Word Of The Day

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MORIBUND adjective (mawr-uh-buhnd)


adjective

1. in a dying state; near death.
2. on the verge of extinction or termination.
3. not progressing or advancing; stagnant: a moribund political party.


Quotes

The moribund hermit's rage and fear, swelling to grotesque proportions, seemed likely to shatter what remained of his failing physique ...
--*H. P. Lovecraft,*"Cool Air," Tales of Magic and Mystery, March 1928

"... You should get a dictionary and learn the proper words....It's easy if you really try. You could say that a man was 'dying,' or 'moribund,' if you like."
--*Arthur Conan Doyle,*"Bones, the April Fool of Harvey's Sluice," London Society, April 1882



Origin

The Latin adjective moribundus “about to die, dying,” is a derivative of the Latin (and Proto-Indo-European) root mer- (and its variants) “to die,” appearing in Sanskrit marati “he dies,” Greek émorten “he died,” Baltic (Lithuanian) mir̃sti “to die,” and Hittite mert “he died.” Moribund entered English in the 18th century.

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INTRAPERSONAL adjective (in-truh-pur-suh-nil)

adjective

1. existing or occurring within the self or within one's mind: People with high intrapersonal intelligence are aware of their strengths and weaknesses. Intrapersonal conflict can lead to emotional stress.


Quotes

Besides the physical and musical varieties, Gardner has defined six other types of intelligences: spatial (visual), interpersonal (the ability to understand others), intrapersonal (the ability to understand oneself), naturalist (the ability to recognize fine distinctions and patterns in the natural world) and, finally--the ones we worked so hard on in school--logical and linguistic.
--*Christopher Koch,*"The Bright Stuff," CIO, March 15, 1996

The final product works as both an interpersonal drama, creating a harrowing conflict between four believable characters, and an intrapersonal drama, dramatizing the internal debate a person goes through when faced with a traumatic situation.
--*Matt Bird,*The Secrets of Story, 2016



Origin

The prefix intra- is clearly from the Latin adverb and preposition intrā “on the inside, within.” In classical Latin intrā- as a prefix does not occur; such usage arose in Late Latin but became common only in modern times in the formation of biological and other scientific terms. The Latin noun persōna is obscure. Persōna originally meant “(actor’s) mask,” and by extension, “character, part.” Gabius Bassus, a Roman grammarian of the first century b.c., derived persōna from personāre “to sound through” (but persōna has a long -ō-, and personāre a short -o-). It is more likely that Latin persōna is a borrowing from the Etruscan noun φersu or phersu “(actor’s) mask,” borrowed from Greek prósōpon “face, countenance, mask.” Intrapersonal entered English in the early 20th century.

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PESTIFEROUS adjective (pe-stif-er-uh s)

adjective

1. bringing or bearing disease.
2. pestilential.
3. pernicious; evil.
4. Informal. mischievous; troublesome or annoying.


Quotes

So when in that Stinksmeech Mission he breathed pestiferous air and drank pestiferous water, he was finished up. They've got typhus down there ...
--*Charlotte Mary Yonge,*The Long Vacation, 1895

I have already told you that what I want to speak about is the great discovery I have made lately--the discovery that all the sources of our moral life are poisoned and that the whole fabric of our civic community is founded on the pestiferous soil of falsehood.
--*Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906),*An Enemy of the People, translated by R. Farquharson Sharp, 1911



Origin

Pest nowadays usually refers to a smaller sibling who won’t leave you in peace. In Latin, however, pestis, a noun of uncertain origin, means an infectious deadly disease and, by extension, ruin, destruction, death. The Latin combining form -ferus (-ferous in English) is a derivation of the verb ferre “to carry, bear.” The Latin root fer- derives from the very widespread Proto-Indo-European root bher- “to carry, bear” and appears in Greek phérein “to carry,” Sanskrit bhárati “he carries,” and Slavic (Czech) beru “I take.” Pestiferous entered English in the 15th century.

