hidebound

hidebound \HAHYD-bound\, adjective:

narrow-minded and stubborn

In recent years, there has been another voice on the scene -- one that has infused this hidebound, somewhat predictable genre with an unsettling energy
-- Daphne Merkin, Retirement Benefits, New York Times, December 17, 2000

They were class-bound, hidebound and incapable of expressing their emotions
-- Jeremy Paxman, The English

by 1559, from hide "cattle skin" + past tense of bind. Original reference is to emaciated cattle with skin sticking closely to backbones and ribs; metaphoric sense of "restricted by narrow attitudes" is first recorded 1603.

declaim

declaim \di-KLEYM\, verb:

to orate; to speak in a loud and emotional manner

What is the clue to understanding a country rife with despair and disrepair, which nonetheless moved a Mughal emperor to declaim, "If on earth there be paradise of bliss, it is this, it is this, it is this ...?"
-- Shashi Tharoor, India: From Midnight to Millennium

The heavies declaim prolix monologues on evil in a godless universe.
-- Robert Polito, Trackers, New York Times, March 29, 1998

c 1385, from Latin declamare, from de- intensifying prefix + clamare "to cry, shout". At first in England, spelled declame, but altered under influence of claim.

openhanded

openhanded \OH-puhn-HAN-did\, adjective:

1. giving freely; generous
2. done with an open hand

From his mother's mother he inherited a sense of fete and a gift for cosmopolitan and open-handed hospitality.
-- John Russell, A Magnificent Mischief-Maker, New York Times, July 27, 1997

Lucius remembers his father as a warmhearted, larger-than-life but openhanded man.
-- Janet Burroway, Still Looking for Mr. Watson, New York Times, November 23, 1997

by 1593, open + handed

peculate

peculate \PEK-yuh-leyt\, verb:

to steal money or goods entrusted to one; embezzle

Not surprisingly, they use their positions to demand bribes and peculate public funds.
-- Christian Parenti, Taliban Rising, The Nation, December 10, 2006

by 1715, from Latin peculatus/ peculari "to embezzle," from peculum "private property"

beseech

beseech \bi-SEECH\, verb;
beseech, besought or beseeched, beseeching:

to ask earnestly; implore

In this purgatory, the narrator feels threatened by more recent emigres who beseech him for help and force him to face the hard fact of his own displacement.
-- Laura Winters, Moscow on the Thames, New York Times, January 5, 1997

"Spare your poor children these vulgarities, I beseech you," his wife might protest, to hone her point that he was not a gentleman.
-- Peter Matthiessen, Bone by Bone

c 1175, Old English bisecen "to beseech, beg urgently," from be- + Middle English secen "to seek"

ellipsis

ellipsis \i-LIP-sis\, noun:

three dots used to show an omission in writing or printing; the omission of a word or words in text

These efforts are to no avail, however, because the author can't leave anything unsaid, any ellipsis gaping: sooner or later someone will say what everything means, and maybe more than once.
-- Frank Rich, Arthur Miller's 'Danger: Memory!', New York Times, February 9, 1987

Mr. Gabler postulates the skip of an eye from one ellipsis to another, leading to the omission of several lines -- the longest omission in the book.
-- Richard Ellmann, Finally, the Last Word on 'Ulysses': The Ideal Text, and Portable Too, New York Times, June 15, 1986

by 1570, from Latin ellipsis, from Greek elleipsis "a falling short, defect, ellipse," from elleipein "to fall short, leave out," from en- "in" + leipein "to leave." Grammatical sense first recorded 1612.

nocuous

nocuous \NOK-yoo-uhs\, adjective:

very hurtful; noxious

The most important conclusions are that the bile of nocuous or venomous serpents is the most powerful antidote to venom.
-- Nature, May-October 1898

"Let us take for example a nocuous stimulus, such as a strong electric current or wounding or cauterization of the skin."
-- Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, Conditioned Reflexes

by 1627 from Latin nocuus "hurtful," from root of nocere "to injure, harm," from causative form of Proto Indo-European *nek- "death."

hermetic

hermetic \hur-MET-ik\, adjective:

