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Word of the dayPrevious Week Next WeekFriday, June 08, 2018
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What is the origin of bacciferous?
The English adjective bacciferous “bearing berries” comes from Latin bacca (also bāca) “fruit of a shrub or tree, nut,” a word of unknown origin. The Latin suffix -fer “carrying, bearing” is from a very widespread Proto-Indo-European root bher- “to carry,” source of Germanic (English) bear, Greek phérein “to carry, bear,” and Slavic (Polish) bierać “to carry.” Bacciferous entered English in the 17th century.Previous DayHow is bacciferous used?
Bacciferous trees, are such as bear berries; as the juniper and yew-tree. Charlotte Matilda Hunt, The Little World of Knowledge, 1826
The rays of the sun are essential to the proper development of all fruits, yet some, especially the bacciferous, demand a certain amount of shade in Summer and protection in Winter ... E. Daggy, "Douglas County Horticultural Society," Transactions of the Illinois State Horticultural Society, Volume II, 1869
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Word of the dayThursday, June 07, 2018
Disneyfy
verb [diz-nee-fahy, -ni-]to create or alter in a simplified, sentimentalized, or contrived form or manner: museums that have become Disneyfied to attract more visitors.See Full DefinitionWhat is the origin of Disneyfy?
Disneyfy is an Americanism formed from the name of Walt Disney, the cartoonist and moviemaker (1901-66), and the familiar verb suffix -fy. Disneyfy entered English in the second half of the 20th century.Previous DayHow is Disneyfy used?
In North America we tend to Disneyfy the past into this sugar-coated nostalgia product, all bonnets and merry sleigh rides ... Emma Donoghue, Landing, 2007
... Dad says you have to look at animals as they are, not Disney-fy them. Rosamund Lupton, The Quality of Silence, 2015
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Word of the dayWednesday, June 06, 2018
superluminal
adjective [soo-per-loo-muh-nl]Astronomy. appearing to travel faster than the speed of light.See Full DefinitionWhat is the origin of superluminal?
One of the Latin sources for the English adjective superluminal “faster than the speed of light” is the very familiar prefix and preposition super- “above, beyond.” The second Latin source is the adjective lūminōsus “filled with light, dazzling, luminous” a derivative of the noun lūmen “light, radiance,” from an assumed leuksmen or louksmen, a derivative of the root noun lux (stem luc-) “light.” The same root, leuk- (and its variant louk-) lies behind the Latin noun lūna “moon,” from an assumed louksnā. Superluminal entered English in the 20th century.Previous DayHow is superluminal used?
But what if the spaceship breaks the speed of light? Now, we are entering the purely theoretical realm of superluminal travel. The spaceship is outracing the light it emits, so when the spaceship takes off, it leaves its own light in the space-dust. David Russell, "Can You Really Go Back in Time by Breaking the Speed of Light?" PBS, August 17, 2015
The Alderson Drive gave us access to the stars at superluminal speeds--but not instantaneous transportation. Jerry Pournelle and S. M. Stirling, Go Tell the Spartans, 1991
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Word of the dayTuesday, June 05, 2018
schlimazel
noun [shli-mah-zuhl]Slang. an inept, bungling person who suffers from unremitting bad luck.See Full DefinitionWhat is the origin of schlimazel?
The old joke goes, “A schlemiel is someone who spills soup in a restaurant; a schlimazel is the guy he spills the soup on.” The first element of schlimazel comes from the Yiddish adjective schlim “bad, evil,” equivalent to German schlimm, Dutch slim “bad, sly, clever”(the Dutch word is the source of English slim). The second element, -mazel comes from Yiddish mazl “luck,” from Hebrew mazzāl “(celestial) constellation, destiny.” Schlimazel entered English in the mid-20th century.Previous DayHow is schlimazel used?
