Etymology of Words

confabulation

2009-10-25T06:42:00.001+11:00

confabulation \kon-FAB-yuh-lay-shuhn\, noun:

1. Familiar talk; easy, unrestrained, unceremonious conversation.
2. (Psychology) A plausible but imagined memory that fills in gaps in what is remembered.

Their sentiments were reflected neither in the elegant exchanges between the Viceroy and Secretary of State, nor in the unlovely confabulations between the Congress and the League managers.
-- Mushirul Hasan, "Partition: The Human Cost", History Today, September 1997

Sigmund Freud, a stubborn, bullying interrogator of hysterical women, harangued his patients into building fantasies and traumas that fit into his grand narrative scheme, eliciting confabulations rather than actual memories.
-- Jennifer Howard, "Neurosis 1990s-Style", Civilization, April/May 1997

Once we had brokwn the back of the ascent, the road spanned pleasant but lonely pinewoods which scented the still air and led uf in mysterious hesitant fashion to the gates of the little town, the Porte Trapani, where Roberto got down for a long confabulation with a clerk from the Mairie while the rest of us set about digging into our luggage for pullovers.
-- Lawrence Durrell, Sicilian Carousel

Confabulation comes from Late Latin confabulatio, from the past participle of Latin confabulari, "to talk together," from con-, "together, with" + fabulari, "to talk." It is related to fable, "a fiction, a tale," and to fabulous, "so incredible or astonishing as to resemble or suggest a fable."

galumph

2009-10-23T22:11:00.001+11:00

galumph \guh-LUHM(P)F\, intransitive verb:

To move in a clumsy manner or with a heavy tread.

Then he climbed up the little iron ladder that led to the wharf's cap, placed me once more upon his shoulders and galumphed off again.
-- Alistair MacLeod, Island: The Complete Stories

Lizards patrol the . . . landscape, and giant tortoises galumph on the beaches.
-- Peter M. Nichols, "Galápagos", New York Times, March 30, 2001

As their owners ride tandem bikes, fly kites or run on the beach the dogs galumph alongside their masters grinning, I love you even if you are incontinent.
-- Ken Foster, Dog Culture: Writers on the Character of Canines

Galumph is probably an alteration of gallop. It was coined by Lewis Carroll in the nonsense poem "Jabberwocky."

aesthete

2009-10-23T14:16:00.001+11:00

aesthete \ES-theet\, noun:

One having or affecting great sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature.

Beijing, with its stolid, square buildings and wide, straight roads, feels like the plan of a first-year engineering student, while Shanghai's decorative architecture and snaking, narrow roads feel like the plan of an aesthete.
-- "Sky's the Limit in Shanghai", Los Angeles Times, April 25, 1999

But he was also an aesthete with a connoisseur's eye for the wild modernist innovations with letterforms and layout of the 1920s.
-- Rick Poynor, "Herbert Spencer", The Guardian, March 15, 2002

Where the standard Oxford aesthete of the 1920s had been showily dissipated, full of wild talk about decadence and beauty, Auden was preaching a new gospel of icy austerity and self-control.
-- Ian Hamilton, Against Oblivion

Aesthete is from Greek aisthetes, "one who perceives," from aisthanesthai, "to perceive."

scuttlebutt

2009-10-21T22:23:00.001+11:00

scuttlebutt \SKUHT-l-buht\, noun:

1. A drinking fountain on a ship.
2. A cask on a ship that contains the day's supply of drinking water.
3. Informal. Gossip; rumor.

What were they talking about? Sports? Neighborhood scuttlebutt? Off-color jokes? I didn't know; I knew only how exciting it was to see Dad in action.
-- Eric Liu, The Accidental Asian

It was written in the optimistic belief that open debate beats backroom scuttlebutt.
-- Jon Entine, Taboo

In snooping around, my mother overheard the pageant scuttlebutt, which was that Snow White was the big winner.
-- Delta Burke with Alexis Lipsitz, Delta Style

Scuttlebutt comes from scuttle, "a small opening" + butt, "a large cask" -- that is, a small hole cut into a cask or barrel to allow individual cups of water to be drawn out. The modern equivalent is the office water cooler, also a source of refreshment and gossip.

milieu

2009-10-21T11:16:00.001+11:00

milieu \meel-YUH; meel-YOO\, noun;
plural milieus or milieux \-(z)\:

Environment; setting.

These were agricultural areas, populated with prosperous farming families and rural artisans -- a completely different milieu from the Monferrands', which was more closed, more cultured, but less affluent.
-- Antoine de Baecque and Serge Toubiana, Truffaut

Half a century later, Zacarías still remembers . . . how they all played together without distinctions or hierarchy, and how easily Ernesto related to people from different social and cultural milieux.
-- Jorge G. Castaneda, Compañero

They write about their milieux, about where they live and work, and it can be fabulous.
-- Leslie Schenk, "Celebrating Mavis Gallant", World Literature Today, Winter 1998

Milieu is from French, from Old French, from mi, "middle" (from Latin medius) + lieu, "place" (from Latin locus).

fugacious

2009-10-19T22:32:00.001+11:00

fugacious \fyoo-GAY-shuhs\, adjective:

Lasting but a short time; fleeting.

As the rain conspires with the wind to strip the fugacious glory of the cherry blossoms, it brings a spring delicacy to our dining table.
-- Sarah Mori, "A spring delicacy", Malaysian Star

The thick, palmately lobed lead is lapped around the bud, which swiftly outgrows its protector, loses its two fugacious sepals, and opens into a star-shaped flower, one to each stem, with several fleshy white petals and a mass of golden stamens in the center.
-- Alma R. Hutchens, A Handbook of Native American Herbs

When he proposed the tax in May, Altman thought it would follow the fugacious nature of some flowers: bloom quickly and die just as fast.
-- Will Rodgers, "Parks proposal falls on 3-2 vote", Tampa Tribune, June 27, 2001

Fugacious is derived from Latin fugax, fugac-, "ready to flee, flying; hence, fleeting, transitory," from fugere, "to flee, to take flight." Other words derived from the same root include fugitive, one who flees, especially from the law; refuge, a place to which to flee back (re-, "back"), and hence to safety; and fugue, literally a musical "flight."

turbid

2009-10-19T14:03:00.001+11:00

turbid \TUR-bid\, adjective:

1. Muddy; thick with or as if with roiled sediment; not clear; -- used of liquids of any kind.
2. Thick; dense; dark; -- used of clouds, air, fog, smoke, etc.
3. Disturbed; confused; disordered.

Although both are found in the same waters, black crappies usually prefer clearer, quieter water, while white crappies flourish in warmer, siltier and more turbid water.
-- Tim Eisele, "Crappie Facts", Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin), May 8, 1998

Rough or smooth, the Irish Sea at Blackpool is always turbid. Beneath the murk float unspeakable things.
-- David Walker, "Is Labour right to end its affair with Blackpool? YES says David", Independent, March 26, 1998

Wesley's mind seems at this time to have been in a turbid and restless state.
-- W. B. Stonehouse, The History and Topography of the Isle of Axholme

Turbid comes from Latin turbidus, "confused, disordered," from turba, "disturbance, commotion."

innocuous

2009-10-18T09:13:00.001+11:00

innocuous \ih-NOK-yoo-uhs\, adjective:

1. Harmless; producing no ill effect.
2. Not likely to offend or provoke; as, "an innocuous remark."

Furthermore, the public, not knowing how to interpret certain facts and figures, may end up unfairly vilifying a company that uses only innocuous traces of a certain toxic chemical.
-- "Can Selfishness Save the Environment?", The Atlantic, September 13, 2000

Maybe Grandpop misunderstood that perfectly innocuous remark and thought the man said "smell." Anyway his temper crackled and exploded.
-- John McCabe, Cagney

Anything that reeks beyond a city block is an invisible snarling dog with unknown intentions, even if, in the right context, the smell itself would be innocuous. Therefore, people complain.
-- Luca Turin, What You Can't Smell Will Kill You, New York Times, January 21, 2007

Innocuous is from Latin innocuus, from in-, "not" + nocuus, "harmful," from nocere, "to harm." It is related to innocent, formed from in- + nocens, nocent-, "harming, injurious, hence criminal, guilty," from the present participle of nocere. Less common is the opposite of innocuous, nocuous.

redolent

2009-10-17T17:57:00.001+11:00

redolent \RED-uh-luhnt\, adjective:

1. Having or exuding fragrance; scented; aromatic.
2. Full of fragrance; odorous; smelling (usually used with 'of' or 'with').
3. Serving to bring to mind; evocative; suggestive; reminiscent (usually used with 'of' or 'with').

The 142-foot-long sidewheeled steamer . . . ferried people from place to place, . . . its two decks redolent with the aroma of fresh grapes, peaches, and other fruit headed for the rail spur at the Canandaigua pier, then on to markets in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
-- A. M. Sperber and Eric Lax, Bogart

The simple, semisweet and moist cake was redolent of cinnamon and nutmeg and studded with Mr. McCartney's favorite nuts, pecans.
-- Bryan Miller, "Lots of Smidgens, But Hold the Meat", New York Times, September 7, 1994

Backed by soaring sax and energetic percussion, Martin makes the sort of celebratory, Spanish party music redolent of warm weather and cocktails.
-- Lisa Verrico, Times (London), November 10, 2000

Redolent derives from Latin redolens, -entis, present participle of redolere, "to emit a scent, to diffuse an odor," from red-, re- + olere, "to exhale an odor."

fetor

2009-10-15T21:53:00.001+11:00

fetor \FEE-tuhr; FEE-tor\, noun:

A strong, offensive smell; stench.

Inside it's pitch black & the air is hot & wet with the sweet fetor of rotting grass.
-- Peter Blegvad, "The Free Lunch", Chicago Review, June 22, 1999

When I close my eyes and summon the fond smells of childhood . . . the aroma that fills, as it were, the nostrils of my memory is the sulfurous, protein-dissolving fetor of Nair.
-- Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex

I heard the secrets passed by flapping ravens and smelled, when the wind blew right, the fetor of damp bear fur floating down the trails.
-- Doug Peacock, Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness

Fetor comes from Latin foetor, from foetere, "to stink."

pukka

2009-10-15T21:36:00.001+11:00

pukka \PUHK-uh\, adjective:

1. Authentic; genuine.
2. Superior; first-class.

He talks like the quintessential pukka Englishman and quotes Chesterton and Kipling by the yard and yet he has chosen to live most of his adult life abroad.
-- Lynn Barber, "Bell book . . . and then what?", The Observer, August 27, 2000

If he does not have a house, the government gives him a pukka residence, not a . . . shack on the pavement but a solid construction.
-- Salman Rushdie, The Ground Beneath Her Feet

Pukka comes from Hindi pakka, "cooked, ripe," from Sanskrit pakva-, from pacati, "he cooks."

triskaidekaphobia

2009-10-14T14:11:00.001+11:00

triskaidekaphobia \tris-ky-dek-uh-FOH-bee-uh\, noun:

Fear or a phobia concerning the number 13.

Thirteen people, pledged to eliminate triskaidekaphobia, fear of the number 13, today tried to reassure American sufferers by renting a 13 ft plot of land in Brooklyn for 13 cents . . . a month.
-- Daily Telegraph, January 14, 1967

Past disasters linked to the number 13 hardly help triskaidekaphobics overcome their affliction. The most famous is the Apollo 13 mission, launched on April 11, 1970 (the sum of 4, 11 and 70 equals 85 - which when added together comes to 13), from Pad 39 (three times 13) at 13:13 local time, and struck by an explosion on April 13.
-- "It's just bad luck that the 13th is so often a Friday", Electronic Telegraph, September 8, 1996

Despite NASA's seemingly ingrained case of triskaidekaphobia, which forced managers to impose the bizarre, '13-free' numbering system on its flights, the crew of perhaps the most important Shuttle mission to date clearly were unsure if STS-41C was supposed to be unlucky or not.
-- Ben Evans, Space Shuttle Challenger: Ten Journeys into the Unknown

Triskaidekaphobia is from Greek treiskaideka, triskaideka, thirteen (treis, three + kai, and + deka, ten) + phobos, fear.

Some famous triskaidekaphobes¹:

Napoleon
Herbert Hoover
Mark Twain
Richard Wagner
Franklin Roosevelt

1. Source: "It's just bad luck that the 13th is so often a Friday," Electronic Telegraph, September 8, 1996

titivate

2009-10-08T21:48:00.001+11:00

titivate \TIT-uh-vayt\, transitive and intransitive verb:

1. To make decorative additions to; spruce.

intransitive verb:
1. To make oneself smart or spruce.

