Word Of The Day

SCIENTER noun (sahy-en-ter)

noun
1. a mental state in which one has knowledge that one’s action, statement, etc., is wrong, deceptive, or illegal: often used as a standard of guilt: The court found that the company had the requisite scienter for securities fraud.

adverb
1. knowingly or deliberately: His wife’s statements were made scienter.


Quotes

Now, there is absolutely nothing in this case to prove that he had any guilty knowledge to the effect that his account was too low to meet the draft in question. You have proven no scienter whatever.
--*Arthur Cheney Train,*The Confessions of Artemas Quibble, 1911


Lawyers say that Stewart's insider-trading case will come down to a question of scienter. Did she know she was doing something wrong when she sold her ImClone stock?
--*Andrew Feinberg,*"Are You Guilty of Insider Trading?" Kiplinger's Personal Finance, January 2004



Origin

In English scienter is both a noun and an adverb used in the law; in Latin scienter is an adverb only and is not restricted to legal usage. Latin scienter “skillfully, expertly; knowingly, consciously” breaks down to scien(t)-, the inflectional stem of the present participle sciēns from the verb scīre “to know, know how to” (scientia “knowledge, science” is a derivative of scient-), and the Latin adverbial suffix -ter, which is regularly used with adjectives and participles whose inflectional stem ends in -nt- (the t of the -nt- is dropped). Scienter entered English in the 17th century.

CONURBATION noun (kon-er-bey-shuhn)

noun
1. an extensive urban area resulting from the expansion of several cities or towns so that they coalesce but usually retain their separate identities.


Quotes

By 1984, there may well be several giant urban conurbations in the world which will make the present Greater Tokyo, New York and London look rather puny.
--*Ruth Glass,*"Cities in 1984: Stability and Strife," New Scientist, July 16, 1964


Then the conurbation spread and Hallowgate became part of the North Tyneside sprawl.
--*Ann Cleeves,*Killjoy, 1993



Origin

Conurbation is a coinage of Sir Patrick Geddes (1854-1932), Scottish sociologist and city planner. The formation of conurbation is simple enough: the Latin prefix con-, a form of the prefix and preposition cum-, cum “with, together with,” urb-, the stem of urbs “city, capital city, large town; the City, i.e., Rome” (unfortunately urbs has no known etymology), and the common noun suffix -ation. Conurbation entered English in 1915.

SHUNPIKE noun (shuhn-pahyk)

noun
1. a side road taken instead of a turnpike or expressway to avoid tolls or to travel at a leisurely pace.

verb
1. to drive on a shunpike.


Quotes

... she proposed to Mr. Morris that he should take the shunpike for a change.
--*Frank R. Stockton,*The Captain's Toll-Gate, 1903


“Shunpiking is real,” he said, using an old term for avoiding toll roads.
--*Phil Patton,*"The Virtues of Avoiding Interstates," New York Times, August 5, 2007



Origin

Shunpike is a blend of the verb shun and the noun (turn)pike. The word was originally an Americanism and dates from the mid-19th century.

GALLINACEOUS adjective (gal-uh-ney-shuhs)

adjective
1. belonging or pertaining to the order Galliformes, comprising medium-sized, mainly ground-feeding domestic or game birds, as the chicken, turkey, grouse, pheasant, and partridge.
2. pertaining to or resembling the domestic fowls.


Quotes

Yea, verily, there is much to inspire gratitude on this holiday centered on a gallinaceous bird with alarmingly hypertrophied breasts.
--*Glen Martin,*“The Science of Holiday Happiness: Why Gratitude Really is Good for You,” California Magazine, November 24, 2014


In the sand I saw tracks of a large, gallinaceous bird -- a sage grouse or chukar.
--*Denise Firestone,*"Haven for Antelope and Hikers," New York Times, August 7, 1994



Origin

The adjective gallinaceous comes straight from the Latin adjective gallīnāceus, a derivative of gallīna “hen,” itself a derivative of the noun gallus “rooster, cock.” Further etymology is uncertain: gallus may come from the Proto-Indo-European root gal- “to call, cry.” If so, gallus (from unattested galsos) means “shouter, crier” and is related to Lithuanian galsas “echo,” Polish głos “voice,” and English call (via Old Norse kall). Gallinaceous entered English in the 18th century.

SIPPET noun (sip-it)

noun
1. a small piece of bread or the like for dipping in liquid food, as in gravy or milk; a small sop.
2. a small bit; fragment.
3. a crouton.


Quotes

With dinner almost over, the broken meats of the second course not yet removed, Anne pulls a silver dish towards her, and helps herself to a sippet. It is her favourite way to end a meal ...
--*Joanne Limburg,*A Want of Kindness, 2015


... my sister Theodosia made her appearance ... kissed our father, and sat down at his side, and took a sippet of toast ... and dipped it in his negus.
--*William Makepeace Thackeray,*The Virginians, 1859



Origin

The very uncommon noun sippet is a diminutive of sop “a piece of solid food, as bread, for dipping in liquid food” and the diminutive suffix -et, influenced by sip. Sippet entered English in the 16th century.

