comments, Political comments, Burnley Board doing well comments, then you should be O.K. 59

[Altobelli]

DISSEMBLE verb (dih-sem-buhl)

verb
1. to conceal one's true motives, thoughts, etc., by some pretense; speak or act hypocritically.
2. to give a false or misleading appearance to; conceal the truth or real nature of: to dissemble one's incompetence in business.
3. to put on the appearance of; feign: to dissemble innocence.
4. Obsolete. to let pass unnoticed; ignore.


Quotes

He counted heavily on his ability to dissemble, knowing that every decent lawyer had at least several drops of dissimulation in his blood.
--*Elizabeth George,*Missing Joseph, 1993


I didn't know how to dissemble, I quite openly acknowledged the mistakes I made, and didn't try hard to hide them.
--*Johann Michael von Loën,*The Honest Man at Court, 1748, translated by John R. Russell, 1997



Origin

Dissemble comes from late Middle English dissemile, dissimill, an alteration of the verb dissimule (from Old French dissimuler “to keep one’s intentions hidden,” from Latin dissimulāre, “to disguise or conceal one’s thoughts”), and associated in form with the noun semblance and the obsolete verb semble (from Old French sembler, from Latin similāre and simulāre “to pretend”). Dissemble entered English in the sense “to pass over, ignore, neglect” in the 16th century.

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VOLUTE noun (vuh-loot)

noun
1. a spiral or twisted formation or object.
2. Architecture. a spiral ornament, found especially in the capitals of the Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite orders.
3. Carpentry. a horizontal scrolled termination to the handrail of a stair.
4. Zoology. a. a turn or whorl of a spiral shell. b. any of various tropical marine gastropods of the family Volutidae, many species of which have shells prized for their coloration.
5. the spiral casing surrounding the impeller of a volute pump.

adjective
1. having a volute or rolled-up form.
2. Machinery. a. pirally shaped or having a part so shaped. b. moving in a circular way, especially if combined with a lateral motion.


Quotes

The interior of the tiny temple was dim, and wisps of incense smoke made graceful volutes in the air.
--*John Maddox Roberts,*SPQR IX: The Princess and the Pirates, 2005


My, how light this Alonso de Avila was, forced to walk on mere earth only because of the richness and gravity of his damask and jaguar-skin suits, his gold chains, and his tawny mantle decorate with a reliquary--all of it lightened, let me assure you, by the feathers in his cap and the volutes of his mustache, the wings of his face.
--*Carlos Fuentes,*The Orange Tree, translated by Alfred Mac Adam, 1994



Origin

Volute is a technical word, a noun used in architecture, ornamental decoration, and marine biology. It comes from French volute or from Latin volūta “scroll.” Volūta is a noun use of volūtus, the past participle of volvere “to turn.” Volute entered English in the late 17th century.

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ROCOCO adjective (ruh-koh-koh)

adjective
1. ornate or florid in speech, literary style, etc.
2. (initial capital letter) Fine Arts. a. noting or pertaining to a style of painting developed simultaneously with the rococo in architecture and decoration, characterized chiefly by smallness of scale, delicacy of color, freedom of brushwork, and the selection of playful subjects as thematic material. b. designating a corresponding style of sculpture, chiefly characterized by diminutiveness of Baroque forms and playfulness of theme.
3. of, pertaining to, in the manner of, or suggested by rococo architecture, decoration, or music or the general atmosphere and spirit of the rococo: rococo charm.

noun
1. a style of architecture and decoration, originating in France about 1720, evolved from Baroque types and distinguished by its elegant refinement in using different materials for a delicate overall effect and by its ornament of shellwork, foliage, etc.
2. a homophonic musical style of the middle 18th century, marked by a generally superficial elegance and charm and by the use of elaborate ornamentation and stereotyped devices.


Quotes

Should you contemplate purchasing a copy of Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez, a "mega-genius" according to Aaron (in private), he will tell you beforehand that García Márquez "is so rococo and torporific you'll need an insulin shot every twenty pages."
--*John Nichols,*On Top of Spoon Mountain, 2012


... such versions respond to perfectly legitimate concerns about what is comprehensible to a child, who might well feel 'squashed by the words and strangled by the sentence' ... when faced by some of Kingsley's more rococo passages ...
--*Robert Douglas-Fairhurst,*"Introduction," The Water-Babies (1863) by Charles Kingsley, 2013



Origin

If any word looks Italian or Spanish, rococo certainly does. But in fact rococo is a French word meaning “out of style, old-fashioned” and is a humorous distortion of rocaille “pebble-work, shellwork,” which was done to excess in some 18th-century art, furniture, and architecture. The French word may have been influenced by the Italian adjective barocco “baroque.” Rococo entered English in the 19th century.

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SOLMIZATION noun (sol-muh-zey-shuhn)

noun
1. Music. the act, process, or system of using certain syllables, especially the sol-fa syllables, to represent the tones of the scale.


Quotes

The pupil seems to gain the knowledge of intervals with the power of making them. But surely it would facilitate the labour were the knowledge of distances first instilled by means of solmization.
--*"On Reading Music," The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review, Vol. IX, 1827


Guido has been properly called the father of modern music, and the title is richly deserved for in addition to the so-called Guido scale, or hexachord, or solmization--or whatever you call his do-re-mi, plan or fancy--he also invented the staff lines and intervals in music, and many other methods of teaching music in use to this very day.
--*"Monk Started Guido Scale 900 Years Ago in Italy," The Reading Eagle, November 14, 1965



Origin

Solmization comes from French solmization, a derivative of solmiser “to (sing) sol-fa.” The system of solmization is attributed to Guido of Arezzo (c995-1049), a Benedictine monk from Arezzo, Tuscany, who also invented the staff notation used in Western music. Solmization entered English in the 18th century.

