gloaming

gloaming \GLOH-ming\, noun:

Twilight; dusk.

The children squealed and waved and smiled, their teeth flashing white in the gloaming.
-- Evan Thomas, Robert Kennedy: His Life

It was the gloaming, when a man cannot make out if the nebulous figure he glimpses in the shadows is angel or demon, when the face of evening is stained by red clouds and wounded by lights.
-- Homero Aridjis, 1492: The Life and Times of Juan Cabezon of Castile (translated by Betty Ferber)

Arrived at the village station on a wintry evening, when the gloaming is punctuated by the cheery household lamps, shining here and there like golden stars, through the leafless trees.
-- Margaret Sangster

Gloaming comes from Old English glomung, from glom, "dusk."

hubris

hubris \HYOO-bruhs\, noun:

Overbearing pride or presumption.

During his long tenure in the financial world, Friedman has watched dozens of his competitors' businesses killed by hubris born of success rather than by unsound business decisions or adverse market conditions.
-- Lisa Endlich, Goldman Sachs: The Culture of Success

This is the actor's hubris, to imagine the world possessed of a single, avid eye fixed solely and always on him.
-- John Banville, Eclipse

With dizzying hubris, Shelley elevated the vocation of the poet above that of priest and statesman.
-- Peter Gay, Pleasure Wars

Hubris comes from Greek hybris, "excessive pride, wanton violence."

bivouac

bivouac \BIV-wak, BIV-uh-wak\, noun:

1. An encampment for the night, usually under little or no shelter.
2. To encamp for the night, usually under little or no shelter.

Rob had made his emergency bivouac just below the South Summit.
-- David Breashears, "Death on the mountain", The Observer, March 30, 2003

They were stopped by savage winds and forced to bivouac 153 m below the day's goal.
-- Erik Weihenmayer, "Men of the Mountain", Time Pacific, February 4, 2002

Bivouac comes from French bivouac, from German Beiwache, "a watching or guarding," from bei, "by, near" + wachen, "to watch."

execrable

execrable \EK-sih-kruh-buhl\, adjective:

1. Deserving to be execrated; detestable; abominable.
2. Extremely bad; of very poor quality; very inferior.

His human-rights record was abysmal. His relations with Washington were adversarial. He rivaled Zimbabwe's execrable Robert Mugabe for the title "Africa's Saddam."
-- James S. Robbins, "The Liberian Opportunity", National Review, July 8, 2003

For while agents and editors often misunderstand their market and sometimes reject good or even great works, they do prevent a vast quantity of truly execrable writing from being published.
-- Laura Miller, "Slush, slush, sweet Stephen", Salon, July 25, 2000

Any theatergoer who has ever felt the urge to murder an actor for an execrable performance should get a kick out of two backstage mysteries that do the deed with a nice theatrical flourish.
-- Marilyn Stasio, review of The Gold Gamble, by Herbert Resnicow and Death Mask, by Jane Dentinger, New York Times, October 30, 1988

The decision to level the ancient cathedral is described candidly by one latter-day authoritative guidebook as having demonstrated "execrable taste."
-- Dick Grogan, "Pillars speak out to save cathedral", Irish Times, June 11, 1997

Execrable derives from Latin exsecrabilis, execrabilis, from exsecrari, execrari, "to execrate, to curse," from ex-, "out of, away from, outside of" + sacer, "sacred."

genuflect

genuflect \JEN-yuh-flekt\, intransitive verb:

1. To bend the knee or touch one knee to the ground, as in worship.
2. To be servilely respectful or obedient; to grovel.

After graduation I talked my way into a job at Ionic Development Corporation, a legendary place in Cambridge on the Charles River, a huge brick building with a lobby the size of a cathedral; every time I walked in, I felt as if I should genuflect.
-- Daniel Lyons, Dog Days

People worship capital, adore its aura, genuflect before Porsches and Tokyo land values.
-- Haruki Murakami, Dance Dance Dance (translated by Alfred Birnbaum)

Chen said recently he was proud to be a Chinese, a signal to Beijing that he is willing to be conciliatory. The communists, however, apparently want him to genuflect more unambiguously.
-- Sin-Ming Shaw, "Give This Guy a Break!", Time Asia, October 30, 2000

Genuflect is from Late Latin genuflectere, from Latin genu, "knee" + flectere, "to bend."

corroborate

corroborate \kuh-ROB-uh-rayt\, transitive verb:

To strengthen or make more certain with other evidence.

