Word of the Day
popple
verb (used without object)
to move in a tumbling, irregular manner, as boiling water.
More about popple
It is difficult to analyze the parts of popple, and most authorities say “imitative”—of the motion, of the sound, of both? There are possible related words in Frisian popelje “to throb, bubble up” and Dutch popelen “to throb, quiver (with emotion),” and German dialect poppeln “to bubble, bubble up.” Popple in the sense of “to move in a tumbling, irregular manner” entered English by the 15th century.
how is popple used?
The breeze had so far raised no more than a little ripple on the water, so that the boat poppled, and thumped gently, as it drifted along, but kept all the time one general course.
The leaves upon the aspen-tree / They poppled in the breeze / And held the drifting harmony / Of music in the trees.
More about daedal
The adjective daedal (also spelled dedal) comes via the Latin adjective daedalus and proper noun Daedalus from the Greek adjective daídalos “skillful, skillfully made” and proper noun Daídalos, the mythical Athenian hero who built the Labyrinth at Knossos for King Minos and was the father of Icarus. Further etymology is unclear: daídalos is likely to be from a pre-Greek language. Daedal entered English in the late 16th century.
how is daedal used?
After dinner, they took a turn in the garden; where Leontine was surprized [sic] to see how greatly the daedal hand of nature had been improved by the assistance of art.
An unrestrained genius with a daedal mind, Plumer was New Hampshire’s only Jeffersonian.
jollier
noun
a person who talks or acts agreeably to someone, in order to keep that person in good humor, especially in the hope of gaining something.
More about jollier
The noun jollier, a derivative of the informal verb jolly “to talk or act agreeably in order to keep someone in good humor, especially in the hope of gaining something,” is an Americanism dating back to the end of the 19th century. If only there were fewer jolliers and “jollyees.”
how is jollier used?
Certainly he would never dream that a “jollier” could become the leader of a great English political party.
The Jollier jollied Mr. Thompson up and down the sweet nerve of flattery in a manner truly artistic, then came away with a double half column ad.