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 Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 7:32 am
Today's word is:
armamentarium
noun:
1. A fruitful source of devices or materials available or used for an undertaking.
2. The aggregate of equipment, methods, and techniques available to one for carrying out one's duties.
Quotes:
You can almost hear the crash as my medical armamentarium smashes to the ground.
-- Emily R. Transue, M.D., On Call
In addition to the past lying available in his memory, he had always had a technical armamentarium second to none; even the hostile critics had granted him that.
-- Orson Scott Card, Masterpieces
Litvikov led the way over to his long conference table, which was covered in green felt and stocked with an armamentarium of mineral-water bottles that the commissar never seemed to offer.
-- Robert Ludlum, The Tristan Betrayal
Origin:
Armamentarium comes from the Latin root armament , which refers to equipment used by a military unit. The suffix -arium denotes a location or receptacle.
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Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 10:16 am
Today's word is:
bosh
noun:
1. Absurd or foolish talk; nonsense.
Quotes:
You know perfectly well — and it is all bosh , too. Come, now, how do they proceed?
-- Mark Twain, The Gilded Age
Bosh, bosh, bosh ! Why is it right for him to follow his nature ? Because it is right. Why is it wrong for me to follow my nature? Because it is wrong. That's the whole of your argument…
-- George Dyre Eldridge, In the Potter's House
Origin:
Bosh stems from the Turkish word bos meaning "empty". It was popularized in English by the British writer James J. Morier.
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Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 8:43 am
Today's word is:
levigate
verb:
1. To rub, grind, or reduce to a fine powder.
2. Chemistry . To make a homogeneous mixture of, as gels.
adjective:
1. Botany. Having a smooth, glossy surface; glabrous.
Quotes:
It is sufficient to levigate them with water to obtain them very white.
-- M. Richter, Philosophical Magazine , Volume 23
This clay, carefully levigated , and covered with an excellent glaze, yielded a red ware…
-- Samuel Smiles, Josiah Wedgwood
Origin:
Levigate is derived from the Latin word lēvigātus meaning "to smooth."
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Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 8:44 am
Today's word is:
histrionics
noun:
1. Behavior or speech for effect, as insincere or exaggerated expression of an emotion.
2. Dramatic representation; theatricals; acting.
Quotes:
You are constantly talking about Beate's histrionics , her showing off.
-- Alberto Moravia, 1934
Of course it is not only southern writers, of lyrical bent, who engage in such histrionics and shout, "Look at me!" Perhaps it is a parable of all artists.
-- Tennessee Williams, New Selected Essays
Origin:
Though it sounds like the word history , histrionics has a different root. It comes from the Etruscan root histriōn- which meant "actor".
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Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 9:08 am
I often go into a fit of histrionics when it comes to doing things I deeply dislike.
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Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 9:57 am
Rarely do I feel the need to have histrionics, I feel it a waste of my time and usually something that would only embarrass myself.
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Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 6:57 pm
Nice sentences. ^_^
I like today's word, it amuses me. I remember learning it in school, it was on one of my English vocab sheets.
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 7:20 am
Today's word is:
apoplectic
adjective:
1. Intense enough to threaten or cause a stroke.
2. Of or pertaining to apoplexy.
3. Having or inclined to apoplexy.
noun:
1. A person having or predisposed to apoplexy.
Quotes:
When Abie used to shout, Rebecca always used to make a joke that he was having one of his apoplectic fits.
-- Alan Grayson, Mile End
...four years, one recession and a host of battles — over financial regulation and the nomination of Elizabeth Warren, over Dodd-Frank and the Buffett Rule — have taken their toll. Some on Wall Street are apoplectic . One former supporter, Dan Loeb, compared Obama to Nero; the president’s enemies insinuated worse.
-- Nicholas Confessore, "Obama’s Not-So-Hot Date With Wall Street", The New York Times Magazine , May 2, 2012
Origin:
Apoplectic stems from the Greek word apoplēktikós which meant "pertaining to stroke". It literally meant "struck down".
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Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 12:38 pm
larrup
LAR-uhp , verb;
1.
To beat or thrash.
Definition of larrup| See synonyms| Comment on today's word| Suggest tomorrow's word
Quotes:
When a seagoing canoe beached on the stones, or when a neighbor came larruping from around back of the house, Martha Obenchain, peeling potatoes at a table in the sun, rose and put the kettle on, tickled pink.
-- Annie Dillard, The Living
A fast white boat comes larruping around the point from the direction of Mercer Island and banks towards him.
-- Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon
Origin:
Larrup may derive from the Dutch word larpen meaning "to beat with flails".
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Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 10:49 am
natch
nach , adverb;
1. Of course; naturally.
Quotes:
She was even more delighted to hear that you were planning to invest in her health club, and hopes to see you there as a patron as well as an investor. At reduced rates, natch ?
-- Evelyn E. Smith, Miss Melville Returns
Yes, well, your father, who has no humanitarian instincts, is already designing a computer program to put the Lever process on automatic. For a small fee, natch .
-- Dana Stabenow, Second Star
Origin:
Natch is a shortening and respelling of the common English word naturally .
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Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 11:54 am
divulse
dahy-VUHLS , verb;
1.
To tear away or apart.
Definition of divulse| See synonyms| Comment on today's word| Suggest tomorrow's word
Quotes:
A perforation having been so made, it is safer to divulse the opening rather than to enlarge it by cutting in order to avoid the possibility of opening a blood vessel in an inaccessible region.
-- Eugene Fuller, M.D., The Journal of the American Medical Association
Even if you are the kooper of the winkel over measure never lost a license. Nor a duckindonche divulse from bath and breakfast.
-- James Joyce, Finnegans Wake
Origin:
Divulse comes from the Latin root vellere meaning "plucked". The prefix di- is a variation of dis- before the letter v meaning "apart" or "away", as in disown .
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