*****October 08, 2014*****
foremost : first in place, order, rank, etc.: the foremost surgeons. 

Pejorative :   adj. Expressing contempt or disapproval. Disparaging; belittling. "He used pejorative overtones in his speech." 

pork barrel :  government projects or appropriations yielding rich patronage benefits; also: government funds, jobs, or favors distributed by politicians to gain political advantage; It was apparent that the construction of the new parking garage was not a necessary project but a pork barrel deal for the business owners who would see increased foot traffic.

broach : (verb) To bring up (a subject) for discussion or debate.; initiate; I felt uncomfortable, but after two weeks of waiting for repayment, I decided to broach the subject of the outstanding loan. 

virulent : adjective
1. Bitterly hostile.
2. Highly infective.
3. Extremely dangerous.
"In those later years, Fred Koch also became a major benefactor and board
member of the John Birch Society, the rabidly anti-communist organization
founded in 1958 by candy magnate and virulent racist Robert Welch."
Tim Dickinson; Inside the Koch Brothers' Toxic Empire; Rolling Stone
(New York); Sep 24, 2014.
(WebCite) 

Idiom of the Day: forty winks
Informal :  If you have forty winks, you have a short sleep, or a nap.; If I have a late night I sometimes catch forty winks on the train on the way to work. 

Thought For The Day: When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted; when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realize, too late, that wealth is not in bank accounts and that you can't eat money. -Alanis Obomsawin, filmmaker (b. 1932)


	*****October 09, 2014*****
frisson : a sudden, passing sensation of excitement; a shudder of emotion; thrill: The movie offers the viewer the occasional frisson of seeing a character in mortal danger. 

Veracity :   n. Conformity to facts; accuracy. "What is the veracity of these allegations." Habitual truthfulness. "Her veracity and character." 

infinitesimal :  taking on values arbitrarily close to but greater than zero; Stella includes a lottery ticket in every birthday card she sends despite the infinitesimal chances that it will be a winning one. 

augury : (noun) A sign of something coming; an omen.; foretoken, preindication; Many analysts see the dire unemployment statistics as an augury of a continued recession. 

convivial : adjective: Friendly; sociable; cheerful; jovial.
"Anger shot through his [Wilfried Souly's] eyes. Then he was on his feet,
convivial again, beckoning us to follow him to our seats."
Mark Swed; Displacement and Growth; Los Angeles Times; Jul 26, 2014. 

Idiom of the Day: (like) water off a duck's back :  You can say an insult or criticism is like water off a duck's back if it doesn't upset you.; I asked Amy if she got upset when journalists wrote negative things about her, and she said she didn't care what they wrote - it was like water off a duck's back. 

Thought For The Day: Imagine there's no countries, / It isn't hard to do. / Nothing to kill or die for, / And no religion, too. / Imagine all the people / Living life in peace. -John Lennon, musician (1940-1980)


	*****October 10, 2014*****
ci-devant : French. former: used especially in reference to a retired officeholder. 

Abstruse :   adj. Difficult to understand; obscure. "An abstruse argument presented by the lawyers." 

clerisy :  intellectuals who form an artistic, social, or political vanguard or elite: intelligentsia; The book's author claims that a successful society must have both a strong commitment to democratic ideals and a well-established clerisy.

whorl : (noun) A form that coils or spirals; a curl or swirl.; curlicue, gyre, ringlet, roll; He ... made each individual line of the bewildering maze of whorls or curves or loops ... stand out bold and black by reinforcing it with ink. 

Idiom of the Day: full of yourself :  If you are full of yourself you think you're better or more important than you really are.; That guy was so full of himself! He couldn't stop talking about himself and all the wonderful things he's done.  

Thought For The Day: You become writer by writing. It is a yoga. -R.K. Narayan, novelist (1906-2001)


	*****October 11, 2014*****
yaff : Scot. and North England. to bark; yelp. 

Labyrinth :   n. A complicated irregular network of passages or paths in which it is difficult to find one's way; a maze. "Exploring the labyrinth of waterways." An intricate and confusing arrangement. 

derogate :  to cause to seem inferior : disparage; It is easy to derogate the prom committee for its lackluster theme now, but nobody came forward with any better ideas while it was being discussed.

Idiom of the Day: see eye to eye :  If you see eye to eye with someone, you totally agree with them about something.; They don't agree about everything, but when it comes to the most important issues they see eye to eye. 

Thought For The Day: You become writer by writing. It is a yoga. -R.K. Narayan, novelist (1906-2001)


	*****October 12, 2014*****
accidence : the rudiments or essentials of a subject. 

Bromide :   n.  A commonplace remark or notion; a platitude. "Her speech contained the usual bromides about teamwork." A tiresome or dull person; a bore. 

megillah :  slang a long involved story or account; Instead of just saying she was running late, Lynette went into the whole megillah of why her appointment would have to be rescheduled. 

slake : (verb) To satisfy (a craving); quench.; allay, assuage; My first act on coming to this water was, of course, to slake my thirst. 

Idiom of the Day: quit while you're ahead :  This phrase can be used to express the idea that one should stop doing something that's rewarding but risky before something bad happens.; Michael Schumacher got a lot out of car racing, and he was smart enough to quit while he was ahead. 

Thought For The Day: You become writer by writing. It is a yoga. -R.K. Narayan, novelist (1906-2001)


	*****October 13, 2014*****
accidence : the rudiments or essentials of a subject. 

Bromide :   n.  A commonplace remark or notion; a platitude. "Her speech contained the usual bromides about teamwork." A tiresome or dull person; a bore. 

megillah :  slang a long involved story or account; Instead of just saying she was running late, Lynette went into the whole megillah of why her appointment would have to be rescheduled. 

slake : (verb) To satisfy (a craving); quench.; allay, assuage; My first act on coming to this water was, of course, to slake my thirst. 

Idiom of the Day: quit while you're ahead :  This phrase can be used to express the idea that one should stop doing something that's rewarding but risky before something bad happens.; Michael Schumacher got a lot out of car racing, and he was smart enough to quit while he was ahead. 

Thought For The Day: You become writer by writing. It is a yoga. -R.K. Narayan, novelist (1906-2001)


	*****October 14, 2014*****
mistral : a cold, dry, northerly wind common in southern France and neighboring regions. 

Doleful :   adj Expressing sorrow; mournful. "A doleful look." Causing misfortune or grief. "Doleful consequences." 

posthaste :  with all possible speed; 'You must leave posthaste,' Virginia theatrically admonished her guests, 'or you'll miss your ferry!'

gaffe : (noun) A clumsy social error; a faux pas.; slip, solecism, gaucherie; He knew by the silence that greeted his speech that he had made some kind of gaffe. 

odyssey : noun: A long eventful journey or experience.
"In The Beast, ... journalist Oscar Martinez chronicled the treacherous
odysseys that Central Americans undertake as they cross Mexico. ...
The 'beasts' of the title are the trains on which the travelers ride
not in boxcars, as American hobos did in earlier times, but on the roofs."
Harold Meyerson; A New Children's March; The Washington Post; Jun 19, 2014. 

Idiom of the Day: a tall order :  If you say something's a tall order, you mean that it'll be hard to do or difficult to achieve. ; Winning six gold medals at the Olympic Games is a tall order, but not impossible. Mark Spitz won seven at the 1972 Olympics.  

Thought For The Day: Life is just a short walk from the cradle to the grave and it sure behooves us to be kind to one another along the way. -Alice Childress, playwright, author, and actor (1916-1994)


	*****October 15, 2014*****
juvenescent : being or becoming youthful; young. 

Malicious :   adj. Characterized by malice; intending or intended to do harm. "Malicious rumors." 

judgment :  a formal utterance of an authoritative opinion; Theresa showed good judgment by clearing her family out of the house as soon as she smelled gas.

hovel : (noun) A small, miserable dwelling.; shack, shanty, hut, hutch; Compared to the manor house, their own modest home seemed like a hovel. 

cimmerian : adjective: Very dark or gloomy.
"All along the beach they had travelled on the empty bus, watching as
lightning slashed the brooding, Cimmerian sky."
Anita Rau Badami; The Hero's Walk; Algonquin Books; 2001. 

Thought For The Day: To be nobody but myself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting. -E.E. Cummings, poet (1894-1962)


	*****October 16, 2014*****
mythomane : a person with a strong or irresistible propensity for fantasizing, lying, or exaggerating. 

Incorrigible :   adj. Not able to be corrected, improved, or reformed. "His bad habits were incorrigible." 

doctrinaire :  attempting to put into effect an abstract doctrine or theory with little or no regard for practical difficulties; 'As doctrinaire as I may be about players being ready to play every day,' Coach said, 'they are also human beings; I need to accept they are going to need breaks once in a while.'

feign : (verb) To give a false appearance of.; sham, simulate, assume; When confronted about the crime, the suspect feigned ignorance of even the most general details. 

narcissist : noun: Someone with excessive self-interest or self-love.
"Dreyfus's vice-president is a narcissist who plays an important scene in
a room filled with pictures of herself."
Jaime J. Weinman; Politics for Pretty People; Maclean's (Toronto, Canada);
Jul 18, 2012. 

Idiom of the Day: talk turkey :  If you talk turkey, you discuss something seriously, usually to do with business or money.; After the owner had shown him around the apartment, Shane decided it was just what he wanted, so he said, "OK, I'm interested. Let's talk turkey." 

Thought For The Day: He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. -Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher (1844-1900)


	*****October 17, 2014*****
conk : to go to sleep (usually followed by off or out). 

Efficacious :   adj. Successful in producing a desired or intended result; effective. "Efficacious treatment for the disease." 

bucket shop :  a gambling establishment that formerly used market fluctuations (as in commodities) as a basis for gaming; 'Today … the SEC is able to intervene more quickly to shut down frauds, like boiler rooms or bucket shops pushing bogus stocks….' - The Orange County Register, October 15, 2001

churl : (noun) A rude, boorish person.; boor, barbarian, peasant; He is a drunken, brawling, perilous churl, as you may find to your cost. 

atlas : noun:
1. A person who supports a great burden.
2. A book of maps, charts, tables, plates, etc.
3. The top vertebra of the backbone, which supports the skull.
4. A size of drawing paper 26x33 or 26x34 inches.
5. An architectural column in the shape of a man. (Plural: atlantes.
      Another word for this is telamon.
      The female equivalent is caryatid.)
"Williams's performance is forced, as if he believes he is an Atlas
holding up the whole picture."
Afterlives; Stanley Kauffmann; The New Republic (Washington, DC);
Oct 26, 1998. 

Idiom of the Day: skate on thin ice :  If you're skating on thin ice, you're doing something risky, or you're in a situation that could quickly become dangerous. ; Don't you think you'll be skating on thin ice if you go to the U.S. without getting health insurance? Medical care is incredibly expensive there. 

Thought For The Day: A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it. -Oscar Wilde, writer (1854-1900)


	*****October 18, 2014*****
duple : having two parts; double; twofold. 

Tepid :   adj. Showing little enthusiasm: "The president had a tepid response to the proposal." 

forswear :  to make a liar of (oneself) under or as if under oath; Tina forswore flying after the latest airline mishap left her stranded in Chicago for eighteen hours.

cache : (noun) A secret store of valuables or money.; hoard, stash; In case of an emergency, I have a small cache of money and weapons hidden in the shed. 

charon : noun: A ferryman.
"On the Ganges, a charon pulled me soundlessly across the water."
Pico Iyer; Maximum India; Condé Nast Traveler; Jan, 2011. 

Idiom of the Day: keep it under your hat :  If someone tells you a secret and you keep it under your hat, you don't tell anyone.; I'll only tell you if you promise to keep it under your hat. 

Thought For The Day: Don't be seduced into thinking that that which does not make a profit is without value. -Arthur Miller, playwright and essayist (1915-2005)


	*****October 19, 2014*****
deiform : godlike or divine in form or nature. 

Provenance :   n. The beginning of something's existence; something's origin. The place of origin or earliest known history of something. "An exquisite vase of Chinese provenance." 

neophilia :  love or enthusiasm for what is new or novel; Loretta wondered if it was neophilia that led her husband to buy shiny new power tools even when the ones he already had were in perfect condition. 

cabal : (noun) A secret scheme or plot.; conspiracy; She pretended that a wicked plot was being hatched against her, a cabal which would come to a head in the coming days. 

charon : noun: A ferryman.
"On the Ganges, a charon pulled me soundlessly across the water."
Pico Iyer; Maximum India; Condé Nast Traveler; Jan, 2011. 

Idiom of the Day: for the time being :  If something will be the way it is "for the time being", it will be that way for a limited period of time only.; You can stay here for the time being, but you'll have to move out when you find your own place. 

Thought For The Day: Don't be seduced into thinking that that which does not make a profit is without value. -Arthur Miller, playwright and essayist (1915-2005)


	*****October 20, 2014*****
hallux : the first or innermost digit of the foot of humans and other primates or of the hind foot of other mammals; great toe; big toe. 

Onerous :   adj. Involving heavy obligations. Involving a burdensome amount of effort and difficulty. "The court's stipulations were onerous." 

esculent :  edible; Morels are esculent mushrooms and are delicious, but be warned that there are also false morels, which are poisonous. 

parry : (verb) To deflect, evade, or avoid.; hedge, sidestep, skirt, circumvent, dodge, elude, duck; He parried every inquiry so successfully that soon he was the one asking the questions. 

charon : noun: A ferryman.
"On the Ganges, a charon pulled me soundlessly across the water."
Pico Iyer; Maximum India; Condé Nast Traveler; Jan, 2011. 

Idiom of the Day: the cream of the crop :  If something or someone is in the cream of the crop, they are among the best of a class of things or people.; The cream of the crop of this year's high-school graduates will get into the best universities, as usual. 

Thought For The Day: Don't be seduced into thinking that that which does not make a profit is without value. -Arthur Miller, playwright and essayist (1915-2005)


	*****October 21, 2014*****
cline : Linguistics. (in systemic linguistics) a scale of continuous gradation; continuum. 

Dismal :   adj Gloomy. Depressing; dreary. "The business was a dismal failure;" "Dismal weather." 

impunity :  exemption or freedom from punishment, harm, or loss; Penalties for breaking the law can be made harsher, but without extra funding for its enforcement, people will continue to violate it with impunity.

quaff : (verb) To swallow hurriedly or greedily or in one draught.; gulp, swig; Recently returned to port, the sailors quaffed their ale with gusto. 

mullion : noun: A vertical piece of stone, wood, metal, etc., dividing a window or other opening.
"When it comes to hanging wall art, don't overlook the mullion bar
between two windows."
Joshua Lyon; The Makeover Issue; Country Living (Pittsburgh); Sep 2013. 

Idiom of the Day: deep pockets :  You can say a person or an organisation has deep pockets if they have lots of money.; Let's make a list of everyone we know with deep pockets, and see if any of them want to invest in our company. 

Thought For The Day: Readers may be divided into four classes: 1. Sponges, who absorb all that they read and return it in nearly the same state, only a little dirtied. 2. Sand-glasses, who retain nothing and are content to get through a book for the sake of getting through the time. 3. Strain-bags, who retain merely the dregs of what they read. 4. Mogul diamonds, equally rare and valuable, who profit by what they read, and enable others to profit by it also. -Samuel Taylor Coleridge, poet, critic (1772-1834)


	*****October 22, 2014*****
realpolitik : political realism or practical politics, especially policy based on power rather than on ideals. 

Incendiary :   adj. Designed to cause fires. "An incendiary device." 

redux :  brought back; Now running in his own campaign, the son of the former mayor was advised to develop his own identity and not simply portray himself as his father redux. 

lucid : (adjective) Mentally sound; sane or rational.; coherent, logical; Most of the time, he just muttered incomprehensibly to himself, but in his occasional lucid moments, he was an engaging conversationalist. 

Idiom of the Day: stick out like a sore thumb | stand out like a sore thumb :  If someone sticks out like a sore thumb, or stands out like a sore thumb, everyone notices them because they're not the same as the people around them.; Kenny stuck out like a sore thumb at the party. He was the only person wearing a suit and a tie.  

Thought For The Day: Biographical history, as taught in our public schools, is still largely a history of boneheads: ridiculous kings and queens, paranoid political leaders, compulsive voyagers, ignorant generals, the flotsam and jetsam of historical currents. The men who radically altered history, the great creative scientists and mathematicians, are seldom mentioned if at all. -Martin Gardner, mathematician and writer (1914-2010)


	*****October 23, 2014*****
pavonine : of or like a peacock. 

Gravitas :   n. Dignity, seriousness, or solemnity in manner. "He has the necessary gravitas to lead the company." 

turophile :  a connoisseur of cheese : a cheese fancier; Surely the turophiles at our table can recommend some good cheeses to pair with our wine selection. 

nonce : (noun) The present or particular occasion.; time being; Her tendency to discover a touch of sadness had for the nonce disappeared. 

brummagem : adjective: Cheap and showy.
noun: Something that is counterfeit or of inferior quality.
"Your ring is just brummagem brass."
Lucy Vickery; After the Dance; The Spectator (London, UK); Feb 12, 2011. 

Idiom of the Day: yellow journalism
 :  Journalism in which sensational stories are used to boost sales, or biased reporting is used to change the reader's views on an issue. Both of these are unethical.; Have you noticed how, during a war, normally trustworthy professionals start writing the worst sort of yellow journalism to justify their government's actions? 

Thought For The Day: All one's life as a young woman one is on show, a focus of attention, people notice you. You set yourself up to be noticed and admired. And then, not expecting it, you become middle-aged and anonymous. No one notices you. You achieve a wonderful freedom. It's a positive thing. You can move about unnoticed and invisible. -Doris Lessing, novelist, poet, playwright, Nobel laureate (1919-2013)


	*****October 24, 2014*****
exiguous : scanty; meager; small; slender: exiguous income. 

Docile :   adj. Submissive. Ready to accept control or instruction. "The dog was very docile around children." 

interlocutor :  one who takes part in dialogue or conversation; Steve's aggressive insistence on the correctness of his own opinions frequently made his interlocutors uncomfortable. 

banal : (adjective) Drearily commonplace and often predictable; trite.; stock, threadbare, hackneyed, old-hat, well-worn, tired; By his twelfth book, his plots had become downright banal. 

Idiom of the Day: nerves of steel :  If you have nerves of steel, you are very brave and not many things make you scared or nervous.; I could never work on one of those high-rise building sites where you walk along beams about twenty stories up. You'd need nerves of steel to do that job. 

Thought For The Day: Every advance in civilization has been denounced as unnatural while it was recent. -Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, author, Nobel prize in literature (1872-1970)


	*****October 25, 2014*****
cloister : to confine in retirement; seclude. 

Frugal; Frugality :   adj. Economical with regard to money or food. Simple and plain that costs very little: "A frugal meal." 

lyric :  suitable for singing : melodic; The critics are praising Jessica's debut novel as a lyric masterpiece that bravely lays out the emotional tensions experienced by its young protagonist. 

argot : (noun) A specialized vocabulary or set of idioms used by a particular group.; jargon, lingo, patois, vernacular, slang, cant; He was a natural linguist, and he kept notebooks, making a scientific study of the workers' slang or argot, until he could talk quite intelligibly. 

girn : verb intr.: To snarl, grimace, or complain.
noun: A grimace or snarl.
"At seventy-five or eighty I will be like a child myself, frail and
cantankerous, a girning, burdensome old devil."
Jessica Stirling; The Wind from the Hills; St Martin's Press; 1999. 

Idiom of the Day: behind the eight ball

Informal :  If you're behind the eight ball, you're in a difficult or dangerous position.; The economic recession has really put our new business behind the eight ball. Nobody's spending money. 

Thought For The Day: Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none. -William Shakespeare, playwright and poet (1564-1616)


	*****October 26, 2014*****
cygnet : a young swan. 

Reciprocal; Reciprocate :   adj. Done or performed in return: "Reciprocal respect." 

vendetta :  a feud between different families; The vendetta between the two more powerful families on the island reached new heights when the prominent son of one family and two of his associates suddenly went missing. 

freewheeling : (adjective) Not concerned with or constrained by rules, conventions, or responsibilities.; devil-may-care, happy-go-lucky, harum-scarum, slaphappy, carefree; Enjoy your fun while you can because it won't be long before you have to bid farewell to your freewheeling lifestyle and settle down. 

girn : verb intr.: To snarl, grimace, or complain.
noun: A grimace or snarl.
"At seventy-five or eighty I will be like a child myself, frail and
cantankerous, a girning, burdensome old devil."
Jessica Stirling; The Wind from the Hills; St Martin's Press; 1999. 

Idiom of the Day: a war of words :  If you're in a war of words with someone, you're having a long argument or dispute with them.  ; The leaders of the two main political parties are in a war of words over the issue of gun ownership. They debate the topic whenever they see each other. 

Thought For The Day: Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none. -William Shakespeare, playwright and poet (1564-1616)


	*****October 27, 2014*****
quickhatch : a wolverine. 

Ambivalent; Ambivalence :   adj. Having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone. "She has ambivalent feelings about the relationship." 

maunder :  chiefly British : grumble; Chelsea left a nearly incoherent message on my voicemail, maundering on for several minutes without ever getting around to her reason for calling.

whet : (verb) To make more keen; stimulate.; quicken, pique; The aroma of frying bacon whetted my appetite. 

girn : verb intr.: To snarl, grimace, or complain.
noun: A grimace or snarl.
"At seventy-five or eighty I will be like a child myself, frail and
cantankerous, a girning, burdensome old devil."
Jessica Stirling; The Wind from the Hills; St Martin's Press; 1999. 

Idiom of the Day: the year dot | the year one :  You can say "the year dot", or "the year one", when you're talking about a very, very long time ago.; There have been people living in Australia since the year dot, but Europeans have only been there for about two hundred years. 

Thought For The Day: Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none. -William Shakespeare, playwright and poet (1564-1616)


	*****October 28, 2014*****
odontoid : of or resembling a tooth; toothlike. 

Slavish :   adj. Showing no originality; blindly imitative: "A slavish copy of the original work." 

homage :  something done or given as an acknowledgement of a vassal's duty to his lord; One scene in the movie was clearly the director's homage to his mentor and idol.

waft : (verb) To carry or be carried gently on or as if on the air or water.; drift, float, blow; The scent of her perfume wafted through the room. 

Idiom of the Day: a drop in the bucket
 :  If an amount is a drop in the bucket, it's a very small portion of the amount that's needed. ; Our government's sending a thousand tons of food, but that's just a drop in the bucket compared to what's needed. 

Thought For The Day: I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made. -Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd US President (1882-1945)


	*****October 29, 2014*****
poltergeist : a ghost or spirit supposed to manifest its presence by noises, knockings, etc. 

sempiternal :  of never-ending duration : eternal; No matter how much we try to analyze it, the question of which came first, the chicken or the egg, will be a matter of sempiternal debate. 

sere : (adjective) Dried up or withered.; shriveled; The desert was edged with sere vegetation. 

zeugma : noun:
The use of a word to refer to two or more words, especially in different senses.
Examples: "He caught a fish and a cold" or "She lost her ring and her temper."
"One, Mister Eisenschmutz, gaunt, small, elegant, his head covered with a
kepele in embroidered silk, prays with fervor and a French accent (this
is a rhetorical zeugma of the sort 'I'm Hungarian and robbed')."
Adam Biro (translator: Catherine Tihanyi); Is It Good for the Jews?;
The University of Chicago Press; 2009. 

Idiom of the Day: a wolf in sheep's clothing :  A wolf in sheep's clothing is someone who seems to be a good person but is really a bad person.; The priest at our church seemed to be a very warm and caring man, but we later found out that he was a wolf in sheep's clothing. 

Thought For The Day: The human mind is inspired enough when it comes to inventing horrors; it is when it tries to invent a heaven that it shows itself cloddish. -Evelyn Waugh, novelist (1903-1966)


	*****October 30, 2014*****
chthonian : Classical Mythology. of or pertaining to the deities, spirits, and other beings dwelling under the earth. 

Corpulent :   adj. Physically bulky; fat. "The once corpulent woman is now trim and fit." 

quixotic :  foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals; Pauline characterized her Halloween decorating plans as ambitious, but she secretly feared that 'quixotic' was a more apt descriptor.

orphic : (adjective) Having an import not apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence; beyond ordinary understanding.; occult, mysterious, mystical, secret; The orphic symbols on the tome could only be deciphered by the blind wizard. 

synecdoche : noun: A figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole or vice versa.
Examples: "head count" to refer to the count of people or "the police" to refer to a police officer
"Rome was the heart of Italy, a synecdoche for all that humanity had
wrought. Rome bore witness to the fate of republics and empires,
faiths and fortunes."
Jane Kamensky; John Singleton Copley's Grand Tour; Smithsonian
(Washington, DC); Apr 2014. 

Idiom of the Day: (like) water off a duck's back :  You can say an insult or criticism is like water off a duck's back if it doesn't upset you.; I asked Amy if she got upset when journalists wrote negative things about her, and she said she didn't care what they wrote - it was like water off a duck's back. 

Thought For The Day: If only I may grow: firmer, simpler, -- quieter, warmer. -Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary General of the United Nations, Nobel laureate (1905-1961)


	*****October 31, 2014*****
baleful : full of menacing or malign influences; pernicious. 

Pontificate :   v. To speak or behave in a pompous or dogmatic manner. "He pontificates at great length in political matters." 

collywobbles :  pain in the abdomen and especially in the stomach : bellyache; 'It's no wonder you've got the collywobbles,' said Ruth to her niece, 'given the amount of Halloween candy you ate last night!'

iota : (noun) A very small amount; a bit.; scintilla, shred, smidgeon, whit; There was not an iota of truth to that tale. 

epanalepsis : noun: A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is repeated after
intervening text.Example: "The king is dead, long live the king!"
"What's it called if a word that appears at the beginning of a sentence
is repeated at its end? Epanalepsis. Think of Brutus's speech at the
funeral of Julius Caesar (in Shakespeare's revision, of course):
'Hear me for my cause, and be silent that you may hear:
Believe me for mine honor, and have respect to mine honor,
that you may believe.'"
Bryan A. Garner; For the Word Lovers; ABA Journal (Chicago); May 2013. 

Idiom of the Day: stick out like a sore thumb | stand out like a sore thumb :  If someone sticks out like a sore thumb, or stands out like a sore thumb, everyone notices them because they're not the same as the people around them.; Kenny stuck out like a sore thumb at the party. He was the only person wearing a suit and a tie.  

Thought For The Day: Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree. -Ezra Pound, poet (1885-1972)


	*****November 01, 2014*****
cryptesthesia : Psychology. allegedly paranormal perception, as clairvoyance or clairaudience. 

Lugubrious :   adj. Looking or sounding sad and dismal; mournful. "The lugubrious country song reminded her of an ex-boyfriend." 

adduce :  to offer as example, reason, or proof in discussion or analysis; 'The arguments she had adduced rang true.' - Agatha Christie, The Secret Adversary, 1922

jibe : (verb) To be in accord; agree.; correspond, match; I expected to find some discrepancies in the books, but your figures jibe with mine. 

hendiadys : noun: A figure of speech in which two words joined by a conjunction are used
to convey a single idea instead of using a word and its modifier.
Example: "pleasant and warm" instead of "pleasantly warm"
"'One good student and nice is Julio.'
'I compliment you on the superb hendiadys re: Julio.'"
John Fredrick; The King of Good Intentions; Verse Chorus Press; 2013. 

Idiom of the Day: (have) egg on your face
Informal :  You have egg on your face if you've said or done something wrong, and it's made you feel embarrassed or stupid.; Stan had egg on his face after saying he could easily do fifty push-ups, and then giving up after  doing just twenty. 

Thought For The Day: There is a budding morrow in midnight. -John Keats, poet (1795-1821)


	*****November 02, 2014*****
oeuvre : French. the works of a writer, painter, or the like, taken as a whole. 

Contentious :   adj. Causing or likely to cause an argument; controversial. Involving a heated argument. "The terms of the agreement remain contentious between the parties." 

simplistic :  excessively simple : not complete or thorough enough : not treating or considering all possibilities or parts; The statistics are based on a simplistic study of a small, unrepresentative population and cannot be applied to the broader population.

gibe : (noun) A derisive or provoking remark.; barb, dig, shot; The referee heard the gibes from the crowd, but, ever the professional, ignored them. 

hendiadys : noun: A figure of speech in which two words joined by a conjunction are used
to convey a single idea instead of using a word and its modifier.
Example: "pleasant and warm" instead of "pleasantly warm"
"'One good student and nice is Julio.'
'I compliment you on the superb hendiadys re: Julio.'"
John Fredrick; The King of Good Intentions; Verse Chorus Press; 2013. 

Idiom of the Day: under lock and key :  If something is under lock and key, it is kept in a very secure place.; Make sure these documents are under lock and key until we need them.  

Thought For The Day: There is a budding morrow in midnight. -John Keats, poet (1795-1821)


	*****November 03, 2014*****
crapehanger : a person who sees the gloomy side of things; pessimist. Also, crepehanger. 

Excoriate :   v. Censure or criticize severely; Severely berate: "He was excoriated for his mistakes." 

malapropism :  the usually unintentionally humorous misuse or distortion of a word or phrase; especially : the use of a word sounding somewhat like the one intended but ludicrously wrong in the context; Unloosing one of his frequent malapropisms, grandfather declared that by eating healthy and exercising regularly he hoped to become 'nearly immoral.'

numismatist : (noun) A collector and student of money (and coins in particular).; coin collector; I'm not sure that I would go so far as to call myself a numismatist, but I do have jars and jars full of change at home. 

hendiadys : noun: A figure of speech in which two words joined by a conjunction are used
to convey a single idea instead of using a word and its modifier.
Example: "pleasant and warm" instead of "pleasantly warm"
"'One good student and nice is Julio.'
'I compliment you on the superb hendiadys re: Julio.'"
John Fredrick; The King of Good Intentions; Verse Chorus Press; 2013. 

Idiom of the Day: elbow grease :  If something needs elbow grease, it needs a lot of hard physical work.; We'll need a bit more elbow grease to get these walls really clean. 

Thought For The Day: There is a budding morrow in midnight. -John Keats, poet (1795-1821)


	*****November 04, 2014*****
horology : the art or science of making timepieces or of measuring time. 

Taciturn :   adj. Reserved or uncommunicative in speech; saying little. "Today the normally taciturn man would not stop talking." 

fusty :  saturated with dust and stale odors : musty; We opened the windows to air out the fusty room.

raze : (verb) To level to the ground; demolish.; pull down, tear down; They would raze our cities, leaving not one stone upon another. 

dragoman : noun: An interpreter or guide.
"The pig doesn't express himself in some exotic swine-dialect, the farmer
has no need to summon a dragoman fluent in grunts, each understands the
other perfectly."
Eric Ormsby; Ambitious Diminutives; Parnassus: Poetry in Review; 2008. 

Idiom of the Day: the jewel in the crown :  If something is the jewel in the crown, it's part of a group or set of similar things, and it's the best of them all.; Sydney's Opera House is the jewel in the crown of modern Australian architecture. 

Thought For The Day: It is more often from pride than from ignorance that we are so obstinately opposed to current opinions; we find the first places taken, and we do not want to be the last. -Francois De La Rochefoucauld, moralist (1613-1680)


	*****November 05, 2014*****
kickshaw : a tidbit or delicacy, especially one served as an appetizer or hors d'oeuvre. 

Accommodate; Accommodating :   v. Provide lodging or sufficient space for. "The room will accommodate ten people." Fit in with the wishes or needs of another: "It's difficult to accommodate his new management style." 

demagogue :  a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power; The nation's voters ousted their incumbent president for a demagogue who persuasively capitalized on fears of another recession. 

rend : (verb) To tear or split apart or into pieces violently.; rip, rive; The widow began to rend her clothes in grief. 

golgotha : noun:
1. A place or occasion of great suffering.
2. A burial place.
"A soldier from Mississippi called Spotsylvania 'one vast Golgotha in
immensity of the number of the dead.'"
Michael Ruane; 'Were Turned into Fiends and Brutes'; The Washington Post;
Apr 27, 2014. 

Idiom of the Day: caught red-handed :  If someone is caught red-handed, they are caught in the act of doing something wrong such as cheating or stealing.; I used to cheat in exams until I was caught red-handed by my teacher. I stopped doing it after that. 

Thought For The Day: I would rather be the man who bought the Brooklyn Bridge than the one who sold it. -Will Rogers, humorist (1879-1935)


	*****November 06, 2014*****
pusillanimous : lacking courage or resolution; cowardly; faint-hearted; timid. 

Insular :   adj. Ignorant of or uninterested in cultures, ideas, or people outside a person's own experience. "An insular taste in music." Lacking contact with other people. "She seemed too insular to leave her house." 

trenchant :  keen, sharp; The daily news satire show not only offers a healthy dose of laughs but also trenchant commentary on the current events of the day. 

mire : (noun) An area of wet, soggy, muddy ground; a bog.; morass, quag, quagmire; At last he came to a part of the road where the wheels sank half-way into the mire, and the more the horses pulled, the deeper sank the wheels. 

mandarin : noun:
1. A member of one of nine ranks of public officials in the Chinese Empire.
2. A powerful government official or bureaucrat.
3. A member of an elite group, especially one having influence in intellectual or literary circles.
4. Capitalized: the official language of China.
5. A citrus tree, Citrus reticulata, that is native to China.

adjective:
1. Of or relating to a mandarin.
2. Marked by refined or ornate language.
"Narendra Modi's real challenge begins once he gets down to the brass
tacks of realpolitik with Obama and the White House mandarins."
The Modi Sales Pitch; Gulf News (Dubai); Sep 30, 2014.

"No one would accuse James Swain of writing mandarin prose; in fact,
he uses language with such blunt force he could be hammering in nails."
Marilyn Stasio; After-School Special; The New York Times Book Review;
Oct 7, 2007. 

Idiom of the Day: jump down your throat | jump all over you :  If someone jumps down your throat, or jumps all over you, they strongly criticise you or scold you. ; All I did was come twenty minutes late, and the manager jumped down my throat. I don't understand why he got so mad. 

Thought For The Day: To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men. -Ella Wheeler Wilcox, poet (1850-1919)


	*****November 07, 2014*****
anatine : resembling a duck. 

Voracious :   adj. An eager approach to an activity; Wanting or devouring great quantities of something or somebody: "She has a voracious appetite for life." 

chouse :  cheat, trick; In Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, the miserable Mr. Cruncher fumes, 'If I ain't … been choused this last week into as bad luck as ever a poor devil of a honest tradesman met with!' 

akin : (adjective) Similar in quality or character.; kindred; The students watched the principal approaching with a feeling akin to terror. 

jubilee : noun:
1. A special anniversary of an event, especially a 50th anniversary.
2. Rejoicing or celebration.
"Pupils at a Bradford school crowned their diamond jubilee celebrations
by starting the new academic year in the new school colour -- gold."
Chris Young; A Golden Year Begins for Pupils With New School Uniforms;
Telegraph and Argus (Bradford, UK); Oct 3, 2014. 

Idiom of the Day: the year dot | the year one :  You can say "the year dot", or "the year one", when you're talking about a very, very long time ago.; There have been people living in Australia since the year dot, but Europeans have only been there for about two hundred years. 

Thought For The Day: I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice. -Abraham Lincoln, 16th US President (1809-1865)


	*****November 08, 2014*****
gapeseed : British Dialect. a person who gapes or stares in wonder, especially a rustic or unworldly person who is easily awed. 

Magnanimous :   adj. Very generous or forgiving, particularly toward a rival or someone less powerful than oneself. 

prototype :  an original model on which something is patterned : archetype; It's not clear at this point how the device will differ from its prototype.

bode : (verb) To be an omen of.; augur, portend, foreshadow, presage, foretell; Her hesitation at his proposal boded trouble in their future. 

Mata Hari : noun: A seductive woman who works as a spy.
"In London, Sophia joins the war effort ... and embarks upon improbable
espionage escapades, hoping to come off as a Mata Hari in furs and
printed chiffon."
Liesl Schillinger; The Persistence of Levity; Newsweek (New York);
Sep 20, 2013. 

Idiom of the Day: a fair-weather friend :  A fair-weather friend is a person who will only be your friend when things are going well for you.; I had lots of friends when I was rich and successful, but when the money was gone it became clear that most were only fair-weather friends. 

Thought For The Day: Too many have dispensed with generosity in order to practice charity. -Albert Camus, writer and philosopher (1913-1960)


	*****November 09, 2014*****
sinistral : left-handed. 

Evocative; Evocate :   adj. Bringing strong memories, images, or feelings to mind. 

Byzantine :  of, relating to, or characteristic of the ancient city of Byzantium or of the Byzantine Empire; A decade of reckless investments and byzantine power struggles eventually led to the company's collapse.

ken : (noun) Range of what one can know or understand.; cognizance; This level of mathematics is beyond my ken. 

Mata Hari : noun: A seductive woman who works as a spy.
"In London, Sophia joins the war effort ... and embarks upon improbable
espionage escapades, hoping to come off as a Mata Hari in furs and
printed chiffon."
Liesl Schillinger; The Persistence of Levity; Newsweek (New York);
Sep 20, 2013. 

Idiom of the Day: answer the call of nature :  If you answer the call of nature, you go to the toilet.; Could we stop somewhere? I need to answer the call of nature. 

Thought For The Day: Too many have dispensed with generosity in order to practice charity. -Albert Camus, writer and philosopher (1913-1960)


	*****November 10, 2014*****
comeuppance : Informal. deserved reward or just deserts, usually unpleasant: He finally got his comeuppance for his misbehavior. 

Perfidious :   adj. Deceitful and untrustworthy. "A perfidious relationship." 

injunction :  the act or an instance of enjoining : order, admonition; The family gathered in the room to hear the matriarch's dying injunctions.

diffident : (adjective) Lacking or marked by a lack of self-confidence; shy and timid.; unsure; Because she was only a first-year student, she was diffident when offering a comment on the professor's lecture. 

Mata Hari : noun: A seductive woman who works as a spy.
"In London, Sophia joins the war effort ... and embarks upon improbable
espionage escapades, hoping to come off as a Mata Hari in furs and
printed chiffon."
Liesl Schillinger; The Persistence of Levity; Newsweek (New York);
Sep 20, 2013. 

Idiom of the Day: easy on the eye :  If something is easy on the eye, it is pleasant to look at.; Do you like paintings that are challenging and say something, or paintings that are easy on the eye and work as decoration? 

Thought For The Day: Too many have dispensed with generosity in order to practice charity. -Albert Camus, writer and philosopher (1913-1960)


	*****November 11, 2014*****
hoyden : a boisterous, bold, and carefree girl; a tomboy. 

Sycophant :   n. A person who acts attentively toward someone in order to gain advantage; a servile flatterer. 

egregious :  conspicuous; especially : conspicuously bad : flagrant; It was an egregious breach of theater etiquette on Eugene's part when he left his cell phone on during the play and it rang during an important scene. 

sycophant : (noun) A servile self-seeker who attempts to win favor by flattering influential people.; crawler, toady, lackey; The sycophant erupted into laughter before the mayor had even finished the joke. 

tegular : adjective: Relating to, resembling, or arranged like tiles.
"The town council has contributed £70,000 to the scheme to pay for
tegular paving to match other areas of the town centre."
Jon Bennett; Traders Angry Over Road Resurfacing Work;
Kent and Sussex Courier (UK); Mar 14, 2008. 

Idiom of the Day: under the table
 :  If something is done under the table, it's done secretly, usually because it's illegal or unethical. ; If I do any overtime, can you pay me under the table so I won't have pay tax on it. 

Thought For The Day: Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be a very silent place if no birds sang except the best. -Henry van Dyke, poet (1852-1933)


	*****November 12, 2014*****
gossamer : a fine, filmy cobweb seen on grass or bushes or floating in the air in calm weather, especially in autumn. 

Antipathy :   n. A deep-seated feeling of dislike; aversion. "His antipathy for first wife dates back to his divorce." 

anodyne :  serving to alleviate pain; The group's latest album is a fairly anodyne affair; it contains a number of lively tunes that are easy on the ears, but which play it far too safe to ever be anything more than passing amusements.

quiescence : (noun) A state of quiet (but possibly temporary) inaction.; dormancy; The volcano erupted after centuries of quiescence. 

refection : noun:
1. Refreshment with food or drink.
2. A light meal.
3. The reingesting of fecal pellets, as practiced by rabbits.
"Mr March and the Professor retired to the study, Meg and Amy went to
look after the little refection of fruit and cake which was to come."
Louisa May Alcott; Jo's Boys; Roberts Brothers; 1886. 

Idiom of the Day: kick the bucket
Informal :  If someone kicks the bucket, they die.; When I kick the bucket, you can just bury me under a tree at the bottom of the garden. 

Thought For The Day: A brother is a friend given by nature. -Gabriel Legouve, writer (1807-1903)


	*****November 13, 2014*****
clowder : a group or cluster of cats. 

Propensity :   n. An inclination or natural tendency to behave in a particular way. "He has a propensity for clear thinking." 

hallowed :  holy, consecrated; 'He who enters a university walks on hallowed ground,' declared Harvard President James Bryant Conant on the celebration of that institution's 300th anniversary. 

ubiquitous : (adjective) Being or seeming to be everywhere at the same time.; omnipresent; She is the most ubiquitous media personality around. 

Idiom of the Day: dirt cheap :  You can say something is dirt cheap if it costs very little money.; Be careful when you buy dirt cheap clothes. They could shrink easily or the colours could run when you wash them. 

Thought For The Day: Patience is also a form of action. -Auguste Rodin, sculptor (1840-1917)


	*****November 14, 2014*****
horripilation : a bristling of the hair on the skin from cold, fear, etc.; goose flesh. 

Officious :   adj. Assertive of authority in an annoyingly domineering way, esp. with regard to petty or trivial matters. Intrusively enthusiastic in offering help or advice; interfering. "The officious man is widely disliked." 

threnody :  a song of lamentation for the dead : elegy; Christina wrote the poem as a threnody for her grandmother, who had died the previous spring.

inimical : (adjective) Injurious or harmful in effect; adverse.; hurtful, injurious; The inimical effects of smoking have been thoroughly documented. 

wonted : adjective: Usual; accustomed.
"With wonted grace, Carey concedes that mass hunger is a seemly matter
for clerical concern."
Matthew Norman; By George, Dr Carey's Right!; The Independent (London,
UK); Feb 26, 2014. 

Idiom of the Day: par for the course
Informal :  If something is par for the course, it's what you'd expect it to be.; Bill hasn't paid his rent on time, but that's par for the course. He's always late. 

Thought For The Day: Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant. -Robert Louis Stevenson, novelist, essayist, and poet (1850-1894)


	*****November 15, 2014*****
slubber : to perform hastily or carelessly. 

Sentient :   adj. Characterized by sensation and consciousness. Able to perceive or feel things: "Sentient life forms." 

devise :  to give (real estate) by will; The author's childhood home was devised to the city and the Historical Commission will turn it into a museum devoted to her life. 

inveigle : (verb) To win over by coaxing, flattery, or artful talk.; cajole, coax, sweet-talk, wheedle; The salesman inveigled him so successfully that he paid twice the original price. 

ambagious : adjective: Roundabout; circuitous.
"... Mandelstam's ambagious passage to a common grave outside a transit camp."
Andrew Hudgins; Stalin's Laughter; The Kenyon Review (Gambier, Ohio);
Spring 2010. 

Idiom of the Day: give the green light :  If you give something the green light, you give permission for it to be done, or allow it to happen.; The government has given the green light to our tree-planting project, so we can go ahead and start organizing things. 

Thought For The Day: No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed, and love of power. -P.J. O'Rourke, writer (b. 1947)


	*****November 16, 2014*****
panivorous : subsisting on bread; bread-eating. 

Opprobrious :   adj. Disgraceful; shameful. "His actions were opprobrious." 

execrable :  deserving to be execrated : detestable; It turned out that the execrable odor was coming from a bag of onions rotting in the back of the pantry.

harangue : (noun) A speech or piece of writing characterized by strong feeling or expression; a tirade.; rant; The coach's angry harangue during halftime somehow managed to motivate the team. 

ambagious : adjective: Roundabout; circuitous.
"... Mandelstam's ambagious passage to a common grave outside a transit camp."
Andrew Hudgins; Stalin's Laughter; The Kenyon Review (Gambier, Ohio);
Spring 2010. 

Thought For The Day: No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed, and love of power. -P.J. O'Rourke, writer (b. 1947)


	*****November 17, 2014*****
pell-mell : in a confused or jumbled mass, crowd, manner, etc.: The crowd rushed pell-mell into the store when the doors opened. 

Credulous; Credulity :   n. A tendency to be too ready to believe that something is real or true. "A credulous rumor." 

meliorism :  the belief that the world tends to improve and that humans can aid its betterment; The author's meliorism is evident in such statements as, 'I believe that peace is inevitable.'

charlatan : (noun) A person who makes elaborate, fraudulent, and often voluble claims to skill or knowledge; a quack or fraud.; mountebank; In a somber tone, the charlatan proclaimed that he could cure the woman with only a banana peel—for a small fee, of course. 

ambagious : adjective: Roundabout; circuitous.
"... Mandelstam's ambagious passage to a common grave outside a transit camp."
Andrew Hudgins; Stalin's Laughter; The Kenyon Review (Gambier, Ohio);
Spring 2010. 

Idiom of the Day: par for the course
Informal :  If something is par for the course, it's what you'd expect it to be.; Bill hasn't paid his rent on time, but that's par for the course. He's always late. 

Thought For The Day: No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed, and love of power. -P.J. O'Rourke, writer (b. 1947)


	*****November 18, 2014*****
rufescent : somewhat reddish; tinged with red; rufous. 

Abrogate :   v. Repeal or do away with a law, right, or agreement. "To abrogate a law." 

rife :  prevalent especially to an increasing degree; After the newspaper's managing editor was fired, speculation was rife about who would replace him. 

gossamer : (adjective) Sheer, light, delicate, or tenuous.; ethereal; Tasting cotton candy for the first time, the child was thrilled by the gossamer treat. 

Idiom of the Day: come in handy
Informal :  You can say something might come in handy if you think it might be useful.; It's a good thing you took those extra clothes. They came in handy after I fell in the river. 

Thought For The Day: We are a landscape of all we have seen. -Isamu Noguchi, sculptor and architect (1904-1988)


	*****November 19, 2014*****
star-crossed : thwarted or opposed by the stars; ill-fated: star-crossed lovers. 

Egress :   n. The action of going out of or leaving a place. "The company's egress procedures." 

leitmotif :  a melodic phrase or figure that accompanies the reappearance of an idea, person, or situation in a music drama; The overcoming of obstacles and a love of theater are the two leitmotifs of her autobiography.

remonstrate : (verb) To reason or plead in protest, objection, or complaint.; protest, challenge, argue, object, dispute, dissent, expostulate; I remonstrate against these outrages upon reason and truth, of course, but it does no good. 

strafe : verb tr.:
1. To attack with machine-gun fire or bombs from a low-flying aircraft.
2. To criticize severely.

noun:
1. An attack from a low-flying aircraft.
2. A severe criticism.
"Alanis is strafed with scorn no matter what she does, and her attachment
parenting style is often derided on Internet sites."
Bruce Ward; Alanis at 40; Ottawa Citizen (Canada); May 21, 2014. 

Idiom of the Day: fresh as a daisy :  If you feel as fresh as a daisy, you feel energetic and lively.; I might look awful first thing in the morning, but after a cup of tea and a bit of meditation I'm as fresh as a daisy. 

Thought For The Day: Wanting to meet an author because you like his work is like wanting to meet a duck because you like paté. -Margaret Atwood, novelist and poet (b. 1939)


	*****November 20, 2014*****
chiaroscuro : the distribution of light and shade in a picture. 

Trepidation :   n. A feeling of fear or agitation about something that may or may not actually happen. "He entered the cave with considerable trepidation." 

officious :  volunteering one's services where they are neither asked nor needed : meddlesome; Staff members view the new consultant as an officious individual offering unwanted feedback, but she is simply doing her job.

chicanery : (noun) Deception by trickery or sophistry.; guile; The trial revealed a world of crime, corruption and political chicanery. 

Idiom of the Day: a weight off your shoulders :  You can say a weight is off your shoulders if you no longer have to worry about something or deal with something difficult.; Thanks so much for agreeing to take care of Snoopy while I'm away. It's a weight off my shoulders knowing that a real dog lover will be looking after her. 

Thought For The Day: You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist. -Indira Gandhi, prime minister of India (1917-1984)


	*****November 21, 2014*****
apocryphal : of doubtful authorship or authenticity. 

Obfuscate :   v. Render obscure, unclear, or unintelligible. Bewilder (someone). "The eclipse will obfuscate the sun's light." 

weal :  a sound, healthy, or prosperous state : well-being; The president spoke of devotion to the common weal and the hope of creating a better country.

exculpate : (verb) To clear of guilt or blame.; acquit, assoil, exonerate, discharge, clear; He was exculpated from the charge when the real criminal confessed. 

Idiom of the Day: have your head in the clouds :  If someone has their head in the clouds, they are out of touch with the everyday world and can be unrealistic or naive as a result.; If you think oil companies are going to help destroy their own industry by developing alternative energy sources, you have your head in the clouds. 

Thought For The Day: The truth isn't always beauty, but the hunger for it is. -Nadine Gordimer, novelist, Nobel laureate (1923-2014)


	*****November 22, 2014*****
bovarism : an exaggerated, especially glamorized, estimate of oneself; conceit. 

Formidable :   adj. Inspiring fear or respect through being impressively powerful, large, or capable. "A formidable opponent." 

golden handcuffs :  special benefits offered to an employee as an inducement to continue service; It was in the company's interests to offer Janice a set of golden handcuffs in the form of company stock, since her connections and knowledge of industry secrets would not be easy to replace. 

huffy : (adjective) Quick to take offense.; touchy; I tried to give my coworker some advice after the meeting, but she perceived it as criticism, got all huffy, and stormed away. 

leitmotif or leitmotiv : noun: A recurrent theme in a piece of music or literature, situation, etc.
"Smart women speaking makes many men angry. Looking back, I see that this
has been a leitmotif of my life. This may not surprise you, but it
surprises me, every time."
Elizabeth Farrelly; If Only the World Boasted More Uppity Women; The Sydney
Morning Herald (Australia); Feb 13, 2014. 

Idiom of the Day: neck of the woods
Informal :  A neck of the woods is a neighbourhood or a district, usually rural.; What brings you to our neck of the woods?  

Thought For The Day: Every man is guilty of all the good he didn't do. -Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778)


	*****November 23, 2014*****
vespertide : the period of vespers; evening. 

Confluence :   n. The act or process of merging. A flowing together of two or more streams. "A fortunate confluence of factors led to his success." 

shrive :  to administer the sacrament of reconciliation to; 'Once every three months, Pancho took his savings and drove into Monterey to confess his sins, to do his penance, and be shriven and to get drunk, in the order named.' - John Steinbeck, The Pastures of Heaven, 1932

vitriolic : (adjective) Bitterly scathing; caustic.; acid, blistering, venomous, acrid, acerbic, bitter, virulent; The critic showed no mercy in writing the most vitriolic review of her career. 

leitmotif or leitmotiv : noun: A recurrent theme in a piece of music or literature, situation, etc.
"Smart women speaking makes many men angry. Looking back, I see that this
has been a leitmotif of my life. This may not surprise you, but it
surprises me, every time."
Elizabeth Farrelly; If Only the World Boasted More Uppity Women; The Sydney
Morning Herald (Australia); Feb 13, 2014. 

Idiom of the Day: right down your alley | right up your alley
 :  If something is right down your alley, or right up your alley, it would be perfect for you or ideal for your skills and interests.; I've found a job that should be right down Lou's alley. It's writing for a baseball magazine, so he could use his writing skills and his knowledge of baseball. 

Thought For The Day: Every man is guilty of all the good he didn't do. -Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778)


	*****November 24, 2014*****
frigorific : causing or producing cold. 

Intrinsic :   adj. Belonging naturally; essential. "Intrinsic stock value." 

recusant :  refusing to submit to authority; Elizabeth's recusant streak was apparent even in elementary school, where she would frequently challenge the rules put forth by her teachers. 

impel : (verb) To urge or force (a person) to an action; constrain or motivate.; compel, drive, push, inspire, instigate, goad; I don't consider myself an activist, but I was impelled by recent events to take a stand on this issue. 

leitmotif or leitmotiv : noun: A recurrent theme in a piece of music or literature, situation, etc.
"Smart women speaking makes many men angry. Looking back, I see that this
has been a leitmotif of my life. This may not surprise you, but it
surprises me, every time."
Elizabeth Farrelly; If Only the World Boasted More Uppity Women; The Sydney
Morning Herald (Australia); Feb 13, 2014. 

Idiom of the Day: in the black :  If a person or a company is in the black, their assets are greater than their debts.; It's taken a long time, but we've paid off our loans and we're in the black again at last. 

Thought For The Day: Every man is guilty of all the good he didn't do. -Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778)


	*****November 25, 2014*****
gaslight : to cause (a person) to doubt his or her sanity through the use of psychological manipulation: How do you know if your partner is gaslighting you? 

Overt :   adj. Done or shown openly; plainly or readily apparent, not secret or hidden. "Overt hostility." 

Job's comforter :  a person who discourages or depresses while seemingly giving comfort and consolation; Danny, a reliable Job's comforter, assured Shane that the girl who'd broken his heart had always been out of his league.

impracticable : (adjective) Not capable of being carried out or put into practice.; unfeasible, unworkable; Refloating the sunken ship intact proved impracticable because of its fragility. 

solon : noun:
1. A wise lawgiver.
2. A legislator.
"After due consideration and debate, our solons last week offered new rules
designed to prevent dangerous practices."
Randall W. Forsyth; Riskless Business; Barron's (New York); Dec 16, 2013. 

Idiom of the Day: year in, year out :  If something has happened year in, year out, it's happened every year for many years in a row.; Our family gets together year in, year out at Christmas time.  

Thought For The Day: Flags are bits of colored cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people's brains and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead. -Arundhati Roy, writer and activist (b. 1961)


	*****November 26, 2014*****
nostomania : an irresistible compulsion to return home; intense homesickness. 

Serendipity; Serendipitous :   n.  The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident. "A fortunate stroke of serendipity." 

pelagic :  of, relating to, or living or occurring in the open sea : oceanic; She is studying to become a marine biologist specializing in pelagic plant life.

fugacious : (adjective) Passing away quickly; evanescent.; ephemeral, passing, short-lived, transitory, transient; Restless, shifting, fugacious as time itself is a certain vast bulk of the population of the red brick district of the lower West Side. 

Idiom of the Day: in deep water :  If you're in deep water, you're in some sort of trouble or in a difficult situation.; The company's in deep water now that the tax inspectors have decided to check over the accounts. 

Thought For The Day: There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there 
must never be a time when we fail to protest. -Elie Wiesel, writer, Nobel 
laureate (b. 1928)


	*****November 27, 2014*****
pabulum : material for intellectual nourishment. 

Apoplectic :   adj. Overcome with anger; extremely indignant. "He showed apoplectic rage." 

crabwise :  sideways; Rather than asking his parents for a car directly, Noah approached the matter crabwise, stressing how inconvenient it was for them to have to drive him everywhere.

nefarious : (adjective) Evil; wicked; sinful.; villainous; The impenetrable and inescapable prison housed the most nefarious criminals. 

platonic : adjective:
1. Relating to Plato or his ideas.
2. Relating to a love free of sensual desire.
3. Confined to words or theories, and not leading to action.
"In trendier circles, the French two-cheek kiss has become the greeting of
choice. The two-cheeker happens very quickly and therefore requires a great
deal of precision and lip-cheek coordination. For this reason, it's not
uncommon, when hopping from one cheek to the other, to wind up planting
one on your co-kissee's neck or worse, an earlobe. Then suddenly your
platonic gesture is transformed into a strangely intimate moment
(particularly baffling if the kissee is, say, your mother-in-law)."
Lianne George; Have a Merry Christmas Kiss; Maclean's (Toronto, Canada);
Dec 27, 2004.

"In a rare personal reference, Legrain spoke of the impact of his medical
practice on his views: '... living in permanent contact with these victims,
I began to understand that the time was no longer appropriate for these
platonic efforts that consist of blustering at every turn against the
modern scourge.'"
Patricia Prestwich; Paul-Maurice Legrain (1860-1939); Addiction (Abingdon,
UK); Oct 1997. 

Idiom of the Day: take the bull by the horns :  If you take the bull by the horns, you deal with a problem or a challenge in a direct and fearless way.; Pauline wasn't happy with the manager's decision, so she took the bull by the horns and demanded to see him in order to discuss the matter. 

Thought For The Day: If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality. -Desmond Tutu, clergyman (b. 1931)


	*****November 28, 2014*****
degust : to taste or savor carefully or appreciatively. 

Sagacious :   adj.  Shrewd; showing keen mental discernment and good judgment. "A sagacious remark." 

nostrum :  a usually questionable remedy or scheme : panacea; Critics predict the mayor's plan to revitalize the downtown area by offering tax breaks to businesses will prove a costly and ineffective nostrum. 

querulous : (adjective) Given to complaining; peevish.; fretful, whiny; The teacher's patience was wearing thin, but the querulous student nevertheless continued to whine about how much homework she was assigning. 

tontine : noun:
A form of investment in which participants pool their money into a
common fund and receive an annuity. Each person's share increases
as members die until the last survivor takes the whole.
"I am not saying that tontines should replace life annuities. Rather,
they should be reintroduced and then coexist in the market."
Moshe A. Milevsky; Wealth Management; The Wall Street Journal (New York);
Apr 22, 2013. 

Idiom of the Day: under the weather :  If you are under the weather, you're not feeling well.; Hiroko's feeling a bit under the weather. He thinks he might have the flu. 

Thought For The Day: A body of clay, a mind full of play, a moment's life -- that's me. -Harivansh Rai Bachchan, poet (1907-2003)


	*****November 29, 2014*****
tiffin : to eat lunch. 

Histrionic :   adj. Overly theatrical or dramatic. n. Exaggerated dramatic behavior designed to attract attention. "His histrionic reaction disrupted the meeting." 

heterodox :  contrary to or different from an acknowledged standard, a traditional form, or an established religion : unorthodox, unconventional; A lifelong contrarian, Alexa was known for putting forth heterodox opinions in her weekly culture column. 

detractor : (noun) One who disparages or belittles the worth of something.; depreciator, disparager, knocker; His stellar performance silenced many of his detractors. 

Malthusian : adjective:
Relating to the view that population increases faster than its means of
subsistence resulting in disaster, unless population is checked by natural
calamities or by people exercising control and having fewer children.
"For most of the 20th century humanity managed to stay ahead in
the Malthusian race between population growth and food supply."
Tim Folger; The Next Green Revolution; National Geographic
(Washington, DC); Oct 2014.

"Paul Ehrlich, a biologist of Malthusian disposition, argued in The
Population Bomb, a 1968 book, that rising populations would inevitably
exhaust those resources, sending prices soaring and condemning people
to hunger."
Shocks and Ores; The Economist (London, UK); Jun 6, 2013. 

Idiom of the Day: virgin territory :  You can say something is virgin territory if it's never been explored before or never been done before.; The internet was still virgin territory when we made our first websites.  

Thought For The Day: To see a world in a grain of sand, / And a heaven in a wild flower, / Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, / And eternity in an hour. -William Blake, poet, engraver, and painter (1757-1827)


	*****November 30, 2014*****
alphitomancy : the use of barley meal as a means of divination. 

Titular :   adj. Relating to or constituting a title. "The titular head of the business." 

vicious circle :  an argument or definition that begs the question; Lower profits led to spending cuts which caused falling sales, creating a vicious circle.

intimate : (verb) To indicate or make known indirectly.; hint, imply, suggest; The young gentleman smiled, as if to intimate that the latter fragments of discourse were playfully ironical. 

Malthusian : adjective:
Relating to the view that population increases faster than its means of
subsistence resulting in disaster, unless population is checked by natural
calamities or by people exercising control and having fewer children.
"For most of the 20th century humanity managed to stay ahead in
the Malthusian race between population growth and food supply."
Tim Folger; The Next Green Revolution; National Geographic
(Washington, DC); Oct 2014.

"Paul Ehrlich, a biologist of Malthusian disposition, argued in The
Population Bomb, a 1968 book, that rising populations would inevitably
exhaust those resources, sending prices soaring and condemning people
to hunger."
Shocks and Ores; The Economist (London, UK); Jun 6, 2013. 

Idiom of the Day: kill time :  You kill time when you do something to amuse yourself while waiting for something. ; I had to kill time at the airport because of the delay so I bought a book of crossword puzzles. 

Thought For The Day: To see a world in a grain of sand, / And a heaven in a wild flower, / Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, / And eternity in an hour. -William Blake, poet, engraver, and painter (1757-1827)


	*****December 01, 2014*****
specter : some object or source of terror or dread: the specter of disease or famine. 

Ingratiate :   tr.v. Bring oneself into favor or good graces of another, especially by deliberate effort. "She soon ingratiated herself with her new boss." 

abbreviate :  to make briefer; especially : to reduce to a shorter form intended to stand for the whole; Due to time constraints, the last speaker at the ceremony had to abbreviate her speech.

impecunious : (adjective) Lacking money; penniless.; penurious; It was hard to believe that the impecunious man asking me if I could spare any change had once been the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. 

Malthusian : adjective:
Relating to the view that population increases faster than its means of
subsistence resulting in disaster, unless population is checked by natural
calamities or by people exercising control and having fewer children.
"For most of the 20th century humanity managed to stay ahead in
the Malthusian race between population growth and food supply."
Tim Folger; The Next Green Revolution; National Geographic
(Washington, DC); Oct 2014.

"Paul Ehrlich, a biologist of Malthusian disposition, argued in The
Population Bomb, a 1968 book, that rising populations would inevitably
exhaust those resources, sending prices soaring and condemning people
to hunger."
Shocks and Ores; The Economist (London, UK); Jun 6, 2013. 

Idiom of the Day: leave well enough alone | let well enough alone
 :  If you leave well enough alone, or let well enough alone, you don't try to improve or change something that's already good enough. ; The kids seem happy enough now so let's just leave well enough alone and forget about finding a new school for them. 

Thought For The Day: To see a world in a grain of sand, / And a heaven in a wild flower, / Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, / And eternity in an hour. -William Blake, poet, engraver, and painter (1757-1827)


	*****December 02, 2014*****
nosophobia : Psychiatry. an abnormal fear of disease. 

Futile :   adj. Incapable of producing any useful result; pointless. "All of his attempts to rectify the situation proved futile." 

penultimate :  occurring immediately before the last one : next to the last; The word edamame places its primary stress on the penultimate syllable.

edacious : (adjective) Characterized by voracity; devouring.; ravenous, voracious, wolfish, esurient, rapacious, ravening; The edacious vultures soon devoured the animal's remains. 

cordate : adjective: Heart-shaped.
"The cordate leaves were large and broad, and ended in a single point."
Yann Martel; Life of Pi; Knopf; 2001. 

Idiom of the Day: warts and all :  If you show something warts and all, you show it exactly as it is without trying to hide any of its faults or weaknesses.; Are you sure you want to read the first draft? You'll see it warts and all, with all the mistakes and all the bad writing still there. 

Thought For The Day: I took a speed reading course and read 'War and Peace' in twenty minutes. It involves Russia. -Woody Allen, author, actor, and filmmaker (b. 1935)


	*****December 03, 2014*****
solander : a case for maps, plates, etc., made to resemble a book and having the front cover and fore edge hinged. 

Abate :   v. To reduce in amount, degree, or intensity; lessen. "The wind finally abated." 

shopaholic :  one who is extremely or excessively fond of shopping; Susie is such a shopaholic that her friends refuse to set foot in a mall with her when there are big sales.

glorify : (verb) To honor with praise, admiration, or worship.; exalt, extol, laud, proclaim; People glorify all sorts of bravery except the bravery they might show on behalf of their nearest neighbors. 

amanuensis : noun: A person employed to take dictation or to copy manuscripts.
"Strange to say but many writers, Wordsworth and Tennyson included, are
averse to the act of writing. Once they have heard the words in their
heads, an amanuensis is needed to put them down on paper."
Frances Wilson; The Lady Vanishes; New Statesman (London, UK); Feb 6, 2014. 

Idiom of the Day: set the world on fire :  If you set the world on fire, you do something that creates a lot of excitment and makes you famous.; Bob Marley took Jamaican reggae music and set the world on fire with it.  

Thought For The Day: I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend? -Robert Redford, actor, director, producer, and environmentalist (b. 1936)


	*****December 04, 2014*****
zoanthropy : Psychiatry. a mental disorder in which one believes oneself to be an animal. 

Eviscerate :   v. Deprive or take away (something) of its essential content. "The compromise eviscerated the proposed agreement." 

decadence : (noun) A process, condition, or period of deterioration or decline, as in morals or art.; degeneracy, degradation; The art of the late 19th century was an expression of the decadence and immorality of the ruling class. 

impedimenta : plural noun: Baggage, supplies, or equipment related to an activity or expedition,
especially when regarded as slowing one's progress.
"Games impedimenta -- hockey-sticks, boxing-gloves, a burst football,
a pair of sweaty shorts turned inside out -- lay all over the floor."
George Orwell; Nineteen Eighty-Four; Secker and Warburg; 1949. 

Idiom of the Day: yellow-bellied :  If someone is yellow-bellied, they are not brave, or they are cowardly.; Tony's father called him yellow-bellied when he was a five-year-old boy because he didn't want to ride a horse. Tony has never forgotten it. 

