balustrade

balustrade \BAL-uh-strayd; bal-uh-STRAYD\, noun:

a railing at the side of a staircase or balcony to prevent people from falling

The camera is a couple of floors up, pointing out over the balustrade and down toward us on the ground floor.
-- Dan Zak, A Weekend in the Life of an Extra, Washington Post, April 26, 2003

Yet that brutal incursion proved a fatal miscalculation on Brezhnev's part and the final turning point in the cold war.
-- Douglas Brinkley, The Unfinished Presidency

by 1644, "row of balusters," from French balustrade, from Italian balaustrata "provided with balusters," from balaustro "pillar," from balausta "flower of the wild pomegranate," from Greek balaustion (perhaps of Semitic origin, cf. Aramaic balatz "flower of the wild pomegranate"). Staircase uprights had lyre-like double curves, like the calyx tube of the pomegranate flower.

eminent

eminent \EM-uh-nuhnt\, adjective:

1. high in station, rank, or repute; prominent, distinguished
2. conspicuous; noteworthy
3. high; lofty
4. standing out above other things; prominent

Several others of the most eminent artists of our country had urgently requested Mr. Dickens to sit to them for his picture and bust, but, having consented to do so to Alexander and Dexter, he was obliged to refuse all others for want of time.
-- G.W. Putnam, The Atlantic, October 1, 1870

Children who are to become eminent do not like schools or schoolteachers. Many famed men found their own homes more stimulating, preferred to skip school and read books omnivorously. Today's "regimented schools" would not consider them college material.
-- Victor Goertzel, The Gifted Child Quarterly, December 1, 1960

c.1420, from Latin eminentem, prp. of eminere "stand out, project," from ex- "out" + minere, related to mons "hill.". Eminence is first attested 1621; as a title of honor (now only of cardinals) it is attested from 1653.

cadence

cadence \KAYD-'n(t)s\, noun:

1. the measure or beat of music, dancing, or a regularly repeated movement
2. a rising and falling sound; modulation; also, the falling inflection of the voice, as at the end of a sentence
3. a series of chords bringing part of a piece of music to an end

I notice that when Hillary is experiencing turbulence she lapses into a rhetorical style similar to that of John McCain's: a sing-song rhythm in which every sentence is delivered with the exact same cadence and ends on the same predictable beat.
-- Jacques Berlinerblau, The God Vote, Washington Post, May 5, 2004

"Every pitcher has a body cadence and rhythm," says Brock. "Once you've learned to read it, you can tell whether he is about to make a pick-off throw, and you can know exactly when you can start toward second."
-- The Premier Pilferer, Time, July 14, 1970

Harmonic richness and variety entered victoriously where stereotyped cadences, barren and threadbare progressions, had reigned ad nauseam.
-- Carl Engel, Jazz: A Musical Discussion, The Atlantic, August 1, 1992

c.1384, "flow of rhythm in verse or music," from Middle French cadence, Old Italian cadenza "conclusion of a movement in music," literally "a falling," from Vulgar Latin *cadentia, from Latin cadens prp. of cadere "to fall." In the 16th century, sometimes used literally for "an act of falling." The Italian form cadenza was borrowed 1836 as a musical term for "ornamental passage near the close of a song or solo."

emollient

emollient \ih-MOL-yuhnt\, adjective:

1. softening or soothing
2. something that softens or soothes

But his more emollient approach, winning hearts and minds through old-fashioned forms of persuasion, will also be crucial to building a coalition willing to act against Saddam's most dangerous weapons.
-- J.F.O. McAllister, In The Line Of Fire, Time, March 24, 1998

He unties the red rag, sweat-blackened, from around his neck and, dressed only in his wide-brimmed hat, steps into the tub, his feet, so recently liberated, reveling in the emollient power of the steaming water, seasoned with bath salts whose aroma bespeaks a distant land, one where flowers grow, or grew.
-- Robert Coover, Ghost Town

