Word Of The Day

[Altobelli]

PENNYWORTH noun (pen-ee-wurth)

noun

1. a bargain.
2. as much as may be bought for a penny.
3. a small quantity.


Quotes

I'll ask Patty to go to the costumer's with me. She will get me a good pennyworth.
--*Mary Elizabeth Braddon,*The Infidel, 1900


... he has that point of good conscience, that he always sells as he buys, a good pennyworth, which is something rare, since he trades with so small a stock.
--*William Harrison Ainsworth,*Rookwood, 1834



Origin

Pennyworth is from before 1000. The Middle English form is penyworth and the Old English form is penigweorth.

[Altobelli]

TORPORIFIC adjective (tawr-puh-rif-ik)

adjective

1. causing sluggish inactivity or inertia.


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


He was followed by Mme. Step*anova, whose alert face and bright, musical voice helped dispel the torporific atmos*phere engendered by the theo*retician.
--*Irving Drutman,*"Russian Method-ists Meet the American," New York Times, December 13, 1964



Origin

The English adjective torporific is Latinate but not Latin. Latin has the noun torpor “numbness, stupor” and the suffix -ficus “making, producing” (as in magnificus “grand, great”), but not the compound torporificus. Torporific entered English in the 18th century.

[Altobelli]

HEARTH noun (hahrth)

noun

1. home; fireside: the joys of family and hearth.
2. the floor of a fireplace, usually of stone, brick, etc., often extending a short distance into a room.
3. Metallurgy. a. the lower part of a blast furnace, cupola, etc., in which the molten metal collects and from which it is tapped out. b. the part of an open hearth, reverberatory furnace, etc., upon which the charge is placed and melted down or refined.
4. a brazier or chafing dish for burning charcoal.


Quotes

May health and happiness dwell at our hearth.
--*Margot Livesey,*Eva Moves the Furniture, 2001


We will kindle the cheerful glow of our hearth at eventide, and be happy in its light.
--*Nathaniel Hawthorne,*"The Great Carbuncle," New-England Magazine, December 1835



Origin

Modern English hearth closely resembles Old English heorth and has kindred forms throughout Germanic: Old Frisian herth, Old High German herth, Old Saxon herth, German Herd, and Dutch haard. There are other words outside Germanic that are not so obviously related (perhaps not related at all), such as Latin carbō (stem carbon-) “coal (dead or burning), charcoal.” Hearth dates from the Old English period.

[Altobelli]

MAZUMA noun (mah-zoo-muh)

noun

1. Slang. money.


Quotes

"Have you got any mazuma?" "I beg your pardon, sir?" "Don't beg my pardon, it makes me nervous. Mazuma, mazuma, the old dough-re-mi, bread, the old filthy lucre ..." ... "Money," Whip Gunther said bluntly.
--*Mack Reynolds,*Space Search, 1984


... in the mean time if you need any mazuma I always got a little roll tucked away in my sock.
--*Edgar Rice Burroughs,*The Efficiency Expert, 1921



Origin

Mazuma “cash” is an American slang word of Yiddish origin. The Yiddish original is mazume or mezumen, from post-Biblical (Mishnaic) Hebrew mǝzummānīm “ready money, cash,” from mǝzummān “prepared.” Mazuma has always been associated with pulp detective stories and men wearing double-breasted suits and fedoras, except for the spectacular exception of Hopalong Cassidy, the cowboy created by the U.S. author Clarence E. Mulford (1883–1956). The prose Hopalong was much cruder than William Boyd’s smooth portrayal in the movies of the 1930s and ‘40s. In Mulford’s Coming of Cassidy (1913), Hopalong says to Sammy Porter, “Money...It's that shiny stuff you buys things with. Spondulix, cash, mazuma. You spend it, you know," (spondulix is not a term in cowboy talk, either). Mazuma entered English in the early 20th century.

[Altobelli]

BENEVOLENCE noun (buh-nev-uh-luh ns)

noun

1. desire to do good to others; goodwill; charitableness: to be filled with benevolence toward one's fellow creatures.
2. an act of kindness; a charitable gift.
3. English History. a forced contribution to the sovereign.