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ARMISTICE noun (ahr-muh-stis)

noun
1. a temporary suspension of hostilities by agreement of the warring parties; truce: World War I ended with the armistice of 1918.


Quotes

On November 6, Berlin dispatched envoys to carry an armistice proposal to Supreme Allied Commander Marshal Ferdinand Foch.
--*David M. Kennedy,*Over Here: The First World War and American Society, 1980


The armistice is coming soon, I believe it now too. Then we will go home.
--*Erich Maria Remarque,*All Quiet on the Western Front, translated by A. W. Wheen, 1929



Origin

Armistice comes via French from Latin armistitium, from Latin arma “tools, weapons, arms” and the element -stitium “a stop, stopping,” which appears also in solstice (from Latin solstitium “stopping of the sun”). Armistice first appears in the 17th century.

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VALOROUS adjective (val-er-uhs)

adjective
1. having valor; courageous; valiant; brave.
2. characterized by valor: valorous deeds.


Quotes

He praised his soldiers for their valorous devotion ...
--*Stephen Harrigan,*The Gates of the Alamo, 2000


Because I am valorous, chivalrous, generous, and handsome as the day is long!
--*Susanna Clarke,*Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, 2004



Origin

Valorous comes from Late Latin valor “worth, honor,” a derivative of valēre “to be powerful.” The Latin noun comes from the Proto-Indo-European root wal-, which also appears in Tocharian B walo “king” (Tocharian A and B were spoken in the Tarim Basin, now part of Xinjiang Uygur, China, and died out about 1100 a.d.). The extended form wald- “strong, be strong” underlies English wield and the proper name Oswald (from os “god” and weald “power”). In Slavic wald- appears in the Polish personal name Włodzimierz, Old Russian Volodimĕr “(having) great power, famous.” Modern Russian Vladimir is based on Old Church Slavonic Vladiměrŭ. Valorous entered English in the 15th century.

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SEQUACIOUS adjective (si-kwey-shuhs)

adjective
1. Archaic. following, imitating, or serving another person, especially unreasoningly.
2. following with smooth or logical regularity.


Quotes

In a world peopled with limp critics and sequacious art historians the ruthlessness with which he used the battering ram of talent invariably earned my admiration and almost invariably my support.
--*Grace Glueck,*"The Pope of the Art World," New York Times, May 26, 1991


Those superstitious horrors that enslave / The fond sequacious herd, to mystic faith ...
--*James Thompson,*Summer, 1727



Origin

The adjective sequacious comes from Latin sequac-, stem of sequāx “following closely or eagerly, disposed to be a follower, (of materials) responsive to manipulation or control, pliant” (sequāx lacks the sense “following smoothly or logically”). Sequāx is formed from the verb sequī “to follow” and the adjective suffix -āx (inflectional stem -āc-). Sequī is a Latin formation from the very widespread Proto-Indo-European root sekw-, sokw- “to follow,” which appears in Sanskrit, Greek and the Celtic and Germanic languages. Other Latin derivatives of sekw-, sokw- include the noun socius “follower, partner, ally” (from sokwyos) with its derivative adjective sociālis, source of English social. In Germanic, sokwyos becomes sagjaz “follower, retainer, warrior,” becoming in Old English secg, a noun used only in poetry. Sequacious entered English in the 17th century.

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CATASTROPHIZE verb (kuh-tas-truh-fahyz)

verb
1. to view or talk about (an event or situation) as worse than it actually is, or as if it were a catastrophe: Stop catastrophizing and get on with your life! She tends to catastrophize her symptoms.


Quotes

I was inspired to catastrophize by my father, who believed that "90 percent of the things we worry about never come to pass." He added cheerily that it was the other 10 percent, coming out of nowhere, that usually did us in.
--*Pat Snyder,*"De-stress with a sigh of relief," Tri-Village News, August 18, 2004


Today's news media will "catastrophize" anything they can.
--*Ben Stein,*"Avoid the Craziness at No One Gets Hurt," New York Times, August 26, 2007



Origin

The verb catastrophize, used mostly in psychology and psychotherapy, is formed from the Greek noun katastrophḗ “overturning, subjugation, conclusion, denouement,” and the Greek verb-forming suffix -ízein that was adopted into Latin as -īzāre and has become thoroughly naturalized in English. Catastrophize entered English in the 20th century.

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VOLUPTUARY noun (vuh-luhp-choo-er-ee)

noun
1. a person whose life is devoted to the pursuit and enjoyment of luxury and sensual pleasure.

adjective
1. of, relating to, or characterized by preoccupation with luxury and sensual pleasure: voluptuary tastes.


Quotes

Hartmann, a voluptuary, lowered a spoonful of brown sugar crystals into his coffee cup, then placed a square of bitter chocolate on his tongue, and, while it was dissolving, lit his first cigarette. The ensuing mélange of tastes and aromas pleased him profoundly ...
--*Anita Brookner,*Latecomers, 1988


Quin is a real voluptuary in the articles of eating and drinking, and so confirmed an epicure, in the common acceptation of the term, that he cannot put up with ordinary fare.
--*Tobias Smollett,*The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, 1771



Origin

The adjective and noun voluptuary comes via French voluptuaire from Late Latin voluptuārius from Latin voluptārius, an adjective derived from voluptās “agreeable sensation, pleasure, delight.” The second u in voluptuārius probably comes from association with the Latin adjective and noun sumptuārius “pertaining to monetary expenses (especially sumptuary laws); a servant in of charge domestic expenses.” Voluptuary entered English in the 17th century.