During this anxious time, the little girl 'acted as a useful emollient to jaded nerves,' a kind of harp-playing David to the troubled Monarch's Saul.
-- Ben Pimlott, The Queen: A Biography of Elizabeth II

by 1643, from French emollient, from Latin emollientem, prp. of emollire "soften," from ex- "out" + mollire "soften," from mollis "soft."

reprobate

reprobate \REP-ruh-bayt\, noun, adjective:

1. a very wicked, unprincipled person; scoundrel
2. very wicked; unprincipled
3. to disapprove; condemn, censure
4. a person predestined to damnation, rejected by God
5. rejected by God; damned
6. to reject from salvation; predestine to eternal punishment

A reprobate and a drunkard in his youth, Tenskwatawa underwent a spiritual rebirth in 1805.
-- Chief of a Vanishing Empire," review of Tecumseh: A Life, by John Sugden,, New York Times, April 18, 1994

Qusay loathed Uday's drunken rampages and reprobate lifestyle.
-- Romesh Ratnesar, And Then There Was One, Time, August 3, 1999

Music-loving Governor 0. K. Allen is said to have pardoned the old reprobate as much for Irene as anything.
-- Good Night, Irene, Time, August 13, 1946

Dave's father is a salty old reprobate who once ran off with the family doctor's wife and returned only to booze away his social security money at the local bars.
-- Life Is a Four-Letter Word, New York Times, January 12, 1954

by 1545, "rejected as worthless," from Late Latin reprobatus, pp. of reprobare "disapprove, reject, condemn," from Latin re- "opposite of, reversal of previous condition" + probare "prove to be worthy.". The noun is recorded from 1545, "one rejected by God." Sense of "abandoned or unprincipled person" is from 1592. Earliest form of the word in English was a verb, meaning "to disapprove" (1432).

guerdon

guerdon \GUR-duhn\, noun:

1. a reward
2. to reward, pay back

How could anyone look at the happiness of the Beverley sisters, dolled up for the palace, and propose to snatch their prize away? Why be so cruel, when they have sung so lustily and for so long, and so well deserved their tinny guerdon?
-- Boris Johnson, Elect the Lords -- and stop our gongs going for a song, Daily Telegraph, March 29, 2002

The appalling realization that he has labored for a whole year, only to have the guerdon thus rudely snatched away, is almost too much for Hutch.
-- J.T.M., Old Hutch, New York Times, December 6, 1932

Thirteen dollars a month, so long as he remains a private, is the guerdon of the soldier, with free food, lodging, and medical attendance.
-- Our Pampered Policemen, New York Times, June 21, 1902

by 1366, "reward, recompense" (now only poetic), from Old French guerdon, from Middle Latin widerdonum, from Old High German widarlon and influenced in Middle Latin by Latin donum "gift"

escutcheon

escutcheon \ih-SKUHCH-uhn\, noun:

1. a shield decorated with a coat of arms
2. the protective metal plate around a keyhole and lock, drawer handle or pull, light switch, etc.
3. the panel on a ship's stern bearing her name

The news comes as a blow to Lafcad's older brother Andrew, the coolest head in the family, who is embarking on a campaign for state auditor and doesn't think another blot on the escutcheon will do much for his chances.
-- Charles Isherwood, Moonlight and Muddle for a Loopy New Orleans Family in 'Ridiculous Fraud, New York Times, May 15, 2002

Being drunk, disorderly and violent merits a crack on the head with a truncheon, a night in chokey and a blot on your escutcheon.
-- Ed West, Don't blame drinkers -- it's the problem drinks, Daily Telegraph, July 22, 2003

by 1480, from Old North French escuchon, variant of Old French escusson, from Latin scutum "shield"

nabob

nabob \NAY-bob\, noun:

1. a native ruler in India in the Mogul empire; by extension, a person from India who made a fortune there
2. a very wealthy and prominent person; mogul

I am not a nabob, but I live well.
-- Malcolm Moore, Sicilian reggae performer wows Jamaica, Daily Telegraph, January 18, 2004