It's easy to laugh at a book in which the heroine's husband says to her, "You look beautiful," and then adds, "So stop titivating yourself."
-- Joyce Cohen, review of To Be the Best, by Barbara Taylor Bradford, New York Times, July 31, 1988

In The Idle Class, when Chaplin is titivating in a hotel room, the cloth on his dressing table rides up and down, caught in the same furious gusts.
-- Peter Conrad, Modern Times, Modern Places

She works in Make-Up at Heartland, and sits in the wings during recordings of The People Next Door, ready to dart forward and titivate Debbie's hair when required, or powder the actors' noses if they get shiny under the lights.
-- David Lodge, Therapy

Titivate is perhaps from tidy + the quasi-Latin ending -vate. When the word originally came into the language, it was written tidivate or tiddivate. The noun form is titivation.

bifurcate

2009-10-04T22:31:00.001+11:00

bifurcate \BY-fur-kayt; by-FUR-kayt\, transitive verb:

1. To divide into two branches or parts.

intransitive verb:
1. To branch or separate into two parts.

adjective:
1. Divided into two branches or parts; forked.

There it was, a sliver of a million-dollar view: the red towers of the Golden Gate Bridge that bifurcated the waters, marking bay from ocean.
-- Amy Tan, The Bonesetter's Daughter

They were strolling up the paved walk which bifurcated the rolling front lawn of her house.
-- Erik Tarloff, The Man Who Wrote the Book

Riven continually confronts us with . . . visual echoes of its name, such as the giant dagger thrust into the landscape at one point, or the plate-tectonic fracturing of islands out of an implied unity, or even the bifurcate wing cases of the aptly named Riven beetles.
-- Stuart Moulthrop, "Misadventure: Future Fiction and the New Networks", Style, Summer 1999

Bifurcate comes from the past participle of Medieval Latin bifurcare, "to divide," from Latin bifurcus, "two-pronged," from bi- + furca, "fork."

raffish

2009-10-03T22:33:00.001+10:00

raffish \RAF-ish\, adjective:

1. Characterized by or suggestive of flashy vulgarity, crudeness, or rowdiness; tawdry.
2. Marked by a carefree unconventionality or disreputableness; rakish.

The speaker was in his forties, an attractive-looking man with a black eye patch that gave him the raffish look of an amiable pirate.
-- Sidney Sheldon, The Best Laid Plans

Sometimes we would go to the Gargoyle Club, . . . but it was too full of raffish upper-class drunks for my taste.
-- John Richardson, The Sorcerer's Apprentice

We are told about Bacon's taste for raffish, lower-class lovers, his penchant for gambling and his almost complete disregard for money.
-- Michiko Kakutani, "Portrait of a Portraitist of a Century's Horrors", New York Times, December 14, 1993

Raffish derives from the noun raff (chiefly used in the compound or duplicate, riffraff), meaning "people of a low reputation."

incarnadine

2009-10-03T08:53:00.001+10:00

incarnadine \in-KAR-nuh-dyn\, adjective:

1. Having a fleshy pink color.
2. Red; blood-red.

transitive verb:
1. To make red or crimson.

Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
-- Shakespeare, Macbeth

In a night of rain, the ruddy reflections of their lights incarnadine the clouds till the entire city appears to be the prey of a monster conflagration.
-- Alvan F. Sanborn, "New York After Paris", The Atlantic, October 1906

The more he scrubbed it, the more it bled.
It made the seas incarnadine, he said.
-- Judy Driscoll, "Biddy takes pink gin to the country dance", Hecate, May 1, 1993

From Italian incarnatino, which came from the Latin incarnato, something incarnate, made flesh, from in + caro, carn-, "flesh." It is related to carnation, etymologically the flesh-colored flower; incarnate, "in the flesh; made flesh"; and carnal, "pertaining to the body or its appetites."

adjuvant

2009-10-02T11:35:00.001+10:00

adjuvant \AJ-uh-vuhnt\, adjective:

1. Serving to help or assist; auxiliary.
2. Assisting in the prevention, amelioration, or cure of disease.

noun:
1. A person or thing that aids or helps.
2. Anything that aids in removing or preventing a disease, esp. a substance added to a prescription to aid the effect of the main ingredient.
3. Immunology. a substance admixed with an immunogen in order to elicit a more marked immune response.

Some people think the benefit of screening is huge, and others say that the reduction in death rates is due primarily to adjuvant therapy, Berry says. No one has known for sure, and although we still don't know for sure, this is the best set of analyses that is possible given the available information.
-- "Decline in Breast Cancer Deaths Explained by Use of Screening and Adjuvant Therapies", M. D. Anderson News Release, October 26, 2005

It's unlikely it will be needed this fall, especially if further tests show that one standard shot is good enough to protect people from the virus. But using adjuvant could prove helpful in future years, or if the flu took a turn for the worst, said Dr. Wilbur Chen, a vaccinologist at the University of Maryland's Center for Vaccine Development, who is leading the NIH-sponsored tests.
-- Kelly Brewington, "Stretching the supply of the swine flu vaccine", The Baltimore Sun, September 14, 2009

The new vaccine is made from a single CMV protein that was combined with an experimental adjuvant, a substance that's added to vaccines to boost their efficacy.
-- Serena Gordon, "Trial Vaccine May Protect Against Serious Viral Infection", U.S. News, March 18, 2009

Adjuvant comes from Latin adiuvāns, adiuvant-, present participle of adiuvāre, to help.

gaucherie

2009-10-01T08:39:00.001+10:00

gaucherie \goh-shuh-REE\, noun:

1. A socially awkward or tactless act.
2. Lack of tact; boorishness; awkwardness.

If you find yourself sitting next to an obviously prosperous guest at a dinner party and your host introduces him (it will be a him) as a "successful barrister", you will be guilty of a gaucherie of the crassest kind if you exclaim: "How fascinating! If I promise not to call you Rumpole, will you tell me about your goriest murder trials?"
-- Nick Cohen, "Don't leave justice to the judges", New Statesman, December 13, 1999

Here we see the insecure, unattractive woman who at long last has found someone even more insecure and unattractive than herself, calling attention to her companion's gaucherie in order to feel, for once in her life, like the belle of the ball.
-- Florence King, "Out and About", National Review, November 9, 1998

Gaucherie comes from the French, from gauche, "lefthanded; awkward," from Old French, from gauchir, "to turn aside, to swerve, to walk clumsily."

ameliorate

2009-09-29T21:29:00.001+10:00

ameliorate \uh-MEEL-yuh-rayt\, transitive verb:

1. To make better; to improve.

intransitive verb:
1. To grow better.

Among the pressures provoking these distresses were a father's financial inadequacy and a growing awareness that, by finding employment himself, he could ameliorate the family's exiguous circumstances.
-- Terence Brown, The Life of W. B. Yeats: A Critical Biography

In the socially fluid and (until the crash of 1837) economically expansive 1830s, the legislature frequently appropriated public money to investigate social problems, forestall dependency, and ameliorate human suffering.
-- Elisabeth Gitter, The Imprisoned Guest

Ameliorate is derived from Latin ad + meliorare, "to make better," from melior, "better."

sinuous

2009-09-28T20:50:00.000+10:00

sinuous \SIN-yoo-uhs\, adjective:

1. Characterized by many curves or turns; winding.
2. Characterized by graceful curving movements.
3. Not direct; devious.

Long gone are the days when a "robotic movement" meant something jerky, awkward, and stiff: The new robo-fish that have just been unveiled by engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology swim through the water with sinuous grace.
-- Eliza Strickland, Robo-Fish Are Ready to Take to the Seas, Discover Magazine, August 25, 2009

A single tree
With sinuous trunk, boughs exquisitely wreathed,
Grew there; an ash which Winter for himself
Decked out with pride, and with outlandish grace
-- William Wordsworth, The Prelude, Book VI, "Cambridge and the Alps"

The final 15 miles featured narrow and sinuous roads made even tighter by huge crowds lining the sides. Crashes seemed inevitable.
-- Samuel Abt, CYCLING; Crashes Jolt the Standings, And Oust a Tour Favorite, New York Times, July 5, 2006

Sinuous is from Latin sinuōsus, from sinus, curve.

predilection

2009-09-27T20:57:00.001+10:00

predilection \preh-d'l-EK-shun; pree-\, noun:

A predisposition to choose or like; an established preference.

Wilson doesn't see any inconsistency between his socialism and his predilection for the high life.
-- Marina Cantacuzino, "On deadly ground", The Guardian, March 13, 2001

By his own account, Mr. Kuhn was a rebellious young man. Among Harvard music majors, he said, his predilection for jazz marked him as a black sheep.
-- Phillip Lutz, "A Onetime Sideman, Now Front and Center", New York Times, August 21, 2009

But for him the first rule of judging was to set aside personal predilection and vote the law and the facts.
-- Edwin M. Yoder Jr., "Lewis Powell a Fine Sense of Balance", Washington Post, June 29, 1987

Predilection is at root "a liking before," from Latin prae-, "before" + diligere, "to choose; hence to prefer, to like very well."

traduce

2009-09-26T21:23:00.001+10:00

traduce \truh-DOOS; -DYOOS\, transitive verb:

To expose to contempt or shame by means of false statements or misrepresentation; to represent as blamable; to vilify.

Sir Edward rang twice to stress that he had no business relationship with the family other than his consultancy, but also to vouch for the fact that they were "splendid people" who should not be traduced.
-- Ian Jack, "Generous spirits, secretive souls", Independent, October 17, 1998

I sometimes wonder whether those who traduce today's television have any conception just how much is on offer to the growing number of us with multi-channel television.
-- Peter Bazalgette, "Golden Age? This is it", The Guardian, November 19, 2001

The only problem is that his corrective arguments tend to traduce rationalism as the exclusive preserve of wild-eyed eggheads who only ever spin webs of marvelously useless deduction.
-- Steven Poole, "Et cetera", The Guardian, June 30, 2001

Traduce derives from Latin traducere, "to lead across, to lead along, to display, to expose to ridicule," from trans-, "across, over" + ducere, "to lead."

cavort

2009-09-25T22:50:00.001+10:00

cavort \kuh-VORT\, intransitive verb:

1. To bound or prance about.
2. To have lively or boisterous fun; to behave in a high-spirited, festive manner.

. . .Enkidu, who was seduced by gradual steps to embrace the refinements of civilization, only to regret on his deathbed what he had left behind: a free life cavorting with gazelles.
-- Yi-Fu Tuan, Escapism

But why struggle with a term paper on the elements of foreshadowing in Bleak House when I could be cavorting on the beach.
-- Dani Shapiro, Slow Motion

By 1900, Leo-Chico would have been thirteen years old, and just past his bar mitzvah, or old enough to know better than to cavort with street idlers and gamblers.
-- Simon Louvish, Monkey Business

The men spent the next few weeks there drinking beer, eating hibachi-grilled fish, and cavorting with the young ladies.
-- Robert Whiting, Tokyo Underworld

Cavort is perhaps an alteration of curvet, "a light leap by a horse" (with the back arched or curved), from Italian corvetta, "a little curve," from Middle French courbette, from courber, "to curve," from Latin curvare, "to bend, to curve," from curvus, "curved, bent."

assiduous

2009-09-24T21:30:00.001+10:00

assiduous \uh-SIJ-oo-uhs\, adjective:

1. Constant in application or attention; devoted; attentive.
2. Performed with constant diligence or attention; unremitting; persistent; as, "assiduous labor."

I can scarcely find time to write you even a Love Letter, Samuel Adams, an assiduous committeeman, wrote his wife in early 1776.
-- Pauline Maier, American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence

But he was assiduous in visiting the sick and the poor, however remote their farms and cottages.
-- Jan Morris, "With God where the cuckoos sing", Independent, November 23, 1996

But he was a man who by assiduous reading, through his devotion to literature, had become the quintessential successful gentleman, a man who could hold his own with the most cultivated companions.
-- Milton Gould, quoted in "For Cooke, a Lasting Memorial," by Peter Finn and Richard Justice, Washington Post, April 11, 1997

Assiduous is from Latin assiduus, "constantly sitting near; hence diligent, persistent," from assidere, "to attend to," from ad-, "towards, to" + sedere, "to sit."

eldritch

2009-09-23T22:41:00.001+10:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dictionary.com <doctor@dictionary.com>
Date: 2009/9/23
Subject: eldritch: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

eldritch \EL-drich\, adjective:

Strange; unearthly; weird; eerie.