1. closed tightly; airtight
2. obscure; magical

French control of the border in barring foreign volunteers is so hermetic that Mrs. Stattelman, a former Red Cross nurse who served with the French Army during the World War and is a Swiss citizen, 60 years old, was refused a passport into Spain both at Toulouse and Bordeaux.
-- Ernest Hemingway, Hemingway Finds France is Neutral, New York Times, March 17, 1937

Even the famous obscurity of some of his poetry seems driven by this desire always to be seen setting forth; what is a hermetic idiom but the sign of a new language getting itself under way?
-- Nicholas Jenkins, A Life of Beginnings, New York Times, January 4, 1998

by 1663, "completely sealed," also (1637) "dealing with occult science or alchemy," from Latin hermeticus, from Greek Hermes, god of science and art, among other things, identified by Neoplatonists, mystics, and alchemists with the Egyptian god Thoth as Hermes Trismegistos "Thrice-Great Hermes," who supposedly invented the process of making a glass tube airtight (a process in alchemy) using a secret seal.

tautological

tautological \taw-TOL-uh-guh-kuhl\, adjective:

unnecessarily or uselessly repetitive

Perhaps the very term novel of ideas is tautological, for what novel is barren of ideas, unshaped by ideas?
-- Joyce Carol Oates, Loving the Illusions, New York Times, July 17, 1983

It may sound tautological to suggest that he wrote historically, because that was the way his culture had taught him to think, but that is the case nonetheless.
-- Donald Harman Akenson, Surpassing Wonder

by 1620 from tautologic, from Late Latin tautologia "representation of the same thing", from Greek tautologia, from tautologos "repeating what has been said," from tauto "the same" + -logos "saying," related to legein "to say"

consternation

consternation \kon-ster-NEY-shuhn\, noun:

sudden dread or paralyzing terror

To our consternation, the phone rang just as we were about to leave.

by 1611, from French consternation, from Latin consternationem, from consternare "overcome, confuse, dismay," from com- intensive prefix + sternare "throw down"

burnish

burnish \BUR-nish\, verb, noun:

1. to make shiny by polishing
2. a polish or shine

A burnish on the copper pots made them very attractive.

The craftsman burnished and refurbished metalworks.

c.1325, from Old French burniss-, extended stem of burnir, metathesis of brunir "to make brown/bright, polish," from brun "brown, polished," from a Germanic source

interminable

interminable \in-TUR-muh-nuh-buhl\, adjective:

so long as to seem endless; never stopping

The mother-in-law's talking was interminable.

c.1374, from Late Latin interminabilis, from in- "not" + terminabilis

pinchbeck

pinchbeck \PINCH-bek\, noun, adjective:

1. an alloy of zinc and copper used to imitate gold in jewelry-making; by extension, something counterfeit; an imitation
2. not genuine; fake

Watch out for the pinchbeck on the auction site.

We laughed at the pinchbeck heroism in the movie.

by 1734, named for Christopher Pinchbeck (c1670-1732), London watchmaker, who developed the alloy

myopia

myopia \mahy-OH-pee-uh\, noun:

1. an abnormal eye condition in which only closeup objects are seen clearly; nearsightedness
2. shortsightedness; lack of foresight

She wears contact lenses for myopia.

His myopia left him without supplies after the storm.

by 1727, medical Latin, from Late Greek myopia, from myops "near-sighted," from myein "to shut" + ops "eye"

expurgate

expurgate \EK-sper-geyt\, verb:

to remove objectionable words or passages from a document

Grimms' fairy tales have been expurgated for children.

by 1621, from Latin expurgat-, from expurgare, from ex- + purgare "to make clean"

froward

froward \FROH-werd\, adjective:

not easily managed; contrary

The mule is a froward animal.

c. 1300, Old English fromweard "turned from or away," from from + -weard. The opposite of toward, it was Latin pervertus in early translations of the Psalms, and also meant "about to depart, departing," and "doomed to die."

tome

tome \tohm\, noun:

a large, often scholarly, book

An unabridged dictionary is a tome.

by 1519, from Middle French tome, from Latin tomus "section of a book, tome," from Greek tomos "volume, section of a book," originally "section, piece cut off," from temein "to cut," from Proto Indo-European *tom-/*tem- "to cut." Originally "a single volume of a multi-volume work;" sense of "a large book" is attested from 1573.

osteopath

osteopath \OS-tee-uh-path\, noun:

a practitioner specializing in treatment chiefly by manipulation of the bones and muscles

An osteopath considers that the structure and functions of the body are interdependent and any structural deformity may lead to functional breakdown.

by 1896, Americanism, back formation of osteopathy (osteo- "bone")

toady

toady \TOH-dee\, noun, verb:

1. a fawning flatterer; humble dependent
2. to attempt to gain favor by fawning or being servile

The freshman was the senior's toady even though many made fun of her.