Thought For The Day: A belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness. -Joseph Conrad, novelist (1857-1924)


	*****December 05, 2014*****
wanion : Archaic. curse; vengeance. 

Licentious :   adj. Promiscuous and unprincipled. Lacking moral discipline. "The judge treated her in a most licentious manner." 

caitiff :  cowardly, despicable; 'Oh, horrible wretch! a murderer! unmanly murderer!-a defenceless woman smothered by caitiff hands!' - Edward Bulwer-Lytton, What Will He Do With It?, 1858

attrition : (noun) Erosion by friction.; corrasion, detrition, abrasion; The attrition of the stone stairway had occurred by centuries of foot traffic. 

spleen : noun:
1. An abdominal organ serving to clean blood.
2. Bad temper.
"On other issues Mr Ivanishvili has been full of spleen about misrule,
but hazy about what he would do differently."
A Stunning Victory; The Economist (London, UK); Oct 6, 2012. 

Idiom of the Day: up in arms :  If you are up in arms, you are angry about something that you think is unfair or wrong.; The taxi drivers are up in arms about the new tax on LPG. 

Thought For The Day: Conscience is thoroughly well-bred and soon leaves off talking to those who do not wish to hear it. -Samuel Butler, writer (1835-1902)


	*****December 06, 2014*****
clairaudience : the power to hear sounds said to exist beyond the reach of ordinary experience or capacity, as the voices of the dead. 

Avuncular :   adj. Kind and friendly toward a younger or less experienced person. "An avuncular manner." Of or relating to an uncle. 

deride :  to laugh at contemptuously; Although derided by classmates for his cocksure insistence that he would be a millionaire by the age of 25, he achieved his goal when his Internet startup went public.

redolence : (noun) A pleasingly sweet olfactory property.; bouquet, fragrance; The moonlight and the redolence of flowers made the garden a romantic spot. 

Idiom of the Day: wear your heart on your sleeve :  If you wear your heart on your sleeve, you show your emotions openly and you don't try to hide your feelings.; Ivan is one of those tennis players that spectators love to watch because they always wear their heart on their sleeve.  

Thought For The Day: Can anything be sadder than work left unfinished? Yes, work never begun. -Christina Rossetti, poet (1830-1894)


	*****December 07, 2014*****
vernacularize : to translate into the natural speech peculiar to a people. 

Ethereal :   adj. Characterized by lightness and insubstantiality; intangible. "Her fragrance lingered in the room, an ethereal reminder of her presence." 2. Highly refined; delicate. "Ethereal beauty." 

bouleversement :  reversal; The darkening sky prompted a bouleversement of the captain's order to prepare to set sail. 

prevaricate : (verb) To stray from or evade the truth; equivocate.; beat around the bush, palter, tergiversate; At the press conference, the politician continued to prevaricate on the issue rather than provide a direct answer. 

Idiom of the Day: kill time :  You kill time when you do something to amuse yourself while waiting for something. ; I had to kill time at the airport because of the delay so I bought a book of crossword puzzles. 

Thought For The Day: Can anything be sadder than work left unfinished? Yes, work never begun. -Christina Rossetti, poet (1830-1894)


	*****December 08, 2014*****
famulus : a servant or attendant, especially of a scholar or a magician. 

Assertive :   adj. 1.Inclined to bold or confident assertion; aggressively self-assured. "She is an assertive businesswoman." 

impervious :  not capable of being affected or disturbed; Jane remains impervious to any attempt to reason with her; she’s made up her mind and nothing we can say will lead her to change it.

pedestrian : (adjective) Lacking in vitality, imagination, or distinction.; prosaic; His style is so pedestrian that the book is really boring. 

Idiom of the Day: eat your words :  If you eat your words, you admit that something you said was wrong.; The president was forced to eat his words after it was shown that what he'd said wasn't true. 

Thought For The Day: Can anything be sadder than work left unfinished? Yes, work never begun. -Christina Rossetti, poet (1830-1894)


	*****December 09, 2014*****
Pavlovian : of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Pavlov or his work, especially of experiments in which he elicited predictable responses from laboratory animals. 

Precocious :   adj. Manifesting or characterized by unusually early development or maturity, especially in mental aptitude. "A precocious child." 

greenmail :  the practice of buying enough of a company's stock to threaten a hostile takeover and reselling it to the company at a price above market value; also : the money paid for such stock; In an astonishing act of greenmail, the investor bought up all available shares of the company and leveraged his sale back to the company at triple the purchase price. 

turpitude : (noun) A corrupt or depraved or degenerate act or practice.; depravity; Seeing the various turpitudes of modern society shook her faith in humanity. 

juggernaut : noun:
1. Anything requiring blind sacrifice.
2. A massive relentless force, person, institution, etc. that crushes everything in its path.
"Amazon is a retailing juggernaut, but its revenues are still a fraction
of those of Walmart, whose tills ring up about $900,000 a minute."
Big Companies' Revenue and Profit; The Economist (London); Feb 8, 2014. 

Idiom of the Day: warts and all :  If you show something warts and all, you show it exactly as it is without trying to hide any of its faults or weaknesses.; Are you sure you want to read the first draft? You'll see it warts and all, with all the mistakes and all the bad writing still there. 

Thought For The Day: The real index of civilization is when people are kinder than they need to be. -Louis de Bernieres, novelist (b. 1954)


	*****December 10, 2014*****
philosophaster : a person who has only a superficial knowledge of philosophy or who feigns a knowledge he or she does not possess. 

Contrite :   adj. 1. Arising from sense of guilt: done or said out of a sense of guilt or remorse. 2. Very sorry: genuinely and deeply sorry about something. "He was suitably contrite." 

mellifluous :  having a smooth rich flow; The young diva has a powerful, mellifluous voice that makes her album a sweet aural confection.

termagant : (noun) A quarrelsome, scolding woman.; shrew; His aunt was such a termagant that he dreaded her annual visit. 

klatsch : noun: A casual gathering of people for conversation, etc.
"An employee entertained a group of about four other store employees. I stood
nearby, looking around and wondering if I'd have to break up their klatsch."
Smokepole Questions Bring Out Hot Air; SHOT Business (New York); Oct/Nov 2012. 

Idiom of the Day: run-of-the-mill :  Something is run-of-the-mill if it is ordinary and nothing special.; There wasn't much on TV so we just watched some run-of-the-mill old cowboy movie.  

Thought For The Day: Who overcomes by force hath overcome but half his foe. -John Milton, poet (1608-1674)


	*****December 11, 2014*****
happenstance : a chance happening or event. 

Elucidate :   v. Make (something) clear; explain. "The presentation will help to elucidate the project." 

calumny :  a misrepresentation intended to harm another's reputation; The notion that the mayor knew about the problem before the newspaper broke the story is nothing but calumny.

skimpy : (adjective) Containing little excess.; lean; When the car repairs maxed out my already skimpy budget, I knew my shopping days were over. 

oneiric : adjective: Of or relating to dreams; dreamy.
"Fellini's films, always fantastical, soon took a distinctly oneiric turn,
and he eventually filled some five hundred sheets with drawings and
descriptions of his dreams."
The Book of Dreams; The New Yorker; Sep 1, 2008. 

Idiom of the Day: a zebra crossing
 :  A zebra crossing is a pedestrian crossing that is marked on the road with painted black and white stripes.; Visitors to Britain are sometimes confused when they're told there's a zebra crossing up ahead. Some even expect to see a zebra walking across the road. 

Thought For The Day: "Faith" is a fine invention / For gentlemen who see -- / But microscopes are prudent / In an emergency. -Emily Dickinson, poet (1830-1886)


	*****December 12, 2014*****
prithee : Archaic. (I) pray thee. 

Acrid :   adj. Having an irritatingly strong and unpleasant taste or smell. Angry and bitter. "An acrid odor filled the room." 

allege :  to assert without proof or before proving; She alleges that her roommate stole hundreds of dollars from her.

ecumenical : (adjective) Of worldwide scope or applicability.; universal; The movement against violence is intended to be an ecumenical one, applicable to all nations. 

scandent : adjective: Climbing or ascending.
"They come and vegetate -- early-goers and scandent socialites -- loitering
about and small-talking on the pavement; gradually they edge indoors to the
crawl of ivy and creeping plants, spreading like gossip through rooms and
around corners."
Kol; Fools; Xlibris; 2012. 

Idiom of the Day: hard to swallow :  Something that someone has said is hard to swallow if it's difficult to believe.; His excuse for coming late was a bit hard to swallow, don't you think? 

Thought For The Day: The luck of having talent is not enough; one must also have a talent for luck. -Hector Berlioz, composer (1803-1869)


	*****December 13, 2014*****
verbigeration : Pathology. the constant or obsessive repetition of meaningless words or phrases. 

Nescient; Nescience :   adj. Lacking knowledge; ignorant. "His nescience of the topic was obvious." 

flapdoodle :  nonsense; 'Not a trace of academic fustian! Not a line of flapdoodle! Not a hint of college professor! Here was sharp and shrewd judgment.' - H. L. Mencken, The Smart Set, June 1917

favored : (adjective) Preferred above all others and treated with partiality.; best-loved, pet, preferred, favorite; My sister is clearly the favored child—she has a later curfew and gets away with things I never could! 

zymology : noun: The science of fermentation.
"Covering from aardvarks (do you share their DNA?) to zymology (much ado
about yeast), the book takes a scientific look at a plethora of stuff."
Sharon Verbeten, et al.; Reference; Library Journal (New York); May 15, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: The sun is pure communism everywhere except in cities, where it's private property. -Malcolm De Chazal, writer and painter (1902-1981)


	*****December 14, 2014*****
whippersnapper : an unimportant but offensively presumptuous person, especially a young one. 

Irascible :   adj. Characterized by or arising from anger. (of a person) Easily made angry. "He was always irascible and quick to get into a fight." 

tractable :  capable of being easily led, taught, or controlled; The couple had hoped to find a tractable and obedient dog that wouldn't cause too much trouble, but instead they got Rufus and their life has never been the same.

sumptuous : (adjective) Of a size or splendor suggesting great expense; lavish.; deluxe, opulent, princely, luxurious; The sumptuous homes of the wealthy were full of gilding and ornament. 

zymology : noun: The science of fermentation.
"Covering from aardvarks (do you share their DNA?) to zymology (much ado
about yeast), the book takes a scientific look at a plethora of stuff."
Sharon Verbeten, et al.; Reference; Library Journal (New York); May 15, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: The sun is pure communism everywhere except in cities, where it's private property. -Malcolm De Chazal, writer and painter (1902-1981)


	*****December 15, 2014*****
Weltanschauung : German. a comprehensive conception or image of the universe and of humanity's relation to it. 

Ostracize :   v. Exclude (someone) from a society or group. "She felt ostracized by society." 

nabob :  a person of great wealth or importance; Those of us in coach had to wait while the nabobs in first class got seated ahead of us.

denigrate : (verb) To disparage; belittle.; derogate; He helped you a great deal on this project, so don't take all the credit and denigrate his influence. 

zymology : noun: The science of fermentation.
"Covering from aardvarks (do you share their DNA?) to zymology (much ado
about yeast), the book takes a scientific look at a plethora of stuff."
Sharon Verbeten, et al.; Reference; Library Journal (New York); May 15, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: The sun is pure communism everywhere except in cities, where it's private property. -Malcolm De Chazal, writer and painter (1902-1981)


	*****December 16, 2014*****
thalassic : of or pertaining to seas and oceans. 

Tenuous :   adj. Very weak or slight; insubstantial. "A tenuous argument." 

incommensurable :  not commensurable; broadly : lacking a basis of comparison in respect to a quality normally subject to comparison; The two theories are incommensurable, making any attempt at comparison across disciplines ridiculous. 

undulate : (verb) To cause to move in a smooth wavelike motion.; roll; The singer undulated her hips to the rhythm of the song. 

Thought For The Day: I believe that life can go on forever. It takes a million years to evolve a new species, ten million for a new genus, one hundred million for a class, a billion for a phylum -- and that's usually as far as your imagination goes. In a billion years, it seems, intelligent life might be as different from humans as humans are from insects. But what would happen in another ten billion years? It's utterly impossible to conceive of ourselves changing as drastically as that, over and over again. All you can say is, on that kind of time scale the material form that life would take is completely open. To change from a human being to a cloud may seem a big order, but it's the kind of change you'd expect over billions of years. -Freeman Dyson, physicist (b. 1923)




   



   
   
		
			
				


A.Word.A.Day by email:

	*****December 17, 2014*****
subfuscous : slightly dark, dusky, or somber. 

Ignoble :   adj.  Not honorable in character or purpose; shameful. "An ignoble act." 

réchauffé :  something presented in a new form without change of substance : rehash; The day after the holiday, it was traditional to serve réchauffés and snacks rather than cook a full meal.

enfeeble : (verb) To make weak; deprive of strength.; debilitate, drain; Although his age enfeebled him, he could still walk long distances without tiring. 

gentleman's agreement : noun: An agreement that's based on honor and not legally binding.
"[The teams] are under no requirement to exchange films with a
non-conference team. It is simply a gentleman's agreement when they do."
Jorge Arangure, Jr.; Playing Detective in Finding Films of Opponents;
The New York Times; Sep 4, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: To delight in war is a merit in the soldier, a dangerous quality in the captain, and a positive crime in the statesman. -George Santayana, philosopher (1863-1952)


	*****December 18, 2014*****
chutzpa : Slang. unmitigated effrontery or impudence; gall. 

Colloquial (ism) :   adj. (of language) Used in ordinary conversation; not formal or literary. "His lecture was quite engaging due to his colloquial speech." 

ergonomic :  of or relating to the science of designing and arranging things people use so that the people and things interact most efficiently and safely; Clara hoped that the ergonomic arrangement of her new workstation would help reduce the daily aches in her elbow and wrist. 

encomium : (noun) A formal expression of praise; a tribute.; eulogy, paean, panegyric; We stand humbled by his heroics, and cannot help feeling that this encomium is inadequate to extol his virtue. 

cat's cradle : noun:
1. A children's game in which a string is wrapped around one player's
hands in complex symmetrical patterns and transferred to another
player's hands to form a different pattern. (video)
2. Something elaborate or intricate, especially when without an apparent purpose.
"But policymakers seem trapped in a cat's cradle of economic, political,
and legal constraints that is preventing effective action."
Guntram B. Wolff; Europe's Fiscal Wormhole; The Business Times (Singapore);
Oct 31, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, "It might have been." -John Greenleaf Whittier, poet (1807-1892)


	*****December 19, 2014*****
beforetime : Archaic. formerly. 

Elegiac :   adj. Having a mournful quality. "An elegiac poem." 

oxymoron :  a combination of contradictory or incongruous words; broadly : something (such as a concept) that is made up of contradictory or incongruous elements; 'That's an oxymoron!' said Joanne, when she heard the DJ describe the song as an 'instant classic.'

disciple : (noun) One who embraces and assists in spreading the teachings of another.; adherent; An avowed disciple of Jonson and his classicism and a greater poet than Fletcher is Robert Herrick, who, indeed, after Shakespeare and Milton, is the finest lyric poet of these two centuries. 

Thought For The Day: Art should be like a holiday: something to give a man the opportunity to see things differently and to change his point of view. -Paul Klee, painter (1879-1940)


	*****December 20, 2014*****
mysophobia : Psychiatry. a dread of dirt or filth. 

Obsequious :   adj. Obedient or attentive to an excessive degree. "The obsequious service resulted in an excellent tip." 

syncretic :  characterized or brought about by a combination of different forms of belief or practice; Dr. Portman practices a syncretic form of medicine, borrowing from both Eastern and Western medical traditions. 

penurious : (adjective) Unwilling to spend money; stingy.; parsimonious; When solicited for a donation, the penurious man began to extend a nickel, but, thinking twice, withdrew it. 

Thought For The Day: And the evil is done in hopes that evil surrenders / But the deeds of the devil are burned too deep in the embers / And a world of hunger in vengeance will always remember. -Phil Ochs, folksinger (1940-1976)


	*****December 21, 2014*****
larrikin : disorderly; rowdy. 

Recondite :   adj. (of a subject or knowledge) Little known, obscure, abstruse. "Recondite information." 

nurture :  to supply with nourishment; The mayor pushed for tax credits for small businesses as a way to nurture economic growth. 

stentorian : (adjective) Extremely loud.; booming; He was woken by the stentorian voice of his teacher, demanding to know why he wasn't paying attention. 

Thought For The Day: And the evil is done in hopes that evil surrenders / But the deeds of the devil are burned too deep in the embers / And a world of hunger in vengeance will always remember. -Phil Ochs, folksinger (1940-1976)


	*****December 22, 2014*****
edutainment : television programs, movies, books, etc., that are both educational and entertaining, especially those intended primarily for children in the elementary grades. 

Incisive :   adj. (of a person or mental process) Intelligently analytical and clear-thinking. Accurate and sharply focused. "The incisive detective soon solved the crime." 

palinode :  an ode or song recanting or retracting something in an earlier poem; Oscar Wilde wrote this famous palinode in an introduction to an essay: 'Not that I agree with everything that I have said in this essay. There is much with which I entirely disagree.' 

upshot : (noun) The final outcome.; conclusion, result; The upshot of the disagreement was that they broke up the partnership. 

Thought For The Day: And the evil is done in hopes that evil surrenders / But the deeds of the devil are burned too deep in the embers / And a world of hunger in vengeance will always remember. -Phil Ochs, folksinger (1940-1976)


	*****December 23, 2014*****
Surreal :   adj. Having the disorienting quality of a dream; unreal; fantastic. "There was something surreal about the diving accident." 

fissile :  capable of being split or divided in the direction of the grain or along natural planes of cleavage; Uranium-235, which is frequently used in making bombs and missiles, is one of the most abundant fissile materials. 

idiosyncrasy : (noun) A structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group.; peculiarity; Of all her idiosyncrasies, I find her tendency to dance while cooking the most charming. 

optics : noun:
1. The study of light, vision, etc.
2. The way a situation or action is perceived by the public.
"Timothy Geithner worried about the optics of going into finance.
'I think the perception problem ... is very damaging to me.'"
Andrew Ross Sorkin; 'Up to My Neck in This Crisis'; The New York Times
Magazine; May 11, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: It may sound trite, but using the weapons of the enemy, no matter how good one's intentions, makes one the enemy. -Charles de Lint, writer and folk musician (b. 1951)


	*****December 24, 2014*****
Unctuous :   adj. (of a person) Excessively or ingratiatingly flattering. "Anxious to please in an unctuous way." 

zaibatsu :  a powerful financial and industrial conglomerate of Japan; As owners of a zaibatsu with interests in the insurance and banking industries, the family's decisions had an undeniable impact on the Japanese economy. 

wizened : (adjective) Lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness.; shrunken, withered, shriveled; The wizened face of the man of law was twisted into a wrinkled smile. 

epicenter : noun:
1. The point on the earth's surface directly above the focus of an earthquake.
2. The center or focal point of an activity or event, especially something unpleasant.
"Itu, a commuter city outside Sao Paulo, is at the epicenter of the worst
drought to hit southeastern Brazil in more than eight decades."
Biggest Brazil City Desperate for Water in Drought; Associated Press
(New York); Nov 6, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: Every noon as the clock hands arrive at twelve, / I want to tie the two arms together, / And walk out of the bank carrying time in bags. -Robert Bly, poet (b. 1926)


	*****December 25, 2014*****
consanguinity : close relationship or connection. 

Timorous :   adj. Showing or suffering from nervousness, fear, or a lack of confidence: "A timorous demeanor." 

extraneous :  existing on or coming from the outside; The woman who reported the robbery kept bringing up extraneous facts, such as what she'd had for lunch.

vitreous : (adjective) Of, relating to, resembling, or having the nature of glass.; glassy; The lake was so calm it looked vitreous in the pre-dawn light. 

	*****December 26, 2014*****
Christmastide : the festival season from Christmas to after New Year's Day. 

Affinity :   n. A spontaneous or natural liking or sympathy for someone or something. "He has an affinity for science fiction movies." 

luminaria :  a traditional Mexican Christmas lantern originally consisting of a candle set in sand inside a paper bag; Luminarias lined the streets throughout the neighborhood for the annual Christmas Stroll. 

vacuous : (adjective) Devoid of intelligence.; asinine, fatuous, inane, mindless; The interviewer could tell by the candidate's vacuous comments that he was not qualified for the position. 

theory : noun:
1. A set of propositions used to explain some aspect of the natural world,
one that has been repeatedly tested and confirmed and widely accepted.
For example, Einstein's theory of relativity or Darwin's Theory of
Evolution.
2. The body of principles belonging to a field. For example, music theory.
3. A speculation.
"The theory of evolution explained that every species on earth is
related in some way to every other species; more important, we
each carry a record of that history in our body."
Michael Specter; A Life of Its Own; The New Yorker; Sep 28, 2009.

"That is a theory that may soon come to be tested."
China's Property Market; The Economist (London, UK); May 31, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient observation than to any other reason. -Isaac Newton, physicist, mathematician, and philosopher (1642-1727)


	*****December 27, 2014*****
moosemilk : Canadian. homemade or bootleg whiskey. 

Prescient; Prescience :   adj. Having or showing knowledge of events before they take place; foresight. "You should be prescient about choosing your employer." 

desultory :  marked by lack of definite plan, regularity, or purpose; The gentlemen continued the evening in desultory conversation, punctuated by yawns, until both decided it was time for bed.

vendetta : (noun) A feud between two families or clans that arises out of a slaying and is perpetuated by retaliatory acts of revenge.; blood feud; No one remembers how the vendetta between the families began, but it will only end when the desire for revenge is not heeded. 

entropy : noun:
1. A measure of the disorder in a system.
2. The natural tendency of things to decline into disorder.
3. Disorder, randomness, or chaos.
"In the more than 15 years since it was decorated by Marc Charbonnet ...
the Fox-Pollan residence had gradually become a monument to entropy."
Jesse Kornbluth; Family Wise; Architectural Digest (Los Angeles);
Dec 12, 2012. 

Thought For The Day: If you pray for rain long enough, it eventually does fall. If you pray for floodwaters to abate, they eventually do. The same happens in the absence of prayers. -Steve Allen, television host, musician, actor, comedian, and writer (1921-2000)


	*****December 28, 2014*****
Virulent :   adj. Extremely severe or harmful in its effects. Bitterly hostile or antagonistic; hateful. "Virulent criticism." 

opprobrium :  something that brings disgrace; The athlete's admission of using steroids earned her much opprobrium from fans.

umbrage : (noun) A feeling of anger caused by being offended.; offense; I had tried to phrase it politely, but he still took umbrage at my question. 

entropy : noun:
1. A measure of the disorder in a system.
2. The natural tendency of things to decline into disorder.
3. Disorder, randomness, or chaos.
"In the more than 15 years since it was decorated by Marc Charbonnet ...
the Fox-Pollan residence had gradually become a monument to entropy."
Jesse Kornbluth; Family Wise; Architectural Digest (Los Angeles);
Dec 12, 2012. 

Thought For The Day: If you pray for rain long enough, it eventually does fall. If you pray for floodwaters to abate, they eventually do. The same happens in the absence of prayers. -Steve Allen, television host, musician, actor, comedian, and writer (1921-2000)


	*****December 29, 2014*****
Portent :   n. A sign or warning that something significant is likely to happen. "an occurrence of crucial portent." 

circumspect : (adjective) Heedful of circumstances and potential consequences; prudent.; discreet; Because the drug was shown to have adverse side effects, physicians are now more circumspect about recommending its use. 

entropy : noun:
1. A measure of the disorder in a system.
2. The natural tendency of things to decline into disorder.
3. Disorder, randomness, or chaos.
"In the more than 15 years since it was decorated by Marc Charbonnet ...
the Fox-Pollan residence had gradually become a monument to entropy."
Jesse Kornbluth; Family Wise; Architectural Digest (Los Angeles);
Dec 12, 2012. 

Thought For The Day: If you pray for rain long enough, it eventually does fall. If you pray for floodwaters to abate, they eventually do. The same happens in the absence of prayers. -Steve Allen, television host, musician, actor, comedian, and writer (1921-2000)


	*****December 30, 2014*****
Missive :   n. A written message; a letter. "He received a missive from his company manager." 

marshal :  a person who arranges and directs the ceremonial aspects of a gathering; A judge ordered marshals to seize the cargo.

vitiate : (verb) To corrupt morally; debase.; debauch, deprave, pervert; Ten minutes with these ruffians would vitiate the most honorable gentlemen. 

Thought For The Day: The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border. -Pablo Casals, cellist, conductor, and composer (1876-1973)


	*****December 31, 2014*****
Malodorous :   adj. Smelling very unpleasant; an offensive odor. "A malodorous side of town." 

advertent :  giving attention : heedful; Marcia listened to everything I said with an advertent expression on her face, and then proceeded to tell me, point by point, why she disagreed with me. 

odious : (adjective) Arousing or meriting strong dislike, aversion, or intense displeasure.; abominable, detestable, execrable; Pray do not talk of that odious man. 

Thought For The Day: In religion, faith is a virtue. In science, faith is a vice. -Jerry Coyne, biology professor (b. 1949)


	*****January 01, 2015*****
Profligate :   Adj. Recklessly extravagant or wasteful in the use of resources. A profligate lifestyle resulted in his bankruptcy." 

vertiginous :  causing or tending to cause dizziness; As a window washer for some of the city's tallest skyscrapers, Victor had to quickly master working at vertiginous heights. 

surfeit : (noun) An excessive amount.; overabundance, excess; The surfeit of goods produced caused prices to fall, hurting the economy. 

Thought For The Day: The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it. -George Marshall, US Army Chief, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Nobel laureate (1880-1959)


	*****January 02, 2015*****
Sapid :   adj. Having a strong, pleasant taste; palatable. "The wine tasting was a most sapid event." (of talk or writing) Pleasant or interesting. 

emigrate :  to leave one's place of residence or country to live elsewhere; '… graduates and skilled technical workers are also emigrating, usually with a plan to save up for a few years and then return.' - The Economist, November 5, 2013

squalor : (noun) A filthy and wretched condition or quality.; sordidness, squalidness; The squalor in which the refugees lived alarmed the aid workers, who knew they had to work quickly to improve these conditions. 

google : verb tr., intr.: To search for information online using a search engine, especially Google.
"To google is now in broad usage as a verb for retrieving information from
the Internet. If the tech giant has its way, 'I Googled' will become a
standard reply to the question, 'How did you get here?'"
In the Self-Driving Seat; The Economist (London, UK); May 31, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: Familiarity is a magician that is cruel to beauty but kind to ugliness. -Ouida [pen name of Marie Louise de la Ramee], novelist (1839-1908)


	*****January 03, 2015*****
Obdurate :   adj. Stubbornly refusing to change one's opinion or course of action. "Despite her plea, he remained obdurate." 

solecism :  an ungrammatical combination of words in a sentence; also : a minor blunder in speech; As a copyeditor, Jane has the eyes of a hawk; rarely, if ever, does she let a writer's solecism slip past her. 

travail : (noun) Work, especially when arduous or involving painful effort.; effort, exertion, labor, toil; She deserved to take a vacation after her long travail. 

Thought For The Day: Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right. -Isaac Asimov, scientist and writer (1920-1992)


	*****January 04, 2015*****
Audacious; Audacity :   adj. Showing a willingness to take risks. "An audacious attack on the company." Showing an impudent lack of respect. "An audacious move." 

peremptory :  barring a right of action, debate, or delay; The manager's peremptory rejection of any suggestions for improving office efficiency did little to inspire our confidence in his ability to help turn the company around.

equanimity : (noun) The quality of being calm and even-tempered.; calmness, composure; Because she was prepared for the news, she was able to respond with equanimity. 

Thought For The Day: Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right. -Isaac Asimov, scientist and writer (1920-1992)


	*****January 05, 2015*****
gleed : Archaic. a glowing coal. 

Equivocal :   adj. Open to more than one interpretation; ambiguous. Uncertain or questionable in nature. "Congress was equivocal on its domestic spending package." 

bromide :  a compound of bromine and another element or chemical group; Years of coal mining and natural gas extraction have elevated the concentration of bromides in the river. 

sedulous : (adjective) Persevering and constant in effort or application.; assiduous; Her sedulous efforts to learn French eventually enabled her to become almost fluent. 

Thought For The Day: Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right. -Isaac Asimov, scientist and writer (1920-1992)


	*****January 06, 2015*****
Canonize :   v. Regard as being above reproach or of great significance. "He canonized women." 

fallible :  liable to be erroneous; Though parts of it are well-written, the essay is marred by too many fallible generalizations.

fatuous : (adjective) Foolish or silly, especially in a smug or self-satisfied way.; asinine; He made these fatuous pronouncements with such conviction that no one dared to contradict him. 

Thought For The Day: Fear prophets and those prepared to die for the truth, for as a rule they make many others die with them, often before them, at times instead of them. -Umberto Eco, philosopher and novelist (b. 5 Jan 1932)


	*****January 07, 2015*****
Compendium :   n. A collection of concise but detailed information about a particular subject. A collection of things, esp. one systematically gathered. "Compendium of old stories gathered by topic." 

ombudsman :  a government official who investigates complaints made by individuals against public officials; The newspaper's ombudsman responded to the many angry letters the article had generated.

incendiary : (adjective) Arousing to action or rebellion.; inflammatory, incitive, instigative, rabble-rousing, seditious; The incendiary remarks in the pamphlet spurred the villagers to revolt. 

longueur : noun: A long and dull passage in a work of literature.
"Even the sainted Douglas Adams wasn't above the occasional infuriatingly
indulgent longueur, such as basing the whole of his least good book on
an extended metaphor involving cricket."
Euan Ferguson; And Another Thing; The Observer (London, UK); Oct 11, 2009. 

Thought For The Day: He who listens to truth is not less than he who utters truth. -Kahlil Gibran, poet and artist (6 Jan 1883-1931)


	*****January 08, 2015*****
cogitation : concerted thought or reflection; meditation; contemplation: After hours of cogitation he came up with a new proposal. 

Discern; Discerning :   v. Perceive or recognize (something). Distinguish (someone or something) with difficulty by sight or with the other senses. "Discern who is telling the truth." 

virtuoso :  an experimenter or investigator especially in the arts and sciences; 'A virtuoso with words, [Thomas Jefferson] invariably produced easily read and readily comprehensible drafts that usually included some memorable phrases.' - John Ferling, Adams vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, 2004

fissure : (noun) A long narrow opening.; crevice, crack, cleft; In a narrow little fissure, just within reach of my forefinger, I felt the chain. 

peripeteia or peripetia : noun: A sudden or unexpected change of fortune, especially in a literary work.
A classic example is Oedipus learning about his parentage.
"Dr. Farhad feels the glaring eyes of one of the machine-gun-toting
officers on him and smiles bitterly at his fate. ... This selfless
doctor, even at this daunting moment of peripeteia, is worried about
the critical condition of one of his poor patients whom he is
scheduled to operate on tomorrow. "
Shahriar Mandanipour, translated by Sara Khalili; Censoring an Iranian
Love Story; Knopf; 2009. 

Thought For The Day: There are years that ask questions and years that answer. -Zora Neale Hurston, folklorist and writer (7 Jan 1891-1960)


	*****January 09, 2015*****
Tangential :   adj. Superficially relevant; divergent. Diverging from a previous course or line; erratic. "He took credit for anything tangentially related to their work." 

claque :  a group hired to applaud at a performance; The senator seems to have a claque of influential supporters in the media who are willing to endorse his every move.

lascivious : (adjective) Given to or expressing lust; lecherous.; libidinous, lustful, lewd; Frustrated by his constant lascivious comments, she decided to report him to the supervisor. 

locus classicus : noun: An authoritative and often quoted passage from a book.
"Controversy still rages over what is perhaps the locus classicus of such
accounts, given by T.E. Lawrence."
Joan Smith: The Ancient Fears Stirred by Women at War; The Independent
(London, UK); Apr 2, 2007. 

Thought For The Day: 'Respect for religion' has become a code phrase meaning 'fear of religion'. Religions, like all other ideas, deserve criticism, satire, and, yes, our fearless disrespect. -Salman Rushdie, writer (b. 1947)


	*****January 10, 2015*****
Phalanx :   n. A group of people or things of a similar type forming a compact body or brought together for a common purpose. "A phalanx of lawyers took charge of the case." 

advocate :  to plead in favor of; Many parents throughout the district have long advocated full-day kindergarten. 

denizen : (noun) An inhabitant; a resident.; dweller; I wandered through the empty streets, looking for a single denizen of this hamlet, but found not one. 

litterateur : noun: An author of literary or critical works.
"No major English cemetery would be complete without its poets and litterateurs."
Carolyn Lyons; A Visit to London's Cemeteries; Los Angeles Times; Mar 17, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: The easiest kind of relationship for me is with ten thousand people. The hardest is with one. -Joan Baez, musician (b. 9 Jan 1941)


	*****January 11, 2015*****
dowie : Scot. and North England. dull; melancholy; dismal. 

Servile :   adj. Having or showing an excessive willingness to serve or please others. "She wrote a servile letter to her upset neighbor." 

ne plus ultra :  the highest point capable of being attained : acme; 'Along with the relatively highbrow Stepbrothers, [Dumb and Dumber]'s the ne plus ultra of moron slapstick, the film against which all cretinous child-men assaults on taste must be measured.' - David Edelstein, Vulture, November 14, 2014

debacle : (noun) A sudden, disastrous collapse, downfall, or defeat; a rout.; fiasco; The team had had high hopes before the debacle of their final game, in which they did not manage to score any points. 

litterateur : noun: An author of literary or critical works.
"No major English cemetery would be complete without its poets and litterateurs."
Carolyn Lyons; A Visit to London's Cemeteries; Los Angeles Times; Mar 17, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: The easiest kind of relationship for me is with ten thousand people. The hardest is with one. -Joan Baez, musician (b. 9 Jan 1941)


	*****January 12, 2015*****
Vituperative :   adj. Bitter and abusive. "The critic's vituperative review was needlessly harsh." 

hieroglyphic :  written in, constituting, or belonging to a system of writing mainly in pictorial characters; 'Once believed to serve a distinctly religious purpose, Mayan hieroglyphic writing is now thought to record the Mayan historical past.' - Burton Kirkwood, The History of Mexico, 2009

carouse : (verb) To engage in boisterous, drunken merrymaking.; roister; They were so happy to be finished with exams that they continued to carouse until morning, when the bartender finally asked them to leave. 

litterateur : noun: An author of literary or critical works.
"No major English cemetery would be complete without its poets and litterateurs."
Carolyn Lyons; A Visit to London's Cemeteries; Los Angeles Times; Mar 17, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: The easiest kind of relationship for me is with ten thousand people. The hardest is with one. -Joan Baez, musician (b. 9 Jan 1941)


	*****January 13, 2015*****
Ardent :   adj. Enthusiastic or passionate. "He is an ardent sports fan." 

longueur :  a dull and tedious passage or section (as of a book, play, or musical composition) - usually used in plural; 'This production has its occasional longueurs, but glorious singing and energetic choreography quickly rope us back in.' - Rick Rogers, The Oklahoman, June 28, 2007

pedagogy : (noun) The art or profession of teaching.; instruction; The true aim of pedagogy is ensuring that students learn how to learn. 

Thought For The Day: People's memories are maybe the fuel they burn to stay alive. -Haruki Murakami, writer (b. 12 Jan 1949)


	*****January 14, 2015*****
Incessant :   adj. Continuing without pause or interruption. "The incessant noise kept him awake." 

ex cathedra :  by virtue of or in the exercise of one's office or position; When chronic tardiness became a problem among the staff, the manager decided ex cathedra to dock the pay of any employee who arrived late to work. 

lackadaisical : (adjective) Lacking spirit, liveliness, or interest.; languid, languorous, dreamy; In spite of his lackadaisical manner, he has moments of energy that would surprise you. 

ascesis : noun: The practice of severe self-discipline or self-control. Also spelled as askesis.
"There are many adults who develop a rigid black and white dress code
as a form of ascesis."
Galina Stolyarova; Local Queen of Fashion Releases Her Second Book;
The St. Petersburg Times (Russia); Feb 8, 2012.
(Here's another example of modern ascesis from The Onion.) 

Thought For The Day: To move freely you must be deeply rooted. -Bella Lewitsky, dancer (13 Jan 1916-2004)


	*****January 15, 2015*****
periphrasis : the use of an unnecessarily long or roundabout form of expression; circumlocution. 

Patronize :   v. Treat with an apparent kindness that betrays a feeling of superiority. "She detests being patronized." Frequent an establishment as a customer. "He always patronizes the same restaurant." 

zillionaire :  an immeasurably wealthy person; 'Unless you're a zillionaire, it's practically impossible to find an affordable and spacious place to live in the city,' said Beth. 

insouciant : (adjective) Marked by blithe unconcern.; casual, nonchalant; He showed an insouciant disregard for cold weather, wearing only a T-shirt in the show. 

senary : adjective:
1. Relating to the number six.
2. Having sixth rank.
3. Having six parts or things.
"'Your father married six wives. ... You talk of this scandal. How can
it compare with your father's senary adventure in matrimony?'"
Jean Plaidy; The Complete Tudors; Broadway Books; 2010. 

Thought For The Day: The great secret of success is to go through life as a man who never gets used up. That is possible for him who never argues and strives with men and facts, but in all experience retires upon himself, and looks for the ultimate cause of things in himself. -Albert Schweitzer, philosopher, physician, musician, Nobelist (14 Jan 1875-1965)


	*****January 16, 2015*****
Amicable :   adj. Having a spirit of friendliness; without arguments or serious disagreement. "An amicable agreement between the two firms." 

Brobdingnagian :  marked by tremendous size; Our little dog was frightened by the Brobdingnagian proportions of the statues in the park. 

cogitate : (verb) To take careful thought or think carefully about; ponder.; cerebrate; You must earnestly cogitate before making this decision, and not simply flip a coin. 

arenicolous : adjective: Living, growing, or burrowing in sand.
"'Where have you disappeared to? Where have you been living?' I asked Tariq.
... 'Are you trying to tell me that he lives like arenicolous worms?'"
Jamal S. Jumah; The Artistic Visage of Dalia; Xlibris; 2010. 

Thought For The Day: It is not what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable. -Moliere, actor and playwright (15 Jan 1622-1673)


	*****January 17, 2015*****
internuncial : serving to announce or connect. 

Benign :   adj. Mild or favorable (result). Gentle, kind, good. "The results were benign and required no treatment." 

warp speed :  the highest possible speed; When Mario saw Helen enter the elevator, he grabbed his laptop and vaulted down the stairs at warp speed to get to the meeting room ahead of her.

occlude : (verb) To cause to become closed.; obturate, impede, obstruct, jam, block; The excess inventory had occluded the exit, and was deemed a hazard by the safety inspector. 

Thought For The Day: Be kind to thy father, for when thou wert young, / Who loved thee so fondly as he? / He caught the first accents that fell from thy tongue, / And joined in thy innocent glee. -Margaret Courtney, poet (1822-1862)


	*****January 18, 2015*****
Impish :   adj. Mischievous. Inclined to do slightly naughty things for fun. "He approached her with an impish grin on his face." 

distemper :  to throw out of order; Martha worried that employee morale at the company would be distempered if the rumored merger were to happen. 

palaver : (noun) Talk intended to charm or beguile.; blandishment, cajolery; Then she would pounce upon me with a lot of that drivelling poodle palaver and kiss me on the nose—but what could I do? 

Thought For The Day: Be kind to thy father, for when thou wert young, / Who loved thee so fondly as he? / He caught the first accents that fell from thy tongue, / And joined in thy innocent glee. -Margaret Courtney, poet (1822-1862)


	*****January 19, 2015*****
Accolade :   n. An expression of praise or admiration. An award or privilege granted; an acknowledgment of merit. "The scientist was given many accolades for his research." 

gratuitous :  done or provided without recompense : free; John seems incapable of talking about anything he owns without a gratuitous reference to the amount of money he spent on it.

paucity : (noun) Smallness of number; fewness.; dearth; Despite the paucity of natural resources, the country was able to develop its industry. 

Thought For The Day: Be kind to thy father, for when thou wert young, / Who loved thee so fondly as he? / He caught the first accents that fell from thy tongue, / And joined in thy innocent glee. -Margaret Courtney, poet (1822-1862)


	*****January 20, 2015*****
afflated : having inspiration; inspired. 

Bellicose :   adj. Hostile in manner or temperament. Demonstrating aggression or a willingness to fight. "His bellicose behavior concerned authorities." 

tintinnabulation :  the ringing or sounding of bells; The tintinnabulation that could be heard throughout the village was from the church on the common announcing morning services.

perfidy : (noun) Deliberate breach of faith; calculated violation of trust.; treachery, betrayal, treason; Discovering that he had sold her confidences to the tabloids, she was outraged at his perfidy. 

Thought For The Day: On stage, I make love to 25,000 different people, then I go home alone. -Janis Joplin, singer-songwriter (19 Jan 1943-1970)


	*****January 21, 2015*****
stour : British Dialect. a. tumult; confusion. b. a storm. 

Atrophy :   n. A decrease in size or wasting away or progressive decline, as from disuse. "Misleading and infrequent reporting have facilitated the atrophy of self-sufficiency." 

septentrional :  northern; When he tired of the long, septentrional winters of New England, Grandfather retired to Florida. 

prattle : (verb) To talk or chatter idly or meaninglessly.; blabber, piffle, gabble, prate; The group of tourists on the plane wouldn't stop talking, and I fell asleep listening to them prattle. 

mythomane : noun: One having a tendency to exaggerate or lie.
adjective: Having a tendency to exaggerate or lie.
"[Laura Cumming's portrait] ... of the mythomane, egomaniac, and relentlessly
self-promoting Gustave Courbet, who somehow nonetheless remains true to
himself through all the lies, is hilarious and oddly heart-warming."
Simon Callow; On Self-Portraits by Laura Cumming; The Guardian (London, UK);
Jul 25, 2009. 

Thought For The Day: Is it [hunting] really a sport if you have all the equipment and your opponent doesn't know a game is going on? -Bill Maher, comedian, actor, and writer (b. 20 Jan 1956)


	*****January 22, 2015*****
pyrophoric : Chemistry. capable of igniting spontaneously in air. 

Demonstrative :   adj. Tending to show feelings, especially the open expression of emotion. "A demonstrative argument." 

pandiculation :  a stretching and stiffening especially of the trunk and extremities (as when fatigued and drowsy or after waking from sleep); 'He was coming on to yawn. His breath sucked in the draught from the window. His shoulders hunched, his legs stretched to their toes, he made claws of his fingers in his hands-a fierce pandiculation of his limbs.' - Jamie O'Neill, At Swim, Two Boys, 2001

polemic : (noun) A controversial argument, especially one refuting or attacking a specific opinion or doctrine.; tirade, diatribe; He launched into the polemic, not caring whom he offended or won over, intent only on getting his point across. 

libertine : noun: A person who is morally unrestrained.
adjective: Unrestrained by conventions or morality.
"Revolving around the salacious adventures of the Spanish nobleman and
libertine of the same name, the opera [Don Giovanni] is the second of
a trilogy Mozart wrote with Italian librettist Lorenzo da Ponte."
Calendar; The Korea Herald (Seoul); Feb 28, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: In those parts of the world where learning and science have prevailed, miracles have ceased; but in those parts of it as are barbarous and ignorant, miracles are still in vogue. -Ethan Allen, revolutionary (21 Jan 1738-1789)


	*****January 23, 2015*****
Disparate :   adj. Essentially different in kind; not allowing comparison. markedly distinct in quality or character. "He is a strong leader capable of managing a disparate team to achieve their goals." 

morganatic :  of, relating to, or being a marriage between a member of a royal or noble family and a person of inferior rank in which the rank of the inferior partner remains unchanged and the children of the marriage do not succeed to the titles, fiefs, or entailed property of the parent of higher rank; The king's son, the child of a morganatic marriage, will never rule.

besmirch : (verb) Charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone.; asperse, calumniate, defame, slander, denigrate, sully, smear; She denied everything the tabloids wrote about her, stating that they were only trying to besmirch her reputation. 

homunculus : noun:
1. A diminutive human being.
2. A fully formed, miniature human being that was earlier believed to be present in a sperm or an egg.
"'I'm a well-educated, contributing member of society!' this shameless homunculus yelled."
Rachel Chang; Feeling Second-Class First Hand; Straits Times (Singapore); Jun 30, 2013.

"Self-aggrandizing homunculus Bono says love of money is the root of Mick Jagger."
Liz Braun; Bono's views on Jagger; Sault Star (Canada); Jul 27, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves. -Lord Byron, poet (22 Jan 1788-1824)


	*****January 24, 2015*****
Melancholy :   n. A deep, pensive, and long-lasting sadness. adj. Sad, gloomy, or depressed. "She was in a melancholy mood." 

anabasis :  a going or marching up : advance; especially : a military advance; Reluctantly, the general ordered a hasty anabasis in the face of overwhelming opposing forces.

mollify : (verb) To calm in temper or feeling; soothe.; appease, assuage, conciliate, pacify, placate; She was so outraged that nothing her friends said could mollify her anger. 

vacuous : adjective: Lacking ideas or intelligence.
"A beaming, vacuous Hollywood wannabe sashays into the ring."
Dan Hill; Sometimes When We Punch; Maclean's (Toronto, Canada);
May 23, 2011. 

Thought For The Day: If you don't love me, it does not matter, anyway I can love for both of us. -Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle), novelist (23 Jan 1783-1842)


	*****January 25, 2015*****
Gourmand :   n. A person who enjoys eating and often eats too much; gluttonous. A connoisseur of good food. "The traveling gourmand seldom passed up a restaurant." 

evitable :  capable of being avoided; The investigator determined that the accident was certainly evitable and would not have happened if the driver hadn't been negligent. 

nascent : (adjective) Coming into existence; emerging.; beginning; The nascent republic had to formulate its laws while continuing its war for independence. 

vacuous : adjective: Lacking ideas or intelligence.
"A beaming, vacuous Hollywood wannabe sashays into the ring."
Dan Hill; Sometimes When We Punch; Maclean's (Toronto, Canada);
May 23, 2011. 

Thought For The Day: If you don't love me, it does not matter, anyway I can love for both of us. -Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle), novelist (23 Jan 1783-1842)


	*****January 26, 2015*****
Amorphous :   adj. Without a clearly defined shape or form. Vague; ill-organized; unclassifiable. "The amorphous package caused alarm to many people in the terminal." 

constellate :  to unite in a cluster; 'The members of the family seemed destined to constellate around a table, held by the gravity of our affection for each other.' - Elsa M. Bowman, Christian Science Monitor, July 11, 1996

nostrum : (noun) Hypothetical remedy for all ills or diseases.; cure-all, panacea, catholicon; Stay healthy, for science is no closer to a nostrum than alchemy was. 

vacuous : adjective: Lacking ideas or intelligence.
"A beaming, vacuous Hollywood wannabe sashays into the ring."
Dan Hill; Sometimes When We Punch; Maclean's (Toronto, Canada);
May 23, 2011. 

Thought For The Day: If you don't love me, it does not matter, anyway I can love for both of us. -Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle), novelist (23 Jan 1783-1842)


	*****January 27, 2015*****
subrogate : to put into the place of another; substitute for another. 

Efficacy :   n. The ability to produce a desired or intended result. "The efficacy of the new marketing plan has not been proven." 

legerdemain :  sleight of hand; The company's accountants used financial legerdemain to conceal its true revenues and avoided paying $2 million in taxes as a result. 

maudlin : (adjective) Effusively or tearfully sentimental.; bathetic, mawkish, schmaltzy, mushy; When the farewells were in danger of becoming maudlin, he judged that it was time to leave. 

scurvy : adjective: Mean or contemptible.
noun: A disease caused by vitamin C deficiency, characterized by swollen and bleeding gums, bleeding under the skin, and weakness.
"When a scurvy band of outlaws rides up, Jake, to his surprise and
certainly theirs, eliminates them in short order."
Peter Rainer; Daniel Craig Stars in Cowboys & Aliens; The Christian
Science Monitor (Boston, Massachusetts); Jul 29, 2011. 

Thought For The Day: Sometimes you can't see yourself clearly until you see yourself through the eyes of others. -Ellen DeGeneres, comedian, TV host, actor, and writer (b. 26 Jan 1958)


	*****January 28, 2015*****
Empathy; Empathetic :   adj. The action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another. "Her doctor was empathetic to her condition." 

incontrovertible :  not open to question : indisputable; The manager presented the clerk's time card as incontrovertible evidence that the employee had been late for work all five days the previous week.

laggard : (noun) Someone who takes more time than necessary; someone who lags behind.; dawdler, trailer, poke; He was such a laggard that his friends were already paying the bill by the time he reached the café. 

apoplectic : adjective:
1. Extremely angry.
2. Relating to or affected by apoplexy (stroke).
"Union bosses' reactions to Mr Miliband's speech ranged from cool to apoplectic."
Ed's Big Chance; The Economist (London, UK); Jul 13, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that! -Lewis Carroll, mathematician and writer (27 Jan 1832-1898)


	*****January 29, 2015*****
cabotage : navigation or trade along the coast. 

Churlish :   adj. Rude in a mean-spirited and surly way. "It was rather churlish of him to complain about the small donations." 

retronym :  a term (such as analog watch or snail mail) that is newly created and adopted to distinguish the original or older version, form, or example of something from other, more recent versions, forms, or examples; '… first came paperback book, differentiated from a book with a cloth or leather binding, provoking the retronym hardcover book.' - William Safire, The New York Times Magazine, November 18, 2007

languid : (adjective) Lacking energy or vitality; weak.; lackadaisical, languorous; He gave a languid wave of the hand to signify his indifference. 

jaundiced : adjective:
1. Exhibiting prejudice from envy or resentment.
2. Having jaundice: a disease that makes the skin, white of the eyes, etc., to be yellow, caused by an increase of bile pigments in the blood.
"Let me leave posterity to judge this one as my defence will be jaundiced."
Pusch Commey; 'How Do You Write on Death When You Haven't Experienced It?';
New African (London, UK); Dec 2013. 

Thought For The Day: Sit down and put down everything that comes into your head and then you're a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff's worth, without pity, and destroy most of it. -Colette, author (28 Jan 1873-1954)


	*****January 30, 2015*****
Congruent; Congruous :   adj. In agreement or harmony. Suitable; appropriate. "The company's operations were congruent with its business plan." 

disingenuous :  lacking in candor; also : giving a false appearance of simple frankness : calculating; Be aware that their expressions of concern may in truth be disingenuous and self-serving.

clemency : (noun) A disposition to show mercy, especially toward an offender or enemy.; mercy; He was willing to show clemency, promising not to report the theft if his property was returned. 

metastasize : verb intr.
1. To spread or escalate in an undesirable manner.
2. (Of a cancer) To spread to other parts of the body.
"A disruption here could metastasize quickly and lead to a general uprising."
Myron Curtis; The Seventh Reflection; iUniverse; 2013. 

Thought For The Day: Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. -Edward Abbey, naturalist and author (29 Jan 1927-1989)


	*****January 31, 2015*****
indemnify : to compensate for damage or loss sustained, expense incurred, etc. 

Brusque :   adj. Abrupt and curt in manner or speech; discourteously blunt. "Her boss gave a brusque reply." 

urticaria :  hives; The first sign of the patient's allergic reaction to the medication was an outbreak of urticaria.

blandishment : (noun) Flattery intended to persuade.; cajolery, palaver; Not even his favorite daughter's blandishment could persuade him to submit to her whims. 

scabrous : adjective:
1. Rough: having small raised dots or scales.
2. Salacious.
3. Difficult to deal with; knotty.
"There is nothing heartwarming or syrupy about Filth, a brash adaptation of
Irvine Welsh's scabrous 1998 third novel."
David Archibald; Why There's More to Scottish Cinema Than Dour Miserablism;
Financial Times (London, UK); Sep 27, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: Without books the development of civilization would have been impossible. They are the engines of change, windows on the world, "Lighthouses" as the poet said "erected in the sea of time." They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind, Books are humanity in print. -Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher (1788-1860)


	*****February 01, 2015*****
Peevish :   adj. Easily irritated, particularly by unimportant things. "He was peevish around smokers." 

succumb :  to yield to superior strength or force or overpowering appeal or desire; Rescuers feared that the missing mountain climbers would succumb to hypothermia.

petulant : (adjective) Unreasonably irritable or ill-tempered.; peevish, testy, cranky, fractious; After their fight, her friend came to make amends, but she was feeling petulant and sulky and ignored him. 

scabrous : adjective:
1. Rough: having small raised dots or scales.
2. Salacious.
3. Difficult to deal with; knotty.
"There is nothing heartwarming or syrupy about Filth, a brash adaptation of
Irvine Welsh's scabrous 1998 third novel."
David Archibald; Why There's More to Scottish Cinema Than Dour Miserablism;
Financial Times (London, UK); Sep 27, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: Without books the development of civilization would have been impossible. They are the engines of change, windows on the world, "Lighthouses" as the poet said "erected in the sea of time." They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind, Books are humanity in print. -Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher (1788-1860)


	*****February 02, 2015*****
Surreptitious :   adj. Kept secret, particularly because it would not be approved of. "His surreptitious drug habit could land him in jail." 

ambient :  existing or present on all sides : encompassing 2 of electronic music : quiet and relaxing with melodies that repeat many times; The chemicals must be kept at an ambient temperature of 70 degrees.

antecedent : (noun) Anything that precedes something similar in time.; forerunner; This era is one of heedless consumption, but perhaps you can blame that on its antecedent. 

scabrous : adjective:
1. Rough: having small raised dots or scales.
2. Salacious.
3. Difficult to deal with; knotty.
"There is nothing heartwarming or syrupy about Filth, a brash adaptation of
Irvine Welsh's scabrous 1998 third novel."
David Archibald; Why There's More to Scottish Cinema Than Dour Miserablism;
Financial Times (London, UK); Sep 27, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: Without books the development of civilization would have been impossible. They are the engines of change, windows on the world, "Lighthouses" as the poet said "erected in the sea of time." They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind, Books are humanity in print. -Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher (1788-1860)


	*****February 03, 2015*****
mizzle : South Midland and Southern U.S. to rain in fine drops; drizzle; mist. 

Nascent :   adj. Recently coming into existence and beginning to display signs of future potential. Not yet fully developed; emerging. "The business remains nascent but very promising." 

compunction :  anxiety arising from awareness of guilt; A diligent editor, Michelle feels no compunction about deleting words and phrases from even the most beautifully written paragraph for the sake of space or clarity. 

temerity : (noun) Foolhardy disregard of danger; recklessness.; audaciousness, audacity; Everyone was shocked at her temerity in addressing the king in such a manner. 

nimrod : noun:
1. A stupid person.
2. A hunter.
"What kind of a nimrod makes kids the responsible party in a dim-witted
ideology on poverty and neglect?"
Martin Hackworth; Ignoramus, of the Bloviating Type; Idaho State Journal
(Pocatello); Feb 3, 2013.

"The big-ticket item at their giant auction was a nimrod package to go hunting."
Dick Harmon; Hunt Nets Dough for Y; Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah);
Jun 12, 2004. 

Thought For The Day: The absence of flaw in beauty is itself a flaw. -Havelock Ellis, physician, writer, and social reformer (2 Feb 1859-1939)


	*****February 04, 2015*****
Potentate :   n. One who has the power and position to rule over others: A monarch or ruler. "Industrial potentates." 

ex parte :  on or from one side or party only - used of legal proceedings; 'The record of the case was of vast length and full of technicalities, it was discussed ex parte by vehement propagandists on both sides….' - Frederick Lewis Allen, Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920's, 1931

affront : (noun) A deliberately offensive act or something producing the effect of deliberate disrespect.; insult; Your deliberate implication that I stole the money is an affront to my character. 

Thought For The Day: It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing, really doing nothing. -Gertrude Stein, novelist, poet, and playwright (3 Feb 1874-1946)


	*****February 05, 2015*****
winnow : to separate or distinguish (valuable from worthless parts) (sometimes followed by out): to winnow falsehood from truth. 

Recidivate; Recidivism :   intr. v. To return to a previous pattern of behavior. Relapse: go back to bad or criminal behavior. "The convictions for those over sixty are unlikely to recidivate.” 

captious : (adjective) Marked by a disposition to find and point out trivial faults.; faultfinding; She found the new professor to be captious, marking all the grammatical errors in her essays while ignoring the points she had tried to make. 

scapegoat : noun: One blamed for another's wrongdoing.
verb tr.: To blame someone for another's wrongdoing.
"Not surprisingly, these writers found their ideal scapegoat in Alfred
Dreyfus, a Jewish military officer wrongly accused of treason in what
became the trial of the century."
Turning Dark; The Economist (London, UK); Apr 26, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: Poor is the power of the lead that becomes bullets compared to the power of the hot metal that becomes types. -Georg Brandes, critic and scholar (4 Feb 1842-1927)


	*****February 06, 2015*****
Nuance :   n. A subtle difference in or shade of meaning, expression, or sound. "Subtle nuances of her on-screen character." 

baneful : (adjective) Causing harm, ruin, or death; harmful.; pernicious, pestilent, deadly; He instructed him in the poisonous qualities of arsenic, and furnished him with an ample supply of that baneful drug. 

Thought For The Day: All progress has resulted from people who took unpopular positions. -Adlai Stevenson, governor, ambassador (5 Feb 1900-1965)


	*****February 07, 2015*****
Sycophant; Sycophantic :    Attempting to win favor from influential people by flattery; A servile self-seeking flatterer. "There was sycophantic laughter from the audience at their bosses jokes." 

apropos : (adjective) Being at once opportune and to the point.; relevant, timely; His book about safe investment, published right before the stock market crash, was more apropos than he expected. 

Samaritan : noun:
A person who voluntarily helps others in distress.
Also used as: good Samaritan.
"Khan and his band of Samaritans ferried the injured to the Suri Sadar Hospital."
Amitava Roy; Locals Turn Samaritans at Train Disaster Site; Outlook
(New Delhi, India); Jul 20, 2010. 

Thought For The Day: A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist. -Louis Nizer, lawyer (6 Feb 1902-1994)


	*****February 08, 2015*****
epistolize : to write a letter. 

Ruminate :   v. Think deeply about something. "We sat ruminating on the nature of existence." 

apprise : (verb) To give notice to; inform.; notify, advise; During the drive home from the airport, they had time to apprise her of everything that had changed since she had been gone. 

Samaritan : noun:
A person who voluntarily helps others in distress.
Also used as: good Samaritan.
"Khan and his band of Samaritans ferried the injured to the Suri Sadar Hospital."
Amitava Roy; Locals Turn Samaritans at Train Disaster Site; Outlook
(New Delhi, India); Jul 20, 2010. 

Thought For The Day: A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist. -Louis Nizer, lawyer (6 Feb 1902-1994)


	*****February 09, 2015*****
acuity :   n. Sharpness or keenness of thought, vision, or hearing. "The sun's glare can cause discomfort and reduces visual acuity." 

sanguine : (adjective) Of a healthy reddish color.; rubicund, ruddy; He had a sanguine complexion that was matched by his cheerful outlook. 

Samaritan : noun:
A person who voluntarily helps others in distress.
Also used as: good Samaritan.
"Khan and his band of Samaritans ferried the injured to the Suri Sadar Hospital."
Amitava Roy; Locals Turn Samaritans at Train Disaster Site; Outlook
(New Delhi, India); Jul 20, 2010. 

Thought For The Day: A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist. -Louis Nizer, lawyer (6 Feb 1902-1994)


	*****February 10, 2015*****
Rapier :   n. Quick and incisive. A sharp-pointed sword used for thrusting. "Rapier combat was not for the meek." "Rapier wit." 

amatory : (adjective) Of, relating to, or expressive of love, especially sexual love.; amorous, romantic; She showed her friends the stack of old love letters and read them excerpts from the couple's amatory correspondence. 

exordium : noun: The beginning or introductory part of anything, especially of a discourse, treatise, etc.
"Reading the OED ... is described in the author's exordium with 'I have
read the OED so that you don't have to.'"
William Safire; Presents of Mind; The New York Times Magazine; Jun 22, 2008. 

Thought For The Day: Activism is the rent I pay for living on the planet. -Alice Walker, author (b. 9 Feb 1944)


	*****February 11, 2015*****
commensal : eating together at the same table. 

Ghoulish :   n. Suggesting the horror of death and decay; morbid or disgusting. "The ghoulish figure had no distinctive features." 

meretricious : (adjective) Attracting attention in a vulgar manner.; flashy, garish, gaudy, tawdry, trashy, tacky; The town's tasteful welcome sign was replaced with a meretricious monstrosity, a blinking neon tower. 

recrudescence : noun: A renewed activity after a period of dormancy.
"A recrudescence of doubt made Jal hesitate at the building entrance."
Rohinton Mistry; Family Matters; McClelland and Stewart; 2002.

"A recrudescence of McCarthyism is always possible but seems unlikely."
Richard Kreitner; Tricky Lessons; The Nation (New York); Aug 18, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: What for centuries raised man above the beast is not the cudgel but the irresistible power of unarmed truth. -Boris Pasternak, poet and novelist (10 Feb 1890-1960)


	*****February 12, 2015*****
Hyperbole; Hyperbolic :   n. Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally. "The company chairman may have been guilty of too much hyperbole during the shareholders meeting." 

bravado : (noun) Defiant or swaggering behavior.; bluster; In a moment it was hand-to-hand fighting, and Trent was cursing already the bravado which had brought him out to the open. 

opprobrium : noun:
1. Strong criticism.
2. Public disgrace
"Most countries have armies, but in Pakistan the army has a country. ...
The army's record is not one to be proud of. Wars launched against India
in 1947, 1965, and 1999, won little or nothing beyond international
opprobrium."
Nosebags; The Economist (London, UK); Sep 20, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: The government ought not to be invested with power to control the affections, any more than the consciences of citizens. -Lydia Maria Child, activist, novelist, and journalist (11 Feb 1802-1880)


	*****February 13, 2015*****
skookum : Northwest U.S., Canada. excellent; first-rate. 

Peckish :   adj. Ill-tempered; irritable; Chiefly British feeling slightly hungry. "He felt rather peckish close to bedtime." 

bolster : (verb) To buoy up or hearten.; boost; Visitors bolstered the patient's morale. 

comportment : noun: Behavior; demeanor; bearing.
"Let's hear from no less an arbiter of manners and proper comportment
than David Studer, the CBC's journalistic standards and practices boss."
Terry Glavin; After the Paris Atrocities, a Long-Overdue Reckoning with Ourselves; Ottawa Citizen (Canada); Jan 14, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind. -Charles Darwin, naturalist and author (12 Feb 1809-1882)


	*****February 14, 2015*****
Canard :   n. A false or unfounded rumor or story. "The tabloid included some of Hollywood's oldest canards." 

bombast : (noun) Grandiloquent, pompous speech or writing.; claptrap, fustian; He found that he could look back upon the brass and bombast of his earlier gospels and see them truly. 

solicitude : noun: Care or concern for another.
"We also meet 'Little', a 19-year-old on death row for robbing and
kidnapping, whom the other inmates treat with tender solicitude after
he wakes up in the middle of the night screaming and in tears."
Jenna Fisher; For a Song and a Hundred Songs; The Christian Science Monitor
(Boston, Massachusetts); Jul 3, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: In some circumstances, the refusal to be defeated is a refusal to be educated. -Margaret Halsey, novelist (13 Feb 1910-1997)


	*****February 15, 2015*****
Peripatetic :   adj. Traveling from place to place, esp. working or based in various places for relatively short periods. "He maintained a peripatetic lifestyle." 

doggerel : (noun) Crudely or irregularly fashioned verse, often of a humorous or burlesque nature.; jingle; I want the man I love and honor to be something finer and higher than a perpetrator of jokes and doggerel. 

solicitude : noun: Care or concern for another.
"We also meet 'Little', a 19-year-old on death row for robbing and
kidnapping, whom the other inmates treat with tender solicitude after
he wakes up in the middle of the night screaming and in tears."
Jenna Fisher; For a Song and a Hundred Songs; The Christian Science Monitor
(Boston, Massachusetts); Jul 3, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: In some circumstances, the refusal to be defeated is a refusal to be educated. -Margaret Halsey, novelist (13 Feb 1910-1997)


	*****February 16, 2015*****
Mellifluous :   adj. Sweet or musical; pleasant to hear. "She had a mellifluous voice." 

foretoken : (noun) An event that is experienced as indicating important things to come.; augury, preindication, sign; He refused to think that the rain was a foretoken of gloom for his date that night. 

solicitude : noun: Care or concern for another.
"We also meet 'Little', a 19-year-old on death row for robbing and
kidnapping, whom the other inmates treat with tender solicitude after
he wakes up in the middle of the night screaming and in tears."
Jenna Fisher; For a Song and a Hundred Songs; The Christian Science Monitor
(Boston, Massachusetts); Jul 3, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: In some circumstances, the refusal to be defeated is a refusal to be educated. -Margaret Halsey, novelist (13 Feb 1910-1997)


	*****February 17, 2015*****
Bolshie; Bolshiness :   adj. emotionally charged terms used to refer to extreme radicals or left-wing. Deliberately combative or uncooperative: "The driver maintained a bolshie attitude before his arrest." 

assuage : (verb) To make (something burdensome or painful) less intense or severe.; alleviate, relieve, palliate; Food, however, became scarce, and I often spent the whole day searching in vain for a few acorns to assuage the pangs of hunger. 

Thought For The Day: A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. -Henry Adams, historian and teacher (16 Feb 1838-1918)


	*****February 18, 2015*****
Boorish :   adj. Resembling or characteristic of a boor; rude and clumsy in behavior. "His boorish behavior was unacceptable to the directors." 

ascetic : (noun) A person who renounces material comforts and leads a life of austere self-discipline, especially as an act of religious devotion.; abstainer; His rough clothes and starved frame gave him the look of an ascetic, and he refused the food they tried to give him. 

preternatural : adjective: Beyond what is natural or normal.
"Ms. Yousafzai made a rapid recovery, and quickly drowned out her critics
with her preternatural poise and speaking skills."
Declan Walsh; Two Champions of Children Are Given Nobel Peace Prize;
The New York Times; Oct 10, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: Time is the fairest and toughest judge. -Edgar Quinet, historian (17 Feb 1803-1875)


	*****February 19, 2015*****
Epicene :   adj. Having characteristics of both sexes or no characteristics of either sex; of indeterminate sex. "Clothing fashions are becoming increasingly epicene." 

askance : (adverb) With disapproval, suspicion, or distrust.; sidelong; I glanced askance at this strange creature, and found him watching me with his queer, restless eyes. 