In the eldritch light of evening in Nevada's Black Rock Desert, the eye plays tricks on the brain.
-- Thom Stark, "Something's Burning", Boardwatch, November 2000

The immitigable mountains and their stark, eldritch trees; coasts where earth abruptly snapped off, never to be continued, or beaches which gnawed it to bright dust and sucked it gently away. . . .
-- Carolyn Kizer, "A Childhood South of Nowhere", New York Times, April 9, 1989

Eldritch perhaps derives from a Middle English word meaning "fairyland," from Middle English elf, "elf" (from Old English aelf) + riche, "kingdom" (from Old English rice).

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eldritch \EL-drich\, adjective:

Strange; unearthly; weird; eerie.

In the eldritch light of evening in Nevada's Black Rock Desert, the eye plays tricks on the brain.
-- Thom Stark, "Something's Burning", Boardwatch, November 2000

The immitigable mountains and their stark, eldritch trees; coasts where earth abruptly snapped off, never to be continued, or beaches which gnawed it to bright dust and sucked it gently away. . . .
-- Carolyn Kizer, "A Childhood South of Nowhere", New York Times, April 9, 1989

Eldritch perhaps derives from a Middle English word meaning "fairyland," from Middle English elf, "elf" (from Old English aelf) + riche, "kingdom" (from Old English rice).

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for eldritch

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cognoscente

2009-09-22T22:02:00.000+10:00

cognoscente \kon-yuh-SHEN-tee; kog-nuh-; -SEN-\, noun:

A person with special knowledge of a subject; a connoisseur.

However, I thought it well to acquaint myself with the latest scientific thinking, so as not to write a tale that would embarrass me among the cognoscenti.
-- Ronald Wright, A Scientific Romance

In the early 1600s, however, beliefs that decried curiosity and restricted information about the "secrets" of nature to a handful of cognoscenti were under attack.
-- Tom Shachtman, Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold

Greenspan, to his credit, tells the truth about what he does, but until now, he has done it in a way that only the cognoscenti can understand.
-- Paul Krugman, "Labor Pains", New York Times Magazine, May 23, 1999

Cognoscente derives from the Obsolete Italian, from Latin cognoscens, cognoscent-, present participle of cognoscere, "to know."

equivocate

2009-09-21T20:58:00.001+10:00

equivocate \ih-KWIV-uh-kayt\, intransitive verb:

To be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or to avoid committing oneself to anything definite.

The witness shuffled, equivocated, pretended to misunderstand the questions.
-- Thomas Babington Macaulay, History of England

By equivocating, hesitating, and giving ambiguous answers, she effected her purpose.
-- Harriet Martineau, Letters from Ireland

Dr. Lindzen does not equivocate. "We don't have any evidence that this is a serious problem," he says flatly.
-- William K. Stevens, "Skeptic Asks, Is It Really Warmer?", New York Times, June 17, 1996

To equivocate is literally to call equally one thing or the other: It comes from Medieval Latin aequivocare, from the Latin aequus, equal + vocare, to call (from Latin vox, voice).

tchotchke

2009-09-20T21:11:00.001+10:00

tchotchke \CHOCH-kuh\, noun:

A trinket; a knickknack.

The rare tchotchke aside, our antiquing journeys mainly amounted to wishful foraging, in the spirit of a more roomy and prosperous someday we somehow never really articulated.
-- Jacquelyn Mitchard, The Most Wanted

Of course, you also have arcades, like Funland, and your typical tchotchke vendors, like Ryan's Gems and Junk.
-- Jamie Peck, "Rehoboth Beach", Newsday, May 18, 2001

I'm going nuts with my mother's accumulation of tchotchkes -- it's bad enough she never parted with one she got as a gift -- but why did she have to buy more?
-- "Artifacts of Life", Newsday, December 9, 1996

Tchotchke is from Yiddish tshatshke, "trinket," ultimately of Slavic origin. It is also spelled tsatske.

farrago

2009-09-19T22:46:00.001+10:00

farrago \fuh-RAH-go; fuh-RAY-go\, noun:

A confused mixture; an assortment; a medley.

Ivan Illich writes "a farrago of sub-Marxist cliches, false analogies, non sequiturs, false or bent facts and weird prophesies."
-- "The Paul Johnson Enemies List", New York Times, September 18, 1977

Roy Hattersley will upset much of Scotland by calling Walter Scott's lvanhoe "a farrago of historical nonsense combined with maudlin romance."
-- "Literary classics panned by critics", Independent, January 18, 1999

From the moment the story of the Countess of Wessex and the Sheikh of Wapping broke, there has been a farrago of rumour, speculation and fantasy of which virtually every newspaper should be ashamed.
-- Roy Greenslade, "A sting in the tale", The Guardian, April 9, 2001

Farrago comes from the Latin farrago, "a mixed fodder for cattle," hence "a medley, a hodgepodge," from far, a sort of grain.

alacrity

2009-09-18T21:52:00.001+10:00

alacrity \uh-LACK-ruh-tee\, noun:

A cheerful or eager readiness or willingness, often manifested by brisk, lively action or promptness in response.

As for his homemade meatloaf sandwich with green tomato ketchup, a condiment he developed while working in New York, I devoured it with an alacrity unbecoming in someone who gets paid to taste carefully.
-- R.W. Apple Jr., "Southern Tastes, Worldly Memories", New York Times, April 26, 2000

Arranged in long ranks, ten-, twelve-, or thirteen-year-old girls, pale and hollow-eyed, their pinned-back hair sprouting tendrils limp with perspiration, operated the machinery with such alacrity that arms and hands were a flying blur.
-- Patricia Albers, Shadows, Fire, Snow: The Life of Tina Modotti

So, I am sure that I was thrilled when I got the letter offering me the fellowship and equally sure that I wrote back to accept with alacrity.
-- Joan L. Richards, Angles of Reflection

Alacrity comes from Latin alacritas, from alacer, "lively."

efficacious

2009-09-17T22:24:00.001+10:00

efficacious \ef-ih-KAY-shuhs\, adjective:

Capable of having the desired result or effect; effective as a means, measure, remedy, etc.

Lawyers make claims not because they believe them to be true, but because they believe them to be legally efficacious.
-- Paul F. Campos, Jurismania

Henri IV wrote to his son's nurse, Madame de Montglat, in 1607 insisting 'it is my wish and my command that he be whipped every time he is stubborn or misbehaves, knowing full well from personal experience that nothing in the world is as efficacious'.
-- Katharine MacDonogh, Reigning Cats and Dogs: A History of Pets at Court Since the Renaissance

Plagued by rats, the citizens of Hamelin desperately seek some efficacious method of pest control.
-- Francine Prose, review of The Pied Piper of Hamelin, as retold by Robert Holden, New York Times, August 16, 1998

Efficacious is from Latin efficax, -acis, from efficere, "to effect, to bring about," from ex-, "out" + facere, "to do or make."

logorrhea

2009-09-16T21:25:00.001+10:00

logorrhea \law-guh-REE-uh\, noun:

1. Pathologically incoherent, repetitious speech.
2. Incessant or compulsive talkativeness; wearisome volubility.

By his own measure, he is a man of many contradictions, beginning with the fact that he is famous as a listener but suffers from "a touch of logorrhea." He is so voluble that one wonders how his subjects get a word in edgewise.
-- Mel Gussow, "Listener, Talker, Now Literary Lion: It's Official.", New York Times, June 17, 1997

It's also not good if your date has logorrhea.
-- Monte Williams, "8 Minutes in the Life of a Jewish Single: Not Attracted? Next!", New York Times, March 5, 2000

Mr. King, who possesses an enviable superabundance of imagination, suffers from a less enviable logorrhea.
-- Michele Slung, "Scare Tactics.", New York Times, May 10, 1981

Logorrhea is derived from Greek logos, "word" + rhein, "to flow."

lucubration

2009-09-15T21:55:00.001+10:00

lucubration \loo-kyoo-BRAY-shun; loo-kuh-\, noun:

1. The act of studying by candlelight; nocturnal study; meditation.
2. That which is composed by night; that which is produced by meditation in retirement; hence (loosely) any literary composition.

A point of information for those with time on their hands: if you were to read 135 books a day, every day, for a year, you wouldn't finish all the books published annually in the United States. Now add to this figure, which is upward of 50,000, the 100 or so literary magazines; the scholarly, political and scientific journals (there are 142 devoted to sociology alone), as well as the glossy magazines, of which bigger and shinier versions are now spawning, and you'll appreciate the amount of lucubration that finds its way into print.
-- Arthur Krystal, "On Writing: Let There Be Less", New York Times, March 26, 1989

One of his characters is given to lucubration. "Things die on us," he reflects as he lies in bed, "we die on each other, we die of ourselves."
-- "Books of The Times", New York Times, February 7, 1981

Naturally, these fictions ran the risk of tumbling down the formalist hill and ending up at the bottom without readers -- except the heroic students of Roland Barthes or Umberto Eco, professors whose lucubrations were much more interesting than the books about which they theorized.
-- Mario Vargas Llosa, "Thugs Who Know Their Greek", New York Times, September 7, 1986

Lucubration comes from Latin lucubratus, past participle of lucubrare, "to work by night, composed at night (as by candlelight)," ultimately connected with lux, "light." Hence it is related to lucent, "shining, bright," and lucid, "clear." The verb form is lucubrate.

crapulous

2009-09-14T21:10:00.001+10:00

crapulous \KRAP-yuh-lus\, adjective:

1. Given to or characterized by gross excess in drinking or eating.
2. Suffering from or due to such excess.

These were the dregs of their celebratory party: the half-filled glasses, the cold beans and herring, the shouts and smells of the crapulous strangers hemming them in on every side, the dead rinsed-out April night and the rain drooling down the windows.
-- T. Coraghessan Boyle, Riven Rock

The new money was spent in so much riotous living, and from end to end there settled on the country a mood of fretful, crapulous irritation.
-- Stephen McKenna, Sonia

Crapulous is from Late Latin crapulosus, from Latin crapula, from Greek kraipale, drunkenness and its consequences, nausea, sickness, and headache.

bucolic

2009-09-13T21:10:00.001+10:00

bucolic \byoo-KOL-ik\, adjective:

1. Relating to or typical of the countryside or its people; rustic.
2. Of or pertaining to the life and occupation of a shepherd; pastoral.

noun:
1. A pastoral poem, depicting rural affairs, and the life, manners, and occupation of shepherds.
2. A country person.

What Ms. Morris appreciates most now is the mix of bucolic and urban: She can descend into the subway and roam the city, then spend hours in the botanic garden and "walk quietly home to check my tomato plants."
-- Janny Scott, "The Brownstone Storytellers", New York Times, May 15, 1995

In 1901 the Pittsburgh Leader focused on the more bucolic qualities of Springdale, noting "considerable acreage of woods and farm land, picturesque streets . . . and pretty little frame dwellings set amidst overhanging apple trees and maples."
-- Linda Lear, Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature

St. Paul's was a private Episcopal boys' school outside of Concord, New Hampshire, sixty miles from Windsor, in the middle of a wooded, secluded, bucolic nowhere.
-- Ken Gormley, Archibald Cox: Conscience of a Nation

Bucolic derives from Greek boukolikos, "rustic; pastoral," from boukolos, "a cowherd; a herdsman" from bous, "a cow; an ox."

inure

2009-09-12T22:00:00.001+10:00

inure \in-YOOR\, transitive verb:

1. To make accustomed or used to something painful, difficult, or inconvenient; to harden; to habituate; as, "inured to drudgery and distress.

intransitive verb:
1. To pass into use; to take or have effect; to be applied; to serve to the use or benefit of; as, a gift of lands inures to the heirs.

They were a hard-driven, hardworking crowd inured to the hardest living, and they found their recreation in hard drinking and hard fighting.
-- Allen Barra, Inventing Wyatt Earp

How does one become inured to unpredictable moments of helplessness?
-- Stephen Kuusisto, Planet Of The Blind

At school, he repeatedly jabbed the nib of his pen into his hand, wanting to inure himself to agony.
-- Peter Conrad, "Enter the philosopher, with an axe", The Observer, September 8, 2002

Inure derives from prefix in-, "in" + obsolete ure, "use, work," from Old French uevre, "work," from Latin opera, "trouble, pains, exertion," from opus, "work."

puissant

2009-09-12T06:59:00.001+10:00

puissant \PWISS-uhnt; PYOO-uh-suhnt; pyoo-ISS-uhnt\, adjective:

Powerful; strong; mighty; as, a puissant prince or empire.