This super nabob spent money as though it was water.
-- Arthur Daley, Lessons in Skulduggery, New York Times, September 16, 1939

Perhaps once worn by some nabob or his wife, it is today, of course, a museum piece, lent to the display by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
-- Italian Artisans Who Created New Fashion From an Ancient Style, New York Times, December 16, 2000

by 1612, "deputy governor in Mogul Empire," Anglo-Indian, from Hindi nabab, from Arabic nuwwab, honorific plural of na'ib "viceroy, deputy." This word was also used of Europeans who came home from India having made a fortune there, hence "very rich man" (1760).

Lucullan

Lucullan \loo-KUHL-uhn\, adjective:

rich; magnificent and luxurious

In many calorie-conscious families, mini-meals have replaced Lucullan feasts.
-- Jane Abrams, Lima News, November 9, 1964

Before the first fight, scholars fancied they could read a sturdy moral in the contrast between the champion's spartan existence and the challenger's Lucullan revels.
-- Oakland Tribune, June 14, 1956

When literary groups meet in Paris, they also tend to eat and during the November rite of book awards, luncheons may reach a Lucullan level.
-- Jeanne Molli, Paris Links Pleasures Of Table and the Mind, New York Times, November 18, 1958

by 1857, from Latin Lucullanus for Licinius Lucullus, a Roman general famous for his wealth and the luxury of his banquets

amatory

amatory \AM-uh-tor-ee; -tohr-\, adjective:

of love; expressing love, especially sexual

She's cranky, self-absorbed and a compulsive flirt with a long series of amatory conquests to her record.
-- Carol Shields, His Kisses Taste Like Bubble Gum," review of The Love Letter, by Cathleen Schine, New York Times, May 27, 1991

Even Piejack, who harbors a delusion that his mangled hand has an amatory upside, is at heart a pedestrian perv, and Boyd, the telemarketer, is more an annoyance than the end of the world.
-- John Leland, Key Party," review of Nature Girl, by Carl Hiaasen, New York Times, December 2, 2002

Therese at first seems cut from familiar femme-fatale cloth, and Jack seems a direct descendant of a long line of noir chumps who follow their amatory urges down hell's rabbit hole.
-- Eddie Muller, The dangers of rescuing damsels in so-called distress," review of Belonging, by Ron Butlin, San Francisco Chronicle, June 30, 2003

by 1599, from Latin amatorius "of or pertaining to love," from Latin amator "lover"

eminence grise

eminence grise \ay-mee-nahn(t)s-GREEZ\, noun:

a person who wields power or exerts influence behind the scenes

Some might hypothesize that Mr. Kissinger's perpetual re-emergence as eminence grise reflects the tendency of presidents to change their views after taking office and gradually move in Mr. Kissinger's direction.
-- James Mann, The Ghost of the Oval Office, New York Times, October 4, 2002

Considerably less known in the West than his comrades, he prefers the role of eminence grise.
-- They Made a Revolution, Time, November 5, 1968

As his detractors tell it, Bolland is an eminence grise--a postmodern Richelieu or Rasputin, conniving behind the throne.
-- Ginanne Brownell, By What Mysterious Alchemy Do You Turn The 'Harry Pothead' Scandal Into A Public-Relations Master Coup?, Newsweek, January 27, 1998

by 1838, French for "gray eminence"; originally used in French for Pere Joseph, a monk who was Cardinal Richelieu's confidential agent, for the gray habit he wore, in contrast to the Cardinal's red habit

affectation

affectation \af-ek-TAY-shuhn\, noun:

1. an artificial way of talking or behaving put on to impress others; pretense
2. an unnatural action, expression, or trait that indicates artificiality

In a culture of electricity and annual holidays, for example, to
pace one's work to the rhythm of the seasons or daylight would amount
to affectation.
-- Janet Burroway, Heartbreak Hotel," review of Martin Dressler:
The Tale of an American Dreamer, by Steven Millhauser, New York Times,
May 11, 1992