Quotes

He had an overflowing affection of soul, that could not confine itself to the person of his son, or the aggrandizement of his country, or be spiritualized into a metaphysical adoration of ideal beauty. It bestowed itself on his fellow creatures; and to see them happy, warmed his heart with a pleasure experienced by few. This man, his imaginative flights, his glowing benevolence and his humble occupations, were an enigma that Castruccio could never solve.
--*Mary Shelley,*Valperga, 1823


“From the first stroke of my ballpoint pen, I was the recipient of the well-appreciated benevolence of many,” Ferris said of her opus. “Not the least of which has been a willing readership who lent my ‘doorstop’ their gorgeous minds.”
--*Michael Cavna,*"Emil Ferris's graphic novel 'Monsters' tops diverse slate of 2017 Ignatz Award winners," Washington Post, September 18, 2017



Origin

Benevolence is a borrowing Latin. Benevolentia is a derivative of the adjective benevolēns “well wishing,” from the adverb bene “well,” a derivative of the adjective bonus “good,” and volent-, the present participle stem of velle “to will, wish.” Benevolentia according to its etymology is a quality of the will, not an emotion. There is, however, always a tinge of feeling or affection. Benevolence entered English in the 14th century

[Altobelli]

SAGITTATE adjective (saj-i-teyt)

adjective

1. shaped like an arrowhead.


Quotes

In the forks of the great branches repose the large green masses of the Bromeliaceous plants, and up the trunks climb numerous aroids with their huge sagittate leaves.
--*Henry Nottidge Moseley,*Notes by a Naturalist on the Challenger, 1879


A sagittate flock of swans winged its way out of the south and alighted on open water.
--*Cecilia Dart-Thornton,*The Ill-Made Mute, 2001



Origin

Sagittate derives from New Latin sagittātus “shaped like an arrowhead” and is restricted entirely to the biological sciences (botany and entomology). In Latin sagittātus is a past participle meaning “shot or wounded by an arrow,” from the verb sagittāre “to discharge or fire arrows.” Sagittate entered English in the mid-18th century.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

For all of the sycophantic Royalists who post on here...

syco|phan¦tic
[ˌsɪkəˈfantɪk]

ADJECTIVE
behaving or done in an obsequious way in order to gain advantage:
"a sycophantic interview"
synonyms: obsequious · servile · subservient · deferential · grovelling · toadying · fawning · flattering · ingratiating · cringing · unctuous · oily · slimy · creeping · crawling · truckling · slavish · bowing and scraping · Uriah Heepish · gushing · bootlicking · smarmy

[Altobelli]

I have an easier and more to the point one BT.

SPONGEING CNUTS

[Altobelli]

NOSTRUM noun (nos-truh m)

noun

1. a scheme, theory, device, etc., especially one to remedy social or political ills; panacea.
2. a medicine sold with false or exaggerated claims and with no demonstrable value; quack medicine.
3. a medicine made by the person who recommends it.
4. a patent medicine.


Quotes

We begin to find that with individuals, as with nations, the only safe revolution is one arising out of the wants which their own progress has generated. It is the quackery of infidelity to suppose that it has a nostrum for all mankind, and to say to all and singular, "Swallow my opinions and you shall be whole."
--*"George Eliot to Sara Hennell, October 19, 1843," George Eliot's Life, as related in her Letters and Journals, 1895


He knew how to handle the importunate seeker after patronage or market tips; the reporter sent out to get an indiscreet statement or to steal an indiscreet snapshot; the politician soliciting party funds; the professor of economics armed with a nostrum guaranteed to cure all financial and commercial ills ...
--*Achmed Abdullah,*A Romantic Young Man, 1932



Origin

In Latin nostrum is a neuter singular possessive pronoun meaning “our.” There is no noun expressed to be qualified, but the noun remedium “cure, medicine, remedy” may be understood. The original sense of nostrum “patent medicine made of secret ingredients” has always had more than a whiff of snake oil about it. The later sense of nostrum, dating from the mid-18th century and meaning “favorite but questionable plan for social or political improvement,” also carries an unfavorable connotation. Nostrum entered English in the early 17th century.

[Altobelli]

COCKCROW noun (kok-kroh)

noun

1. daybreak; dawn; the time at which a cock characteristically crows.


Quotes

He was as a ghost, all whose power of wandering free through these upper regions ceases at cockcrow ...
--*Anthony Trollope,*Barchester Towers, 1857


He would have a delightful Friday evening looking out tackle, and would be off at cockrow on Saturday in his little car, returning late on the Sunday night with a sunburnt face and an added zest for life ...
--*John Buchan,*The Gap in the Curtain, 1932



Origin

Cockcrow entered English between 1350 and 1400.