Word of the Day
More about rubricate
Rubricate, “to mark or color with red,” comes from Latin rūbrīca, “red ocher,” which is also the source of English rubric, “any established mode of conduct or procedure.” The shift in definition here is because rubric originally referred in English to a title or heading in a book that was written in red for easy distinction from the rest of the text (in black), and red ocher was ground to produce the pigment once used in red ink. Rūbrīca comes from ruber, which is one of multiple Latin words for “red,” as we learned from the Word of the Day rufescent. Rubricate was first recorded in English in the 1560s.
EXAMPLE OF RUBRICATE USED IN A SENTENCE
Looking at the old tome through the display case glass, she imagined the scribe who painstakingly rubricated all of the chapter headings.
precocity
noun
the state of or tendency to be flowering, fruiting, or ripening early, as plants or fruit.
More about precocity
Precocity, “the state of ripening early,” ultimately comes from Latin praecox, “early ripening,” from the verb praecoquere, “to bake early, ripen early.” The prae- element means “before” and is the ancestor of English pre-; Latin ae often becomes English e, as we also saw in the Word of the Day preternatural. The verb coquere, “to cook,” is the source of numerous words in English, whether from Latin directly (concoct), by way of French (biscuit, charcuterie, cuisine), via Italian (ricotta, terra cotta), through Old English (cook, kitchen), or using another route entirely (apricot). Precocity was first recorded in English in the 1630s.
EXAMPLE OF PRECOCITY USED IN A SENTENCE
After centuries of hybridizing the plant, the strawberry is now widely known for its precocity.
jamboree
noun
any large gathering with a partylike atmosphere.
More about jamboree
Jamboree, “any large gathering with a partylike atmosphere,” is an Americanism of unknown origin. Though the term is often associated with the Scouts, its appearance in English predates the Scout Movement by about 40 years. One proposal is that jamboree is an elaboration of jam in the sense “a mass of people or things pressed tightly together,” perhaps on the pattern of the recent Word of the Day shivaree. Note that the sense “a gathering of jazz musicians” of jam isn’t attested until the late 1920s, so this definition could not be the root behind jamboree, which was first recorded in English in the early 1860s.
EXAMPLE OF JAMBOREE USED IN A SENTENCE
The 48-hour period that Boxing Day, Christmas, and Kwanzaa all share is ample cause for celebration, but this year’s overlap with Hanukkah as well is what warrants a nationwide jamboree!