Word Of The Day

[Altobelli]

HARRUMPH verb (huh-ruhmf)

verb

1. to clear the throat audibly in a self-important manner: The professor harrumphed good-naturedly.
2. to express oneself gruffly.


Quotes

He harrumphed and wheezed, tugged on a greying whisker, cast his gaze around my tiny cabin for another topic.
--*Ronald Wright,*Henderson's Spear, 2001

He studied me with a cold policeman's eye. I resorted once again to my mumbling tactics. He harrumphed and we both went our ways.
--*Ted Reynolds,*"Furtive Free Ride," Life, February 7, 1964



Origin

Harrumph was first recorded in the 1930s. It is imitative of the sound made by clearing the throat.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

GAZUMPED

As in Burnley gazump Boro for Assombalonga!

[Altobelli]

GAZUMPED

As in Burnley gazump Boro for Assombalonga!

Oh I do hope so without too much being paid over the top BT.

[Altobelli]

FETE noun (feyt, fet)

noun

1. a festive celebration or entertainment: The ball was the greatest fete of the season.
2. a day of celebration; holiday: The Fourth of July is a great American fete.
3. a religious feast or festival: a fete lasting several days in honor of a saint.
verb

1. to entertain at or honor with a fete: to fete a visiting celebrity.


Quotes

" ... I've been so bored. Well, never mind," she brightened suddenly; "the fete will be a little excitement. I am looking forward to that.
--*Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey,*The Lady of the Basement Flat, 1917

The fete was magnificent. They kept it up the whole night long, and I never enjoyed myself better than I did while it lasted.
--*Mark Twain,*The Innocents Abroad, 1869



Origin

English fete comes from French fête, which comes from Old French feste “feast.” The Old French form makes obvious the connection with Spanish fiesta and Italian festa. The Romance forms come from Latin festum (plural festa) “holiday, festival, feast.” Latin festum is related to the Latin noun fēriae (Old Latin fēsiae) “days of rest, holidays,” from which comes the English noun fair (an exposition, as of livestock; an exhibition or sale of items for charity, as at a church). Fete entered English in the mid-18th century.

[Altobelli]

UPTALK noun (uhp-tawk)

noun

1. a rise in pitch at the end usually of a declarative sentence, especially if habitual: often represented in writing by a question mark as in Hi, I'm here to read the meter?


Quotes

Uptalk, the researchers found, could also serve a strategic purpose through a technique known as "floor-holding," in which the speaker, anticipating an interruption by the listener, tries to stave it off by using a rising tone at the end of a statement.
--*Jan Hoffman,*"Overturning the Myth of Valley Girl Speak," New York Times, December 23, 2013

The young woman met his eye and said, "You've traveled a lot in the Middle East." Her "lot" was glottal, the statement intoned as a question. What linguists called uptalk, so he had recently learned.
--*Ian McEwan,*Solar, 2010



Origin

Uptalk is a linguistic term for an intonation pattern in which a declarative sentence ends in a rising pitch like a question. The phenomenon was first noted especially among teenage girls and young women, though it is used among the general population. Uptalk entered English in the early 1990s.

[outwoodclaret]

SHENANIGANS

A load of mischief! And if this involves making mischief for Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest I am all for it!

[The Bedlington Terrier]

SHENANIGANS

A load of mischief! And if this involves making mischief for Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest I am all for it!

Burnley are now clear favourites to sign Assombalonga, with Darikwa heading off to Nottingham in a part exchange deal and Middlesbrough are relegated to third favourites behind us and Watford.

[Altobelli]

Hopefully the favourites get him.........

[Altobelli]

ALVEOLATE adjective (al-vee-uh-lit)

adjective

1. having alveoli; deeply pitted, as a honeycomb.


Quotes

Receptacle alveolate or honeycombed, edge of the cells membranous, with fine bristle-like teeth, gradually higher as the depth of the cells diminishes towards the centre.
--*The Botanical Register: Consisting of Coloured Figures of Exotic Plants, Cultivated in British Gardens; with Their History and Mode of Treatment, Volume II, 1816

Dorothea's house, bought with a small legacy when she was thirty-one, was made of an alveolate gray stone ...
--*Joyce Carol Oates writing as Rosamond Smith,*Soul/Mate, 1989



Origin

Alveolate is a derivative of the Latin noun alveus “hollow, cavity,” and by extension “hull or hold of a ship, bathtub.” Alveus comes from alwo-, a variant, metathesized form of the Proto-Indo-European root aulo- “cavity,” from which Greek derives the noun aulós “tube, flute.” Alveolate entered English in the late 18th century.

[Altobelli]

EXCULPATORY adjective (ik-skuhl-puh-yawr-ee)

adjective

1. tending to clear from a charge of fault or guilt.


Quotes

Stacy is now morbidly fascinated by the circumstances of the tape and wondering if this could somehow be exculpatory in Lloyd's case.
--*Seth Greenland,*The Bones, 2005

Prosecutors’ offices should adopt a standard “open file” policy, which would involve turning over all exculpatory evidence as a rule, thus reducing the potential for error.
--*The Editorial Board,*"Rampant Prosecutorial Misconduct," New York Times, January 4, 2014



Origin

Exculpatory was first recorded in the 1770s. It derives from Latin exculpātus “freed from blame.”