Whenever I can, I interview family and friends extensively both to corroborate the history given me by the defendant and to gain insight into his behavior and personality.
-- Barbara R. Kirwin, Ph.D., The Mad, the Bad, and the Innocent: The Criminal Mind on Trial

He said that when the jurors confronted discrepancies in any of the prosecution witnesses' descriptions, they used the testimony of other prosecution witnesses to corroborate the chronology.
-- "Most Jurors Thought Schwarz Aided Attack, Foreman Says", New York Times, August 2, 2002

As we have no public notoriety, no concurrent testimony, no records to support and corroborate what we deliver, it becomes us to keep within the limits not only of possibility, but of probability too.
-- Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones

Corroborate is from Latin corroboratus, past participle of the verb corroborare, "to strengthen," from com-, "with" + roborare, "to strengthen," and is related to robust.

quandary

quandary \KWAHN-duh-ree; -dree\, noun:

A state of difficulty, perplexity, doubt, or uncertainty.

Don . . . told me of the quandary that the authorities were in. Should the ruins be left untouched or should they be reconstructed for a new wave of tourists?
-- Benjamin Hopkins, "How to avoid the tourists in Peru", Times (London), May 6, 2000

The school commissioners . . . were in a quandary over the needful size of an "open-air playground."
-- Jacob A. Riis, The Battle with the Slum

Once or twice as I stood waiting there for things to accomplish themselves, I could not resist an impulse to laugh at my miserable quandary.
-- H.G. Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau

Quandary is of unknown origin.

limn

limn \LIM\, transitive verb:

1. To depict by drawing or painting.
2. To portray in words; to describe.

Oh, yes, I write, as I limn the familiar perfections of his profile, "you look very well."
-- Kimberly Elkins, "What Is Visible", The Atlantic, March 2003

In telling these people's stories Mr. Butler draws upon the same gifts of empathy and insight, the same ability to limn an entire life in a couple of pages.
-- Michiko Kakutani, "Earthlings May Endanger Your Peaceful Rationality", New York Times, March 10, 2000

But used faithfully and correctly, language can "limn the actual, imagined and possible lives of its speakers, readers, writers."
-- John Darnton, "In Sweden, Proof of The Power Of Words", New York Times, December 8, 1993

Limn is from Middle English limnen, alteration of luminen, from enluminen, from Medieval French enluminer, from Late Latin illuminare, "to illuminate," ultimately from Latin lumen, "light."

plenary

plenary \PLEE-nuh-ree; PLEN-uh-ree\, adjective:

1. Full in all respects; complete; absolute; as, plenary authority.
2. Fully attended by all qualified members.

Judges like to quote a 1936 Supreme Court opinion that spoke of "the very delicate, plenary and exclusive power of the President as the sole organ of the Federal Government in the field of international relations."
-- "Like Interpreting the Dreams of Pharaoh", New York Times, November 6, 1988

Tito called a plenary session of the Central Committee.
-- Milovan Djilas, Fall of the New Class

Plenary comes from Late Latin plenarius, from Latin plenus, "full." It is related to plenty.

synecdoche

synecdoche \si-NEK-duh-kee\, noun:

a figure of speech by which a part is put for the whole or whole for a part or general for the special or vice versa

Photographers had to resort to visual synecdoche, hoping that a small part of the scene -- a wailing child, an emaciated mother, a pile of corpses in a freshly dug trench -- would suggest the horrors of the whole.
-- Paul Gray, Looking At Cataclysms, Time, August 1, 1994

We're using the part-for-whole type of synecdoche, for instance, when we describe a smart person as a "brain."
-- We Live by the Brand, Hartford Courant, August 9, 1995

By 1388, from Middle Latin synodoche, from Late Latin synecdoche, from Greek synekdokhe, literally "a receiving together or jointly," from synekdekhesthai "supply a thought or word, take with something else," from syn- "with" + ek "out" + dekhesthai "to receive," related to dokein "seem good".

malfeasance

malfeasance \mal-FEE-zuhn(t)s\, noun:

Wrongdoing, misconduct, or misbehavior, especially by a public official.

