Word Of The Day

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SABULOUS adjective (sab-yuh-luhs)

adjective
1. sandy; gritty.


Quotes

But clearly the beach is also a stage, a studio, indeed an arena, sabulous or otherwise, at the heart of the culture.
--*Peter D. Osborne,*Travelling light, 2000


The plants rose from the stones like a conjurer's trick, working roots down into hidden pockets of sabulous soil ...
--*Olivia Laing,*To the River, 2011



Origin

The English adjective sabulous is a clear-cut borrowing from Latin sabulōsus ”gravelly, sandy,” a derivative of sabulum “coarse sand, gravel.” Sabulum comes from an assumed Italic psaflom. (Italic is the branch of the Indo-European language family that includes Latin, Oscan, Umbrian, and the modern Romance languages.) Psaflom comes from the same Proto-Indo-European root bhes- “to rub” as Greek psêphos “pebble” and Germanic sandam (Old English and English sand, German Sand). Sabulous entered English in the 17h century.

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INFOMANIA noun (in-fuh-mey-nee-uh)

noun


Digital Technology. a. an obsessive need to constantly check emails, social media websites, online news, etc.: The fear of being out of the loop, not in the know, fuels infomania, especially among *****. b. the effects of this obsession, especially a decline in the ability to concentrate: She attributes her increasingly poor “life management skills” to infomania.
excessive enthusiasm for acquiring knowledge.
Citations


The Bagus Gran Cyber Cafés are Tokyo's grand temples of infomania. ... At first glance the spread looks officelike, but be warned: these places are drug dens for Internet addicts.
-- Virginia Heffernan, "In Tokyo, the New Trend Is 'Media Immersion Pods'," New York Times , May 14, 2006


Since then, he has led the charge at Intel to deal with " infomania ," which he describes as a debilitating state of mental overload--caused by backlogs of e-mail, plus interruptions such as e-mail notifications, cell phones and instant messages.
-- Stephanie Overby, "A Cure for Infomania," CIO , July 1, 2007

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OCELLATED adjective (os-uh-ley-tid)

adjective
1. having eyelike spots or markings.
2. (of a spot or marking) eyelike.


Quotes
... Méline's nose and eyes are such that you would swear you were looking at an ocellated butterfly, perching on a rosebud.
--*Éric Chevillard,*On the Ceiling, translated by Jordan Stump, 2000


Fantasia was quick to push close the door behind them, although when doing so momentarily trapped the end of the cockbird's ocellated or 'eyed' tail-feathers which, as a consequence, gave the signal for pandemonium to break loose.
--*Jeremy Mallinson,*The Count's Cats, 2004



Origin

The English adjective ocellated is a derivative of the Latin noun ocellus “(little) eye,” a diminutive of oculus “eye.” Ocellus is used especially in affectionate language, equivalent to “apple of my eye” or “darling.” As a horticultural term, ocellus means “incision made in the bark for inserting a bud or scion.” The only modern sense of ocellus does not occur in Latin; it is a zoological term meaning “simple eye or light-sensitive organ; a colored spot on birds’ feathers or butterflies” and dates from the 18th century.

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SUBORN verb (suh-bawrn)

verb
1. to bribe or induce (someone) unlawfully or secretly to perform some misdeed or to commit a crime.
2. Law. a. to induce (a person, especially a witness) to give false testimony. b. to obtain (false testimony) from a witness.


Quotes

... he had been concerned “because of known Russian efforts to suborn such individuals.”
--*Elizabeth Olson,*"Former C.I.A. Chief John Brennan to Become a Fellow at Fordham," New York Times, September 4, 2017


... I had been brought in as a spy, to help in betraying him, and Joyce had suborned him to the act of treachery.
--*Bram Stoker,*The Snake's Pass, 1890



Origin

The Latin verb subornāre, the ultimate source of English suborn, is composed of the prefix sub- “under, subordinate, near to, partially, secretly” and the verb ornāre “to prepare, equip, arrange.” Ornāre is from an assumed ordnāre, a derivative of the noun ordō (stem ordin-) “line, row, rank, grade.” Subornāre has several meanings: when the sense of the verb ornāre predominates, the compound means “to supply, furnish; to dress up (in costume or disguise); when the sense of the prefix sub-, meaning “secretly, covertly,” predominates, the compound means “to instigate secretly or underhandedly, prepare clandestinely.” An extension of this last sense, “to induce someone to commit a crime or perjury,” from suborner in Old and Middle French, is its current sense in English. Suborn entered English in the 16th century.

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HYPOCORISM noun (hahy-pok-uh-riz-uhm)

noun
1. a pet name.
2. the practice of using a pet name.
3. the use of forms of speech imitative of baby talk, especially by an adult.