Thought For The Day: If there's a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. -Toni Morrison, novelist, editor, professor, Nobel laureate (b. 18 Feb 1931)


	*****February 20, 2015*****
Untenable :   adj. Not able to be maintained or defended against attack or objection. "She was in an untenable situation that was difficult to get out of." 

portmanteau : (noun) A large leather suitcase that opens into two hinged compartments.; Gladstone; With both sides stuffed to capacity, he needed to sit on top of the portmanteau in order to close it. 

parthenogenesis : noun: Reproduction without fertilization.
"If men are obsolete, then women will soon be extinct -- unless we rush
down that ominous Brave New World path where women clone themselves by
parthenogenesis, as famously do Komodo dragons, hammerhead sharks, and
pit vipers."
Camille Paglia; It's a Man's World, and It Always Will Be; Time (New York);
Dec 16, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: Architecture is inhabited sculpture. -Constantin Brancusi, sculptor (19 Feb 1876-1957)


	*****February 21, 2015*****
Machinate :   v. Engage in plots and intrigues; scheming. "To machinate the overthrow of the government." 

tatterdemalion : (noun) A person wearing ragged or tattered clothing.; ragamuffin; It was a crew of tatterdemalions that limped and straggled and wandered back into Barnesdale that day. 

bryology : noun: The branch of botany that deals with mosses, liverworts, and hornworts.
"The book's protagonist ... spends most of her life practicing bryology on
her father's estate."
Maggie Caldwell; Gather No Moss; Mother Jones (San Francisco); Sep/Oct 2013. 

Thought For The Day: There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept. -Ansel Adams, photographer (20 Feb 1902-1984)


	*****February 22, 2015*****
Conflate :   v. Combine two or more texts, ideas, etc. into one. "Their ideas were conflated in ways that were not helpful." 

mountebank : (noun) A hawker of quack medicines who attracts customers with stories, jokes, or tricks.; charlatan; Walking down the street, they saw a mountebank beguiling his audience with tales of miracles achieved through his remedies. 

bryology : noun: The branch of botany that deals with mosses, liverworts, and hornworts.
"The book's protagonist ... spends most of her life practicing bryology on
her father's estate."
Maggie Caldwell; Gather No Moss; Mother Jones (San Francisco); Sep/Oct 2013. 

Thought For The Day: There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept. -Ansel Adams, photographer (20 Feb 1902-1984)


	*****February 23, 2015*****
Luddite :   n. A person opposed to increased industrialization or new technology, and is often someone who is incompetent when using new technology. "He was a luddite that preferred his typewriter over a computer." 

lanceolate : (adjective) Tapering from a rounded base toward an apex.; lancelike; The bush had lanceolate leaves with sharp tips that could sting unwary passersby. 

bryology : noun: The branch of botany that deals with mosses, liverworts, and hornworts.
"The book's protagonist ... spends most of her life practicing bryology on
her father's estate."
Maggie Caldwell; Gather No Moss; Mother Jones (San Francisco); Sep/Oct 2013. 

Thought For The Day: There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept. -Ansel Adams, photographer (20 Feb 1902-1984)


	*****February 24, 2015*****
brolly : British Informal. an umbrella. 

Misogynous; Misogyny; Misogynistic :   adj. Of or characterized by a hatred of women. "Police believe it was a misogynous assault." 

hegemony : (noun) The predominant influence, as of a state, region, or group, over another or others.; domination; Many great works of art were created during the hegemony of Athens in Greece. 

modus operandi : noun: A particular way of doing something, especially a person's typical mode of operation.
"David Cameron's characteristic modus operandi is to do anything and
everything he can to buy off his critics."
Tim Bale; The Tory Schism; New Statesman (London, UK); Sep 5-11, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: The theory of democratic government is not that the will of the people is always right, but rather that normal human beings of average intelligence will, if given a chance, learn the right and best course by bitter experience. -W.E.B. Du Bois, educator, civil rights activist, and writer (23 Feb 1868-1963)


	*****February 25, 2015*****
demassify : to break (something standardized or homogeneous) into elements that appeal to individual tastes or special interests: to demassify the magazine industry into special-interest periodicals. 

Glower :   v. Have an angry or sullen look on one's face; scowl. "The librarian glowered at her for talking too loud." 

tergiversate : (verb) To use evasions or ambiguities; to change sides.; equivocate, prevaricate, palter; She refused to tergiversate on the subject, stating her opinion concisely and openly. 

per se : adverb: In or by itself; intrinsically.
"SHERLOC will not be searching for life per se—only for the trail it
leaves behind."
Corey Powell; Have We Found Alien Life?; Popular Science (New York);
Feb 2015. 

Thought For The Day: When once the itch of literature comes over a man, nothing can cure it but the scratching of a pen. -Samuel Lover, songwriter, composer, novelist, and artist (24 Feb 1797-1868)


	*****February 26, 2015*****
Coltish :   adj. Energetic but awkward in one's movements or behavior. Playful, not trained or disciplined. "Coltish horseplay to celebrate their graduation." 

obstreperous : (adjective) Noisily and stubbornly defiant.; unruly; Although the teacher ordered them to sit down, the obstreperous boys continued their antics. 

Thought For The Day: The pain passes but the beauty remains. -Pierre-Auguste Renoir, artist [responding to Matisse on why he painted in spite of his painful arthritis] (25 Feb 1841-1919)


	*****February 27, 2015*****
Apocryphal :   adj. Of doubtful authenticity, although widely circulated as being true. "Apocryphal stories dating from Hollywood's golden age." 

paradigm : (noun) One that serves as a pattern or model.; epitome, prototype; Their company is a paradigm of the small high-tech firms that have recently sprung up in this area. 

bona fide : adjective: Genuine.
adverb: In good faith; sincerely.
"How dare this animal treat me with suspicion? I was a bona fide member
of the same family."
From Spooky to Spunky; Gulf News (Dubai); Apr 20, 2012. 

Thought For The Day: Mirrors, those revealers of the truth, are hated; that does not prevent them from being of use. -Victor Hugo, novelist and dramatist (26 Feb 1802-1885)


	*****February 28, 2015*****
Circumspect :   adj Wary and unwilling to take risks. "His circumspect approach to investing." 

lugubrious : (adjective) Mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially to an exaggerated or ludicrous degree.; dreary, woeful, morose, funereal, doleful; He was so lugubrious that he could find melancholy in a child's birthday party. 

Thought For The Day: He that respects himself is safe from others; he wears a coat of mail that none can pierce. -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet (27 Feb 1807-1882)


	*****March 01, 2015*****
Sartorial :   adj. Of or relating to tailoring, clothes, or style of dress. "Sartorial taste; "Sartorial elegance." 

plectrum : (noun) A small thin piece of metal, plastic, bone, or similar material, used to pluck the strings of certain instruments, such as the guitar or lute.; pick; When he first struck the guitar's strings with his plectrum, we knew we were in for a great performance. 

Thought For The Day: He that respects himself is safe from others; he wears a coat of mail that none can pierce. -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet (27 Feb 1807-1882)


	*****March 02, 2015*****
Maniacal :   adj.  Characterized by excessive enthusiasm or excitement. "A maniacal grin on his face." 

sensibility : (noun) Mental responsiveness; discernment; awareness.; aesthesia; After nine months in a coma, the patient began to exhibit sensibility. 

Thought For The Day: He that respects himself is safe from others; he wears a coat of mail that none can pierce. -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet (27 Feb 1807-1882)


	*****March 03, 2015*****
Amorous :   adj. Showing, feeling, or relating to sexual desire. "She did not appreciate his amorous advances." 

panorama : (noun) An unbroken view of an entire surrounding area.; vista; The panorama from the summit, with glistening lakes and green forests in every direction, is unmatched in the east. 

parastatal : noun: A company or agency owned wholly or partly by the government.
adjective: Relating to such an organization.
"In South Africa, rising economic growth and poor government planning,
critics say, have left Eskom, the country's energy parastatal, scrambling
to build new power plants."
Joseph J. Schatz; Power Cuts Cripple Southern Africa; The Christian Science
Monitor (Boston, Massachusetts); Jan 25, 2008.

"State and parastatal staff also must contribute more to their pensions."
Neil Behrmann; 2m British Civil Servants Walk Out; The Business Times
(Singapore); Dec 1, 2011. 

Thought For The Day: Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You. -Dr. Seuss, author and illustrator (2 Mar 1904-1991)


	*****March 04, 2015*****
Protagonist :   n. The main figure or one of the most prominent figures in a real situation. The leading character or a major character in a drama, movie, novel, or other fictional text. "The unnamed protagonist was the hit of the film." 

ersatz : (adjective) Being an imitation or a substitute, usually an inferior one; artificial.; imitation; He was fairly sure that no coffee beans had been involved in its production, but he was tired enough to drink the ersatz coffee anyway. 

defervescence : noun: The abatement of a fever.
"'I don't like these sudden drops. It's false defervescence ...'
That same evening, Philippe's temperature went back up."
Andre Maurois; Climates; Other Press; 2012. (translation: Adriana Hunter) 

Thought For The Day: Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it's the only one you have. -Emile Chartier, philosopher (3 Mar 1868-1951)


	*****March 05, 2015*****
Tumult :   n. Confusion or disorder. A loud, confused noise, esp. one caused by a large mass of people. "He quickly became aware of the violent tumult behind the trees." 

potentate : (noun) One who has the power and position to rule over others.; dictator; She was a potentate in her home, all her relatives being too cowed to protest her decisions. 

imprimis : adverb: In the first place.
"Imprimis, H.M. did not like being addressed as the Ancient Mariner;
and, secondly, he said he had an artistic temperament and must not
be interrupted while rehearsing his lines."
John Dickson Carr; And So to Murder; Merrivale; 1940. 

Thought For The Day: It took less than an hour to make the atoms, a few hundred million years to make the stars and planets, but five billion years to make man! -George Gamow, physicist and cosmologist (4 Mar 1904-1968)


	*****March 06, 2015*****
Verbose :  (ver·bose) adj.  Using or containing a great and usually an excessive number of words; wordy. "She was too verbose in her narrative." 

gelid : (adjective) Very cold; icy.; arctic, frigid, glacial, polar; After only a few minutes in the gelid wind, they were shivering too hard to speak. 

poltroon : noun: An utter coward.
"Against this backdrop, Bertuccelli offers a derisive portrait of
officialdom. Administrators and doctors come across as poltroons."
Richard Duckett; 'Since Otar Left' is Slow But Intriguing;
Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Massachusetts); Dec 9, 2004. 

Thought For The Day: Scratch a pessimist and you find often a defender of privilege. -William Beveridge, economist and reformer (5 Mar 1879-1963)


	*****March 07, 2015*****
Contemporaneous :  (con·tem·po·ra·ne·ous) adj.  Originating, existing, or happening during the same period of time: "The contemporaneous court cases for the two defendants." 

contretemps : (noun) An unforeseen event that disrupts the normal course of things; an inopportune occurrence.; mishap, predicament, calamity; His cross-country tour had its full share of comic contretemps. 

tumulus : noun:
1. A mound of earth placed over prehistoric tombs. Also known as a barrow.
2. A dome-shaped swelling formed in cooling lava.
"Anthropologists have suggested [Mima mounds] might be tumuli marking
ancient burials."
Gopher Broke; The Economist (London, UK); Dec 14, 2013.

"Many inflation features are present on the flow, including the tumulus in
upper right."
Megan Moseley; Lava Advances 50 Yards, Edging Closer to Highway; Honolulu
Star-Advertiser (Hawaii); Jan 27, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. -Michelangelo Buonarroti, sculptor, painter, architect, and poet (6 Mar 1475-1564)


	*****March 08, 2015*****
Enigmatic :  (en·ig·mat·ic) adj.  Of or resembling an enigma; puzzling: "An enigmatic tax form." 

caper : (noun) A playful leap or hop.; capriole; The child's playfulness was amusing at first, but they soon grew tired of his capers. 

tumulus : noun:
1. A mound of earth placed over prehistoric tombs. Also known as a barrow.
2. A dome-shaped swelling formed in cooling lava.
"Anthropologists have suggested [Mima mounds] might be tumuli marking
ancient burials."
Gopher Broke; The Economist (London, UK); Dec 14, 2013.

"Many inflation features are present on the flow, including the tumulus in
upper right."
Megan Moseley; Lava Advances 50 Yards, Edging Closer to Highway; Honolulu
Star-Advertiser (Hawaii); Jan 27, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. -Michelangelo Buonarroti, sculptor, painter, architect, and poet (6 Mar 1475-1564)


	*****March 09, 2015*****
Perpetuity :  (per·pe·tu·i·ty) n.pl.  1. Time without end; eternity.  2. The quality or condition of being perpetual: "The terms of the agreement remain in effect in perpetuity." 

thither : (adverb) To or toward that place; in that direction.; there; Let us stroll thither, and examine the matter nearer. 

tumulus : noun:
1. A mound of earth placed over prehistoric tombs. Also known as a barrow.
2. A dome-shaped swelling formed in cooling lava.
"Anthropologists have suggested [Mima mounds] might be tumuli marking
ancient burials."
Gopher Broke; The Economist (London, UK); Dec 14, 2013.

"Many inflation features are present on the flow, including the tumulus in
upper right."
Megan Moseley; Lava Advances 50 Yards, Edging Closer to Highway; Honolulu
Star-Advertiser (Hawaii); Jan 27, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. -Michelangelo Buonarroti, sculptor, painter, architect, and poet (6 Mar 1475-1564)


	*****March 10, 2015*****
Ravenous :  (rav·en·ous) adj.  1. Extremely hungry; voracious.  2. Rapacious; predatory.  3. Greedy for gratification: "Ravenous for power." 

mercantile : (adjective) Of or relating to merchants or trade.; commercial; With so many vendors, the mercantile aspect of the historical site has nearly overtaken its original purpose. 

Thought For The Day: A full belly to the labourer is, in my opinion, the foundation of public morals and the only source of real public peace. -William Cobbett, journalist, pamphleteer, and farmer (9 Mar 1763-1835)


	*****March 11, 2015*****
Plagiarize :  (pla·gia·rize) v.  1. To use and pass off (the ideas or writings of another) as one's own.  2.To appropriate for use as one's own passages or ideas from another. 

detriment : (noun) A damage or loss.; hurt; Her employers were understanding, and she was able to take a long leave of absence without detriment to her career. 

Thought For The Day: Anyone who wishes to become a good writer should endeavour, before he allows himself to be tempted by the more showy qualities, to be direct, simple, brief, vigorous, and lucid. -H.W. Fowler, lexicographer (10 Mar 1858-1933)


	*****March 12, 2015*****
Demonstrable :  (de·mon·stra·ble) adj.  1. Capable of being demonstrated or proved: "demonstrable truths."  2. Obvious or apparent: "demonstrable lies." 

atrophy : (verb) To waste away; wither or deteriorate.; shrivel, weaken; She had not painted in many years, and she was worried that her creativity had atrophied. 

Thought For The Day: The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas-covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be. -Douglas Adams, author (11 Mar 1952-2001)


	*****March 13, 2015*****
Lucid :  (lu·cid) adj.  1. Easily understood; intelligible. 2. Mentally sound; sane or rational. "A lucid conversation." 3. Translucent or transparent. 

jilt : (verb) To deceive or drop (a lover) suddenly or callously.; forsake; Since being jilted by his fiancée, he had grown to distrust all women. 

limerick : noun: A humorous, often risque, verse of three long (A) and two short (B) lines
with the rhyme scheme AABBA.
  "First of all, the limerick judges at this newspaper would like contestants
   to know that we are acutely aware that 'Journal' rhymes with 'urinal'.
   Almost as much fun as reading limericks was reading excuses from the
   people who wrote the limericks. It was as if we had caught someone
   reading the Sex With Aliens Weekly at the supermarket. Diane Harvey, of
   DeForest, for example, began her entrant thusly:

      It is with a deep sense of shame that I submit the following puerile,
      low-brow limericks, and confess the guilty pleasure I had in writing them.
      As one who normally leads a completely respectable life, I cannot tell
      you what an illicit thrill it was to shed the trappings of responsible
      adulthood and for a 'brief shining moment' indulge in rude juvenile
      humor once again.

  "Several writers put the 'Journal-urinal' rhyme to obvious use, and a few
   similarly included good-humored critiques of columnist George Hesselberg,
   as in the one by Dan Barker, of Madison:

      There once was a parrot named Colonel,
      Who read all the papers diurnal.
      But his favorite page
      On the floor of his cage
      Was the Hesselberg page from the Journal."

   Limerick Tricks: Readers Turn Their Talents to Punny, Funny Rhymes;
   Wisconsin State Journal (Madison); Jun 2, 1996.
 

Thought For The Day: All of life is a foreign country. -Jack Kerouac, author (12 Mar 1922-1969)


	*****March 14, 2015*****
Placid :  (plac·id) adj.  1. Satisfied; complacent.  2. Undisturbed by tumult or disorder; calm or quiet. 

cardinal : (adjective) Of foremost importance; paramount.; fundamental, central, primal; The cardinal rule of membership in the secret society was never to reveal its existence to outsiders. 

doggerel : noun:
1. Comic verse that is irregular in rhythm and in rhyme especially for burlesque or comic effect.
2. Trivial or bad poetry.
"In the first world war 324,000 Australians volunteered to fight overseas,
an extraordinary number in a nation of fewer than 5m people. Of the 60,000
Australians who died in the war, 8,700 were lost in a few months during a
hopeless attempt to capture Gallipoli, a small piece of territory in Turkey.
In the words of a piece of doggerel at the time, 'In five minutes flat,
we were blown to hell / Nearly blew us right back to Australia.'"
Obituary: Alec Campbell; The Economist (London, UK); Jun 1, 2002.
 

Thought For The Day: Don't ask me who's influenced me. A lion is made up of the lambs he's digested, and I've been reading all my life. -Giorgos Seferis, writer, diplomat, Nobel laureate (13 Mar 1900-1971)


	*****March 15, 2015*****
Nexus :  (nex·us) n.  A means of connection; a link or tie: "The nexus between the mob and gambling."  2. A connected series or group.  3. The core or center. 

doggerel : noun:
1. Comic verse that is irregular in rhythm and in rhyme especially for burlesque or comic effect.
2. Trivial or bad poetry.
"In the first world war 324,000 Australians volunteered to fight overseas,
an extraordinary number in a nation of fewer than 5m people. Of the 60,000
Australians who died in the war, 8,700 were lost in a few months during a
hopeless attempt to capture Gallipoli, a small piece of territory in Turkey.
In the words of a piece of doggerel at the time, 'In five minutes flat,
we were blown to hell / Nearly blew us right back to Australia.'"
Obituary: Alec Campbell; The Economist (London, UK); Jun 1, 2002.
 

Thought For The Day: Don't ask me who's influenced me. A lion is made up of the lambs he's digested, and I've been reading all my life. -Giorgos Seferis, writer, diplomat, Nobel laureate (13 Mar 1900-1971)


	*****March 16, 2015*****
Expeditious :  (ex·pe·di·tious) adj.  Acting or done with speed and efficiency. 

pastoral : (adjective) Idyllically rustic.; arcadian, bucolic; Last I heard he bought a cottage on farmland and now leads a perfectly pastoral existence. 

doggerel : noun:
1. Comic verse that is irregular in rhythm and in rhyme especially for burlesque or comic effect.
2. Trivial or bad poetry.
"In the first world war 324,000 Australians volunteered to fight overseas,
an extraordinary number in a nation of fewer than 5m people. Of the 60,000
Australians who died in the war, 8,700 were lost in a few months during a
hopeless attempt to capture Gallipoli, a small piece of territory in Turkey.
In the words of a piece of doggerel at the time, 'In five minutes flat,
we were blown to hell / Nearly blew us right back to Australia.'"
Obituary: Alec Campbell; The Economist (London, UK); Jun 1, 2002.
 

Thought For The Day: Don't ask me who's influenced me. A lion is made up of the lambs he's digested, and I've been reading all my life. -Giorgos Seferis, writer, diplomat, Nobel laureate (13 Mar 1900-1971)


	*****March 17, 2015*****
Ostentatious :  (os·ten·ta·tious) adj.  Characterized by or given to pretentiousness. "The chandelier was the most ostentatious I have ever seen." 

carcass : (noun) Remains from which the substance or character is gone.; remains, remnants; At one end of the camp lies the carcass of an aircraft which crashed in the mountains. 

abstentious : adjective: Self-restraining, especially in eating or drinking.
"Ballplayers ... have popped up at water polo, diving, and softball,
cheering for Canadian teammates and downing a beer or two, unlike
most of their abstentious fellow athletes."
Ken MacQueen; Now or Never; Maclean's (Toronto, Canada); Aug 30, 2004. 

Thought For The Day: I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the rights of the people by the gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. -James Madison, fourth US president (16 Mar 1751-1836)


	*****March 18, 2015*****
Formative :  (for·ma·tive) adj.  Of or relating to formation, growth, or development: the formative stages of a child. 

ether : (noun) The element believed in ancient and medieval civilizations to fill all space above the sphere of the moon and to compose the stars and planets.; quintessence; The stars, the ancients believed, both inhabited and were composed of the ether. 

Thought For The Day: We open our mouths and out flow words whose ancestries we do not even know. We are walking lexicons. In a single sentence of idle chatter we preserve Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Norse: we carry a museum inside our heads, each day we commemorate peoples of whom we have never heard. -Penelope Lively, writer (b. 17 Mar 1933)


	*****March 19, 2015*****
Epicurean :  (ep·i·cu·re·an) adj.  Devoted to the pursuit of sensual pleasure, particularly  the enjoyment of gourmet food. 

quotidian : (adjective) Everyday; commonplace.; mundane, routine, workaday; There's nothing quite like a real train conductor to add color to a quotidian commute. 

Thought For The Day: Smaller than a breadbox, bigger than a TV remote, the average book fits into the human hand with a seductive nestling, a kiss of texture, whether of cover cloth, glazed jacket, or flexible paperback. -John Updike, writer (18 Mar 1932-2009)


	*****March 20, 2015*****
Epicurean :  (ep·i·cu·re·an) adj.  Devoted to the pursuit of sensual pleasure, particularly  the enjoyment of gourmet food. 

parlance : (noun) A particular manner of speaking.; idiom; In vulgar parlance the condiments of a repast are called by the American "a relish," substituting the thing for its effect. 

Thought For The Day: It's best to give while your hand is still warm. -Philip Roth, novelist (b. 19 Mar 1933)


	*****March 21, 2015*****
Cerebral :  (cer·e·bral) adj.  Appealing to or requiring the use of the intellect; intellectual rather than emotional: "Her methods were cerebral, analytical, and cautious." 

quandary : (noun) A state of uncertainty or perplexity.; dilemma; The situation was awkward, but nothing like the quandary they had found themselves in when their car had broken down on a deserted road. 

duoliteral : adjective: Having two letters.
"The teacher will then proceed with another letter in a similar manner,
taking one that, with the preceding, will make a duoliteral word."
Charles Northend; The Teacher's Assistant; Crosby, Nichols, and Co.; 1859. 

Thought For The Day: We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say "It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem." Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes. -Fred Rogers, television host, songwriter, and author (20 Mar 1928-2003)


	*****March 22, 2015*****
Halcyon :  (hal·cy·on) Adj 1. Calm; peaceful; tranquil: "Halcyon seas." 2. Rich; wealthy; prosperous: "Halcyon times before the recession." 

dichotomy : (noun) Division into two usually contradictory parts or opinions.; duality; One of the novel's themes is the dichotomy of Eastern and Western culture. 

duoliteral : adjective: Having two letters.
"The teacher will then proceed with another letter in a similar manner,
taking one that, with the preceding, will make a duoliteral word."
Charles Northend; The Teacher's Assistant; Crosby, Nichols, and Co.; 1859. 

Thought For The Day: We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say "It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem." Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes. -Fred Rogers, television host, songwriter, and author (20 Mar 1928-2003)


	*****March 23, 2015*****
Pernicious :  (per·ni·cious) adj Having a harmful effect, particularly in a gradual or subtle way. "The hostile takeover will have a pernicious effect on the business." 

confabulate : (verb) To talk casually.; chat, natter; Three old friends met in a café to confabulate together. 

duoliteral : adjective: Having two letters.
"The teacher will then proceed with another letter in a similar manner,
taking one that, with the preceding, will make a duoliteral word."
Charles Northend; The Teacher's Assistant; Crosby, Nichols, and Co.; 1859. 

Thought For The Day: We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say "It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem." Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes. -Fred Rogers, television host, songwriter, and author (20 Mar 1928-2003)


	*****March 24, 2015*****
Bifurcate; bifurcation :  (bi·fur·cate) v Divide into two branches or forks: "The river bifurcates at the base of the mountain." 

cantabile : (adjective) In a smooth, lyrical, flowing style.; singing; The last part of the movement, a sweet, cantabile passage, resonated with the young audience. 

expectorate : verb tr., intr.:
1. To spit.
2. To eject by coughing.
"Sportswriters and talk-radio hosts may expectorate their opinions like
gobs of tobacco juice."
James Wolcott; Breakdown of Champions; Vanity Fair (New York); Apr 2013. 

Thought For The Day: The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal. -Erich Fromm, psychoanalyst and author (23 Mar 1900-1980)


	*****March 25, 2015*****
Frenetic :  (fre·net·ic) adj Fast and energetic in a rather wild and uncontrolled way: "A frenetic ride on the snowboard." 

intaglio : (noun) A figure or design carved into or beneath the surface of hard metal or stone.; diaglyph; The intaglio was so incredibly detailed that it almost looked like a photograph. 

seism : noun: Earthquake.
"The deep seisms are hundreds of thousands of small, individual quakes
occurring in parts of the deep crust."
Keay Davidson; Deep Tremors Could Be Clues to Surface Quakes;
San Francisco Chronicle; Mar 15, 2007. 

Thought For The Day: Poetry is the shadow cast by our streetlight imaginations. -Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet and painter (b. 24 Mar 1919)


	*****March 26, 2015*****
Vociferous :  (vo·cif·er·ous) adj Characterized by vehemence, clamour, or noisiness: "A vociferous crowd." 

hieratic : (adjective) Of or associated with sacred persons or offices.; priestly, sacerdotal; The laws did not apply to the heratic class, whose members were held as nearly gods. 

autochthon : noun:
1. A native; an aborigine.
2. Something, as a rock, formed or originating in the place where found.
"A Bavarian autochthon, Werner Herzog has been a passionate imagemaker
since the early 1960s."
Tom Webber; The Dream Weaver; New Statesman (London, UK); Feb 13, 2006. 

Thought For The Day: Truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it. -Flannery O'Connor, writer (25 Mar 1925-1964)


	*****March 27, 2015*****
Perspicacious :  (per·spi·ca·cious) adj Having strong insight into and understanding of things. "She showed perspicacious judgment." 

dilettante : (noun) A dabbler in an art or a field of knowledge.; sciolist; He claimed to be serious about his paintings, but he was at heart a mere dilettante. 

Thought For The Day: When two opposite points of view are expressed with equal intensity, the truth does not necessarily lie exactly halfway between them. It is possible for one side to be simply wrong. -Richard Dawkins, biologist and author (b. 26 Mar 1941)


	*****March 28, 2015*****
Mendacious :  (men·da·cious) adj Not telling the truth; lying: "A mendacious politician;" "A mendacious defendant." 

phantasmagoric : (adjective) Characterized by fantastic imagery and incongruous juxtapositions.; surrealistic; The phantasmagoric imagery, with melting clocks and unreal landscapes, is what attracts many to Salvador Dali's work. 

festinate : verb tr., intr.: To hurry or hasten.
adjective: Hurried or hasty.
"We will not delay discussing the budget, but will not festinate it either."
Commission to Accelerate; Dominican Today (Santo Domingo); Dec 30, 2005. 

Thought For The Day: History is a novel whose author is the people. -Alfred de Vigny, poet, playwright, and novelist (27 Mar 1797-1863)


	*****March 29, 2015*****
Rapacious :  (ra·pa·cious) Adj Aggressively greedy or ravenous; plundering: "A rapacious salesman." 

bathos : (noun) Insincere or grossly sentimental pathos.; mawkishness; The opera's conclusion was emotional to the point of bathos, with the soprano dying heroically to save her lover. 

festinate : verb tr., intr.: To hurry or hasten.
adjective: Hurried or hasty.
"We will not delay discussing the budget, but will not festinate it either."
Commission to Accelerate; Dominican Today (Santo Domingo); Dec 30, 2005. 

Thought For The Day: History is a novel whose author is the people. -Alfred de Vigny, poet, playwright, and novelist (27 Mar 1797-1863)


	*****March 30, 2015*****
Myopic; Myopia :   n.   Distant objects appear blurred – Lack of discernment or long-range perspective in thinking or planning: "Myopic thinking." 

ostentatious : (adjective) Intended to attract notice and impress others.; pretentious, showy; His ostentatious displays of wealth did nothing to impress his neighbors, who were proud of their middle-class status. 

festinate : verb tr., intr.: To hurry or hasten.
adjective: Hurried or hasty.
"We will not delay discussing the budget, but will not festinate it either."
Commission to Accelerate; Dominican Today (Santo Domingo); Dec 30, 2005. 

Thought For The Day: History is a novel whose author is the people. -Alfred de Vigny, poet, playwright, and novelist (27 Mar 1797-1863)


	*****March 31, 2015*****
Penurious :  (pe·nu·ri·ous) adj Extremely poor; poverty-stricken; miserly. "The penurious family were forced from their home." 

cudgel : (noun) A short heavy stick.; bastinado, club; She woke up with her head hurting as though it had been hit with a cudgel. 

saturnine : adjective
1. Sluggish.
2. Gloomy.
3. Cold.
"This saturnine assessment of the world's economic predicament has been
whispered about in worried tones for months now in the world of high
finance."
Felix Martin; Real Money; New Statesman (London, UK); Oct 17, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: One may have a blazing hearth in one's soul, and yet no one ever comes to sit by it. -Vincent van Gogh, painter (30 Mar 1853-1890)


	*****April 01, 2015*****
Loquacious :  (lo·qua·cious) adj Very talkative; garrulous. "Her loquacious sales pitch lasted the entire afternoon." 

seminal : (adjective) Highly influential in an original way; constituting or providing a basis for further development.; germinal, originative; He prepared a speech describing his experiment, never realizing that his presentation would be the seminal event in the development of a new theory. 

mercurial : adjective:
1. Fickle; volatile; changeable.
2. Animated; quick-witted; shrewd.
3. Relating to the metal, planet, or god Mercury.
"Why is North Korea raising the stakes now, when the world is campaigning
to eliminate nuclear weapons from the world's arsenals? It is difficult
to tell, because Pyongyang and its mercurial leader Kim Jong-il act in
erratic and contradictory ways."
Bantarto Bandoro; Nuclear Tension Rises on Divided Korean Peninsula;
The Jakarta Post (Indonesia); Jan 18, 2003. 

Thought For The Day: Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations. -Leo Buscaglia, author, speaker and professor (31 Mar 1924-1998)


	*****April 02, 2015*****
Reciprocity :  (rec·i·proc·i·ty) n A reciprocal condition or relationship. "The president's proposal calls for full reciprocity." 

diaphanous : (adjective) Of such fine texture as to be transparent or translucent.; filmy, gauzy, sheer, vaporous; She wore a hat with a diaphanous veil that did not obscure her features. 

jovial : adjective: Cheerful; good-humored.
"The mood on the tour had gone from jovial and light to brutal inside an hour."
Brad Lavigne; 'From Jovial to Brutal'; Maclean's (Toronto, Canada); Nov 25, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: Make no judgments where you have no compassion. -Anne McCaffrey, writer (1 Apr 1926-2011)


	*****April 03, 2015*****
Chagrin :   n.   A keen feeling of mental unease, as of annoyance or embarrassment, caused by failure, disappointment, or a disconcerting event. "He decided to take the day off, much to the chagrin of his boss." 

pleonastic : (adjective) Repetition of the same sense in different words.; redundant, tautological; "A true fact" and "a free gift" are pleonastic expressions. 

earthy : adjective:
1. Relating to earth or soil.
2. Direct; uninhibited.
3. Coarse; unrefined.
4. Practical; down-to-earth.
5. Worldly, as opposed to heavenly.
"Vargas Llosa remains fundamentally true to his earthy, non-utopian vision."
Thomas Mallon; Restless Realism; The New Yorker; Mar 16, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: The fate of animals is of greater importance to me than the fear of appearing ridiculous; it is indissolubly connected with the fate of men. -Emile Zola, writer (2 Apr 1840-1902)


	*****April 04, 2015*****
Nefarious :   adj.   Infamous by way of being extremely wicked. Wicked in the extreme; abominable; iniquitous; atrociously villainous; execrable; detestably vile. "His nefarious scheme cost investors millions of dollars." 

inspissate : (verb) To undergo thickening or cause to thicken, as by boiling or evaporation.; condense, thicken; The recipe then instructed the cook to inspissate the sauce by adding flour. 

martial : adjective: Relating to war or warriors.
"Takahiro Ezaki's scowl, which never changed during the day, added a martial touch."
Ken Belson; The Ultimate Underdog; The New York Times; Jun 15, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: Never bear more than one trouble at a time. Some people bear three kinds -- all they have had, all they have now, and all they expect to have. -Edward Everett Hale, author (3 Apr 1822-1909)


	*****April 05, 2015*****
Voluminous :   adj.   Having great volume, fullness, size, or number; ample or lengthy in speech or writing. "Voluminous paperwork." 

pendent : (adjective) Hanging down; projecting.; dangling, overhanging, suspended; An examination of the cave revealed nothing but hundreds of sleeping bats pendent from the ceiling. 

martial : adjective: Relating to war or warriors.
"Takahiro Ezaki's scowl, which never changed during the day, added a martial touch."
Ken Belson; The Ultimate Underdog; The New York Times; Jun 15, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: Never bear more than one trouble at a time. Some people bear three kinds -- all they have had, all they have now, and all they expect to have. -Edward Everett Hale, author (3 Apr 1822-1909)


	*****April 06, 2015*****
Insipid :   adj.   Lacking flavor or zest; not tasty. Lacking qualities that excite, stimulate, or interest; dull. "The insipid play caused many to walk out of the theater." 

vertiginous : (adjective) Having or causing a whirling sensation.; whirling, dizzy; At the end of the trail, they still faced a vertiginous climb up the face of the cliff. 

martial : adjective: Relating to war or warriors.
"Takahiro Ezaki's scowl, which never changed during the day, added a martial touch."
Ken Belson; The Ultimate Underdog; The New York Times; Jun 15, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: Never bear more than one trouble at a time. Some people bear three kinds -- all they have had, all they have now, and all they expect to have. -Edward Everett Hale, author (3 Apr 1822-1909)


	*****April 07, 2015*****
Fortuitous :   adj.   Happening by accident or chance. Happening by a fortunate accident or chance. Lucky or fortunate. "The check could not have arrived at a more fortuitous time." 

parochial : (adjective) Narrowly restricted in scope or outlook.; insular; After moving to a big city, she had little patience for what she considered to be her parents' parochial attitudes. 

quiescent : adjective: Still; inactive; not showing symptoms.
"Given how quiescent wages and prices remain, rate rises seem still at
least a year away."
Jobs are Not Enough; The Economist (London, UK); Jul 19, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: Pleasure may come from illusion, but happiness can come only of reality. -Nicolas de Chamfort, writer (6 Apr 1741-1794)


	*****April 08, 2015*****
Ubiquitous :   adj.   Being or seeming to be everywhere, or in all places, at the same time; omnipresent. "Ubiquitous cell phones." 

phalanx : (noun) A compact or close-knit body of people.; crowd, unit; The party members disagreed on many topics, but when it came to social issues, they formed a solid phalanx. 

catacomb : noun:
1. An underground cemetery with passageways and recesses for graves.
2. A thing or a place that is complex or labyrinthine.
"The catacombs beneath Paris, which famously house the remains of six
million dead, are probably one of the last places you'd want to feel
trapped."
Robert Abele; Dredging Up Cliches Below Ground in Paris; Los Angeles
Times; Aug 30, 2014.

"Some of [users' anger was from] fear that their gaming device would
wither away in the Facebook catacombs, forgotten by a young billionaire
mogul with buyer's remorse."
Peter Rubin; Oculus Rift; Wired (New York); Jun 2014. 

Thought For The Day: It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with superior minds. -William Ellery Channing, clergyman and writer (7 Apr 1780-1842)


	*****April 09, 2015*****
Antiquated :   adj.   Very old; aged. Too old to be fashionable, suitable, or useful; outmoded, obsolete. "The committee thought the marketing strategy was too antiquated to approve." 

formalism : (noun) A method of aesthetic analysis that emphasizes structural elements and artistic techniques rather than content.; modernism; Many artists were still interested in depicting traditional narratives and came to find the doctrine of formalism limiting. 

perambulate : verb tr., intr.: To walk through; to roam.
"The state is home to a number of series where the deceased perambulate
('The Walking Dead', 'Resurrection')."
Brian Lowry; Increased Shooting in Georgia is About More Than Location;
Variety (Los Angeles); May 6, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: O innocent victims of Cupid, / Remember this terse little verse: / To let a fool kiss you is stupid, / To let a kiss fool you is worse. -Yip Harburg, lyricist (8 Apr 1896-1981)


	*****April 10, 2015*****
Atypical :   adj.   Not conforming to type; unusual or irregular. Deviating from what is usual or common or to be expected; often somewhat odd or strange. "The strong sales were atypical of the normally weak market." 

lobe : (noun) A rounded projection, especially an anatomical part.; projection; She fastened her earrings, three brilliant pendants that glistened most beautifully, through the pierced lobes of her ears. 

expurgate : verb tr.: To remove parts considered objectionable.
"The titles [displayed during the Banned Book Week] include The Odyssey by
Homer, which Plato suggested expurgating for immature readers and which
Caligula tried to suppress because it expressed Greek ideals of freedom."
News/Community Briefs; Oakland Tribune (California); Oct 1, 2009. 

Thought For The Day: Bad weather always looks worse through a window. -Tom Lehrer, singer-songwriter and mathematician (b. 9 Apr 1928)


	*****April 11, 2015*****
Placate :  (pla·cate) verb To appease or pacify; make (someone) less angry or hostile. "The customer service representative tried to placate the dissatisfied customer." 

circumlocution : (noun) The use of unnecessarily wordy and indirect language.; ambage, periphrasis, evasion; He is long-winded and prone to circumlocution in his public speeches. 

frangible : adjective: Readily broken; breakable.
"The foot is at such high risk for injury largely because it has so many
small, frangible parts -- 26 bones, 33 joints and more than 100 tendons,
ligaments, and muscles, any of which can fail."
Gretchen Reynolds; Unhappy Feet; The New York Times; Sep 14, 2008. 

Thought For The Day: You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do. -Anne Lamott, writer (b. 10 Apr 1954)


	*****April 12, 2015*****
Bucolic :  (bu·col·ic) adj. Of or relating to the pleasant aspects of country life. "He retired to a more bucolic life on his farm." 

hermitage : (noun) The habitation of a hermit or group of hermits.; abbey, monastery, retreat; He spent two years in his hermitage near the lake, pondering the mysteries of the universe. 

frangible : adjective: Readily broken; breakable.
"The foot is at such high risk for injury largely because it has so many
small, frangible parts -- 26 bones, 33 joints and more than 100 tendons,
ligaments, and muscles, any of which can fail."
Gretchen Reynolds; Unhappy Feet; The New York Times; Sep 14, 2008. 

Thought For The Day: You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do. -Anne Lamott, writer (b. 10 Apr 1954)


	*****April 13, 2015*****
Odious :  (o·di·ous) adj. Extremely unpleasant; repulsive. Deserving of hatred or repugnance. "The detective said it was the most odious crime she had ever seen." 

prolix : (adjective) Tediously prolonged; tending to speak or write at excessive length.; voluble, wordy; She was engaged in editing a prolix manuscript, trying to cut the length by at least a third. 

frangible : adjective: Readily broken; breakable.
"The foot is at such high risk for injury largely because it has so many
small, frangible parts -- 26 bones, 33 joints and more than 100 tendons,
ligaments, and muscles, any of which can fail."
Gretchen Reynolds; Unhappy Feet; The New York Times; Sep 14, 2008. 

Thought For The Day: You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do. -Anne Lamott, writer (b. 10 Apr 1954) [attributed to Tom Weston]


	*****April 14, 2015*****
Anomalous :  (a·nom·a·lous) adj. Deviating from what is standard, normal, or expected. "The marketing department could not explain the anomalous sales performance." 

tryst : (noun) An agreement, as between lovers, to meet at a certain time and place.; assignation, rendezvous; They tried to keep their weekly meetings a secret, but soon neighbors began to whisper about their trysts. 

colophon : noun:
1. A note at the end of the book giving information about its production: font, paper, binding, printer, etc.
2. A publisher's emblem, usually on the spine or the title page of the book.
"Avon, one of the most resolutely down-market of the major paperback
imprints, used an image of Shakespeare's head as a colophon."
Louis Menand; Pulp's Big Moment; The New Yorker; Jan 5, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof. -Christopher Hitchens, author and journalist (13 Apr 1949-2011)


	*****April 15, 2015*****
Recalcitrant :  (re·cal·ci·trant) adj. Stubborn, often defiant of authority; difficult to manage or control. "After months of recalcitrant behavior, the employee was terminated." 

gallimaufry : (noun) A jumble; a hodgepodge.; patchwork, melange, ragbag; Inside the chest, he found a gaudy gallimaufry of old dresses, feathers, and sequins. 

recto : noun: The front of a leaf, the side that is to be read first.
"The foot of the opening recto displays an unframed heraldic device:
the royal arms of England."
The Opicius Poems; Renaissance Quarterly (New York); Sep 2002. 

Thought For The Day: A book, once it is printed and published, becomes individual. It is by its publication as decisively severed from its author as in parturition a child is cut off from its parent. The book "means" thereafter, perforce, -- both grammatically and actually, -- whatever meaning this or that reader gets out of it. -James Branch Cabell, novelist, essayist, critic (14 Apr 1879-1958)


	*****April 16, 2015*****
Prodigious :  (pro·di·gious) adj. Remarkably or impressively great in extent, size, or degree. "Her prodigious sales performance resulted in a promotion." 

pompous : (adjective) Characterized by excessive self-esteem or exaggerated dignity.; overblown, grandiloquent, portentous; He read the proclamation aloud in a pompous voice, although nobody was paying attention. 

Thought For The Day: The greatest analgesic, soporific, stimulant, tranquilizer, narcotic, and to some extent even antibiotic -- in short, the closest thing to a genuine panacea -- known to medical science is work. -Thomas Szasz, author, professor of psychiatry (15 Apr 1920-2012)


	*****April 17, 2015*****
Derisive :  (de·ri·sive) adj. Expressing contempt or ridicule; mocking or scornful. "A derisive laugh." 

grovel : (verb) To lie or creep in a prostrate position, as in subservience or humility.; cower, cringe, fawn; The prisoners groveled before the emperor, hoping that he would commute their sentences. 

codex : noun: A manuscript volume (as opposed to a scroll), especially of an ancient text.
"The most legendary is the Voynich manuscript (a handwritten codex
carbon-dated to the 15th century and thought to have originated in
Central Europe), which cryptographers have still yet to solve."
David Kushner; The Web's Deepest Mystery; Rolling Stone (New York);
Jan 29, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: Never lend books -- nobody ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are those which people have lent me. -Anatole France, novelist, essayist, Nobel laureate (16 Apr 1844-1924)


	*****April 18, 2015*****
Duplicitous :   adj.   Given to or marked by deliberate deceptiveness in behavior or speech. "They warned him not to trust the duplicitous telemarketer." 

excoriate : (verb) To censure strongly.; abrade, condemn, denounce; The newspaper printed an editorial that excoriated the administration for its inaction. 

Thought For The Day: Everybody's talking about people breaking into houses but there are more people in the world who want to break out of houses. -Thornton Wilder, writer (17 Apr 1897-1975)


	*****April 19, 2015*****
Disingenuous :   adj.  Not straightforward or candid; insincere or calculating.  "It was disingenuous of her to claim she had no financial interest in the company." 

trepidation : (noun) A state of alarm or dread.; apprehension; With trepidation, the children approached the haunted house. 

Thought For The Day: Everybody's talking about people breaking into houses but there are more people in the world who want to break out of houses. -Thornton Wilder, writer (17 Apr 1897-1975)


	*****April 20, 2015*****
Ostensible :   adj.    Stated or appearing to be true, but not necessarily so. Being such in appearance, plausible rather than demonstrably true or real. "The ostensible purpose of the trip was for business." 

wastrel : (noun) One who wastes, especially one who wastes money; an idler or a loafer.; prodigal, profligate; Despite his parents' best efforts to teach him responsibility, Sam grew up to be a wastrel who squandered his entire fortune. 

Thought For The Day: Everybody's talking about people breaking into houses but there are more people in the world who want to break out of houses. -Thornton Wilder, writer (17 Apr 1897-1975)


	*****April 21, 2015*****
Euphemism :   n. A mild, inoffensive expression that is substituted for one that is often considered harsh or offensive. "To pass away" is a euphemism for "to die." 

spurious : (adjective) Lacking authenticity or validity in essence or origin; not genuine.; specious, unauthentic; The professor explained to the student that her essay had received a "C" due to numerous examples of spurious reasoning. 

stolid : adjective: Having or showing little emotion; dull; impassive.
"But it would be very hard to confuse her for Marie Arnet's lissom Susanna,
even in the dark. There is almost as little se.xual chemistry between
Jonathan Lemalu's stolid, character-less Figaro and Arnet's more charming
Susanna."
Anthony Holden; A Marriage Made in Hell; The Observer (London, UK); Nov 5,
2006.

"Stolid Rotarians and Chamber of Commerce types, rather than the fiery
southern conservatives ..."
Of Pensioners and Pork; The Economist (London, UK); Feb 15, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions. -Robert Lynd, writer (20 Apr 1879-1949)


	*****April 22, 2015*****
Austere :   adj.  1. Markedly simple without adornment or ornamentation. "An austere office;" "An austere writing style." 2. Strict or stern in appearance or manner. "He was an austere movie critic." 

turgid : (adjective) Excessively ornate or complex in style or language.; bombastic, declamatory, orotund, tumid, large; Growing impatient with the politician's turgid prose, she turned off her television. 

ascetic : adjective: Practicing severe self-discipline or self-denial.
noun: One who practices severe self-discipline or self-denial.
"This exhibition of roughly 50 paintings lays out the magpie path that
took Mondrian from stolid burgher to ascetic modernist."
Michael Prodger; From Windmills to Modernism; New Statesman (London, UK);
May 30, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: I have lived in this world just long enough to look carefully the second time into things that I am most certain of the first time. -Josh Billings, columnist and humorist (21 Apr 1818-1885)


	*****April 23, 2015*****
Ambiguous :   adj.   Open to more than one interpretation: "An ambiguous response." Doubtful or uncertain. "The survey results were ambiguous." 

flummox : (verb) To confuse; perplex.; baffle, bewilder, nonplus, puzzle; The game was designed to flummox its players, presenting them with a series of complex riddles. 

dour : adjective: Sullen; severe; gloomy; stubborn.
"Though Herman Van Rompuy is characterised as ascetic, even dour, by nature,
allies point to his penchant for crafting haiku, the seventeen-syllable
Japanese poems, as evidence of a lighter side."
Stanley Pignal; Lesser Light Respected as Skilled Mediator; Financial Times
(London, UK); Nov 7, 2009. 

Thought For The Day: The desire of the man is for the woman, but the desire of the woman is for the desire of the man. -Madame de Stael, writer (22 Apr 1766-1817)


	*****April 24, 2015*****
Copious :   adj.   Large in quantity; abundant. Abounding in matter, thoughts, or words; wordy.  "He took copious notes during the business meeting." 

smarmy : (adjective) Hypocritically, complacently, or effusively earnest.; fulsome, oleaginous, unctuous; His smarmy speech left no doubt that he actually felt superior to those he was meant to be praising. 

intractable : adjective: Not easily handled, managed, or controlled.
"Leeds have traditionally employed the most dour, most intractable men
outside of the Democratic Unionist Party as their managers. Now this.
A man who can smile."
Tom Humphries; Pain and Suffering Continues as Usual; Irish Times
(Dublin); Nov 16, 1998. 

Thought For The Day: Words without thoughts never to heaven go. -Shakespeare, poet and dramatist (23 Apr 1564-1616)


	*****April 25, 2015*****
Altruism :   n.   Unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness.  (also 'Altruistic'). "Despite his miserly demeanor, his life is driven by Altruism." "Altruistic motives." 

sentient : (adjective) Endowed with feeling and unstructured consciousness.; animate; The living knew themselves just sentient puppets on God's stage. 

lissom or lissome : adjective: Agile; graceful.
"Jorjie, still a comparatively lissom 13 stone, fills that niggling gap
between lunch and dinner with two Mars Bars melted over a bowl of ice cream
and Adam (19 stone) consumes 28 litres of fizzy drinks a week. Their
parents, with one honourable exception, seem to regard these excesses as
an intractable natural mystery."
Thomas Sutcliffe; Last Night's TV; The Independent (London, UK); Apr 5, 2007.

"Gyorgy Faludy dumped Eric for a lissom poetess more than 60 years his junior."
Gyorgy Faludy; The Economist (London, UK); Sep 14, 2006. 

Thought For The Day: The habit of reading is the only enjoyment in which there is no alloy; it lasts when all other pleasures fade. -Anthony Trollope, novelist (24 Apr 1815-1882)


	*****April 26, 2015*****
Laborious :   adj.   Hard-working; industrious. Marked by or requiring long, hard work. "It was a laborious project, but they still kept it under budget." 

opprobrious : (adjective) Expressing contemptuous reproach; bringing disgrace.; abusive, scornful, shameful, ignominious; His opprobrious conduct during an assembly earned him a series of Saturday detentions. 

lissom or lissome : adjective: Agile; graceful.
"Jorjie, still a comparatively lissom 13 stone, fills that niggling gap
between lunch and dinner with two Mars Bars melted over a bowl of ice cream
and Adam (19 stone) consumes 28 litres of fizzy drinks a week. Their
parents, with one honourable exception, seem to regard these excesses as
an intractable natural mystery."
Thomas Sutcliffe; Last Night's TV; The Independent (London, UK); Apr 5, 2007.

"Gyorgy Faludy dumped Eric for a lissom poetess more than 60 years his junior."
Gyorgy Faludy; The Economist (London, UK); Sep 14, 2006. 

Thought For The Day: The habit of reading is the only enjoyment in which there is no alloy; it lasts when all other pleasures fade. -Anthony Trollope, novelist (24 Apr 1815-1882)


	*****April 27, 2015*****
Diminutive :   adj. Extremely small in size; tiny. A very small person or thing. "Although diminutive in stature, they were a formidable opponent;" "A diminutive report." 

chattel : (noun) An article of movable personal property.; personalty; Slaves were treated as chattel by plantation owners, who bought, sold, and even bet them in poker games. 

lissom or lissome : adjective: Agile; graceful.
"Jorjie, still a comparatively lissom 13 stone, fills that niggling gap
between lunch and dinner with two Mars Bars melted over a bowl of ice cream
and Adam (19 stone) consumes 28 litres of fizzy drinks a week. Their
parents, with one honourable exception, seem to regard these excesses as
an intractable natural mystery."
Thomas Sutcliffe; Last Night's TV; The Independent (London, UK); Apr 5, 2007.

"Gyorgy Faludy dumped Eric for a lissom poetess more than 60 years his junior."
Gyorgy Faludy; The Economist (London, UK); Sep 14, 2006. 

Thought For The Day: The habit of reading is the only enjoyment in which there is no alloy; it lasts when all other pleasures fade. -Anthony Trollope, novelist (24 Apr 1815-1882)


	*****April 28, 2015*****
Pragmatic :   adj.   More concerned with practical results than with theories and principles. "The CEO used a pragmatic approach to making his business a success." 

moire : (adjective) Having a wavy or rippled surface pattern. Used of fabric.; watered; As the lady sat down, the folds of her moire silk dress rustled about her. 

os : noun:
1. A mouth or an orifice. [plural ora]
2. A bone. [plural ossa]
"Even today, accent suppressants for bands are not uncommon. Robbie
Williams doesn't narrow his os, Aqualungs Matt Hales doesn't turn his
fall into full, and while The Rolling Stones can't get no satisfaction,
they daren't sing it as their native cant."
Judy Jarvis; Arctic Monkeys: Neo-Punk Exuberance With an Accent;
Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, Pennsylvania); Feb 9, 2006.

"Naturally, the students couldn't resist testing the teachers' knowledge.
'You'd better slow down,' they would tell some unsuspecting pedagogue,
'or you might fall and break your os.'"
D.L. Stanley; I Hope This Doesn't Effectuate Your Dudgeon;
Atlanta Inquirer (Georgia); Nov 16, 1996. 

Thought For The Day: There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to investigation. -Herbert Spencer, philosopher (Apr 27 1820-1903)


	*****April 29, 2015*****
Temporal :   adj.   Relating to, or limited by time. Lasting only for a time; not eternal.  Also: fleeting, passing, momentary, temporary, transient, short-lived. "The beneficial effects of the loan were temporal." 

mercurial : (adjective) Quick and changeable in temperament.; quicksilver, erratic, fickle, volatile; Her mercurial nature made it difficult to gauge how she would react. 

aa : noun: Lava having a rough surface.
"The type of lava most prevalent on Bartolomé Island is aa lava; it has
a lower temperature and less gas content, which makes for a slower flow,
which causes broken flows and sharp edges."
Ilene Cox; One More Day in the Galapagos Islands; Redlands Daily Facts
(California); Sep 25, 2005. 

Thought For The Day: "Don't think of it as dying," said Death. "Just think of it as leaving early to avoid the rush." -Terry Pratchett, novelist (Apr 28 1948-2015)


	*****April 30, 2015*****
Exacerbate :   transitive verb.   To make more violent, bitter, or severe; to irritate or make worse. "The continued delays were greatly exacerbated by the lack of workers on the project." 

virid : (adjective) Bright green with or as if with vegetation.; verdant; The lake was virid with bright algae on the surface. 

nu : interjection: Well; so.
noun: The 13th letter of the Greek alphabet.
"And nu, what happier ending is there than that?"
Nathaniel Rich; Save Us; The New York Times Book Review; Sep 30, 2012. 

Thought For The Day: A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking. -Jerry Seinfeld, comedian (b. 29 Apr 1954)


	*****May 01, 2015*****
Nebulous :   adj. 1. Lacking definition or definite content. 2. Lacking definite form or limits; vague. "The test results were nebulous and determined to be unusable." 

schism : (noun) A separation or division into factions.; discord, split; Heretics were burned for attempting to create a schism in the Catholic Church. 

Thought For The Day: Spend the afternoon. You can't take it with you. -Annie Dillard, author (b. 30 Apr 1945)


	*****May 02, 2015*****
Anachronism :   n. One that is out of its proper, chronological, or historical order, especially a person or practice that belongs to an earlier time. "A sword is an anachronism in modern warfare." 

balustrade : (noun) A rail and the row of balusters or posts that support it, as along the front of a gallery.; banister, handrail; She leaned over the balustrade, trying to see what was happening below. 

id : noun: The unconscious, instinctive part of the psyche in Freudian theory.
"'No one would ever argue that we're all angels...,' says Mr. Rollins.
'It's difficult to justify to someone raised on the more traditional
North American fan experience. It's loud, it's crude, but that's the
point. Six days a week I'm a normal guy, but for games your inner id
comes out.'"
Michael Grange; Toronto the Rowdy; The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada);
Apr 11, 2009. 

Thought For The Day: Content thyself to be obscurely good. When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, the post of honor is a private station. -Joseph Addison, essayist and poet (1 May 1672-1719)


	*****May 03, 2015*****
aver : to assert or affirm with confidence; declare in a positive or peremptory manner; 
She had stolen nothing;--so she averred to herself.
Anthony Trollope, The Eustace Diamonds, 1873

Incongruous :   adj. 1. Lacking in harmony; incompatible. 2. Not in agreement, as with principles; inconsistent. "A plan incongruous with reason." 3. Not in keeping with what is correct, proper, or logical; inappropriate. "She showed incongruous behavior." 

Predicate : to base (something) on something else; "We don't elect them to agree with us, but rather to explain to us the best options available. All of this is predicated on the sacred trust that elected officials will share all options they've explored, identify the ones they haven't, and share the rationale behind their decisions." - Robert F. Walsh, Stratford (Connecticut) Star, January 29, 2015

conceit : (noun) A favorable and especially unduly high opinion of one's own abilities or worth.; amour-propre, vanity; She was convinced that she was worthy of marrying royalty, but her vanity and conceit only made her less attractive to the prince. 

id : noun: The unconscious, instinctive part of the psyche in Freudian theory.
"'No one would ever argue that we're all angels...,' says Mr. Rollins.
'It's difficult to justify to someone raised on the more traditional
North American fan experience. It's loud, it's crude, but that's the
point. Six days a week I'm a normal guy, but for games your inner id
comes out.'"
Michael Grange; Toronto the Rowdy; The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada);
Apr 11, 2009. 

Idiom of the Day: out-of-date (2) :  If something like a passport or a credit card is out-of-date, it cannot be used anymore because the period during which it was valid is over.; I'm sorry sir, but your credit card is out-of-date. Do you have another one? 

Thought For The Day: Content thyself to be obscurely good. When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, the post of honor is a private station. -Joseph Addison, essayist and poet (1 May 1672-1719)


	*****May 04, 2015*****
aver : to assert or affirm with confidence; declare in a positive or peremptory manner; 
She had stolen nothing;--so she averred to herself.
Anthony Trollope, The Eustace Diamonds, 1873

Incongruous :   adj. 1. Lacking in harmony; incompatible. 2. Not in agreement, as with principles; inconsistent. "A plan incongruous with reason." 3. Not in keeping with what is correct, proper, or logical; inappropriate. "She showed incongruous behavior." 

Predicate : to base (something) on something else; "We don't elect them to agree with us, but rather to explain to us the best options available. All of this is predicated on the sacred trust that elected officials will share all options they've explored, identify the ones they haven't, and share the rationale behind their decisions." - Robert F. Walsh, Stratford (Connecticut) Star, January 29, 2015

conceit : (noun) A favorable and especially unduly high opinion of one's own abilities or worth.; amour-propre, vanity; She was convinced that she was worthy of marrying royalty, but her vanity and conceit only made her less attractive to the prince. 

id : noun: The unconscious, instinctive part of the psyche in Freudian theory.
"'No one would ever argue that we're all angels...,' says Mr. Rollins.
'It's difficult to justify to someone raised on the more traditional
North American fan experience. It's loud, it's crude, but that's the
point. Six days a week I'm a normal guy, but for games your inner id
comes out.'"
Michael Grange; Toronto the Rowdy; The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada);
Apr 11, 2009. 

Idiom of the Day: out-of-date (2) :  If something like a passport or a credit card is out-of-date, it cannot be used anymore because the period during which it was valid is over.; I'm sorry sir, but your credit card is out-of-date. Do you have another one? 

Thought For The Day: Content thyself to be obscurely good. When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, the post of honor is a private station. -Joseph Addison, essayist and poet (1 May 1672-1719)


	*****May 05, 2015*****
diurnal : of or belonging to the daytime (opposed to nocturnal); 
The dream--that is, the state of being freed of the pressure of diurnal consciousness--is, it is true, the prerequisite for the metamorphosis.
Wilhelm Emrich, "The Animal as Liberating 'Self,'" The Metamorphosis, 1972

Esoteric :   adj. 1. Difficult to understand; abstruse. 2. Not publicly disclosed; confidential. 3. Of rare, special, or unusual interest. "Her software's success was based on an esoteric programming language." 

Cozen : to deceive by coaxing or trickery; The young man used his charm to cozen elderly victims into pouring their savings into his investment scheme. 

macerate : (verb) To make soft, usually by steeping in liquid, and cause to disintegrate as a result.; soften; The stale bread was left to macerate in a bowl of milk for a few hours. 

Idiom of the Day: kill two birds with one stone :  If you kill two birds with one stone, you achieve two things with the one action.; Jenny says that she kills two birds with one stone if she does her own housework because she gets the house clean and she gets some exercise at the same time. 

Thought For The Day: A teacher who is attempting to teach, without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn, is hammering on a cold iron. -Horace Mann, educational reformer (4 May 1796-1859)


	*****May 06, 2015*****
bafflegab : Slang. confusing or generally unintelligible jargon; gobbledegook: an insurance policy written in bafflegab impenetrable to a lay person; 
Victor had no eye for shape or form…He judged the tone and rhythm of the plans by how the architects could sing their wares, what bafflegab they used.
Jim Crace, Arcadia, 1992

Acerbic :   adj. Sharp or biting, as in character or expression. "The director occasionally allowed an acerbic tone to an otherwise subtle dialogue." 

Epigram : a short and clever poem or saying; On the wall of his studio, Jonathan kept a framed print of his favorite epigram from Benjamin Franklin: "Little strokes fell great oaks."

fritinancy : (noun) A chirping or creaking, as of a cricket.; chirping; As night fell, the fritinancy of insects outside their open window grew loud enough to keep them awake. 

junto : noun: A small, usually secret group of people united for a common purpose.
"A small clique of interrelated local families, whom Smith labeled a junto,
controlled both the community and the armory for much of its history."
Roger Simon; The Machine in Context; Technology and Culture (Baltimore,
Maryland); Oct 2010. 

Idiom of the Day: Knock it off! :  You can say "Knock it off!" when someone is doing something wrong, or something that's annoying you, and you want them to stop it.; The referee ran over to the players who were wrestling on the ground and said, "Knock it off or you'll both get a booking." 

Thought For The Day: When you sell a man a book you don't sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue--you sell him a whole new life. -Christopher Morley, writer (5 May 1890-1957)


	*****May 07, 2015*****
defenestrate : to throw (a person or thing) out of a window; 
And then there is James McMurtry, an alt-country ironist who is probably ready to defenestrate the next well-meaning lunkhead who points out that his father, Larry, wrote "Lonesome Dove."
John Schulian, "Country Music Crossbred With Country Literature," New York Times, August 19, 2001

Pugnacious :   adj. 1. Quarrelsome or combative in nature; belligerent. 2. Expressing an argument or opinion very forcefully. "Rather than maintaining a calm demeanor, his boss was quite pugnacious." 

Dauntless : fearless or very brave; The rescuers were dauntless, battling cold, wind, and fatigue to reach the injured mountain climbers.

pinguid : (adjective) Fat; oily.; oily; His car was splattered with some sort of pinguid substance, and trying to wash it away only seemed to spread the mess. 

hauteur : noun: Haughtiness.
"A critic of immense hauteur, Jonathan Miller enjoys dishing it out,
but is acutely sensitive to any whiff of criticism."
The Miller's Tale; The Economist (London, UK); Dec 15, 2012. 

Idiom of the Day: It's written all over your face. :  If you say "it's written all over your face", you're saying that the expression on someone's face is showing their true feelings or thoughts.; I can tell something amazing has happened. It's written all over your face. Tell me what it is! 

Thought For The Day: The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization. -Sigmund Freud, neurologist, founder of psychoanalysis (6 May 1856-1939)


	*****May 08, 2015*****
volitant : engaged in or having the power of flight; 
We are golden averages, volitant stabilities, compensated or periodic errors, houses founded on the sea.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Representative Men, 1850

Incredulous :   adj. 1. Skeptical; disbelieving. "Most people are incredulous of stories about flying saucers." 2. Expressive of disbelief. "An incredulous stare." 

Virtuoso : a person skilled in the fine arts; Peggy, a virtuoso on the piano, performed her first recital when she was only six years old. 

ultramarine : (noun) A blue pigment made from powdered lapis lazuli; a vivid or strong blue to purplish blue.; indigo, French blue; She found a piece of fabric dyed ultramarine, which would make a perfect sash for the light blue dress she was making. 

astringent : adjective:
1. Contracting or constricting.
2. Caustic; pungent.
3. Stern; austere.
noun: A substance that constricts body tissues.
"However, unlike the apple and its other cousin the pear, quince flesh
is hard and astringent and cannot be eaten raw."
Jan Bilton; Quinces, the Perfect Accompaniments; Hawke's Bay Today
(New Zealand); Apr 25, 2014.

"Young Ajay Mishra, whose family carries with it a wound that will not
heal, reads Ernest Hemingway and finds in that astringent language a
way out."
Amrita Dutta; Remains of the Day; The Indian Express (New Delhi);
May 10, 2014. 

Idiom of the Day: a question of time :  You can say "it's only a question of time" before saying what you think will happen in the future.; If you keep on spending money like this, it'll just be a question of time before you have a serious debt problem.  

Thought For The Day: The sparrow is sorry for the peacock at the burden of his tail. -Rabindranath Tagore, poet, philosopher, author, songwriter, painter, educator, composer, Nobel laureate (7 May 1861-1941)


	*****May 09, 2015*****
credence : belief as to the truth of something: to give credence to a claim; 
Only from certain closely confidential friends of Willett and the senior Ward have any clues been gained, and even these are too wildly fantastic for general credence.
H. P. Lovecraft, "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward," Weird Tales, 1941

Specious :   adj.   1. Having the ring of truth or plausibility but actually fallacious. "A specious argument." 2. Deceptively attractive. 

Saltation : leaping or jumping; "Neither kangaroos nor rats, the kangaroo rats show a genetic kinship to beavers. The name 'kangaroo' owes to their hopping on enlarged hind legs, a locomotion known as saltation." -Kevin J. Cook, The Coloradoan (Fort Collins, Colorado), August 31, 2014

mucilage : (noun) A sticky substance used as an adhesive.; glue, gum; They wanted to make a model airplane, but lacked the mucilage needed to hold the pieces together. 

futilitarian : adjective:
1. Devoted to futile pursuits.
2. Holding the belief that human striving is useless.

noun:
1. A person devoted to futile pursuits.
2. One who believes that human striving is useless.
; "'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.' Dante was the First Futilitarian."
Brad Blanton; Futilitarianism; Tikkun (Berkeley, California); Nov/Dec 2004.