As an upcoming young corporate lawyer in San Francisco in the 1930's, Crum tended the interests of some of California's most puissant businesses, starting with William Randolph Hearst's newspaper empire.
-- Richard Lingeman, "The Last Party", New York Times, April 27, 1997

If we are to believe that country's literary pundits, "irreparable damage to a great British institution" may soon be done by an invading army more puissant than Hannibal's or Alexander's, an army Marching out of the creative writing schools of American universities, leaving Will Shakespeare's sceptred isle "smothered amid a landslide of books from the US".
-- Jonathan Yardley, "Bring on the Yanks", The Guardian, June 5, 2002

Puissant is from Old French puissant, "powerful," ultimately from (assumed) Vulgar Latin potere, alteration of Latin posse, "to be able." The noun form is puissance.

noisome

2009-09-10T21:19:00.001+10:00

noisome \NOY-sum\, adjective:

1. Noxious; harmful; unwholesome.
2. Offensive to the smell or other senses; disgusting.

The body politic produces noisome and unseemly substances, among which are politicians.
-- P. J. O'Rourke, "No Apparent Motive", The Atlantic, November 2002

The first flower to bloom in this latitude, when the winter frost loosens its grip upon the sod, is not the fragrant arbutus, nor the delicate hepatica, nor the waxen bloodroot, as the poets would have us think, but the gross, uncouth, and noisome skunk cabbage.
-- Alvan F. Sanborn, "New York After Paris", The Atlantic, October 1906

The most dangerous season was after the rice and indigo harvests in August and September when the waters were 'low, stagnant and corrupt' and the air made noisome with indigo plants hauled out of the water and left to rot in the fields.
-- Ronald Rees, "Under the weather: climate and disease, 1700-1900", History Today, January 1996

Noisome is from Middle English noysome, from noy, "harm," short for anoy, from Old French, from anoier, "to annoy."

malapropism

2009-09-09T21:18:00.001+10:00

malapropism \mal-uh-PROP-iz-uhm\, noun:

1. An act or habit of misusing words ridiculously, esp. by the confusion of words that are similar in sound.
2. An example of such misuse.

At 15, Rachel, the whiny would-be beauty queen who "cares for naught but appearances," can think only of what she misses: the five-day deodorant pads she forgot to bring, flush toilets, machine-washed clothes and other things, as she says with her willful gift for malapropism, that she has taken "for granite."
-- Michiko Kakutani, "The Poisonwood Bible': A Family a Heart of Darkness", New York Times, October 16, 1998

He also had, as a former colleague puts it, "a photogenic memory"--a malapropism that captures his gift for the social side of life, his Clintonian ability to remember names of countless people he has met only briefly.
-- Eric Pooley and S.C. Gwynne, "How George Got His Groove", Time, June 21, 1999

Its success may be unusual, but brunt force is hardly the only malapropism pushing its way into our lexicon.
-- Jan Freeman, "CYCLING; Crashes Jolt the Standings, And Oust a Tour Favorite", Boston Globe, April 13, 2008

A malapropism is so called after Mrs. Malaprop, a character noted for her amusing misuse of words in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's comedy The Rivals.

refulgent

2009-09-08T21:49:00.001+10:00

refulgent \rih-FUL-juhnt\, adjective:

Shining brightly; radiant; brilliant; resplendent.

If Moore was not quite a burned-out case, his once refulgent light flickered only dimly in his sad last years.
-- Martin Filler, "The Spirit of '76", New Republic, July 9, 2001

With its improbable towers tilting against themselves and its titanium sheathing in full refulgent glow, it brings on a question that the world has not enjoyed asking itself since the first moon landings: If this is possible, what isn't?
-- Richard Lacayo, "The Frank Gehry Experience", Time, June 26, 2000

To the Renaissance, they [the Middle Ages] were nothing but a dank patch of history, a barren stretch of time between luminous antiquity and an equally refulgent present.
-- Justin Davidson, "On the Record", Newsday, January 19, 1997

Refulgent comes from the present participle of Latin refulgere, "to flash back, to shine brightly," from re-, "back" + fulgere, "to shine."

sacrosanct

2009-09-07T21:30:00.001+10:00

sacrosanct \SAK-roh-sankt\, adjective:

1. Extremely sacred or inviolable.
2. Not to be entered or trespassed upon.
3. Above or beyond criticism, change, or interference.

The family was viewed as sacrosanct: divorce was highly unusual and children were expected to be grateful for the sacrifices that parents, who postponed their own gratifications in forming a family, made on their behalf.
-- Alan Wolfe, One Nation, After All

Espionage is about redefining Good and Evil, the violable and the sacrosanct.
-- Edward Shirley, Know Thine Enemy

In the good old days, things seemed simpler -- film was smart, television was dumb. Television would rot your brains, make your children fat, ruin your family by filling the sacrosanct dinner hour with "Happy Days" reruns.
-- Mary McNamara, "TV: It's good for you", The Prelude, Book VI, "Cambridge and the Alps", August 16, 2009

Sacrosanct comes from Latin sacrosanctus, "consecrated with religious ceremonies, hence holy, sacred," from sacrum, "religious rite" (from sacer, "holy") + sanctus, "consecrated," from sancire, "to make sacred by a religious act."

acquiesce

2009-09-06T21:30:00.001+10:00

acquiesce \ak-wee-ES\, intransitive verb:

To accept or consent passively or without objection -- usually used with 'in' or 'to'.

At the same time, sellers might acquiesce to mafia involvement in their business as a way of ensuring payment for goods: if the buyer defaults, the mafioso will collect.
-- Louis S. Warren, The Hunter's Game

The British were not prepared to acquiesce to the return of the Chinese to Tibet, and determined to counter the reassertion of Chinese influence.
-- Tsering Shakya, The Dragon in the Land of Snows

France would probably express regret that a military strike had become necessary, but would acquiesce in it.
-- Craig R. Whitney, "France Pushes for Last-Ditch Diplomatic Solution.", New York Times, February 20, 1998

Acquiesce comes from Latin acquiescere, "to give oneself to rest, hence to find one's rest or peace (in something)," from ad, "to" + quiescere, "to rest, to be or keep quiet."

voluptuary

2009-09-05T20:47:00.001+10:00

voluptuary \vuh-LUHP-choo-er-ee\, noun:

1. A person devoted to luxury and the gratification of sensual appetites; a sensualist.

adjective:
1. Of, pertaining to, or characterized by preoccupation with luxury and sensual pleasure.

Colette used to begin her day's writing by first picking fleas from her cat, and it's not hard to imagine how the methodical stroking and probing into fur might have focused such a voluptuary's mind.
-- Diane Ackerman, "O Muse! You Do Make Things Difficult!", New York Times, November 12, 1989

Though depicted as a decadent voluptuary, she remained celibate for more than half of her adult life.
-- Michiko Kakutani, "Cleopatra Behind Her Magic Mirror", New York Times, June 5, 1990

The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, on the other hand, is more of a voluptuary, taking conscious pleasure in its own reflected richness.
-- Bernard Holland, "Robo-Fish Are Ready to Take to the Seas", New York Times, October 30, 1989

Voluptuary derives from Latin voluptarius, "devoted to pleasure," from voluptas, "pleasure."

gadabout

2009-09-04T21:05:00.001+10:00

gadabout \GAD-uh-bout\, noun:

Someone who roams about in search of amusement or social activity.

In his unorthodox and callow way, he frequently upset and annoyed his countrymen, but they continued to vote for him, perhaps taking a vicarious pleasure in being led by such a world-famous gadabout.
-- "Milestones of 2000", Times (London), December 29, 2000

She hugged him fiercely. "Oh, I love you, Jake Grafton, you worthless gadabout fly-boy, you fool that sails away and leaves me."
-- Jack Anderson, Control

Mr. Hart-Davis, as befits a professional literary man, is something of a gadabout.
-- Daphne Merkin, "From Two Most English Men", New York Times, June 23, 1985

Gadabout is formed from the verb gad, "to rove or go about without purpose or restlessly" (from Middle English gadden, "to hurry") + about.

carom

2009-09-03T21:06:00.000+10:00

carom \KAIR-uhm\, noun:

1. A rebound following a collision; a glancing off.
2. A shot in billiards in which the cue ball successively strikes two other balls on the table.
3. To strike and rebound; to glance.
4. To make a carom.
5. To make (an object) bounce off something; to cause to carom.

The cart smashed into the steep hillside in explosive caroms and bounces, sending billows of dust and rock into the air.
-- Ev Ehrlich, Grant Speaks

Three blocks away, in the Rue des Jardiniers, four Moroccan children were kicking a filthy soccer ball up and down the street. It caromed off the parked cars, rolled into the gutter, was kicked again, leaving dirty blotches where it had smacked against the vehicles' fenders.
-- Philip Shelby, Gatekeeper

The anger caroms around in our psyches like jagged stones.
-- Randall Robinson, Defending the Spirit

Carom derives from obsolete carambole, from Spanish carambola, "a stroke at billiards."

abecedarian

2009-09-02T21:15:00.001+10:00

abecedarian \ay-bee-see-DAIR-ee-uhn\, noun:

1. One who is learning the alphabet; hence, a beginner.
2. One engaged in teaching the alphabet.
3. Pertaining to the letters of the alphabet.
4. Arranged alphabetically.
5. Rudimentary; elementary.

Columba's poem is fittingly 'abecedarian', each stanza starts with a subsequent letter of the alphabet -- a harbinger of the Scottish appetite for cataloguing, and delight in craft.
-- WN Herbert, "A rhyme and a prayer", Scotland on Sunday, December 10, 2000

While much of the work resembled abecedarian attempts of a novice choreographer, "Duet," sensitively danced by Jennifer A. Cooper and William Petroni, is surprisingly sophisticated in its careful deployment of formal thematic manipulations in the service of emotional expression.
-- Lisa Jo Sagolla, "Open 24 Hours Dance Company", Back Stage, September 1, 1998

The approach may seem abecedarian today, but his was among the first endeavors of the sort.
-- Jennifer Liese, "May 1973", ArtForum, May 2003

Abecedarian derives from Latin abecedarius, from the first four letters of the alphabet.

fecund

2009-09-01T21:43:00.001+10:00

fecund \FEE-kuhnd; FEK-uhnd\, adjective:

1. Capable of producing offspring or vegetation; fruitful; prolific.
2. Intellectually productive or inventive.

Wainscott's book is . . . focused squarely and surely on probably the most astonishingly fecund period in American theater history, 1914-1929.
-- James Coakley, Comparative Drama

In her first novel she portrays a lush, fecund landscape palpable in its sultriness and excess.
-- Barbara Crossette, "Seeking Nirvana", New York Times, April 29, 2001

Miss Ozick can convert any skeptic to the cult of her shrewd and fecund imagination.
-- Edmund White, "Images of a Mind Thinking", New York Times, September 11, 1983

Fecund comes from Latin fecundus, "fruitful, prolific." The noun form is fecundity.

diktat

2009-08-31T22:54:00.001+10:00

diktat \dik-TAHT\, noun:

1. A harsh settlement unilaterally imposed on a defeated party.
2. An authoritative decree or order.

Whether with the rapid reaction force or with the Bosnian government, the United States should vigorously support efforts to lift the siege of Sarajevo and help to piece back together a contiguous territory so that the Bosnian government can come to the bargaining table free of a Serbian diktat.
-- "Why Bosnia matters", Commonweal, July 14, 1995

And it would begin to encroach on another, more treasured, freedom: the right of the networks to broadcast what they choose independent of government diktat.
-- "Back to the smoke-filled room?", The Economist, February 25, 1995

Other important figures in the game said the problems would be better dealt with voluntarily than by diktat.
-- Denis Campbell, "Fifa back Vieira", The Guardian, September 22, 2002

Diktat comes from German, from Latin dictatum, neuter past participle of dictare, "to dictate." It is related to dictator.

interlocutor

2009-08-30T21:16:00.001+10:00

interlocutor \in-ter-LOK-yuh-ter\, noun:

1. Someone who takes part in a conversation, often formally or officially.
2. The performer in a minstrel show who is placed midway between the end men and engages in banter with them.

