Word of the Day
More about darg
If you know that darg means “a day’s work,” you may be able to figure out that it comes from day and work. Darg comes from Middle English daiwerk, daiwark, daiwork “a day’s work or customary service; a day’s fighting; the amount of land that can be plowed by a team in one day.” The development of the sound seems to be from daiwark to dawark to dark and darg. Darg is the usual form in Scotland and North England. In Australia darg means “a fixed or definite amount of work; a work quota,” a sense that is also found as a coal mining term in mid-19th century Northumberland and Durham, counties in northern England. Darg entered English in the early 15th century.
how is darg used?
I have a lang day’s darg afore me …
I do not like our slack days …. Always feel as if I were not doing my full ‘darg‘ on such; but they give me time for reading, and one is glad to secure that.
decussate
verb (used with or without object)
to cross in the form of an X; intersect.
More about decussate
The verb decussate “to cross in the form of an X; intersect,” comes from Latin decussāt-, the inflectional stem of decussātus, the past participle of the verb decussāre “to mark with a cross or an X.” Decussāre is a derivative of the noun decussis “a bronze ten-piece coin; the number ten, a decade; an X-shaped mark” (X was the Latin symbol for 10). Decussis is a reduced form of decem “ten” and as (also assis) “a copper coin or monetary unit; a penny.” Decussate entered English in the second half of the 17th century.
how is decussate used?
So if you decide you want to move your right arm, or your right leg, the signal would leave the motor cortex of the left hemisphere, travel down towards your brainstem, and then at the level of the medulla, it would decussate, or cross over to the right side of the brainstem, and then continue into your spinal cord.
the leaf-stalks of the second pair decussate with those of the first, and are just so much longer as to bring up that pair nearly, or quite, to a level with the first …
pharaonic
adjective
impressively or overwhelmingly large, luxurious, etc.
More about pharaonic
The adjective pharaonic, “pertaining to or like a Pharaoh; impressively or overwhelmingly large,” is a derivative of the noun Pharaoh. Pharaoh comes via Late Latin Pharaō (inflectional stem Pharaōn-) from Greek Pharaṓ (inflectional stem Pharaōn-), from Hebrew parʿō, from Egyptian pr–ʿʾ (probably pronounced like the Hebrew parʿō) “great house” (the order is the noun pr-, then the adjective ʿʾ). In Egyptian pr-ʿʾ was not the name of a Pharaoh, but the name of a Pharaoh’s (palatial) residence, very like our own “The White House.” Pharaonic entered English toward the end of the 18th century.
how is pharaonic used?
He retired in 2017 to devote himself to new projects, notably raising funds for a somewhat pharaonic museum dedicated to East Africa’s ecology and its status as a birthplace of prehistoric man.
A teapot bunker retails for just shy of $40,000; a more pharaonic model, complete with swimming pool and hot tub, bowling alley, and home theater, goes for $8 million.