"Owner Jerry Reinsdorf had promised an all-out effort to improve, but the
team seems to have adopted a futilitarian attitude."
Bob Verdi; Only Flag Over Comiskey Park Is White; Chicago Tribune;
Jul 9, 1989. 

Idiom of the Day: come to your senses :  If you come to your senses, you see things clearly and begin to act sensibly after a period of confusion and unwise behaviour.; Kerry says it's time we came to our senses and started treating our planet with the sort of love and care it needs.  

Thought For The Day: No two persons ever read the same book. -Edmund Wilson, critic (8 May 1895-1972)


	*****May 10, 2015*****
credence : belief as to the truth of something: to give credence to a claim; 
Only from certain closely confidential friends of Willett and the senior Ward have any clues been gained, and even these are too wildly fantastic for general credence.
H. P. Lovecraft, "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward," Weird Tales, 1941

Specious :   adj.   1. Having the ring of truth or plausibility but actually fallacious. "A specious argument." 2. Deceptively attractive. 

Saltation : leaping or jumping; "Neither kangaroos nor rats, the kangaroo rats show a genetic kinship to beavers. The name 'kangaroo' owes to their hopping on enlarged hind legs, a locomotion known as saltation." -Kevin J. Cook, The Coloradoan (Fort Collins, Colorado), August 31, 2014

mucilage : (noun) A sticky substance used as an adhesive.; glue, gum; They wanted to make a model airplane, but lacked the mucilage needed to hold the pieces together. 

futilitarian : adjective:
1. Devoted to futile pursuits.
2. Holding the belief that human striving is useless.

noun:
1. A person devoted to futile pursuits.
2. One who believes that human striving is useless.
; "'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.' Dante was the First Futilitarian."
Brad Blanton; Futilitarianism; Tikkun (Berkeley, California); Nov/Dec 2004.

"Owner Jerry Reinsdorf had promised an all-out effort to improve, but the
team seems to have adopted a futilitarian attitude."
Bob Verdi; Only Flag Over Comiskey Park Is White; Chicago Tribune;
Jul 9, 1989. 

Idiom of the Day: come to your senses :  If you come to your senses, you see things clearly and begin to act sensibly after a period of confusion and unwise behaviour.; Kerry says it's time we came to our senses and started treating our planet with the sort of love and care it needs.  

Thought For The Day: No two persons ever read the same book. -Edmund Wilson, critic (8 May 1895-1972)


	*****May 11, 2015*****
frabjous : Informal. wonderful, elegant, superb; 
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! / He chortled in his joy.
Lewis Carroll, "Jabberwocky," Through the Looking-Glass, 1871

Cognitive :   adj. 1. Relating to the process of acquiring knowledge by the use of reasoning, intuition, or perception. 2. Having a basis in or reducible to empirical factual knowledge. "A Cognitive model for success." 

Riparian : of or on the bank of a watercourse; When the students were studying riparian habitat development, their teacher took them on a field trip to a nearby creek.

emollient : (adjective) Softening and soothing, especially to the skin.; demulcent, salving, softening; In the winter, she applied emollient cream to her hands to prevent the skin from cracking. 

futilitarian : adjective:
1. Devoted to futile pursuits.
2. Holding the belief that human striving is useless.

noun:
1. A person devoted to futile pursuits.
2. One who believes that human striving is useless.
; "'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.' Dante was the First Futilitarian."
Brad Blanton; Futilitarianism; Tikkun (Berkeley, California); Nov/Dec 2004.

"Owner Jerry Reinsdorf had promised an all-out effort to improve, but the
team seems to have adopted a futilitarian attitude."
Bob Verdi; Only Flag Over Comiskey Park Is White; Chicago Tribune;
Jul 9, 1989. 

Idiom of the Day: ring a bell :  If something rings a bell, it sounds familiar or you think you've heard it before. ; Does the name "Hunter S. Thompson" ring a bell? 

Thought For The Day: No two persons ever read the same book. -Edmund Wilson, critic (8 May 1895-1972)


	*****May 12, 2015*****
bibliomania : excessive fondness for acquiring and possessing books; 
Perhaps you are not familiar with the raptures of bibliomania: it is one of the strongest passions, when given its freedom…
Vladimir Fedorovich Odoevsky, Russian Nights, translated by Olga Koshansky-Olienikov and Ralph E. Matlaw, 1965

Pensive :   adj. Deeply, often wistfully or dreamily thoughtful. Expressive of melancholy thoughtfulness. "She was feeling pensive after seeing an old boyfriend." 

Technobabble : technical jargon; The manual for the computer program used so much technobabble that I was completely lost.

mnemonic : (noun) A device, such as a formula or rhyme, used as an aid in remembering.; aide-memoire; The students came up with a mnemonic to help themselves remember the colors of the rainbow. 

shadchan : noun: A matchmaker or a marriage-broker.
; "Moss became a highbrow shadchan, matching freewheeling directors with
willing musicians to graft new theater onto old scores."
Justin Davidson; A Director Melds Classic Poetry and Music; New York;
Jan 4, 2010. 

Idiom of the Day: cook the books | cook the accounts :  If someone cooks the books, or cooks the accounts, they keep inaccurate accounts for a business, usually in order to pay less tax.; I found this website that shows you how to cook the accounts, but I'd never try doing it. 

Thought For The Day: It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart 
you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong. -Richard Feynman, 
physicist, Nobel laureate (11 May 1918-1988)


	*****May 13, 2015*****
hidebound : narrow and rigid in opinion; inflexible: a hidebound pedant; 
I never saw a man so distressed as you were by my will; unless it were that hidebound pedant, Lanyon, at what he called my scientific heresies.
Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, 1886

Auspicious :   adj. Marked by success; prosperous. Suggesting a positive and successful future. "An auspicious time to purchase the stock." 

Ingurgitate : guzzle; "Because we always listen to 'the experts,' we make sure to ingurgitate some protein after an extended endurance workout." - Christopher Arns, Sacramento (California) Bee August 31, 2013

refulgent : (adjective) Shining radiantly; resplendent.; effulgent, radiant, beaming; Standing by the edge of the sea, they witnessed a refulgent sunset. 

gunsel : noun:
1. A gun-carrying criminal.
2. A tramp's young intimate companion.
; "An armored-car heist goes wrong, and the book's antihero, Parker, is
forced to hole up in a closed amusement park as he tries to duck a
rabid pack of gunsels, kingpins, and crooked cops."
Dana Jennings; Newly Released Books; The New York Times; Dec 26, 2013. 

Idiom of the Day: bark up the wrong tree :  If you're barking up the wrong tree, you're looking for something in the wrong place or going about something in the wrong way.; She's barking up the wrong tree if she's interested in Gavin. Doesn't she know he's gay? 

Thought For The Day: Neither genius, fame, nor love show the greatness of the soul. Only kindness can do that. -Jean Baptiste Henri Lacordaire, preacher, journalist, and activist (1802-1861)


	*****May 14, 2015*****
syzygy : Astronomy. an alignment of three celestial objects, as the sun, the earth, and either the moon or a planet: Syzygy in the sun-earth-moon system occurs at the time of full moon and new moon; 
There's going to be a syzygy Wednesday night. All the planets banded together on the same side of the sun.
Meg Waite Clayton, The Four Ms. Bradwells, 2011

Visceral :   adj. 1. Instinctual: proceeding from instinct rather than from reasoned thinking or intellect. "A visceral business decision." 2. Emotional: characterized by or showing crude or elemental emotions. 

Askance : with a side-glance or with distrust; Rebecca's children looked askance at her when she suggested they turn off their electronic devices and go play outside in the nice weather. 

verisimilitude : (noun) The quality of appearing to be true or real.; vraisemblance; While recounting the preposterous tale, he threw in a few convincing details to add verisimilitude to the narrative. 

tummler : noun:
1. A comedian, social director, or entertainer who encourages an audience or guests to participate in entertainment activities.
2. One who incites others to action.
3. A lively, mischievous man.
; "And when Lou Goldstein proved adept at other forms of entertainment,
the hotel signed him up as its tummler."
Joseph Berger; Lou Goldstein; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Apr 29, 2012.

"An advance man is the tummler of American politics. He is the guy who
gets out the crowds, creates a sense of excitement around the candidate,
and generates the smell of victory at every stop."
Burt Glinn; The Wit and Wisdom of a Political Barnum; New York; May 31, 1971. 

Thought For The Day: How simple life becomes when things like mirrors are forgotten. -Daphne du Maurier, novelist (13 May 1907-1989)


	*****May 15, 2015*****
cynosure : something that strongly attracts attention by its brilliance, interest, etc.: the cynosure of all eyes; 
So imagine the dinner is for some nine hundred of the most famous and sought-after people in the world—luminaries who, at any other party, would be the cynosure of all eyes but on this evening might not even merit favorable placement.
John Seabrook, "Names," The New Yorker, February 3, 2014

Gregarious :   adj. 1. Seeking and enjoying the company of others; sociable. "She is a gregarious, outgoing person." 

Jinni : a magic spirit that serves a person; "Onstage, she was electric. She was like some sort of jinni, a supernatural force of some sort." - Jon Carroll, San Francisco Chronicle, September 18, 2014

torrid : (adjective) Scorching; burning.; fervent, fiery, ardent, burning; The torrid noonday sun shone down on the travelers in the desert. 

shicker : noun: A drunkard; alcoholic liquor.
adjective: Drunk.
verb intr.: To drink or to get drunk.
; "Do you think I'm shicker?"
"Right now I would say yes. After four drinks, yes."
Dan Pope; In the Cherry Tree; Picador; 2003. 

Idiom of the Day: beat the rap :  If someone beats the rap, they avoid being found guilty of a crime.; Henry was charged with drunk driving, but his lawyer helped him beat the rap on some technical detail. 

Thought For The Day: Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence. -Hal Borland, author and journalist (14 May 1900-1978)


	*****May 16, 2015*****
scroop : to emit a harsh, grating sound: The gate scrooped as he swung it shut; 
The engine started and the car moved forward, but the buckled wheel scrooped against the frame.
Nevil Shute, On the Beach, 1957

Capricious :   adj.   Characterized by or subject to whim; impulsive and unpredictable. "He's such a capricious boss I never know how he'll react." 

Bowdlerize : to edit by removing parts that may offend; Years later, it was discovered that the publisher had bowdlerized many of the poet's letters.

pariah : (noun) A social outcast.; castaway, leper, untouchable; The rumors of his traitorous actions were enough to make him a pariah among his peers, though nothing was ever proven. 

heimisch or heimish or haimish : adjective: Homey; unpretentious.
; "Most of his deal-making takes place over the heimisch cuisine of Gilda."
Spencer Bright; Michael Levy; The Guardian (London, UK); Aug 18, 1997. 

Idiom of the Day: at cross-purposes :  If you're at cross-purposes with someone, you think you're both talking about the same thing but you're actually talking about different things. ; Jill and I were at cross-purposes today when we were talking about John. I was talking about John Smith, my neighbour, but she thought I was talking John at work! 

Thought For The Day: I feel fairly certain that my hatred harms me more than the people whom I hate. -Max Frisch, architect, playwright, and novelist (15 May 1911-1991)


	*****May 17, 2015*****
legerity : physical or mental quickness; nimbleness; agility; 
Break up their drowsy grave and newly move / With casted slough and fresh legerity.
William Shakespeare, Henry V, 1600

Dogmatic :   adj. 1. Expressing rigid opinions; Prone to expressing strongly held beliefs and opinions. "A dogmatic speech." 2. Asserting opinions in a doctrinaire or arrogant manner; opinionated. 

Hinterland : a region not near the coast or a city; The enormous Greenland Ice Sheet covers most of the hinterland of the world's largest island.

ossify : (verb) To change into bone; to become set in a rigidly conventional pattern.; rigidify, petrify; It takes millions of years for organic remains to ossify and turn into fossils. 

heimisch or heimish or haimish : adjective: Homey; unpretentious.
; "Most of his deal-making takes place over the heimisch cuisine of Gilda."
Spencer Bright; Michael Levy; The Guardian (London, UK); Aug 18, 1997. 

Idiom of the Day: vim and vigor :  If you have vim and vigor, you have lots of energy and enthusiasm for life.; If you want to have lots of vim and vigor when you get older, you need to eat good food and get plenty of exercise when you're young. 

Thought For The Day: I feel fairly certain that my hatred harms me more than the people whom I hate. -Max Frisch, architect, playwright, and novelist (15 May 1911-1991)


	*****May 18, 2015*****
rubberneck : to look about or stare with great curiosity, as by craning the neck or turning the head; 
Callie hadn't been any help; instead of navigating, she had frankly rubbernecked, bending towards Paul to peer out his window or hanging halfway out of her own to get a good look at someone's cavernous two-car garage or expensively landscaped lawn.
James Hynes, Kings of Infinite Space, 2004

Myriad :   adj.   Constituting a very large, indefinite number; innumerable: "The myriad snowflakes in the winter." 

Terrestrial : relating to or occurring on the earth; The newly discovered fossils include some of the earliest known terrestrial arachnids.

providence : (noun) Prudent management; economy.; foresight, prudence, economy; Because of Father's providence, we were all able to go to college. 

heimisch or heimish or haimish : adjective: Homey; unpretentious.
; "Most of his deal-making takes place over the heimisch cuisine of Gilda."
Spencer Bright; Michael Levy; The Guardian (London, UK); Aug 18, 1997. 

Idiom of the Day: skate on thin ice :  If you're skating on thin ice, you're doing something risky, or you're in a situation that could quickly become dangerous. ; Kenny's skating on thin ice. He's already on parole, and yet he's still driving around without a licence. 

Thought For The Day: I feel fairly certain that my hatred harms me more than the people whom I hate. -Max Frisch, architect, playwright, and novelist (15 May 1911-1991)


	*****May 19, 2015*****
bucolic : of, pertaining to, or suggesting an idyllic rural life; 
She and Blaine took the train to Princeton to look for an apartment, and she was struck by the town itself, the greenness, the peace and grace of it… "It was almost bucolic then. I visited and thought it was beautiful but I just couldn't see myself actually going there."
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah, 2013

Ephemeral :   adj. 1. Lasting for a markedly brief time: "The ephemeral nature of fashion trends." 2. Living or lasting only for a day, as with certain plants or insects. 

Whodunit : a detective story or mystery story; Betsy packed several romance novels and whodunits to read at the beach.

disperse : (verb) To drive off or scatter in different directions.; dissipate, spread, dispel; When it seemed that a riot was about to start, the police arrived to disperse the crowd. 

devolve : verb tr., intr.: To transfer or be passed (duties, rights, powers, etc.) on to another.
verb intr.: To deteriorate or degenerate.
; "Indonesia has devolved much authority to local government."
Fanfare for the Common Man; The Economist (London, UK); Jul 26, 2014.

"The event devolved into violence on both sides."
Nick Pinto; The Point of Order; The New York Times Magazine; Jan 18, 2015.


See more usage examples of devolve in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Idiom of the Day: verbal diarrhoea :  If someone has verbal diarrhoea, they can't stop talking.; I don't know if you could say he's got verbal diarrhoea, but Alan sure does talk a lot. 

Thought For The Day: I found one day in school a boy of medium size ill-treating a smaller boy. I expostulated, but he replied: 'The bigs hit me, so I hit the babies; that's fair.' In these words he epitomized the history of the human race. -Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, author, Nobel laureate (18 May 1872-1970)


	*****May 24, 2015*****
apothegm : a short, pithy, instructive saying; a terse remark or aphorism; 
One need not go beyond the limits of the British Museum to be profoundly accomplished in all branches of science, art, and literature; only it would take a lifetime to exhaust it in any one department; but to see it as we did, and with no prospect of ever seeing it more at leisure, only impressed me with the truth of the old apothegm, "Life is short, and Art is long."
Nathaniel Hawthorne, "London, September 29, 1855," Passages from the English Note-Books, 1870

Innocuous :   adj. 1. Having no adverse effect; harmless. 2. Not likely to offend or provoke to strong emotion; insipid. "The innocuous looking e-mail actually contained a virus." 

Debouch : to emerge or cause to emerge; "A mutual foe had appeared. From a passage on the left of the road there had debouched on to the field of action Albert himself and two of his band." - P. G. Wodehouse, The White Feather, 1907

scatology : (noun) Obscene language or literature, especially that dealing pruriently or humorously with excrement and excretory functions.; vulgarism, obscenity; She hated to encounter scatology in her reading, believing it to be the lowest form of humor. 

acerbate : verb tr.: To irritate or to aggravate.
; "The status quo will clearly acerbate the intolerable conditions under
which the average reserve resident survives."
Don Weisbeck; Politically speaking; Weekend Regional (Brooks, Canada);
Jan 31, 2013.


See more usage examples of acerbate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Idiom of the Day: year dot | year one :  You can say "the year dot", or "the year one", when you're talking about a very, very long time ago.; People have been interested in the stars and the moon since the year one. 

Thought For The Day: It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. -Arthur Conan Doyle, physician and writer (22 May 1859-1930)


	*****May 25, 2015*****
yestreen : during yesterday evening; 
Late late yestreen I saw the new moone / Wi' the auld moone in hir arme…
, "Sir Patrick Spens," Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, collected by Thomas Percy, 1765

Feckless :   adj. 1. Careless and irresponsible. "The kids were feckless during spring break." 2. Lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or ineffective – unlikely to be successful. "It was a feckless attempt to make the company a success." 

Erudite : learned or pedantic; The university hosted an informative lecture given by an erudite scholar of Cold War history.

azure : (adjective) A light purplish blue.; cerulean, lazuline, sapphire, sky-blue; The large silver kite gleamed against the azure expanse of sky. 

acerbate : verb tr.: To irritate or to aggravate.
; "The status quo will clearly acerbate the intolerable conditions under
which the average reserve resident survives."
Don Weisbeck; Politically speaking; Weekend Regional (Brooks, Canada);
Jan 31, 2013.


See more usage examples of acerbate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Idiom of the Day: mend your ways :  If you mend your ways, you improve your behaviour and stop doing things that cause trouble.; It took him a long time to mend his ways, but these days Jack is a good father and husband. 

Thought For The Day: It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. -Arthur Conan Doyle, physician and writer (22 May 1859-1930)


	*****May 26, 2015*****
eternize : to make eternal; perpetuate; 
My verse your vertues rare shall eternize, / And in the hevens wryte your glorious name…
Edmund Spenser, "Sonnet LXXV," Amoretti, 1595

Sanguine :   adj. Cheerfully optimistic, hopeful, or confident: "A sanguine disposition;" "Sanguine expectations." 

Callithump : a noisy boisterous band or parade; Anyone who wants to participate in the town's annual Memorial Day callithump should be at the elementary school by 10 a.m.

perspicacious : (adjective) Having or showing penetrating mental discernment; clear-sighted.; sagacious, sapient; She was much too perspicacious to be taken in by such a spurious argument. 

politesse : noun: Formal politeness or courtesy.
; "How did the loud, fast-talking James Haskell fit in amid the politesse
of Japanese culture, with its bowing and eye-lowering?"
Jonathan McEvoy; James Haskell, Written Off as a Loudmouth, Travelled the
Globe to Transform His Game; Mail on Sunday (London, UK); Mar 1, 2015. 

Idiom of the Day: talk turkey :  If you talk turkey, you discuss something seriously, usually to do with business or money.; I started to say something about the deal, but Mr Hamilton said, "Not now, my boy. We never talk turkey at the dinner table." 

Thought For The Day: An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (25 May 1803-1882)


	*****May 27, 2015*****
quidnunc : a person who is eager to know the latest news and gossip; a gossip or busybody; 
You can hide nothing from the quidnunc of Hanbridge. Moreover, when a quidnunc in the streets of Hanbridge sees somebody famous or striking, or notorious, he does not pretend that he has seen nobody.
Arnold Bennett, Denry the Audacious, 1911

Anecdotal :   adj.  Based on casual observations or indications rather than rigorous or scientific analysis: "There is anecdotal evidence that the stock will soon double in price." 

Sacrilegious : grossly irreverent; My great-grandfather was a die-hard New Dealer who considered any criticism of Franklin D. Roosevelt to be sacrilegious.

obviate : (verb) To anticipate and dispose of effectively; render unnecessary.; rid of, eliminate; Her discovery of an old wedding dress in the attic obviated the need for her to buy a costume for the party. 

laissez-faire or laisser-faire : noun:
1. The practice of noninterference in the affairs of others.
2. The economic policy allowing businesses to operate with little intervention from the government.
; "Perhaps we need to reappraise our laissez-faire attitude to domestic
cats and be more proactive in trying to contain the burgeoning feral
population."
James Parry; Britain's Burgeoning Feral Cats; The Independent (London,
UK); Oct 25, 2012.


See more usage examples of laissez-faire in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Idiom of the Day: kill time :  You kill time when you do something to amuse yourself while waiting for something. ; We kill time on long trips by playing this game in which someone thinks of a country, and the next person has to think of another country that starts with the last letter of the first one, like Thailand, Denmark, Kenya, Afghanistan, Nepal, and so on. 

Thought For The Day: Dying is not a crime. -Jack Kevorkian, pathologist, euthanasia activist, painter, author, and composer (26 May 1928-2011)


	*****May 28, 2015*****
gainsay : to deny, dispute, or contradict; 
'…What judge shall gainsay that?' He swayed his body round on his motionless and sturdily planted legs, veering upon the Chancellor and the knight in turn, as if he challenged them to gainsay him who had been an attorney for ten years…
Ford Madox Ford, The Fifth Queen, 1906

Furtive :   adj. 1. Marked by quiet, caution or secrecy; taking pains to avoid being observed. "A furtive kiss." 2. Characterized by stealth; surreptitious. "A furtive attempt to take control of the business." 

Riot Act : a vigorous reprimand or warning; Celia's parents read her the riot act after she stayed out for almost an hour past her curfew. 

recluse : (noun) A person who withdraws from the world to live in seclusion and often in solitude.; solitudinarian, troglodyte, hermit, solitary; He was regarded by the townspeople as a recluse, since no one ever saw him receive visitors. 

de rigueur : adjective: Required by fashion, custom, or etiquette.
; "Glitz, glamour, and sleek metal are de rigueur at automobile exhibitions."
India as Small Car Hub; The Economic Times (New Delhi, India); Jan 7, 2010.

"Once upon a time, it was de rigueur for American professional golfers to
visit Ireland to practice on links courses ahead of the British Open."
Philip Reid; Cink Honed His Game on Irish Links Courses; The Irish Times
(Dublin); Jul 21, 2009.


See more usage examples of de rigueur in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Idiom of the Day: hot under the collar :  If you are hot under the collar, you feel angry or annoyed about something. ; We could see Matt was getting hot under the collar because of what Ken was saying, so we changed the subject. 

Thought For The Day: Compassion is not weakness and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism. -Hubert Humphrey, US Vice President (27 May 1911-1978)


	*****May 29, 2015*****
middling : mediocre; ordinary; commonplace; pedestrian: The restaurant's entrées are no better than middling; 
…what mattered most, as I came to realize, was who'd lived in Vegas the longest, which was why the knockdown Mexican beauties and itinerant construction heirs sat alone at lunch while the bland, middling children of local realtors and car dealers were the cheerleaders and class presidents, the unchallenged elite of the school.
Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch, 2013

Extemporaneous :   adj. 1. Unrehearsed.  Done or said without advance preparation or thought; impromptu. 2. Prepared in advance but delivered without notes or text: "An extemporaneous speech." 

Fictioneer : someone who writes fiction; Dwight was a fictioneer who specialized in pulp novels, producing over 300 of them in his long career. 

girth : (noun) The distance around something; the circumference.; circumference, perimeter; It was an enormous tree, its girth twice as great as what a man could embrace. 

soi-disant : adjective: Self-styled; so-called.
; "For some reason, the soi-disant 'entertainment capital of the world'
has never been able to sustain a resident [ballet] company."
Patt Diroll; A Step Ahead for Ballet; Pasadena Star-News (California);
May 25, 2009.

"Hannah turns to the suspiciously handsome soi-disant geek."
Virginia Heffernan; Really, Mom, We're Just Going Out for Ice Cream;
The New York Times; Feb 16, 2004.


See more usage examples of soi-disant in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Idiom of the Day: caught red-handed :  If someone is caught red-handed, they are caught in the act of doing something wrong such as cheating or stealing.; How can you say you didn't steal the book? You were caught red-handed walking out of the store after you'd hidden it under your jacket. 

Thought For The Day: Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves. -William Pitt, British prime minister (28 May 1759-1806)


	*****May 30, 2015*****
agog : highly excited by eagerness, curiosity, anticipation, etc; 
She was as adventurous, as imaginative, as agog to see the world as he was. But she was not sent to school.
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own, 1929

Synergism :   n. Interaction of discrete agencies or conditions where the total effect is greater than the sum of the individual parts. "The directors saw considerable synergism in the business merger." (also Synergy). 

Bodacious : unmistakable, remarkable, or voluptuous; The comedy writing team has created a sitcom pilot featuring two geeky guys and their bodacious female roommate. 

quail : (verb) To shrink back in fear; cower.; cringe, flinch, recoil, wince; The little boy quailed at the teacher's angry voice. 

laissez-aller or laisser-aller : noun: Unrestrained freedom.
; "Throughout the concert, O'Carroll struck a delicate balance between
order and laissez-aller that yielded crisp ensembles."
Reviews; Irish Times (Dublin); Jul 8, 2005.

"In the laissez-aller atmosphere of 1960s' Manhattan an MBA or a five-year
plan was hardly required."
Guy Trebay; A Man of Another, Cooler City; The New York Times; Aug 4, 2013. 

Idiom of the Day: (your) hands are tied :  You can say your hands are tied if you're prevented from doing something that you'd normally have the power or the authority to do.; I'd really like to give you the contract, Mr Gambino, but my hands are tied because of those laws on giving contracts to people with criminal records. 

Thought For The Day: War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today. -John F. Kennedy, 35th US president (29 May 1917-1963)


	*****May 31, 2015*****
extemporize : to speak with little or no advance preparation: He can extemporize on any of a number of subjects; 
I began to understand how he'd been able to extemporize an oration that first day we met: because he was constantly shaping monologues from his ideas and memories and fact-findings as if at any moment he might be called upon to address the joint houses of Congress.
Joseph O'Neill, Netherland, 2008

Haughty :   adj. Condescending: behaving in a superior, condescending, or arrogant way. "He always seemed haughty in company meetings." 

Metadata : data about other data; The investigator used metadata from phone company records to identify the culprit behind the harassing calls. 

agile : (adjective) Characterized by quickness, lightness, and ease of movement; nimble.; nimble, spry, quick; She moved quickly and was agile as a gymnast. 

laissez-aller or laisser-aller : noun: Unrestrained freedom.
; "Throughout the concert, O'Carroll struck a delicate balance between
order and laissez-aller that yielded crisp ensembles."
Reviews; Irish Times (Dublin); Jul 8, 2005.

"In the laissez-aller atmosphere of 1960s' Manhattan an MBA or a five-year
plan was hardly required."
Guy Trebay; A Man of Another, Cooler City; The New York Times; Aug 4, 2013. 

Idiom of the Day: beat the rap :  If someone beats the rap, they avoid being found guilty of a crime.; Henry was charged with drunk driving, but his lawyer helped him beat the rap on some technical detail. 

Thought For The Day: War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today. -John F. Kennedy, 35th US president (29 May 1917-1963)


	*****June 01, 2015*****
moonbow : a rainbow caused by the refraction and reflection of light from the moon; 
A few die-hard photographers have timed their visit to Yosemite Falls so they can catch a glimpse of a rare phenomenon: a rainbow at night, emerging from the mist. It's called a moonbow, and you can only see it a few times a year.
Sasha Khokha, "At 150, Yosemite's Roots Go Deep," KQED, June 27, 2014

Prolific :   adj. Productive: Producing abundant works or results. "A prolific artist." "A prolific writer." 

Perseverate : to repeat or recur persistently; To ensure the accuracy of his or her data, the scientist necessarily perseverates, repeating each experiment many times and comparing the results.

panache : (noun) Distinctive and stylish elegance.; dash, elan, flair, style; He wooed her with the confident panache of a cavalry officer. 

laissez-aller or laisser-aller : noun: Unrestrained freedom.
; "Throughout the concert, O'Carroll struck a delicate balance between
order and laissez-aller that yielded crisp ensembles."
Reviews; Irish Times (Dublin); Jul 8, 2005.

"In the laissez-aller atmosphere of 1960s' Manhattan, an MBA or a five-year
plan was hardly required."
Guy Trebay; A Man of Another, Cooler City; The New York Times; Aug 4, 2013. 

Idiom of the Day: from now on :  If you do something "from now on", you do it from now until some unknown time in the future.; I was lucky to escape from the accident with just a few minor injuries, so from now on I'm going to be much more careful when I drive. 

Thought For The Day: War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today. -John F. Kennedy, 35th US president (29 May 1917-1963)


	*****June 02, 2015*****
jiggery-pokery : Chiefly British. trickery, hocus-pocus; fraud; humbug; 
A wealth of impure jiggery-pokery, much of it very funny, all of it unusable; a spate of “fixables”; a bunch of excellent poetry (see below) and a partridge in a pear tree.
Mary Ann Madden, “New York Magazine Competition,” New York, October 9, 1972

Extrapolate :   v.tr. To infer or estimate by extending or projecting known information. "He extrapolated the historical data to determine the projected outcome." 

Phreaker : one who illegally uses a telephone system; This year's annual conference on culture and technology will focus on the subculture of hackers and phreakers.

escalate : (verb) To increase, enlarge, or intensify.; intensify, step up; Tensions escalated as the politicians refused to compromise. 

sinecure : noun: A position in which one is paid for little or no work.
; "Some 200,000 civil servants have been enlisted. Half are fairly useless:
former guerrillas given sinecures to keep the peace. This cannot last.
Some 75% of the budget is spent on wages."
A New Country Rises from the Ruins; South Sudan; The Economist (London,
UK); May 4, 2013.


See more usage examples of sinecure in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Idiom of the Day: a one-track mind :  If someone has a one-track mind, they spend most of their time thinking about one subject. ; Mark's upset because Jenny said he's got a one-track mind and he's always thinking about sex.  

Thought For The Day: War is merely the continuation of policy by other means. -Carl von Clausewitz, general and military theorist (1 Jun 1780-1831)


	*****June 03, 2015*****
oxter : Scot. and North England. the armpit; 
You may have The Lives of the English Poets under your oxter, young fellow, but you don't have them in your head so go home and read.
Frank McCourt, Tis: A Memoir, 1999

Avarice :   n. Immoderate desire, greed for wealth: an unreasonably strong desire to obtain and keep money. "His life was consumed by ambition and avarice." 

Stalwart : marked by outstanding strength or spirit; Judith has long been a stalwart supporter of the community theater, always volunteering at fundraisers and helping out backstage during productions. 

perturbing : (adjective) Causing distress or worry or anxiety.; distressful, disturbing, worrisome; The kindergarten teacher found her student's erratic behavior to be perturbing, and she resolved to consult with the child's parents. 

pathography : noun: A biography that focuses on the negative.
; "Pizzichini's book, though nonjudgmental, still feels like a pathography."
Mick Sussman; The Blue Hour; The New York Times; Jul 19, 2009. 

Idiom of the Day: itchy feet :  If you have itchy feet, you feel the need to go somewhere different or do something different.; Thanks to low-cost airlines, people with itchy feet who couldn't afford air fares in the past can now travel. 

Thought For The Day: The business of the poet and the novelist is to show the sorriness underlying the grandest things and the grandeur underlying the sorriest things. -Thomas Hardy, novelist and poet (2 Jun 1840-1928)


	*****June 04, 2015*****
cryptozoology : the study of evidence tending to substantiate the existence of, or the search for, creatures whose reported existence is unproved, as the Abominable Snowman or the Loch Ness monster; 
But the tales from the cryptozoology continue, naturally, because why not let our sense of wonder be wound up by the concept of a creature affectionately known as Nessie? This cryptid is our nautical version of a Yeti or a Sasquatch that seems to lurk not only in blurry photos, but also in the darkest recesses of our dream-states.
Michael Cavna, "Loch Ness monster: Google Doodle plumbs the depths of our fevered fascination," Washington Post, April 21, 2015

Specificity :   n. 1. The condition or state of being specific rather than general. "His input added a desirable note of specificity to the discussion." 

Adulate : to flatter or admire excessively; A portrait of the family patriarch, a man adulated by the public while generally feared by his family, hung above the mantle.

lissome : (adjective) Easily bent; supple.; lithe, supple, slender; There was a grace, which no austerity could diminish, about every movement of her lissome, slender form. 

performative : adjective: Relating to a statement that functions as an action by the fact of its being uttered.
; "I lost count of the scenes in which Gwen and Peter thrash out the question
of whether they should be a couple, and there is a sigh of relief in the
cinema when she, deploying what philosophers would call a performative
utterance, says simply, 'I break up with you.'"
Anthony Lane; Trouble Calls; The New Yorker; May 5, 2014.


See more usage examples of performative in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Idiom of the Day: rack your brains | rack you brain :  If you rack your brains, or rack you brain, you try hard to remember something or think of a solution to a problem or a puzzle.; Shelley's writing this song about being out of work and she's racking her brain trying to come up with a good rhyme for "unemployed". 

Thought For The Day: There is nothing more dangerous than a government of the many controlled by the few. -Lawrence Lessig, professor and political activist (b. 3 Jun 1961)


	*****June 05, 2015*****
floccinaucinihilipilification : Rare. the estimation of something as valueless (encountered mainly as an example of one of the longest words in the English language); 
…they must be taken with an air of contempt, a floccipaucinihilipilification of all that can gratify the outward man
Sir Walter Scott, “Wednesday, March 18, 1829,” The Journal of Sir Walter Scott, edited by W. E. K Anderson, 1972

Precipitous :   adj. Done rashly: acting too quickly and without sufficient thought. "Excessive spending caused the precipitous demise of the company." 

Swan Song : a last performance or piece of work; Professor Holland gave the final lecture of his long career, and his swan song was met with a standing ovation from his students. 

analogue : (noun) Something that bears an analogy to something else.; parallel; Surimi is marketed as an analogue of crabmeat. 

stridulate : verb intr.: To make a shrill creaking noise by rubbing body parts together.
; "Scientists recently discovered that in some ant species, the queen is a
consummate percussionist, equipped with a tiny, uniquely ridged organ
for stridulating out royal fanfares that help keep her workers in line."
Natalie Angier; Surviving by Disguising; The New York Times; Sep 7, 2010.


See more usage examples of stridulate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Idiom of the Day: zero-sum game :  A zero-sum game is a situation in which any gain by one side or person  is at the expense of a loss to another side or person involved in the situation.; In a zero-sun game, if you add the total gains of the participants and the total losses of the participants, the sum will always be zero. 

Thought For The Day: If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you've got a problem. Everything else is an inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life is lumpy. A lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat, and a lump in the breast are not the same kind of lump. One needs to learn the difference. -Robert Fulghum, author (b. 4 Jun 1937)


	*****June 06, 2015*****
Hubris :   n. 1. Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance. 2. A strong belief in a person's own importance. "He was disciplined for his hubris." 

Frugal : careful or economical with resources; In order to save both energy and money, Joni was frugal with air-conditioning, usually opting to turn on a fan instead whenever it got too hot in her apartment. 

escarpment : (noun) A steep slope or long cliff that results from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations.; scarp; The basalt cliffs of the outside were reproduced upon the inside, forming an escarpment about two hundred feet high, with a woody slope beneath it. 

mala fide : adverb, adjective: In bad faith.
; "If he or she is found guilty of acting in a mala fide manner in damaging
the company's reputation or interests, punishment can range from demotion
to termination without benefits."
Dibeyendu Ganguly; How is India Inc Coping with the Dangers of Ethical
Fading?; The Economic Times (New Delhi, India); Apr 26, 2013. 

Idiom of the Day: neck of the woods :  A neck of the woods is a neighbourhood or a district, usually rural.; Have land prices gone up in your neck of the woods too? 

Thought For The Day: I'm sometimes asked "Why do you spend so much of your time and money talking about kindness to animals when there is so much cruelty to men?" I answer: "I am working at the roots." -George T. Angell, reformer (5 Jun 1823-1909)


	*****June 07, 2015*****
telesthesia : sensation or perception received at a distance without the normal operation of the recognized sense organs; 
People might think it was about necromancy or telesthesia or something.
Stephen Dixon, “The Play,” The Play and Other Stories, 1988

Systemic :   adj. Relating to or common to a system. A problem, risk, or change that is a basic one, experienced by the whole of a system or organization and not just particular parts of it. "The systemic risks of the investment." 

Noblesse Oblige : obligations associated with high rank; "And true to those sentiments of noblesse oblige, in 1957 the Seiberling family turned the property over to a nonprofit trust." - Steve Stephens, Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, April 24, 2011

recompense : (verb) To award compensation for; make a return for.; compensate, indemnify, repair; I wish to recompense you for the time and money that you spent while helping my sister find her lost dog. 

mala fide : adverb, adjective: In bad faith.
; "If he or she is found guilty of acting in a mala fide manner in damaging
the company's reputation or interests, punishment can range from demotion
to termination without benefits."
Dibeyendu Ganguly; How is India Inc Coping with the Dangers of Ethical
Fading?; The Economic Times (New Delhi, India); Apr 26, 2013. 

Idiom of the Day: have a heart-to-heart :  If you have a heart-to-heart with someone, you have an honest talk and share your feelings with each other.; If you're not getting on well with someone, having a heart-to-heart can really help a lot. 

Thought For The Day: I'm sometimes asked "Why do you spend so much of your time and money talking about kindness to animals when there is so much cruelty to men?" I answer: "I am working at the roots." -George T. Angell, reformer (5 Jun 1823-1909)


	*****June 08, 2015*****
aggrandize : to widen in scope; increase in size or intensity; enlarge; extend; 
…a just man always fared worse than the unjust, because he neglected to aggrandize himself by dishonest actions, and thus became unpopular among his acquaintances; while those who were less scrupulous, grew rich and were flattered.
Lydia Maria Child, Philothea, 1836

Supercilious :   adj. 1. Full of contempt and arrogance. 2. Behaving as if or showing that a person thinks they are better than other people, and that their opinions, beliefs or ideas are not important, condescending. "He spoke in a haughty, supercilious voice." 

Clandestine : secret or surreptitious; The commander ordered the clandestine flights over enemy territory to gather more information about the opposing forces.

diminution : (noun) Change toward something smaller or lower.; decline; The thermometer indicated a certain diminution of temperature. 

mala fide : adverb, adjective: In bad faith.
; "If he or she is found guilty of acting in a mala fide manner in damaging
the company's reputation or interests, punishment can range from demotion
to termination without benefits."
Dibeyendu Ganguly; How is India Inc Coping with the Dangers of Ethical
Fading?; The Economic Times (New Delhi, India); Apr 26, 2013. 

Idiom of the Day: zero-sum game :  A zero-sum game is a situation in which any gain by one side or person  is at the expense of a loss to another side or person involved in the situation.; In a zero-sun game, if you add the total gains of the participants and the total losses of the participants, the sum will always be zero. 

Thought For The Day: I'm sometimes asked "Why do you spend so much of your time and money talking about kindness to animals when there is so much cruelty to men?" I answer: "I am working at the roots." -George T. Angell, reformer (5 Jun 1823-1909)


	*****June 09, 2015*****
urbane : having the polish and suavity regarded as characteristic of sophisticated social life in major cities: an urbane manner; 
I attended to all the ghastly formalities, and the urbane undertaker proved that his staff were afflicted—or blessed—with something of his own obsequious suavity.
Bram Stoker, Dracula, 1897

Garish :   adj. 1. Marked by strident color or excessive ornamentation; gaudy. 2. Loud and flashy. "Garish makeup." 

Youthquake : a cultural shift influenced by the youth; "One late afternoon in the summer of 2009, I was walking down Wythe Avenue, a thoroughfare in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood still lined with warehouses that were home to vintage clothing and indie-band practice spaces and peppered with a few bars and restaurants. At this point, Williamsburg had earned a reputation as the home of a global youthquake of fashion, music and culture." - Anne Szustek, Business Insider, March 11, 2015

unadulterated : (adjective) Not mingled or diluted with extraneous matter.; pure; Because she did not like artificial or diluted flavors, she made sure to purchase unadulterated maple syrup. 

antimacassar : noun: A piece of covering placed over the back or arms of a seat to protect from hair oil, dirt, etc.
; "We take taxis home. There are antimacassars on the back of the seat."
Japan: Lost in a Dream; The Sunday Independent (Johannesburg, South Africa);
May 3, 2015.


See more usage examples of antimacassar in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Idiom of the Day: save the day :  If you save the day, you do something to ensure success or to solve a serious problem. ; Then a guy rides in on a white horse and saves the day by killing the bad guys and rescuing the girl. 

Thought For The Day: The memory of most men is an abandoned cemetery where lie, unsung and unhonored, the dead whom they have ceased to cherish. -Marguerite Yourcenar, novelist (8 Jun 1903-1987)


	*****June 10, 2015*****
obsolescence : the state, process, or condition of being or becoming obsolete; 
In the case of The Who, as Townshend observes, that meant exploring the genre’s built-in obsolescence. At the start of the group’s career, he notes, everyone believed that pop music was going through phases, none of which would last long.
, "Lambert & Stamp: The men who made The Who," BBC, May 15, 2015

Exponential :   adj. Characterized by an extremely rapid increase (as in size or extent). "The company enjoyed an exponential growth rate." 

Obtain : to gain (something) usually by effort; The experiment was designed to obtain more accurate data about weather patterns.

crass : (adjective) So crude and unrefined as to be lacking in discrimination and sensibility.; unrefined; Jenny's mother was horrified by the crass behavior of the young man whom her daughter had befriended. 

podunk : noun: A small, unimportant town.
; "His spin on 'America's Next Top Model': take two wannabe club kids from
Podunk towns and with no money, plunk them down in New York with $1,000."
Kevin Gray; After Prison, No After-Hours; The New York Times; May 15, 2014. 

Idiom of the Day: on the ball :  If you're on the ball, you're alert and you know what's going on around you.; My brother is always on the ball, so it's hard to trick him or catch him unawares. 

Thought For The Day: My sole inspiration is a telephone call from a director. -Cole Porter, composer and songwriter (9 Jun 1893-1964)


	*****June 11, 2015*****
pentimento : Painting. the presence or emergence of earlier images, forms, or strokes that have been changed and painted over; 
The term pentimento (plural pentimenti) refers to the evidence of changes an artist makes during the development of a composition on canvas.
Wesley Pulkka, "Chicago-born ABQ artist displays new acrylic paintings," ABQ Journal, August 3, 2014

Benevolent :   adj. 1. Charitable: performing good or charitable acts and not seeking to make a profit. 2. Characterized by or suggestive of doing good; showing kindness or goodwill. 

Bellwether : a leader or an indicator of trends; The company has long been viewed as a bellwether for the tech market, so analysts are watching it closely.

calamitous : (adjective) Having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruin.; disastrous, fatal, fateful, black; Sire, I ask your majesty's pardon for the calamitous news which I bring. 

charlatan : noun: One making false claim to having a certain expertise; a fraud or quack.
; "Yet despite his career as a space pitchman, Wernher von Braun was
no charlatan, and Neufeld shows clearly that his achievements as
a rocketman are unsurpassed."
Guy Gugliotta; Wernher von Braun, Scientist Without a Moral Compass;
Washington Post; Sep 16, 2007.


See more usage examples of charlatan in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The ideal scientist thinks like a poet and only later works like a bookkeeper. -E.O. Wilson, biologist (b. 10 Jun 1929)


	*****June 12, 2015*****
'sblood : Obsolete. a euphemistic shortening of God’s blood, used as an oath; 
'Sblood, but you will not heare me, / If ever I did dreame of such a matter, abhorre me.
William Shakespeare (1564–1616), Othello, 1622

Pervasive :   adj. Having the quality or tendency to pervade or permeate. "The pervasive odor of garlic." 

Inculcate : to teach by frequent repetitions; Mark and Victoria tried to inculcate in their children the values of hard work, self-reliance, and respect for other people. 

blithe : (adjective) Carefree and lighthearted.; lighthearted, lightsome; The blithe young couple was a pleasant sight to see. 

spaniel : noun:
1. A submissive or fawning person.
2. Any of several breeds of small to medium-sized dogs with long drooping ears and a silky coat.
; "Helena: I am your spaniel. And, Demetrius,
The more you beat me, I will fawn on you."
William Shakespeare; A Midsummer Night's Dream; 1590s.


See more usage examples of spaniel in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Idiom of the Day: at sea | all at sea :  If you're at sea, or all at sea, you're confused about something and not sure what to do.; For the first few days in her new job, Gail felt totally at sea. She didn't know what to do or who to ask for help. 

Thought For The Day: I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object be what it may, -- light, shade, and perspective will always make it beautiful. -John Constable, painter (11 Jun 1776-1837)


	*****June 13, 2015*****
cavort : to prance or caper about; 
He can cavort with winning intensity, address the audience as if taking it into his confidence, then dance and sing alone as if we’re viewing his private thoughts.
Alastair Macaulay, "Robert Fairchild and Tony Yazbeck Have It All on Broadway Stages," New York Times, May 6, 2015

Divisive :   adj. Creating dissension or discord; Causing disagreement or hostility within a group so that it is likely to split. "Divisive politics." 

Jeopardy : exposure to death, loss, or injury; Rather than risk placing his passengers in jeopardy, the pilot waited for the storm to pass before taking off.

loquacious : (adjective) Very talkative; garrulous.; chatty, gabby, garrulous, talkative, talky; The loquacious woman was often mocked by neighborhood children for her incessant talking. 

Jerusalem syndrome : noun: A phenomenon in which a visitor to a holy place suffers from religious
psychosis, such as believing him- or herself to be a messiah.
; "Catherine admits a patient with Jerusalem syndrome who believes he has
been touched by the hand of God."
Kathryn Shattuck; What's On Thursday; The New York Times; May 22, 2014. 

Idiom of the Day: put your own house in order | get your own house in order :  If you say to someone "put your own house in order", or "get your own house in order", you think they should solve their own problems before telling someone else how to solve theirs.; Ian has plenty of problems of his own, so he needs to get his own house in order before he starts telling other people how to live their lives.  

Thought For The Day: No one has ever become poor by giving. -Anne Frank, Holocaust diarist (12 Jun 1929-1945)


	*****June 14, 2015*****
shivaree : a mock serenade with kettles, pans, horns, and other noisemakers given for a newly married couple; charivari; 
So in blind desperation I started such a rattling "shivaree" down below as never had astounded an engineer in this world before, I fancy.
Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, 1883

Demure :   adj. 1. Modest and reserved in manner or behavior. "Despite her demure appearance, she is an accomplished mountain climber." 

Rambunctious : unruly or uncontrollably exuberant; When Kelly gets a bit too rambunctious, her parents sit her down for a time-out.

sardonic : (adjective) Scornfully or cynically mocking.; wry; He continued to grin with a sardonic humor, with a cynical mockery and defiance. 

Jerusalem syndrome : noun: A phenomenon in which a visitor to a holy place suffers from religious
psychosis, such as believing him- or herself to be a messiah.
; "Catherine admits a patient with Jerusalem syndrome who believes he has
been touched by the hand of God."
Kathryn Shattuck; What's On Thursday; The New York Times; May 22, 2014. 

Idiom of the Day: do you the world of good :  If something does you the world of good, it makes you feel a lot better.; Why don't you go for a walk in the forest. It'll do you the world of good to get away from everything for a while. 

Thought For The Day: No one has ever become poor by giving. -Anne Frank, Holocaust diarist (12 Jun 1929-1945)


	*****June 15, 2015*****
unquiet : agitated; restless; disordered; turbulent: unquiet times; 
The Scotch became unquiet in the Red King's time, and were twice defeated—the second time, with the loss of their King, Malcolm, and his son.
Charles Dickens, A Child's History of England, 1852

Acrimonious :   adj. 1. Bitter and sharp in language or tone; rancorous: "An acrimonious debate between the two candidates." 

Thesaurus : a treasury or a book of synonyms; Seeking a more appropriate word than "secretive" to describe the uncommunicative subject of her piece, Mabel turned to her thesaurus and found one: "reticent." 

destitute : (adjective) Lacking resources or the means of subsistence; completely impoverished.; impoverished, indigent, necessitous, needy, poverty-stricken; Though they were poor and destitute, they refused to ask others for help or charity. 

Jerusalem syndrome : noun: A phenomenon in which a visitor to a holy place suffers from religious
psychosis, such as believing him- or herself to be a messiah.
; "Catherine admits a patient with Jerusalem syndrome who believes he has
been touched by the hand of God."
Kathryn Shattuck; What's On Thursday; The New York Times; May 22, 2014. 

Idiom of the Day: a skeleton in the cupboard | closet :  If you have a skeleton in the cupboard, or in the closet, you have a secret in your past which could damage you if it became known.; Politicians can't afford to have any skeletons in the closet these days. Their enemies are sure to find them. 

Thought For The Day: No one has ever become poor by giving. -Anne Frank, Holocaust diarist (12 Jun 1929-1945)


	*****June 16, 2015*****
definiens : something that defines, especially the defining part of a dictionary entry; 
One of them requires that the definiens (that is, words or terms which are used to define a particular word or term) must be more clear than the definiendum (the word or term being defined).
Mohd Zaidi bin Ismail, "Clarity in thought for understanding," The Star, June 7, 2011

Intrepid :   adj. 1. Resolutely courageous; fearless. Persistent in the pursuit of something. "A team of intrepid explorers." 

Gossamer : extremely light, delicate, or tenuous; Except for a few gossamer clouds, the sky was clear and blue.

occult : (adjective) Of, relating to, or dealing with supernatural influences, agencies, or phenomena.; supernatural; His superstitions led him to the study of occult subjects, much to the dismay of his highly rational parents. 

tenebrous : adjective: Dark, gloomy, or obscure.
; "By its very nature rather tenebrous, undercover intelligence gathering
blurs the lines between procedure and actual process, making it a
difficult area to monitor and regulate."
Sarah Vine; Radio Choice; The Times (London, UK); Sep 29, 2012.


See more usage examples of tenebrous in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Idiom of the Day: a vicious circle :  If you're in a vicious circle you're in a situation in which the solution to one problem becomes the cause of another one, and the solution to that one causes the first problem to occur again.; I'm in this vicious circle where the more I work, the more I spend on rewarding myself for all the hard work, so no matter how hard I work, I never save any money. 

Thought For The Day: To a father growing old, nothing is dearer than a daughter. -Euripides, playwright (c. 480-406 BCE)


	*****June 17, 2015*****
technophobia : abnormal fear of or anxiety about the effects of advanced technology; 
But technophobia isn’t exactly a new theme and, especially for Americans recently captivated by the excellent technophobic U.K. series Black Mirror, the dangers of virtual reality and artificial intelligence may seem old hat.
Joanna Robnison, "Technophobia and Fear of Women Go Hand in Hand at SXSW," Vanity Fair, March 20, 2015

Obtuse :   adj. 1. Lacking quickness of perception or intellect. 2. Characterized by a lack of intelligence or sensitivity. "An obtuse remark." 3. Not distinctly felt. "An obtuse pain." 

Libertine : a person who leads an immoral life; Don Juan is known as a famous libertine who seduced countless women.

sufferance : (noun) A disposition to tolerate or accept people or situations.; toleration, acceptance; Everyone admired her sufferance in the face of a number of unfortunate events. 

swidden : noun: An area of land cleared for farming by slashing and burning the vegetation.
; "Some headed out to the charred earth of their swidden gardens to tend
crops of manioc, bananas, and sweet potatoes."
Chip Brown; Kayapo Courage; National Geographic (Washington, DC); Jan 2014. 

Thought For The Day: The [Nobel] prize is such an extraordinary honor. It might seem unfair, however, to reward a person for having so much pleasure over the years, asking the maize plant to solve specific problems and then watching its responses. -Barbara McClintock, scientist, Nobel laureate (16 Jun 1902-1992)


	*****June 18, 2015*****
lackadaisical : without interest, vigor, or determination; listless; lethargic: a lackadaisical attempt; 
He had for a moment been very angry when his friend had told him that he could not sympathise with a lackadaisical lover. It was an ill-natured word. He felt it to be so when he heard it, and so he continued to think during the whole of the half-hour that he sat in that chair.
Anthony Trollope, The Small House at Allington, 1864

Guile :   n. Treacherous cunning; skillful deceit. Particular skill and cleverness in tricking or deceiving people. "Considerable guile was involved in the transaction." 

Esoteric : understood by the specially initiated; Some of the terms used in the book were so esoteric that I had to look them up in a special glossary that really should have been appended to the book itself. 

abscission : (noun) The act of cutting off.; cutting off; He had surgery for the abscission of a malignancy. 

turbid : adjective:
1. Unclear; opaque.
2. Dark or dense, as smog or clouds.
3. Confused or muddled.
; "But by the turbid standards of corporate Africa, the company is clean."
Africa Calling; The Economist (London, UK); Jun 5, 2008.


See more usage examples of turbid in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Silence will save me from being wrong (and foolish), but it will also deprive me of the possibility of being right. -Igor Stravinsky, composer (17 Jun 1882-1971)


	*****June 19, 2015*****
unreality : something that is unreal, invalid, imaginary, or illusory: She appeared to be living in a world of unrealities; 
Nothing felt real. A deep sense of unreality came over me until, finally, a half realization came…
Catherine Lacey, Nobody Is Ever Missing, 2014

Precarious :   adj. 1. Dangerously lacking in security or stability: "The precarious life of an undercover cop." 2. Subject to chance or unknown conditions. 3. Based on uncertain, unwarranted, or unproved premises. "A precarious solution to a difficult problem." 

Caparison : an ornamental covering for a horse; A group of horses outfitted in medieval caparison were standing near the area where the festival's jousting would begin. 

deleterious : (adjective) Having a harmful effect; injurious.; injurious, hurtful; A guest speaker came to the high school to warn the students about the deleterious effects of smoking. 

prolegomenon : noun: A critical, introductory discussion, especially an introduction to a text.
; "With a witty and intriguing prolegomenon by Ashis Nandy, the book includes
76 poems that are travelogues of exile, identity, and adolescent fantasy of
belonging and abandonment, portraying everyday struggles of existence."
A Lyrical Celebration; Financial Express (New Delhi, India); Dec 28, 2014.


See more usage examples of prolegomenon in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian. -Paul McCartney, singer-songwriter, composer, poet, and activist (b. 18 Jun 1942)


	*****June 20, 2015*****
inviolable : prohibiting violation; secure from destruction, violence, infringement, or desecration: an inviolable sanctuary; an inviolable promise; 
He was perfectly calm in death, and, now he was laid in line, inviolable, unapproachable. To Anna, he was the majesty of the inaccessible male, the majesty of death. It made her still and awe-stricken, almost glad.
 D. H. Lawrence, The Rainbow, 1915

Assiduous :   adj. 1. Constant in application or attention; diligent: "An assiduous worker who strove for perfection." 2. Unceasing; persistent: "Assiduous cancer research." 

Parse : to examine or analyze critically; The lawyer meticulously parsed the wording of the final contract to be sure that her client would get all that he was asking for.

procurator : (noun) One authorized to manage the affairs of another; an agent.; proxy, placeholder; The wealthy businessman's procurator arrived at the auction to bid on his behalf. 

fructuous : adjective: Productive; fruitful; fertile.
; "Earlier this month Yemen made international headlines, this time not for
its fructuous progress toward building democratic state institutions but
rather for a more somber reason, the scheduled execution of a man, who,
at the time of his crime was a juvenile."
Death Penalty; Yemen Post (Sana'a); Mar 16, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. -Blaise Pascal, philosopher and mathematician (19 Jun 1623-1662)


	*****June 21, 2015*****
cavil : to raise irritating and trivial objections; find fault with unnecessarily (usually followed by at or about ): He finds something to cavil at in everything I say; 
During the hectic middle decades of the 20th century, from the end of the Great Depression through the Second World War and into the 1950s, a small circle of intellectuals gathered weekly in and around the University of Oxford to drink, smoke, quip, cavil, read aloud their works in progress, and endure or enjoy with as much grace as they could muster the sometimes blistering critiques that followed.
Philip Zaleski and Carol Zaleski, "Oxford's Influential Inklings," The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 8, 2015

Vexatious :   adj. 1. Full of annoyance or distress; harassed. 2. Causing or creating vexation; annoying. "Her ex-husband put her in a vexatious situation." 

Hobbit : a small humanlike fictitious creature; Anthony attended the science-fiction and fantasy convention dressed as a hobbit. 

chalkstone : (noun) A deposit of urates around a joint or in the external ear; diagnostic of advanced or chronic gout.; tophus; Once the doctor saw the chalkstone, he knew his patient was suffering from gout. 

fructuous : adjective: Productive; fruitful; fertile.
; "Earlier this month Yemen made international headlines, this time not for
its fructuous progress toward building democratic state institutions but
rather for a more somber reason, the scheduled execution of a man, who,
at the time of his crime was a juvenile."
Death Penalty; Yemen Post (Sana'a); Mar 16, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. -Blaise Pascal, philosopher and mathematician (19 Jun 1623-1662)


	*****June 22, 2015*****
swashbuckler : a swaggering swordsman, soldier, or adventurer; daredevil; 
I would not give much for that man's life. The hand of every swashbuckler in the empire would be against him.
A.B. Mitford,  “Kazuma's Revenge,” Tales of Old Japan, 1871

Pedantic :   adj. 1. Characterized by a narrow, often ostentatious concern for book learning and formal rules. "A pedantic attention to details." 

Ingenuous : innocent or lacking craft or subtlety; The salesman had perfected the art of winning over potential buyers by playing the part of a folksy, ingenuous bumpkin who is just looking out for his customers.

satirist : (noun) A humorist who uses ridicule and irony and sarcasm.; ironist, ridiculer; The satirist got into trouble with the network after he ridiculed a number of prominent donors on his live television show. 

fructuous : adjective: Productive; fruitful; fertile.
; "Earlier this month Yemen made international headlines, this time not for
its fructuous progress toward building democratic state institutions but
rather for a more somber reason, the scheduled execution of a man, who,
at the time of his crime was a juvenile."
Death Penalty; Yemen Post (Sana'a); Mar 16, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. -Blaise Pascal, philosopher and mathematician (19 Jun 1623-1662)


	*****June 23, 2015*****
clepe : Archaic. to call; name (now chiefly in the past participle as ycleped or yclept); 
…That none of us not speak a single word, / Nor clepe nor cry, but be in his prayere, / For that is Godde's owen heste dear.
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, 1400

Deciduous :   adj. Not permanent or lasting; ephemeral. "The fire created a deciduous outlook for the company." 

Roustabout : a laborer especially at a circus; Nathan worked for years as a roustabout in the oil fields of Alaska until he earned enough money to go to college and become a petroleum engineer.

aguacate : (noun) A pear-shaped tropical fruit with green or blackish skin and rich yellowish pulp enclosing a single large seed.; alligator pear, avocado, avocado pear; Jim prepared his special aguacate dip and served it with tortilla chips. 

precipitous : adjective:
1. Resembling a precipice, a cliff with a nearly vertical overhanging face.
2. Extremely steep.
3. Abrupt, rapid, or hasty (applied to a worsening situation).
; "I've always had a weakness for lost causes and for writers who achieved
some acclaim and then experienced a precipitous fall from grace."
Guy Vanderhaeghe; I Wanted to Return to the Darting, Glimmering Light
of Short Fiction; The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); May 2, 2015.


See more usage examples of precipitous in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Him that I love, I wish to be free -- even from me. -Anne Morrow Lindbergh, author and aviator (22 Jun 1906-2001)


	*****June 24, 2015*****
otiose : being at leisure; idle; indolent; 
This is not an otiose question but rather a serious one that goes to the very root of the ethics of photojournalism, its training and practice.
James Estrin, "Fact and Fiction in Modern Photography," New York Times, April 24, 2015

Paradigm :   n. A typical example or pattern of something; a model. "The economic paradigm was flawed." 

Belated : delayed beyond the usual time; Susan called Jim to let him know that a belated birthday gift from her was on its way. 

underlayment : (noun) A pad placed under a carpet.; carpet pad, rug pad; After they removed the underlayment, the young cousins were able to slide the rug across the hardwood floor as though it were a sled on ice. 

oppugn : verb tr.: To call in question; to contradict; to dispute.
; "President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last week put the blame on the media,
   accusing media organizations of destroying the party's image. Furthermore,
   he oppugned press credibility."
   Donny Syofyan; Blame Game and Political Suicide of Indonesian Elites;
   The Jakarta Post (Indonesia); Jul 25, 2011.


See more usage examples of oppugn in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: It's like, at the end, there's this surprise quiz: Am I proud of me? I gave my life to become the person I am right now. Was it worth what I paid? -Richard Bach, writer (b. 23 Jun 1936)


	*****June 25, 2015*****
ennui : a feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest; boredom: The endless lecture produced an unbearable ennui; 
A life of constant inaction, bodily and mental,—the friction of ceaseless ennui and discontent, united to the ordinary weakness which attended the period of maternity,—in course of a few years changed the blooming young belle into a yellow, faded, sickly woman…
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1852

Vernacular :   n. The language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people in a particular country or region. An idiomatic word, phrase, or expression. The idiom of a particular trade or profession: "In the legal vernacular." 

Anastrophe : inversion of the usual syntactical order; My father was fond of word play, especially anastrophe, when he talked to my sister and me about things we would rather not talk about; he would say things like "Tired you are not but to bed you must go."

histrionics : (noun) Theatrical arts or performances.; theatrical performance, representation; They had lunch, then went to the theater to enjoy an hour of histrionics. 

enervate : verb tr.: To deprive of strength or vitality.
adjective: Deprived of strength; Weakened.
; "Dan Perjovschi has seen how rule by fear can twist and enervate a society."
R.C. Baker; Best in Show; The Village Voice (New York); Aug 8, 2007.


See more usage examples of enervate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Patriotism, n. Combustible rubbish ready to the torch of any one ambitious to illuminate his name. In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer I beg to submit it is the first. -Ambrose Bierce, writer (24 Jun 1842-1914)


	*****June 26, 2015*****
ubiety : the property of having a definite location at any given time; state..; 
Mr. Locke himself justly ridicules the distinction between locus or place, as applied to bodies, and ubiety, or whereness, which is ascribed to spirits, as it is explained by some philosophers.
Isaac Watts, “Essay VI: Of the Power of Spirits to Move Bodies—of Their Being in a Place and Removing from It,” Philosophical Essays on Various Subjects, 1833

Accoutrement :   n. Additional items of dress or equipment, carried or worn by a person or used for a particular activity. The General dressed for battle in shining accoutrements." 

Futile : completely ineffective or frivolous; Unfortunately, all efforts to repair the damage ultimately proved futile.

face-off : (noun) A hostile disagreement face-to-face.; confrontation, encounter, showdown; The relationship between the two officers deteriorated until they had a noisy face-off at the chief's office. 

splenetic : adjective: Bad-tempered; spiteful.
; "Kasit Piromya, Thailand's splenetic foreign minister, has complained that
other countries are not helping Thailand to catch a 'bloody terrorist'."
Picking Up the Pieces; The Economist (London, UK); May 27, 2010.


See more usage examples of splenetic in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them. -George Orwell, writer (25 Jun 1903-1950)


	*****June 27, 2015*****
tenderfoot : a raw, inexperienced person; novice; 
When I came to California in the early seventies I was, probably as unsophisticated a tenderfoot as ever invaded the "wild and woolly". I had never before been farther west than Chicago and never in the country except on one occasion when I spent a week on a dairy farm in New York state.
Robert Speed, "The Tenderfoot and the Bear," Pacific Short Story Club Magazine, January, 1911

Pervicacious :   adj. Stubborn, extremely willful, obstinate. "He became quite pervicacious in his old age." 

Waddy : a cowboy; "One of the waddies, a young, long-faced kid in an oversized black hat, held Renegade's reins up close to the bridle and was running a soothing hand down the skewbald's stout neck." - Peter Brandvold, .45 Caliber Firebrand, 2009

suitor : (noun) A man who is courting a woman.; suer, wooer; The princess had many suitors, but the only man she was interested in was a poor farmhand. 

eviscerate : verb intr.:
1. To remove the entrails; to disembowel.
2. To deprive of essential parts; to weaken or to destroy.
; "The middle classes had been eviscerated during the period of sanctions."
Seth J. Frantzman; Descent into Chaos; Jerusalem Post (Israel); Oct 10, 2014.


See more usage examples of eviscerate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I believe the greatest gift I can conceive of having from anyone is to be seen, heard, understood, and touched by them. The greatest gift I can give is to see, hear, understand, and touch another person. -Virginia Satir, psychotherapist and author (26 Jun 1916-1988)


	*****June 28, 2015*****
preprandial : before a meal, especially before dinner; anteprandial: a prepr..; 
I am now reaching the end of my usual preprandial walk.
Vladimir Nabokov, Look at the Harlequins!, 1974

Oxymoron :   n.pl. A phrase in which two words of contradictory meaning are used together for special effect, for example, “wise fool” or “to make haste slowly.” 

Mesmerize : to hypnotize or spellbind; Moviegoers will find themselves mesmerized by the visual intricacy and frenetic pacing of the animated sequence that opens the movie.

seafarer : (noun) A sailor or mariner.; old salt, Jack-tar, mariner, sea dog, seaman, gob, Jack, tar; Then he arose quickly, like a seafarer who all at once seeth the land; and he shouted for joy: for he saw a new truth. 

eviscerate : verb tr.:
1. To remove the entrails; to disembowel.
2. To deprive of essential parts; to weaken or to destroy.
; "The middle classes had been eviscerated during the period of sanctions."
Seth J. Frantzman; Descent into Chaos; Jerusalem Post (Israel); Oct 10, 2014.