In the course of an hour, Mukasey cracked jokes, asked an interlocutor not to address him with the honorary title "General" and continued to field questions even after his media director moved to get up from the table.
-- Carrie Johnson, "Highest Lawman Prepares to Meet Highest Court", Washington Post, March 22, 2008

Judge Richard Posner, of the appellate court in Chicago, has been the interlocutor for the contentious negotiations, which were raw with distrust on both sides, the sources said.
-- "Negotiators win time in Microsoft case", Business Report, March 28, 2000

The words promised excitement. I was going to be told something so confidential that my interlocutor not only didn't want to be named, but didn't want the information he was disclosing to be printed at all.
-- David Aaronovitch, "The Media Column: Why 'off the record' has to mean just that", Independent, May 21, 2002

Interlocutor is from Latin interlocutus, variant of interloqui "interrupt," from inter- "between" and loqui "speak."

chary

2009-08-29T22:00:00.001+10:00

chary \CHAIR-ee\, adjective:

1. Wary; cautious.
2. Not giving or expending freely; sparing.

What do you suppose the Founding Fathers, so chary of overweening government power, would make of a prosecutor with virtually unlimited reach and a staff the size of a small town?
-- "U.S. trampling rights at home and abroad", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 17, 1998

Investors should be chary, however, for the returns are far from sizzling.
-- "The Stampede Into Variable Annuities", Fortune, October 13, 1986

Bankers, consulted as to whether or not they believed that the full force of the decline had spent its fury, were chary of predictions.
-- "Leaders See Fear Waning", New York Times, October 30, 1929

Chary comes from Old English cearig, "careful, sorrowful," from cearu, "grief, sorrow, care."

delectation

2009-08-28T22:57:00.001+10:00

delectation \dee-lek-TAY-shun\, noun:

Great pleasure; delight, enjoyment.

Example Quotes:

Even after the buffet had evolved into the more functional sideboard in the 18th century, lavish arrangements of silver and porcelain continued to be laid out for the delectation of guests at large dinners.
-- Pilar Viladas, "That's Entertaining!", New York Times, March 24, 2002

At other times she'll get so worked up by some pet poeticism that she forgets she's not writing just for her own delectation.
-- David Klinghoffer, "Black madonna", National Review, February 9, 1998

Example Sentences:

The smooth, quiet ride of his Prius made driving it a source of great delectation.
-- Brought to you by the 3rd Generation Prius

Delectation derives from Latin delectatio, from the past participle of delectare, "to please."

saturnine

2009-08-27T20:46:00.001+10:00

saturnine \SAT-uhr-nyn\, adjective:

1. Born under or being under the astrological influence of the planet Saturn.
2. Gloomy or sullen in disposition.
3. Having a sardonic or bitter aspect.

His saturnine spirit appealed to younger bohemians who were anxious to make idols of an earlier generation's tormented souls, but even so, it cannot have been easy for Rothko always to be the pessimist among the optimists.
-- Jed Perl, review of Mark Rothko: A Biography by James E.B. Breslin, New Republic, January 24, 1994

A saturnine prison guard sits and broods -- and every now and then, gets up and shoots an unseen prisoner.
-- John Walsh, review of The Silence Between Two Thoughts, Independent, June 11, 2004

This captures perfectly the tone of his writing: saturnine, droll, with a fascinating, deliberate bureaucratic dowdiness.
-- Andrew Martin, "Class conscious", New Statesman, November 13, 2000

Saturnine comes from Saturn, in Medieval times believed to be the most remote planet from the Sun and thus coldest and slowest in its revolution.

rictus

2009-08-26T21:17:00.001+10:00

rictus \RIK-tuhs\, noun:

1. The gape of the mouth, as of birds.
2. A gaping grin or grimace.

A rictus of cruel malignity lit up greyly their old bony faces.
-- James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

His belly swelled grotesquely, his hands curled, his cheeks puffed out, his mouth contorted in a rictus of pain and astonishment.
-- Tony Horwitz, Confederates in the Attic

Then, as the sympathy and praise engulfed him, Hector would invariably roll over onto his back, legs in the air, his mouth twisted into an otherworldly rictus.
-- Bruce McCall, "Writers Who Were Really Dogs", New York Times, June 5, 1994

Rictus is from Latin rictus, "the open mouth," from ringi, "to show the teeth."

truckle

2009-08-25T21:52:00.001+10:00

truckle \TRUHK-uhl\, intransitive verb:

1. To yield or bend obsequiously to the will of another; to act in a subservient manner.
2. A small wheel or roller; a caster.

Only where there was a "defiance," a "refusal to truckle," a "distrust of all authority," they believed, would institutions "express human aspirations, not crush them."
-- Pauline Maier, "A More Perfect Union", New York Times, October 31, 1999

The son struggled to be obedient to the conventional, commercial values of the father and, at the same time, to maintain his own playful, creative innocence. This conflict could make him truckle in the face of power.
-- Dr. Margaret Brenman-Gibson, quoted in "Theater Friends Recall Life and Works of Odets," by Herbert Mitgang, New York Times, October 30, 1981

I am convinced that, broadly speaking, the audience must accept the piece on my own terms; that it is fatal to truckle to what one conceives to be popular taste.
-- Sidney Joseph Perelman, quoted in "The Perelman Papers," by Herbert Mitgang, New York Times, March 15, 1981

Truckle is from truckle in truckle bed (a low bed on wheels that may be pushed under another bed; also called a trundle bed), in reference to the fact that the truckle bed on which the pupil slept was rolled under the large bed of the master. The ultimate source of the word is Greek trokhos, "a wheel."

flout

2009-08-24T20:47:00.001+10:00

flout \FLOWT\, transitive verb:

1. To treat with contempt and disregard; to show contempt for.
2. To mock, to scoff.
3. Mockery, scoffing.

The thorough training in the fine points of lyric writing that he has received from Hammerstein has made Sondheim highly critical of those lyricists who flout the basic techniques of the craft.
-- "Sondheim: Lyricist and Composer", New York Times, March 6, 1966

Seth and Dorothy were completely mystified by Janis's determination to flout as many social conventions as she could.
-- Alice Echols, Scars of Sweet Paradise

Who put your beauty to this flout and scorn
By dressing it in rags.
-- Tennyson, Idylls of the King

Flout comes from Middle English flouten, "to play the flute."

reticent

2009-08-23T21:38:00.001+10:00

reticent \RET-ih-suhnt\, adjective:

1. Inclined to keep silent; reserved; uncommunicative.
2. Restrained or reserved in style.
3. Reluctant; unwilling.

His wispy eyebrows sit above eyes undimmed by more than forty years of serious scholarship; a tight-lipped smile suggests that there are many things he will not say about himself or his accomplishments. Indeed, he is almost painfully reticent about what most scholars now consider to be a monumental achievement in the field.
-- Marc K. Stengel, "The Diffusionists Have Landed", The Atlantic, January 2000

Within a circle of intimate friends, he's a very sociable person, says Russell Banks, another novelist, who has known Auster since 1977. "Outside of that circle, he's fairly shy and reticent."
-- "Case of the Brooklyn Symbolist", New York Times, August 30, 1992

People might be reticent to put a more sizable amount into their 401(k) because they're worried it will affect their lifestyle.
-- Alexandra Zendrian, "Feel The Retirement Burn", Forbes, July 29, 2009

Reticent comes from the present participle of Latin reticere, "to keep silent," from re- + tacere, "to be silent."

vet

2009-08-22T21:34:00.001+10:00

vet \VET\, transitive verb:

1. To provide veterinary care for (an animal).
2. To provide (a person) with medical care.
3. To examine carefully; to subject to thorough appraisal; to evaluate.
4. To practice as a veterinarian.

She was the right age (in her fifties), and her personal background had been vetted during the Senate confirmation hearings.
-- Eleanor Clift and Tom Brazaitis, Madam President

The "Stasi files law," as it is popularly known, also made it possible to vet parliamentarians for Stasi connections.
-- John O. Koehler, Stasi: The Untold Story of the East German Secret Police

Unlike, say, Bob Rubin (the Wall Street investment banker and incoming head of the National Economic Council), who probably needed half a law firm to vet his portfolio, I had no stocks or bonds.
-- George Stephanopoulos, All Too Human

Vet is short for veterinary or veterinarian, which comes from Latin veterinarius, "of or belonging to beasts of burden and draught," from veterinus, "of draught, of beasts of burden." The earlier sense was "to submit to examination or treatment by a veterinary surgeon," hence "to subject to thorough appraisal."

stultify

2009-08-21T21:28:00.001+10:00

stultify \STUHL-tuh-fahy\, verb:

1. To render useless or ineffectual; cripple.
2. To cause to appear stupid, inconsistent, or ridiculous.
3. Law To allege or prove insane and so not legally responsible.

The word "civilization" to my mind is coupled with death. When I use the word, I see civilization as a crippling, thwarting thing, a stultifying thing. For me it was always so. I don't believe in the golden ages, you see... civilization is the arteriosclerosis of culture.
-- Henry Miller

It's different play… they're so busy building, they don't realize," says Kling. Although she notes that companies like Lego produce praiseworthy technological games, some technology can "stultify" children, but then, she adds, so can some board games.
-- Mel Bezalel, "Fun and games - and more", Jerusalem Post, July 27, 2009

Stultify is from Late Latin stultific&#257re, "to make foolish."

perorate

2009-08-20T21:31:00.001+10:00

perorate \PUR-uh-rayt\, intransitive verb:

1. To conclude or sum up a long discourse.
2. To speak or expound at length; to declaim.

These people don't talk, they perorate, pontificate, bombast.
-- Jean Charbonneau, "Biographer's quest becomes self-searching journey", Denver Post, January 28, 2001

Our mother favored a staccato, stand-up style; if our father could perorate, she could condense.
-- Annie Dillard, "The Leg In The Christmas Stocking: What We Learned From Jokes", New York Times, December 7, 1986

You may perorate endlessly.
-- Richard Elman, "A Rap on Race", New York Times, June 27, 1971

Perorate comes from Latin perorare "to speak at length or to the end," from per-, "through, throughout," + orare, "to speak."

furbelow

2009-08-19T20:53:00.001+10:00

furbelow \FUR-buh-low\, noun:

1. A pleated or gathered flounce on a woman's garment; a ruffle.
2. Something showy or superfluous; a bit of showy ornamentation.

In a season of ruffles, frills and furbelows, simple cuts in neutral shades stand out.
-- "Designers Head for Neutral Territory", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 27, 1997

Patience is required to get past some of the director's more baroque cinematic touches, decorating the story's dark center with visual furbelows . . . and aural gimmicks.
-- Lisa Schwarzbaum, "Movies: The Evil That Men Do", Entertainment Weekly, October 23, 1998

It is a story that, for all its hyper-animatedness, all its flips and furbelows of style, is confusing and wearisome.
-- Christine Stansell, "Details, Details", New Republic, December 10, 2001

Furbelow is perhaps an alteration of Italian faldella.

propitious

2009-08-18T22:20:00.001+10:00

propitious \pruh-PISH-uhs\, adjective:

1. Presenting favorable circumstances or conditions.
2. Favorably inclined; gracious; benevolent.

Example Quotes:

By the early 1500s rice was being planted on the Cape Verde island most propitious for agriculture, Santiago.
-- Judith A. Carney, Black Rice

It is hard to imagine a less propitious start to a marriage: in a single blow Vincent forfeited the trust of his wife, the respect of her family, and the means of his own support.
-- Matthew Sturgis, Aubrey Beardsley: A Biography

Example Sentences:

Though he didn't believe in luck, he considered the birth of the child propitious for the expedition's success.
-- Brought to you by the 3rd Generation Prius

Propitious derives from Latin propitius, "favorable."

undulation

2009-08-17T21:13:00.001+10:00

undulation \uhn-juh-LEY-shuhn, uhn-dyuh-, -duh-\, noun:

1. A regular rising and falling or movement to alternating sides; movement in waves.
2. A wavelike form, outline, or appearance.
3. One of a series of waves or wavelike segments.

Considering the difficulty of the golf course, the severe undulation of the greens, the magnitude of the event and the quality of the competition, Inkster ranked it as her greatest victory, particularly because she turned 42 last month.
-- Clifton Brown, "GOLF; One for the Ages, As Inkster Wins U.S. Open at 42", New York Times, July 8, 2004

Both works suggest depth; "Greenscreen" feels as if you could tumble into it, whereas "Mt. Shasta" depicts it via landscape. Even the hint at undulation achieved with subtle shifts in shadow echoes the mountain's shape.
-- Cate McQuaid, "An artist with breathtaking scope: Painter races from concept to caress", Boston Globe, January 17, 2008

Undulation is from Late Latin undula, "a small wave," diminutive of Latin unda, "wave."

bowdlerize

2009-08-16T22:30:00.001+10:00

bowdlerize \BODE-luh-rise; BOWD-\, transitive verb:

1. To remove or modify the parts (of a book, for example) considered offensive.
2. To modify, as by shortening, simplifying, or distorting in style or content.