But more often than not the same board members who were removed by the chancellor for malfeasance subsequently manage to get reelected in a political process that defies any form of accountability.
-- Diane Ravitch and Joseph Viteritti, New Schools for a New Century

Cagney family conjecture was that Grandpop Nelson, with the temper of a dozen Furies, had likely committed some malfeasance in his native town forcing him to change his name when he left.
-- John McCabe, Cagney

Malfeasance is derived from Old French malfaisant, present participle of malfaire, "to do evil," from Latin malefacere, from male, "badly" + facere, "to do."

bailiwick

bailiwick \BAY-luh-wik\, noun:

1. A person's specific area of knowledge, authority, interest, skill, or work.
2. The office or district of a bailiff.

I'll give it a try, but this is not my bailiwick.
-- Sue Grafton, 'L' Is for Lawless

He "professed ignorance, as of something outside my bailiwick."
-- Marc Aronson, "Wharton and the House of Scribner: The Novelist as a Pain in the Neck", New York Times, January 2, 1994

Fund-raising was Cliff's bailiwick, anyway, and he seemed to have it in hand.
-- Curt Sampson, The Masters

Bailiwick comes from Middle English baillifwik, from baillif, "bailiff" (ultimately from Latin bajulus, "porter, carrier") + wik, "town," from Old English wic, from Latin vicus, "village."

alfresco

alfresco \al-FRES-koh\, adverb:

1. In the open air; outdoors.
2. Taking place or located in the open air; outdoor.

Turner escaped from the entangled politics of London's art world, where the Royal Academy was marooned in petty disputes, to paint alfresco on the riverbanks.
-- Siri Huntoon, "Down by the Riverside", New York Times, November 7, 1993

Outdoor sitting areas all have LAN connections, so that employees can work alfresco.
-- Scott Kirsner, "Digital Competition - Laurie A. Tucker", Fast Company, December 1999

I sailed past alfresco cafes filled with young people reading the paper, past restaurants doing a thriving brunch business, and ended up dropping down a fairly steep hill to the water yet again, on an obscure street that ended near a big factory.
-- Gary Kamiya, "An ode to Sydney", Salon, September 27, 2000

Alfresco is from the Italian al fresco, "in the fresh (air)," from al, "in the" (a, "to, in" + il, "the") + fresco, "fresh."

2008/10/19 Doctor Dictionary <doctor@dictionary.com>

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Word of the Day for Saturday, October 18, 2008 alfresco \al-FRES-koh\, adverb: 1. In the open air; outdoors. 2. Taking place or located in the open air; outdoor. Turner escaped from the entangled politics of London's art world, where the Royal Academy was marooned in petty disputes, to paint alfresco on the riverbanks. -- Siri Huntoon, "Down by the Riverside", New York Times, November 7, 1993 Outdoor sitting areas all have LAN connections, so that employees can work alfresco. -- Scott Kirsner, "Digital Competition - Laurie A. Tucker", Fast Company, December 1999 I sailed past alfresco cafes filled with young people reading the paper, past restaurants doing a thriving brunch business, and ended up dropping down a fairly steep hill to the water yet again, on an obscure street that ended near a big factory. -- Gary Kamiya, "An ode to Sydney", Salon, September 27, 2000 Alfresco is from the Italian al fresco, "in the fresh (air)," from al, "in the" (a, "to, in" + il, "the") + fresco, "fresh." Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for alfresco Yesterday's Word - Previous Words - Help
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expeditious

expeditious \ek-spuh-DISH-uhs\, adjective:

Characterized by or acting with speed and efficiency.

His problem was to get from Lookout Valley to Chattanooga Valley in the most expeditious way possible.
-- Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs

The criminal may of course use some short-term act of violence to 'terrorize' his victim, such as waving a gun in the face of a bank clerk during a robbery in order to ensure the clerk's expeditious compliance.
-- Bruce Hoffman, Inside Terrorism

Expeditious is derived from Latin expeditus, "unshackled, unimpeded, ready for action," from expedire, "to free (one's feet) from a snare; hence, to get out, to set free, to get ready for action," from ex-, "out of" + pes, ped-, "foot."

misprize

misprize \mis-PRYZ\, transitive verb:

1. To hold in contempt.
2. To undervalue.

I hesitate to appear to misprize my native city, but how can the history of dear, sedate old London town possibly compare to Paris for sheer excitement?
-- Alistair Horne, Seven Ages of Paris

Or did he misprize such fidelity and harden his heart against so great a love as hers?
-- Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, translated by Guido Waldman

Alternatively, when disagreements are noticed, they may by chance be overemphasized by those who misprize their significance by failing to assess the pressure exerted by economic and institutional factors as opposed to the purely intellectual.
-- Ellen Handler Spitz, "Warrant for trespass/ permission to peer", The Art Bulletin, December 1, 1995