See more usage examples of eviscerate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I believe the greatest gift I can conceive of having from anyone is to be seen, heard, understood, and touched by them. The greatest gift I can give is to see, hear, understand, and touch another person. -Virginia Satir, psychotherapist and author (26 Jun 1916-1988)


	*****June 29, 2015*****
stinkaroo : Slang. something markedly inferior in quality: a stinkaroo of a ..; 
This was the stinkaroo deal that came to define the dot-com era.
Chris O'Brien, "Where does WhatsApp acquisition rank in history of tech deals?" Los Angeles Times, February 20, 2014

Antithesis :   n.pl. 1. Direct contrast; opposition. 2. The direct or exact opposite. "Hope is the antithesis of despair." 

Cybrarian : someone who finds facts on the Web; The university's cybrarians maintain libraries of Web sites pertaining to specific fields of study.

ventail : (noun) A medieval hood of mail suspended from a basinet to protect the head and neck.; camail; The sword caught him just below the jaw, but the ventail protected his neck. 

eviscerate : verb tr.:
1. To remove the entrails; to disembowel.
2. To deprive of essential parts; to weaken or to destroy.
; "The middle classes had been eviscerated during the period of sanctions."
Seth J. Frantzman; Descent into Chaos; Jerusalem Post (Israel); Oct 10, 2014.


See more usage examples of eviscerate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I believe the greatest gift I can conceive of having from anyone is to be seen, heard, understood, and touched by them. The greatest gift I can give is to see, hear, understand, and touch another person. -Virginia Satir, psychotherapist and author (26 Jun 1916-1988)


	*****June 30, 2015*****
piebald : having patches of black and white or of other colors; parti-colore..; 
Arabella was furry and piebald and wagged her tail like a dog. She had tusks.
Adrienne Miller, The Coast of Akron, 2005

Arduous :   adj. 1. Demanding great effort or labor; difficult. "An arduous undertaking."  2. Testing severely the powers of endurance; strenuous. "A long and arduous process." 

Expeditious : efficient or prompt; Geraldine was impressed by the company's expeditious response, which arrived in the mail only one week after she had submitted her query.

harelip : (noun) A congenital cleft in the middle of the upper lip.; cheiloschisis, cleft lip; The insurance company argued that the surgery to correct her harelip was not medically necessary. 

connate : adjective:
1. Congenial.
2. Congenital.
; "In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in streets and villages."
Ralph Waldo Emerson; Nature; 1836.

"Zyuganov had a connate sense of how to convince subjects."
Jason Matthews; Red Sparrow; Simon & Schuster; 2013.


See more usage examples of connate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author and aviator (29 Jun 1900-1944)


	*****July 01, 2015*****
whodunit : Informal. a narrative dealing with a murder or a series of murder..; 
The rival investigative teams have helped turn the case into a whodunit that has gripped the nation. They have failed to agree even on such basic facts as the time of death.
Taos Turner and Reed Johnson, "In Alberto Nisman Case, a Body, a Pistol and Few Answers in Argentina," Wall Street Journal, May 15, 2015

Secular :   adj. 1. Worldly rather than spiritual. 2. Not specifically relating to religion or to a religious body. "A secular book." 

Disinformation : false information deliberately spread; The writer's latest book examines the effects of propaganda and disinformation during the Cold War.

rancor : (noun) Bitter, long-lasting resentment; deep-seated ill will.; bitterness, resentment, gall; After a year Edinburgh dropped him, thus supplying substantial fuel for his ingrained poor man's jealousy and rancor at the privileged classes. 

sorb :  verb intr.:
1. To take up and hold by absorption.
2. To take up and hold by adsorption.
; "Nitrate is an anion and is not attracted to or sorbed by soil particles."
Philippe Quevauviller, et al; Wastewater Quality Monitoring and Treatment; Wiley; 2006.


See more usage examples of sorb in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Life is a jest, and all things show it, / I thought so once, and now I know it. -John Gay, poet and dramatist (30 Jun 1685-1732)


	*****July 02, 2015*****
contradistinction : distinction by opposition or contrast: plants and animal..; 
Later on, I spent almost ten years in various towns in the Federal Republic, which struck me as brighter and more spacious than my native country; and in Germany, in contradistinction to Austria, where, so it seemed to me, hardly anyone spoke my language, I was sometimes able to express an opinion with passion…
Peter Handke, translated by Ralph Manheim, Slow Homecoming, 1985

Aplomb :   n.   Self-confident assurance, skill, and poise – especially in difficult or challenging circumstances. 

Precarious : not certain, secure, or steady; The books were stacked high in a precarious tower that was liable to topple at any moment.

cesspit : (noun) A pit for refuse or sewage.; sump, sink, cesspool; The cesspit smelled foul, but without it all the refuse would have been strewn around the town. 

ramble : verb intr.: 1. To talk in an aimless manner.
verb intr.: 2. To walk in an aimless manner.
noun: A leisurely, sometimes lengthy walk.
; "Are you under the impression that I have time to listen to you ramble?"
Rajnar Vajra; The Triple Sun: A Golden Age Tale; Analog Science Fiction
& Fact (New York); Jul/Aug 2014.

"Amateur landlords often ramble up to fix the heating days after a fault
is reported."
Housing the "Rentysomethings"; The Economist (London, UK); Jun 22, 2012.


See more usage examples of ramble in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: It is almost impossible to carry the torch of truth through a crowd without singeing somebody's beard. -Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, scientist and philosopher (1 Jul 1742-1799)


	*****July 03, 2015*****
dragoman : (in the Near East) a professional interpreter; 
She had brought with her three maids and a lady interpreter, Madame Pisani, a very pleasant woman about forty years of age, the wife of the court dragoman, who, with her husband, was from an ancient Venetian family.
Karen Essex, Stealing Athena, 2008

Gratuitous :   adj. 1. Given or granted without return or recompense; unearned. 2. Unnecessary or unwarranted; unjustified: A gratuitous remark. 

Apprehension : comprehension or the fear of future evil; "Oddly combined with her sharp apprehension … was the primitive simplicity of her attitude…." - Edith Wharton, The Reef, 1912

turncoat : (noun) One who traitorously switches allegiance.; apostate, deserter, ratter, recreant, renegade; He was a turncoat who betrayed his friends to curry favor with the King. 

fardel : noun:
1. A bundle.
2. A burden.
; "He could be seen on the first night of every full moon, looking down
with a fardel of twigs strapped with vines to his back."
McDonald Dixon; Saints of Little Paradise; Xlibris; 2012.

"It was selfish of me to link you with so much wretchedness, and join
you with me in bearing the fardel of neverending anxiety and suspense."
Frederick Marryat; The Phantom Ship; E.L. Carey & A. Hart; 1839.


See more usage examples of fardel in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment. I knew that age well; I belonged to it, and labored with it. It deserved well of its country. It was very like the present, but without the experience of the present; and forty years of experience in government is worth a century of book-reading; and this they would say themselves, were they to rise from the dead. I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because, when once known, we accommodate ourselves to them, and find practical means of correcting their ill effects. But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors. -Thomas Jefferson, 3rd US President (1743-1826)


	*****July 04, 2015*****
quixotic : extravagantly chivalrous or romantic; visionary, impractical, or ..; 
In the next two days, Pitt and Giordino were hard-pressed to keep up their quixotic manner.
Clive Cussler, Valhalla Rising, 2001

Gratuitous :   adj. 1. Given or granted without return or recompense; unearned. 2. Unnecessary or unwarranted; unjustified: A gratuitous remark. 

Interpellate : to formally question a public official; At the international tribunal, U.N. officials interpellated the premier about his country's acquisition of illegal weapons. 

"The group noted that Mr. Lotilla was being interpellated at the time by Rep. Elpidio F. Barzaga, Jr., a member of the majority bloc who supported the fare hike." - Melissa Luz T. Lopez and Vince Alvic Alexis F. Nonato, Business World, January 23, 2015SubscribeGet the Word of the Day direct to your inbox - subscribe today!Did You Know?Interpellate is a word you might encounter in the international news section of a newspaper or magazine. It refers to a form of political challenging used in the congress or parliament of many nations throughout the world, in some cases provided for in the country's constitution. Formal interpellation isn't practiced in the U.S. Congress, but in places where it is practiced, it can be the first step in ousting an appointed official or bringing to task an elected one. The word was borrowed from the Latin term interpellatus, past participle of interpellare, which means "to interrupt or disturb a person speaking." The "interrupt" sense, once used in English, is now obsolete, and interpellate should not be confused with interpolate, which means "to insert words into a text or conversation."
liegeman : (noun) A feudal vassal or subject.; feudatory, liege, vassal; The liegeman was expected to provide military support if his lord went to battle. 

maunder : verb intr.:
1. To talk aimlessly.
2. To walk aimlessly.
; "Literary prizes in recent generations seem to go to maundering monuments
to intentional obscurity, such as James Joyce's Ulysses or Lawrence
Durrell's tour de force of labyrinthine inscrutability, the seemingly
endless Alexandrine Quartets."
Thomas P. Lowry; Owen Parry is Master of the Short Story;
The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, Virginia); Nov 27, 2004.

"Last year Goran Ivanisevic maundered around the world, winning only 14 matches."
Stephen Bierley; Genial Ivanisevic Takes a Walk on the Wild Side;
The Guardian (London, UK); Jul 9, 2001.


See more usage examples of maunder in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: A book must be an axe for the frozen sea inside of us. -Franz Kafka, novelist (3 Jul 1883-1924)


	*****July 05, 2015*****
e pluribus unum : Latin. out of many, one (motto of the U.S.); 
The iron bedstead with the four copper-ball finials; the plain wardrobe with the sagging door; the mottoes on the walls, E PLURIBUS UNUM worked in beads and HOME SWEET HOME embroidered in wool and trimmed with flowers made of human hair…
Susan Sontag, In America, 2000

Ambivalence :   n. 1. Uncertainty or indecisiveness as to which course to follow. 2. The coexistence of opposing attitudes or feelings, such as love and hate, toward a person, object, or idea. 

Stringent : rigorous, strict, or severe; Brandon and Sarah had to adjust to living on a stringent budget during the four months when Brandon was looking for a job. 

legate : (noun) An official emissary, especially an official representative of the pope.; official emissary; Cardinal Giovanni Battista Caprara was the legate of Pope Pius VII in France. 

maunder : verb intr.:
1. To talk aimlessly.
2. To walk aimlessly.
; "Literary prizes in recent generations seem to go to maundering monuments
to intentional obscurity, such as James Joyce's Ulysses or Lawrence
Durrell's tour de force of labyrinthine inscrutability, the seemingly
endless Alexandrine Quartets."
Thomas P. Lowry; Owen Parry is Master of the Short Story;
The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, Virginia); Nov 27, 2004.

"Last year Goran Ivanisevic maundered around the world, winning only 14 matches."
Stephen Bierley; Genial Ivanisevic Takes a Walk on the Wild Side;
The Guardian (London, UK); Jul 9, 2001.


See more usage examples of maunder in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: A book must be an axe for the frozen sea inside of us. -Franz Kafka, novelist (3 Jul 1883-1924)


	*****July 06, 2015*****
mien : air, bearing, or demeanor, as showing character, feeling, etc.: a man..; 
She is lovely, the hair, makeup and costumes are excellent, but the actress works so hard to recreate the movie star’s voice, mien and magic that the distance is only magnified.
Alessandra Stanley, "Review: �Grace of Monaco,’ a Fractured Fairy Tale on Lifetime," New York Times, May 24, 2015

Causative :   adj. 1. Indicative that the subject causes an act to be performed or a condition to come into being. "A causative factor of war." 

Bunkum : insincere or foolish talk; I hesitated to voice my opinions, fearful that my companions would deride my views as bunkum. 

paronomasia : (noun) A humorous play on words.; pun, punning, wordplay; His attempts at comedy usually flopped, especially when he recited his favorite paronomasia, "I do it for the pun of it." 

maunder : verb intr.:
1. To talk aimlessly.
2. To walk aimlessly.
; "Literary prizes in recent generations seem to go to maundering monuments
to intentional obscurity, such as James Joyce's Ulysses or Lawrence
Durrell's tour de force of labyrinthine inscrutability, the seemingly
endless Alexandrine Quartets."
Thomas P. Lowry; Owen Parry is Master of the Short Story;
The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, Virginia); Nov 27, 2004.

"Last year Goran Ivanisevic maundered around the world, winning only 14 matches."
Stephen Bierley; Genial Ivanisevic Takes a Walk on the Wild Side;
The Guardian (London, UK); Jul 9, 2001.


See more usage examples of maunder in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: A book must be an axe for the frozen sea inside of us. -Franz Kafka, novelist (3 Jul 1883-1924)


	*****July 07, 2015*****
telegnosis : supernatural or occult knowledge; clairvoyance; 
The most common is the so-called sixth sense: telepathy, precognition, telegnosis—"the ability to know that which cannot be ascertained by normal means."
Jan Siegel, The Dragon Charmer, 2002

Progeny :   n.pl. 1. Something that originates or results from something else; outcome; issue. 2. A result of creative effort; a product. 

Categorical : absolute or relating to a category; "For his part, Morell, who became deputy CIA director in 2010 and twice served as acting director before retiring in 2013, was categorical in his denial." - Jonathan S. Landay, McClatchy DC, May 13, 2015 

vibrissa : (noun) Any of the long stiff hairs that project from the snout or brow of most mammals, as the whiskers of a cat.; whisker, sensory hair; The mouse's vibrissae alerted it to the presence of a predator. 

accidence : noun:
1. The fundamentals of any subject.
2. The branch of grammar dealing with inflections of words.
3. A book of fundamentals of a subject.
; "He flicked through the accidence, and closed it with a smile of accomplishment."
Geraldine Brooks; Caleb's Crossing; Viking; 2011.


See more usage examples of accidence in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: In an earlier stage of our development most human groups held to a tribal ethic. Members of the tribe were protected, but people of other tribes could be robbed or killed as one pleased. Gradually the circle of protection expanded, but as recently as 150 years ago we did not include blacks. So African human beings could be captured, shipped to America, and sold. In Australia white settlers regarded Aborigines as a pest and hunted them down, much as kangaroos are hunted down today. Just as we have progressed beyond the blatantly racist ethic of the era of slavery and colonialism, so we must now progress beyond the speciesist ethic of the era of factory farming, of the use of animals as mere research tools, of whaling, seal hunting, kangaroo slaughter, and the destruction of wilderness. We must take the final step in expanding the circle of ethics. -Peter Singer, philosopher and professor of bioethics (b. 6 Jul 1946)


	*****July 08, 2015*****
fisc : a royal or state treasury; exchequer; 
And I'll bet he fiddles on the share the fisc is supposed to get.
S. M. Stirling and David Drake, Conqueror, 2003

Savant :   n. A person of learning; wise or scholarly. 

Hoosegow : jail; The perpetrator was sentenced to three months in the hoosegow.

rhizome : (noun) A horizontal, usually underground stem that often sends out roots and shoots from its nodes.; rootstalk; It was not apparent that the neighboring stalk belonged to the original plant because the rhizome connecting the two was underground. 

livelong : adjective: Whole or entire (referring to time).
; "Life goes on in their little yellow bubble, where everyone merrily
agrees with each other, all the livelong day."
Emma Cowing; Nicola in a Spin That is Turning Her Head; Daily Mail
(London, UK); May 2, 2015.


See more usage examples of livelong in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Sin lies only in hurting others unnecessarily. All other "sins" are invented nonsense. -Robert A. Heinlein, science-fiction author (7 Jul 1907-1988)


	*****July 09, 2015*****
proprioception : Physiology. perception governed by physiological receptors,..; 
I was talking of proprioception—your awareness of where you are in relation to everything else around you.
Jennifer Fallon, The Palace of Impossible Dreams, 2008

Indigenous :   adj. Originating and living or occurring naturally in an area or environment. "The cactus is indigenous to Arizona." 

Temerity : contempt of danger or opposition; The line between boldness and temerity is sometimes only evident after the consequences have become clear.

orthography : (noun) A method of representing a language or the sounds of language by written symbols; spelling.; writing system; She was familiar with many of the regional dialects, but she did not recognize this orthography. 

bespoke : adjective:
1. Custom-made.
2. Relating to custom-made products.
; "Book in for an eye test, as it's much better for your eyes to get a pair
that are bespoke to your needs, rather than just picking up a pair in
the supermarket."
Keep Eye Health in Your Sights; Sunday Mail (Glasgow, Scotland); Jun 28, 2015.


See more usage examples of bespoke in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Should you shield the canyons from the windstorms you would never see the true beauty of their carvings. -Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, psychiatrist and author (8 Jul 1926-2004)


	*****July 10, 2015*****
sobriquet : a nickname; 
As for the sobriquet, she was no ice queen, but in the macho world of law enforcement, playing that role was the only thing that kept her safe — from men and from her own rogue impulses.
Greg Iles, The Footprints of God, 2003

Metaphor :   n. A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate something else. Example: "She was drowning in money." 

Garderobe : a wardrobe, bedroom, or toilet; On our tour of the castle, the guide made sure to point out the garderobe.

farrago : (noun) An assortment or a medley; a conglomeration.; hodgepodge, omnium-gatherum, melange, mingle-mangle, mishmash, oddments, odds and ends, ragbag; If the farrago of newspaper clippings, stale coffee mugs, and chewed-on pencils strewn around the office was any indication, her boss had been at the office all night. 

limpid : adjective:
1. Clear; transparent.
2. Easily comprehensible; clear.
3. Calm; serene.
; "Simon Thacker could build sounds into dense textures that were at once
complex and yet limpid."
World Famous Guitarist opens Music in Quiet Places Concert Series;
Stamford Mercury (UK); Jun 17, 2015.


See more usage examples of limpid in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: We now know that memories are not fixed or frozen, like Proust's jars of preserves in a larder, but are transformed, disassembled, reassembled, and recategorized with every act of recollection. -Oliver Sacks, neurologist and writer (b. 9 Jul 1933)


	*****July 11, 2015*****
capriole : a caper or leap; 
'The thought has occurred to me,' Mia giggled, sounding more her old self, 'although I was thinking more along the lines of Scully performing a capriole to send the bridegroom into orbit.'
Fiona Walker, The Summer Wedding, 2013

Analogous :   adj. 1. Similar or alike in such a way as to permit the drawing of an analogy. "The brain and the Acme 1000 supercomputer are analogous to each other." 

Jaundiced : exhibiting envy, distaste, or hostility; "Since I tend to have a jaundiced view toward marriage in general," said George, "I'm not the guy you should be asking for wedding tips." 

cloudburst : (noun) A heavy rain.; pelter, soaker, torrent, waterspout, deluge, downpour; We enjoyed the lovely recliners on the ship's deck until a sudden cloudburst sent us running for our cabins. 

tribology : noun:
The study of interacting surfaces in relative motion and associated
issues, such as friction, lubrication, and wear.
; "As in the later case of the frayed shoelace, what I wanted here was
tribology: detailed knowledge of the interaction between the surfaces
inflicting the wear and the surfaces receiving it."
Nicholson Baker; Mezzanine; Weidenfeld and Nicholson; 1988.


See more usage examples of tribology in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Wise sayings often fall on barren ground; but a kind word is never thrown away. -Arthur Helps, writer (10 Jul 1813-1875)


	*****July 12, 2015*****
flumadiddle : utter nonsense; 
'This flumadiddle's got'a stop: ain havin it no more.' Throwing himself on his bunk, Zachary closed his eyes, and for the first time in many months, his vision turned inwards, travelling back across the oceans to his last day at Gardiner's shipyard in Baltimore.
Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, 2008

Embellish :   tr.v. 1. To make beautiful, as by ornamentation; decorate. 2. To add fictitious details to exaggerate the truth: "A dramatic account that embellished the true story." 

Foist : to force another to accept by deceit; It is possible to talk about politics without trying to foist your beliefs upon others.

capote : (noun) A long, usually hooded cloak or coat.; hooded coat; The men wore matching black capotes with hoods that obscured their features, and we watched in terror as they advanced in the dim light. 

tribology : noun:
The study of interacting surfaces in relative motion and associated
issues, such as friction, lubrication, and wear.
; "As in the later case of the frayed shoelace, what I wanted here was
tribology: detailed knowledge of the interaction between the surfaces
inflicting the wear and the surfaces receiving it."
Nicholson Baker; Mezzanine; Weidenfeld and Nicholson; 1988.


See more usage examples of tribology in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Wise sayings often fall on barren ground; but a kind word is never thrown away. -Arthur Helps, writer (10 Jul 1813-1875)


	*****July 13, 2015*****
cachinnate : to laugh loudly or immoderately; 
I observe my fellow baskers complain, snap, cachinnate, straighten out government policy.
Tibor Fischer, The Thought Gang, 1994

Salient :   adj.  1. Strikingly conspicuous; prominent.  "A salient argument." 

Majuscule : a large letter (such as a capital); I can always recognize my brother's handwriting at a quick glance based on how elaborately the majuscules are formed and how they dwarf the other letters.

hypocorism : (noun) A name of endearment; a pet name.; pet name; "Billy" is a hypocorism for "William." 

tribology : noun:
The study of interacting surfaces in relative motion and associated
issues, such as friction, lubrication, and wear.
; "As in the later case of the frayed shoelace, what I wanted here was
tribology: detailed knowledge of the interaction between the surfaces
inflicting the wear and the surfaces receiving it."
Nicholson Baker; Mezzanine; Weidenfeld and Nicholson; 1988.


See more usage examples of tribology in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Wise sayings often fall on barren ground; but a kind word is never thrown away. -Arthur Helps, writer (10 Jul 1813-1875)


	*****July 14, 2015*****
mimesis : Rhetoric. imitation or reproduction of the supposed words of anoth..; 
From Aristotle to Auerbach, it has been recognised that this involves far more than a mere mirroring of reality. When Aristotle defines mimesis in his Poetics as the 'imitation of an action', he means a creative redescription of the world such that hidden patterns and hitherto unexplored meanings can unfold.
Richard Kearney, On Stories, 2002

Auspices :   n.pl. 1. With the protection or support of someone or something, especially an organization: "Financial aid is being provided under the auspices of NATO." 

Estival : of or relating to the summer; The children were reveling in their weeks of summer vacation, filling their school-free estival afternoons with swimming and playing.

singlet : (noun) A collarless men's undergarment for the upper part of the body.; undershirt, vest; Its owner had taken off his tunic, and in white trousers and a thin, short-sleeved singlet prowled behind the chair-backs nursing his meager elbows. 

longhair : noun:
1. An intellectual.
2. One having a deep interest in the arts, especially in classical music.
3. A male with long hair, especially a hippie.
4. A cat having long hair.
; "With the largest cast in LA Opera history (41 soloists), it delivers pure
kitsch, complete with pratfalls, pie-in-the-face ... It is shamelessly
slapstick, but the diehard longhairs loved it anyway."
Patt Diroll; Party Circuit Heats Up; Pasadena Star-News (California);
Feb 15, 2015.

"Ever wonder what longhairs listen to when they let their hair down? Once
upon a time, when conductors were regarded as remote intellectual titans,
no one would have thought to ask."
Rick Schultz; Roll over, Beethoven; Los Angeles Times (California); Jan 6, 2013.

"Edinburgh's student longhairs had managed to rouse themselves for an
anti-apartheid protest."
Aidan Smith; My Murrayfield of Dreams; Scotland on Sunday (Edinburgh);
Jan 29, 2012. 

Thought For The Day: If life had a second edition, how I would correct the proofs. -John Clare, poet (13 Jul 1793-1864)


	*****July 15, 2015*****
foison : Archaic. abundance; plenty; 
Thither the extremely large wains bring foison of the fields, flaskets of cauliflowers, floats of spinach, pineapple chunks, Rangoon beans, strikes of tomatoes, drums of figs, drills of Swedes, spherical potatoes and tallies of iridescent kale…
James Joyce, Ulysses, 1922

Episodic :   adj. Happening at irregular intervals. "He has episodic migraines." 

Duffer : a clumsy person or a mediocre golfer; Most of the people playing in the charity tournament were duffers, but it was all for a good cause.

outlander : (noun) A person from a foreign country; a foreigner.; alien, foreigner, noncitizen; As long as the number of outlanders remained small, the natives were friendly toward them. 

blackleg : noun:
1. One who works while other workers are on strike.
2. A swindler, especially in games such as gambling.
3. One of various diseases of plants or cattle.
; "Derek McGrath never crossed any picket line but he was regarded
as a blackleg nonetheless."
Two Guilty Parties as U-21 Final Row Rages; Irish Examiner
(Cork, Ireland); May 5, 2015.


See more usage examples of blackleg in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Literature encourages tolerance -- bigots and fanatics seldom have any use for the arts, because they're so preoccupied with their beliefs and actions that they can't see them also as possibilities. -Northrop Frye, writer and critic (14 Jul 1912-1991)


	*****July 16, 2015*****
allegiant : loyal; faithful; 
As they work hard at defining themselves as different from their parents and most other over-thirties, as they become increasingly allegiant to their peer group and push for greater autonomy, young adolescents almost inevitably get into conflict with their moms and dads over much of the business of daily life.
Kenneth Rubin with Andrea Thompson, The Friendship Factor, 2002

Egregious :   adj. Conspicuously bad or offensive. "The judge's conduct was egregious." 

Innocuous : harmless or inoffensive; Laura was relieved to discover that the wild plants her dog had eaten were innocuous. 

gegenschein : (noun) A faint glowing spot in the sky, exactly opposite the position of the sun.; counterglow; The gegenschein is so faint that it cannot be seen if there is any moonlight or if it falls in the vicinity of the Milky Way. 

double-dome : noun: An intellectual.
; "George has the double-dome's knack for using twice as many words as
necessary to express simple concepts."
Nick Pinkerton; Most Important Election of Their Lifetime; Village Voice
(New York); Oct 15, 2008. 

Thought For The Day: Choose only one master -- Nature. -Rembrandt, painter and etcher (15 Jul 1606-1669)


	*****July 17, 2015*****
sumptuous : entailing great expense, as from choice materials, fine work, et..; 
In the sumptuous and enormous hotel room Rick Deckard sat reading the typed carbon sheets on the two androids Roy and Irmgard Baty.
Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, 1968

Venality :   n. 1. The condition of being susceptible to bribery or corruption. 2. The use of a position of trust for dishonest gain: "The venality of a corrupt judge." 

Weasel Word : a word that avoids being clear or direct; Many people suspected that the politician's weasel words concealed a deeper agenda.

flapjack : (noun) A flat cake of thin batter fried on both sides on a griddle.; flannel-cake, battercake, flapcake, hotcake, pancake, griddlecake; His flapjacks were so thin and light that they could have passed for crępes. 

white-livered : adjective: Cowardly.
; "Fillmore jumped on a fence post, straddled a rail, and shouted at the
Confederates, 'Surrender, you white-livered sons of guns!'"
Eric Wittenberg, et al; One Continuous Fight; Savas Beatie; 2008.


See more usage examples of white-livered in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Every student needs someone who says, simply, "You mean something. You count." -Tony Kushner, playwright (b. 16 Jul 1956) 


	*****July 18, 2015*****
fogdog : a bright spot sometimes seen in a fog bank; 
She listened for the flute again, thought to pull toward it, toward the big fogdog near the south cove, then work her way along the shore to the Hammond dock; go home, take a shower, maybe hunt for raspberries with Ian, make a pie.
Lynn Stegner, Pipers at the Gates of Dawn, 2000

Voracity; Voracious :   adj. Consuming or eager to consume great amounts of food; ravenous. 2. Having or marked by an insatiable appetite for an activity or pursuit; greedy: "A voracious reader." 

Superannuated : outmoded or older than a typical member; The article focused on senior citizens who retire from the workplace and return to school to become superannuated graduate students.  

clavus : (noun) A hard thickening of the skin (especially on the top or sides of the toes) caused by the pressure of ill-fitting shoes.; corn; Years of wearing uncomfortable stilettos had left a large clavus on her foot. 

dittohead : noun: One who mindlessly agrees with an idea or opinion.
; "Wade Lawlor and all his dittoheads are implicating her in the murder
of the colleague she never met."
Breakdown; Kirkus Reviews (New York); Dec 1, 2011. 

Thought For The Day: Never underestimate the determination of a kid who is time rich and cash poor. -Cory Doctorow, author and journalist (b. 17 Jul 1971)


	*****July 19, 2015*****
putsch : a plotted revolt or attempt to overthrow a government, especially o..; 
Pavel Uritzky had been one of the ring-leaders of the putsch and deeply depressed at its failure.
Robert Littell, The Company, 2002

Epochal :   adj. 1. Highly significant or important; momentous: "Epochal decisions made by the president." 2. Without parallel: "Epochal stupidity." 

Neophyte : a novice or beginner; As a neophyte to chess, Brock was still learning the rules and basic strategies of the game. 

rubella : (noun) A mild contagious eruptive disease caused by a virus and capable of producing congenital defects in infants born to mothers infected during the first three months of pregnancy.; German measles, epidemic roseola, three-day measles; The parents were relieved when the doctor said that their son's rubella would improve in a matter of days. 

dittohead : noun: One who mindlessly agrees with an idea or opinion.
; "Wade Lawlor and all his dittoheads are implicating her in the murder
of the colleague she never met."
Breakdown; Kirkus Reviews (New York); Dec 1, 2011. 

Thought For The Day: Never underestimate the determination of a kid who is time rich and cash poor. -Cory Doctorow, author and journalist (b. 17 Jul 1971)


	*****July 20, 2015*****
petrous : like stone, especially in hardness; stony; rocky; 
There was something good and soothing about standing here and feeling one with the specter of things, something wholesome in watching life from the bank of the dead, siding with the dead against the living, like standing by the river and hearing, not the Bach, but the hard, glacial, petrous cracking underneath the prelude—hard, glacial, petrous, like her, like me.
André Aciman, Eight White Nights, 2010

Effusive :   adj.  1. Unrestrained or excessive in emotional expression; gushy: "An effusive manner." 2. Profuse; overflowing: "effusive praise." 

Rue : to feel regret, remorse, or penitence; I rue the day I agreed to serve on this committee. 

hothouse : (noun) A heated greenhouse for plants that require an even, relatively warm temperature.; conservatory, indoor garden; When those young ladies left your hothouse door open, with a frosty east wind blowing right in … it killed a good many of your plants. 

dittohead : noun: One who mindlessly agrees with an idea or opinion.
; "Wade Lawlor and all his dittoheads are implicating her in the murder
of the colleague she never met."
Breakdown; Kirkus Reviews (New York); Dec 1, 2011. 

Thought For The Day: Never underestimate the determination of a kid who is time rich and cash poor. -Cory Doctorow, author and journalist (b. 17 Jul 1971)


	*****July 21, 2015*****
sidereal : Astronomy. determined by or from the stars: sidereal time; 
The sparkling points of light flashed past me in an interminable stream, as though the whole sidereal system were dropping into the void.
Jack London, The Sea Wolf, 1904

Opine :   v.tr.  To state as an opinion. Latin: opinari – to have an opinion. 

Longanimity : a disposition to bear injuries; The fans showed longanimity by coming back year after year to cheer on the perpetually losing team.

cinder : (noun) A fragment of incombustible matter left after a wood or coal or charcoal fire.; clinker; Ella loved to read by the fire; her cruel stepsisters dubbed her "Cinderella," since her face was often blackened with cinder dust. 

plutonian : adjective:
1. Relating to the dwarf planet Pluto.
2. Relating to Pluto, the god of the underworld in the Roman mythology.
3. Relating to the underworld.
; "The turbines are ready to be put in place and a large crew is busy in
the Plutonian regions way down below."
Looking Back on October 4; Sun Journal (Lewiston, Maine); Oct 4, 2013.

"'Be that word our sign of parting, bird, or fiend!' I shrieked, upstarting
'Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!'"
Edgar Allan Poe; The Raven; 1845.

"No one wants to hear you reallocating your 401(k) distribution with some
drone on the phone. But if you are switching funds around, go for the
gusto -- plutonian junk bonds!"
Kevin Amorim and Nedra Rhone; Cool 2 Know; Newsday (New York); Sep 20, 2006.


See more usage examples of plutonian in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. -Edmund Hillary, mountaineer and explorer (20 Jul 1919-2008)


	*****July 22, 2015*****
criticaster : an incompetent critic; 
He could clearly remember the observations of one Viennese criticaster, as he put it, which were published in the Presse, to the effect that the actors at the Burgtheater could neither walk nor speak, or at least that they could not do both at once.
Thomas Bernhard, Woodcutters, translated by Suhrkamp Verlag, 1987

Repugnant :   adj. Arousing disgust or aversion; offensive or repulsive. 

Truculent : cruel, deadly, harsh, or belligerent; Warren's truculent demeanor made him unpleasant to work with, particularly as deadlines approached. 

gaberdine : (noun) A loose coverall (coat or frock) reaching down to the ankles.; dust coat, smock, duster; He was an unshaven little man in a threadbare coat like a gaberdine, with his feet in slippers, and I thought him a harmless fool. 

hydra : noun:
A persistent or multifaceted problem that presents a new obstacle when
a part of it is solved.
; "Roosevelt's ships and men were drowning in the Pacific, fighting a hydra
that formed and reformed in successive island jungles."
Francine Mathews; Too Bad to Die; Riverhead Books; 2015.

"The FSA ceases to exist today. It is a hydra, however. Two will spring up
in its place."
Dominic O'Connell; Perverse Pru Fine Sends FSA Out on Low Note; Sunday Times
(London, UK); Mar 31, 2013.


See more usage examples of hydra in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime. Ask the infantry and ask the dead. -Ernest Hemingway, author and journalist, Nobel laureate (21 Jul 1899-1961)


	*****July 23, 2015*****
risibility : Often, risibilities. the ability or disposition to laugh; humor..; 
But the little hard bright eyes were invisible now; it was only the bushy overhang of the brows which seemed to concentrate downward toward him in writhen immobility, not frowning but with a sort of fierce risibility.
William Faulkner, The Hamlet, 1940

Eclectic :   adj. 1. Composed of elements drawn from various sources 2. Not following any one system, but selecting and using what are considered the best elements of all systems. "An eclectic taste in decorating; an eclectic approach to management." 

Octothorpe : the symbol #; "To demonstrate and test the varying thicknesses that a pen is capable of imparting, Ivy League students often begin by writing an octothorpe-known to some plebians as a 'hashtag.'" - Evan Siegel, Columbia Spectator (Columbia University), December 6, 2014

amylum : (noun) A complex carbohydrate found chiefly in seeds, fruits, tubers, roots and stem pith of plants, notably in corn, potatoes, wheat, and rice.; starch; She was on a strict diet and avoided foods with high levels of amylum, sugar, and saturated fat. 

Cerberus : noun: A powerful, hostile guard.
; "Some of the composer's oldest friends grumbled among themselves that
they no longer had direct access to him but were constantly running
up against this young Cerberus, who answered the phone, read all
Stravinsky's letters, and organized his diary."
Stephen Walsh; Stravinsky: The Second Exile; Knopf; 2010.


See more usage examples of cerberus in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: What's done to children, they will do to society. -Karl A. Menninger, psychiatrist (22 Jul 1893-1990)


	*****July 24, 2015*****
hierogram : a sacred symbol, as an emblem, pictograph, or the like; 
There was nothing more to be said on the subject of the future and their different destinies, for those words, uttered with complete calm and conviction, had done what every inspired melody does: condense a welter of emotions into an unconflicted clarity that one can instantly recall and call upon. Like a hierogram.
Kris Saknussemm, Enigmatic Pilot, 2011

Redact(ed) :   tr.v.  Edit something: to edit, revise, or delete content in preparation for publication. "The documents were redacted so personal information wasn't released to the public." 

Meticulous : very careful in attending to details; The composer's meticulous, almost obsessive, attention to detail is evident in even the smallest musical flourishes that the average listener will likely never notice.

coppice : (noun) A thicket or grove of small trees or shrubs, especially one maintained by periodic cutting or pruning to encourage suckering, as in the cultivation of cinnamon trees for their bark.; thicket, brush, copse, brushwood; They determined on walking round Beechen Cliff, that noble hill whose beautiful verdure and hanging coppice render it so striking an object from almost every opening in Bath. 

nocturnal : adjective: Relating to, happening, or active at night.
; "Getting around London late at night used to be expensive or time-consuming.
Nocturnal groundlings can now get home more cheaply and reliably."
After Dark; The Economist (London, UK); Oct 4, 2014.


See more usage examples of nocturnal in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: There are two kinds of truth: the truth that lights the way and the truth that warms the heart. The first of these is science, and the second is art. Neither is independent of the other or more important than the other. Without art, science would be as useless as a pair of high forceps in the hands of a plumber. Without science, art would become a crude mess of folklore and emotional quackery. The truth of art keeps science from becoming inhuman, and the truth of science keeps art from becoming ridiculous. -Raymond Thornton Chandler, writer (23 Jul 1888-1959)

 

   



   
   
		
			
				


A.Word.A.Day by email:

	*****July 25, 2015*****
persiflage : light, bantering talk or writing; 
Now go away then, and leave me alone. I don't want any more of your meretricious persiflage.
D.H. Lawrence, Women in Love, 1920

Circuitous :   adj. Being or taking a roundabout, lengthy course: "He took a circuitous route to avoid traffic." 

Umbra : a shaded area; During the eclipse, the moon was in the umbra of the earth's shadow for about 90 minutes.

planchet : (noun) A flat disk of metal ready for stamping as a coin; a coin blank.; coin blank; Occasionally, a planchet will escape the mint without having been stamped into a coin. 

stygian : adjective:
1. Dark or gloomy.
2. Hellish.
3. Unbreakable or completely binding (said of an oath).
4. Relating to the river Styx.
; "And forget about walking into the stygian darkness of the basement."
Joseph Xavier Martin; Dad's Spooky Stories Brought Chills, Thrills;
Buffalo News (New York); Jul 1, 2015.

"They laboured in Stygian conditions, which would not be tolerated now."
Gay Byrne; Voices from the Old Schoolyard; Sunday Business Post (Cork,
Ireland); Apr 5, 2015.


See more usage examples of stygian in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace. The soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things. -Amelia Earhart, aviator (24 Jul 1897-1937)


	*****July 26, 2015*****
scop : an Old English bard or poet; 
As a child, he'd sought out the tales told in the marketplace or in the ancient songs, passed down from one scop to another, that told of sorcery and the strange powers of the witchroad.
Katharine Kerr, The Black Raven, 1999

Cathartic :   adj. Producing a feeling of being purified emotionally, spiritually, or psychologically as a result of an intense emotional experience or therapeutic technique. "The strength of the movie had a cathartic effect on her." 

Dubious : doubtful or suspect; Jesse made the dubious claim that he could eat a whole watermelon in one sitting; then we sat in awe and watched him do it. 

embrocation : (noun) A medicinal liquid that is rubbed into the skin to relieve muscular stiffness and pain.; liniment; The dressings on my wound and the embrocation on my sprained wrist steadily subdue the pains which I have felt so far. 

stygian : adjective:
1. Dark or gloomy.
2. Hellish.
3. Unbreakable or completely binding (said of an oath).
4. Relating to the river Styx.
; "And forget about walking into the stygian darkness of the basement."
Joseph Xavier Martin; Dad's Spooky Stories Brought Chills, Thrills;
Buffalo News (New York); Jul 1, 2015.

"They laboured in Stygian conditions, which would not be tolerated now."
Gay Byrne; Voices from the Old Schoolyard; Sunday Business Post (Cork,
Ireland); Apr 5, 2015.


See more usage examples of stygian in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace. The soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things. -Amelia Earhart, aviator (24 Jul 1897-1937)


	*****July 27, 2015*****
fumarole : a hole in or near a volcano, from which vapor rises; 
The steam that billowed from its invisible depths form ragged curtains as it emerged into the light. Festooned around this giant fumarole were dozens of the giant convolvulus flowers.
Nicholas Drayson, Confessing a Murder, 2002

Truncate :   tr.v. 1. To shorten or cut off. 2. To shorten (a number) by dropping one or more digits after the decimal point. 

Abulia : lack of ability to act or make decisions; "Abulia is a motivational deficit that is associated with apathy, loss of will, and lack of initiating behaviors." - Handbook of the Neuroscience of Language, 2008

footpad : (noun) A thief who preys on pedestrians.; padder; The footpad was known to local police, as he had a habit of preying on tourists in the center of town. 

stygian : adjective:
1. Dark or gloomy.
2. Hellish.
3. Unbreakable or completely binding (said of an oath).
4. Relating to the river Styx.
; "And forget about walking into the stygian darkness of the basement."
Joseph Xavier Martin; Dad's Spooky Stories Brought Chills, Thrills;
Buffalo News (New York); Jul 1, 2015.

"They laboured in Stygian conditions, which would not be tolerated now."
Gay Byrne; Voices from the Old Schoolyard; Sunday Business Post (Cork,
Ireland); Apr 5, 2015.


See more usage examples of stygian in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace. The soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things. -Amelia Earhart, aviator (24 Jul 1897-1937)


	*****July 28, 2015*****
nabob : any very wealthy, influential, or powerful person; 
Working out of uniform, in the British society of the Indian city, the boy from Georgetown had managed to embroil himself in a contretemps with a young woman, the headstrong second daughter of a prominent nabob.
William L. Gibson, Singapore Black, 2013

Intuitive :   adj. Known automatically: known directly and instinctively, without being discovered or consciously perceived. "He intuitively knew that one day she would become a movie star." 

Yaw : to move off course or to alternate; The ship yawed hard to starboard when the rogue wave hit it broadside.

stripling : (noun) A juvenile between the onset of puberty and maturity.; adolescent, teenager; He appeared on a jutting headland by the shore of the fruitless sea, seeming like a stripling in the first flush of manhood. 

tohubohu : noun: Chaos; confusion.
; "Our problem is tohubohu. Our industry is drowning in it. But
somehow, even with all the confusion and disorder, we manage
to develop systems."
Jerrold Grochow; Take a Little Tohubohu Off the Top; Software
Magazine (Englewood, Colorado); Nov 1995.


See more usage examples of tohubohu in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Euphemism is a euphemism for lying. -Bobbie Gentry, singer and songwriter (b. 27 Jul 1944)


	*****July 29, 2015*****
accouterment : personal clothing, accessories, etc; 
They harbored aged feather boas, shoes of all sizes and styles, all the accouterment of great high school drama.
Traci DePree, Dandelions in a Jelly Jar, 2004

Caveat :   n. 1. A warning or proviso: something said as a warning, caution, or qualification. "The agreement contains the usual caveats." 

Pachyderm : an elephant; "The archetypal Seuss hero … was Horton, a conscientious pachyderm who was duped by a lazy bird into sitting on her egg." - Eric Pace, New York Times, September 26, 1991

flunky : (noun) A person of unquestioning obedience.; stooge, yes-man; I liked the play, but I felt that the character of Joe was too much of a flunky, always trying to please Roger and never standing up for himself. 

behemoth : noun:
1. A huge or monstrous creature.
2. Something large and powerful, as an organization.
; "The fears were plenty: that customers would end up paying more for declining
service; that the industry behemoth would use its heft to stifle competition."
Emily Steel, et al; Comcast Is Said to Abandon Bid for Major Rival; The New
York Times; Apr 24, 2015.


See more usage examples of behemoth in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste. -Marcel Duchamp, artist (28 Jul 1887-1968)


	*****July 30, 2015*****
saxicoline : living or growing among rocks; 
Although possibly in error about the pervasiveness of its habits, Ridgway did make some sound ecological generalizations about the composition of the saxicoline nesting community in which the Violet-green can be found.
Fred A. Ryser, Birds of the Great Basin, 1985

Attenuate :   v. 1. To reduce in force, value, amount, or degree; weaken: "The layoffs attenuated the company's sales forecast." 

Indomitable : incapable of being subdued or conquered; The memorial celebrates the indomitable spirit of the pioneers who ventured forth in search of a new life.  

gastropod : (noun) Any of various mollusks of the class Gastropoda, such as the snail, slug, cowrie, or limpet, characteristically having a single, usually coiled shell or no shell at all, a ventral muscular foot for locomotion, and eyes and feelers located on a distinct head.; univalve; The sound of a shell crushing beneath his foot told him that he had just caused a gastropod's demise. 

leviathan : noun: Something large and powerful.
; "A merger between the two firms, which both belong to London's Magic
Circle of top five law firms, would have created a legal leviathan
with 950 partners and more than 10,000 staff."
Liz Chong; Partners Quit; The Times (London, UK); Aug 1, 2006.


See more usage examples of leviathan in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers. -Robert Quillen, journalist and cartoonist (1887-1948)


	*****July 31, 2015*****
olio : a mixture of heterogeneous elements; hodgepodge; 
I say an olio, my Lords, such an olio as never appeared before upon a table in Japan — by the Lord, it cost me fifty obans; and I had not time to taste a morsel.
Tobias Smollett, The History and Adventures of an Atom, 1749

Solicitous :   adj. 1. Marked by or given to anxious care and often hovering attentiveness. 2. Extremely careful; meticulous: "solicitous in matters of behavior." 3. Anxious or concerned: "a solicitous parent." 

Grandiloquence : the use of lofty words or phrases; The grandiloquence of the columnist's writing gave him a reputation as a blowhard, but his opinions were deep and carefully considered. 

tegument : (noun) A natural outer covering; an integument.; skin, cutis; When it became apparent that the burn victim would need a skin graft, the doctors decided to use tegument from his thigh. 

manna : noun: An unexpected help, benefit, or advantage.
; "The people, also, must accept this new mantra and not expect manna
to fall from the tables of their representatives in the government."
Are Nigerians Ready for the Real 'Change'?; The Sun (Lagos, Nigeria);
Apr 22, 2015.


See more usage examples of manna in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business. -Henry Ford, industrialist (30 Jul 1863-1947)


	*****August 01, 2015*****
saurian : resembling a lizard; 
The one trait linking him with the actual was the fixity with which his small saurian eye held the pocket that, as I entered, had yielded a lira to the gatekeeper's child.
Edith Wharton, Crucial Instances, 1901

Cornucopia :   n. A large amount of something; a great supply, an abundance: "A cornucopia of employment opportunities." 

Vilify : to utter harsh and critical things about; Janet's angry letter chastised members of the media for vilifying her brother, the disgraced ex-councilman.

ophthalmologist : (noun) A medical doctor specializing in the treatment of diseases of the eye.; oculist, eye doctor; The ophthalmologist asked the patient to read letters off of a chart posted across the room. 

gehenna : noun:
1. Hell.
2. Any place of extreme torture or suffering.
; "We lived peacefully and happily, but now our house has turned into a Gehenna."
Isaac Metzker; A Bintel Brief; Doubleday; 1971.

"Just as I was preparing to set the back deck on fire to get some warmth
in the house, all Gehenna broke loose on the news."
Today's Advice; Kennebec Journal (Augusta, Maine); Feb 9, 2013.


See more usage examples of gehenna in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Trust is the first step to love. -Munshi Premchand, novelist and poet (31 Jul 1880-1936)


	*****August 02, 2015*****
noctambulous : of, relating to, or given to sleepwalking; 
Her noctabulous habits often brought her into contact with the local police and sometimes with His Worship Signor Malipizzo.
Norman Douglas, South Wind, 1917

Apathetic :   adj. 1. Feeling or showing little or no emotion; unresponsive. 2. Feeling or showing a lack of interest or concern; indifferent. "He seemed very apathetic about the company's closure." 

Skulduggery : secret or dishonest behavior or activity; There was a whiff of skulduggery surrounding the real-estate deal, since the building managed to pass inspection even though everyone knew it wasn't up to code.  

excursus : (noun) A message that departs from the main subject.; digression, divagation, parenthesis, aside; After yet another long excursus on the subject of housecats, the absent-minded professor finally returned to his main point. 

gehenna : noun:
1. Hell.
2. Any place of extreme torture or suffering.
; "We lived peacefully and happily, but now our house has turned into a Gehenna."
Isaac Metzker; A Bintel Brief; Doubleday; 1971.

"Just as I was preparing to set the back deck on fire to get some warmth
in the house, all Gehenna broke loose on the news."
Today's Advice; Kennebec Journal (Augusta, Maine); Feb 9, 2013.


See more usage examples of gehenna in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Trust is the first step to love. -Munshi Premchand, novelist and poet (31 Jul 1880-1936)


	*****August 03, 2015*****
entelechy : a realization or actuality as opposed to a potentiality; 
Something abstruse from Aristotle haunts him, a distinction between the "generally" understood version of entelechy, meaning one's potential, and Aristotle's version, shading over into potential fulfilled.
Paul West, A Fifth of November, 2001

Insidious :   adj. 1. Working or spreading harmfully in a subtle or stealthy manner: insidious rumors; an insidious disease. 2. Beguiling but harmful; alluring: insidious pleasures. 

Brusque : very short and abrupt or harshly blunt; On her first day of work, Diana's new boss gave her only a brusque greeting before showing her the place where she would be working. 

teetotum : (noun) A top, usually having four lettered sides, that is used to play various games of chance.; spinning top, whirligig, top; The boy was thrilled to get a bright red teetotum for his birthday and spent all summer watching it spin. 

gehenna : noun:
1. Hell.
2. Any place of extreme torture or suffering.
; "We lived peacefully and happily, but now our house has turned into a Gehenna."
Isaac Metzker; A Bintel Brief; Doubleday; 1971.

"Just as I was preparing to set the back deck on fire to get some warmth
in the house, all Gehenna broke loose on the news."
Today's Advice; Kennebec Journal (Augusta, Maine); Feb 9, 2013.


See more usage examples of gehenna in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Trust is the first step to love. -Munshi Premchand, novelist and poet (31 Jul 1880-1936)


	*****August 04, 2015*****
boomlet : a brief increase, as in business activity or political popularity...; 
Given its bookish appeal, it’s perhaps no surprise that “Mad Men” has sparked a publishing boomlet of its own.
Meredith Blake, "The Exchange: Natasha Vargas-Cooper on 'Mad Men,'" The New Yorker, July 21, 2010

Prognosticate :   tr.v. To predict according to present indications or signs; foretell. "The armchair quarterback tried to prognosticate the play from his recliner." 

Doppelgänger : someone who looks like someone else; Throughout the movie, the main character is frequently mistaken for someone else, and the plot thickens when this doppelgänger turns out to be a wanted criminal.

harmonium : (noun) An organlike keyboard instrument that produces tones with free metal reeds actuated by air forced from a bellows.; reed organ; She had played the harmonium for years, but her arthritic fingers could no longer master the keys. 

micturate : verb intr.: To urinate.
; "Michael Owen, formerly a soccer player, will not spend a penny
unnecessarily. 'Don't care how much I'm bursting,' he tweets, 'I refuse
to pay 20p to have a wee at a train station.'
One applauds his thriftiness while simultaneously wondering what he does
in the circumstances to relieve himself. One also wonders when he found
himself in this frightful situation. When last I needed to micturate on
railway premises, the going rate was an inflation-busting, wallet-hammering
30p."
Alan Taylor; How Would Rabbie Burns Vote in the Referendum?; Sunday Herald
(Glasgow, Scotland); Feb 9, 2014.


See more usage examples of micturate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The world is changed not by the self-regarding, but by men and women prepared to make fools of themselves. -P.D. James, novelist (3 Aug 1920-2014)


	*****August 05, 2015*****
argonaut : (sometimes initial capital letter) a person in quest of something..; 
In that era before we could carry on deep conversations about the virtues of Humboldt Fog versus Pleasant Ridge Reserve cheese, the newsletter was a gourmand’s playground—and an argonaut’s, too. Ari Weinzweig, the author and one of the deli owners, spanned the globe finding unusual and delicious victuals—and the newsletter was packed with culinary stories and histories.
Michael Paterniti, "An American Man's Quest to Become an Old Castilian," New York Times, August 1, 2013

Axiom :   n. 1. An established rule, principle, or law. 2. A self-evident or universally recognized truth; a maxim. 3. A self-evident principle or one that is accepted as true without proof as the basis for argument. 

Infrangible : unbreakable or not to be violated; He declared firmly that he lived his life by a set of infrangible ethical principles.

twelvemonth : (noun) A year.; year; But wilt thou not give me another twelvemonth to pay my debt? 

osculate : verb tr.: To kiss.
verb intr.: To touch or to bring together.
; "Angrat enjoyed the rest of their day in the swamp, as Beneficent grabbed
one frog after another and eagerly osculated each amphibian on its little
froggy nose.
As always, Angrat marveled at her sister's eagerness to embrace any tall
tale. Nothing came out of the smooches."
D.E. Park; Unwashed Fiction; Lulu Press; 2015.


See more usage examples of osculate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Ah! what a divine religion might be found out if charity were really made the principle of it instead of faith. -Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet (4 Aug 1792-1822)


	*****August 06, 2015*****
twitterpated : Informal. excited or overcome by romantic feelings; smitten; 
A major rite of passage in this pastoral Bildungsroman is the "Twitterpated" sequence where Bambi, Flower, and Thumper learn about springtime mating and the necessity to avoid it from Friend Owl…, who warns them: "nearly everyone gets twitterpated in the spring time."
Kirsten Moana Thompson, edited by Cynthia Lucia, Roy Grundmann, and Art Simon, "Classical Cel Animation, World War II, and Bambi," The Wiley-Blackwell History of American Film, 2012

Attrition :   n. 1. A gradual, natural reduction in membership or personnel, as through retirement, resignation, or death. 2. A gradual diminution in number or strength. "The company's attrition rate was quite high." 

Hermitage : a secluded residence or private retreat; "At a Catholic hermitage near Lac Saint-Jean, the Franciscan Capuchin friar Sylvain Richer told me he grew up saying 'Beam me up, Scotty.'" - Associated Press, June 29, 2015

fancier : (noun) A person having a strong liking for something.; enthusiast; I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a better grown goose. 

regurgitate : verb tr.:
1. To bring up undigested food through the mouth.
2. To repeat something without understanding it.
; "Ms Kendall appears to have swallowed this argument whole and regurgitated
it in ill-digested chunks."
Silence of the Lambs; The Times (London, UK); Jul 27, 2015.


See more usage examples of regurgitate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Every government has as much of a duty to avoid war as a ship's captain has to avoid a shipwreck. -Guy de Maupassant, short story writer and novelist (5 Aug 1850-1893)


	*****August 07, 2015*****
polysemy : diversity of meanings; 
The results of my grim-faced, slash-and-burn treks through the “polysemy” of canonical texts were infinitely duller and cruder than any of my naïve high school efforts to figure out what authors actually meant.
Zoë Heller, "Should an Author's Intentions Matter?" New York Times, March 10, 2015

Tempestuous :   adj. Tumultuous; stormy: "A tempestuous relationship." 

Titanic : having great magnitude, force, or power; The slugger launched a titanic home run that landed in the parking lot beyond the stadium's center-field wall. 

pileus : (noun) The umbrellalike fruiting structure forming the top of a stalked fleshy fungus, such as a mushroom; the cap.; cap; The recipe instructs the chef to separate the pileus from the stalk, presumably because the former adds more flavor to the dish. 

masticate : verb tr., intr.:
1. To chew.
2. To reduce to pulp by crushing and grinding.
; "Don't chew with mouth open: Thy beauty causeth every head to turn.
Thy comeliness could launch a thousand ships.
But suitors will be few till thou dost learn
To masticate with firmly closed lips. (Nan Reiner, Alexandria)"
Pat Myers; Rhymes & Misdemeanors; The Washington Post; Jun 14, 2015.

"Ansari helpfully masticates their findings down for a general audience."
Helen Lewis; Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari review; The Guardian (London,
UK); Jun 4, 2015.


See more usage examples of masticate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: There are none so sour as those who are sweet to order. -Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues, essayist (6 Aug 1715-1747)


	*****August 08, 2015*****
chiliad : a group of 1000; 
In 1811 Chernac's Cribrum Arithmeticum was published, to the great joy of Gauss, who states that, although he had not sufficient patience for a continuous enumeration of the whole million, he often employed unoccupied quarters of an hour in counting here and there a chiliad.
J. W. L. Glaisher, "Preliminary account of an enumeration of the primes in Burckhardt's tables," Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, October 23 1876—May 17, 1880

Enervate :   tr.v. 1. To weaken or destroy the strength or vitality. 2. Lacking physical, mental, or moral vigor. "Prolonged exposure to the sun and dehydration enervated the desert racing team." 

Euphemism : a pleasant word used for an unpleasant one; Aunt Helen would never say that someone had "died"; she preferred to communicate the unpleasant news with euphemisms like "passed on."

bezant : (noun) A gold coin of the Byzantine Empire; widely circulated in Europe in the Middle Ages.; solidus; The gold coin I found on my archaeology dig turned out to be an authentic bezant. 

exungulate : verb tr.: To pare nails, claws, etc.
; "Pets mimic their owners; Fred [the dog] is very protective. A few days
after me and Jordana had done the dirty for the first time, he swiped
me across the ear. I would like to exungulate Fred."
Joe Dunthorne; Submarine: A Novel; Random House; 2008. 

Thought For The Day: It's a shallow life that doesn't give a person a few scars. -Garrison Keillor, radio host and author (b. 7 Aug 1942)


	*****August 09, 2015*****
ballyhoo : a clamorous and vigorous attempt to win customers or advance any ..; 
The invasion of ballyhoo commenced in the spring of 1931, when a purchase of somewhat spectacular nature—that of the strange objects and inexplicably preserved bodies found in crypts beneath the almost vanished and evilly famous ruins of Chateau Faussesflammes, in Averoigne, France—brought the museum prominently into the news columns.
H. P. Lovecraft and Hazel Heald, "Out of the Aeons," Weird Tales, April 1935

Aesthetic(s) :   adj. 1. Of or concerning the appreciation of beauty or good taste. 2. Characterized by a heightened sensitivity to beauty. "The aesthetic design of the building is amazing!" 

Abstain : to refrain deliberately; The nurse advised Jacob to abstain from alcohol while he was on the medication. 

luminary : (noun) A person who is an inspiration to others.; notable, guiding light, leading light, notability; He is considered a luminary in his field, due to the groundbreaking research he has published. 

exungulate : verb tr.: To pare nails, claws, etc.
; "Pets mimic their owners; Fred [the dog] is very protective. A few days
after me and Jordana had done the dirty for the first time, he swiped
me across the ear. I would like to exungulate Fred."
Joe Dunthorne; Submarine: A Novel; Random House; 2008. 

Thought For The Day: It's a shallow life that doesn't give a person a few scars. -Garrison Keillor, radio host and author (b. 7 Aug 1942)


	*****August 10, 2015*****
atrabilious : gloomy; morose; melancholy; morbid; 
It was remarked by Aristotle, who was a long way the shrewdest and most scientific observer of antiquity, that all men of genius have been melancholic or atrabilious.
James Sully, "Genius and Insanity," The Popular Science Monthly, August 1885

Nocturnal :   adj. Occurring or coming out at night: "A nocturnal lifestyle." 

Pseudonym : a fictitious name especially a pen name; Instead of using his real name, Edward signed his letter to the editor with the pseudonym "Jack Cramer."  

artifice : (noun) A deceptive maneuver, especially to avoid capture.; ruse; What could the bewildered scouts do, masters as they were of every war-like artifice save this one, but trot helplessly after him, exposing themselves fatally to view. 

exungulate : verb tr.: To pare nails, claws, etc.
; "Pets mimic their owners; Fred [the dog] is very protective. A few days
after me and Jordana had done the dirty for the first time, he swiped
me across the ear. I would like to exungulate Fred."
Joe Dunthorne; Submarine: A Novel; Random House; 2008. 

Thought For The Day: It's a shallow life that doesn't give a person a few scars. -Garrison Keillor, radio host and author (b. 7 Aug 1942)


	*****August 11, 2015*****
mondegreen : a misinterpretation of a word or phrase that has been heard, es..; 
One of the reasons that “Excuse me while I kiss this guy” substituted for Jimi Hendrix’s “Excuse me while I kiss the sky” remains one of the most widely reported mondegreens of all time can be explained in part by frequency. It’s much more common to hear of people kissing guys than skies.
Maria Konnikova, "Excuse Me While I Kiss This Guy," The New Yorker, December 10, 2014

Gothic :   adj.  1. Relating to an architectural style reflecting the influence of the medieval Gothic. 2. Relating to a style of fiction characterized by the use of desolate or remote settings and macabre, mysterious, or violent incidents. 

Multifarious : of many and various kinds; John listed his multifarious interests and activities on his college application.

agendum : (noun) Something to be done, especially an item on a program or list.; order of business; It was getting late, so the members of the board decided to leave the last agendum for the next meeting. 

saturnalia : noun: A time of unrestrained revelry.
; "It is a sort of holiday, a saturnalia, a time of licence when restrictions
on liberty can be cast aside."
Allan Massie; Rioters Just Want Excitement -- and New Trainers; The Scotsman
(Edinburgh, Scotland); Aug 10, 2011.


See more usage examples of saturnalia in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I like the pluralism of modernity; it doesn't threaten me or my faith. And if one's faith is dependent on being reinforced in every aspect of other people's lives, then it is a rather insecure faith, don't you think? -Andrew Sullivan, author and editor (b. 10 Aug 1963)


	*****August 12, 2015*****
psephology : the study of elections; 
Apart from his interest in Latin American psephology, McGregor didn't go a bundle on possessions: no books, no television, no hi-fi, no deck of cards and a radio which either didn't work or that he couldn't get to work.
Tibor Fischer, "Fifty Uselessnesses," Don't Read This Book If You're Stupid, 2000

Erudite :   adj. Deep, extensive learning. "He has a reputation as an erudite intellectual with a deep understanding of the issues." 

Zydeco : popular music of southern Louisiana; The restaurant, with architecture that looks like it's straight from the French quarter of New Orleans, features authentic Cajun cuisine and live zydeco music.

necrology : (noun) A notice of someone's death; usually includes a short biography.; obituary; She dreamed of being a famous news reporter, but for years, she was stuck writing necrologies at the local paper. 

meteoric : adjective:
1. Relating to a meteor or a meteorite.
2. Resembling a meteor in speed, brilliance, suddenness, or transience.
3. Coming from the atmosphere (used to describe water); meteorological.
; "Despite his meteoric climb up the corporate ladder, there was something
missing for Anderson."
Brad Davidson; Gamble of His Life; The Gold Coast Bulletin (Southport,
Australia); Jul 11, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: In the presence of eternity, the mountains are as transient as the clouds. -Robert Green Ingersoll, lawyer and orator (11 Aug 1833-1899)


	*****August 13, 2015*****
mellifluous : sweetly or smoothly flowing; sweet-sounding: a mellifluous voi..; 
"This is my missionary preacher meets Clint Eastwood look,” she says, in a rolling Welsh burr so soothing, so mellifluous, that if the world were ending I think hers should be the voice breaking the news on the airwaves and playing us out with a redemptive blast of Dunvant Male Voice Choir.
Judith Woods, "I'm low maintenance. Life isn't about possessions," The Telegraph, July 6, 2015

Impugn :   tr.v. To attack as false or questionable; challenge in argument: "To impugn a political opponent's record." 

Kindred : similar or of the same ancestry; Jessica found a kindred songwriting spirit in Brigid, and soon the two women were collaborating on a new album. 

carrefour : (noun) A junction where one street or road crosses another.; crossroad, crossway, intersection, crossing; When his jalopy broke down right in the middle of a busy carrefour, he swore he would invest in a more reliable car. 

venery : noun:
1. The practice or pursuit of sexual pleasure.
2. Hunting.
; "Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness,
weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation."
Benjamin Franklin; The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin; J. Parsons; 1793.

"In those days true dedication to venery meant having your own hunting pack."
Philip Bowern; Hunting the Hills of Devon; The Western Morning News
(Plymouth, UK); Dec 17, 2012.


See more usage examples of venery in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I hate with a murderous hatred those men who, having lived their youth, would send into war other youth, not lived, unfulfilled, to fight and die for them; the pride and cowardice of those old men, making their wars that boys must die. -Mary Roberts Rinehart, novelist (12 Aug 1876-1958)


	*****August 14, 2015*****
ambisinister : clumsy or unskillful with both hands; 
Professor Fischer says that the reserve physicians "Were surgically ambisinister, medically at the zero point, and lacking in discipline, military skill and temperance."
, "Sanitary Service in the Russo-Japanese War," The Military Surgeon, January, 1914

Dexterous :   adj.  Skillful in the use of the hands. Having mental skill or adroitness; clever. Done with dexterity. "A dexterous wood craftsman." 

Contumely : contemptuous language or treatment; Deeply hurt by the contumely directed at her, Charlotte burst into tears and ran out of the room.

vendee : (noun) One to whom something is sold; a buyer.; emptor, purchaser, buyer; There were three vendees from three different companies at the auction, and each hoped to acquire the same valuable item. 

tellurian : adjective: Relating to or inhabiting Earth.
noun: An inhabitant of Earth.
; "Life without him was less imaginable than a tellurian's camping-tent
on a mountain in the moon."
Vladimir Nabokov; The Real Life of Sebastian Knight; New Directions
Publishers; 1941.

"We Tellurians, or Earth-dwellers, have always wondered about the
existence of life on other worlds."
Howard Williams; Book Briefs; The Press (Christchurch, New Zealand);
Sep 29, 2007.


See more usage examples of tellurian in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The Supreme Ethical Rule: Act so as to elicit the best in others and thereby in thyself. -Felix Adler, professor, lecturer, and reformer (13 Aug 1851-1933)


	*****August 15, 2015*****
burble : to speak in an excited manner; babble; 
He didn't tell us much, but he burbled with a certain eccentric charm.
Gyles Brandreth, Breaking the Code: Westminster Diaries, 1999

Eccentric :   adj.  1. Departing from a recognized, conventional, or established norm or pattern. 2. n. One that deviates markedly from an established norm, especially a person of odd or unconventional behavior. "His eccentricities now extend to never leaving his home." 