I had heard talk that Tosca, for all the dissolute life she led,
was a pious person who frequented churches with scrupulous regularity,
yet in this conduct I had always suspected a pose, an affectation.
-- Paola Capriolo, Floria Tosca (translated by Liz Heron)

I extended a hand out into the air for no reason, a professorial
affectation.
-- John Burnham Schwartz, Reservation Road

Wait! my father shouted with an affectation of sudden
comprehension. I recognize you!
-- Ev Ehrlich, Grant Speaks

by 1548, "studied display," from Latin affectationem, from affectare
"to strive for"

adulterate

adulterate \uh-DUHL-tuh-rayt\, verb:

1. to add an inferior, impure, or improper substance to; lower the quality or purity of a food or other substance without greatly altering the appearance; corrupt
2. debased by adulteration; adulterated

It would seem as if some men considered it a sin ever to sell a pure article, if it be possible to adulterate it with something cheaper.
-- Adulterated Drugs, Drinks, and Diet, New York Times, October 23, 1949

Industrial plant directors bent upon fulfilling the Plan adulterate their products to increase quantity.
-- Lance Morrow, The Inscrutable Soviets, Time, May 9, 1972

The disciples also promised not to adulterate milk with water, or flour with powdered stone.
-- Atomic Vows, Time, May 14, 1946

by 1505, from Latin adulterationem, from adulteratus, pp. of adulterare "corrupt, debauch," from ad- "to" + Late Latin alterare "to alter"

adduce

adduce \uh-DOOS; -DYOOS\, verb:

to offer as a reason in support of an argument; bring up as an example; give as proof or evidence; cite

Claude Chabrol defines absurdity as the gap between the awesome finality of death and the trivial reasons men adduce for killing or putting themselves in the way of being killed.
-- R.S., Plenty of Nada, Time, December 1, 1970

Nor does he adduce any historic arguments to prove that doctors make great governors of men, perhaps because such arguments are difficult to find.
-- Carrel's Man, Time, September 15, 1931

by 1616, from Latin adducere "lead to, bring to," from ad- "to" + ducere "to lead"

frowzy

frowzy \FROW-zee\, adjective:

1. dirty and untidy; slovenly
2. smelling bad; musty

"Lady," said a frowzy, spiritless panhandler, "c'n ya lemmee have a quarter to buy my little boy some milk?"
-- The Bleatniks, Time, August 10, 1957

Based on an old apartment building in Spokane, Wash., it is complete with frowzy lobby and stains on the wall that you wouldn't want to analyze too closely.
-- Jerry V. Haines, Minneapolis mind expansion, Los Angeles Times, August 13, 2001

The chief of staff's normally impeccable office had become a frowsy litter of coffee cups, cigarette butts, carbines and musette bags.
-- Frank Gibney, Help Seemed Far Away, Time, July 9, 1946

The cold wet shelterless midnight streets of London; the foul and frowsy dens, where vice is closely packed and lacks the room to turn; the haunts of hunger and disease; the shabby rags that scarcely hold together; where are the attractions of these things?
-- Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

by 1681, possibly related to dialect form frowsty "smelly," of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Old English þroh "rancid"

ensconced

ensconced \en-SKONST\, adjective:

1. sheltered comfortably and firmly
2. sheltered safely; hidden

Determined to make the continental crossing in style, Reed ensconced his wife and four children in an enormous, custom-built, two-story wagon, complete with sleeping bunks, upholstered seats and a built-in stove.
-- Bruce Barcott, Meals on Wheels: A novel of the Donner Party," review of Snow Mountain Passage, by James D. Houston, New York Times, April 7, 1997

Hamish is our puppet millionaire: an aged plant-tub tycoon, ensconced in a country house of sprawling vulgarity, he remains the befuddled pawn of his wife Gemma.
-- Martin Amis, Prose Is the Leading Lady," review of Words of Advice, by Fay Weldon, New York Times, October 1, 1973