Misprize comes from Middle French mesprisier, from mes-, "amiss, wrong" + prisier, "to appraise."

waylay

waylay \WAY-lay\, transitive verb:

1. To lie in wait for and attack from ambush.
2. To approach or stop (someone) unexpectedly.

When his mother praised certain well-behaved and neatly dressed boys in the village, Jung was filled with hate for them, and would waylay and beat them up.
-- Frank McLynn, Carl Gustav Jung

He returned to her night after night, until his brother, Frank, waylaid him one evening outside Harriet's cabin and beat him bloody.
-- Lynne Olson, Freedom's Daughters

Furious and humiliated, the boy waylaid Martha after school.
-- Julian Barnes, England, England

The women, who hold wicker baskets filled with flowers and incense, are out to waylay tourists and to entice them into buying the blooms and scents.
-- Jacob Heilbrunn, "Mao More Than Ever", New Republic, April 21, 1997

Waylay comes from way (from Old English weg) + lay (from Old English lecgan).

otiose

otiose \OH-shee-ohs; OH-tee-\, adjective:

1. Ineffective; futile.
2. Being at leisure; lazy; indolent; idle.
3. Of no use.

Mr. Federspiel's surreal flourishes and commentaries straddle the line between interesting and otiose. Most of the surrealism is pretty but pointless.
-- D. F. Wallace, "The Million-Dollar Tattoo", New York Times, May 5, 1991

Although the wild outer movements and the angular Minuet can take such clockwork precision, the Andante, with its obsessive, claustrophobic dialogues between strings and bassoons, seemed sluggish and otiose.
-- Tim Ashley, "VPO/Maazel", The Guardian, April 16, 2002

The umlaut he affected, which made no difference to the pronunciation of his name, was as otiose as a pair of strategically positioned beauty spots.
-- Peter Conrad, "Hidden shallows", New Statesman, October 14, 2002

One hazard for religions in which all professional intermediaries are dispensed with, and in which the individual is enjoined to 'work out your own salvation' and is regarded as fully capable of doing so, is that belief and practice become independent of formal organized structures which may in such a context come to be perceived as otiose.
-- Lorne L. Dawson, "The Cultural Significance of New Religious Movements: The Case of Soka Gakkai", Sociology of Religion, Fall 2001

Otiose is from Latin otiosus, "idle, at leisure," from otium, "leisure."

sobriquet

sobriquet \SO-brih-kay; -ket; so-brih-KAY; -KET\, noun:

A nickname; an assumed name; an epithet.

In addition to his notorious amours, he became distinguished for a turbulent naval career, particularly for the storms he weathered, thus bringing him the sobriquet "Foulweather Jack".
-- Phyllis Grosskurth, Byron: The Flawed Angel

At a small reception on the occasion of my twenty-fifth anniversary in this position, my good friend Izzy Landes raised a glass and dubbed me the Curator of the Curators, a sobriquet I have worn with pride ever since.
-- Alfred Alcorn, Murder in the Museum of Man

There was an omnivorous intellect that won him the family sobriquet of Walking Encyclopedia.
-- Eric Liu, The Accidental Asian

Sobriquet is from the French, from Old French soubriquet, "a chuck under the chin, hence, an affront, a nickname."

euphonious

euphonious \yoo-FOH-nee-uhs\, adjective:

Pleasing or sweet in sound; smooth-sounding.

She combines alliteration and deft word choices with the grace of an oral storyteller, creating euphonious and precise sentences that are perfect for reading aloud.
-- Amy L. Cohn, "Children's Books", New York Times, March 10, 1991

Einstein originally proposed the more appropriate (but less euphonious) title of "theory of invariants" for his work, but gave up pushing for it when "relativity" caught the public's imagination.
-- James Trefil, "The Most Beautiful Theories Are The Truest", New York Times, October 5, 1986

In the first draft, their names had been alphabetized, but during a speech session Rosenman and Sherwood suddenly perceived the more euphonious sequence of Martin, Barton, and Fish.
-- Carol Gelderman, All the Presidents' Words

Early in life, on the basis of my easy grasp of biological nomenclature and what I consider aesthetic reasons -- all those euphonious names -- I resolved to be a medical doctor.
-- Paul Theroux, Fresh Air Fiend: Travel Writings, 1985-2000

Euphonious comes from Greek euphonos, "sweet-voiced," from eu-, "well" (hence "sweetly") + phonos, from phone, "voice, sound." The noun form is euphony.