Quaggy : marshy or flabby; "Today is the opening of 'Expedition Alaska: Dinosaurs,' the latest installation at the museum chronicling the reptilian behemoths-and even the little ones, too-that once spanned the state from the frozen North Slope to the quaggy Southeast." - Gary Black, Newsminer.com (Fairbanks, Alaska), May 23, 2015 

amphetamine : (noun) A central nervous system stimulant that increases energy and decreases appetite; used to treat narcolepsy and some forms of depression.; pep pill, upper, speed; The doctor prescribed amphetamines to stimulate the narcoleptic patient's nervous system so that he would be less likely to unexpectedly fall asleep. 

constellate : verb tr., intr.: To gather or form a cluster.
; "These [men] are constellated round a centrally placed, red-sheeted
double bed that acts as a kind of stage-within-a-stage."
Paul Taylor; Tis Pity ...; The Independent (London, UK); Feb 24, 2012.


See more usage examples of constellate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: By the age of six the average child will have completed the basic American education. ... From television, the child will have learned how to pick a lock, commit a fairly elaborate bank holdup, prevent wetness all day long, get the laundry twice as white, and kill people with a variety of sophisticated armaments. -Russell Baker, columnist and author (b. 14 Aug 1925)


	*****August 16, 2015*****
heliolatry : worship of the sun; 
In Ireland, too, it can be shown that heliolatry persisted from prehistoric times until long after the introduction of Christianity, and was even blended with Christianity.
Roger Sherman Loomis, Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance, 1927

Monolithic :   adj. 1. Massive, solid, and uniform: "The monolithic cathedral." 2. Large and unchanging: massive, uniform in character, and slow to change. 

Lodestone : something that strongly attracts; "The Miami thoroughfare formally known as Southwest Eighth Street is the heart of Little Havana. It's the next-best-thing to visiting Cuba for many Americans, the lodestone of the large Cuban-American community that settled in Miami in waves after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution." - John Borsden, Charlotte News & Observer, June 13, 2015

veiling : (noun) Sheer material, such as gauze or fine lace, used for veils.; netting, gauze; The seamstress attached a lace trim to the veiling, so that it would match the bride's dress. 

constellate : verb tr., intr.: To gather or form a cluster.
; "These [men] are constellated round a centrally placed, red-sheeted
double bed that acts as a kind of stage-within-a-stage."
Paul Taylor; Tis Pity ...; The Independent (London, UK); Feb 24, 2012.


See more usage examples of constellate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: By the age of six the average child will have completed the basic American education. ... From television, the child will have learned how to pick a lock, commit a fairly elaborate bank holdup, prevent wetness all day long, get the laundry twice as white, and kill people with a variety of sophisticated armaments. -Russell Baker, columnist and author (b. 14 Aug 1925)


	*****August 17, 2015*****
auroral : of or like the dawn; 
There was not in all that vanished October one day that did not come in with auroral splendour and go out attended by a fair galaxy of evening stars—not a day when there were not golden lights in the wide pastures and purple hazes in the ripened distances.
Lucy Maud Montgomery, The Golden Road, 1913

Eponym :   n. A person whose name is or is thought to be the source of the name of something, such as a city or country. "George Washington is the eponym of Washington DC." 

Shill : to act as a decoy or spokesperson; A long line of A-list actresses have shilled for the company's perfumes over the decades.

enchiridion : (noun) A concise reference book providing specific information about a subject or location.; handbook, vade mecum; Over the years, the prisoner had spent time memorizing every enchiridion he could find and had become a virtual encyclopedia of knowledge. 

constellate : verb tr., intr.: To gather or form a cluster.
; "These [men] are constellated round a centrally placed, red-sheeted
double bed that acts as a kind of stage-within-a-stage."
Paul Taylor; Tis Pity ...; The Independent (London, UK); Feb 24, 2012.


See more usage examples of constellate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: By the age of six the average child will have completed the basic American education. ... From television, the child will have learned how to pick a lock, commit a fairly elaborate bank holdup, prevent wetness all day long, get the laundry twice as white, and kill people with a variety of sophisticated armaments. -Russell Baker, columnist and author (b. 14 Aug 1925)


	*****August 18, 2015*****
brickbat : an unkind or unfavorable remark; caustic criticism: The critics g..; 
Arthur J. Goldberg was greeted by many bouquets and a single brickbat today as he pledged to serve fairly and without bias as a Supreme Court Justice.
, "Goldberg Is Hailed by Senators; Promises to Be Fair as a Jusice," New York Times, September 12, 1962

Clandestine :   adj. 1. Kept or done in secret, often in order to conceal an illicit or improper purpose. "The CIA maintains clandestine operations in many countries." 

Refractory : resistant or stubborn; "In patients with severe asthma that is refractory to standard treatment, intravenous magnesium sulfate is widely used…." - Stephen C. Lazarus, M.D., New England Journal of Medicine, August 19, 2010

pettifogger : (noun) A petty, quibbling, unscrupulous lawyer.; shyster; He was by all accounts a pettifogger, and judges dreaded having him appear in their courtrooms. 

ad hoc : adverb, adjective: For a particular purpose only (as opposed to a wider application); impromptu.
; "He said any changes to the national anthem must be properly approved by
the Government; not done ad hoc by an events committee."
Church Unhappy with Change; Papua New Guinea Post-Courier (Port Moresby);
Jul 8, 2015.


See more usage examples of ad hoc in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The real secret is why love starts out with claws like a cat and then fades with time like a half-eaten mouse. -Herta Müller, novelist, poet, Nobel laureate (b. 17 Aug 1953)


	*****August 19, 2015*****
festinate : to hurry; hasten; 
Move—move—move! Put some order on things! Come on, Sarah—hide that bucket. Whose are these slates? Somebody take these dishes away. Festinate! Festinate!
Brian Friel, Translations, 1980

Diatribe :   n. 1. A bitter, sharply abusive denunciation, attack, or criticism: "Repeated diatribes against the candidates." 

Jog Trot : a routine habit or a horse's slow trot; The weekly Friday-night dances provided the townsfolk with a few hours of respite from the jog trot of life.

aviary : (noun) A large enclosure for holding birds in confinement.; volary, bird sanctuary; We visited the aviary to see the exotic birds advertised in the brochure. 

wherewith : adverb: With which.
pronoun: The thing(s) with which.
conjunction: By means of which.
; "When a brilliant student completes his work ahead of schedule, he is
granted an award of time and means wherewith he may execute some pet
project of his own devising."
The Urantia Book; Urantia; 1955. 

Thought For The Day: Dreams heed no borders, the eyes need no visas. With eyes shut I walk across the line in time. All the time. -Gulzar, poet, lyricist, and film director (b. 18 Aug 1934)

 

   



   
   
		
			
				


A.Word.A.Day by email:

	*****August 20, 2015*****
eleemosynary : of or relating to alms, charity, or charitable donations; cha..; 
An author ought to consider himself, not as a gentleman who gives a private or eleemosynary treat, but rather as one who keeps a public ordinary, at which all persons are welcome for their money.
Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, 1749

Cavernous :   adj. Resembling a cavern, as in depth, vastness, or effect: a cavernous hole; cavernous echoes. 

Exculpatory : serving to clear from fault or guilt; The DNA found at the crime scene proved to be exculpatory; it did not match that of the defendant, and so he was acquitted. 

pyrite : (noun) A brass-colored mineral, FeS2, occurring widely and used as an iron ore and in producing sulfur dioxide for sulfuric acid.; fool's gold; The children thought the gleaming bits of metal they had found were gold, and their nurse refrained from telling them they were simply flecks of pyrite. 

inter alia : adverb: Among other things.
; "Gary Lineker is chatting to the second in line to the throne as his
interviewee is, inter alia, president of the FA [The Football
Association]."
Rachel Johnson; Now Try Calling Kate Your 'Current Wife', William...;
Mail on Sunday (London, UK); May 31, 2015.


See more usage examples of inter_alia in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The door of a bigoted mind opens outwards so that the only result of the pressure of facts upon it is to close it more snugly. -Ogden Nash, poet (19 Aug 1902-1971)


	*****August 21, 2015*****
beatify : to make blissfully happy; 
In spite of his infirmities, in spite of his sufferings, in spite of his obscurity, he was the happiest man alive… For certainly it is natural that the love of light, which is already in some measure, the possession of light, should irradiate and beatify the whole life of him who has it.
Matthew Arnold, "Joubert," Essays in Criticism, 1865

Homogeneous :   adj. 1. Uniform in structure or composition. 2. Of the same or similar nature or kind: "The corporation maintains tight-knit, homogeneous board members." 

Obeisance : homage or a bow made to show respect; "They took their hats off and made obeisance and many signs, which however, I could not understand any more than I could their spoken language …" - Bram Stoker, Dracula, 1897

sectionalism : (noun) Excessive devotion to local interests and customs.; provincialism, localism; He believes that Manhattan is the center of the universe, and his sectionalism is so acute that he is reluctant to visit friends in Brooklyn. 

athwart : adverb, preposition: From side to side of; across; against.
; "He shuffled athwart, keeping one eye ahead vigilantly."
Joseph Conrad; Heart of Darkness; Blackwood's Magazine; 1899.


See more usage examples of athwart in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day; I'd rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way. -Edgar Guest, poet (20 Aug 1881-1959)


	*****August 22, 2015*****
laconic : using few words; expressing much in few words; concise: a laconic ..; 
Veni, vidi, vici: I came, I saw, I conquered… They were the three laconic words Caesar used to describe what happened when he finally met King Pharnaces of Pontus.
Margaret George, The Memoirs of Cleopatra, 1997

Ignominious :   adj. Deserving or causing public disgrace or shame; humiliating: "An ignominious defeat." 

Beholden : indebted; "I am thankful for myself, at any rate, that I can find my tiny way through the world, without being beholden to anyone…." - Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, 1850

pastille : (noun) A medicated lozenge used to soothe the throat.; troche, cough drop; She believed that pastilles and lozenges were no better for a sore throat than regular hard candy. 

pro rata : adverb: Proportionally.
adjective: Proportional.
; "The distribution would be pro rata on length of service."
Dennis Conroy; The Cairo Connection; Trafford; 2005.


See more usage examples of pro rata in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen. -Aristotle, philosopher (384-322 BCE)


	*****August 23, 2015*****
mnemonic : something intended to assist the memory, as a verse or formula; 
When Pluto was demoted from planethood, the trusty mnemonic “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas” had to be retooled.
, "My Very Educated Readers Just Served Us Some New Planet Mnemonics," New York Times, January 26, 2015

Temerity :   n. Excessive confidence or boldness; audacity: "No one had the temerity to question her decision." 

Netiquette : etiquette for Internet communication; "It's good netiquette to link to the article from which you borrow and to name your source." - John D. Farmer, Richmond (Virginia) Times Dispatch, May 30, 2011

sheepcote : (noun) A pen for sheep.; fold, sheep pen; It was the second time in a month that a predator had managed to tear through the sheepcote's wire. 

pro rata : adverb: Proportionally.
adjective: Proportional.
; "The distribution would be pro rata on length of service."
Dennis Conroy; The Cairo Connection; Trafford; 2005.


See more usage examples of pro rata in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen. -Aristotle, philosopher (384-322 BCE)


	*****August 24, 2015*****
quiddity : the quality that makes a thing what it is; the essential nature o..; 
If, argues he, we could only find out exactly what humour is 'in its quiddity,' we could keep ourselves humorous, or at any rate bring up our children to be so.
Henry Duff Traill, "The Future of Humour," The New Fiction, 1897

Colloquialism :   n. 1. An informal word or phrase that is more common in conversation than in formal speech or writing. Colloquialisms can include words such as "gonna" and phrases such as "ain't nothin'" and "dead as a doornail." 

August : marked by majestic  dignity or grandeur; "But a great deal of life goes on without strong passion: myriads of cravats are carefully tied, dinners attended, even speeches made proposing the health of august personages without the zest arising from a strong desire." - George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, 1876

costermonger : (noun) One who sells fruit, vegetables, fish, or other goods from a cart, barrow, or stand in the streets.; barrow-man; Too far, in fancy, above the rest of mankind to trouble about their petty distinctions, he is equally at home with duke or costermonger. 

pro rata : adverb: Proportionally.
adjective: Proportional.
; "The distribution would be pro rata on length of service."
Dennis Conroy; The Cairo Connection; Trafford; 2005.


See more usage examples of pro rata in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen. -Aristotle, philosopher (384-322 BCE)


	*****August 25, 2015*****
lachrymose : given to shedding tears readily; tearful; 
I suppose Catherine fulfilled her project, for the next sentence took up another subject: she waxed lachrymose. "How little did I dream that Hindley would ever make me cry so!" she wrote.
Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, 1847

Egalitarian :   adj. Affirming, promoting, or characterized by belief in equal political, economic, social, and civil rights for all people. 

Cannibalize : to take usable parts from; The company is risking cannibalizing sales of its flagship truck with this impressive-and less expensive-new model.

cembalo : (noun) A clavier with strings that are plucked by plectra mounted on pivots.; harpsichord; Although the piano is a more versatile instrument with a greater range, some musicians still enjoy playing the cembalo for its distinct sound. 

Lorelei : noun: A dangerously seductive woman.
; "In fact, Peter the Publican's daughter is his Lorelei, enticing customers
into his establishment, then flirting brazenly just to keep them drinking."
Michael Dirda; These Dead Men Don't Just Tell Tales, They Quarrel. A Lot;
The Washington Post; Apr 9, 2015.


See more usage examples of Lorelei in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: To fall in love is to create a religion that has a fallible god. -Jorge Luis Borges, writer (24 Aug 1899-1986)


	*****August 26, 2015*****
xeriscaping : environmental design of residential and park land using variou..; 
The homes were big, and all three looked exactly alike: sand-colored stucco, red, Mexican-tile roofs, natural desert xeriscaping in the front, and backyards with peanut-shaped pools enclosed by black wrought-iron fences.
Mark Jude Poirier, "Cul-de-sacs," Naked Pueblo, 1999

Bloviate :   i.v. To speak or write at length in a pompous or boastful manner. 

Grog : an alcoholic drink often cut with water; The reviewer praised the restaurant for serving an eclectic range of beers and wines and not just any old grog.

oenophile : (noun) A connoisseur of fine wines.; wine lover; The oenophile was heartbroken when months of heavy rain ruined a particularly promising grape harvest. 

Paul Pry : noun An excessively inquisitive person.
; "You must stop me if I begin to ask too much, or sound like an old Paul Pry."
Molly Gloss; The Jump-Off Creek; Houghton Mifflin; 1989. 

Thought For The Day: We have met the enemy and he is us. -Walt Kelly, cartoonist (25 Aug 1913-1973)


	*****August 27, 2015*****
absquatulate : Slang. to flee; abscond: The old prospector absquatulated wit..; 
He [Mark Twain] has vamosed, cut stick, absquatulated; and among the pine forests of the Sierras, or amid the purlieus of the city of earthquakes, he will tarry awhile…
, "An Exile," Gold Hill Evening News, May 30, 1864

Rhetorical :   adj. Of or relating to rhetoric. Characterized by language that is elaborate, pretentious, insincere, or intellectually vacuous. 

Draconian : cruel or severe; The editorial asserts that a life sentence for any non-violent crime is draconian.

decrepitude : (noun) The quality or condition of being weakened, worn out, impaired, or broken down by old age, illness, or hard use.; dilapidation; Despite his sixty years and snow-white hair, his handshake was firmly hearty, and he showed no signs of decrepitude. 

boycott : verb tr.: To protest by refusing to buy a product or to deal with a person, organization, nation, etc.
noun: The practice or an instance of this.
; "Despite pressure to boycott state elections, voters in the disputed region
of Kashmir are flocking to the polls."
A Shift in the Mountains; The Economist (London, UK); Dec 10, 2014.


See more usage examples of boycott in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: We can pay our debt to the past by putting the future in debt to ourselves. -John Buchan, poet, novelist, and politician (26 Aug 1875-1940)


	*****August 28, 2015*****
protean : readily assuming different forms or characters; extremely variable..; 
A genius for the ages, a man who played wonderful yet, sometimes outrageous changes with art, Pablo Picasso remains without doubt, the most original, the most protean and the most forceful personality in the visual arts in the first three-quarters of this century.
Alden Whitman, "Picasso: Protean and Prodigious, the Greatest Single Force in 70 Years of Art," New York Times, April 9, 1973

Transitory :   adj. 1. Not lasting, enduring, permanent, or eternal. 2.Lasting only a short time; brief; short-lived; temporary. "It was a transitory stage in the actor's career." 

Sycophant : a servile self-seeking flatterer; Rosemary has little use for sycophants in her office, so if you want that promotion, do your best and let your work speak for itself.

polyglot : (noun) A person having a speaking, reading, or writing knowledge of several languages.; linguist; He was a polyglot who spoke nine languages fluently. 

chauvinism : noun: The belief in the superiority of one's country, group, gender, etc.
; "It wasn't some cheap outcrop of chauvinism. It was rather the latest
evidence of sport's ability to unite a people in pride."
James Lawton; Magical Memories of 2012 Olympics; The Independent
(London, UK); Dec 21, 2012.


See more usage examples of chauvinism in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: When you're traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don't have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road. -William Least Heat-Moon, travel writer (b. 27 Aug 1939)


	*****August 29, 2015*****
opprobrious : outrageously disgraceful or shameful: opprobrious conduct; 
"The boy is of an outspoken disposition, and had made an opprobrious remark respecting my personal appearance" "What did he say about your appearance?" "I have forgotten, sir," said Jeeves, with a touch of austerity. "But it was opprobrious…"
P. G. Wodehouse, The Inimitable Jeeves, 1923

Vicarious :   adj. 1. Experienced in the imagination through the feelings or actions of another person: "A vicarious thrill." 2. Acting or done for another: "A vicarious atonement." 

Prevaricate : to deviate from the truth; In Henry Fielding's novel Tom Jones, Squire Allworthy demands of Mr. Dowling, "Do not hesitate nor prevaricate; but answer faithfully and truly to every question I ask."

unwieldy : (adjective) Difficult to carry or manage because of size, shape, weight, or complexity.; unmanageable; She shifted the unwieldy groceries in her arms and looked for an empty shopping cart. 

Lovelace : noun: A seducer; a licentious man.
; "He could not be made to understand that the modern drama of divorce is
sometimes cast without a Lovelace.
'You might as well tell me there was nobody but Adam in the garden when
Eve picked the apple. You say your wife was discontented? No woman ever
knows she's discontented till some man tells her so.'"
Edith Wharton; The Custom of the Country; 1913. 

Thought For The Day: If only the sun-drenched celebrities are being noticed and worshiped, then our children are going to have a tough time seeing the value in the shadows, where the thinkers, probers and scientists are keeping society together. -Rita Dove, poet (b. 28 Aug 1952)


	*****August 30, 2015*****
argy-bargy : Chiefly British. a vigorous discussion or dispute; 
The current argy-bargy over herring fishing seems to bring the whole issue of conservation, national fishing limits, and policing of the seas into perspective.
Brian Gardner, "Don't send a gunboat," New Scientist, July 21, 1977

Assuage :   v. 1. To make milder or less severe; relieve; ease; mitigate: "to assuage one's pain." 2. to appease, satisfy, or relieve: "To assuage one's hunger." 3. to soothe or calm: "To assuage his fears;" "To assuage her anger." 

Testimonial : an expression of appreciation; The contractor's website included a photo gallery of his past work and testimonials from satisfied clients.

petrolatum : (noun) A semi-solid mixture of hydrocarbons obtained from petroleum; used in medicinal ointments and for lubrication.; mineral jelly, petroleum jelly; While her friends bought expensive designer lip balms, she stuck with her grandmother's remedy, a big jar of petrolatum. 

Lovelace : noun: A seducer; a licentious man.
; "He could not be made to understand that the modern drama of divorce is
sometimes cast without a Lovelace.
'You might as well tell me there was nobody but Adam in the garden when
Eve picked the apple. You say your wife was discontented? No woman ever
knows she's discontented till some man tells her so.'"
Edith Wharton; The Custom of the Country; 1913. 

Thought For The Day: If only the sun-drenched celebrities are being noticed and worshiped, then our children are going to have a tough time seeing the value in the shadows, where the thinkers, probers and scientists are keeping society together. -Rita Dove, poet (b. 28 Aug 1952)


	*****August 31, 2015*****
enceinte : pregnant; with child; 
They are places where women who are enceinte are given meals free and no questions are asked.
George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London, 1933

Fastidious :   adj. 1. Very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail. 2. excessively particular, critical, or demanding; hard to please: "A fastidious eater." 3. Very concerned about matters of cleanliness. 

Moot : not certain or not worth talking about; Since the team would have lost anyway, it's a moot point whether the umpire's call was right or not.

nutriment : (noun) A source of nourishment; food.; sustenance, victuals, aliment, nourishment, nutrition; The animals' habitat was destroyed in the storm, and they wandered the ravaged plains searching for nutriment. 

Lovelace : noun: A seducer; a licentious man.
; "He could not be made to understand that the modern drama of divorce is
sometimes cast without a Lovelace.
'You might as well tell me there was nobody but Adam in the garden when
Eve picked the apple. You say your wife was discontented? No woman ever
knows she's discontented till some man tells her so.'"
Edith Wharton; The Custom of the Country; 1913. 

Thought For The Day: If only the sun-drenched celebrities are being noticed and worshiped, then our children are going to have a tough time seeing the value in the shadows, where the thinkers, probers and scientists are keeping society together. -Rita Dove, poet (b. 28 Aug 1952)


	*****September 01, 2015*****
helix : a spiral; 
What Wilkins described on that occasion was evidence he had obtained which suggested that DNA had the form of a helix, rather like a spiral staircase.
Jim Holt, "Photo Finish," The New Yorker, October 28, 2002

Juxtapose :   tr.v. 1. To place side by side, especially for comparison or contrast. "The exhibition juxtaposes Picasso's early drawings with some of his later works." 

Vaudeville : stage entertainment with various acts; Andrew's interest in vaudeville can be traced to his grandparents, who met as performers in the 1920s.

avidity : (noun) Keen interest or enthusiasm.; eagerness, avidness, keenness; A devoted fan, he followed the tennis tournament with avidity. 

fribble : verb intr.: To act in a wasteful or frivolous manner.
verb tr.: To fritter away.
noun: A wasteful or frivolous person or thing.
; "The Apple Watch will sell like ghost cakes during Halloween, but a year
or so from now, I think sales will fizzle and fribble just like Google's
silly glasses."
Malcolm Berko; Watching Apple's Stock; Creators Syndicate (Los Angeles);
May 27, 2015.

"I skipped the diamonds, the couture 'Minou' sunglasses by Nour and
various other fribbles including uninteresting check shirts by Riflessi."
Richard Edmonds; DVD Reviews; Birmingham Post (UK); Jul 12, 2004. 

Thought For The Day: The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist." -Maria Montessori, educator (31 Aug 1870-1952)


	*****September 02, 2015*****
well-nigh : very nearly; almost: It's well-nigh bedtime; 
I am well-nigh resolved they shall bind me to the court no longer. What can farther service and higher favour give me, beyond the high rank, and large estate which I have already secured?
Sir Walter Scott, Kenilworth, 1821

Alchemy :   n. 1. A power or process of transforming something common into something special. 2. An inexplicable or mysterious process by which paradoxical results are achieved with no obvious rational explanation. 

Rigmarole : meaningless talk or a complex procedure; Rather than go through the annual rigmarole of filling out tax forms, Maureen would rather pay an accountant to do her taxes for her. 

netherworld : (noun) The world of the dead.; Scheol, underworld, Hades, infernal region, Hell; He had nightmares about going to some fiery, haunted netherworld and awoke the next morning vowing to repent. 

belie : verb tr.:
1. To give a false impression: misrepresent.
2. To show to be false: contradict
; "Its grand name [The Great Parchment Book of The Honourable The Irish Society]
belies a sorry state."
Nicola Davis; Not Fade Away; The Observer (London, UK); Jul 5, 2015.


See more usage examples of belie in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: It seems like the less a statesman amounts to the more he adores the flag. -Kin Hubbard, humorist (1 Sep 1868-1930)


	*****September 03, 2015*****
gubernatorial : of or relating to a state governor or the office of state go..; 
Or if he had got into the gubernatorial primary on his own hook, he would have taken a realistic view. But this was different. He had been called. He had been touched. He had been summoned. And he was a little bit awe-struck by the fact.
Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men, 1946

Pundit :   n. 1. Somebody who expresses an opinion: somebody who acts as a critic or authority on a particular subject, especially in the media. "The election results threw the political pundits into confusion." 2. Somebody wise: somebody with knowledge and wisdom. 

Immaculate : perfectly clean or having no flaw; Even a minor scandal has the power to tarnish an immaculate reputation.

nectary : (noun) A glandlike organ, located outside or within a flower, that secretes nectar.; honey gland; Deep in the Amazon, we came across a species of flower sporting a nectary larger than any we had ever seen. 

descry : verb tr.:
1. To catch sight of.
2. To discover or detect.
; "And as for the view of seven states, that turned out to be hogwash;
you can descry only three from Lookout Mountain."
Will Self; On Location; New Statesman (London, UK); Aug 22, 2014.


See more usage examples of descry in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Progressive societies outgrow institutions as children outgrow clothes. -Henry George, economist, journalist, philosopher (2 Sep 1839-1897)


	*****September 04, 2015*****
coincident : happening at the same time; 
And the third element of man is the reflection of his perishable substance in the astral light, coincident with him, but not visible to his earthly eye.
Francis Marion Crawford, Zoroaster, 1885

Vacillate :   v. Alternate or waver between different opinions or actions; be indecisive. "Her tendency to vacillate made her a poor director." 

Bluestocking : a woman having intellectual interests; "The author is a bluestocking, with a weakness for etymology and archaic religious texts…." -Kathryn Harrison, The New York Times Book Review, 21 Dec. 2008

thurible : (noun) A censer used in certain ecclesiastical ceremonies or liturgies.; censer; As the priest swung the thurible, incense poured out the holes in its lid. 

cosset : verb tr.: To pamper.
noun: A pet; a spoiled child.

; "As the youngest of six surviving children, Tom was distinctly cosseted,
especially by his doting mother."
Michael Dirda; T.S. Eliot's American Childhood; The Washington Post; Apr 15, 2015.


See more usage examples of cosset in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Form follows function. -Louis Sullivan, architect (3 Sep 1856-1924)


	*****September 05, 2015*****
ibidem : Latin. in the same book, chapter, page, etc; 
Like bats in caves, there are words which nowadays live almost entirely in the semi-darkness of footnotes. Ibid (short for ibidem) is one, denoting a reference to a work already quoted, a function also performed by op cit (work cited) and its cousin loc cit (much the same).
David McKiein, "Step Forward, All Friends of the Footnote," The Guardian, August 21, 1996

Tenacious :   adj. 1. Not readily letting go of, giving up, or separated from an object that one holds, a position, or a principle: "A tenacious hold." 2. Not easily dispelled or discouraged; persisting in existence or in a course of action: "A tenacious legend." 

Affront : to insult, offend, or confront; The challenge going ahead is to initiate the necessary changes to the organization without making those who established it feel affronted.

ossicle : (noun) A small bone, especially one of the three bones of the middle ear.; bonelet; Because of their distinctive shapes, the ossicles in the ear are called the hammer, the anvil, and the stirrup. 

beleaguer : verb tr.:
1. To surround with troops.
2. To beset with difficulties.
; "Underlying tensions and unresolved issues continue to beleaguer the
Blue Line area."
In Lebanon, UN Official Urges 'Calm, Restraint' Along Blue Line;
Asia News Monitor (Bangkok, Thailand); Feb 19, 2015.


See more usage examples of beleaguer in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The rightness of a thing isn't determined by the amount of courage it takes. -Mary Renault, novelist (4 Sep 1905-1983)


	*****September 06, 2015*****
earwitness : Law. a person who testifies or can testify to what he or she ha..; 
Such is the rather meagre account, as given by one ear-witness, of Patrick Henry's first speech in the Congress of 1774.
Moses Coit Tyler, American Statesmen: Patrick Henry, 1887

Agnostic :   n. A person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena. 

Gargoyle : a rainspout shaped as a grotesque figure; Erin drew a series of hilarious caricatures of her family portrayed as gargoyles. 

diffidence : (noun) The quality or state of being diffident; timidity or shyness.; self-distrust, self-doubt; The youth sat down as directed, but reluctantly and with diffidence. 

beleaguer : verb tr.:
1. To surround with troops.
2. To beset with difficulties.
; "Underlying tensions and unresolved issues continue to beleaguer the
Blue Line area."
In Lebanon, UN Official Urges 'Calm, Restraint' Along Blue Line;
Asia News Monitor (Bangkok, Thailand); Feb 19, 2015.


See more usage examples of beleaguer in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The rightness of a thing isn't determined by the amount of courage it takes. -Mary Renault, novelist (4 Sep 1905-1983)


	*****September 07, 2015*****
astraphobia : Psychiatry. an abnormal fear of thunder and lightning; 
Julie was an anxious child with a number of phobias, not only a fear of thunder and lightning (Astraphobia, murmured Dr. Gibraltar) but also a fear of lightning bugs and any other bioluminescent creatures that might light up anywhere near her…
Katharine Weber, True Confections, 2010

Garrulous :   adj. Excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters. "A garrulous reprimand." 

Turbid : cloudy with stirred-up sediment; The speed of the water flowing over the dam becomes obvious only when one observes the turbid water roiling below.

snuggery : (noun) A small secluded room.; cubby, cubbyhole; Now that they were alone, in this snuggery, which seemed barely large enough to contain so great a man's moustaches, the parties understood each other. 

beleaguer : verb tr.:
1. To surround with troops.
2. To beset with difficulties.
; "Underlying tensions and unresolved issues continue to beleaguer the
Blue Line area."
In Lebanon, UN Official Urges 'Calm, Restraint' Along Blue Line;
Asia News Monitor (Bangkok, Thailand); Feb 19, 2015.


See more usage examples of beleaguer in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The rightness of a thing isn't determined by the amount of courage it takes. -Mary Renault, novelist (4 Sep 1905-1983)


	*****September 08, 2015*****
afebrile : without fever; feverless; 
Samson is just fine. He's afebrile. His heart rate and blood pressure are perfect. His dressing is dry. He's alert.
Elizabeth Berg, The Last Time I Saw You, 2010

Insolent :   adj. Showing a rude or arrogant lack of respect. "The child's insolent behavior was unacceptable." 

Ampersand : a character & used for the word "and"; The company coming out of this merger will have a name that combines elements of each of the original companies' names with an ampersand.

witless : (adjective) Lacking intelligence or wit; foolish.; nitwitted, soft-witted, senseless; He was a witless soul who never learned from his mistakes. 

Quixote : noun: Someone who is unrealistic, naive, chivalrous, idealistic, etc. to an
absurd degree.
; "Despite what some say, I am not a Quixote, a credulous buffoon rushing
and embracing every charlatan."
Simon Clark; Mammoth Book of Sherlock Holmes Abroad; Running Press; 2015. 

Thought For The Day: I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it. -Edith Sitwell, poet (7 Sep 1887-1964)


	*****September 09, 2015*****
ogdoad : the number eight; 
The monad, [that is,] the one tittle, is therefore, he says, also a decade. For by the actual power of this one tittle, are produced duad, and triad, and tetrad, and pentad, and hexad, and heptad, and ogdoad, and ennead, up to ten. For these numbers, he says, are capable of many divisions, and they reside in that simple and uncompounded single tittle of the iota.
Hippolytus (170–235), The Refutation of All Heresies, translated by J. H. MacMahon, 1851

Innervate :   v. To stimulate or supply nervous energy. 

Contiguous : touching along a boundary or at a point; At 14,494 feet, Mount Whitney, in California's Sierra Nevada range, is the highest peak in the 48 contiguous states of the U.S.

rapport : (noun) Relationship, especially one of mutual trust or emotional affinity.; resonance; They had an excellent rapport and would never keep secrets from one another. 

Sancho : noun: A companion or sidekick, especially one who joins another in an adventure.
; "Parry wants Lucas to become his Sancho and join him on the quest for the
holy grail."
Patrick McCormick; The Fisher King; US Catholic (Chicago, Illinois);
Nov 2002. 

Thought For The Day: People forget years and remember moments. -Ann Beattie, novelist (b. 8 Sep 1947)


	*****September 10, 2015*****
Fata Morgana : Meteorology. a mirage consisting of multiple images, as of cl..; 
Under some conditions, refraction can even turn things upside down. When a warmer layer of air sits above a cooler layer it can bend light so strongly around the curvature of Earth that it creates a type of mirage called a Fata Morgana. In the Arctic, this can lead to an apparent wall of ice rising before an explorer.
Stephen Battersby, "Pole Position," New Scientist, December 20, 2014

Decadent :   n.  A person who is luxuriously self-indulgent. (adj.) Characterized by or reflecting a state of decay or cultural decline, as in being self-indulgent or morally corrupt. 

Foodie : a person having an avid interest in food; As a foodie, Molly gets excited whenever a new restaurant opens in the area. 

callback : (noun) A recall of a recently sold product by the manufacturer to correct a defect.; recall; The manufacturer was forced to issue a callback of the toy when it was declared a choking hazard. 

Dulcinea : noun: A ladylove or sweetheart.
; "Augusta Holland, though five years George Frederic Watts's senior, seems
to have been his Dulcinea in the 1840s."
Brian Sewell; Why Oblivion is the Right Fate for Watts; Evening Standard
(London, UK); Nov 26, 2004.


See more usage examples of Dulcinea in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: A man is like a fraction whose numerator is what he is and whose denominator is what he thinks of himself. The larger the denominator, the smaller the fraction. -Leo Tolstoy, novelist and philosopher (9 Sep 1828-1910)


	*****September 11, 2015*****
mundane : common; ordinary; banal; unimaginative; 
Their mutual antagonism, once a joke, a performance for the benefit of others, had slowly become, through being ritualised in that way, a mundane reality.
Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, 1993

Didactic :   adj. (1) Intended to teach, particularly in having moral instruction as an ulterior motive. (2) In the manner of a teacher, particularly so as to treat someone in a patronizing way. "The didactic speech influenced the weaker members of the audience." 

Ersatz : being a usually inferior substitute; If I'm going to eat ice cream, I want the real thing, not some non-fat ersatz version of it.

abstemious : (adjective) Marked by temperance in indulgence.; temperate, sparing, moderate, sober, austere, frugal, ascetic, self-denying, abstinent, continent; All drank except Lee Goom, the abstemious cabin boy. 

Lothario : noun: A man who indiscriminately seduces women.
; "Chad Everett played an aging lothario who engages in a steamy audition
with a young ingenue."
People; Bozeman Daily Chronicle (Montana); Jul 25, 2012.


See more usage examples of Lothario in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Our memories are card indexes consulted and then returned in disorder by authorities whom we do not control. -Cyril Connolly, critic and editor (10 Sep 1903-1974)


	*****September 12, 2015*****
swimmingly : without difficulty; with great success; effortlessly: She passe..; 
Thanks to this inspiration, he got on swimmingly for a time, but gradually the work lost its charm, and he forgot to compose, while he sat musing, pen in hand, or roamed about the gay city to get some new ideas and refresh his mind, which seemed to be in a somewhat unsettled state that winter.
Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, 1869

Masticate :   v. To chew (as in food). To reduce to pulp by crushing, grinding or kneading. "The patient was unwilling to masticate or swallow his food." 

Obverse : the front, an opposite, or a counterpart; The artist credited with inventing the modern commemorative medal, 15th-century Italian painter Antonio Pisano, made his medals following a design formula still used today: an obverse graced with a profile portrait and a reverse adorned with an allegorical or pictorial scene.

emporium : (noun) A large retail store or place of business.; department store; The furniture emporium was packed with couches, but Sarah couldn't find a single one she liked. 

Rosinante : noun: An old, worn-out horse.
; "But there was still a second nag, a Rosinante nodding with shut eyelids
and drooping knees over the manger, and the saddle hung ready on its pin."
R. Campbell Thompson; A Pilgrim's Scrip; John Lane; 1915. 

Thought For The Day: A straw vote only shows which way the hot air blows. -O. Henry, short-story writer (11 Sep 1862-1910)


	*****September 13, 2015*****
blarney : flattering or wheedling talk; cajolery; 
With a little more prudence Dick Turpin would have made a good diddler; with a trifle less blarney, Daniel O'Connell; with a pound or two more brains, Charles the Twelfth.
Edgar Allan Poe, "Raising the Wind; or, Diddling Considered as One of the Exact Sciences," Saturday Courier, October 14, 1843

Lascivious :   adj. Feeling or revealing an overt and often offensive sexual desire. "He gave her a lascivious wink." Inclined to lustfulness; wanton; lewd. "The lascivious old man." 

Scupper : to defeat or put an end to; "Arsenal's hopes of signing summer target William Carvalho appear to have been scuppered after the Sporting Lisbon midfielder was ruled out for three months." - The Telegraph (London), 15 July 2015	

danseuse : (noun) A woman who is a ballet dancer.; ballerina; The painting depicted a beautiful danseuse putting on her ballet shoes while waiting in the wings of the theater. 

Rosinante : noun: An old, worn-out horse.
; "But there was still a second nag, a Rosinante nodding with shut eyelids
and drooping knees over the manger, and the saddle hung ready on its pin."
R. Campbell Thompson; A Pilgrim's Scrip; John Lane; 1915. 

Thought For The Day: A straw vote only shows which way the hot air blows. -O. Henry, short-story writer (11 Sep 1862-1910)


	*****September 14, 2015*****
genesis : an origin, creation, or beginning; 
Entire aspects of astronomy, including the genesis of the Big Bang theory, began with members of the Catholic clergy.
The Associated Press, “Climate of Change: The Catholic Church's Dance With Science,” New York Times, May 27, 2015

Superfluous :   adj. Unnecessary, being beyond what is required or sufficient. "The repeated warnings were superfluous." "Superfluous details." 

Druthers : free choice or preference; If I had my druthers, I'd be relaxing at the beach this weekend instead of cleaning out my garage.

torpid : (adjective) Lethargic; apathetic.; inert, sluggish; They are always in a torpid state, and are apt to yawn and go to sleep over any intellectual toil. 

Rosinante : noun: An old, worn-out horse.
; "But there was still a second nag, a Rosinante nodding with shut eyelids
and drooping knees over the manger, and the saddle hung ready on its pin."
R. Campbell Thompson; A Pilgrim's Scrip; John Lane; 1915. 

Thought For The Day: A straw vote only shows which way the hot air blows. -O. Henry, short-story writer (11 Sep 1862-1910)


	*****September 15, 2015*****
mollify : to soften in feeling or temper, as a person; pacify; appease; 
...my mother would be dragged from unconsciousness, hoisting herself grimly out of bed, shuffling across the hall to mollify and soothe, while I slept through it all, conked out like a slug drowning in beer, evading the fallout from my crimes.
Margaret Atwood, "The Headless Horseman," Moral Disorder and Other Stories, 2006

Paradox :   n. A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth. An opinion or statement contrary to commonly accepted opinion, but may be factual. 

Neoteric : modern or recent in origin; The book's dialogue is peppered with neoteric slang and jargon that can be challenging for the reader to decode.

monolithic : (adjective) Massive, solid, and uniform.; massive, monumental; During her travels, she studied the monolithic proportions of Stalinist architecture. 

doryphore : noun: A pedantic or persistent critic.
; "Do you wind everyone up because you are nothing more than a doryphore?"
Tom Whitehead; Doryphores Must Keep Away from Dinner Parties;
The Scotsman (Edinburgh, Scotland); Oct 25, 2001. 

Thought For The Day: Patriotism is proud of a country's virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country's virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, "the greatest", but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is. -Sydney J. Harris, journalist and author (14 Sep 1917-1986)


	*****September 16, 2015*****
tommyrot : nonsense; utter foolishness; 
Then, as he saluted to acknowledge his tip, he added in the wheezy voice of the man of all weathers: "Tommy-rot, I call it, sir.”
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Land of Mist, 1926

Endemic :   adj. Native to a specific region or environment and not occurring naturally anywhere else. "Malaria is endemic in tropical climates." (n.) An endemic plant or animal. 

Modicum : a small portion; If you had possessed a modicum of sense, you would have paused to think before accepting such a dangerous job.

perambulator : (noun) A small vehicle with four wheels in which a baby or child is pushed around.; stroller, baby buggy, pram, pushchair, go-cart, pusher, carriage; Charlotte is quite spoiled; each of her dolls has its own perambulator, parasol, and wardrobe. 

ratty : adjective:
1. Of, relating to, or full of rats.
2. Shabby.
3. Irritable; angry.
; "A bathing suit so ratty it nearly falls off causes her to buy a new one."
Alexandra Owens; Give It Up; Allure (New York); Jul 2013.

"Reduced congestion, it seems, does a lot more than soothe ratty drivers."
Life Toll; The Economist (London, UK); Oct 15, 2009.


See more usage examples of ratty in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them. -Agatha Christie, author (15 Sep 1890-1976)


	*****September 17, 2015*****
crackerjack : Informal. a person or thing that shows marked ability or excel..; 
We have room for but one verse; but it's a crackerjack, the gem of the collection and illustrates how Ardenas can soar when he spreads his pinions and takes a header into the poetic empyrean.
William Cowper Brann, Brann, the Iconoclast: a collection of the writings of W. C. Brann, 1898

Atrocious :   adj. Horrifyingly wicked: "Atrocious cruelties." Of a very poor quality; extremely bad or unpleasant: "Atrocious weather." 

Haptic : relating to the sense of touch; "Palmer Luckey, Oculus founder, says the Touch [video game controller] combines motion controls with physical buttons and haptic feedback such as vibrations." - Chris Gaylord, The Christian Science Monitor, 12 June 2015

despondency : (noun) Depression of spirits from loss of hope, confidence, or courage; dejection.; despondence, disconsolateness; He slipped through all the grades of despondency until he reached a bottom of absolute gloom. 

pullulate : verb intr.:
1. To sprout or breed.
2. To swarm or teem.
3. To increase rapidly.
; "You know less than you think you do. The constant reinforcement of that
   sorry idea has become a drumbeat under parenting, as advice books of every
   kind pullulate like toadstools after a storm."
   Andrew Solomon; Go Play Outside; The New York Times; Dec 14, 2014.


See more usage examples of pullulate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation. Tooting, howling, screeching, booming, crashing, whistling, grinding, and trilling bolster his ego. -Jean Arp, artist and poet (16 Sep 1887-1948)


	*****September 18, 2015*****
too-too : Informal. excessively and tastelessly affected: The movie was simp..; 
Think of the frisson of awarding Best Picture to a 37-year-old movie. Isn’t it just, well, too-too?
The Bagger, "It’s Up to You, New York, but Not Really," New York Times, December 8, 2006

Abysmal :   adj. Extremely bad; appalling. "The results were pretty abysmal;" "Abysmal failure." 

Quondam : former or sometime; Many people were surprised to learn that the quondam poet and professor had since become an accountant.

piecemeal : (adverb) By a small amount at a time; in stages.; bit by bit, in stages, little by little; The research structure has developed piecemeal over the course of a century. 

winkle : noun: A periwinkle, any of various mollusks with a spiral shell.
verb tr.: To extract with effort or difficulty.
; Dougherty is a smart, pragmatic but deep-thinking cop who winkles out
the truth by virtue of dogged police work."
Declan Burke; Intricate Confessions, Historic Skeletons, Heartbreaking
Tragedy; Irish Times (Dublin); Aug 29, 2015.


See more usage examples of winkle in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: What power has love but forgiveness? -William Carlos Williams, poet (17 Sep 1883-1963)


	*****September 19, 2015*****
shibboleth : a peculiarity of pronunciation, behavior, mode of dress, etc., ..; 
The latter air is indeed the shibboleth and diploma piece of the penny whistler; I hazard a guess it was originally composed for this instrument.
Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, The Wrong Box, 1889

Fractious :   adj. (1) Easily irritated; bad-tempered: "they fight and squabble like fractious kids." (2) (of an organization) Difficult to control; unruly. 

Circumlocution : use of too many words or evasive speech; "It certainly could not be objected that he used any needless circumlocution, or failed to speak directly to the purpose." - Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, 1839 

perusal : (noun) Reading carefully with intent to remember.; poring over, studying; Many biographies have been written about her, but a perusal of her personal diaries is still the best way to learn about her life. 

capriole : noun:
1. A playful leap: caper.
2. A leap made by a trained horse involving a backward kick of the hind legs at the top of the leap.
; "This new book, the fattest so far, has a good many such rash half-caprioles
of wit."
Frank Kermode; Hip Gnosis; The Guardian (London, UK); Oct 12, 2002.

"Spectators can watch a horse smaller than 34 inches tall do tricks such as
a capriole, an upward leap combined with a backward kick of the hind feet."
Martha Ellen; Miniature Horses Featured at Gouverneur & St. Lawrence County
Fair; McClatchy-Tribune Business News (Washington, DC); Aug 6, 2011.


See more usage examples of capriole in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Be not too hasty to trust or admire the teachers of morality; they discourse like angels but they live like men. -Samuel Johnson, lexicographer (18 Sep 1709-1784)


	*****September 20, 2015*****
gingerly : with great care or caution; warily; 
So Ian gingerly set foot to the floor, dressed and began his work as a war correspondent.
Evelyn Waugh, Unconditional Surrender, 1961

Austerity :   n. (1) Sternness or severity of manner or attitude. (2) Extreme plainness and simplicity of style or appearance. 

Incandescent : white or glowing with intense heat; The attic was lit by a single incandescent bulb, but that was all the light we needed to read the labels on the storage boxes. 

cordate : (adjective) Having a heart-shaped outline.; heart-shaped, cordiform; When a cordate leaf fell from the tree, she considered it a sign that she would soon find love. 

capriole : noun:
1. A playful leap: caper.
2. A leap made by a trained horse involving a backward kick of the hind legs at the top of the leap.
; "This new book, the fattest so far, has a good many such rash half-caprioles
of wit."
Frank Kermode; Hip Gnosis; The Guardian (London, UK); Oct 12, 2002.

"Spectators can watch a horse smaller than 34 inches tall do tricks such as
a capriole, an upward leap combined with a backward kick of the hind feet."
Martha Ellen; Miniature Horses Featured at Gouverneur & St. Lawrence County
Fair; McClatchy-Tribune Business News (Washington, DC); Aug 6, 2011.


See more usage examples of capriole in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Be not too hasty to trust or admire the teachers of morality; they discourse like angels but they live like men. -Samuel Johnson, lexicographer (18 Sep 1709-1784)


	*****September 21, 2015*****
timocracy : a form of government in which love of honor is the dominant moti..; 
The individual who answers to timocracy has some noticeable qualities. He is described as ill-educated, but, like the Spartan, a lover of literature…
Plato, The Republic, translated by Benjamin Jowett, 1856

Luminous :   adj.     Bright or shining, esp. in the dark. Glowing with health, vigor, or a particular emotion: "Her eyes were luminous with joy." 

Peruse : to read over attentively or leisurely; Dmitri perused the menu while we waited for a table.

stokehold : (noun) The area or compartment into which a ship's furnaces or boilers open.; fireroom, stokehole; When the ship was sinking, many passengers were able to escape, but the stokehold crew was trapped below deck. 

capriole : noun:
1. A playful leap: caper.
2. A leap made by a trained horse involving a backward kick of the hind legs at the top of the leap.
; "This new book, the fattest so far, has a good many such rash half-caprioles
of wit."
Frank Kermode; Hip Gnosis; The Guardian (London, UK); Oct 12, 2002.

"Spectators can watch a horse smaller than 34 inches tall do tricks such as
a capriole, an upward leap combined with a backward kick of the hind feet."
Martha Ellen; Miniature Horses Featured at Gouverneur & St. Lawrence County
Fair; McClatchy-Tribune Business News (Washington, DC); Aug 6, 2011.


See more usage examples of capriole in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Be not too hasty to trust or admire the teachers of morality; they discourse like angels but they live like men. -Samuel Johnson, lexicographer (18 Sep 1709-1784)


	*****September 22, 2015*****
enervate : to deprive of force or strength; destroy the vigor of; weaken. Sy..; 
You’re young, you’re impressionable, you won’t mind my saying that you’re not built for a stoic, and hang it, they'll coddle you, they'll enervate you, they'll sentimentalize you, they'll make a Mungold of you!
Edith Wharton, "The Pot-Boiler," The Hermit and the Wild Woman and Other Stories, 1908

Mitigate :   v. (1) Make less severe, serious, or painful: "he wanted to mitigate the damages in court." (2) Lessen the gravity of (an offense or mistake). 

War Story : a story of a memorable experience; When asked what was most difficult about her present job, the interviewee freely shared some rather entertaining and impressive war stories. 

decanter : (noun) A vessel used for decanting, especially a decorative bottle used for serving wine.; carafe; Sir Percival was sitting at the table with a decanter of wine before him. 

kenning : noun: A figurative, usually compound, expression used to describe something. For example, whale road for an ocean and oar steed for a ship.
; "The hero, Beewolf (a kenning for bear, named the 'bee wolf' for its
plundering of hives), heads to the Golden Hall."
John Garth; Monster Munch; New Statesman (London, UK); May 30, 2014.

"In the dawn of the English language the earliest poets or scops invented
words like 'battleflash' to describe a sword, or they would identify a
boat by its function with a kenning like 'wave-skimmer'."
Samuel Hazo; What's in a Name?; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Feb 17, 2008.


See more usage examples of kenning in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Invention requires an excited mind; execution, a calm one. -Johann Peter Eckermann, poet (21 Sep 1792-1854)


	*****September 23, 2015*****
penitent : feeling or expressing sorrow for sin or wrongdoing and disposed t..; 
O that it were to do! / What have we done? / Didst ever hear a man so penitent?
William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, 1592

Determinate :   adj. Having exact and discernible limits or form. 

Binary : consisting of two things or parts; Brass is a binary alloy, having the two metallic elements copper and zinc.

clodhopper : (noun) A thick and heavy shoe.; brogan, brogue, work shoe; He trotted noisily across the hardwood floors in his clodhoppers. 

mot juste : noun: The right word.
; "Bennett Miller is a filmmaker who thinks his way long and hard into each
project, and indeed each sentence, always groping for the mot juste."
Tim Robey; 'It's a Film About Fathers and Fatherliness'; The Daily
Telegraph (London, UK); Jan 8, 2015.


See more usage examples of mot juste in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket, and do not pull it out and strike it merely to show you have one. If you are asked what o'clock it is, tell it, but do not proclaim it hourly and unasked, like the watchman. -Lord Chesterfield, statesman and writer (22 Sep 1694-1773)


	*****September 24, 2015*****
snickersnee : a knife, especially one used as a weapon; 
The commander of the sloop was hurrying about and giving a world of orders, which were not very strictly attended to, one man being busy in lighting his pipe, and another in sharpening his snicker-snee.
Washington Irving, Bracebridge Hall, 1882

Divergence :   n. (1) A difference or conflict in opinions, interests, wishes, etc. (2) The process or state of diverging. 

Equinox : time when day and night are equal length; Though many in the U.S. and Canada consider summer to end on Labor Day, the autumnal equinox, which falls on September 22nd or 23rd (and the latter in 2015), marks the true beginning of autumn. 

peavey : (noun) A stout lever with a sharp spike; used for handling logs.; cant dog; The lumberjack rammed the peavey's spike into the log and rolled it toward the pile. 

holophrasm : noun
1. A one-word sentence, for example, "Go."
2. A complex idea conveyed in a single word, for example, "Howdy" for "How do you do?"
; "Holophrasms aren't common in English, but any verb in command form
can be holophrastic -- Go, Help, Run."
Kathryn Schulz; What Part of 'No, Totally' Don't You Understand?;
The New Yorker; Apr 7, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: Our conscience is not the vessel of eternal verities. It grows with our social life, and a new social condition means a radical change in conscience. -Walter Lippmann, journalist (23 Sep 1889-1974)


	*****September 25, 2015*****
scorbutic : Pathology. pertaining to, of the nature of, or affected with scu..; 
The best food, which was reserved for the scorbutic patients, consisted of roast beef with onions, horseradish, and sometimes a small glass of spirits.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Prison Life in Siberia, translated by H. S. Edwards, 1888

Propitious :   adj. (1) Indicating a good chance of success; favorable. "It was a propitious time to leave the party without offending the host." (2) Favorably disposed toward someone. 

Timeless : not restricted to a particular time; Fashion experts say that a black dress worn with a strand of pearls is timeless. 

ignominy : (noun) Great personal dishonor or humiliation.; disgrace, shame; The celebrated actor suffered the ignominy of being sent to prison. 

pochismo : noun
1. An English word borrowed into Spanish, often given a Spanish form
or spelling, such as mopear (to mop) instead of trapear or limpiar.
2. American customs, attitudes, etc., adopted by a Hispanic in the US
and perceived pejoratively by his compatriots.
; "It was not until I was an adult and studying Spanish literature formally
at the University of Texas at Austin that I questioned the fine line
which designated certain words as pochismos and others as acceptable
Spanish."
Aida Barrera; Looking for Carrascolendas; University of Texas Press; 2001. 

Thought For The Day: In my youth I thought of writing a satire on mankind; but now in my age I think I should write an apology for them. -Horace Walpole, novelist and essayist (24 Sep 1717-1797)


	*****September 26, 2015*****
donnybrook : (often initial capital letter) an inordinately wild fight or co..; 
The crime reporter told the story in a high-pitched nasal voice that was nearly as grating as the sound of the donnybrook the Dunphys' were having downstairs.
Scott Phillips, The Adjustment, 2011

Tactile :   adj. (1) Of or connected with the sense of touch. (2) Perceptible by touch or apparently so; tangible: "A tactile keyboard." 

Morpheme : a sound or group of sounds with meaning; The word "laughed" is made up of two morphemes: "laugh" and the past-tense morpheme "-ed."

glossa : (noun) A mobile mass of muscular tissue covered with mucous membrane and located in the oral cavity.; tongue, clapper, lingua; The creature had an enormously long glossa that it used to catch insects. 

antonomasia : noun
1. The use of an epithet or title for a proper name, for example, the Bard for Shakespeare.
2. The use of the name of a person known for a particular quality to describe others, such as calling someone brainy an Einstein. Also known as eponym.
; "In Florence, a rich and famous city of Italy, in the province called
Tuscany, there dwelt two rich and principal gentlemen called Anselmo and
Lothario, which two were so great friends, as they were named for
excellency, and by antonomasia, by all those who knew them, the Two
Friends."
Miguel de Cervantes; Don Quixote of the Mancha. (Translation: Thomas Shelton)

"One of my favourites among Obama's tricks was his use of the phrase
'a young preacher from Georgia', when accepting the Democratic nomination
this August; he did not name Martin Luther King. The term for the technique
is antonomasia. One example from Cicero is the way he refers to Phoenix,
Achilles' mentor in the Iliad, as 'senior magister' -- 'the aged teacher'.
In both cases, it sets up an intimacy between speaker and audience, the
flattering idea that we all know what we are talking about without need
for further exposition."
Charlotte Higgins; The New Cicero; The Guardian (London, UK); Nov 26, 2008. 

Thought For The Day: A writer needs three things, experience, observation, and imagination, any two of which, at times any one of which, can supply the lack of the others. -William Faulkner, novelist (25 Sep 1897-1962)


	*****September 27, 2015*****
galumph : to move along heavily and clumsily; 
It is at this point that one begins to feel embarrassed while other passengers galumph by with their luggage.
Stephanie Rosenbloom, “Flying Deluxe Domestic Coast-to-Coast for Around $1,000,” New York Times, January 23, 2015

Facetious :   adj. Treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor; flippant. 

Limpid : clear or transparent; From where we stood we could see the glimmer of coins settled at the bottom of the limpid fountain. 

templet : (noun) A model or standard for making comparisons.; guide; By using a templet, the artist was able to reproduce the exact same design on each of the tiles. 

antonomasia : noun
1. The use of an epithet or title for a proper name, for example, the Bard for Shakespeare.
2. The use of the name of a person known for a particular quality to describe others, such as calling someone brainy an Einstein. Also known as eponym.
; "In Florence, a rich and famous city of Italy, in the province called
Tuscany, there dwelt two rich and principal gentlemen called Anselmo and
Lothario, which two were so great friends, as they were named for
excellency, and by antonomasia, by all those who knew them, the Two
Friends."
Miguel de Cervantes; Don Quixote of the Mancha. (Translation: Thomas Shelton)

"One of my favourites among Obama's tricks was his use of the phrase
'a young preacher from Georgia', when accepting the Democratic nomination
this August; he did not name Martin Luther King. The term for the technique
is antonomasia. One example from Cicero is the way he refers to Phoenix,
Achilles' mentor in the Iliad, as 'senior magister' -- 'the aged teacher'.
In both cases, it sets up an intimacy between speaker and audience, the
flattering idea that we all know what we are talking about without need
for further exposition."
Charlotte Higgins; The New Cicero; The Guardian (London, UK); Nov 26, 2008. 

Thought For The Day: A writer needs three things, experience, observation, and imagination, any two of which, at times any one of which, can supply the lack of the others. -William Faulkner, novelist (25 Sep 1897-1962)


	*****September 28, 2015*****
minimax : a strategy of game theory employed to minimize a player's maximum ..; 
This is the principle of minimax: assume that the worst may happen and act accordingly; remember that lightning always strikes twice in the same place. This is a basic law known to all successful gamblers.
William S. Burroughs, The Adding Machine: Selected Essays, 1993

Existential :   adj. (1) Of or relating to existence. (2) Concerned with existence, esp. human existence as viewed in the theories of existentialism. "An existential threat." 

Catbird Seat : a position of prominence or advantage; Susan found herself sitting in the catbird seat with lucrative offers from three potential employers in front of her.

masjid : (noun) A Muslim place of worship.; mosque; Though her friends prayed there often, this was her first visit to the masjid. 

antonomasia : noun
1. The use of an epithet or title for a proper name, for example, the Bard for Shakespeare.
2. The use of the name of a person known for a particular quality to describe others, such as calling someone brainy an Einstein. Also known as eponym.
; "In Florence, a rich and famous city of Italy, in the province called
Tuscany, there dwelt two rich and principal gentlemen called Anselmo and
Lothario, which two were so great friends, as they were named for
excellency, and by antonomasia, by all those who knew them, the Two
Friends."
Miguel de Cervantes; Don Quixote of the Mancha. (Translation: Thomas Shelton)

"One of my favourites among Obama's tricks was his use of the phrase
'a young preacher from Georgia', when accepting the Democratic nomination
this August; he did not name Martin Luther King. The term for the technique
is antonomasia. One example from Cicero is the way he refers to Phoenix,
Achilles' mentor in the Iliad, as 'senior magister' -- 'the aged teacher'.
In both cases, it sets up an intimacy between speaker and audience, the
flattering idea that we all know what we are talking about without need
for further exposition."
Charlotte Higgins; The New Cicero; The Guardian (London, UK); Nov 26, 2008. 

Thought For The Day: A writer needs three things, experience, observation, and imagination, any two of which, at times any one of which, can supply the lack of the others. -William Faulkner, novelist (25 Sep 1897-1962)


	*****September 29, 2015*****
Caprice :   n. A sudden and unaccountable change of mood or behavior. 

Vilipend : to scorn or disparage; As a women's movement pioneer, Susan B. Anthony fought against the dicta of those who would vilipend women by treating them as second-class citizens.

reticent : (adjective) Inclined to keep one's thoughts, feelings, and personal affairs to oneself.; untalkative; She was so reticent about her personal life that even her roommates did not know she had a boyfriend. 

dint : noun: 1. Force, power. 2. A dent.
verb tr.: To make a dent or to drive in with force.
; "Holding the [water] can with both my hands, I sharply brought it up
against a hook. A good dint. I did it again. Another dint next to the
first. By dint of dinting, I managed the trick. A pearl of water appeared."
Yann Martel; Life of Pi; Knopf; 2001.


See more usage examples of dint in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: A man's life is interesting primarily when he has failed -- I well know. For it is a sign that he has tried to surpass himself. -Georges Clemenceau, statesman (28 Sep 1841-1929)


	*****September 30, 2015*****
anomia : Medicine/Medical. the inability to name objects or to recognize the..; 
Lilian’s anomia, her problems with finding words, had increased, too. When I showed her some kitchen matches, she recognized them at once, visually, but could not say the word match, saying, instead “That is to make fire.”
Oliver Sacks, The Mind's Eye, 2010

Indolent; Indolence :   n. Having or showing a disposition to avoid exertion; slothful, lazy: "an indolent person." 

Askew : awry or out of line; He said he was fine but he looked as if he'd been in a fight: his hair and clothes were disheveled and his glasses were askew on the bridge of his nose. 

variola : (noun) An acute, highly infectious, often fatal disease caused by a poxvirus and characterized by high fever and aches with subsequent widespread eruption of pimples that blister, produce pus, and form pockmarks.; smallpox; We could tell from the scars on the faces of the villagers that a variola epidemic had passed through the area in their lifetimes. 

moil : verb intr.: 1. To work hard; to toil. 2. To churn.
verb tr.: To make wet or muddy.
noun: 1. Hard work. 2. Confusion or turmoil.
; "There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold."
Robert W. Service; The Cremation of Sam McGee; 1907.

"There I am, look, down there, fighting for air in the heave and moil of the
lunchtime working crowd, the only unsuited citizen, wondering which way to go."
Giles Coren; Eating Out; The Times (London, UK); Oct 15, 2015.


See more usage examples of moil in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: There's no sauce in the world like hunger. -Miguel de Cervantes, novelist (29 Sep 1547-1616)


	*****October 01, 2015*****
birling : Chiefly Northern U.S. a game played by lumberjacks, in which each ..; 
Enthusiasts are trying to get the sport rolling again. Here and there, colleges are introducing recreational birling. And in the past two years, Abby Hoeschler says, more than 100 summer camps and more than 30 community aquatics programs have added logrolling to their offerings.
Linton Weeks, "Reviving The Lost Art Of Logrolling," NPR, February 3, 2015

Salacious :   adj. Treating sexual matters in an indecent way. Lustful; lecherous: "A salacious grin." 

Paroxysm : a sudden violent emotion or action; Though he seldom loses his temper, his occasional and unpredictable paroxysms of anger are legendary among his colleagues.

bedlam : (noun) A place or situation of noisy uproar and confusion.; chaos, pandemonium, topsy-turvydom, topsy-turvyness; They quarreled and bickered more than ever among themselves, till at times the camp was a howling bedlam. 

guff : noun:
1. Nonsense.
2. Insolent talk.
; "Management literature is full of guff about how entrepreneurs should
embrace failure as a 'learning experience'. But being punched in the
face is also a learning experience."
Entrepreneurs Anonymous; The Economist (London, UK); Sep 20, 2014.


See more usage examples of guff in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor. -Truman Capote, author (30 Sep 1924-1984)


	*****October 02, 2015*****
espial : the act of spying; 
The landlord of the house had not withdrawn his eye from this place of espial for five minutes, and Barney had only just returned from making the communication above related, when Fagin, in the course of his evening's business, came into the bar to inquire after some of his young pupils.
Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, 1838

Vacuous :   adj. Having or showing a lack of thought or intelligence; mindless: "a vacuous smile." 

Consternation : amazement or dismay; To the consternation of her students, Mrs. Jennings gave a pop quiz on the first Friday of the school year.  

villein : (noun) A person who is bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord.; helot, serf; The novel told the story of a young villein who fell in love with the daughter of his feudal lord. 

weft : noun: The threads that run across the width of a woven fabric and are interlaced through the warp (threads that run lengthwise).
; "Keevy has woven the threads of jealousy, love, fear, and belonging
into a strong weft of intimacy."
The Ties That Bind Us Can Be Gossamer Thin; Cape Times (Cape Town,
South Africa); May 20, 2015.

"It is part of the warp and weft, the action and reaction, of team sport."
Will Tipperary Hurlers Crack Waterford Code?; Irish Examiner (Cork,
Ireland); Apr 18, 2015.


See more usage examples of weft in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: For there is no friend like a sister / In calm or stormy weather; / To cheer one on the tedious way, / To fetch one if one goes astray, / To lift one if one totters down, / To strengthen whilst one stands. -Christina Rossetti, poet (1830-1894)


	*****October 03, 2015*****
peripeteia : a sudden turn of events or an unexpected reversal, especially i..; 
I fixed my eyes on a hawk slicing across the pristine sky and waited for the peripeteia. "Victoria got remarried," Jack finally said.
Rex Pickett, Sideways, 2004

Vitriol; Vitriolic :   n. Cruel, bitter, scathing criticism; Abusive feeling or expression. "A vitriolic tone of voice." 

Spontaneous : done or produced freely or naturally; Since childhood, Marie has been prone to spontaneous displays of affection. 

heritor : (noun) A person who is entitled by law or by the terms of a will to inherit the estate of another.; heir, inheritor; When the wealthy businessman named his son as heritor of his estate, he could not have known that the boy would squander the inheritance on silly moneymaking schemes. 

quaff : verb tr., intr.: To drink deeply.
noun: An alcoholic drink; also the act of drinking.
; "The cocktail repertoire includes quaffs spiked with seasonal produce."
Fritz Hahn and Becky Krystal; Endless? If Only; The Washington Post;
Aug 28, 2015.

"Brits quaffing posh bubbly have helped French drinks group Pernod Ricard
to merrier profits."
Graham Hiscott; Corking Sales of French Fizz; The Daily Mirror (London,
UK); Aug 28, 2015.


See more usage examples of quaff in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet. -Mohandas K. Gandhi (2 Oct 1869-1948)


	*****October 04, 2015*****
melee : confusion; turmoil; jumble: the melee of Christmas shopping; 
…rifle followed rifle, from among the stumps, though it was no longer with any certain aim. The battle had now become a melee.
James Fenimore Cooper, Satanstoe, 1845

Capacious :   adj. Having a lot of space inside; roomy. "A capacious closet." 