CORNUCOPIA noun (kawr-nuh-koh-pee-uh)

noun
1. an abundant, overflowing supply.
2. Classical Mythology. a horn containing food, drink, etc., in endless supply, said to have been a horn of the goat Amalthaea.
3. a representation of this horn, used as a symbol of abundance.
4. a horn-shaped or conical receptacle or ornament.


Quotes

There were jars everywhere, a cornucopia of jars, and in the jars various dried herbs and potions ...
--*T. Coraghessan Boyle,*The Women, 2009


It is a real cornucopia of joy and merriment.
--*François Rabelais,*Gargantua and Pantagruel: The Third Book, 1546



Origin

Cornucopia is a Late Latin formation, a combination of the Latin noun phrase cornū cōpiae “horn of plenty.” Cornūcōpia was coined by the late Imperial historian Ammianus Marcellinus (c 325 a.d.-c398 a.d.), a Greek probably born in Syria or Phoenicia who learned his Latin in the army. Cornū comes from the very complicated Proto-Indo-European root ker-, kor-, krā-, kŗ- (and other variants and their extensions) “head, horn.” English horn is a close relation of Latin cornū. KrānÃ*on “skull, cranium” is one of the many Greek derivatives of the root. Cōpia is a derivative of the rare adjective cōpis (or cops) “well supplied, abundant.” Cornūcōpia entered English in the 16th century.

THANKSGIVER noun

noun
1. a person who gives thanks.


Quotes

I am a Thanksgiver. I have a generous and grateful nature. I also have a splendid appetite.
--*"A Confession," Caricature: Wit and Humor of a Nation in Picture, Song and Story, 1908


Wherefore we find (our never-to-be-forgotten) example, the devout thanksgiver, David, continually declaring the great price he set upon the divine favours ...
--*Isaac Barrow (1630–1677),*"Sermon VIII: Of the Duty of Thanksgiving," The Theological Works of Isaac Barrow, 1830



Origin

Thanksgiver entered English in the early 1600s.

DOORBUSTER noun (dawr-buhs-ter)

noun
1. Informal. a retail item that is heavily discounted for a very limited time in order to draw customers to the store. b. the price of such an item.
2. a device used to forcibly open a door.
3. a person who breaks into a place by force.


Quotes

At night, they slept in sleeping bags and hammocks as they prepared for the year's biggest competition: beating their neighbors to discounted doorbusters.
--*Abha Bhattarai,*"The Black Friday frenzy officially begins today. But many say the thrill is gone." Washington Post, November 23, 2017


Stores run “doorbuster” sales on the day after Thanksgiving, offering huge markdowns for a few hours, or “one-day sales” every day, because fostering a sense of time pressure, however artificial, makes shoppers more willing to buy.
--*James Surowiecki,*"A Buyer's Christmas," The New Yorker, December 24, 2007



Origin

Doorbuster originally (in the 1890s) meant “one who breaks into or forces his way into a room or building.” By the first part of the 20th century, doorbuster also meant “a retail item heavily discounted for a short time to attract customers,” and towards the end of the 20th century, a doorbuster meant “a tool or device to force doors open.” The words bust and buster arose in the mid-17th century as regional or colloquial pronunciations of burst and burster, as also happened with curse and cuss, arse and ass, and parcel and passel.

WAGGISH adjective (wag-ish)

adjective
1. roguish in merriment and good humor; jocular; like a wag: Fielding and Sterne are waggish writers.
2. characteristic of or befitting a wag: waggish humor.


Quotes

He was always ready for either a fight or a frolic; but had more mischief than ill will in his composition, and, with all his overbearing roughness, there was a strong dash of waggish good humor at the bottom.
--*Washington Irving,*The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, 1820


They had recognized the goodness of his heart, the charm of his glance, his waggish temperament.
--*Fred Chappell,*Look Back All the Green Valley, 1999



Origin

The origin of waggish is uncertain. It was first recorded in 1580–90.

SERRY verb (ser-ee)

verb
1. Archaic. to crowd closely together.


Quotes

"Serry your ranks, there," said the Major amiably as they edged past.
--*Edmund Crispin,*The Glimpses of the Moon, 1977


Fish laid to serry like roofing tiles, glinting in their own oils.
--*Gregory Maguire,*Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, 1999



Origin

The uncommon verb serry has always had a military sense “to press close together in ranks.” Serry comes from French serré, the past participle of serrer “to press together, crowd.” French serrer comes from Italian serrare “to close ranks,” from Vulgar Latin serrāre, from Latin serāre, “to lock, bolt.” Serry entered English in the 16th century.