... the schlemiel is the one who spills the soup and the schlimazel is the one that's spilled on. Jeremy Dauber, Jewish Comedy: A Serious History, 2017
A recent and, even by its own lofty standards, especially hilarious and cringingly tasteless episode of “South Park” features the passionate and petulant schlimazel, middle-aged dad Randy Marsh, watching TV, when a commercial for a fictional consumer genetics company comes on the screen. Misha Angrist, "A History of Humanity Told Through Genetics," New York Times, November 17, 2017
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Word of the dayMonday, June 04, 2018
What is the origin of atavism?
The Latin noun behind the English noun atavism is atavus “great-great-great grandfather; ancestor.” Atavus is formed from atta “daddy,” a nursery word widespread in Indo-European languages, e.g., Greek átta “daddy,” and the possibly Gothic proper name Attila “little father, daddy.” The second element, avus “(maternal) grandfather,” also has cognates in other Indo-European languages, e.g., Old Prussian (an extinct Baltic language related to Latvian and Lithuanian) awis “uncle,” and, very familiar in English, those Scottish and Irish surnames beginning with “O’,” e.g., O’Connor “descended from Connor”). The Celtic “O’” comes from Irish ó “grandson,” from early Irish aue, and appearing as avi “descendant of” in ogham (an alphabet used in archaic Irish inscriptions from about the 5th century). Atavism entered English in the 19th century.Previous DayHow is atavism used?
So much of their business was done via e-mail that the phone was almost unnecessary--a sort of quaint atavism that nobody thought to use first--but this morning the ringing had been ceaseless. Debra Ginsberg, What the Heart Remembers, 2012
Because the United States has proved successful in absorbing people from so many different backgrounds, the American political elite has, since the mid-20th century at least, tended to look on group identity as a kind of irrational atavism. Park MacDougald, "Can America's Two Tribes Learn to Live Together?" New York, April 19, 2018
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Word of the daySunday, June 03, 2018
What is the origin of doss?
The origin of the English verb doss is obscure. It is most likely derived from the Latin noun dossum, a variant of dorsum “the back (of the body),” a noun of unclear origin. The verb endorse comes from Medieval Latin indorsāre “to write on or sign the back of a document”; the adjective dorsal “having a back or located on the back” is most likely familiar as an anatomical term, especially referring to the fin of a shark or a dolphin. Doss entered English in the late 18th century.Previous DayHow is doss used?
... he was too old to doss on furniture night after night. Coleen Nolan, Envy, 2010
I didn't want a place to doss down. Jonathan Gash, The Gondola Scam, 1984
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Word of the daySaturday, June 02, 2018
brontide
noun [bron-tahyd]a rumbling noise heard occasionally in some parts of the world, probably caused by seismic activity.See Full DefinitionWhat is the origin of brontide?
Brontide is an uncommon word, probably formed from the Greek noun brontḗ “thunder” and the suffix -ide, a variant of -id (“offspring of”) occurring originally in loanwords from Greek, and productive in English especially in names of dynasties (e.g., Attalid) and in names of periodic meteor showers, with the base noun usually denoting the constellation in which the shower appears (e.g., Perseid). Brontḗ appears in brontosaurus “thunder lizard” and is from the same Proto-Indo-European root bhrem- (with a variant brem-) “to growl” as Latin fremitus “dull roar,” Old High German breman and Old English bremman, both meaning “to roar,” and Slavic (Polish) brzmieć “to make a sound.” Brontide entered English about 2000.Previous DayHow is brontide used?
“What's a brontide?” she said, keeping him from bolting. ... "They're like thunder on a clear day. They're like the unexplained sounds of artillery when there's no battle." Gary Fincke, "Faculty X," Emergency Calls, 1996
... he urges that brontides predominate in countries which are subject to earthquakes, that they are often heard as heralds of earthquakes, and are specifically frequent during seismic series, and that brontides are sometimes accompanied by very feeble tremors. Charles Davison, A Manual of Seismology, 1921