Haplology : contraction that omits similar sounds; The speech therapist assured the child's parents that "the tendency towards haplology will likely correct itself with age." 

rondel : (noun) A poem similar to a rondeau, having 13 or 14 lines with two rhymes throughout. The first and second lines reappear in the middle and at the end, although sometimes only the first line appears at the end.; rondeau; Her poetry club issued a new challenge every week; last week, everyone had to write a funny rondel about chewing gum. 

quaff : verb tr., intr.: To drink deeply.
noun: An alcoholic drink; also the act of drinking.
; "The cocktail repertoire includes quaffs spiked with seasonal produce."
Fritz Hahn and Becky Krystal; Endless? If Only; The Washington Post;
Aug 28, 2015.

"Brits quaffing posh bubbly have helped French drinks group Pernod Ricard
to merrier profits."
Graham Hiscott; Corking Sales of French Fizz; The Daily Mirror (London,
UK); Aug 28, 2015.


See more usage examples of quaff in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet. -Mohandas K. Gandhi (2 Oct 1869-1948)


	*****October 05, 2015*****
atelier : a workshop or studio, especially of an artist, artisan, or designe..; 
Ateliers—the word is French for studio—have a rich history as a place where artists practice their craft and transmit their knowledge to other artists.
Jacqueline L. Salmon, “Companions in Creativity; The Nook Known as the Artists' Atelier Provides More Than Just a Place to Paint,” Washington Post, May 11, 2006

Predacious :   adj. Predatory; Given to victimizing, plundering, or destroying for one's own gain. "A victim of predacious behavior." 

Extradite : to send (an accused) elsewhere for trial; An alleged criminal is typically only extradited under the provisions of a treaty or statute, but a fugitive is occasionally surrendered by one state or country to another as an act of good will. 

confluence : (noun) A gathering, flowing, or meeting together at one juncture or point.; meeting; He had long noted that the greatest disasters were rarely the result of one misfortune but were the result of a confluence of several of them. 

quaff : verb tr., intr.: To drink deeply.
noun: An alcoholic drink; also the act of drinking.
; "The cocktail repertoire includes quaffs spiked with seasonal produce."
Fritz Hahn and Becky Krystal; Endless? If Only; The Washington Post;
Aug 28, 2015.

"Brits quaffing posh bubbly have helped French drinks group Pernod Ricard
to merrier profits."
Graham Hiscott; Corking Sales of French Fizz; The Daily Mirror (London,
UK); Aug 28, 2015.


See more usage examples of quaff in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet. -Mohandas K. Gandhi (2 Oct 1869-1948)


	*****October 06, 2015*****
amphigory : a meaningless or nonsensical piece of writing, especially one in..; 
For all this, Schott's Original Miscellany is strangely unputdownable. It is the mother of all miscellanies, aka an amphigory, a medley, a pot-pourri, a gallimaufry, a salmagundi, an omnium-gatherum, a vade mecum, a smorgasbord… Oh boy, but Schott is a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles, a mad magpie at large in the wide world of facts and words.
Robert McCrum, “God bless you, Mr Schott,” The Guardian, December 7, 2002

Vitiate :   v. Spoil or impair the quality or efficiency of. "The government programs were vitiated by excessive red tape." Destroy or impair the legal validity of. 

Bailiwick : a special domain; Since the organization of the annual Halloween party is Rhonda's bailiwick, you'll have to let her know if you plan to bring something to the festivities this year. 

lashings : (noun) Lavish quantities.; oodles, dozens, gobs, heaps, loads, lots, rafts, scads, scores, slews, stacks, tons, wads, piles, mountain; Famished, the men ate lashings of spaghetti and meatballs when they finally reached their destination. 

gannet : noun:
1. A large seabird known for catching fish by diving from a height.
2. A greedy person.
; "Michael Buerk -- I am afraid there is no delicate way to put this -- is
a gannet. He steals the very food from your plate. I recall one meal
when he had polished off his own steak while I was eating rather more
delicately. 'Don't you want the rest of that?' he asked. And before I
could answer, it was gone. -Broadcaster John Humphrys."
The Things They Say...; The Western Morning News (Plymouth, UK); Dec 8, 2014.

"You're going to have to pace yourself. Nobody likes a gannet, even at
a buffet."
Gareth May; The Ultimate Buffet Etiquette Guide; China Daily (Beijing);
July 11, 2015.


See more usage examples of gannet in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Within one linear centimeter of your lower colon there lives and works more bacteria (about 100 billion) than all humans who have ever been born. Yet many people continue to assert that it is we who are in charge of the world. -Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and author (b. 5 Oct 1958)


	*****October 07, 2015*****
flummox : Informal. to bewilder; confound; confuse; 
There are things you do that you later learn to regret, that flummox you, unimaginable things that make you pause and reconsider who you really are, what you are capable of.
Karen Brown, “The Philter,” Little Sinners and Other Stories, 2012

Spurious :   adj. Not genuine, authentic, or true; not from the claimed, pretended, or proper source; counterfeit. Not being what it purports to be; false or fake. "Spurious claims." 

Xeric : relating to or requiring little moisture; She is a botanist who primarily studies deserts and xeric shrublands.

febricity : (noun) The condition of having a fever.; feverishness, pyrexia; His febricity was an indication that his wound had become infected. 

snipe : noun:
1. Any of various long-billed birds inhabiting marshy areas.
2. A shot from a concealed position.

verb intr.:
1. To shoot from a concealed position.
2. To criticize in a harsh and unfair way, especially anonymously.

; "When a Politico reporter asked last month how he endured constant sniping
from his own party, Boehner said: 'Garbage men get used to the smell of
bad garbage. Prisoners learn how to become prisoners.'"
Doyle McManus; Boehner's Happiest Moment; Los Angeles Times; Sep 27, 2015.

"A former Official IRA member  described the attack as a reflex action:
'Anybody who had planned a snipe from that position would have literally
been taking his life in his hands.'"
Gary Kelly; Bloody Sunday Tribunal to Delay Legal Action Against McGuinness;
Irish Examiner (Cork, Ireland); Nov 7, 2003.


See more usage examples of snipe in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: It's good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven't lost the things that money can't buy. -George H. Lorimer, editor (6 Oct 1867-1937)


	*****October 08, 2015*****
alexithymia : Psychiatry. difficulty in experiencing, expressing, and descri..; 
People who are confused about the sources of their own emotions—a condition that in the extreme is called alexithymia—also tend to report little benefit from a burst of tears, studies have found.
Benedict Carey, “The Muddled Tracks of All Those Tears,” New York Times, February 2, 2009

Pejorative :   adj. Expressing contempt or disapproval. Disparaging; belittling. "He used pejorative overtones in his speech." 

Reprise : a recurrence or repetition of something; "Jo Anne Worley … returns to Palm Springs this weekend for a reprise of her music and comedy act, 'For the Love of Broadway,' at the Purple Room Restaurant & Stage." - Bruce Fessier, The Desert Sun (Palm Springs, California), 1 Sept. 2015

diagnostician : (noun) A person who diagnoses, especially a physician specializing in medical diagnostics.; pathologist; She was an excellent diagnostician and was immediately able to identify the cause of the patient's symptoms. 

dodo : noun:
1. An extinct, flightless bird from Mauritius, related to the pigeon but of the size of a turkey.
2. Someone or something that is old-fashioned, ineffective, or outdated.
3. A stupid person.
; "When the spotlight fell on Alvaro Morata, it shone on a dandy not a dodo."
Graham Hunter; Magical Morata Shows He is Seriously Good; Mail on Sunday
(London, UK); Sep 20, 2015.

"But the government should have little reason to believe a broadcasting
and telecommunications regulator is a dodo."
Kate Taylor; S ex, Television and Canadian Content Rules; The Globe and Mail
(Toronto, Canada); Dec 27, 2014.


See more usage examples of dodo in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Writing is thinking on paper. -William Zinsser, writer and editor (7 Oct 1922-2015)


	*****October 09, 2015*****
parvenu : a person who has recently or suddenly acquired wealth, importance,..; 
It was a joke, my dear, worthy of a lackey, or of a silly, smart parvenu, not knowing the society into which his luck had cast him…
William Makepeace Thackeray, The Second Funeral of Napoleon, 1841

Sardonic :   adj. Grimly mocking or cynical. "His sardonic smile." 

Manqué : unfulfilled in one's ambitions or talent; Natalie is an actress manqué who moved to New York 10 years ago and is still looking for her first big break. 

confrere : (noun) A fellow member of a fraternity or profession; a colleague.; colleague, fellow; She was an intimidating presence in the boardroom, and even her confreres were nervous around her. 

magpie : noun:
1. Any of various birds, typically having a long tail and black-and-white plumage; also various other birds that resemble a magpie.
2. A chatterer.
3. A person who indiscriminately collects things, especially things of little value.
; "Where Forrest is spare with his words, Mayorga is a magpie."
Steve Hummer; Brash, Swaggering and Hungry 'El Matador' is Ready for
Forrest Rematch; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Georgia); Jul 10, 2003.

"I've recently started collecting china teacups and teapots. I don't use
them, but just keep them in a cabinet. I'm a bit of a magpie."
The World of Amanda Abbington, Actress; Telegraph Magazine (London, UK);
Sep 19, 2015.


See more usage examples of magpie in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: We must learn to honor excellence in every socially accepted human activity, however humble the activity, and to scorn shoddiness, however exalted the activity. An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher. The society that scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water. -John W. Gardner, author and leader (8 Oct, 1912-2002)


	*****October 10, 2015*****
tumescent : pompous and pretentious, especially in the use of language; bomb..; 
The miles of stretch marks! The tumescent horribleness of his proportions! He looked straight out of a Daniel Clowes comic book.
Junot Diaz, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, 2007

Veracity :   n. Conformity to facts; accuracy. "What is the veracity of these allegations." Habitual truthfulness. "Her veracity and character." 

Incidence : an occurrence or rate of occurrence; The neighborhood boasts excellent schools and a low incidence of crime.

sander : (noun) A power tool used for sanding wood; a loop of sandpaper is moved at high speed by an electric motor.; smoother; After tearing up the old carpeting, they used a sander to smooth the splintered hardwood floor. 

dotterel : noun:
1. Any of various plovers breeding in mountainous areas.
2. Someone who is easily duped.
; "A willowy young creature walked down the stairs from the rooms above,
holding on to the arm of some old dotterel who had no doubt been duped
into imagined vigour."
David Ashton; Inspector McLevy Mysteries: Omnibus; Polygon; 2015.


See more usage examples of dotterel in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Imagine there's no countries, / It isn't hard to do. / Nothing to kill or die for, / And no religion, too. / Imagine all the people / Living life in peace. -John Lennon, musician (9 Oct 1940-1980)


	*****October 11, 2015*****
jejune : without interest or significance; dull; insipid: a jejune novel; 
“…The first two are painfully jejune, of course, the way Tom Sawyer is jejune when compared to Huckleberry Finn, but the last one—although no Huck Finn—does show growth.”
Stephen King, Finders Keepers, 2015

Abstruse :   adj. Difficult to understand; obscure. "An abstruse argument presented by the lawyers." 

Wooden : lacking ease or flexibility; In the early days of basketball, baskets were often attached to balconies over which interfering spectators could lean-until wooden backboards made that interference impossible. 

serigraph : (noun) A print made using a stencil process in which an image or design is superimposed on a very fine mesh screen and printing ink is squeegeed onto the printing surface through the area of the screen that is not covered by the stencil.; silk screen print, silkscreen; Nicole examined the dragonfly serigraph on the t-shirt to make sure the image had transferred clearly. 

dotterel : noun:
1. Any of various plovers breeding in mountainous areas.
2. Someone who is easily duped.
; "A willowy young creature walked down the stairs from the rooms above,
holding on to the arm of some old dotterel who had no doubt been duped
into imagined vigour."
David Ashton; Inspector McLevy Mysteries: Omnibus; Polygon; 2015.


See more usage examples of dotterel in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Imagine there's no countries, / It isn't hard to do. / Nothing to kill or die for, / And no religion, too. / Imagine all the people / Living life in peace. -John Lennon, musician (9 Oct 1940-1980)


	*****October 12, 2015*****
divulgate : Archaic. to make publicly known; publish; 
These scholarly truths are now well-known to laymen; Ezra Pound himself could divulgate them in one of his literary tabloids where he says: "The best thing I ever heard in Dr. Schelling's class-room was the theory that Shakespeare wanted to be a poet but that he had to take to the writing of plays."
G. A. Borgese, "On Dante Criticism," Annual Reports of the Dante Society, 1936

Labyrinth :   n. A complicated irregular network of passages or paths in which it is difficult to find one's way; a maze. "Exploring the labyrinth of waterways." An intricate and confusing arrangement. 

Luminary : a very famous or successful person; The marble wall facing the entrance to the school's science building is engraved with the names of luminaries from the fields of chemistry, physics, and biology. 

megrim : (noun) A severe recurring vascular headache; occurs more frequently in women than men.; hemicrania, migraine, sick headache; Her megrims were severe, and she often had to miss work because of the terrible pain. 

dotterel : noun:
1. Any of various plovers breeding in mountainous areas.
2. Someone who is easily duped.
; "A willowy young creature walked down the stairs from the rooms above,
holding on to the arm of some old dotterel who had no doubt been duped
into imagined vigour."
David Ashton; Inspector McLevy Mysteries: Omnibus; Polygon; 2015.


See more usage examples of dotterel in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Imagine there's no countries, / It isn't hard to do. / Nothing to kill or die for, / And no religion, too. / Imagine all the people / Living life in peace. -John Lennon, musician (9 Oct 1940-1980)


	*****October 13, 2015*****
bromide : a platitude or trite saying; 
There have been many remarks made about time, and life, and most of these have become bromides. What writers call clichés.
Grace Metalious, Peyton Place, 1956

Bromide :   n.  A commonplace remark or notion; a platitude. "Her speech contained the usual bromides about teamwork." A tiresome or dull person; a bore. 

Delve : to dig, to search for, or to examine; "Of course, help yourself to whatever you like," Rosalie murmured vaguely before delving back into her book.

verrucose : (adjective) Covered with warts or wartlike projections.; wartlike, warty; The witch extended her verrucose arm and shook her gnarled finger in the little boy's face. 

ambit : noun: Scope, range, limit, or boundary.
; "President Buhari acted within the ambit of the law by taking his time
to do a thorough job."
Agenda for New Ministers; The Sun (Lagos, Nigeria); Oct 2, 2015.


See more usage examples of ambit in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Life is just a short walk from the cradle to the grave and it sure behooves us to be kind to one another along the way. -Alice Childress, playwright, author, and actor (12 Oct 1916-1994)


	*****October 14, 2015*****
cognoscenti : persons who have superior knowledge and understanding of a par..; 
There in Jefferson's "President's Palace" were laureates of achievement in the pursuit of peace, literature and science: 49 winners of the Nobel Prize, plus other cognoscenti--those who know.
, "A brilliant night to remember at the White House; Cognoscenti Come to Call," Life, May 11, 1962

Doleful :   adj Expressing sorrow; mournful. "A doleful look." Causing misfortune or grief. "Doleful consequences." 

Proclivity : a strong inclination toward something; Martin's proclivity to lose his temper made him difficult to work with. 

maelstrom : (noun) A whirlpool of extraordinary size or violence.; whirlpool, vortex; Suddenly going down in a maelstrom, within three rods of the planks, he wholly disappeared from view, as if diving under the keel. 

peculate : verb tr., intr.: To steal or misuse money or property entrusted to one's care.
; "A second figure, a major named Liu Bu, confessed to having peculated 1,700
to 1,800 taels from the purchase of materiel and another 3,000 taels from
bribes, gifts, and unreported surpluses on construction jobs."
Randall A. Dodgen; Controlling the Dragon; University of Hawaii Press; 2001.


See more usage examples of peculate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Life is a four-letter word. -Lenny Bruce, comedian and social critic (13 Oct 1925-1966)


	*****October 15, 2015*****
obstreperous : resisting control or restraint in a difficult manner; unruly...; 
Unfortunately the facts were refusing to fit her theory. They were being highly obstreperous--appearing, disappearing and reappearing in all the wrong places.
Michael Palin, Hemingway's Chair, 1995

Malicious :   adj. Characterized by malice; intending or intended to do harm. "Malicious rumors." 

Affluent : having a large amount of money; The town relies on its affluent part-time residents-those who arrive when the local mountains glisten with snow.

halcyon : (adjective) Marked by peace and prosperity.; prosperous, golden; We spent a few halcyon years in New York before the stock market crashed. 

resumptive : adjective: Tending to resume, repeat, or summarize.
; "'At the time of the robo-signing controversy last year, we stopped doing
all foreclosures and then started reviewing them all in December,' said
Bank of America spokesman Rick Simon. 'We're still in that resumptive
process and a lot of the slowdown you see now is left over from last year.'"
Patrick May; Foreclosures in Silicon Valley Remain Stubbornly Slow;
Oakland Tribune (California); May 18, 2011. 

Thought For The Day: I would rather try to persuade a man to go along, because once I have persuaded him he will stick. If I scare him, he will stay just as long as he is scared, and then he is gone. -Dwight D. Eisenhower, US general and 34th president (14 Oct 1890-1969)


	*****October 16, 2015*****
ides : (used with a singular or plural verb) (in the ancient Roman calendar)..; 
Each month had three reference dates: the Calends, Nones, and Ides. … In March, May, July, and October, the Nones fell on the 7th day and the Ides on the 15th.
Richard Stephenson, "Astronomy in the monasteries," New Scientist, April 19, 1984

Incorrigible :   adj. Not able to be corrected, improved, or reformed. "His bad habits were incorrigible." 

Miasma : a depleting or corrupting atmosphere; "A local photographer graciously let me borrow a good lens-cleaning cloth, which I used repeatedly in the swirling miasma of mist and rain." - Clark Fair, The Alaska Dispatch News, 13 Sept. 2015

windbreaker : (noun) A trademark used for a warm outer jacket having close-fitting, often elastic, cuffs and waistband.; anorak, parka, windcheater; George's windbreaker was torn, and he shivered in the cold night air. 

uberous : adjective: Abundant; fruitful.
; "School Principal lauded the Primary teachers for their uberous
contribution in preparing the small kids for their best presentations."
Vishwa Bharati Celebrates Janam Ashtami; Early Times (India); Sep 2, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: The higher we soar the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly. -Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, philosopher (15 Oct 1844-1900)


	*****October 17, 2015*****
shirk : to evade work, duty, etc; 
Mr. T said he understood his duty and said it's not his style to shirk responsibilities.
, "Mr. T Pities Criminals as He Awaits Jury Duty," New York Times, August 16, 2014

Efficacious :   adj. Successful in producing a desired or intended result; effective. "Efficacious treatment for the disease." 

Tremulous : trembling, timid, shaky, or sensitive; The piece begins with the tremulous tones of a violin coming from what sounds like a great distance.

salubrious : (adjective) Conducive or favorable to health or well-being.; healthy, good for you; She owned a cheerful vegetarian restaurant where she sold protein shakes and other salubrious refreshments. 

olio : noun: A miscellaneous collection of things, for example, a variety show.
; "I will launch into an olio of malapropisms, bad abbreviations, similar
words that tend to be used interchangeably."
All right, Already! Today You Get Plenty of Options; Daily Herald
(Illinois); Sep 13, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: Who, being loved, is poor? -Oscar Wilde, writer (16 Oct 1854-1900)


	*****October 18, 2015*****
oneiric : of or relating to dreams; 
To be sure, it is easy to assume that in the domain of the illogical, the fantastic, the subconscious and oneiric, variety is inexhaustible, and that every new and slightly different juxtaposition of unrelated elements constitutes a new departure.
John Simon, "Walking Redundancy," New York, June 23, 1969

Tepid :   adj. Showing little enthusiasm: "The president had a tepid response to the proposal." 

Jurisprudence : the science or system of law; A basic premise of American jurisprudence is that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

wakeless : (adjective) (Of sleep) deep or unbroken.; profound, sound, heavy; He fell into a deep, wakeless sleep. 

olio : noun: A miscellaneous collection of things, for example, a variety show.
; "I will launch into an olio of malapropisms, bad abbreviations, similar
words that tend to be used interchangeably."
All right, Already! Today You Get Plenty of Options; Daily Herald
(Illinois); Sep 13, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: Who, being loved, is poor? -Oscar Wilde, writer (16 Oct 1854-1900)


	*****October 19, 2015*****
haplography : the accidental omission of a letter or letter group that shoul..; 
May I add a note to John Kidd’s “The scandal of Ulysses” on the related ruckus over textual corruptions in the Gilbert and Ellmann edition of Joyce’s letters … in the novel the disappearance of an aposiopesis and a dieresis, dittography replacing what had been mistaken as haplography, etc.
Robert Craft, Letter to the editor, "'The Scandal of Ulysses': An Exchange,"The New York Review of Books, August 18, 1988

Provenance :   n. The beginning of something's existence; something's origin. The place of origin or earliest known history of something. "An exquisite vase of Chinese provenance." 

Blithesome : gay or merry; "… I had washed my being in the sunrise and felt as blithesome as the day." - Lucy Maud Montgomery, "A Correspondence and a Climax," 1905

seamster : (noun) A tailor.; sartor, tailor; We found a talented seamster who fixed the ill-fitting pants in an hour. 

olio : noun: A miscellaneous collection of things, for example, a variety show.
; "I will launch into an olio of malapropisms, bad abbreviations, similar
words that tend to be used interchangeably."
All right, Already! Today You Get Plenty of Options; Daily Herald
(Illinois); Sep 13, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: Who, being loved, is poor? -Oscar Wilde, writer (16 Oct 1854-1900)


	*****October 20, 2015*****
mawkish : characterized by sickly sentimentality; weakly emotional; maudlin...; 
Iris's calm indifference saved me from what might have been a truly mawkish outburst calculated to interest her at any cost (mawkish because, I am confident, none of our deepest wishes or deeds is, finally, when honestly declared very wonderful or mysterious: simplicity, not complexity, is at the center of our being…)
Gore Vidal, Messiah, 1954

Onerous :   adj. Involving heavy obligations. Involving a burdensome amount of effort and difficulty. "The court's stipulations were onerous." 

Oldster : an old or elderly person; More and more oldsters are embracing the Internet and connecting and interacting using social media.

hillock : (noun) A small natural hill.; knoll, mound, hammock; Umbopa pointed out to us a slight and indistinct hillock on the flat surface of the plain about eight miles away. 

hogen-mogen : noun: A person having or affecting high power.
adjective: Powerful; grand.
; "She's all grand hogen-mogen one minute and a flirting flibbergib the next."
Peter S. Beagle; Tamsin; Penguin; 1999. 

Thought For The Day: A man of courage never needs weapons, but he may need bail. -Lewis Mumford, writer and philosopher (19 Oct 1895-1990)


	*****October 21, 2015*****
dithyramb : any wildly enthusiastic speech or writing; 
The book is exalted, and flawed, by what is almost a madness of metaphors, Blackmur's piled on Adams's, a dithyramb about a dithyramb. It would be difficult to think of a book operating on a higher level than this one.
Anatole Broyard, "Cathedral of Thought," New York Times, May 10, 1980

Dismal :   adj Gloomy. Depressing; dreary. "The business was a dismal failure;" "Dismal weather." 

Capitulate : to cease resisting; The company capitulated to the labor union to avoid a strike.

sybarite : (noun) A person devoted to pleasure and luxury; a voluptuary.; voluptuary; This official sybarite dressed, dined, and visited a dozen or fifteen salons between eight at night and three in the morning. 

toenadering : noun: Establishing or reestablishing of cordial relations, especially between nations.
; "The party and the labour federation may seem to be on the same page in
opposing e-tolling, but don't hold your breath for a toenadering even
on this front."
Cosatu and DA Lock Horns; The Argus (Cape Town, South Africa); Mar 17, 2012. 

Thought For The Day: No man's credit is as good as his money. -E.W. Howe, novelist and editor (1853-1937)


	*****October 22, 2015*****
kakistocracy : government by the worst persons; a form of government in whic..; 
Burt Wheeler arrived in Washington as a Senator in 1923, when the backwash of war and prohibition had brought America about as near to kakistocracy as it has ever come.
Hubert Kay, "Burton K. Wheeler," Life, May 19, 1941

Incendiary :   adj. Designed to cause fires. "An incendiary device." 

Nocebo : a placebo with harmful effects; "Medical researchers know about nocebos but are often at a loss how to deal with them. For example, it would be wrong not to tell people about possible side effects of a medicine, yet the more they are educated about side effects, the more side effects they will get." - Alan Christianson, The Huffington Post, 22 Apr. 2015

cat%27s-paw : (noun) A person used by another as a dupe or tool.; pawn, instrument; He was humiliated to learn that he had been made a cat's-paw in the businessman's unscrupulous dealings. 

poppycock : noun: Nonsense.
; "The idea that what we do in the ballot box does not affect our daily
lives is pure poppycock."
Brian Greenspun; Hearing from the Greatest Generation; McClatchy-Tribune
Business News (Washington, DC); Apr 13, 2014.


See more usage examples of poppycock in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: There is one art of which man should be master, the art of reflection. -Samuel Taylor Coleridge, poet (21 Oct 1772-1834)


	*****October 23, 2015*****
scuttlebutt : Informal. rumor or gossip; 
At the Bizerte Naval Base, we got the first scuttlebutt about the coming invasion of continental Italy. "Scuttlebutt," that's Navy slang for gossip.
Bob Hope, "I Never Left Home," Life, August 7, 1944

Gravitas :   n. Dignity, seriousness, or solemnity in manner. "He has the necessary gravitas to lead the company." 

Replete : fully or abundantly provided or filled; The children were delighted to find that the costume trunk was replete with dresses, hats, capes, and all sorts of props to play make-believe.

abiogenesis : (noun) The supposed development of living organisms from nonliving matter.; spontaneous generation, autogenesis, autogeny; Early notions of abiogenesis, now considered incorrect, held that living organisms generate from decaying organic substances, like maggots from meat. 

sooterkin : noun:
1. A sweetheart or mistress.
2. An afterbirth formerly believed to be gotten by Dutch women by warming themselves on stoves.
3. Something imperfect or unsuccessful.
; "sooterkin, my twin
how oft I see you in dark corners of this room
so like our early home, a hot dark womb"
Alison Calder; Wolf Tree; Coteau Books; 2007.

"Dr. Maubray even claimed that he had seen and delivered a sooterkin
when he was traveling on a ferry from Harlingen to Amsterdam and a
woman fell into labor on board."
Jan Bondeson; A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities; W.W. Norton; 1999. 

Thought For The Day: Think for yourself and question authority. -Timothy Leary, psychologist and writer (22 Oct 1920-1996)


	*****October 24, 2015*****
convive : an eating or drinking companion; fellow diner or drinker; 
A mug of foaming hafanaf (so a certain sort of beer is called) was placed by the side of most of the convives.
William Makepeace Thackeray, "Crinoline," Punch, Volume XIII, 1947

Docile :   adj. Submissive. Ready to accept control or instruction. "The dog was very docile around children." 

Googol : the figure 1 followed by 100 zeros; In January 1997, astronomers Fred Adams and Gregory Laughlin predicted that the universe would end in a number of years equal to approximately one googol.

necropolis : (noun) A cemetery, especially a large and elaborate one belonging to an ancient city.; cemetery, burial ground, graveyard, memorial park; A guardian in a braided cap walked listlessly through the room like a ghost stalking through a necropolis. 

brabble : verb intr.: To argue over petty matters.
; "One can't help but compare Sr. Toni's written brabbling on the one hand,
with the actual deeds of the brave Christian women who put their lives
on the line in Afghanistan on the other hand."
Joseph P. Zwack; Transfer of Power Not Peaceful; Telegraph-Herald
(Dubuque, Iowa); Jan 17, 2002.


See more usage examples of brabble in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand. -Emily Kimbrough, author and broadcaster (23 Oct 1899-1989)


	*****October 25, 2015*****
fugleman : a person who heads a group, company, political party, etc.; a lea..; 
As with the Marquesans to-day, they had a fugleman, or leader, in all songs, who introduced the subject in a prologue, and occasionally gave the cue to a change.
Frederick O’Brien, Mystic Isles of the South Seas, 1921

Frugal; Frugality :   adj. Economical with regard to money or food. Simple and plain that costs very little: "A frugal meal." 

Flimflam : to subject to deception or fraud; The people behind the e-mail scam tried to flimflam unsuspecting users into giving out their credit card information and Social Security numbers. 

hodgepodge : (noun) A mixture of dissimilar ingredients; a jumble.; patchwork, jumble; Paul's screenplay was a hodgepodge of comedy, drama, slapstick, and tragedy. 

brabble : verb intr.: To argue over petty matters.
; "One can't help but compare Sr. Toni's written brabbling on the one hand,
with the actual deeds of the brave Christian women who put their lives
on the line in Afghanistan on the other hand."
Joseph P. Zwack; Transfer of Power Not Peaceful; Telegraph-Herald
(Dubuque, Iowa); Jan 17, 2002.


See more usage examples of brabble in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand. -Emily Kimbrough, author and broadcaster (23 Oct 1899-1989)


	*****October 26, 2015*****
tremulous : (of persons, the body, etc.) characterized by trembling, as from..; 
The bridge was tremulous beneath me, and marked the tremor of the solid earth.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, "My Visit to Niagara," The Dolliver Romance and Other Pieces, 1876

Reciprocal; Reciprocate :   adj. Done or performed in return: "Reciprocal respect." 

Impeccable : free from fault, blame, or error; Although the restaurant was a bit expensive, we found its memorable cuisine, luxurious decor, and impeccable service to be well worth the price.

swellhead : (noun) A person regarded as arrogant or conceited.; egoist, egotist; He was dismissed by many as a swellhead, but his ridiculously high estimation of himself sustained him through all sorts of challenging situations. 

brabble : verb intr.: To argue over petty matters.
; "One can't help but compare Sr. Toni's written brabbling on the one hand,
with the actual deeds of the brave Christian women who put their lives
on the line in Afghanistan on the other hand."
Joseph P. Zwack; Transfer of Power Not Peaceful; Telegraph-Herald
(Dubuque, Iowa); Jan 17, 2002.


See more usage examples of brabble in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand. -Emily Kimbrough, author and broadcaster (23 Oct 1899-1989)


	*****October 27, 2015*****
taphephobia : Psychiatry. an abnormal fear of being buried alive; 
He had claustrophobia, taphephobia, any and every kind of phobia that steered one clear of dark, confining spaces.
John Skipp and Craig Spector, The Scream, 1987

Ambivalent; Ambivalence :   adj. Having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone. "She has ambivalent feelings about the relationship." 

Victual : food or supplies of food; The small grocery on the corner sells meat, bread, fruit, and other victuals at prices that rival those of the big supermarkets.

hirsute : (adjective) Covered with hair; hairy.; hairy; The hirsute man used to joke that he looked like a grizzly bear. 

anodyne : adjective:
1. Relieving pain; soothing.
2. Bland or insipid: not likely to provoke or offend.

noun:
1. Something that soothes or comforts.
2. A medicine that relieves pain.
; "The interview, while engaging, was anodyne and strangely emollient,
entirely without any edge."
TV: Shelving the Misery Memoirs; Sunday Business Post (Cork, Ireland);
May 18, 2014.


See more usage examples of anodyne in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I have a trunk containing continents. -Beryl Markham, adventurer (26 Oct 1902-1986)


	*****October 28, 2015*****
lycanthrope : a werewolf or alien spirit in the physical form of a bloodthir..; 
History hangs heavy in Idsworth's Saxon church; the building is over 950 years old and a still-colourful fresco from 1330 lights up the north wall, depicting the 7th-century Belgian saint ministering to a lycanthrope, or wolf-man.
Paul Bloomfield, "Shipwrights Way: 50 miles of bucolic cycling bliss," The Guardian, June 14, 2014

Slavish :   adj. Showing no originality; blindly imitative: "A slavish copy of the original work." 

Slapstick : comedy stressing farce and horseplay; Wally doesn't care much for contemporary comedy, instead preferring the slapstick of the Three Stooges.

djinni : (noun) In Muslim legend, a spirit often capable of assuming human or animal form and exercising supernatural influence over people.; genie, jinnee, jinni; The djinni offered to grant Aladdin three wishes. 

salacious : adjective:
1. Obscene.
2. Lustful.
; "Billed as a salacious 'kick and tell', early indications [of the book
Lucky Jack] suggest an anodyne lack of revelation."
Lucky Jack; Sunday Times (London, UK); Jul 24, 2005.


See more usage examples of salacious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad. -Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US president (27 Oct 1858-1919)


	*****October 29, 2015*****
Jotunheim : Scandinavian Mythology. the outer world, or realm of giants; Utg..; 
He is one of the giants, and he still watches his fountain in far-off Jotunheim.
James Baldwin, The Story of Siegfried, 1882

Dubious :   adj. Hesitating or doubting. Not to be relied upon; suspect. "He seemed dubious about the idea." 

Delectation : delight or enjoyment; During the reception, a three-piece string band performed for the delectation of the guests. 

"The Kimbell Art Museum has the resources and reputation to bring masterpieces from major global museums to North Texas for our delectation." - Rick Brettell, The Dallas Morning News, 2 July 2015SubscribeGet the Word of the Day direct to your inbox - subscribe today!Did You Know?Pleasure, delight, and enjoyment are all synonyms and all signify the agreeable emotion accompanying the possession or expectation of what is good or greatly desired. Why, then, use delectation, that not-so-familiar synonym? Because, as with most synonym groups, each word has its own subtle distinctions. Pleasure stresses satisfaction or gratification of the senses. Delight adds the idea of liveliness or obviousness in that satisfaction, often less enduring than pleasure. Enjoyment suggests a wide range of deep pleasure, from merely transient though complete gratification to deep-seated happiness. Delectation (which is from the Latin word for "delight") suggests a reaction to pleasurable experience consciously sought or provided. More than all the others, it connotes mere amusement or diversion.
beebread : (noun) A brownish substance consisting of a mixture of pollen and honey and used by bees as food.; ambrosia; The worker bees prepared the beebread, which was then fed to the larvae. 

probity : noun: Integrity and honesty.
; "Mark Steel recalled ... rifling through his grandfather's text-books for
salacious descriptions of murders and adultery. His early trust in the
probity of the police and the judiciary was later to be shaken from its
foundations, and he offered some robust statements of his disgust that
police officers are rarely prosecuted for fabricating or manipulating
evidence."
Tom Lappin; A Pleasing Marriage of Surreal Wit and Wisdom; The Scotsman
(Edinburgh, UK); Aug 18, 2003.


See more usage examples of probity in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes. -Desiderius Erasmus, philosopher, humanist, and theologian (28 Oct 1466-1536)


	*****October 30, 2015*****
barghest : a legendary doglike goblin believed to portend death or misfortun..; 
In Craven, from the castle to the cot, / That is not vocal with my deeds. My name / Will still the wayward child, when that of Barghest / Hath lost its spell.
Robert Story, The Outlaw, 1839

Corpulent :   adj. Physically bulky; fat. "The once corpulent woman is now trim and fit." 

Pellucid : reflecting evenly or easy to understand; "This is a controversial question with no pellucid answer." - The Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, 4 Apr. 2013

phagocyte : (noun) A cell, such as a white blood cell, that engulfs and absorbs waste material, harmful microorganisms, or other foreign bodies in the bloodstream and tissues.; scavenger cell; The doctor was fond of referring to phagocytes as "sanitation workers." 

rectitude : noun:
1. Moral uprightness.
2. Correctness.
3. Straightness.
; "Manohar has maintained an image of rectitude and financial probity that
in today's age can be seen as a modern marvel."
Shashank Manohar: A Cricket Administrator with an Unbending Will;
The Hindustan Times (New Delhi, India); Oct 5, 2015.


See more usage examples of rectitude in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: He who has provoked the lash of wit, cannot complain that he smarts from it. -James Boswell, biographer and lawyer (29 Oct 1740-1795)


	*****October 31, 2015*****
epicedium : a funeral song; dirge; 
Performing The Queen’s Epicedium, an ornate funeral lament, Bostridge seemed to sing from his gut as he let the sliding melodies move his body in a kind of visceral dance.
Sophia Vastek, "Bostridge and friends deliver a memorable evening of Britten’s music," New York Classical Review, October 21, 2013

Pontificate :   v. To speak or behave in a pompous or dogmatic manner. "He pontificates at great length in political matters." 

Underwhelm : to fail to impress or stimulate; The figure skater's lackluster performance underwhelmed the judges. 

physic : (noun) A medicine or drug, especially a cathartic.; aperient, cathartic, purgative; "Affery, woman," said Mr. Flintwinch, with a friendly grin on his expressive countenance, "if you ever have a dream of this sort again, it'll be a sign of your being in want of physic." 

emollient : adjective: Soothing or softening.
noun: Something that soothes or softens.
; "The supremely emollient Kaiser loves these figures, announcing them
to me with a great beam of fiscal rectitude."
Bryan Appleyard; The Opera Ain't Over...; Sunday Times (London, UK);
Jul 16, 2000.


See more usage examples of emollient in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree. -Ezra Pound, poet (30 Oct 1885-1972)


	*****November 01, 2015*****
ignis fatuus : something deluding or misleading; 
We fear that it has deceived many an unwary youth, and seduced him from the more useful occupations of life, where his humble talents might have been serviceably employed, to the hopeless pursuit of an ignis fatuus, which constantly eludes his grasp, and will finally conduct him to indigence and despair.
M. A. Shee, "Elements of Art," The Quarterly Review, 1810

Lugubrious :   adj. Looking or sounding sad and dismal; mournful. "The lugubrious country song reminded her of an ex-boyfriend." 

Ebullient : showing liveliness and enthusiasm; "Keegan, effortlessly ebullient even on his worst days, is probably the easiest person in the history of civilization to have a conversation with…." - Jay Martel, The New Yorker (online), 9 Sept. 2015

phytophagous : (adjective) Feeding on plants, including shrubs and trees.; plant-eating, phytophilous; The dot moth is phytophagous, feeding on a wide variety of plants. 

emollient : adjective: Soothing or softening.
noun: Something that soothes or softens.
; "The supremely emollient Kaiser loves these figures, announcing them
to me with a great beam of fiscal rectitude."
Bryan Appleyard; The Opera Ain't Over...; Sunday Times (London, UK);
Jul 16, 2000.


See more usage examples of emollient in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree. -Ezra Pound, poet (30 Oct 1885-1972)


	*****November 02, 2015*****
ferhoodle : Chiefly Pennsylvania German Area. to confuse or mix up: Don't fe..; 
Honestly, what I'm learning ferhoodles me at times, trying to understand how these English think.
Beverly Lewis, The Brethren, 2006

Contentious :   adj. Causing or likely to cause an argument; controversial. Involving a heated argument. "The terms of the agreement remain contentious between the parties." 

Microburst : a short violent downward current of air; "A microburst struck Osage City early Friday, causing downed trees and power lines, closing the town's schools and making streets nearly impassable, said Police Chief Fred Nech." - Ann Marie Bush, The Topeka (Kansas) Capital-Journal, 18 Sept. 2015 

trenchant : (adjective) Having keenness and forcefulness and penetration in thought, expression, or intellect.; searching; His trenchant criticism redirected the debate and gave everyone something new to consider. 

emollient : adjective: Soothing or softening.
noun: Something that soothes or softens.
; "The supremely emollient Kaiser loves these figures, announcing them
to me with a great beam of fiscal rectitude."
Bryan Appleyard; The Opera Ain't Over...; Sunday Times (London, UK);
Jul 16, 2000.


See more usage examples of emollient in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree. -Ezra Pound, poet (30 Oct 1885-1972)


	*****November 03, 2015*****
desultory : digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a ..; 
"It strikes me," said Marion, rising, "that this sort of desultory conversation on a matter of such importance is, to say the least, inconvenient…"
Charles Lever, The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly, 1868

Excoriate :   v. Censure or criticize severely; Severely berate: "He was excoriated for his mistakes." 

Ruddy : having a healthy reddish color; Sean's ruddy complexion was intensified after a brisk walk in the cold night air.

frowzy : (adjective) Unkempt; slovenly.; slovenly; Between his frowzy clothes and late arrival, he made a decidedly bad first impression. 

sternutate : verb intr.: To sneeze.
; "He sternutated. That broke the spell."
Avram Davidson; The Island Under the Earth; Ace; 1969. 

Thought For The Day: We have probed the earth, excavated it, burned it, ripped things from it, buried things in it, chopped down its forests, leveled its hills, muddied its waters, and dirtied its air. That does not fit my definition of a good tenant. If we were here on a month-to-month basis, we would have been evicted long ago. -Rose Bird, Chief Justice of California Supreme Court (2 Nov 1936-1999)


	*****November 04, 2015*****
landloper : a wanderer, vagrant, or adventurer; 
…I was a landloper, as the Dutchman saith, a wanderer, and subject to incertain removes, and short sojourns in divers places before.
, James Howell to Dr. Fr. Mansell, March 5, 1618, in Epistolae Ho-Elianae, Volume I, 1645

Taciturn :   adj. Reserved or uncommunicative in speech; saying little. "Today the normally taciturn man would not stop talking." 

Confidant : someone to whom secrets are entrusted; "Who that has a confidant escapes believing too little in his penetration, and too much in his discretion?" - George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, 1876 

hovercraft : (noun) A craft capable of moving over water or land on a cushion of air created by jet engines.; ground-effect machine; The police lost track of the bank robbers at the water's edge, where the thieves escaped in a hovercraft. 

eruct : verb tr., intr.:
1. To belch: to expel gases from the stomach through the mouth.
2. To emit violently, fumes from a volcano, for example.
; "When cars behind start flashing and beeping, and he realises that we're
eructing huge clouds of choking black smoke as we chug and jerk along,
we are forced to pull over."
Lucy Caldwell; The Story So Far...; The Independent (London, UK);
May 29, 2007.


See more usage examples of eruct in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: This is the devilish thing about foreign affairs: they are foreign and will not always conform to our whim. -James Reston, journalist (3 Nov 1909-1995)


	*****November 05, 2015*****
coriaceous : of or like leather; 
Christie showcased a capacious personality and a coriaceous hide … but presented mainly platitudes and no clear agenda.
Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, Double Down: Game Change 2012, 2013

Accommodate; Accommodating :   v. Provide lodging or sufficient space for. "The room will accommodate ten people." Fit in with the wishes or needs of another: "It's difficult to accommodate his new management style." 

Trepid : timorous or fearful; Were I not feeling so trepid, I might have enjoyed joining the other campers for a nighttime walk in the woods. 

bellicose : (adjective) Warlike in manner or temperament; pugnacious.; battleful, combative, contentious; She had always found him to be bellicose and was not surprised when he was expelled from the military academy for his belligerent and violent behavior. 

flatulate : verb intr.: To pass intestinal gas from the anus.
; "Greg writes: I think that a gentleman should never flatulate in front of
his lady. But my girlfriend believes it is a showing of trust and affection."
John Hodgman; The One-Page Magazine; The New York Times Magazine; Apr 28, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like. -Will Rogers, humorist (4 Nov 1879-1935)


	*****November 06, 2015*****
recondite : dealing with very profound, difficult, or abstruse subject matte..; 
Particle and quantum physics receive their due, but the ideas associated with them are so mathematically recondite that any general discussion is somewhat beside the point.
Arthur Krystal, "The Shrinking World of Ideas," The Chronicle of Higher Education, November 21, 2014

Insular :   adj. Ignorant of or uninterested in cultures, ideas, or people outside a person's own experience. "An insular taste in music." Lacking contact with other people. "She seemed too insular to leave her house." 

Williwaw : a sudden violent wind; The sailors had all heard stories of ships capsized by the williwaws that plagued the strait.

recidivist : (noun) Someone who is repeatedly arrested for criminal behavior, especially for the same criminal behavior.; habitual criminal, repeater; After his third arrest for petty theft, it became clear to the local police that they had a recidivist on their hands. 

ingurgitate : verb tr.: To swallow greedily or in large amounts.
; "Jeremy finally settled down and went back to ingurgitating potato chips."
Gord Elliston; The Seagull Wore Glasses; Lulu Press; 2014.


See more usage examples of ingurgitate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Do you wish the world were happy? / Then remember day by day, / Just to scatter seeds of kindness / As you pass along the way. -Ella Wheeler Wilcox, poet (5 Nov 1850-1919)


	*****November 07, 2015*****
crepuscular : of, relating to, or resembling twilight; dim; indistinct; 
The whisper of his conviction seemed to open before me a vast and uncertain expanse, as of a crepuscular horizon on a plain at dawn—or was it, perchance, at the coming of the night?
Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim, 1900

Voracious :   adj. An eager approach to an activity; Wanting or devouring great quantities of something or somebody: "She has a voracious appetite for life." 

Lucullan : lavish or luxurious; "Two millennia ago, taverns were liberally represented in Pompeii. Today, there's just one place: Autogrill cafeteria near the Forum. Not exactly Lucullan feasting, but they do sell passable panini." - Michelle Locke, The Miami Herald, 25 Sept. 2015 

perfidious : (adjective) Of, relating to, or marked by perfidy; treacherous.; punic, treacherous; After Frank betrayed him, James swore he would never forgive his friend's perfidious behavior. 

nictitate : verb intr.: To wink or blink.
; "'So why don't we tell each other tonight? I'll be playin' at a tango bar.'
He nictitated."
Isabella and Irena de Wardin; The Humming Bird; Xlibris; 2012.


See more usage examples of nictitate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I don't think that combat has ever been written about truthfully; it has always been described in terms of bravery and cowardice. I won't even accept these words as terms of human reference any more. And anyway, hell, they don't even apply to what, in actual fact, modern warfare has become. -James Jones, novelist (6 Nov 1921-1977)


	*****November 08, 2015*****
mauka : Hawaii. toward the mountains; inland; 
You learned what all the island people know, about how to go mauka, toward the mountains in the middle of the island, and how to go makai, toward the ocean lying all around.
Kathleen Tyau, A Little Too Much Is Enough, 1995

Magnanimous :   adj. Very generous or forgiving, particularly toward a rival or someone less powerful than oneself. 

Absolve : to free from obligation or guilt; "A week of staying home from work, absolved of all household duties, waited on hand and foot by your significant other-it's not a dream. It's what happens when you have surgery on your foot and can't walk on it." - Liz Soares, CentralMaine.com, 4 Oct. 2015

tambour : (noun) A small wooden embroidery frame consisting of two concentric hoops between which fabric is stretched.; embroidery frame, embroidery hoop; She was addicted to needlepoint and took her tambour wherever she went. 

nictitate : verb intr.: To wink or blink.
; "'So why don't we tell each other tonight? I'll be playin' at a tango bar.'
He nictitated."
Isabella and Irena de Wardin; The Humming Bird; Xlibris; 2012.


See more usage examples of nictitate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I don't think that combat has ever been written about truthfully; it has always been described in terms of bravery and cowardice. I won't even accept these words as terms of human reference any more. And anyway, hell, they don't even apply to what, in actual fact, modern warfare has become. -James Jones, novelist (6 Nov 1921-1977)


	*****November 09, 2015*****
frangible : easily broken; breakable: Most frangible toys are not suitable f..; 
…fear not, iPad owners: thousands of armed-guard-like cases are available to protect your frangible computing device.
Nick Bilton, "In Search of a Case to Protect the iPad," New York Times, September 1, 2010

Evocative; Evocate :   adj. Bringing strong memories, images, or feelings to mind. 

Gadfly : a persistently critical person; Ms. Johnson has long been a gadfly at town meetings, and I've grown weary of her attempts to hector the town council into doing as she sees fit. 

cutoff : (noun) A route shorter than the usual one.; shortcut, crosscut; My father claimed he knew a great cutoff, but it turned out to be longer than our original route. 

nictitate : verb intr.: To wink or blink.
; "'So why don't we tell each other tonight? I'll be playin' at a tango bar.'
He nictitated."
Isabella and Irena de Wardin; The Humming Bird; Xlibris; 2012.


See more usage examples of nictitate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I don't think that combat has ever been written about truthfully; it has always been described in terms of bravery and cowardice. I won't even accept these words as terms of human reference any more. And anyway, hell, they don't even apply to what, in actual fact, modern warfare has become. -James Jones, novelist (6 Nov 1921-1977)


	*****November 10, 2015*****
lassitude : weariness of body or mind from strain, oppressive climate, etc.;..; 
"Lassitude!" Capiam dared not laugh but the word was totally inadequate to describe the total inertia that gripped his usually vigorous body. "Extreme lassitude! Total inertia! Complete incapacity!"
Anne McCaffrey, Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern, 1983

Perfidious :   adj. Deceitful and untrustworthy. "A perfidious relationship." 

Umami : a meaty or savory taste sensation; The cookbook has an entire chapter on umami, and lists a number of common ingredients-from tomato paste to Worcestershire sauce to anchovies-as easy ways to add it to dishes.

tableland : (noun) A flat, elevated region; a plateau or mesa.; plateau; The hikers climbed all morning, planning to stop for lunch when they reached the tableland. 

affectious : adjective: Affectionate or cordial.
; "Bob Bevege's affectious manner and wry smile belie the fact that he has
the power to evict people from a racecourse or withdraw the licence of
a racehorse trainer or jockey."
Protecting the Integrity of Racing; Hawkes Bay Today (Hastings, New
Zealand); Jan 12, 2006. 

Thought For The Day: That which can be destroyed by the truth, should be. -P.C. Hodgell, writer and professor (b. 1951)


	*****November 11, 2015*****
logophile : a lover of words; 
When I was growing up, long before I became a logophile or even knew that a logophile was a word lover, my mom used to grumble about the misuse of the word "like" on TV.
Patricia T. O’ Conner and Stewart Kellerman, Origins of the Specious: Myths and Misconceptions of the English Language, 2009

Sycophant :   n. A person who acts attentively toward someone in order to gain advantage; a servile flatterer. 

Kangaroo Court : a court marked by improper procedures; The press decried the tribunal as nothing more than a kangaroo court, meting out savage and arbitrary justice.

soapbox : (noun) A platform raised above the surrounding level to give prominence to the person on it.; dais, podium, pulpit, rostrum, stump, ambo; The author ascended the soapbox and began to read from his latest novel. 

camelious : adjective: Relating to the camel or its hump.
; "It seemed a very Arabian thing to do, to sleep under canvas beneath
huge hairy camelious blankets, so heavy that we were scarcely able
to roll over in our sleep."
A.J. Mackinnon; The Well at the World's End; Skyhorse Publishing; 2011. 

Thought For The Day: You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips. -Oliver Goldsmith, writer and physician (10 Nov 1730-1774)


	*****November 12, 2015*****
magnanimous : proceeding from or revealing generosity or nobility of mind, c..; 
They are magnanimous people, and magnanimity is, fundamentally, the only thing that matters and that gives us distinction here on earth. You know, there are only two classes of people: the magnanimous ones and all the rest; and when you reach my age you have to choose, you have to decide once and for all whom you intend to like and, whom you intend to despise…
Marcel Proust (1871–1922), translated by Lydia Davis, Swann's Way, 2003

Antipathy :   n. A deep-seated feeling of dislike; aversion. "His antipathy for first wife dates back to his divorce." 

Dewy : wet with dew or unsophisticated; The lawn was dewy and cool on our feet as we set off for a short barefoot walk just after sunrise. 

vitriol : (noun) Abusive or venomous language used to express blame or censure or bitter deep-seated ill will.; invective, vituperation; At first, she patiently listened to him vent his frustration, but when he began to spout vitriol, she told him she had to leave. 

adventious : adjective:
1. Coming from outside: not inherent or native.
2. Happening by chance.
3. Appearing in an unusual or abnormal place.
; "For the Greenies, the arrival of Musketaquid was almost adventious;
they had never known Allston Brighton to have a visitor."
Randy Steinberg; Concord; AuthorHouse; 2001. 

Thought For The Day: I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center. -Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., writer (11 Nov 1922-2007)


	*****November 13, 2015*****
saporific : producing or imparting flavor or taste; 
My life has settled in here; I go to the sea with my "men," and often cook us lunch on the beach, which they invariably declare most saporific.
Bruce Wagner, I'll Let You Go, 2002

Propensity :   n. An inclination or natural tendency to behave in a particular way. "He has a propensity for clear thinking." 

Sinecure : a paid job requiring little or no work; The king was in the habit of rewarding his loyal supporters with sinecures.

apologist : (noun) A person who argues in defense or justification of something, such as a doctrine, policy, or institution.; vindicator, justifier; English youth have been so educated time out of mind, and we have hundreds of thousands of apologists and admirers of injustice, misery, and brutality, as perpetrated among children. 

majestious : adjective: Impressive in a dignified or inspiring manner; stately; grand.
; "His majestious sepulcher can be visited in the garden of his villa, where,
also, are displayed his battle trophies."
Anita Daniel; I Am Going to Italy; Coward-McCann; 1955. 

Thought For The Day: To the artist there is never anything ugly in nature. -Auguste Rodin, sculptor (12 Nov 1840-1917)


	*****November 14, 2015*****
inconnu : a person who is unknown; stranger; 
Hers is the one mask that has no name. She's known simply as the Inconnue, the unknown woman of the Seine.
Jeremy Grange, “Resusci Anne and L'Inconnue: The Mona Lisa of the Seine,” BBC News, October 16, 2013

Officious :   adj. Assertive of authority in an annoyingly domineering way, esp. with regard to petty or trivial matters. Intrusively enthusiastic in offering help or advice; interfering. "The officious man is widely disliked." 

Bipartisan : of or relating to members of two parties; The bill has bipartisan support in the Senate, since it stands to benefit both Democrats and Republicans equally. 

dolmen : (noun) A prehistoric megalith typically having two upright stones and a capstone.; cromlech; All that was left of the pre-historic community was a dolmen, an enigma that stood in nature like a letter from a lost alphabet. 

quodlibetal : adjective: Relating to a question or topic for debate or discussion.
; "All these examples are taken from William of Ockham's quodlibetal questions."
Alastair Minnis; Fallible Authors; University of Pennsylvania Press; 2008. 

Thought For The Day: I know what I have given you. I do not know what you have received. -Antonio Porchia, poet (13 Nov 1886-1968)


	*****November 15, 2015*****
indefatigable : incapable of being tired out; not yielding to fatigue; untir..; 
Colonel Cathcart was indefatigable that way, an industrious, intense, dedicated military tactician who calculated day and night in the service of himself.
Joseph Heller, Catch-22, 1961

Sentient :   adj. Characterized by sensation and consciousness. Able to perceive or feel things: "Sentient life forms." 

Equanimity : evenness of mind especially under stress; The most successful athletes find a way to maintain equanimity in the face of disappointment and failure. 

tiffin : (noun) A meal at midday; a luncheon.; luncheon, dejeuner, lunch; His impudence still rankled when I came into the dining room at tiffin time. 

quodlibetal : adjective: Relating to a question or topic for debate or discussion.
; "All these examples are taken from William of Ockham's quodlibetal questions."
Alastair Minnis; Fallible Authors; University of Pennsylvania Press; 2008. 

Thought For The Day: I know what I have given you. I do not know what you have received. -Antonio Porchia, poet (13 Nov 1886-1968)


	*****November 16, 2015*****
diaphanous : very sheer and light; almost completely transparent or transluc..; 
Cool, silver-heeled, in a billowing, diaphanous white shawl, she ambles in uninvited at the end of Act I, along with her companion, Oscar (Peter Francis James), a dark, intruding angel.
John Lahr, "Dancing with Death," The New Yorker, March 19, 2012

Opprobrious :   adj. Disgraceful; shameful. "His actions were opprobrious." 

Purloin : to appropriate wrongfully; The columnist resigned from the paper after it was revealed that he had purloined material from other journalists.

circuitous : (adjective) Being or taking a roundabout, lengthy course.; roundabout; He prided himself on his sense of direction, so Jane refrained from mentioning that the route he had chosen was circuitous and unnecessarily long. 

quodlibetal : adjective: Relating to a question or topic for debate or discussion.
; "All these examples are taken from William of Ockham's quodlibetal questions."
Alastair Minnis; Fallible Authors; University of Pennsylvania Press; 2008. 

Thought For The Day: I know what I have given you. I do not know what you have received. -Antonio Porchia, poet (13 Nov 1886-1968)


	*****November 17, 2015*****
hortatory : urging to some course of conduct or action; exhorting; encouragi..; 
Some of these books were, on the face of it, frivolous and facetious; but many, on the other hand, were serious and prophetic, moral and hortatory. Merely to read the titles suggested innumerable schoolmasters, innumerable clergymen mounting their platforms and pulpits and holding forth with loquacity which far exceeded the hour usually allotted to such discourse on this one subject.
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own, 1929

Credulous; Credulity :   n. A tendency to be too ready to believe that something is real or true. "A credulous rumor." 

Talisman : an object believed to have magic powers; Ever since he was in grade school, Sarah's grandfather has carried a rabbit's foot in his pocket as a talisman. 

tirade : (noun) A long angry or violent speech, usually of a censorious or denunciatory nature; a diatribe.; philippic, broadside; Milady had listened to all this menacing tirade with a smile of disdain on her lips, but rage in her heart. 

sitzmark : noun: A mark made by someone falling backward in the snow.
; "He'd practically worn a sitzmark in the concrete there, so fond was he
of that particular fishing hole."
Marthanne Shubert; A Woman to Blame; Uncial Press; 2009. 

Thought For The Day: One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised. -Chinua Achebe, writer and professor (16 Nov 1930-2013)


	*****November 18, 2015*****
Panglossian : characterized by or given to extreme optimism, especially in t..; 
During a career in which Mr. Wattenberg often presented a rosy view of the trajectory of the United States, some critics called him Panglossian. But he said the country had a long record supporting his beliefs. "In American history," Mr. Wattenberg once wrote, "the evidence suggests that it is the optimist who has been the realist."
Emily Langer, "Ben J. Wattenberg, writer and television commentator, dies at 81," Washington Post, June 29, 2015

Abrogate :   v. Repeal or do away with a law, right, or agreement. "To abrogate a law." 

Inviolable : secure from violation or attack; The senator agreed to an interview on the basis of a set of clear and inviolable rules about what she would and would not answer.

crosspatch : (noun) A peevish, irascible person; a grouch.; crank, grouch, grump, churl; He was known to all as a crosspatch, but all that changed with the birth of his first grandchild. 

outro : noun: The concluding part of a piece of music, program, etc.
; "Bassist John Deacon is not credited with vocals on any of the albums, the
rock section, and finally, the tapering down of the song with the outro."
Aparna Narrain; 40 years of Bo Rhap; The Hindu (Chennai, India); Nov 2, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: If you hire only those people you understand, the company will never get people better than you are. Always remember that you often find outstanding people among those you don't particularly like. -Soichiro Honda, industrialist (17 Nov 1906-1991)


	*****November 19, 2015*****
slugabed : a lazy person who stays in bed long after the usual time for aris..; 
Why, lamb! why, lady! Fie, you slugabed!
William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, 1599

Egress :   n. The action of going out of or leaving a place. "The company's egress procedures." 

Onomastics : the study of proper names; As a student of onomastics, Gloria liked to keep track of the most popular baby names across generations. 

bourdon : (noun) A pipe of the bagpipe that is tuned to produce a single continuous tone.; drone pipe; The continuous note emanating from the bourdon was hypnotic and carried the listener off into another world. 

solipsism : noun
1. The view or theory that the self is all that exists or can be known to exist.
2. Self-absorption or self-centeredness.
; "These feckless fudgewits who think the world stops when they close their
eyes and only becomes real once they open them again. That kind of
solipsism is part of the joy of being young, of course."
Meet the Exiles on Vain Street; Irish Independent (Dublin); Jun 5, 2015.


See more usage examples of solipsism in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Does feminist mean large unpleasant person who'll shout at you or someone who believes women are human beings? To me it's the latter, so I sign up. -Margaret Atwood, novelist and poet (b. 18 Nov 1939)


	*****November 20, 2015*****
empyreal : pertaining to the sky; celestial: empyreal blue; 
Outside, the even rows of white clouds folded like crests of waves on the empyreal blue.
R. Clifton Spargo, Beautiful Fools: The Last Affair of Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, 2013

Trepidation :   n. A feeling of fear or agitation about something that may or may not actually happen. "He entered the cave with considerable trepidation." 

Ruly : obedient or orderly; As far as groups of young children go, this one was unusually ruly: the youngsters were all fully engaged in building with a large set of colored blocks.

stevedore : (noun) One who is employed in the loading or unloading of ships.; dock worker, dock-walloper, docker, dockhand, loader, longshoreman, lumper; As the stevedore worked, he dreamed of the day he would be able to leave the docks behind and see the world from the deck of a ship. 

intrapreneur : noun: An employee who works as an entrepreneur within an established company, having the freedom to take risks and act independently.
; "'Don't change companies, change the company you're in,' advises one social
intrapreneur."
Stefan Stern; How to Build a Better World from Inside Business; Financial
Times (London, UK); Apr 24, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: One cannot hire a hand; the whole man always comes with it. -Peter Drucker, management consultant, professor, and writer (19 Nov 1909-2005)


	*****November 21, 2015*****
penurious : extremely stingy; parsimonious; miserly; 
All penurious old hermits are expected to be wealthy, the only point of interest being how much money is in the mattress.
Robert Wallace, "The Perils of Being Too Thrifty," Life, March 30, 1959

Obfuscate :   v. Render obscure, unclear, or unintelligible. Bewilder (someone). "The eclipse will obfuscate the sun's light." 

Vicinity : proximity or approximation; There are several wonderful little stores in the vicinity of our new house. 

virgule : (noun) A punctuation mark (/) used to separate related items of information.; separatrix, solidus, slash, diagonal, stroke; Because the poem was reproduced in block text, virgules were used to indicate where the lines had originally been separated. 

bathos : noun: An abrupt descent from lofty or sublime to the commonplace; anticlimax.
; "Yet still there is a notion that real space exploration needs real people.
And so we are forced to witness, on the one hand, the bathos of astronauts
taking pizza deliveries on the International Space Station, a mere 400km
from Earth's surface -- and on the other, the genuine tragedies of men and
women dying in our attempts to put them in space."
Philip Ball; Philae is Boldly Going Where No Man Should Go -- Let's Leave
Space to the Robots; The Guardian (London, UK); Jun 15, 2015.


See more usage examples of bathos in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: If you want a symbolic gesture, don't burn the flag, wash it. -Norman Thomas, socialist and social reformer (20 Nov 1884-1968)


	*****November 22, 2015*****
nominalize : to convert (another part of speech) into a noun, as in changing..; 
There are two types of nominalization. Type A involves a morphological change, namely suffixation: the verb “to investigate” produces the noun “investigation,” and “to nominalize” yields “nominalization.”
Henry Hitchings, "Those Irritating Verbs-as-Nouns," New York Times, March 30, 2013

Formidable :   adj. Inspiring fear or respect through being impressively powerful, large, or capable. "A formidable opponent." 

Fulsome : abundant or excessively flattering; "The magnolia was in fulsome bloom, great waxy cups in dark green saucers pressing against the windows." - Caroline Graham, The Killings at Badger's Drift, 1987

menhir : (noun) A tall upright megalith; found primarily in England and northern France.; standing stone; The neo-pagans made the huge menhir the site of their annual spring celebration. 

bathos : noun: An abrupt descent from lofty or sublime to the commonplace; anticlimax.
; "Yet still there is a notion that real space exploration needs real people.
And so we are forced to witness, on the one hand, the bathos of astronauts
taking pizza deliveries on the International Space Station, a mere 400km
from Earth's surface -- and on the other, the genuine tragedies of men and
women dying in our attempts to put them in space."
Philip Ball; Philae is Boldly Going Where No Man Should Go -- Let's Leave
Space to the Robots; The Guardian (London, UK); Jun 15, 2015.


See more usage examples of bathos in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: If you want a symbolic gesture, don't burn the flag, wash it. -Norman Thomas, socialist and social reformer (20 Nov 1884-1968)


	*****November 23, 2015*****
gratulation : a feeling of joy; 
Nay more, even when I had reached you safely and beheld the city full of delight and gratulation and sacrifices, I was still suspicious of Fortune, knowing that she bestows upon men no great boon that is without alloy or free from divine displeasure.
Plutarch, translated by Bernadotte Perrin, Plutarch's Lives, Volume VI, 1918

Confluence :   n. The act or process of merging. A flowing together of two or more streams. "A fortunate confluence of factors led to his success." 

Nebula : a large group of associated stars; The explosion of a supernova leaves behind a nebula from which, upon cooling, new stars and planets may develop. 

phylactery : (noun) Either of two small leather boxes, each containing strips of parchment inscribed with quotations from the Hebrew Scriptures, one of which is strapped to the forehead and the other to the left arm; traditionally worn by Jewish men during morning worship, except on the Sabbath and holidays.; tefillin; Just before his bar mitzvah, David got a brand new set of phylacteries. 

bathos : noun: An abrupt descent from lofty or sublime to the commonplace; anticlimax.
; "Yet still there is a notion that real space exploration needs real people.
And so we are forced to witness, on the one hand, the bathos of astronauts
taking pizza deliveries on the International Space Station, a mere 400km
from Earth's surface -- and on the other, the genuine tragedies of men and
women dying in our attempts to put them in space."
Philip Ball; Philae is Boldly Going Where No Man Should Go -- Let's Leave
Space to the Robots; The Guardian (London, UK); Jun 15, 2015.


See more usage examples of bathos in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: If you want a symbolic gesture, don't burn the flag, wash it. -Norman Thomas, socialist and social reformer (20 Nov 1884-1968)


	*****November 24, 2015*****
splendiferous : splendid; magnificent; fine; 
…Alfrida told her to go and have a lie-down, she deserved it after this splendiferous dinner, she and I would manage the dishes.
Alice Munro, "Family Furnishings," Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, 2001

Intrinsic :   adj. Belonging naturally; essential. "Intrinsic stock value." 