Only when he was firmly ensconced in the prime minister's office, with the reins of power in his hands, did Atsuko Abe began to discuss his true agenda with his closest allies.
-- Stephen Coonts, Fortunes of War

by 1590, "to cover with a fort," from en- "make, put in" + sconce "small fortification, shelter," probably from Dutch schans "earthwork"

obsequies

obsequies \OB-sih-kweez\, noun:

funeral rites or ceremonies

The controversy that is to mark his obsequies surfaces soon after when two priests object that Pavarotti, a remarried divorcee, should be allowed to lie in state in the cathedral, "the highest symbol of Christianity in Modena".
-- Elizabeth Grice, Pavarotti's last great tragic role, Daily Telegraph, October 25, 2003

Similarly, when Elizabethan audiences watched Laertes protest the brief obsequies given his sister Ophelia, they knew that Catholics were furtively burying their loved ones with the old rites, while publicly holding fake burials with the "maimed rites."
-- Cynthia L. Haven, Papist Plots," review of Shadowplay: The Hidden Beliefs and Coded Politics of William Shakespeare, by Clare Asquith,, New York Times, August 13, 2001

c 1385 from Middle English obseque from Middle French, from Late Latin obsequiae, an alteration of Latin obsequia "compliance, dutiful service" and influenced by exsequiae "funeral rites"

soiree

soiree \swah-RAY\, noun:

an evening party or social gathering

Rose was reminiscing at a soiree I hosted on a recent sultry evening on Chicago's North Side.
-- Laura Washington, World still watching -- but now it's a love fest, Chicago Sun-Times, August 10, 2004

The couple will be honoured guests at this week's soiree and the evening's success will matter more to them than anyone.
-- Someone is saving your bacon, Daily Telegraph, April 5, 1998

by 1793, from French soirée, from soir "evening," from Old French soir, from Latin sero (adv.) "late, at a late hour," from serum "late hour," neuter of serus "late"

sidereal

sidereal \sy-DEER-ee-uhl\, adjective:

measured or determined by the daily motion of the stars; of or having to do with the stars or constellations

And everything flying away from everything else for fifteen or so billion years, affinities are established, sidereal liaisons, and the stars slowly drift around one another into rotating star groups or galaxies, and in great monumental motions the galaxies even more slowly convene in clusters, which clusters in turn distribute themselves in linear fashion, a great chain or string of superclusters billions of light-years on end.
-- E. L. Doctorow, City of God

Her description of the calendars that prefaced Books of Hours applies equally to her own book: they make up "a cycle of multiple resonances, spiritual and secular, terrestrial and sidereal, liturgical and agricultural, pagan and Christian, breathtaking in its richness and antiquity and in the geographical spread of its references, but also grounded in the here and now, the everyday".
-- Peter Parker, A remarkable English garden," review of The Morville Hours, by Katherine Swift,, Daily Telegraph, May 2, 2004

by 1634, "of or pertaining to the stars," earlier sideral (1594), from French sidereal (16th century), from Latin sidereus "starry, astral," from sidus "star, constellation," probably from Proto Indo-European base *sweid- "to shine"

horripilation

horripilation \haw-rip-uh-LAY-shuhn; ho-\, noun:

the act or process of the hair bristling on the skin, as from cold or fear; goose flesh

There are a few things capable of sending an icy horripilation through even the bravest man.
-- Who Will Provide Social Security?, Washington Times, June 11, 1996

This is not to say that the horripilation Iran's nuclear programme inspires is unjustified; nor is it to claim that no other state would seek to develop or maintain nuclear weapons if the official nuclear powers gave theirs up.
-- George Monbiot, Guardian, January 23, 2002

Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, Celebrity Paranormal Project is fascinating as a demonstration of physiological fear: dilated pupils, nausea, shallow breathing, horripilation, the mind-twisting power of expectation.
-- Vinay Menon, Out of body with Busey, Toronto Star, July 3, 2003

by 1623, from Latin horripilatio, from horripilare "to bristle" + pilus "hair"

intimation

intimation \in-tuh-MAY-shuhn\, noun:

an indirect or slight suggestion; hint

She had always had an intimation of her destiny: all her senses would go on the alert, as if bracing her for a blow-a terrible, crushing, powerful blow-of luck, whether good or bad.
-- Nina Berberova, Cape of Storms (translated by Marian Schwartz)