They came backstage and toadied to the actor.

c 1690 for noun, possibly shortened from toad-eater "fawning flatterer," originally referring to the assistant of a charlatan, who ate a toad (believed to be poisonous) to enable his master to display his skill in expelling the poison. The verb is recorded from 1827.

highhanded

highhanded \HAHY-HAN-did\, adjective:

acting or done in a bold, arbitrary way

He wants to be seen as less bossy and highhanded.

by 1631, from "a high hand: with imperious or absolute exercise of power" c 1382

denigrate

denigrate \DEN-i-greyt\, verb:

to attack the character or reputation of; defame

My sister denigrates her husband in every conversation.

by 1526, from Latin denigratus/denigrare "to blacken, defame," from de- "completely" + nigr-, stem of niger "black," of unknown origin.

erstwhile

erstwhile \URST-hwahyl\, adjective, adverb;
Also used as an adverb, meaning formerly.:

former

Before I move, I will tell off my erstwhile friends.

by 1569, from Middle English erest "soonest, earliest" + while.

unwitting

unwitting \uhn-WIT-ing\, adjective:

not knowing; unaware; unintentional

We are unwitting victims of the system.

c 893, Old English unwitende, from un- (1) "not" + witting. Rare after c.1600; revived c.1800.

virtuoso

virtuoso \vur-choo-OH-soh\, noun, adjective;
pl. virtuosos, virtuosi:

1. a person skilled in the techniques of an art, esp. playing a musical instrument; by extension, a person with a cultivated appreciation of artistry
2. showing mastery in artistic skills

They applauded the virtuoso's performance.

Her virtuoso singing landed her a free graduate education at Yale.

c. 1651, from Italian virtuoso, from Late Latin virtuosus. The meaning "person with great skill" (as in music) is first attested 1743.

defalcate

defalcate \di-FAL-keyt\, verb:

to steal or misuse money or property entrusted to one's care

The stockbroker defalcated millions from investment clients.

c 1540, from Latin defalcere, from de- + falx/falcem "sickle, scythe"

chaff

chaff \chaf\, noun, verb:

1. the stiff strawlike part of grains such as wheat, oats, rye
2. to make good-natured fun of someone
3. worthless material; detritus

Chaff is separated from the grain by threshing.

It's hard to separate the chaff from the wheat sometimes.

The kids chaffed the exchange student for her mistakes in grammar.

c 1000, Old English ceaf, from Proto-Germanic *kaf-, *kef-. Chaffinch (Fringilla cælebs) is Old English ceaffinc

victuals

victuals \VIT-uhlz\, noun:

food or provisions, esp. for humans

Before the hurricane hit, we went to the store for victuals.

c 1303, vitaylle (singular), from Anglo-French and Old French vitaille, from Late Latin victualia "provisions," noun use of plural of victualis "of nourishment," from victus "livelihood, food, sustenance," from base of vivere "to live." Spelling altered by 1523 to conform with Latin, but pronunciation remains "vittles."

canine

canine \KEY-nahyn\, adjective:

1. of or like a dog or member of the dog family
2. any animal belonging to a group of meat-eaters including dogs, foxes, and wolves
3. pertaining to a canine tooth
4. one of the four teeth next to the incisors; cuspid

Several police departments with canine squads similar in size to the Prince George's unit reported few -- if any -- cases of dogs biting officers.
-- David S. Fallis and Craig Whitlock, The Washington Post, 2001-12-30

First came Netflix and Zipcar. Now comes a company that plans to rent dogs to Bostonians willing to pay steep fees for a canine friend without worry of commitment.
-- Sarah Schweitzer, Boston Globe, 2007-12-17

by 1398 as "pointed teeth," from Latin caninus "of the dog," from canis "dog," from Proto Indo-European base *kwon- "dog." The adjective is attested from 1613 and the noun meaning "dog" is first recorded 1869.