plaintive

plaintive \PLAYN-tiv\, adjective:

Expressive of sorrow or melancholy; mournful; sad.

Meanwhile Jack Byron's plight in France was becoming desperate and his letters to his sister increasingly plaintive.
-- Phyllis Grosskurth, Byron: The Flawed Angel

The shadows have lengthened, and the night birds have begun their plaintive chorus.
-- Valerie Martin, "Being St. Francis", The Atlantic, August 2000

. . .the plaintive cries of loneliness of the immigrant.
-- Jeremy Eichler, "Tango and the Individual Talent", New Republic, July 3, 2000

Plaintive derives from Old French plainte, "complaint," from Latin planctus, past participle of plangere, "to strike (one's breast), to lament."

laudable

laudable \LAW-duh-bul\, adjective:

Worthy of praise; commendable.

Her first answer was laudable -- she wrote that yes, she would remain engaged to a man who fell seriously ill subsequent to the engagement.
-- Enid Nemy, "Metropolitan Diary", New York Times, January 11, 1999

The second sense in which we are feminist researchers comes from our belief that equity between boys and girls, men and women, is a laudable goal.
-- Justine Cassell and Henry Jenkins (editors), From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games

Laudable comes from Latin laudabilis, from laudare, "to praise," from laus, laud-, "praise."

bevy

bevy \BEV-ee\, noun:

1. A group; an assembly or collection.
2. A flock of birds, especially quails or larks; also, a herd of roes.

In an instant, a bevy of perfumed and coiffed poodles would begin a raucous race from her bedroom to the bottom of the stairs.
-- James A. Drake, Rosa Ponselle: A Centenary Biography

Shortt is a more attractive man, and was followed about by bevies of adoring damsels.
-- Selected Letters of Rebecca West, edited by Bonnie Kime Scott

Bevy comes from Middle English bevey. It perhaps originally signified a drinking company, possibly deriving from Old French beivre, "to drink," from Latin bibere.

immolate

immolate \IM-uh-layt\, transitive verb:

1. To sacrifice; to offer in sacrifice; to kill as a sacrificial victim.
2. To kill or destroy, often by fire.

What have I gained, that I no longer immolate a bull to Jove, or to Neptune, or a mouse to Hecate . . . if I quake at opinion, the public opinion, as we call it; or at the threat of assault, or contumely, or bad neighbors, or poverty, or mutilation, or at the rumor of revolution, or of murder?
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays and English traits

In the city of Bhopal, police used water canon to thwart a group of Congress workers who were on the point of immolating themselves.
-- Peter Popham, "Gandhi critics are expelled by party", Independent, May 21, 1999

Bowls of honey at the room's center drew random insects to immolate themselves against a nearby bug zapper.
-- Carol Kino, "Damien Hirst at Gagosian", Art in America, May 2001

Immolate comes from the past participle of Latin immolare, "to sacrifice; originally, to sprinkle a victim with sacrificial meal," from in- + mola, "grits or grains of spelt coarsely ground and mixed with salt."

glower

glower \GLAU-uhr\, intransitive verb:

1. To look or stare angrily or with a scowl.
2. An angry or scowling look or stare.

At one point, the head of the institute started chatting with colleagues sitting at a table behind Yeltsin, prompting the Russian President to interrupt his reading and glower at them.
-- Bruce W. Nelan, "The Last Hurrah?", Time, April 26, 1993

A baby wearing a disposable nappy has been placed on a tree trunk in dark woodland: he seems to glower at us disapprovingly, like a troll, or a mini-Churchill.
-- Margaret Walters, "The secret life of babies", New Statesman, September 13, 1996

A boyish-looking man who frowned and glowered, trying to look more authoritative than his twenty-nine years, Andrei said his job was to focus on the convolutions in Russian property law.
-- Eleanor Randolph, Waking the Tempest

Floyd approached me with a glower, cheeks reddened, indignant.
-- William Peter Blatty, Demons Five, Exorcists Nothing

Glower is from Middle English gloren, perhaps ultimately of Scandinavian origin.

admonition

admonition \ad-muh-NISH-uhn\, noun:

1. Gentle or friendly reproof.
2. Counseling against a fault or oversight; friendly caution or warning.

After debating whether Keayne should be excommunicated, the congregation concluded that an admonition would suffice.
-- Patricia O'Toole, Money & Morals in America

And in religious families, the biblical admonition, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone," is part of living-room and kitchen table conversations.
-- Ann O'Hanlon, "Strange lessons for inquiring children", Irish Times, September 14, 1998

Or there is this simple admonition: "Be careful, God is watching."
-- Roger Cohen, "A Land Where God Is Working Overtime", New York Times, August 23, 1998

Admonition derives from Latin admonitio, admonition-, from admonitus, past participle of admonere, to remind, or warn, strongly, from ad- (here used intensively) + monere, to remind, to warn.

comestible

comestible \kuh-MES-tuh-buhl\, adjective:

1. Suitable to be eaten; edible.
2. Something suitable to be eaten; food.

I came to Adria's lab expecting subtle combinations and rare ingredients, the real outer limit of the comestible.
-- Adrian Searle, "Spray-on sauces, caviar for astronauts and aerosols of wine. . .", The Guardian, April 6, 2001

No matter how many flip-flops the nutrition gurus may make in deciding whether a particular comestible will kill or cure, most Americans seem to trust their instincts and eat what they please.
-- Richard Martin, "Dollars to doughnuts", Nation's Restaurant News, May 29, 2000

This rare comestible calls for specially designed platters, holders, and forks, but how well worth their acquisition!
-- Samuel Chamberlain, Clémentine in the Kitchen

Both men are descended from the fourth Earl of Sandwich, who is credited with inventing the namesake comestible in the mid-l8th century.
-- Amanda Mosle Friedman, "Noble heir to sandwich inventor starts namesake delivery outfit", Nation's Restaurant News, April 23, 2001

Comestible comes from Late Latin comestibilis, from comestus, from comesus, past participle of comedere, "to eat up, to consume," from com-, intensive prefix + edere, "to eat."