As it drew nearer he recognized it as a police car and some intimation of drama touched him, the prelude to some story, and he seated himself to watch.
-- William Gay, The Long Home

Jake Hersh, like Mordecai Richler himself a Canadian, is a television and film director living in London and struggling against that awful time in life when possibilities suddenly close and a dire intimation of finality sets in.
-- Jonathan Yardley, review of St. Urbain's Horseman, by Mordecai Richler, New York Times, June 26, 1967

A frightened, inarticulate maid weeping in the hall was their first intimation that something was wrong.
-- Annabel Davis-Goff, The Dower House

by 1442, from Late Latin intimationem "action of intimating," from intimare "to impress (upon), make known"

olfactory

olfactory \ol-FAK-tuh-ree; -tree; ohl-\, adjective:

of smell; having to do with smelling

What stirred this olfactory reminiscence was the confession of a Philadelphia newsman that the situation in his home town was "stinking."
-- Stinking, Time, October 26, 1937

Mr. Lichter's visitor inhaled the rich sour aroma of the establishement and remarked upon its olfactory munificence.
-- Richard F. Shepard, Pickles, Peppers and Other Puckery Palate-Pleasers, New York Times, March 30, 1971

by 1658, from Latin olfactorius, from olfactus, pp. of olfacere "to get the smell of, sniff," from olere "give off a smell of" + Latin facere "make"

mot juste

mot juste \moh-ZHOOST\, noun:

a word or phrase that exacts fits the case

The poet's concern for the mot juste nearly always makes his prose a thing of interest and beauty.
-- Robert Peel, Lyrical Impressions, Christian Science Monitor, September 19, 1930

"My west window," says the ancient Canon D'Ascoyne, showing a visitor around his ancient church, "has all of the..." he searches for the mot juste, "exuberance of Chaucer, without any of the... concomitant crudities."
-- Vincent Canby, Sir Alec: Amid the Laurels, Very Hardy, New York Times, April 25, 1983

With his high forehead, beard and meticulous concentration on the mot juste, Mr. MacNicol could almost pass for the great minor poet that Mark Van Doren deemed Richard to be.
-- Frank Rich, 'Richard II' in the Park, New York Times, July 9, 1983

from French mot "word" and juste "right"

footless

footless \FOOT-lihs\, adjective:

1. without a foot or feet
2. figuratively, without support; not substantial
3. inept, awkward

The argument of each league that it has the best team in the land is more footless than most such controversies, since the strongest teams play on courts of different sizes under rules differently interpreted.
-- Basketball: Midseason, Time, February 18, 1930

Alvarez thinks it fairly certain that the patient is wearing herself out with footless worry.
-- Hints for Busy Doctors, Time, August 15, 1939

There is occurring in international circles here a speculation, which may admittedly be footless, that the European Common Market may fly apart before the issue of British admission ever has to be resolved.
-- Frederic W. Collins, Economic Echoes, Christian Science Monitor, October 19, 1957

by 1398, from "foot" and "-less"

epicure

epicure \EP-ih-kyur\, noun:

1. a person who enjoys eating and drinking and who is very particular in choosing fine foods and beverages; gourmet
2. a person who is fond of luxury and pleasure

The journalists, bloggers, chefs and others who make up the Fat Pack combine an epicure's appreciation for skillful cooking with a glutton's bottomless-pit approach.
-- Kim Severson, The Fat Pack Wonders if the Party's Over, New York Times, March 18, 2004

While taking courses at City College in the late 1930's, he became active in its Young Communist League, where he stood out as the only black person, as a talented organizer and as an epicure who introduced his comrades to good wines, cheeses and pates.
-- Alan Brinkley, One Was a Multitude, New York Times, March 1, 1993

