Word Of The Day

[Altobelli]

STARDUST noun (stahr-duhst)

noun

1. a naively romantic quality: There was stardust in her eyes.
2. (not in technical use) a mass of distant stars appearing as tiny particles of dust.


Quotes

"I seem to remember you had a different opinion of her once." ... "I guess I must've had some stardust in my eyes. But that was a thousand years ago. ..."
--*Alan Hunter,*Gently with Love, 1975


It sounds corny, but I got stardust in my eyes the first time I saw the boulevard.
--*Harold Robbins,*Never Enough, 2001



Origin

Stardust was first recorded in 1835–45.

[Altobelli]

SUSPIRATION noun (suhs-puh-rey-shuh n)

noun

1. a long, deep sigh.


Quotes

‘Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother … Nor windy suspiration of forced breath ... That can denote me truly.
--*William Shakespeare,*Hamlet, 1603


... the breast dilated and swelled, as when one draws a heavy suspriation; no sound accompanied the motion.
--*"A Soldier's Recollections: A Ghost Story," Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, No. XIII, April 1883



Origin

English suspiration comes directly from Latin suspīrātiōn-, the stem of the noun suspīrātiō “a sigh,” a derivative of the verb suspīrāre “to fetch a deep breath, breathe out, exclaim with a sigh.” The combining form su- is a reduced form of the preposition and prefix sub “under, from under.” The Latin verb spīrāre “to breathe” is also the source of English spirit and sprite. Suspiration entered English in the 16th century.

[Altobelli]

DENOUEMENT noun (dey-noo-mahn)

noun

1. the outcome or resolution of a doubtful series of occurrences.
2. the final resolution of the intricacies of a plot, as of a drama or novel.
3. the place in the plot at which this occurs.


Quotes

Both the irrational-Nixon and the rational-Nixon theories lead to the same denouement: "My fellow Americans ... farewell."
--*Richard Reeves,*"Nixon in the Twilight Zone," New York, November 5, 1973


Yet, inexorably, he must be carried on to the final grim denouement. Every step he took seemed to be charted in advance.
--*Arthur J. Burks,*"The White Wasp," All Detective, May 1933



Origin

Denouement is from the French word meaning literally “an untying,” equivalent to dénouer “to untie.” It ultimately derives from Latin nōdāre, derivative of nōdus “knot.” It entered English in the mid-1700s.

[Altobelli]

JANNOCK adjective (jan-uh k)

adjective

1. British, Australian Informal. honest; fair; straightforward.


Quotes

... this beautiful damsel that lived in the kingdom of the great Mogul, had many suitors--sweethearts as we call them in Lancashire--but none of them was jannock but one ...
--*Samuel William Ryley,*The Itinerant; or, Memoirs of an Actor, Volume VI, 1817


For instance, it was "scarcely jannock" of your reviewer to suggest that I borrowed part of my plot from some other novelist when he cannot in the nature of things know that I did so.
--*William Westall,*"To the Editor of The Speaker," The Speaker, April 26, 1902



Origin

Jannock “honest, straightforward” is a British and Australian word of recent origin and uncertain etymology, first recorded only in the 19th century.

[Altobelli]

SILVER-TONGUED adjective (sil-ver-tuhngd)

adjective

1. persuasive; eloquent: a silver-tongued orator.

Quotes

"Always speak to the folks in the back rows, my boy," said the silver-tongued orator, "and the rest will be sure to hear you."
--*Paul O'Neil,*"Grand Old King of the Senate," Life, March 26, 1965


The American representatives were not fools, and before accepting such a proposal, they investigated it from all angles, but when they talked with silver-tongued Santa Anna, who knew English well enough to smother them with glibness at any difficult juncture, they convinced themselves that here was a noble patriot who wished only to end a disagreeable war on terms favorable to both sides.
--*James A. Michener,*Texas, 1985



Origin

Silver-tongued may be named for the pleasing resonance of a silver bell. Even more pleasing and eloquent, therefore, would be chrysostom or chrysostomos “golden-mouthed,” from Greek chrysόstomos, from chrysόs “gold” and stόma “mouth.” As an epithet, chrysostom is reserved for the ancient Greek philosopher and historian Dio (or Dion) Chrysostom (c40–c115 a.d.), but in particular for the Greek patriarch and Church Father John Chrysostom (c347–407). On the first page of Ulysses, the unreliable, malevolent narrator refers to Buck Mulligan, who has gold fillings in his teeth and a very bawdy wit, as chrysostomos. Silver-tongued entered English in the late 16th century.

[Altobelli]

PSEUD noun (sood)

noun

1. Informal. a person of fatuously earnest intellectual, artistic, or social pretensions.

adjective
1. Informal. of, relating to, or characteristic of a pseud.


Quotes


But many of his students thought him a pseud for his high diction and his passion for complicated European writers.
--*Tobias Wolff,*Old School, 2003


He hated the idea of being considered a pseud when it came to food and drink, but there were those who thought him overenthusiastic on both counts.
--*Tim Heald,*Poison at the Pueblo, 2011



Origin

Pseud is a derogatory colloquialism derived by shortening from pseudointellectual. It dates from the mid-20th century.

[Acido]

Ok Alto, my latest word is 'Yarkshur'

What is the correct way of pronouncing this weird word, and bear in mind we're all Northerners together here, but this sounds like gobblegook Lancy toss to me.

[Altobelli]

The best thing to come out or Yarkshur besides you Acido and a few Weeds fans who frequent this board is.. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . the M62

[Acido]

Yes I agree Alto, the M62 is a quality motorway!!. Whereas the M1 is totally over rated of course.

[Altobelli]

VATIC adjective (vat-ik)

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of a prophet.


Quotes

... I can't escape the feeling that Yeats knew, in the vatic, unwitting way of poets.
--*Marcel Theroux,*Strange Bodies, 2013


An ominous vatic feeling had persisted throughout the rest of the evening, which was doubly unsettling to Laurel Manderley ...
--*David Foster Wallace,*"Mister Squishy," Oblivion, 2004



Origin

The Latin noun vātis or vātēs “soothsayer, prophet, poet, bard” is probably a borrowing from a Celtic language (it has an exact correspondence in form and meaning with Old Irish fáith “seer, prophet,” from Proto-Celtic wātis). The Latin noun and Celtic root wāt- are from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning “to be spiritually aroused.” One of the Germanic forms of this root appears in the Old English adjective wōd “raging, crazy,” which survives in modern English in the adjective wood. Vatic entered English in the early 17th century.