The president did not call for bowdlerizing all entertainment, but stressed keeping unsuitable material away from the eyes of children.
-- "Conference a start toward loosening grip of violence", Atlanta Journal, May 12, 1999

His tempestuous high school years are touched upon in a delightful scene where the precocious Roy infuriates his English teacher by trying to restore some of Shakespeare's saucier lines to that classroom's bowdlerized study of Hamlet.
-- Herman Goodden, "A Few Scenes in the Life of Roy McDonald", London Free Press, December 7, 2000

Gershwin bowdlerized his original operatic vision of "Porgy," simplifying it for Broadway. In 1976, the Houston Grand Opera, led by David Gockley, revived the original vision.
-- Richard Scheinin, "Gershwin's genius vividly displayed in 'Porgy' at S.F. Opera", Mercury News, June 10, 2009

Bowdlerize derives from the name Thomas Bowdler, an editor in Victorian times who rewrote Shakespeare, removing all profanity and sexual references so as not to offend the sensibilities of the audiences of his day.

dalliance

2009-08-15T22:24:00.001+10:00

dalliance \DAL-ee-uhns, DAL-yuhns\, noun:

1. Frivolous spending of time; dawdling.
2. Playful flirtation.

Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven;
Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own rede.
-- William Shakespeare, Hamlet

The acceptance of the role as artistic directors of the company is not a dalliance, she said yesterday. "It is an absolute, firm commitment."
-- Angela Bennie, "Blanchett: theatre job 'no dalliance'", Sydney Morning Herald, November 11, 2006

Dalliance comes from Middle English daliaunce, which is probably from Old French or Anglo-French.

celerity

2009-08-14T21:24:00.001+10:00

celerity \suh-LAIR-uh-tee\, noun:

Rapidity of motion or action; quickness; swiftness.

Though not in the best of physical form, he was capable of moving with celerity.
-- Malachy McCourt, A Monk Swimming: A Memoir

Furthermore, as is well known, computer technology grows obsolete with amazing celerity.
-- Alan S. Blinder and Richard E. Quandt, "The Computer and the Economy", The Atlantic, December 1997

The lightning celerity of his thought processes took you on a kind of helter-skelter ride of surreal non-sequiturs, sudden accesses of emotion and ribald asides, made all the more bizarre for being uttered in those honeyed tones by the impeccably elegant gent before you.
-- "A life full of frolics", The Guardian, May 19, 2001

Celerity is from Latin celeritas, from celer, "swift." It is related to accelerate.

furtive

2009-08-13T21:25:00.001+10:00

furtive \FUR-tiv\, adjective:

1. Done by stealth; surreptitious; secret; as, a furtive look.
2. Expressive of stealth; sly; shifty; sneaky.
3. Stolen; obtained by stealth.
4. Given to stealing; thievish; pilfering.

He had always been more than willing to show me parts of [his notebook], whenever I asked him to; and naturally I had taken many furtive looks at its innermost pages when he wasn't around.
-- Michael Chabon, Werewolves in Their Youth

Exchanging furtive glances, they oozed a nervousness, perhaps in fear that some prewritten script would go awry.
-- Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg by Bloomberg

Why did he keep looking around at all the other tables like that? It made him seem furtive, as if he didn't belong here, as if he were an intruder in so fine a place as this.
-- Mary McGarry Morris, Fiona Range

Furtive is from Latin furtivus, from furtum, "theft," from fur, "thief."

luminary

2009-08-12T22:18:00.001+10:00

luminary \LOO-muh-nair-ee\, noun:

1. Any body that gives light, especially one of the heavenly bodies.
2. A person of eminence or brilliant achievement.

Example Quotes:

There's something comforting in those occasional lapses when a luminary lurches and trips over the humble stone his powerful torch somehow failed to reveal.
-- Brad Leithauser, "You Haven't Heard the Last of This", New York Times, August 30, 1998

. . .such jazz luminaries as Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, Louis Armstrong, and Earl Hines.
-- Daniel Mark Epstein, Nat King Cole

Example Sentences:

Before winning the famous prize, she wasn't a luminary outside the scientific community.
-- Brought to you by the 3rd Generation Prius

Luminary derives from Latin luminare, "a window," from lumin-, lumen, "light."

cynosure

2009-08-11T21:42:00.001+10:00

cynosure \SY-nuh-shoor; SIN-uh-shoor\, noun:

1. An object that serves as a focal point of attention and admiration.
2. That which serves to guide or direct.
3. [Capitalized]. The northern constellation Ursa Minor, which contains the North Star; also, the North Star itself.

The monarch, at the apex of court power and centre of its ritual, and the greatest patron of the arts, was the cynosure of this culture, standing (or, more usually, sitting) at the centre of a system of artistic practice intended to represent his or her sacred omnipotence and monopoly of power.
-- John Brewer, The Pleasures of the Imagination

Lucy is very pretty and becomes the cynosure not only of the aforementioned characters, but also of several faceless and epicene young men who also loiter about.
-- John Simon, "Stealing Beauty", National Review, July 15, 1996

Then, feeling himself the cynosure of every eye in the library, he extemporized a brief speech on his "lucky day."
-- Peter Schneider, Eduard's Homecoming

Cynosure derives from Latin cynosura, from Greek kunosoura, "dog's tail, the constellation Ursa Minor," from kuon, kun-, "dog" + oura, "tail."

métier

2009-08-11T15:19:00.001+10:00

métier \met-YAY; MET-yay\, noun:

1. An occupation; a profession.
2. An area in which one excels; an occupation for which one is especially well suited.

The pairing of Maynard and Salinger -- the writer whose métier is autobiography and the writer who's so private he won't even publish -- was an unlikely one.
-- Larissa MacFarquhar, "The Cult of Joyce Maynard", New York Times Magazine, September 6, 1998

In Congress, I really found my métier. . . . I love to legislate.
-- Charles Schumer, quoted in "Upbeat Schumer Battles Poor Polls and Turnouts and His Own Image", New York Times, May 16, 1998

He is in the position of a good production engineer suddenly shunted into salesmanship. It is not his métier.
-- James R. Mursell, "The Reform of the Schools", The Atlantic, December 1939

Métier is from the French, ultimately from Latin ministerium, "service, ministry, employment," from minister, "a servant, a subordinate."

peradventure

2009-08-11T15:10:00.001+10:00

peradventure \puhr-uhd-VEN-chuhr; pehr-\, adverb:

1. [Archaic] Possibly; perhaps.
2. Chance, uncertainty, or doubt.

It establishes beyond any peradventure of doubt that they were all wet and all wrong in their reports about the weapons of mass destruction, the chemical weapons, the biological weapons and the coming nuclear weapons as well.
-- Daniel Schorr, "interview Weekend Edition - Saturday, with Susan Stamberg", National Public Radio, July 10, 2004

The problem with Steve is that he looks like a liar. He is what a liar ought to look like. When he's telling God's own truth, hallelujah, you are certain beyond peradventure that he is lying.
-- "The journal of Lynton Charles", New Statesman, March 4, 2002

And he was, beyond peradventure, the greatest reforming Labour prime minister of the last century.
-- Peter Oborne, "Mr Blair has virtually unlimited power", Spectator, June 30, 2001

Peradventure derives from Old French per aventure, "by chance," from per, "through" (from Latin) + aventure, "chance," ultimately from the past participle of Latin advenire, "to arrive," from ad-, "to; toward" + venire, "to come."

travail

2009-08-08T20:48:00.001+10:00

travail \truh-VAYL; TRAV-ayl\, noun:

1. Painful or arduous work; severe toil or exertion.
2. Agony; anguish.
3. The labor of childbirth
4. To work very hard; to toil.
5. To suffer the pangs of childbirth; to be in labor.

For all his travails and tragedy, he remains boyishly delighted with all life has to offer.
-- F. Kathleen Foley, "Kron Returns With Spirited, Touching 'Ride' About Family", Los AngelesTimes, January 20, 2000

Every sport entails physical and mental travail, but the decathlon is a veritable factory of pain.
-- Rafer Johnson with Philip Goldberg, The Best That I Can Be

The author of the Book of Jeremiah, for example, notes the "cry of a woman in travail, the anguish of one bringing forth her first child, gasping for breath, stretching out her hands crying 'Woe is me!'"
-- Donald Caton, What a Blessing She Had Chloroform

Travail is from Old French traveillier, travaillier, from Vulgar Latin tripalium, "a three-staked instrument of torture," from Latin tripalis, "three-staked," from tri-, "three" + palus, "a stake."

insouciant

2009-08-07T20:54:00.001+10:00

insouciant \in-SOO-see-uhnt\, adjective:

Marked by lighthearted unconcern or indifference; carefree; nonchalant.

The insouciant gingerbread man skips through the pages with glee, until he meets his . . . demise at the end.
-- Judith Constantinides, "The Gingerbread Man", School Library Journal, April 2002

They don't seem to care whether they become stars or not, and their irony . . . has a scoffing, insouciant feel.
-- Thomas Frank, "Pop music in the shadow of irony", Harper's Magazine, March 1998

There's a Steely Dan-ish wit to the title track ("The truth itself is nothing but a gamble/It might or might not set you free"), but Peyroux tosses off the lines with an insouciant shrug of the shoulders.
-- Geoffrey Himes, "Getting to the Heart of It", Washington Post, June 19, 2009

Insouciant is from the French, from in-, "not" + souciant, "caring," present participle of soucier, "to trouble," from Latin sollicitare, "to disturb," from sollicitus, "anxious." The noun form is insouciance.

hebetude

2009-08-06T21:26:00.001+10:00

hebetude \HEB-uh-tood-; -tyood\, noun:

Mental dullness or sluggishness.

William Hazlitt considered Wordsworth's success an accident of history. "Had he lived in any other period ... he would never have been heard of. As it is, he has some difficulty to contend with the hebetude of his intellect."
-- Cristina Nehring, "The Gang: Coleridge, The Hutchinsons & The Wordsworths In 1802." (Review), American Scholar, June 22, 2001

Earlier on, when we merely democratized fame, we defended the right of any mouth-breather to rise from deserved obscurity on the strength of his God-given hebetude.
-- Florence King, "The misanthrope's corner", National Review, May 18, 1998

From that solitude, full of despair and terror, he was torn out brutally, with kicks and blows, passive, sunk in hebetude.
-- Joseph Conrad, Nostromo

Hebetude derives ultimately from Latin hebes, "blunt, dull, mentally dull, sluggish, stupid." The adjective form is hebetudinous.

brio

2009-08-05T21:28:00.001+10:00

brio \BREE-oh\, noun:

Enthusiastic vigor; vivacity; liveliness; spirit.

Though my judgment was no doubt affected by all the wine we'd consumed, I remember being elated by our performance that night: our inspired spur-of-the-moment dialogue, the actors fleshing out their roles with such brio.
-- Gail Godwin, Evensong

For him, life must be a party, a ball, an endless carnival. Each person must invent a role for himself and play it with brio.
-- Lydia Flem, Casanova: The Man Who Really Loved Women (translated by Catherine Temerson)

The Internet has always been home to plenty of unvarnished brio.
-- Timothy L. O'Brien, "Corporate Love Letters: Youstink.Com", New York Times, April 4, 1999

Brio is Italian, from Spanish brio or Provençal briu, both of Celtic origin.

equipoise

2009-08-04T21:38:00.001+10:00

equipoise \EE-kwuh-poiz; EK-wuh-\, noun:

1. A state of being equally balanced; equilibrium; -- as of moral, political, or social interests or forces.
2. Counterbalance.