plaudit

plaudit \PLAW-dit\, noun:

1. A round or demonstration of applause.
2. Enthusiastic approval; an expression of praise.

A large, robust man, he had earned the plaudits bestowed on him at that testimonial dinner through a lifetime of earnest toil.
-- James T. Fisher, Dr. America

The aim of the wise man was no longer the plaudits of the masses but autarkeia, or self-sufficiency.
-- Peter France, Hermits: The Insights of Solitude

Despite the plaudits her work received, her particular emphasis did not gain many adherents for more than a generation.
-- Michael Kammen, American Culture, American Tastes

Plaudit is from Latin plaudite, "applaud" (said by players at the end of a performance), from plaudere, "to applaud."

legerdemain

legerdemain \lej-ur-duh-MAIN\, noun:

1. Sleight of hand.
2. A display of skill, trickery, or artful deception.

We are inclined to regard the treatment of [paradoxes] . . . as a mere legerdemain of words.
-- Benjamin Jowett, Dialogues of Plato

Their alleged legerdemain at the blackjack table and roulette wheel of the luxurious Salle Anglaise was caught on closed-circuit television.
-- "Double dealing puts Monte Carlo in a spin", Daily Telegraph, February 23, 1997

There is a certain knack or legerdemain in argument.
-- Shaftesbury, Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times

Legerdemain is from Old French leger de main, literally "light of hand": leger, "light" + de, "of" + main, "hand."

aficionado

aficionado \uh-fish-ee-uh-NAH-doh\, noun:

An enthusiastic admirer; a fan.

An aficionado of Chinese food, Diffie was also known for carrying around a pair of elegant chopsticks, much the way a serious billiard player totes his favorite cue.
-- Steven Levy, Crypto

Aficionados of spy fiction may find the plot by itself enough to keep them reading -- the book is certainly never boring.
-- Erik Tarloff, "Hanky Versus Panky", New York Times, July 16, 2000

For one thing, they listened to classical records together; Sagan was a real aficionado of the musical masters.
-- Keay Davidson, Carl Sagan: A Life

Aficionado derives from Spanish aficionar, "to induce a liking for," from afición, "a liking for."

circumlocution

circumlocution \sir-kuhm-loh-KYOO-shuhn\, noun:

The use of many words to express an idea that might be expressed by few; indirect or roundabout language.

Dickens gave us the classic picture of official heartlessness: the government Circumlocution Office, burial ground of hope in "Little Dorrit."
-- "Balance of Hardships", New York Times, September 28, 1999

In a delightful circumlocution, the Fed chairman said that "investors are probably revisiting expectations of domestic earnings growth".
-- "US exuberance is proven 'irrational'", Irish Times, October 31, 1997

Courtesies and circumlocutions are out of place, where the morals, health, lives of thousands are at stake.
-- Charles Kingsley, Letters

Prefer the single word to the circumlocution.
-- H.W. Fowler, The King's English

Circumlocution comes from Latin circumlocutio, circumlocution-, from circum, "around" + loquor, loqui, "to speak."

implacable

implacable \im-PLAK-uh-bull\, adjective:

Not placable; not to be appeased; incapable of being pacified; inexorable; as, an implacable foe.

For it is my office to prosecute the guilty with implacable zeal.
-- Paola Capriolo, Floria Tosca (translated by Liz Heron)

He... then continued on up the road, his shoulders bent beneath the implacable sun.
-- Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Fencing Master

She conducted her life and her work with all the steady and implacable seriousness of a steamroller.
-- "The Stein Salon Was The First Museum of Modern Art", New York Times, December 1, 1968

Implacable ultimately comes from Latin implacabilis, from in-, not + placabilis, placable, from placo, placare, to soothe, calm, appease.

officious

officious \uh-FISH-uhs\, adjective:

Marked by excessive eagerness in offering services or advice where they are neither requested nor needed; meddlesome.

Ian Holm plays a well-meaning but officious lawyer who tries to make the grieving families sue for damages.
-- John Simon, "Minus Four", National Review, February 9, 1998

The guy was an officious twerp, but Luke and Pete were vagrants, and a railroad employee had the right to throw them out.
-- Ken Follett, Code to Zero

Why don't you mind your own business, ma'am? roared Bounderby. "How dare you go and poke your officious nose into my family affairs?"
-- Charles Dickens, Hard Times

Officious comes from Latin officiosus, obliging, dutiful, from officium, dutiful action, sense of duty, official employment, from opus, a work, labor + -ficere, combining form of facere, to do, to make. It is related to official, of or pertaining to an office or public trust.

rubicund

rubicund \ROO-bih-kund\, adjective:

Inclining to redness; ruddy; red.