As a confirmed epicure, I have eaten just about every meat acceptable in the Western world.
-- Robert V. Camuto, My Verona, Washington Post, May 3, 2004

c.1380, "follower of Epicurus," from Latin Epicurus, from Greek Epicouros (341-270 B.C.E.), the Athenian philosopher who taught that pleasure is the highest good and identified virtue as the greatest pleasure; the first lesson recalled, the second forgotten, and the name used pejoratively for "one who gives himself up to sensual pleasure" (1641), especially "glutton, sybarite" (1774). Epicurus's school opposed by Stoics, who first gave his name a reproachful sense.

aquiline

aquiline \AK-wuh-lyn; -lin\, adjective:

1. curved like an eagle's beak
2. of or like an eagle

To a page at his court, Gian Maria Angiolello, he appeared 'of medium height, fat and fleshy; he had a wide forehead, large eyes with thick lashes, an aquiline nose, a small mouth with a round copious reddish-tinged beard, a short thick neck, a sallow complexion, rather high shoulders and a loud voice'.
-- Philip Mansel, Constantinople: City of the World's Desire, 1453-1924

At 72, he looks weathered but unbowed, his white hair cropped close like a Roman consul's, with a large, aquiline nose to match.
-- Anthony Quinn, Dirty young man comes of age, Daily Telegraph, June 14, 2001

1646, from Latin aquilinus "of or like an eagle," from aquila "eagle." Originally in English, referring to long, hooked noses.

addle

addle \AD-'l\, verb:

1. to make or become muddled or confused
2. to make or become rotten or putrid

As TV audiences saw, it was enough to addle Fellow Oscar Winner Jon Voight's brain for the rest of the night.
-- Frank Rich, Pros at Play, Time, May 6, 1975

United Nations troops waited to take up their posts as guards to ensure that no liquor, women or bribe money was smuggled in to addle the judgment of the Deputies.
-- Empty Campus, Time, July 13, 1957

You'd think you'd have to be seriously dumb to be fooled in this way but there's undeniably something about residential property, whether an investment or simply a family home, that can addle the brains of otherwise quite sensible people.
-- Liz Dolan, Money surgery: keep property out of pensions, Daily Telegraph, May 17, 2001

by 1712, from addle (n.) "urine, liquid filth," from Old English adela "mud, mire, liquid manure" (cognate with Old Swedish adel "urine," Middle Low German adel, Dutch aal "puddle"). Used in noun phrase addle egg (c.1250) "egg that does not hatch, rotten egg," literally "urine egg," a loan translation of Latin ovum urinum, which is itself an erroneous loan translation of Greek ourion oon "putrid egg," literally "wind egg," from ourios "of the wind" (confused by Roman writers with ourios "of urine," from ouron "urine"). Because of this usage, the noun in English was taken as an adjective from c. 1600, meaning "putrid," and thence given a figurative extension to "empty, vain, idle," also "confused, muddled, unsound" (1706). The verb followed.

abate

abate \uh-BAYT\, verb:

1. to make or become less in force or intensity; decrease or diminish
2. to be at an end; become null and void
3. to deduct from something; reduce

Chicago law requires the landlord to abate lead paint hazards and provides fines up to $500 for each violation.
-- Ed Sacks, Lead and asbestos worry mom, Chicago Sun-Times, July 14, 2004

Still, behind the scenes, he was desperately trying to cajole support from colleagues warily assessing whether the perfect storm that had engulfed him would abate--or sweep him into oblivion.
-- Howard Fineman, Ghosts Of The Past, Newsweek, December 22, 1998

But no one expects the Iraqi insurgency to miraculously vanish, or even significantly abate, in the weeks ahead.
-- Death of a Terrorist, Newsweek, June 18, 2002

c.1270, from Old French abattre "beat down," from Latin ad "to" + battuere "to beat"; secondary sense of "to fell, slaughter" is in abatis and abattoir