Word of the Day
Word of the day
schlep
verb (used with object)
to carry; lug: to schlep an umbrella on a sunny day.
What is the origin of schlep?
The slang term schlep “to lug, carry” is used mostly in the United States. Schlep is from the Yiddish verb shlepn “to pull, drag” (German schleppen “to draw, tug, haul”). The derivative noun schlepper, “one who schleps,” appears slightly earlier than the verb. Schlepper entered English toward the end of the 19th century; schlep appeared in the early 20th.
how is schlep used?
She had drawn notice as the doctor who would help mechanics schlep gear, fetch coffee and even massage the overworked massage therapists.
After a bit of trial and error, you’ll find car-free travel is a liberating choice that forces you to schlep considerably less.
Word of the day
hypermnesia
noun
the condition of having an unusually vivid or precise memory.
What is the origin of hypermnesia?
Hypermnesia, a medical or psychological term meaning “the condition of having an unusually vivid or precise memory,” is composed of the familiar prefix hyper-, which usually implies excess or exaggeration, the Greek noun mnêsis “memory,” and the Greek abstract noun suffix –ia. Hypermnesia entered English in the late 19th century.
how is hypermnesia used?
Psychologists have investigated some persons with exceptional memories – said to exhibit “hypermnesia”. The most famous of these was a Russian, code-named “S”, who could recall long random series of numbers or words without error, many years later.
This sharpened memory is called hypermnesia. A frequent experience in dreaming is a hypermnesia with regard to childhood scenes.
Word of the day
bromide
noun
a platitude or trite saying.
What is the origin of bromide?
The original meaning of bromide was “a chemical compound of two elements: bromine and a second element, such as potassium or sodium.” Potassium bromide and sodium bromide are used in medicine as sedatives and anticonvulsants. The extended use of bromide, “platitude or trite saying” (from its sedative effect), was originally an Americanism, first appearing in print in the early 20th century. Bromide entered English in the first half of the 19th century.
how is bromide used?
the work is its own reward. That may sound like just another bromide, but Gilbert’s love of creativity is infectious ….
I’m intrigued by the way in which his political success … contradicts bromides about the importance, professionally, of making friends and using honey instead of vinegar.
Word of the day
stir-crazy
adjective
Slang.
restless or frantic because of confinement, routine, etc.: I was stir-crazy after just two months of keeping house.
What is the origin of stir-crazy?
Feeling a little stir-crazy? Unpleasant though it may be, the restlessness that this familiar term calls to mind today is a far cry from the state of literal imprisonment it named upon entering English. A 1908 dictionary of unsavory terms called Criminal Slang defined stir-crazy (noun) as “a man whose mind has become affected by serving long sentences.” By the mid-1900s, stir-crazy was being used as an adjective to mean “mentally ill because of long imprisonment.” The stir in stir-crazy does not suggest movement or agitation, as one might presume based the verb stir “to move around briskly” or “to be emotionally affected”; here, stir is a slang term for prison. The origin of stir is uncertain, but some sources suggest it as a shortening of the Romani noun sturiben “prison” or verb staripen “to imprison”; others connect it to the Start, a nickname for the Newgate prison in London, which later broadened to mean prison more generally.
how is stir-crazy used?
By now, let’s hope you’re safely ensconced at home—going a little stir-crazy, perhaps, but doing your part to “flatten the curve.”
You may be trying to work from home with your stir-crazy children, and all your previous rules about screen time may need to get tossed.
Word of the day
primaveral
adjective
of, in, or pertaining to the early springtime.
What is the origin of primaveral?
The adjective primaveral is a derivative of the noun primavera “spring (the season),” found in just about all the Romance languages: Italian (end of the 12th century), Catalan (13th century), Spanish (14th century), and Portuguese (16th century); even Romanian has primăvară. The Romance forms ultimately derive from the Latin neuter plural adjective and noun phrase prīma vēra, literally “first springs.” It is common for Latin neuter plural nouns to become feminine singulars in Romance, e.g., Latin gaudia “delights, joys,” becoming singular joie in French and gioia in Italian. Primaveral entered English in the 19th century.
how is primaveral used?
Crocuses planted in clusters or in thick rows, or scattered on banks, have a brilliant effect in the sunshine of a bright primaveral day.
It is the urge of Spring—the primaveral force that inspires the young and mocks the aged.
Word of the day
lunker
noun
something unusually large for its kind.
What is the origin of lunker?
The noun lunker has two meanings: something large and unruly, and a large game fish, especially a bass. It was originally an Americanism, and its etymology is obscure: lunk, lunkhead, and clunker have all been suggested. Lunker entered English in the second half of the 19th century.
how is lunker used?
Do black holes, such as the lunker in our own Milky Way Galaxy … drive the evolution of galaxies around them; or do galaxies naturally nurture the gravitational gobblers at their centers … ?
As sure as I’m standing here, ten pounds; what a little lunker for a first baby.
Word of the day
What is the origin of greenth?
Greenth, “green growth,” was coined by the English author and politician Horace Walpole, who also coined blueth and gloomth. Greenth, blueth, and gloomth all entered English simultaneously in the mid-18th century.
how is greenth used?
I found my garden brown and bare, but these rains have recovered the greenth.
Imagine a rambling, patchy house … the mellow darkness of its conical roof surmounted by a weather-cock making an agreeable object either amidst the gleams and greenth of summer or the low-hanging clouds and snowy branches of winter …