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JAWBREAKER noun (jaw-brey-ker)

noun

1. Informal. a word that is hard to pronounce.
2. a very hard, usually round, candy.
3. Also called jaw crusher. Mining. a machine used to break up ore, consisting of a fixed plate and a hinged jaw moved by a toggle joint.


Quotes

Nor you cannot say, 'Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychyndrobwlantysiligogog och!'--You try? I say it slowly--" Though Howell had repeated the jaw-breaker twenty times, John Willie Garden would still have maintained the silence of defence.
--*Oliver Onions,*Mushroom Town, 1914


Even that word she couldn't say--suppose it was a jawbreaker like "discorporated" or "discorporeal," so what?
--*Stephen King,*Pet Sematary, 1983



Origin

Jawbreaker was first recorded in the 1830s. It’s a blend of the words jaw and breaker

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MEALY-MOUTHED adjective (mee-lee-moutht)

adjective

1. avoiding the use of direct and plain language, as from timidity, excessive delicacy, or hypocrisy; inclined to mince words; insincere, devious, or compromising.


Quotes

He is trying to restrict his social life, because he finds it difficult now to be even normally courteous to the self-satisfied, the place-seekers, the mealy-mouthed--and that is a fair description of polite society in Arras.
--*Hilary Mantel,*A Place of Greater Safety, 1992

Mealy-mouthed may be the worst adjective one can apply to a critic, but I think the only fair answer to this question is “both.”
--*Thomas Mallon,*"Should Critics Aim to be Open-Minded or to Pass Judgment?" New York Times, August 29, 2017



Origin

The earliest written occurrence of a form of mealy-mouthed is mealmouth (1546); mealmouthed and mealy-mouthed (also mealymouthed) appear in 1570 and 1571, respectively. German has a similar expression about avoiding direct language, Mehl im Maule behalten “to keep meal in one’s mouth,” used by the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546).

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GORGONIZE verb (gawr-guh-nahyz)

verb

1. to affect as a Gorgon; hypnotize; petrify.


Quotes

He says people who travel--young people especially--ought to be in time, and not disturb folks who are punctual--a sentiment in such strict accord with the views of the rest of the company, that they give a murmur of approval, and Gorgonize me for the next twenty miles or so with a petrifying equanimity.
--*Frank Fowler,*Dottings of a Lounger, 1859


Dropping into chairs, they will sit puffing away and trying to gorgonize the President with their silent stares until their boorish curiosity is fully satisfied.
--*Henry Villard,*November 17, 1860 dispatch in the New York Herald, "Here I have lived"; a history of Lincoln's Springfield, 1821-1865, by Paul M. Angle, 1935



Origin

Latin Gorgō (stem Gorgon-) is the immediate source of gorgonize. Gorgō is a direct borrowing from Greek Gorgṓ (one of whose stems is Gorgón-), a clear derivative of the adjective gorgós “terrible, dreadful.” The very productive English verb suffix -ize comes from Late Latin -izāre, from Greek -izein, as in Greek baptÃ*zein “to dip, plunge,” borrowed into Christian Latin as baptizāre “to baptize,” whence English baptize. Gorgonize entered English in the 17th century.

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NOCENT adjective (noh-suh nt)

adjective

1. harmful; injurious.
2. Archaic. guilty.


Quotes

Not yet in horrid shade or dismal den, / Nor nocent yet, but on the grassy herb / Fearless unfeared he slept.
--*John Milton,*Paradise Lost, 1667

He divides his treatise into 'bad and nocent books; bad books, but not nocent; books not bad, but nocent; books neither bad nor nocent.'
--*Isaac Disraeli,*Curiosities of Literature, Volume III, 1824



Origin

Nocent derives from Latin nocent-, the stem of nocēns, present participle of nocēre “to harm.” The widespread Proto-Indo-European root nek-, nok- underlies Latin nocēre and its derivatives noxa, noxia “harm, injury,” and the adjective noxius “harmful, noxious.” From the variant nek- Latin derives nex (stem nec-) “death, violent death, murder,” the root of the adjectives internecīnus and perniciōsus “ruinous, deadly, pernicious.” From nek- Greek derives nekrós “corpse, dead body,” and the source of the first element of necromancy (communication with the dead), necrophilia (***ual attraction to a corpse), and nectar (Greek néktar), the (red) drink of the Olympian gods, literally “overcoming death.” Nocent entered English in the 15th century.