Quotes

Powsoddy, a now obsolete name for a pudding, was also used as a hypocorism in the late sixteenth century, paralleling the affectionate use of the word pudding itself in our own century, though lovers usually alter the pronunciation to puddin.
--*Mark Morton,*The Lover's Tongue, 2003


The addition of diminutive or familiar prefixes and suffixes to the name of a saint to produce a 'pet name' or hypocorism, is common in the Celtic areas ...
--*Karen Jankulak,*The Medieval Cult of St Petroc, 2000



Origin

The very rare English noun hypocorism comes from the equally rare Latin noun hypocorisma “a diminutive (word),” a direct borrowing of Greek hypokórisma “pet name, endearing name; diminutive (word),” a derivative of the verb hypokorÃ*zesthai “to play the child, call by an endearing name.” HypokorÃ*zesthai is a compound formed from the prefix hypo-, here meaning “slightly, somewhat,” and korÃ*zesthai “to caress, fondle.” The root of korÃ*zesthai is the noun kórē “girl, maiden” or kóros “boy, youth.” The Greek nouns are from the same Proto-Indo-European root ker- “to grow” as the Latin Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, and its derivative adjective cereālis “pertaining to Ceres,” the source of English cereal. Hypocorism entered English in the 19th century.

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CORDILLERA noun (kawr-dl-yair-uh)

noun
1. a chain of mountains, usually the principal mountain system or mountain axis of a large landmass.


Quotes

In the Western Hemisphere, the term Cordillera was first applied to the Cordillera de los Andes or Andes Mountains, which form a compact and continuous bundle of ranges along the western side of South America.
--*Philip Burke King,*Evolution of North America, 1959


The dawn breaks high behind the towering and serrated wall of the Cordillera, a clear-cut vision of dark peaks rearing their steep slopes on a lofty pedestal of forest rising from the very edge of the shore.
--*Joseph Conrad,*Nostromo, 1904



Origin

The English noun cordillera is a borrowing of Spanish cordillera “chain or ridge of mountains.” The Spanish noun is a diminutive of cuerda “rope, string,” from Latin chorda “chord, cord, intestine (as food)” itself a borrowing of Greek chordḗ “guts, sausage, string (of rope or of a lyre).” Cordillera originally applied to the Andes Mountains and later to the same mountain chain in Central America and Mexico. Cordillera entered English in the early 18th century.

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TRUTHINESS noun (troo-thee-nis)

noun
1. the quality of seeming to be true according to one's intuition, opinion, or perception without regard to logic, factual evidence, or the like: the growing trend of truthiness as opposed to truth.
2. Rare. truthfulness or faithfulness.


Quotes

Truthiness is "truth that comes from the gut, not books," Colbert said in 2005.
--*Katy Waldman,*"The Science of Truthiness," Slate, September 3, 2014


A Rovian political strategy by definition means all slime, all the time. But the more crucial Rove game plan is to envelop the entire presidential race in a thick fog of truthiness.
--*Frank Rich,*"Truthiness Stages a Comeback," New York Times, September 20, 2008



Origin

Truthiness in the 19th century meant “truthfulness, veracity”; this sense is rare nowadays. Its current sense, “the quality of seeming to be true according to one's opinion without regard to fact,” was invented by the comedian Stephen Colbert in 2005.

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MINNIE noun (min-ee)

noun
1. Scot. and North England Informal. mother; mom.


Quotes

Whare are you gaun, my bonnie lass, Whare are you gaun, my hinnie? She answered me right saucilie, "An errand for my minnie."
--*Robert Burns,*"A Waukrife Minnie," 1789


... come and wake my minnie to me, for I canna ...
--*S. R. Crockett,*Deep Moat Grange, 1908



Origin

The noun minnie is probably baby talk for northern English and Scottish mither “mother” or for mummy (mommy). Minnie is used in northern England and Scotland to mean “(one’s) mother.” Minnie entered English in the 17th century.

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LOLLAPALOOZA noun (lol-uh-puh-loo-zuh)

noun
1. Slang. an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.


Quotes

Miss Jeynes, that dance was a real lollapalooza.
--*Suzanne North,*Flying Time, 2014


There will be a storm this evening, bet on it. It will be a lollapalooza.
--*Roger Rosenblatt,*Lapham Rising, 2006



Origin

Lollapalooza is an American word of unknown but fanciful origin, used by comic writers and humorists such as S.J. Perelman (1904-79) and P.G. Wodehouse (1881-1975). Lollapalooza entered English in the early 20th century.

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TEMPUS FUGIT Latin (tem,-poos foo-git)

1. Latin. time flies.


Quotes

Well, tempus fugit; let us be going. We have just an hour to reach our dining-hall.
--*Ruth McEnery Stuart,*"Two Gentlemen of Leisure," Moriah's Mourning, 1898


"Thank you! Thank you!" you call to the woman, "but tempus fugit and to be honest, it's fugiting rather quickly for me at the moment ..."
--*Herbie Brennan,*RomanQuest, 2011



Origin

One cannot get more classical than tempus fugit “time flies,” a phrase that occurs in the Georgics, a poem about farming and country life published around 29 b.c. by the Roman poet Vergil (70-19 b.c.). Tempus fugit entered English in the late 18th century.