Example Quotes:

What matters is the poetry, and the truest readings of it "are those which are sensitive to the strangeness of Marvell's genius: its delicate equipoise, held between the sensual and the abstract, its refusal to treat experience too tidily, the uncanny tremor of implication that makes the poems' lucid surfaces shimmer with a sense of something undefined and undefinable just beneath."
-- James A. Winn, "Tremors of Implication", New York Times, July 9, 2000

I cannot see how the unequal representation which is given to masses on account of wealth becomes the means of preserving the equipoise and the tranquillity of the commonwealth.
-- Edmund Burke, "Reflections on The Revolution In France"

Our little lives are kept in equipoise
By opposite attractions and desires.
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Haunted Houses"

Example Sentences:

Reducing carbon emissions is one way to help restore the ecosystem's natural equipoise.
-- Brought to you by the 3rd Generation Prius

Equipoise is equi-, "equal" + poise, from Middle English poisen, "to balance, weigh," from Old French peser, pois-, ultimately from Latin pensare, "to weigh."

desultory

2009-08-03T22:04:00.001+10:00

desultory \DES-uhl-tor-ee\, adjective:

1. Jumping or passing from one thing or subject to another without order or rational connection; disconnected; aimless.
2. By the way; as a digression; not connected with the subject.
3. Coming disconnectedly or occurring haphazardly; random.
4. Disappointing in performance or progress.

The shadows on the perfect lawn were straight and angular; they were the shadows of an old man sitting in a deep wicker-chair near the low table on which the tea had been served, and of two younger men strolling to and fro, in desultory talk, in front of him.
-- Henry James Jr., "The Portrait of a Lady", The Atlantic Monthly, November 1880

In January 1905 Richard Watson Gilder approached the then-president of the Institute, the genteel poet and Wall Street broker Edmund Clarence Stedman, and urged him to hold a "formal discussion" on the question of women in both the Institute and the newly created Academy -- a formal discussion, he said, rather than the "desultory talk among members" that was all there had been so far.
-- Penelope Lively, The Five Thousand and One Nights

One way or the other, his once voluminous exchanges with Mrs. Swanson dwindled to almost nothing. For a year or two, they consisted of the odd, desultory postcard, then the store-bought Christmas greeting, and then, by 1976, they had stopped altogether.
-- Paul Auster, Timbuktu

Desultory comes from Latin desultorius, from desultor, "a leaper," from the past participle of desilire, "to leap down," from de-, "down from" + salire, "to leap."

lineament

2009-08-02T22:10:00.001+10:00

lineament \LIN-ee-uh-muhnt\, noun:

1. A distinctive shape, contour, or line, especially of the face.
2. A distinguishing or characteristic feature; -- usually in the plural.

If she saw herself, even in her memory, she did not see the brightness that had been hers as a wife; she saw the lined and ageing woman she had become, as if these lineaments had been waiting to emerge since her features had first been formed.
-- Anita Brookner, Visitors

Biography -- and, by definition, autobiography -- is the form of the moment. In the shape of a well-lived, well-told life we can discern the lineaments of the day and even, if the life to hand signifies more than itself, the age.
-- Fred Inglis, "No Discouragement: An Autobiography", New Statesman, December 6, 1996

Crazy wooden galleries common to the backs of half a dozen houses, with holes from which to look upon the slime beneath; windows, broken and patched, with poles thrust out, on which to dry the linen that is never there; rooms so small, so filthy, so confined, that the air would seem too tainted even for the dirt and squalor which they shelter; wooden chambers thrusting themselves out above the mud, and threatening to fall into it--as some have done; dirt-besmeared walls and decaying foundations; every repulsive lineament of poverty, every loathsome indication of filth, rot, and garbage; all these ornament the banks of Folly Ditch.
-- Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

Lineament comes from Latin lineamentum, "feature, lineament," from linea, "line."

arcane

2009-08-01T23:20:00.001+10:00

arcane \ar-KAYN\, adjective:

Understood or known by only a few.

There are other arcane traditions that seem like superstitions to us, or, perhaps, are simply lost in translation. Some cyclists, for instance, believe that riders should shower instead of bathe because in some way water weight from baths is absorbed.
-- Allen Barra, "Tour de Lance", Wall Street Journal, July 28, 2009

While addressing a problem in the arcane field of mathematical logic, he imagined a machine that could mimic human reasoning.
-- Paul Gray, "Alan Turing", Time Pacific, March 29, 1999

Practitioners of this arcane art combine highly abstract mathematical deduction with some of the basic behavioral assumptions of micro-economics to produce theories of the behavior of voters, of representative assemblies, of bureaucracies, and even of courts.
-- Jerry L. Mashaw, Greed, Chaos, and Governance

Arcane comes from Latin arcanus, "shut, closed, secret," from arca, "chest, box."

sui generis

2009-07-31T21:36:00.001+10:00

sui generis \soo-eye-JEN-ur-us; soo-ee-\, adjective:

Being the only example of its kind; constituting a class of its own; unique.

This man, in fact, was sui generis, a true original.
-- Ruth Lord, Henry F. du Pont and Winterthur

They're a special case, a category of their own, sui generis.
-- Eric Kraft, Leaving Small's Hotel

William Randolph Hearst did not speak often of his father. He preferred to think of himself as sui generis and self-created, which in many ways he was.
-- David Nasaw, The Chief

Sui generis is from Latin, literally meaning "of its own kind": sui, "of its own" + generis, genitive form of genus, "kind."

aplomb

2009-07-30T21:11:00.001+10:00

aplomb \uh-PLOM\, noun:

Assurance of manner or of action; self-possession; confidence; coolness.

Then, unexpectedly, she picked up a microphone and began to sing. She sang several songs, handling herself with the aplomb of a professional entertainer.
-- "Rediscovering Japanese Life at a Bike's Pace", New York Times, April 24, 1988

In the jostling hubbub of Tim Hammack's kitchen at the Bay Area Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter in an eddy of urban need, it is about taking life as it comes. It means embracing the unexpected arrival of 200 flats of donated organic strawberries, say, or 600 pounds of bologna with equal culinary aplomb.
-- Patricia Leigh Brown, "Finding Purpose in Serving the Needy, Not Just Haute Cuisine", New York Times, June 13, 2009

His initial broadcasting success was due at least as much to his considerable professional aplomb as it was to his father's broadcasting connections.
-- John A. Jackson, American Bandstand: Dick Clark and the Making of a Rock 'n' Roll Empire

Aplomb is from the French word meaning "perpendicularity, equilibrium, steadiness, assurance," from the Old French phrase a plomb, from a, "according to" (from Latin ad) + plomb, "lead weight" (from Latin plumbum, "lead").

apocryphal

2009-07-29T22:13:00.001+10:00

apocryphal \uh-POK-ruh-fuhl\, adjective:

1. (Bible) Pertaining to the Apocrypha.
2. Not canonical. Hence: Of doubtful authority or authenticity; equivocal; fictitious; spurious; false.

Apocryphal or not, the anecdote contains at least a grain of truth.
-- Caroline Fraser, God's Perfect Child

In 1959 he told Walter Gutman that he first started writing when he was three years old, but that his sister threw away all his childhood writings one day when she cleaned out the attic. This sounds apocryphal as it is unlikely that he could read or write at that tender age, and if he could he would certainly have told us.
-- Barry Miles, Jack Kerouac King of the Beats

He always told romanticised apocryphal stories of his ancestry, sometimes a bastard grandfather, brought up on the parish, sometimes "a weaver, half poet and half madman."
-- Kathleen Jones, A Passionate Sisterhood

Apocryphal ultimately derives from Greek apokruphos, "hidden (hence, spurious)," from apokruptein, "to hide away," from apo-, "away, from" + kruptein, "to hide."

sapid

2009-07-28T20:54:00.001+10:00

sapid \SAP-id\, adjective:

1. Having taste or flavor, especially having a strong pleasant flavor.
2. Agreeable to the mind; to one's liking.

Chemistry can concentrate the sapid and odorous elements of the peach and the bitter almond into a transparent fluid
-- David William Cheever, "Tobacco", The Atlantic, August 1860

I've raved about the elegant and earthy lobster-and-truffle sausage, the sapid sea bass with coarse salt poached in lobster oil, and the indescribably complex and delectable ballottine of lamb stuffed with ground veal, sweet-breads and truffles.
-- James Villas, "Why Taillevent thrives", Town & Country, March 1, 1998

Sapid comes from Latin sapidus, "savory," from sapere, "to taste."

caveat

2009-07-27T20:47:00.001+10:00

caveat \KAY-vee-at; KAV-ee-; KAH-vee-aht\, noun:

1. (Law) A notice given by an interested party to some officer not to do a certain act until the opposition has a hearing.
2. A warning or caution; also, a cautionary qualification or explanation to prevent misunderstanding.

Example Quotes:

Two young Harvard M.B.A.'s worked up some highly optimistic projections -- with the caveat that these were speculative and should of course be tested.
-- Roy Blount Jr., "Able Were They Ere They Saw Cable", New York Times, March 9, 1986

At Disney, Eisner says, adding an important caveat, "Failing is good, as long as it doesn't become a habit."
-- Warren Bennis and Patricia Ward Biederman, Organizing Genius

Example Sentences:

He gave his daughter some hyacinth bulbs with the caveat that she plant them in the shade.
-- Brought to you by the 3rd Generation Prius

Caveat comes from the Latin caveat, "let him beware," from cavere, "to beware."

protean

2009-07-27T12:16:00.001+10:00

protean \PRO-tee-un; pro-TEE-un\, adjective:

1. Displaying considerable variety or diversity.
2. Readily assuming different shapes or forms.

The [Broadway] musical was ceaselessly protean in these years, usually conventional but always developing convention, twisting it, replacing it.
-- Ethan Mordden, Coming Up Roses

Roosevelt's performance in the civil rights meeting illustrated one of the central operating principles of his protean executive style, a style that transformed the presidency, and the nation: a willingness to delay decisions, change his mind, keep his options open, avoid commitments, or even deceive people in the relentless pursuit of noble objectives.
-- William Doyle, Inside the Oval Office

He was a protean character who constantly adapted to his environment.
-- David Maraniss, The Clinton Enigma

Protean is derived from Proteus, an ancient Greek god who had the ability to change his shape at will.

ineluctable

2009-07-27T12:14:00.001+10:00

ineluctable \in-ih-LUCK-tuh-buhl\, adjective:

Impossible to avoid or evade; inevitable.

. . .ineluctable as gravity.
-- Marilynne Robinson, The Death of Adam

California's vision of itself as a car culture grew out of the impracticality of mass transit in reaching most of its scenic wonders, the innate restlessness of its inhabitants and the ineluctable attraction of an open road.
-- "From the Land of Private Freeways Comes Car Culture Shock", New York Times, October 16, 1997

Linnaeus' classification scheme became popular not because it captured some ineluctable truth about nature. Rather, by the botanist's own admission, the system divided species based more on intuition than science, much as an art historian might group paintings into schools.
-- "Cultivating a New Tree", Los Angeles Times, September 25, 1999

Ineluctable is from Latin ineluctabilis, from in-, "not" + eluctari, "to struggle out of, to get free from," from ex-, e-, "out of" + luctari, "to struggle."

peripatetic

2009-07-27T12:13:00.003+10:00

peripatetic \pair-uh-puh-TET-ik\, adjective:

1. Of or pertaining to walking about or traveling from place to place; itinerant.
2. Of or pertaining to the philosophy taught by Aristotle (who gave his instructions while walking in the Lyceum at Athens), or to his followers.
3. One who walks about; a pedestrian; an itinerant.
4. A follower of Aristotle; an Aristotelian.

Nevertheless, the attachment which in later life he developed towards Charleston suggests that his peripatetic childhood had left unsatisfied his need for a permanent home.
-- Frances Spalding, Duncan Grant: A Biography

I was born in Italy, my sister on the west coast of Canada, because my father was pursuing a peripatetic career as an artist.
-- Anna Shapiro, USA Today, July 13, 2000

He would have a long way to go before he would match his peripatetic father. Nick had now moved five times and lived in four states from Kentucky to California.
-- Allen Barra, Inventing Wyatt Earp

Peripatetic derives from Greek peripatetikos, from peripatein, "to walk about," from peri-, "around, about" + patein, "to walk."

skulk

2009-07-27T12:13:00.001+10:00

skulk \SKUHLK\, intransitive verb:

1. To hide, or get out of the way, in a sneaking manner; to lurk.
2. To move about in a stealthy way.
3. To avoid responsibilities and duties.
4. One who skulks.
5. A group of foxes.

When not rummaging under bushes, Mr. Sculley can often be seen skulking in the woods or prowling along the shore.
-- Tom Gilling, The Sooterkin

He was forced to creep and skulk into every place for fear of being taken and hanged.
-- Anthony Wood, Athenae Oxoniensus

He skulked back from the shop with his purchase, hugging the walls, looking at no one, all the more panicky because he knew no other way home.
-- Patrick Chamoiseau, School Days (translated by Linda Coverdale)

Skulk is from Middle English skulken, ultimately of Scandinavian origin.

glabrous

2009-07-22T21:21:00.001+10:00

glabrous \GLAY-bruhs\, adjective:

Smooth; having a surface without hairs, projections, or any unevenness.

