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Word of the dayPrevious Week Next WeekSunday, June 24, 2018
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What is the origin of edentate?
Edentate means “lacking teeth, toothless,” a neutral term; it is also used in taxonomic names for an order of mammals lacking front teeth, e.g. sloths, armadillos, another neutral sense. The origin of edentate is the Latin adjective ēdentātus, the past participle of the verb ēdentāre “to knock (someone’s) teeth out,” definitely not a neutral sense. Edentate entered English in the 19th century.Previous DayHow is edentate used?
As would have been the case a million years ago, a typical colonist can expect to be edentate by the time he or she is thirty years old, having suffered many skull-cracking toothaches on the way. Kurt Vonnegut, Galápagos, 1985
Anyway, an edentate man led a bloated, mouth-foaming goat down a road webbed with knee-deep gullies. Aleksandar Hemon, The Lazarus Project, 2008
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Word of the daySaturday, June 23, 2018
What is the origin of backstairs?
Backstairs was first recorded in 1635-45. It’s the adjectival extension of the noun back stairs.Previous DayHow is backstairs used?
I say to Lord Hartington before you all, not by any backstairs intrigue and not by any secret negotiations, but in the face of this great meeting held in this great town and before all of England ... "Come over and help us!" Herbert Maxwell, "Lord Randolph Churchill," The National Review, Vol. XXV, March to August 1895
He would never believe it--it was a nasty piece of backstairs gossip! Upton Sinclair, The Metropolis, 1908
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Word of the dayFriday, June 22, 2018
pellucid
adjective [puh-loo-sid]clear in meaning, expression, or style: a pellucid way of writing.Look it upWhat is the origin of pellucid?
English pellucid comes from the Latin adjective pellūcidus (the usual Latin spelling is perlūcidus) “very clear, transparent.” The Latin adjective lūcidus is thoroughly naturalized in English lucid, but the Latin prefix and preposition per- is worth explanation. In Latin per- is used to intensify adjectives, adverbs, and verbs, e.g., perbonus “very good, excellent,” perbrevis “very short,” perbene “very well,” perbellē “very charmingly,” and percelebrāre “to make thoroughly known.” The Greek prefix and preposition perí- serves the same purpose, as in Periklês (c495-429 b.c.), the Athenian statesman, from the adjective perikleês “very famous.” Pellucid entered English in the 17th century.Previous DayHow is pellucid used?
His art is highly complex, but its expression is so pellucid, so simple, that we can see only its body, never the mechanism of its body. Edward Garnett, "Introduction," The Novels of Ivan Turgenev, 1906
Trump’s ramblings about Vladimir Putin were positively pellucid in their clarity compared with his March 29 comments on the U.S.-South Korea trade deal ... Max Boot, "What on earth is Trump saying?" Washington Post, April 11, 2018
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Word of the dayThursday, June 21, 2018
summerize
verb [suhm-uh-rahyz]to prepare (a house, car, etc.) so as to counteract the hot weather of summer: to summerize a house by adding air conditioning.Look it upWhat is the origin of summerize?
In the late 18th century, summerize meant “to spend the summer,” a sense rarely used nowadays. In the mid-19th century in the U.S. in colloquial usage, summerize acquired its usual meaning “to prepare for summer.”Previous DayHow is summerize used?
Swap out the stiff white shirt for button-downs in mellower colors. "If you’re in finance, it’s hard to make a big fashion statement, but this is a good way to summerize your wardrobe," says Coats. "7 stylish office looks for summer (including 4 that will cool off even the strictest of dress codes)," Forbes, June 7, 2017
The spark plugs don't need to be changed for three years, and the motor can “summerize” itself by fogging the cylinders with oil when you put your machine away in the spring. Ezra Dyer, "Dashing Through the Snow," New York Times, January 29, 2009
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Word of the dayWednesday, June 20, 2018
thigmotropism
noun [thig-mo-truh-piz-uhm]Biology. oriented growth of an organism in response to mechanical contact, as a plant tendril coiling around a string support.Look it upWhat is the origin of thigmotropism?
Thigmotropism is a very rare word, restricted to biology, especially botany. All three of the components of the word come from Greek: thígma means “a touch”; trópos and tropḗ are both nouns meaning “a turning, turn”; and -ism comes from the Greek suffixes -ismós, isma, used to form nouns denoting the result of an action. Thigmotropism entered English in the early 20th century.Previous DayHow is thigmotropism used?
When touch is the stimulus, the response is thigmotropism. Positive thigmotropism occurs when a tendril touches an object and, by growing toward it, wraps around it. James D. Mauseth, Botany: An Introduction to Plant Biology, 2009
Thigmotropism is what makes a vine curl around a stake or an epiphyte cling to a branch in the wild. Deb Wandell, "Flora Grubb reinvents the plant stand with Thigmotrope Perch," San Francisco Chronicle, January 30, 2015
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Word of the dayTuesday, June 19, 2018
What is the origin of turophile?
Turophile a rare word not only in meaning but also in its spelling. The combining form -phile is very common in English, but the combining form turo- is unique: it comes from the Greek noun tȳrós, which is nearly always Romanized as tyro-, as in the technical term tyrosine (an amino acid). Tȳrós comes from a complicated Proto-Indo-European root tēu, tewe, teu, tū “to swell, coagulate, be or become thick”: for the Greeks cheese was “thickened milk.” The Latin word būtȳrum “butter” is a borrowing from Greek boútyron “butter,” literally “cow cheese.” Būtȳrum “butter” was adopted by the West Germanic languages, e.g., Old English butere, English butter, Dutch boter, Old High German butera, and German Butter. Turophile entered English in the 20th century.Previous DayHow is turophile used?
For any New York turophile ... there is irritation, frustration and dismay when visiting most of the town's restaurants whether grand luxe or bistro. The cheeses, if available at all, are more often than not overripe or underaged, too cold or too few ... Craig Claiborne, "Cheese Lover Dismayed by Restaurant Selection," New York Times, October 12, 1965
... as any turophile knows, microbes are the source of cheese’s vast diversity of flavors, textures, and smells. Casey Quackenbush, "The FDA Is Coming Around to the Idea That Cheese, Microbes, and Mold Can Work Just Fine," Time, September 22, 2017
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Word of the dayMonday, June 18, 2018
day-tripper
noun [dey-trip-er]a person who goes on a trip, especially an excursion, lasting all or part of a day but not overnight.Look it upWhat is the origin of day-tripper?
Day-tripper has been used in English since the mid-1800s.Previous DayHow is day-tripper used?
... he seized on the word as if it might somehow help to plug him into German culture, rather like a day-tripper to Boulogne trying to convince himself that he has explored France. William McIlvanney, The Kiln, 1996
Deepest mind in the galaxy, apparently, and you still express yourself like a day-tripper with a dog-eared phrase book. Anthony Lane, "Space Case," The New Yorker, May 23, 2005