The men are second cousins, around forty, resembling each other not very much, one taller and leaner, less rubicund than the other, who has just returned from California.
-- John Lukacs, A Thread of Years

Rubicund from his cocktail, big, broad, lustrous with power, he exuded what Walter Pater called the "charm of an exquisite character, felt in some way to be inseparable from his person."
-- Edmund Morris, Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan

Rubicund comes from Latin rubicundus, "red, ruddy," from rubere, "to be red."

volte-face

volte-face \vawlt-FAHS; vawl-tuh-\, noun:

An about-face; a reversal, as in policy or opinion.

I was eventually eased out of the organisation, but not before British policy had performed a volte-face on Cyprus, the colony had gained independence, and yesterday's political wisdoms had suddenly been repudiated.
-- George Urban, Radio Free Europe and the Pursuit of Democracy

In a sudden volte-face, he seemed to accept the agreement; then, when the besieged forces came out to embark, he had their barges held in port.
-- Richard Eder, "Just Wild About Horatio", New York Times, November 7, 1999

Suddenly confronted with the imminent ruin of Angela Lyne, his former mistress, who is drinking herself to death out of loneliness, he does the first real volte-face of his life by returning to her.
-- L.E. Sissman, "Evelyn Waugh: The Height of His Powers", The Atlantic, March 1972

Volte-face comes from French, from Italian voltafaccia, from volta, "turn" + faccia, "face."

littoral

littoral \LIH-tuh-rul\, adjective:

1. Of, relating to, or on a coastal or shore region, especially a seashore.
2. A coastal region, especially the zone between the limits of high and low tides.

Professor Henslow tells me, he believes that nearly all the plants which I brought from these islands, are common littoral species in the East Indian archipelago.
-- Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle

A country that is landlocked or has few neighbors will be more vulnerable than one that is littoral or extensive.
-- Franklin L. Lavin,, "Asphyxiation or Oxygen? The Sanctions Dilemma", Foreign Policy, September-October 1996

Like 49ers staking claims in California, the five littoral nations have asserted overlapping territorial claims in the Caspian itself.
-- Richard Stone, "Caspian Ecology Teeters On the Brink", Science, January 18, 2002

As the Portuguese moved south along the Upper Guinea Coast along the littoral of Sierra Leone, a region known as the Windward Coast, they entered another major area of rice cultivation.
-- Judith A. Carney, Black Rice: The African Origins of Rice Cultivation in the Americas

Littoral derives from Latin littoralis, litoralis, from litor-, litus, "the seashore."

donnybrook

donnybrook \DON-ee-brook\, noun:

1. A brawl; a free-for-all.
2. A heated quarrel or dispute.

But this was the beginning of Tommy's years of fighting back, a period that ended in a donnybrook conducted all over the O'Connor house.
-- Tracy Kidder, Home Town

Wine and talk flow freely, so much so that the meal ends with a Rooney family donnybrook over, typically enough, religion and politics.
-- Howard Frank Mosher, "24 Hours in Due East, S.C.", New York Times, April 7, 1991

The author finds few villains in "West Virginia's Battle of the Books," which describes a donnybrook over the content of public school textbooks during the mid-70's in the "seemingly placid community" of Charleston, W.Va.
-- Kaye Northcott, "Round Up the Usual Enigmas", New York Times, February 23, 1992

A donnybrook is so called after Donnybrook, Ireland, a suburb of Dublin that once held an annual fair known for its brawls.

slugabed

slugabed \SLUHG-uh-bed\, noun:

One who stays in bed until a late hour; a sluggard.

Nemecek's business is not for slugabeds. He opens for business every weekday at 4 a.m.
-- Drew Fetherston, "He Can Really Make Pigs Fly", Newsday, December 12, 1994

I found Oriana, as usual, up before me, for I always was a sad slugabed.
-- W. Hurton, Doomed Ship

All save Whit elected to sleep in that morning. Whit came back to report that he had spotted the tracks of a doe and a fawn made in the new snow directly beneath my unoccupied stand, and I regretted being a slugabed.
-- "Paying Tribute to Deer in Minnesota Woods", New York Times, December 6, 1998

Slugabed is from slug, "sluggard" + abed, "in bed."