This species has a bluish-tinged body completely covered in white flecking in the typical species, though completely glabrous green variants are also seen without any of the body flecking.
-- Kevin G. Belmonte, "The woolly Astrophytums", The Philippine Star, June 6, 2009

We offered to the rebarbative Senator Patrick Leahy's demands on us amused resistance and the promise to buy the glabrous old boy a proper hairpiece.
-- R Emmett Tyrrell Jr., "Jumpin' Jim Jehoshaphat!", The American Spectator, July 1, 2001

Glabrous is from Latin glaber, "smooth, bald."

sedulous

2009-07-21T22:13:00.001+10:00

sedulous \SEJ-uh-luhs\, adjective:

1. Diligent in application or pursuit; steadily industrious.
2. Characterized by or accomplished with care and perseverance.

He did not attain this distinction by accident but by sedulous study from the cradle forward.
-- Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair, Al Gore: A User's Manual

This writing is clearly the product of sedulous art, but it has the flame of spontaneity and the grit of independence both as to mode and spirit.
-- "The Wonder and Wackiness of Man", New York Times, January 17, 1954

And so he reminded the legion that, even though his veneration of his country's flag may not have inhibited sedulous avoidance of the inconveniences of serving under it, he is a patriot so wholehearted that he signed the Arkansas law that forbids flag-burning.
-- Murray Kempton, "Signs of Defeat In the Wind", Newsday, August 30, 1992

Sedulous is from Latin sedulus, "busy, diligent," from se-, "apart, without" + dolus, "guile, trickery."

imbue

2009-07-21T15:48:00.003+10:00

imbue \im-BYOO\, transitive verb:

1. To tinge or dye deeply; to cause to absorb thoroughly; as, "clothes thoroughly imbued with black."
2. To instill profoundly; to cause to become impressed or penetrated.

Beauty is equal parts flesh and imagination: we imbue it with our dreams, saturate it with our longings.
-- Nancy Etcoff, Survival of the Prettiest

Along with the rest of us he would certainly applaud attempts to imbue the young with the spirit of fair play.
-- John Bryant, "Football should heed the Corinthian spirit", Times (London), February 17, 2000

He wanted to remake American cinema into a positive force for good, to imbue it with a transcendent sense of virtue and order.
-- Thomas Doherty, Pre-Code Hollywood

Imbue comes from Latin imbuere, "to wet, to steep, to saturate."

pastiche

2009-07-21T15:48:00.001+10:00

pastiche \pas-TEESH; pahs-\, noun:

1. A work of art that imitates the style of some previous work.
2. A musical, literary, or artistic composition consisting of selections from various works.
3. A hodgepodge; an incongruous combination of different styles and ingredients.

The figure was a pastiche, assembled from fragments: a Greek head, a Roman imperial cuirass, and halo, limbs, weapons, and crocodile fashioned by a Venetian craftsman.
-- Patricia Fortini Brown, Venice and Antiquity

Whoever said the unexamined life is not worth living apparently never intended to go into book publishing, where there is almost no research and where much of the conventional wisdom is a pastiche of folklore, myth and wishful thinking.
-- Edwin McDowell, "Publishing: And They All Said It Wouldn't Sell", New York Times, February 6, 1989

Rather, the aim is to create a composite reflection of how New York got this way, how its bridges and subways were built, how its power structure and political culture evolved, how its pastiche of unique neighborhoods developed, collapsed and rose again, and how some of its citizens survive on the bottom rung and others succeed or fail on the top.
-- Sam Roberts, "The 10 Best Books About New York", New York Times, February 5, 1995

Pastiche comes from Italian pasticcio, "a paste," hence "a hodgepodge, literary or musical," ultimately from Latin pasta, "paste."

adumbrate

2009-07-18T22:32:00.001+10:00

adumbrate \AD-uhm-brayt; uh-DUHM-\, transitive verb:

1. To produce a faint image or resemblance of; to outline or sketch.
2. To prefigure indistinctly; foreshadow.
3. To suggest, indicate, or disclose partially.
4. To cast a shadow over; to shade; to obscure.

The next day, when the year that had passed had been fully gone over and the hope for the year to come had been cautiously adumbrated, the delicate moment arrived when Ben Attar had to decide how to apportion the year's profit among the three partners.
-- Abraham B. Yehoshua, A Journey to the End of the Millennium

The letter even fixes the meeting as having taken place on October 23, which fits the chronology adumbrated by Professor Bald.
-- Jeremy Bernstein, "Heaven's Net: The Meeting of John Donne and Johannes Kepler", American Scholar, Spring 1997

The symbolical paintings, as they have come to be called, adumbrate a dark dream world where what seem dimly recollected circumstances, caught in their own nocturnal inertia, remain cryptic and mystifying.
-- Robert Berlind, "Edwin Dickinson: waking visions", Art in America, February 2003

Adumbrate derives from Latin adumbrare, "to sketch" (literally, "to shade towards," hence "to foreshadow or prefigure"), from ad-, "towards" + umbrare, "to shade," from umbra, "shadow."

leitmotif

2009-07-17T21:58:00.000+10:00

leitmotif \LYT-moh-teef\, noun:

1. In music drama, a marked melodic phrase or short passage which always accompanies the reappearance of a certain person, situation, abstract idea, or allusion in the course of the play; a sort of musical label.
2. A dominant and recurring theme.

Each actor to appear on stage is accompanied by a musical phrase on the drum -- a sort of leitmotif to characterize an emotion, much like a Wagnerian drama.
-- Eleanor Blau, "Connecticut's Shakespeare", New York Times, July 9, 1982

One theme had recurred so frequently in these conversations that it had become the leitmotif of the trip.
-- Jack F. Matlock Jr., Autopsy on an Empire

As is so often the case in a crazy household . . . guilt becomes a leitmotif.
-- Frederick Busch, "My Brother, Myself", New York Times, February 9, 1997

Leitmotif (also spelled leitmotiv) is from German Leitmotiv, "leading motif," from leiten, "to lead" (from Old High German leitan) + Motiv, "motif," from the French. It is especially associated with the operas of German composer Richard Wagner.

dulcet

2009-07-16T21:12:00.001+10:00

dulcet \DUHL-sit\, adjective:

1. Pleasing to the ear; melodious; harmonious.
2. Generally pleasing, soothing, or agreeable.
3. (Archaic) Sweet to the taste.

If you want to catch up with our most famous songster, the nightingale, just visit Minsmere at the end of April, or early May, and stand on the edge of the car park. You'll soon hear the dulcet tones of the poets' favourite bird.
-- Stephen Moss, "Birdwatch", The Guardian, October 23, 2000

Amanda . . . rages at her young 'uns in a voice that may have been full of dulcet notes when she turned the heads of her gentleman callers in her youth, but has now grown hard-edged and ringing, like a cracked bell.
-- Hal Hinson, Washington Post, November 11, 1987

Just as my eyelids started to get heavy and my brain began to relax its hold on wakefulness -- bam! -- the less than dulcet tones of Britain's top breakfast DJ started to emanate from my radio alarm.
-- "Secs in the City", The Guardian, July 30, 2001

Dulcet comes from Old French doucet, diminutive of dous, "sweet," from Latin dulcis, "sweet."

bestow

2009-07-15T22:12:00.001+10:00

bestow \bih-STOH\, transitive verb:

1. To present as a gift or an honor; confer.
2. To apply; use.

Example Quotes:

He bestowed on him a pension of a hundred crowns a year.
-- John Richard Green, Short History of the English People

In 1933...a hurricane bestowed a bonanza on Ocean City by cutting Fenwick, the island on which its sits, in two, offering new, easy access to oceangoing boats
-- "Shifting Sands", Washington Post, July 11, 1999

Example Sentences:

Nature has bestowed many gifts on the earth that need to be treated with respect.
-- Brought to you by the 3rd Generation Prius

Bestow comes down to us from the Middle English bistowen, from bi-, be- + stowen, to place, to stow.

louche

2009-07-14T21:40:00.001+10:00

louche \LOOSH\, adjective:

Of questionable taste or morality; disreputable or indecent; dubious; shady.

You've got to keep yourself free of any suggestion of louche behavior.
-- Anthony West

A man in a bar, utterly average, though there is something louche about him, something sly.
-- Andrew Holleran, In September, the Light Changes

Danny would be sipping a mai tai or a whiskey sour in some louche West End club.
-- Will Self, Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys

Louche is from French louche, "shady, suspicious," from Old French losche, "squint-eyed," from Latin luscus, "one-eyed."

sartorial

2009-07-13T22:05:00.001+10:00

sartorial \sar-TOR-ee-uhl\, adjective:

1. Of or relating to a tailor or to tailoring.
2. Of or relating to clothing, or style or manner of dress.
3. [Anatomy] Of or relating to the sartorius muscle.

His sartorial style runs toward jeans, Hawaiian shirts and cowboy boots, and he favors the grizzled, haven't-shaven-in-days look.
-- Gary Rivlin, "AOL's Rough Riders", Industry Standard, October 23, 2000

She probably sensed that he had married her for her beautiful dark eyes and sartorial splendor -- and she may now have regretted the plumed hats and luxurious fur collars she had worn seductively in her youth.
-- Thomas A. Underwood, Allen Tate: Orphan of the South

The Puritan leadership was especially distressed by the sartorial ostentation of the lower classes, who were supposed to content themselves with "raiment suitable to the order in which God's providence has placed them."
-- Patricia O'Toole, Money & Morals in America

Sartorial derives from Latin sartor, "a patcher, tailor," from sartus, past participle of sarcire, "to patch, to mend."

ineffable

2009-07-12T20:57:00.001+10:00

ineffable \in-EF-uh-buhl\, adjective:

1. Incapable of being expressed in words; unspeakable; unutterable; indescribable.
2. Not to be uttered; taboo.

. . .the tension inherent in human language when it attempts to relate the ineffable, see the invisible, understand the incomprehensible.
-- Jeffrey Burton Russell, A History of Heaven

Pope John Paul II notes that people are drawn to religion to answer the really big questions--for example, "What is the ultimate ineffable mystery which is the origin and destiny of our existence?"
-- William A. Sherden, The Fortune Sellers

One cannot blame them very much; explaining the ineffable is difficult.
-- Edward O. Wilson, "The Biological Basis of Morality", The Atlantic, April 1998

Ineffable is from Latin ineffabilis, from in-, "not" + effabilis, "utterable," from effari, "to utter," from ex-, "out" + fari, "to speak."

gauche

2009-07-11T22:07:00.001+10:00

gauche \GOHSH\, adjective:

Lacking social polish; tactless; awkward; clumsy.

He was largely exempted from the formal socializing he said he found so hard to manage, flustered and gauche in polite company as he had always been.
-- John Sturrock, "Well on the Way to Paranoia", New York Times, July 28, 1991

He was by nature intellectual, shy, even gauche and he always believed he lacked the common touch.
-- "Editor whose legacy was diversity", Irish Times, October 9, 1999

The audience's performance was altogether more gauche, with scores of people in the stalls constantly turning round to gawp at Mick Jagger seated ten rows back.
-- Noreen Taylor, "How was it for him?", Times (London), August 3, 2000

Gauche is from the French for left, awkward.

bravura

2009-07-10T20:54:00.001+10:00

bravura \bruh-VYUR-uh; brah-; -VUR-\, noun:

1. A florid, brilliant style of music that emphasizes the technical force and skill of a performer; virtuoso music.
2. A showy or brilliant display.

But it was not just the bravura of his self-expression that gave him such a hold on his contemporaries.
-- Peter Ackroyd, "Oscar Wilde: Comedy as Tragedy,", New York Times, November 1, 1987

The straightforward narrative account is set down with old-fashioned punctilio in prose of classic distinction, singularly free of bravura, and marked by the hard clarity of outline that is one of Waugh's several manners.
-- Charles A. Brady, "Figure of Grace", New York Times, January 24, 1960

With his customary display of dramatic bravura, Sir Alan Ayckbourn is giving us twin comedies about a village fete and staging them simultaneously in each of the National's big, adjacent auditoriums.
-- Benedict Nightingale, "Witches of Updike Flying to London", New York Times, March 12, 2000

Bravura comes from the Italian, from bravo, "brave, excellent."