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PERLOCUTIONARY adjective (pur-luh-kyoo-shuh-ner-ee)

adjective

1. Philosophy, Linguistics. (of a speech act) producing an effect upon the listener, as in persuading, frightening, amusing, or causing the listener to act.


Quotes

We can similarly distinguish the locutionary act 'he said that ...' from the illocutionary act 'he argued that ...' and the perlocutionary act 'he convinced me that ...'
--*J. L. Austin,*How to Do Things with Words, 1962

Artificial intelligence has left the orbit of computer science, and even science fiction, and become an abstract talking point. When people make use of it, especially powerful actors like Musk and Zuckerberg, it serves a perlocutionary function: as personal branding.
--*Ian Bogost,*"Why Zuckerberg and Musk Are Fighting About the Robot Future," The Atlantic, July 27, 2017



Origin

The noun perlocution has been in English since the end of the 16th century, originally meaning the act of speaking. The base of the word is the noun locution, which comes from Latin locūtiōn-, stem of the noun locūtiō “speech, speaking, discourse,” a derivative of the verb loquī “to speak.” The noun perlocūtiō does not exist in Latin; it is a very recent word, used in linguistics, formed with the Latin prefix (as a preposition, per means "through") per-, meaning “through, complete,” as in “pervade (to pass through), or perfect (brought to completion).” Perlocutionary entered English in the 20th century.

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DUCKY adjective (duhk-ee)

adjective

1. Informal. fine; excellent; wonderful.
2. Informal. darling; charming; cute.


Quotes

If you are looking for laughs you will find this one ducky ... !
--*Chick Coombs,*"Movies of the Month," Boys' Life, October 1961

It's a ducky place!
--*Hazel B. Stevens,*"Misfits," American Cookery, Volume XXIII, June–July 1918 to May 1919



Origin

Duck, as a term of endearment for a person, occurs as early as Shakespeare (1600). By the early 19th century in British English, duck applied to things, too, as “a duck of a bonnet (i.e., a cute bonnet).” By the late 19th century, duck was used to form the adjective ducky “cute, splendid, fine,” one of its current senses. Ducky entered English in the late 19th century.

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COLEOPTERON noun (koh-lee-op-ter-uh n)

noun
1. a coleopterous insect; a beetle.


Quotes

His bag consisted of two cryptophagi and a coleopteron ...
--*Vere Monro,*A Summer Ramble in Syria, Volume II, 1835

I discovered a Coleopteron the other day that smelt so very strong of musk that I could hardly come near the box that it was in.
--*"Gilbert White to Joseph Banks, Esq., April 21, 1768," Nature Notes, Volume 19, 1908



Origin

The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 b.c.) coined the adjective koleópteros “sheath-winged” (describing beetles) in his Historia Animalium. Koleópteros is a compound adjective formed from the noun koleós “sheath” and -pteros, a derivative of pterón “wing.” The Proto-Indo-European root kel-, kol- “to hide, conceal” underlies Greek koleós, English hell (from Germanic haljō, literally “the hidden place”), and Latin cēlāre “to hide.” The Proto-Indo-European root pet-, pot-, pt- “to fly rush” is the ultimate source of Greek pterón, Latin penna “feather” (from unattested petna), source of English pen, and Germanic (English) feather (from Germanic fethrō). Coleoptera entered English in the 18th century.