Foreshorten : to shorten for an illusion of depth; "The past is a giant foreshortened with his feet towards us; and sometimes the feet are of clay." - G. K. Chesterton, A Short History of England, 1917

miscellanea : (noun) Miscellaneous items or written works collected together.; assortment, mixed bag, motley, potpourri, salmagundi, smorgasbord, variety, mixture; The office was littered with papers, files, and assorted miscellanea. 

stridulous : adjective:
1. Having or making a harsh grating sound.
2. Shrill or grating.
; "Two weeks ago, bankers testifying before a Senate committee were treated
with such uncharacteristic sympathy that their lobbyists felt compelled
to gloat. ... There were no protesting community groups bringing bus loads
of little, old men and ladies who had lost their homes in unscrupulous
loan hustles; no stridulous lawmakers blasting the bankers about alleged
redlining and other antidemocratic behavior."
Jim McTague; Front Row on Washington; American Banker (New York); Mar 15, 1993. 

Thought For The Day: Poetry is a sort of homecoming. -Paul Celan, poet and translator (23 Nov 1920-1970)


	*****November 25, 2015*****
penetralia : the most private or secret things; 
But there are promptings of wisdom from the penetralia of human nature, which a people can hear, though the wisest of their practical Statesmen be deaf towards them.
William Wordsworth, "Concerning the Relations of Great Britain, Spain and Portugal…as Affected by the Convention of Cintra," 1809

Overt :   adj. Done or shown openly; plainly or readily apparent, not secret or hidden. "Overt hostility." 

Henotheism : worship of 1 god without denying others; "For Assyrian kings, the god Ashur … was proclaimed to be the true king, and the human king was the god's regent. In other words, in the ancient world, henotheism was a convenient method for imposing a king's rule over subject peoples: one all-powerful god means one all-powerful king as well." - A. C. Black, Canaan and Israel in Antiquity: An Introduction, 2001

inexorable : (adjective) Not capable of being persuaded by entreaty; relentless.; relentless, grim, unappeasable, unrelenting, unforgiving, stern; The inexorable investigator questioned the witness repeatedly, long after she had been reduced to tears and claimed to know nothing more. 

torpid : adjective:
1. Sluggish or inactive.
2. Apathetic.
3. Dormant as when hibernating.
; "Gary is a torpid man who works as a translator for the CIA in the
Washington area. He's neither shaken nor stirred."
Ron Charles; Life of a Spy Doomed to Rot in Place; The Washington Post;
Nov 19, 2014.


See more usage examples of torpid in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: There's really no such thing as the 'voiceless'. There are only the deliberately silenced or the preferably unheard. -Arundhati Roy, author (b. 24 Nov 1961)


	*****November 26, 2015*****
uxorious : doting upon, foolishly fond of, or affectionately submissive towa..; 
Keith is genial, straightforward, considerate, clear-eyed. He is also charmingly uxorious, constantly deferring to Kim, who, for her part, is fully abreast of Keith's darting hopes and fears.
Martin Amis, "Darts: Gutted for Keith," Visiting Mrs. Nabokov and Other Excursions, 1993

Serendipity; Serendipitous :   n.  The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident. "A fortunate stroke of serendipity." 

Dyed-in-the-wool : thoroughgoing or uncompromising; "In public, Hunter [S. Thompson] was never his true self; he was playing Brando-gone-mad, a true, dyed-in-the-wool, 100 percent all-American showman." - Douglas Brinkley, Rolling Stone, 24 Mar. 2005

slacker : (noun) One who shirks work or duty, especially one who tries to evade military service in wartime.; shirker; My partner was a slacker, so I had to do all the work on the project. 

fastuous : adjective:
1. Haughty; arrogant.
2. Pretentious.
; "Here the gentry live a fastuous life and wear chic clothes."
Edwin Jahiel; Brotherhood of Wolf Stylish, Confused Mess; News Gazette
(Champaign, Illinois); Feb 14, 2002. 

Thought For The Day: We haven't yet learned how to stay human when assembled in masses. -Lewis Thomas, physician and author (25 Nov 1913-1993)


	*****November 27, 2015*****
gormandize : to eat greedily or ravenously; 
Where are ye trooping to now? back to the kitchen to gormandize and guzzle?
Charles Maturin, Melmoth the Wanderer, 1820

Apoplectic :   adj. Overcome with anger; extremely indignant. "He showed apoplectic rage." 

Xanadu : an idyllic, exotic, or luxurious place; To Arthur, the beach house was a Xanadu, the perfect spot for the romantic tropical vacation he had dreamed of for years.

phloem : (noun) The food-conducting tissue of vascular plants, consisting of sieve tubes, fibers, parenchyma, and sclereids.; bast; "Girdling" a tree, or cutting through its phloem tubes, results in the starvation of the roots and, ultimately, the death of the tree. 

impertinent : adjective:
1. Presumptuous or rude.
2. Irrelevant.
; "Colin Firth stars as the stuttering king, while Geoffrey Rush is the
impertinent Aussie who attempts to cure him."
Satellite Choice; Daily Mail (London, UK); Jul 31, 2015.


See more usage examples of impertinent in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The best theology is probably no theology; just love one another. -Charles Schulz, cartoonist (26 Nov 1922-2000)


	*****November 28, 2015*****
oniomania : an uncontrollable desire to buy things; 
After leaving the store, I felt the first pinpricks of panic. I wondered whether Go Shop technology could convert someone with mild oniomania (compulsive shopping disorder) into a total shopaholic with serious financial problems.
Alex Kuczynski, “A Weapon of Self-Destruction for Buyers,” New York Times, March 23, 2006

Sagacious :   adj.  Shrewd; showing keen mental discernment and good judgment. "A sagacious remark." 

Minatory : having a menacing quality; In the moonlight, the twisted winter trees took on a particularly baleful and minatory appearance.

transient : (adjective) Enduring a very short time.; ephemeral, fugacious, passing, short-lived, transitory; The elderly woman was depressed and spent her days lamenting the transient beauty of youth. 

bibulous : adjective:
1. Excessively fond of drinking.
2. Highly absorbent.
; "Sherlockians have always been a bibulous sort; one early gathering, as
Dundas reports, saw the consumption of '96 cocktails, 243 scotches, 98
ryes, and 2 beers.'"
Daniel Stashower; Why Sherlock Holmes Endures; The Washington Post;
Jul 10, 2015.


See more usage examples of bibulous in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace. -Jimi Hendrix, musician, singer, and songwriter (27 Nov 1942-1970)


	*****November 29, 2015*****
pandiculation : the act of stretching oneself; 
I think that of all the earthlings' quirks it is the act of pandiculation that would surprise and fascinate me most, that slow stretch and then the soundless ape-howl, in which they indulge themselves with such languorous relish.
John Banville, Ghosts, 1993

Histrionic :   adj. Overly theatrical or dramatic. n. Exaggerated dramatic behavior designed to attract attention. "His histrionic reaction disrupted the meeting." 

Colligate : to bind, unite, or group together; "For instance, many words colligate with the word 'the,' which is a grammatical marker of definiteness rather than a word that carries significant semantic content." - Tony McEnery and Andrew Hardie, Corpus Linguistics: Method, Theory and Practice, 2012

prate : (verb) To talk idly and at length; chatter.; blabber, palaver, piffle, prattle; I know the age better than you do, though you will prate about it so tediously. 

bibulous : adjective:
1. Excessively fond of drinking.
2. Highly absorbent.
; "Sherlockians have always been a bibulous sort; one early gathering, as
Dundas reports, saw the consumption of '96 cocktails, 243 scotches, 98
ryes, and 2 beers.'"
Daniel Stashower; Why Sherlock Holmes Endures; The Washington Post;
Jul 10, 2015.


See more usage examples of bibulous in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace. -Jimi Hendrix, musician, singer, and songwriter (27 Nov 1942-1970)


	*****November 30, 2015*****
nocturne : Music. a piece appropriate to the night or evening; 
Chopin loved the night and its soft mysteries as much as did Robert Louis Stevenson, and his nocturnes are true night pieces, some with agitated, remorseful countenances, others seen in profile only, while many are whisperings at dusk.
James Huneker, Chopin: The Man and His Music, 1900

Titular :   adj. Relating to or constituting a title. "The titular head of the business." 

Emeritus : retired from an office or position; A letter decrying cuts in staffing at the university was signed by 42 professors emeriti. 

imputable : (adjective) Possible to impute or ascribe; attributable.; ascribable, due to, referable; The oversight was not imputable to him because he was on vacation when it occurred. 

bibulous : adjective:
1. Excessively fond of drinking.
2. Highly absorbent.
; "Sherlockians have always been a bibulous sort; one early gathering, as
Dundas reports, saw the consumption of '96 cocktails, 243 scotches, 98
ryes, and 2 beers.'"
Daniel Stashower; Why Sherlock Holmes Endures; The Washington Post;
Jul 10, 2015.


See more usage examples of bibulous in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace. -Jimi Hendrix, musician, singer, and songwriter (27 Nov 1942-1970)


	*****December 01, 2015*****
bibliotaph : a person who caches or hoards books; 
The late Sir Thomas Phillipps, of Middle Hill, was a remarkable instance of a bibliotaph. He bought bibliographical treasures simply to bury them. His mansion was crammed with books; he purchased whole libraries, and never even saw what he bought.
William Blades, The Enemies of Books, 1888

Ingratiate :   tr.v. Bring oneself into favor or good graces of another, especially by deliberate effort. "She soon ingratiated herself with her new boss." 

Paragon : a model of excellence or perfection; "What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals!" - William Shakespeare, Hamlet, 1600-1601

hireling : (noun) One who works solely for compensation, especially a person willing to perform for a fee tasks considered menial or offensive.; pensionary; The hireling said he would be willing to clean out the cesspool—for the right price. 

gramarye : noun: Occult learning; magic.
; "There is naught of the power of gramarye in you. If there were, you
would know it."
Cecilia Dart-Thornton; The Lady of the Sorrows; Pan Macmillan; 2003. 

Thought For The Day: An old miser kept a tame jackdaw, that used to steal pieces of money, and hide them in a hole, which a cat observing, asked, "Why he would hoard up those round shining things that he could make no use of?" "Why," said the jackdaw, "my master has a whole chestful, and makes no more use of them than I do." -Jonathan Swift, satirist (30 Nov 1667-1745)


	*****December 02, 2015*****
winkle : British. Informal. to pry (something) out of a place, as winkle mea..; 
The physio room was suitably bare; the equipment depended on what Johnny and Clara could winkle out of the establishment.
Maeve Binchy, Heart and Soul, 2008

Futile :   adj. Incapable of producing any useful result; pointless. "All of his attempts to rectify the situation proved futile." 

capstone : (noun) The top stone of a structure or wall.; stretcher, coping stone, copestone; When the structure's capstone was finally in place, the builders threw themselves a party to celebrate their achievement. 

quacksalver : noun: A quack: one pretending to have skills or knowledge, especially in medicine.
; "In Elizabethan times nutmeg ... was trumpeted by the physicians and
quacksalvers as a sovereign remedy against the plague."
Charles Nicholl; Scary Tales of an Old Spice World; The Independent
(London, UK); Feb 20, 1999.


See more usage examples of quacksalver in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics exam; I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me. -Woody Allen, author, actor, and filmmaker (b. 1 Dec 1935)


	*****December 03, 2015*****
propinquity : Nearness in place; proximity; 
On Saturday in his home town, Dunblane, Murray marries his long-time partner Kim Sears. In a little over a month he turns 28; Djokovic, who married his long-time partner Jelena Ristic after winning Wimbledon last year, will celebrate his 28th birthday exactly a week after Murray. They are umbilically linked, a blessing as much as a curse, because such propinquity serves up constant comparison.
Kevin Mitchell, "Andy Murray must work harder if he is to end Novak Djokovic torture," The Guardian, April 5, 2015

Abate :   v. To reduce in amount, degree, or intensity; lessen. "The wind finally abated." 

Etymology : the history of a word or phrase; As the etymology of "December" reports, the month gets its name from the Latin "decem" meaning "ten"-a nod to its former status as the tenth month in the early Roman calendar.

discomfit : (verb) To make uneasy or perplexed; disconcert.; discompose, untune, upset, disconcert; Her extreme candor would often discomfit strangers who suddenly found themselves privy to her most private thoughts. 

viridity : noun:
1. The quality or state of being green.
2. Youthful innocence.
; "Penobscot Bay shimmered blue against the viridity of the forested hills
in a true postcard moment."
Mary Ann Anderson; Of Moose and Men: Maine's Central Coast; Pittsburgh
Tribune-Review; Aug 16, 2009.


See more usage examples of viridity in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The question is whether or not you choose to disturb the world around you, or if you choose to let it go on as if you had never arrived. -Ann Patchett, writer (b. 2 Dec 1963)


	*****December 04, 2015*****
foudroyant : striking as with lightning; sudden and overwhelming in effect; ..; 
“But he no catch a cold,” said M. Quinola, with what he meant to be a foudroyant look at Sir Fulke, “because he nevare turn a his coat.”
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, The World and His Wife; or, A Person of Consequence, 1858

Eviscerate :   v. Deprive or take away (something) of its essential content. "The compromise eviscerated the proposed agreement." 

Durable : able to exist for a long time; The couch is covered in a pretty yet durable fabric, and it should last for years.

desiccant : (noun) A substance, such as calcium oxide or silica gel, that has a high affinity for water and is used as a drying agent.; drier, drying agent, siccative; The shipment was packed with a desiccant to prevent humidity from warping the wood during transport. 

yobbery : noun: Rowdy, destructive behavior by the youth.
; "A police crackdown on yobbery during the Bonfire Night period in
Stirlingshire proved effective. Police report the number of calls
concerning antisocial behaviour between October 30 and November 6
were down by over a third."
Yobs Getting the Message; Stirling Observer (UK); Nov 13, 2013.
 

Thought For The Day: A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end, but not necessarily in that order. -Jean-Luc Godard, film director (b. 3 Dec 1930)


	*****December 05, 2015*****
spoonerism : The transposition of usually initial sounds in a pair of words...; 
Some examples:
, 

Imprimatur : a mark of approval or distinction; "But that's the new Coachella. Being the country's most compelling music festival wasn't enough. It needed a celebrity imprimatur. And with Madonna's much publicized booking last year, the guest list bulged." - Charles Aaron, Spin, August 2007

dobbin : (noun) A quiet plodding workhorse.; farm horse; The dobbin had been a loyal and faithful worker, and the farmer was sad to see the quiet horse's health decline. 

xenophile : noun: One who is attracted to foreign things or people.
; "Mr. Hall, 30, admits to being a bit of a xenophile, so 'getting to know
new people is my thing anyway'."
Linda Bock; Changing Face of Grief; Telegram & Gazette (Worcester,
Massachusetts); Jan 10, 2010. 

Thought For The Day: Not what I have, but what I do, is my kingdom. -Thomas Carlyle, historian and essayist (4 Dec 1795-1881)

 

   



   
   
		
			
				


A.Word.A.Day by email:

	*****December 06, 2015*****
schmatte : Slang. an old ragged garment; tattered article of clothing; 
Adele went downhill after that, especially after the girls were in school. She'd go for days without a shower. Started walking around in that pink schmatte and the flip-flops even in winter.
Deborah Copaken Kogan, Between Here and April, 2008

Repair : to make one's way or to come together; "… so we repaired to a publick-house, took a friendly glass, and thus parted." - Peter Drake, Amiable Renegade: The Memoirs of Captain Peter Drake, 1671–1753, 1960

scaremonger : (noun) A person who spreads frightening rumors and stirs up trouble.; stirrer; When he started spreading the rumor that the government was bent on destroying our homes, we decided that he was a scaremonger and stopped paying attention. 

xenophile : noun: One who is attracted to foreign things or people.
; "Mr. Hall, 30, admits to being a bit of a xenophile, so 'getting to know
new people is my thing anyway'."
Linda Bock; Changing Face of Grief; Telegram & Gazette (Worcester,
Massachusetts); Jan 10, 2010. 

Thought For The Day: Not what I have, but what I do, is my kingdom. -Thomas Carlyle, historian and essayist (4 Dec 1795-1881)

 

   



   
   
		
			
				


A.Word.A.Day by email:

	*****December 07, 2015*****
gambol : To dance and skip about in play; to frolic; 
The idea had been to build apartment towers upon a grassy landscape where the young might gambol and the old might sit beneath shade trees, along sinuous footpaths.
Tom Wolfe, The Bonfire of the Vanities, 1987

Menorah : a candelabra used in Jewish worship; At sundown on the first night of Hanukkah, Joshua's father helped him light the first candle on the menorah. 

medial : (adjective) Relating to, situated in, or extending toward the middle; median.; median; They took up defensive posts all along the field, with Ray in the medial position. 

xenophile : noun: One who is attracted to foreign things or people.
; "Mr. Hall, 30, admits to being a bit of a xenophile, so 'getting to know
new people is my thing anyway'."
Linda Bock; Changing Face of Grief; Telegram & Gazette (Worcester,
Massachusetts); Jan 10, 2010. 

Thought For The Day: Not what I have, but what I do, is my kingdom. -Thomas Carlyle, historian and essayist (4 Dec 1795-1881)

 

   



   
   
		
			
				


A.Word.A.Day by email:

	*****December 08, 2015*****
bombinate : To buzz; to hum; to drone; 
Like his co-workers he had been somewhat stampeded by Dorn's imitative faculties, faculties which enabled the former journalist to bombinate twice as loud in a void three times as great as any of his colleagues.
Ben Hecht, Erik Dorn, 1921

Jackleg : makeshift or lacking skill or training; Bill's only a jackleg carpenter, but he is sufficiently competent to handle less complex jobs.

montage : (noun) A single pictorial composition made by juxtaposing or superimposing many pictures or designs.; collage; The children's gift to their grandmother was a montage of family pictures. 

jaculate : verb tr.: To emit or hurl.
; "She pushed past him again, her wounds still jaculating blood, and this
time managed to get out of the room."
Christina Vella; Intimate Enemies; LSU Press; 2004. 

Thought For The Day: If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all. -Noam Chomsky, linguistics professor and political activist (b. 7 Dec 1928)


	*****December 09, 2015*****
antipodes : places diametrically opposite each other on the globe; 
Be it light with him when it is darkness with me! Let him feel the sun of summer while I am chilled by the snows of winter! Let there be the distance of the antipodes between us!
Mary Shelley, Mathilda, 1820

Adamantine : unyielding or resembling diamond; The ushers were adamantine in their refusal to let latecomers into the theater.

strapper : (noun) A powerfully built, robust person.; bruiser, bull, Samson; Grandmother described everyone in larger-than-life terms. Even scrawny Bill from down the block was "a regular strapper." 

cognize : verb tr.: To perceive; to understand; to know.
; "So imperceptible is it that it cannot be cognized."
Alina Grigorovitch; Magic Artinia; New to the Public; 2011.


See more usage examples of cognize in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons. -James Thurber, writer and cartoonist (8 Dec 1894-1961)


	*****December 10, 2015*****
lexicographer : a writer, editor, or compiler of a dictionary; 
For your lexicographer, having written his dictionary, comes to be considered "as one having authority," whereas his function is only to make a record, not to give a law.
Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911

Objet Trouvé : a found object with aesthetic value; "Architects, too, have discovered found objects-usually substantial buildings like barns, firehouses, power stations, train depots-but the objet trouvé that Robert A. M. Stern recently transformed into a writers' penthouse and all-purpose retreat from his office below was a humble, metal-clad storage shed…." - Joseph Giovannini, Architectural Digest, July 2007

lionize : (verb) To look on or treat (a person) as a celebrity.; celebrate; She lionized her older brother and was always proud to be seen with him. 

plaint : noun: 1. Complaint. 2. Protest. 3. Lamentation.
; "That's how it works in this era of Internet preening, out-of-control
partisanship and press-a-button punditry, when anything and everything
becomes prompt for a plaint, a rant, a riff."
Frank Bruni; The Exploitation of Paris; The New York Times; Nov 14, 2015.


See more usage examples of plaint in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The mind is its own place, and in itself / Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. -John Milton (9 Dec 1608-1674)


	*****December 11, 2015*****
fugacious : 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, Malaysian Star

pharos : (noun) A tower with a light that gives warning of shoals to passing ships.; lighthouse, beacon; The pharos was no longer operational and served as a tourist attraction in the sleepy beach town. 

suage : verb tr.: To assuage: to make something unpleasant less severe.
; "London Mayor Boris Johnson, who addressed the 2009 dinner, told the
financiers: 'If you have a sense of guilt and obligation and you want
to suage the guilt, give.'"
Louise Armitstead; Arki Reveals Killer Instinct for Annual Ball;
The Daily Telegraph (London, UK); May 12, 2010.


See more usage examples of suage in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Fame is a bee. / It has a song / It has a sting / Ah, too, it has a wing. -Emily Dickinson, poet (10 Dec 1830-1886)


	*****December 12, 2015*****
fortnight : the space of fourteen nights and days; two weeks; 
Mr. Gardiner would be prevented by business from setting out till a fortnight later in July, and must be in London again within a month; and as that left too short a period for them to go so far, and see so much as they had proposed, or at least to see it with the leisure and comfort they had built on, they were obliged to give up the Lakes, and substitute a more contracted tour…
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 1813

Acrid :   adj. Having an irritatingly strong and unpleasant taste or smell. Angry and bitter. "An acrid odor filled the room." 

escapist : (noun) A person who escapes into a world of fantasy.; wishful thinker, dreamer; She calls herself a mere optimist, but we believe her unconditionally sunny outlook makes her an escapist. 

gratulate : verb tr.:
1. To congratulate.
2. To express joy at the sight of something or someone.
; "Dr. Israel's truncated declarations of how proud he was of his
accomplishments came across as bland, self-gratulating and unfeeling."
Walter Goodman; A Few Scary Pictures Can Go a Long Way; The New York Times;
Mar 20, 1994.

"The wine flowed freely and after an hour I began to feel good and silently
gratulated myself on the good fortune of missing out on each and every item
that I had absolutely no use for."
Ben Wicks; A Boyhood Idol Next Door Better Than Boots in the Closet;
Toronto Star (Canada); May 28, 1988. 

Thought For The Day: If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? -Alexander Solzhenitsyn, novelist, Nobel laureate (11 Dec 1918-2008)


	*****December 13, 2015*****
antediluvian : Of or relating to the period before the Biblical flood; 
The other thing that almost always goes with these myths is the notion of an antediluvian civilisation -- something which existed before the flood and was destroyed by it.
Graham Hancock, The Guardian

Nescient; Nescience :   adj. Lacking knowledge; ignorant. "His nescience of the topic was obvious." 

Tawdry : cheap and gaudy; Tom and Pam found themselves in an unfamiliar section of the city, walking by tawdry storefronts and shady bars. 

insentient : (adjective) Devoid of sensation or consciousness; inanimate.; insensate; Jim thought he might be losing his mind when he caught himself talking to insentient objects. 

gratulate : verb tr.:
1. To congratulate.
2. To express joy at the sight of something or someone.
; "Dr. Israel's truncated declarations of how proud he was of his
accomplishments came across as bland, self-gratulating and unfeeling."
Walter Goodman; A Few Scary Pictures Can Go a Long Way; The New York Times;
Mar 20, 1994.

"The wine flowed freely and after an hour I began to feel good and silently
gratulated myself on the good fortune of missing out on each and every item
that I had absolutely no use for."
Ben Wicks; A Boyhood Idol Next Door Better Than Boots in the Closet;
Toronto Star (Canada); May 28, 1988. 

Thought For The Day: If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? -Alexander Solzhenitsyn, novelist, Nobel laureate (11 Dec 1918-2008)


	*****December 14, 2015*****
matutinal : Relating to or occurring in the morning; early; 
Get up early and wash your face in the matutinal May Day dew; it will make your skin beautiful and your heart pure.
Ray Murphy, Boston Globe

Irascible :   adj. Characterized by or arising from anger. (of a person) Easily made angry. "He was always irascible and quick to get into a fight." 

welter : (noun) A confused mass; a jumble.; clutter, jumble, mare's nest, muddle, smother; Surrounded by a welter of papers and magazines, Susan began work on her scrapbook. 

gratulate : verb tr.:
1. To congratulate.
2. To express joy at the sight of something or someone.
; "Dr. Israel's truncated declarations of how proud he was of his
accomplishments came across as bland, self-gratulating and unfeeling."
Walter Goodman; A Few Scary Pictures Can Go a Long Way; The New York Times;
Mar 20, 1994.

"The wine flowed freely and after an hour I began to feel good and silently
gratulated myself on the good fortune of missing out on each and every item
that I had absolutely no use for."
Ben Wicks; A Boyhood Idol Next Door Better Than Boots in the Closet;
Toronto Star (Canada); May 28, 1988. 

Thought For The Day: If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? -Alexander Solzhenitsyn, novelist, Nobel laureate (11 Dec 1918-2008)


	*****December 15, 2015*****
telluric : of or proceeding from the earth or soil; 
A comparative study of similar classic adventures…has convinced even the most cautious and conservative gold chroniclers that Ponce de Leon's exploit, far from being a wild-goose chase, was in fact a most sanguine telluric adventure undertaken to reestablish the hegemony of the rapidly disappearing yellow metal.
Henry Miller, "Money and How It Gets That Way," Stand Still Like the Hummingbird, 1962

Ostracize :   v. Exclude (someone) from a society or group. "She felt ostracized by society." 

Fulminate : to complain loudly or angrily; An avid cyclist, Justine would often fulminate against automobile drivers who ignored bike lanes and otherwise created hazards for those riding on two wheels. 

pellucid : (adjective) Admitting the passage of light; transparent or translucent.; transparent, crystal clear, limpid, crystalline, lucid; The water in the fountain, pellucid as crystal, was alive with myriads of gold and silver fishes. 

bouillabaisse : noun: 1. A rich and spicy fish stew or soup.
2. A mixture of incongruous things.
; "Though he was born and raised in Southern California, Kish has an odd,
almost foreign-sounding accent -- a bouillabaisse of Canadian, British,
and relaxed Los Angeleno."
Michael Finkel; The Blind Man Who Taught Himself To See; Men's Journal
(New York); Mar 2011.


See more usage examples of bouillabaisse in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Style is time's fool. Form is time's student. -Stewart Brand, writer and editor (b. 14 Dec 1938)


	*****December 16, 2015*****
clishmaclaver : Scot. gossip; idle or foolish talk; 
I have heard Thatcher's voice on the evening news suddenly cut through the clishmaclaver of an Edinburgh pub, abruptly stilling the conversation, and causing a dark flush to spread collectively up the necks of its grim listeners.
Alastair Reid, "The Scottish Condition," The Wilson Quarterly, Volume 18, 1994

Tenuous :   adj. Very weak or slight; insubstantial. "A tenuous argument." 

Natatorial : of or relating to swimming; This year's swim team has considerably more natatorial talent than have previous years' teams.

facetious : (adjective) Playfully jocular; humorous.; bantering, tongue-in-cheek; She was quite gullible and could never tell when his remarks were facetious or when he was being serious. 

cherry-pick : verb tr.: To pick in a highly selective manner. Example, to cherry-pick data to suit a hypothesis.
; "Inevitably, there will be factions that cherry-pick findings from our
study to bolster their agendas."
Michael Casserly; A Cap on the Amount of Testing Time is the Wrong Answer
for Schools; The Washington Post; Oct 30, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: The universe is made of stories, not of atoms. -Muriel Rukeyser, poet and activist (15 Dec 1913-1980)


	*****December 17, 2015*****
milquetoast : (sometimes initial capital letter) a very timid, unassertive, ..; 
And though he said little, he was not by any means a milquetoast; indeed, he was as capable as anyone of manly fury.
John Gardner, The Sunlight Dialogues, 1972

Ignoble :   adj.  Not honorable in character or purpose; shameful. "An ignoble act." 

Deference : respect and esteem due a superior; Showing deference to his visiting uncle, Charles insisted on giving up his usual seat at the head of the dinner table so that the older gentleman could take his place.  

ruffian : (noun) A cruel and brutal fellow.; bully, hooligan, roughneck; He had been a bully in grade school, so no one was surprised to hear that he is still considered a ruffian. 

rechauffe : noun:
1. Warmed leftover food.
2. Rehash: old reworked material.
; "Lines like that inspire forgiveness for what is essentially sitcom rechauffe."
Choice; Sunday Times (London, UK); Jun 29, 2014.


See more usage examples of rechauffe in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. -Margaret Mead, anthropologist (16 Dec 1901-1978)


	*****December 18, 2015*****
jocular : given to, characterized by, intended for, or suited to joking or j..; 
His satire, his alternately jocular and thoughtful interviewing style and his instinct for identifying clever collaborators all blossomed as he found his footing and the ideal forum for his informed sensibilities.
Matthew Love, "Jon Stewart: The Long Goodnight" Rolling Stone, February 11, 2015

Colloquial (ism) :   adj. (of language) Used in ordinary conversation; not formal or literary. "His lecture was quite engaging due to his colloquial speech." 

ampoule : (noun) A small glass vial that is sealed after filling and used chiefly as a container for a hypodermic injection solution.; phial, vial; Because of his medical condition, he was obligated to carry an ampoule of medicine and a hypodermic needle with him at all times. 

saccharine : adjective: Excessively sweet, sentimental, or ingratiating.
; "The most preposterous notion that Homo sapiens has ever dreamed up is that
the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the
saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and
becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd
fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses
of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history."
Robert A. Heinlein; Time Enough for Love; Putnam; 1973.


See more usage examples of saccharine in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Contentment is, after all, simply refined indolence. -Thomas Chandler Haliburton, author, judge, and politician (17 Dec 1796-1865)


	*****December 19, 2015*****
eudemonic : pertaining or conducive to happiness; 
Philosophers have long held that we can distinguish between eudemonic experience, or a striving towards meaning and purpose that underlies human beings' capacity to engage in complex social and cultural behavior, in contrast to the striving for more hedonic or simply pleasurable experience.
Michael Friedman, "Would a Year of Voluntary Public Service Bring Out America's Best?" Huffington Post, March 11, 2015

Elegiac :   adj. Having a mournful quality. "An elegiac poem." 

driblet : (noun) A small quantity (especially of a liquid).; drop; A driblet of water escaped from the corner of her mouth. 

farrago : noun: A confused mixture.
; "Max Landis's script cobbles together a farrago of cod* psychology and
makeshift backstory to prop up a plot that never finds any cohesive direction."
Donald Clarke; Creaking at the Seams; Irish Times (Dublin) Dec 4, 2015.
* not genuine


See more usage examples of farrago in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. -Steve Biko, anti-apartheid activist (18 Dec 1946-1977)


	*****December 20, 2015*****
valediction : an act of bidding farewell or taking leave; 
Cambara replays in her mind Raxma's emotional valediction, spoken as they hugged each other good-bye at the Toronto airport, to which Raxma had given her a lift.
Nuruddin Farah, Knots, 2007

Obsequious :   adj. Obedient or attentive to an excessive degree. "The obsequious service resulted in an excellent tip." 

going-over : (noun) A severe scolding.; castigation, bawling out, chewing out, dressing down, upbraiding, earful; When he was caught chewing gum in class, he knew he would have to endure a going-over from the teacher. 

farrago : noun: A confused mixture.
; "Max Landis's script cobbles together a farrago of cod* psychology and
makeshift backstory to prop up a plot that never finds any cohesive direction."
Donald Clarke; Creaking at the Seams; Irish Times (Dublin) Dec 4, 2015.
* not genuine


See more usage examples of farrago in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. -Steve Biko, anti-apartheid activist (18 Dec 1946-1977)


	*****December 21, 2015*****
oenophile : a person who enjoys wines, usually as a connoisseur; 
On a recent brisk Saturday afternoon, at the point where the tail of Atlantic Avenue dips toward New York Harbor, wine and spirits buyers ducked into Heights Chateau to assemble their weekend libations. Behind an antique-looking facade, the store is an oenophile’s apothecary.
Andrew Cotto, "At Heights Chateau, a Welcoming Home for Wine Lovers," New York Times, November 11, 2015

Recondite :   adj. (of a subject or knowledge) Little known, obscure, abstruse. "Recondite information." 

abattoir : (noun) A building where animals are butchered.; slaughterhouse, butchery, shambles; The largest abattoirs are those of the meatpacking industry. 

farrago : noun: A confused mixture.
; "Max Landis's script cobbles together a farrago of cod* psychology and
makeshift backstory to prop up a plot that never finds any cohesive direction."
Donald Clarke; Creaking at the Seams; Irish Times (Dublin) Dec 4, 2015.
* not genuine


See more usage examples of farrago in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. -Steve Biko, anti-apartheid activist (18 Dec 1946-1977)


	*****December 22, 2015*****
gastronome : a connoisseur of good food; gourmet; epicure; 
Though my sister was as blind on the subject of being a hostess as I was, fortunately Alkibiades was a picky eater and a gastronome, and Kalliope was well trained in ordering and presenting fine cuisine.
Karen Essex, Stealing Athena, 2008

Incisive :   adj. (of a person or mental process) Intelligently analytical and clear-thinking. Accurate and sharply focused. "The incisive detective soon solved the crime." 

incognizant : (adjective) Lacking knowledge or awareness.; unaware; He was incognizant of the new political situation and needed his brother to brief him on the details. 

quoz : noun: An odd person or thing.
; "That juggling trick of yours is growing older than a floorboard split under
the weight of countless eager feet, and rendering you a quoz to the ears."
Neil Baker; G Day: Please God, Get Me Off the Hook; AuthorHouse; 2010.

"While everything that exists is a potential quoz for somebody, one must
embrace the mystery for it to open itself."
William Least Heat-Moon; Blue Highways: A Journey into America; Little,
Brown and Company; 2012. 

Thought For The Day: I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat. -Rebecca West, author and journalist (21 Dec 1892-1983)


	*****December 23, 2015*****
irenic : tending to promote peace or reconciliation; peaceful or conciliator..; 
"It will be hard to find someone with Merv's irenic qualities," the dean said, "and a peacemaker is what we need in this diocese."
Madeleine L'Engle, A Severed Wasp, 1983

Surreal :   adj. Having the disorienting quality of a dream; unreal; fantastic. "There was something surreal about the diving accident." 

rigmarole : (noun) Confused, rambling, or incoherent discourse; nonsense.; twaddle, story, saga, trash, jargon, yarn, gibberish, spiel; When I asked why he missed the meeting, he gave me some rigmarole about the train being late. 

vidimus : noun:
1. An attested copy of a document.
2. An official inspection.
; "The final letter was a vidimus bearing the great seal of Philip the Fair,
purportedly confirming the marriage contract between Philip of Artois and
Blanche of Brittany."
Margaret Reeves, et al.; Shell Games; CRRS Publications; 2004. 

Thought For The Day: No one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell. -Charles de Lint, writer (b. 22 Dec 1951)


	*****December 24, 2015*****
festoon : to adorn with or as with festoons: to festoon a hall; 
To add to the magnificence, the Sisters of Charity fashioned twelve large and thirty small garlands and prepared 702 flowers by hand to festoon the walls with artificial wreaths.
Lena Newman, The John A. Macdonald Album, 1974

Unctuous :   adj. (of a person) Excessively or ingratiatingly flattering. "Anxious to please in an unctuous way." 

prodigal : (adjective) Rashly or wastefully extravagant.; profligate, spendthrift, extravagant; Her prodigal spending left her with a mountain of bills and an empty bank account. 

pinchbeck : adjective: Counterfeit or spurious.
noun: An alloy of zinc and copper, used as imitation gold in jewelry.
; "There had been something precious between them, like true gold among pinchbeck."
Jo Beverley; The Secret Wedding; Signet; 2009.


See more usage examples of pinchbeck in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I've also seen that great men are often lonely. This is understandable, because they have built such high standards for themselves that they often feel alone. But that same loneliness is part of their ability to create. -Yousuf Karsh, portrait photographer (23 Dec 1908-2002)


	*****December 25, 2015*****
merrythought : Chiefly British. the wishbone or furcula of a fowl; 
"The merry-thought! Pull with me, old man?" "Certainly!" Mr. Scantlebray and Mr. Cargreen were engaged on the merry-thought, each endeavoring to steal an advantage on the other, by working the fingers up the bone unduly, when the window was darkened.
Sabine Baring-Gould, In the Roar of the Sea, 1891

Timorous :   adj. Showing or suffering from nervousness, fear, or a lack of confidence: "A timorous demeanor." 

habitue : (noun) A regular patron.; regular, fixture; He was a habitue at the bar, but he never had more than two drinks in a night. 

jayhawker : noun:
1. A robber.
2. A native or resident of Kansas.
; "On occasion, Jennison's men joined Jim Lane's jayhawkers in a series
of hit-and-run raids."
Wilmer L. Jones; Behind Enemy Lines; Taylor Trade Publishing; 2015.

"Some Kansans are complaining that Miss America Tara Dawn Holland isn't
exactly a Jayhawker. 'She wasn't really Miss Kansas,' Joyce Carron of
Wichita said as Holland arrived for appearances in the state. Responded
Holland: 'I learned a long time ago that home is where you hang your hat.'
She attended the University of Missouri at Kansas City, after three
attempts at becoming Miss Florida."
Arlene Vigoda; Losing Faith; USA Today; Oct 16, 1996. 

Thought For The Day: You have not converted a man because you have silenced him. -John Morley, statesman and writer (24 Dec 1838-1923)


	*****December 26, 2015*****
munificence : the quality of being munificent, or showing unusual generosity..; 
"If you please," said Scrooge. "Not a farthing less. A great many back-payments are included in it, I assure you. Will you do me that favour?" "My dear sir," said the other, shaking hands with him. "I don't know what to say to such munificence." "Don't say anything, please," retorted Scrooge.
Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, 1843

Affinity :   n. A spontaneous or natural liking or sympathy for someone or something. "He has an affinity for science fiction movies." 

lachrymator : (noun) A gas that makes the eyes fill with tears but does not damage them; used in dispersing crowds.; teargas; When the demonstration turned violent, the police used a potent lachrymator to disperse the mob. 

expergefacient : adjective: Awakening or arousing.
noun: A drug or other agent that awakens or arouses.
; "These symptoms of nervous excitement, brought on by an overdose of the
expergefacient, soon passed off, and next day he was himself again."
The London Lancet; 1864. 

Thought For The Day: Men build too many walls and not enough bridges. -Isaac Newton, physicist, mathematician, and philosopher (25 Dec 1642-1727)


	*****December 27, 2015*****
bonhomie : frank and simple good-heartedness; a good-natured manner; friendl..; 
The walls of her year-old restaurant are dotted with proclamations of bonhomie—there’s a chalkboard announcing, “We serve with heart and proudly support local farms,” a blaring light-bulb-studded “LOVE” sign, and a giant stencilled Julia Child quote likening cooking to, well, love.
Shauna Lyon, "Ngam," The New Yorker, February 11, 2013

Prescient; Prescience :   adj. Having or showing knowledge of events before they take place; foresight. "You should be prescient about choosing your employer." 

patrolman : (noun) A policeman who patrols a given region.; flatfoot; The patrolman was familiar with the area and knew the noises he was hearing were coming from foraging raccoons, not people. 

expergefacient : adjective: Awakening or arousing.
noun: A drug or other agent that awakens or arouses.
; "These symptoms of nervous excitement, brought on by an overdose of the
expergefacient, soon passed off, and next day he was himself again."
The London Lancet; 1864. 

Thought For The Day: Why are so many people shy, lonely, shut up within themselves, unequal to their tasks, unable to be happy? Because they are inhabited by fear, like the man in the Parable of the Talents, erecting walls around themselves instead of building bridges into the lives of others; shutting out life. -Joseph Fort Newton, minister and attorney (1876-1950)


	*****December 28, 2015*****
abdominous : having a large belly; potbellied; 
On the cabin deck stood an abdominous man who possessed the foggy voice.
T. S. Stribling, The Store, 1932

Virulent :   adj. Extremely severe or harmful in its effects. Bitterly hostile or antagonistic; hateful. "Virulent criticism." 

lyceum : (noun) A school for students intermediate between elementary school and college; usually grades 9 to 12.; secondary school, Gymnasium, lycee, middle school; "That lyceum has ruined him," she added, remembering the insistence with which the chevalier had spoken of the evils of education in such schools. 

expergefacient : adjective: Awakening or arousing.
noun: A drug or other agent that awakens or arouses.
; "These symptoms of nervous excitement, brought on by an overdose of the
expergefacient, soon passed off, and next day he was himself again."
The London Lancet; 1864. 

Thought For The Day: Why are so many people shy, lonely, shut up within themselves, unequal to their tasks, unable to be happy? Because they are inhabited by fear, like the man in the Parable of the Talents, erecting walls around themselves instead of building bridges into the lives of others; shutting out life. -Joseph Fort Newton, minister and attorney (1876-1950)


	*****December 29, 2015*****
wing-ding : Slang. a noisy, exciting celebration or party; 
Garp glared at Roberta Muldoon. "I loved her, he said. "I'm her only child. Do you mean I can't go to this wingding because I'm a man?"
John Irving, The World According to Garp, 1978

Portent :   n. A sign or warning that something significant is likely to happen. "an occurrence of crucial portent." 

artistry : (noun) A superior skill that one can learn by study and practice and observation.; prowess, art; They were wrought to such a pitch of nervous dread by the uncanny artistry of their witch-doctor, they were helpless with terror. 

paternoster : noun
1. A sequence of words used as a formula, a charm, etc.
2. A continuously moving endless elevator that goes in a loop.
3. The Lord's Prayer; one of the certain larger beads in a rosary on which the Lord's Prayer is said.
; "She trudged doggedly across the last field, inwardly muttering her
paternoster."
Christina Shea; Smuggled: A Novel; Grove/Atlantic; 2011.

"We'd ride the open-sided paternoster elevators and giggle at the scare
they gave us."
Mary Helen Dirkx; A Great Adventure in The Shadow of War; Newsweek
(New York); Sep 13, 2004.


See more usage examples of paternoster in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: In the case of good books, the point is not how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you. -Mortimer J. Adler, philosopher, educator, and author (28 Dec 1902-2001)


	*****December 30, 2015*****
stelliferous : having or abounding with stars; 
Holy stelliferous nights! Now you’re starting to get a glimpse of what I mean. You can see tens of thousands of individual stars, perhaps more.
Phil Plait, "What Does 200 Billion Stars Really Mean?" Slate, October 12, 2014

Missive :   n. A written message; a letter. "He received a missive from his company manager." 

samizdat : (noun) A system of clandestine printing and distribution of dissident or banned literature.; underground press; The samizdat was successful in disseminating the banned literature until an informant turned in its chief operator. 

mittimus : noun: An official order to commit someone to prison.
; "Problems with the mittimus have recently been blamed in hundreds of errors
allowing early releases of inmates, including Ebel and Blecha."
Kirk Mitchell; Beyond Bars; Denver Post (Colorado); Jun 12, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: The most perfect technique is that which is not noticed at all. -Pablo Casals, cellist, conductor, and composer (29 Dec 1876-1973)


	*****December 31, 2015*****
probity : integrity and uprightness; honesty; 
…in Judge Dukinfield we believed that Old Anse had chosen the one man among us with sufficient probity and honor and good sense--that sort of probity and honor which has never had time to become confused and self-doubting with too much learning in the law.
William Faulkner, "Smoke," Knight's Gambit, 1949

Malodorous :   adj. Smelling very unpleasant; an offensive odor. "A malodorous side of town." 

pirogue : (noun) A canoe made from a hollowed tree trunk.; dugout canoe, dugout; Then I'll take you some night in the pirogue when the moon shines. 

gaudeamus : noun: A convivial gathering or merry-making of students at a college or university.
; "I have apologized for not attending the Royal Society Club, who have a gaudeamus on this day."
The Journal of Sir Walter Scott; Jan 1826. 

Thought For The Day: The most important discoveries will provide answers to questions that we do not yet know how to ask and will concern objects we have not yet imagined. -John N. Bahcall, astrophysicist (30 Dec 1935-2005)


	*****January 01, 2016*****
clinquant : glittering, especially with tinsel; decked with garish finery; 
Sharp perfumes stabbed the nostrils, clinquant finery flashed and glittered in a tinsel maelstrom…
Arthur Cheney Train, The Needle's Eye, 1924

Profligate :   Adj. Recklessly extravagant or wasteful in the use of resources. A profligate lifestyle resulted in his bankruptcy." 

buffoonery : (noun) Acting like a clown or buffoon.; clowning, harlequinade, prank, frivolity; Mrs. Williams had little patience for the class clown's buffoonery, and she would often send him to the principal's office. 

debenture : noun: A certificate acknowledging a debt.
; "'My dear Violet,' Allen said, leaning over to be heard, 'you must recall
that Foster's idea of fun is curling up with a debenture agreement that
includes an especially ingenious reordering of priorities in bankruptcy.'"
David O. Stewart; The Wilson Deception; Kensington Books; 2015. 

Thought For The Day: An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success, etc. -Henri Matisse, artist (31 Dec 1869-1954)


	*****January 02, 2016*****
first-foot : Scot. the first person to cross the threshold of a house on New..; 
Custom held that the most fortunate “firstfoot” on a Hogmanay was a tall and handsome dark-haired man; to welcome one as the first visitor across the threshold after midnight brought good fortune to the house for the coming year.
Diana Gabaldon, The Fiery Cross, 2001

Sapid :   adj. Having a strong, pleasant taste; palatable. "The wine tasting was a most sapid event." (of talk or writing) Pleasant or interesting. 

miscreant : (noun) A person without moral scruples.; reprobate; And here, gentlemen, the foul play of these miscreants must come out. 

magnificat : noun:
1. The hymn of the Virgin Mary in Luke, 1:46-55.
2. An utterance of praise.
; "Upon this level of success in my life, I have enough reason to intone
my magnificat in honour of various people."
Charles Lwanga Mubiru; The Uganda Martyrs and the Need for Appropriate
Role Models in Adolescents' Moral Formation; Lit Verlag; 2012. 

Thought For The Day: We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. -E. M. Forster, novelist (1 Jan 1879-1970)


	*****January 03, 2016*****
redintegrate : to make whole again; restore to a perfect state; renew; reest..; 
So you see, gentlemen, how far back we can trace our innate love for one another, and how this love is always trying to redintegrate our former nature, to make two into one, and to bridge the gulf between one human being and another.
, Plato, translated by Michael Joyce, “Symposium,” Symposium and Other Dialogues, 1935

Obdurate :   adj. Stubbornly refusing to change one's opinion or course of action. "Despite her plea, he remained obdurate." 

valance : (noun) An ornamental drapery hung across a top edge, as of a bed, table, or canopy.; cornice, pelmet, valance board; Large valances of silk, embroidered with flowers of gay colors, which were rather faded, fell from the wide windows. 

magnificat : noun:
1. The hymn of the Virgin Mary in Luke 1:46-55.
2. An utterance of praise.
; "Upon this level of success in my life, I have enough reason to intone
my magnificat in honour of various people."
Charles Lwanga Mubiru; The Uganda Martyrs and the Need for Appropriate
Role Models in Adolescents' Moral Formation; Lit Verlag; 2012. 

Thought For The Day: We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. -E. M. Forster, novelist (1 Jan 1879-1970)


	*****January 04, 2016*****
prepossessing : that impresses favorably; engaging or attractive: a confiden..; 
Her manners were by no means so elegant as her sister's, but they were much more prepossessing. She came in with a smile, smiled all the time of her visit, except when she laughed, and smiled when she went away.
Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, 1811

Audacious; Audacity :   adj. Showing a willingness to take risks. "An audacious attack on the company." Showing an impudent lack of respect. "An audacious move." 

coagulate : (verb) To cause transformation of (a liquid or sol, for example) into or as if into a soft, semisolid, or solid mass.; clot; The medical students watched blood coagulate as part of their lesson in clotting reactions. 

magnificat : noun:
1. The hymn of the Virgin Mary in Luke 1:46-55.
2. An utterance of praise.
; "Upon this level of success in my life, I have enough reason to intone
my magnificat in honour of various people."
Charles Lwanga Mubiru; The Uganda Martyrs and the Need for Appropriate
Role Models in Adolescents' Moral Formation; Lit Verlag; 2012. 

Thought For The Day: We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. -E. M. Forster, novelist (1 Jan 1879-1970)


	*****January 05, 2016*****
salubrious : favorable to or promoting health; healthful: salubrious air; 
His features were pretty yet, and his eye and complexion brighter than I remembered them, though with merely temporary lustre borrowed from the salubrious air and genial sun.
Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, 1847

Equivocal :   adj. Open to more than one interpretation; ambiguous. Uncertain or questionable in nature. "Congress was equivocal on its domestic spending package." 

inalienable : (adjective) That cannot be transferred to another or others.; unforfeitable; When he decided to fight for his inalienable rights, he did not realize that his actions would go down in history. 

dox : verb tr.: To gather and publish someone's personal information, such as phone number, address, email messages, credit card numbers, etc., especially with a malicious intent.
noun: Personal information about someone, collected and published without permission.
; "He doxed her, posting her address and apartment number, which he had
filched from her Internet provider."
Jason Fagone; The Serial Swatter; The New York Times; Nov 24, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: People who demand neutrality in any situation are usually not neutral but in favor of the status quo. -Max Eastman, journalist and poet (4 Jan 1883-1969)


	*****January 06, 2016*****
kvell : Slang. to be extraordinarily pleased; especially, to be bursting wit..; 
Display some heart. Stop whining. Show some character. Grow up. Talk to me about our gone days. Give me something to kvell over.
Colum McCann, Thirteen Ways of Looking, 2015

Canonize :   v. Regard as being above reproach or of great significance. "He canonized women." 

endothermic : (adjective) Characterized by or causing the absorption of heat; endoergic.; heat-absorbing, endothermal; Endothermic reactions are often described as reactions that "feel cold," and they contrast with exothermic reactions, in which heat is released. 

photoshop : verb tr.: To digitally alter an image, especially in order to distort reality.
; "In the name of modesty an Israeli ultra-Orthodox publication photoshopped
the female leaders from its coverage."
First -- And Last -- Do No Harm; The Economist (London, UK); Jan 24, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon. -Konrad Adenauer, statesman (5 Jan 1876-1967)


	*****January 07, 2016*****
unputdownable : Informal. (especially of a book or periodical) so interestin..; 
Have just finished reading Command Decision… I found it absolutely (or almost) unputdownable and at the same time as complete a waste of time as one of Gardner's Perry Mason stories, which I also find unputdownable.
, Raymond Chandler to Charles Morton, January 5, 1947, in Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler, 1981

Compendium :   n. A collection of concise but detailed information about a particular subject. A collection of things, esp. one systematically gathered. "Compendium of old stories gathered by topic." 

didactic : (adjective) Intended to instruct.; didactical; "The principal difficulty in your case," remarked Holmes, in his didactic fashion, "lay in the fact of there being too much evidence." 

defriend : verb tr.: To remove someone from one's list of online friends.
; "In Trumplandia to our south, presidential candidates and governors are
trying to defriend a quarter of the world's population and put up 'No
Muslims allowed' signs."
Josh Freed; Tips on Life in Montreal for Syrian Refugees; Montreal Gazette
(Canada); Dec 19, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: Sometime they'll give a war and nobody will come. -Carl Sandburg, poet and biographer (6 Jan 1878-1967)


	*****January 08, 2016*****
terpsichorean : pertaining to dancing; 
At the moment the son's popularity is threatened in Havana by a new dance known as the botacita (the little boat), and enterprising U.S. dance promoters like Arthur Murray are scurrying to Cuba hoping to find it a new terpsichorean gold mine.
Winthrop Sargeant, "Cuba's Tin Pan Alley," Life, October 6, 1947

Discern; Discerning :   v. Perceive or recognize (something). Distinguish (someone or something) with difficulty by sight or with the other senses. "Discern who is telling the truth." 

nosebag : (noun) A canvas bag that is used to feed an animal (such as a horse).; feedbag; The stableboy replaced the horse's nosebag, which had torn in two places. 

affluenza : noun:
A feeling of malaise accompanied by lack of motivation, dissatisfaction,
feelings of guilt, especially among wealthy young people.
; "When Ethan Couch was 16, he was spared prison after killing four people
in a drink-driving accident because a judge found that he suffered from
affluenza ...
"Couch's blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit and there
were traces of Valium and marijuana in his system when he took seven
friends for a high-speed ride in his pick-up truck on June 15, 2013. He
ploughed into a broken-down car at over 70 mph, killing four people who
were working on it. Two of his friends were critically injured and one
was left paralysed. ...
"Couch's defence hinged on a psychologist's evidence that the boy could not
understand the consequences of his actions because he had been raised by
'profoundly dysfunctional' millionaire parents who encouraged his bad
behaviour. 'Instead of the golden rule, which was -- Do unto others as you
would have them do unto you -- he was taught 'We have the gold, we make the
rules,' Dick Miller [a psychologist hired by the defense] testified."
Ben Hoyle; Boy Who was Too Rich for Jail Goes on the Run; The Times
(London, UK); Dec 18, 2015.
 

Thought For The Day: He who does not bellow the truth when he knows the truth makes himself the accomplice of liars and forgers. -Charles Peguy, poet and essayist (7 Jan 1873-1914)


	*****January 09, 2016*****
sybaritic : pertaining to or characteristic of a sybarite; characterized by ..; 
A shower he held was for getting clean quickly and efficiently, but a bath, a bath was a sybaritic experience to be savoured. It calms the soul, it relaxes utterly, it allows one to start one's day on one's own terms.
Peter Turnbull, The Man with No Face, 1998

Tangential :   adj. Superficially relevant; divergent. Diverging from a previous course or line; erratic. "He took credit for anything tangentially related to their work." 

sawhorse : (noun) A frame with legs, used to support pieces of wood being sawed.; buck, horse, sawbuck; While thus engaged they came to the edge of a wood, and the boy sat down to rest upon an old sawhorse that some woodcutter had left there. 

peeps : noun: People, especially when referring to one's friends or associates.
; "I was with my peeps in the right-field pavilion."
Chris Erskine; Buy Dodgers?; Los Angeles Times; Apr 18, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: A certain kind of rich man afflicted with the symptoms of moral dandyism sooner or later comes to the conclusion that it isn't enough merely to make money. He feels obliged to hold views, to espouse causes and elect Presidents, to explain to a trembling world how and why the world went wrong. -Lewis H. Lapham, editor and writer (b. 8 Jan 1935)


	*****January 10, 2016*****
offing : the more distant part of the sea seen from the shore, beyond the an..; 
The offing was barred by a black band of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the outermost ends of the earth flowed sombre under an overcast sky--seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness.
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, 1902

Phalanx :   n. A group of people or things of a similar type forming a compact body or brought together for a common purpose. "A phalanx of lawyers took charge of the case." 

Fealty : 1 a : the fidelity of a vassal or feudal tenant to his lord; "The fealty of country music fans to their favorite stars is as strong as old-time religion." — Nicholas Dawidoff, The New Republic, 18 July 1994
diluent : (noun) An inert substance used to dilute.; dilutant; The artist thinned the paint to a pale yellow using a diluent and a bit of white. 

peeps : noun: People, especially when referring to one's friends or associates.
; "I was with my peeps in the right-field pavilion."
Chris Erskine; Buy Dodgers?; Los Angeles Times; Apr 18, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: A certain kind of rich man afflicted with the symptoms of moral dandyism sooner or later comes to the conclusion that it isn't enough merely to make money. He feels obliged to hold views, to espouse causes and elect Presidents, to explain to a trembling world how and why the world went wrong. -Lewis H. Lapham, editor and writer (b. 8 Jan 1935)


	*****January 11, 2016*****
cineaste : any person, especially a director or producer, associated profess..; 
…Mr. Jones remains rigidly focused on hammering home the director François Truffaut’s motivation for writing the 1966 book on which this film is based: To lead Hitchcock, then widely considered a mere commercial entertainer, out of the shoals of populism and into the cineaste spotlight.
Jeannette Catsoulis, "Review: 'Hitchcock/Truffaut' Revisits the Master of Suspense," New York Times, December 1, 2015

Servile :   adj. Having or showing an excessive willingness to serve or please others. "She wrote a servile letter to her upset neighbor." 

Ignominious : 1 : marked with or characterized by disgrace or shame : dishonorable; "[People's] first issue appeared in March of 1974—two years after the ignominious shuttering of the weekly Life—and it was an immediate sensation, drawing more than 900,000 readers from the outset." — Jim Windolf, Vanity Fair, 16 Oct. 2013
mickle : (noun) A large number or amount or extent.; hatful, lot, mint, muckle, peck, slew, spate, tidy sum, wad, stack, raft, pile, plenty, mass, batch, heap, deal, flock, pot, mess, sight; It was only when he found a mickle of old letters in the basement that he learned his grandmother had been a prolific and talented writer. 

peeps : noun: People, especially when referring to one's friends or associates.
; "I was with my peeps in the right-field pavilion."
Chris Erskine; Buy Dodgers?; Los Angeles Times; Apr 18, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: A certain kind of rich man afflicted with the symptoms of moral dandyism sooner or later comes to the conclusion that it isn't enough merely to make money. He feels obliged to hold views, to espouse causes and elect Presidents, to explain to a trembling world how and why the world went wrong. -Lewis H. Lapham, editor and writer (b. 8 Jan 1935)


	*****January 12, 2016*****
inveigle : to entice, lure, or ensnare by flattery or artful talk or inducem..; 
Thus craftily did he inveigle the vain bird, who finally came and spread his tail alongside the fracture for comparison. The gorgeous feathers at once froze fast to the ice, and--in short, that artless fowl passed a very uncomfortable winter
Ambrose Bierce, Cobwebs from an Empty Skull, 1874

Vituperative :   adj. Bitter and abusive. "The critic's vituperative review was needlessly harsh." 

Mugwump : 1 : a bolter from the Republican party in 1884; "[Woodrow] Wilson was representative of a moderate progressivism that existed in the latter part of the nineteenth century and the early part of this one. He was a mugwump reacting negatively to the new, industrialist class, but maintaining a strong belief in the triumph of American ideals and progress." — Hans Vought, The Journal of American Ethnic History, Spring 1994
beatitude : (noun) Supreme blessedness or happiness.; blessedness, beatification; You have it in your power to raise two human beings from a state of actual suffering to such unspeakable beatitude as only generous, noble, self-forgetting love can give. 

onerous : adjective:
1. Oppressively burdensome.
2. Having obligations or responsibilities that outweigh the benefits.
; "Some would say the safety standards now are too onerous, he added. I don't
believe that. The only reticence I have is that they are taking the sport
of ocean racing further from the average person."
Christopher Clarey; The Enduring Thrills and Chills of an Iconic Race;
International Herald Tribune (Paris, France); Dec 20, 2008.


See more usage examples of onerous in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people. -Abraham Joshua Heschel, rabbi and professor (11 Jan 1907-1972)


	*****January 13, 2016*****
peripatetic : walking or traveling about; itinerant; 
The peripatetic life is the only truly fashionable one these days. And one must not come back empty-handed; it's as necessary to display a vase unearthed from Pompeii or a new dress from Madame Bertin in Paris as to litter one's speech with carisima mia and enchanté.
Emma Donoghue, Life Mask, 2004

Ardent :   adj. Enthusiastic or passionate. "He is an ardent sports fan." 

Procrastinate : 1 : to put off intentionally and habitually; Somehow, despite procrastinating, Melody managed to hand her assignment in on time.
hostelry : (noun) A hotel providing overnight lodging for travelers.; auberge, inn, lodge; Three large rooms were assigned to them in the monastery hostelry. 

torpor : noun: A state marked by apathy, lethargy, and inactivity.
; "I've had this job [film critic] for just more than a year, and during
that time going to the cinema once a week has become a deeply dreary
and onerous task, so much so that I now associate cinema buildings
themselves with torpor, contempt, and monotony."
Julie Burchill; Shooting for the Hip; The Times (London, UK); Oct 23, 1994.


See more usage examples of torpor in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country. -Hermann Göring, Nazi military leader (12 Jan 1893-1946)


	*****January 14, 2016*****
bellwether : a person or thing that shows the existence or direction of a tr..; 
On balance, Doon seems a tidy, almost jejune specimen of conventional mystery fiction--hardly a bellwether of a major literary career.
Ruth Rendell, From Doon with Death, 1964

Incessant :   adj. Continuing without pause or interruption. "The incessant noise kept him awake." 

Chirography : 1 : handwriting, penmanship; "This envelope had the air of an official record of some period long past, when clerks engrossed their stiff and formal chirography on more substantial materials than at present." — Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, 1850
shogunate : (noun) A form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.).; monocracy, dictatorship; The people had philosophical problems with the shogunate, but they had to admit that trade and commerce were flourishing under its rule. 

welter : noun: 1. A confused mass; a jumble. 2. A state of upheaval.
verb intr.: 1. To roll, writhe, or toss. 2. To lie soaked in something, such as blood.
; "For one reason or another I've found myself involved in several different
operations lately in a positive welter of activity, disturbing me from my
semi-retired torpor."
Richard Vaughan-Davies; Tangle of Red Tape Strangling Enterprise; Daily Post
(Liverpool, UK); May 9, 2007.


See more usage examples of welter in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Sometimes laughter hurts, but humor and mockery are our only weapons. -Cabu (pen name of Jean Cabut), cartoonist and co-founder of Charlie Hebdo (13 Jan 1938-2015)


	*****January 15, 2016*****
hebetude : the state of being dull; lethargy; 
But the intelligence (that more precious heirloom) was degenerate; the treasure of ancestral memory ran low; and it had required the potent, plebeian crossing of a muleteer or mountain contrabandista to raise what approached hebetude in the mother into active oddity of the son.
Robert Louis Stevenson, "Olalla," The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables, 1889

Patronize :   v. Treat with an apparent kindness that betrays a feeling of superiority. "She detests being patronized." Frequent an establishment as a customer. "He always patronizes the same restaurant." 

Brogue : 1 : a heavy shoe often with a hobnailed sole; "Canvas isn't the chosen medium of many shoemakers, so it was a bit exciting and a bit confusing when Toms Shoes, purveyors of the ever-casual espadrilles, announced its intention to make brogues." — Andrew Burmon, Men's Journal, 19 Aug. 2013
arboretum : (noun) A place where an extensive variety of woody plants are cultivated for scientific, educational, and ornamental purposes.; botanical garden; The botany class took a field trip to the arboretum to examine its extensive collection of rare plants. 

invective : noun: An insulting or abusive criticism or expression.
; "The author does have some good points ... but they get lost in a welter
of invective and innuendo."
Stephen Schecter; Singularly Peevish View of Canada; The Gazette
(Montreal, Canada); Jul 22, 1995.


See more usage examples of invective in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: A man does not have to be an angel in order to be saint. -Albert Schweitzer, philosopher, physician, musician, Nobel laureate (14 Jan 1875-1965)


	*****January 16, 2016*****
reify : to convert into or regard as a concrete thing: to reify a concept; 
Indeed, this iconic image seems to reify today's conception of mid-century cool, our collective false nostalgia for a time when great design infiltrated the mass market and America was soaking up a glut of talented European émigrés…
Amber Bravo, "Fascinating Risom," Dwell, September, 2009

Amicable :   adj. Having a spirit of friendliness; without arguments or serious disagreement. "An amicable agreement between the two firms." 

Limn : 1 : to draw or paint on a surface; In his Leatherstocking tales, James Fenimore Cooper limns the frontier adventures of wilderness scout Natty Bumppo.
firedrake : (noun) A fire-breathing dragon of Germanic mythology.; dragon; Unlike other firedrakes, the dragon in this story liked to recite poetry and was a connoisseur of fine wines. 

reticence : noun: A reluctance to express one's thoughts and feelings.
; "What distinguished Bates was his quietness, reticence, and emotional
reserve. No towering rages for him or tirades of invective."
Obituary of Sir Alan Bates; The Daily Telegraph (London, UK); Dec 29, 2003.


See more usage examples of reticence in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists, who are dedicated to justice, peace, and brotherhood. The trailblazers in human, academic, scientific, and religious freedom have always been nonconformists. In any cause that concerns the progress of mankind, put your faith in the nonconformist! -Martin Luther King, Jr., civil-rights leader (15 Jan 1929-1968)


	*****January 17, 2016*****
lacustrine : of or relating to a lake; 
And then there came upon us a sudden squall, ferocious, that rocked the boat almost to overturning. I had of course heard often of these lacustrine storms, erupting and subsiding in minutes, but I had never before experienced one of them.
Peter Ackroyd, The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein, 2008

Benign :   adj. Mild or favorable (result). Gentle, kind, good. "The results were benign and required no treatment." 

Qualm : 1 : a sudden attack of illness, faintness, or nausea; Some people have no qualms about correcting other people's grammar.
milium : (noun) A small, white or yellowish cystlike mass just below the surface of the skin, caused by retention of the secretion of a sebaceous gland.; whitehead; The soap promised to eradicate milia by thoroughly cleansing the skin and unclogging pores. 

reticence : noun: A reluctance to express one's thoughts and feelings.
; "What distinguished Bates was his quietness, reticence, and emotional
reserve. No towering rages for him or tirades of invective."
Obituary of Sir Alan Bates; The Daily Telegraph (London, UK); Dec 29, 2003.


See more usage examples of reticence in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists, who are dedicated to justice, peace, and brotherhood. The trailblazers in human, academic, scientific, and religious freedom have always been nonconformists. In any cause that concerns the progress of mankind, put your faith in the nonconformist! -Martin Luther King, Jr., civil-rights leader (15 Jan 1929-1968)


	*****January 18, 2016*****
ludic : playful in an aimless way: the ludic behavior of kittens; 
A third kind of group encounter we decided to call "ludic" sessions. We play what you might call spiritual parlour-games, mostly devised by Farrar, who excels at them.
A. S. Byatt, A Whistling Woman, 2002

Impish :   adj. Mischievous. Inclined to do slightly naughty things for fun. "He approached her with an impish grin on his face." 

Nettle : 1 : to strike or sting with or as if with nettles; "Steve Jobs may not have led Apple to global dominance if he'd had the company's new watch nettling him with notifications." — Alexander C. Kaufman, The Huffington Post, 14 Mar. 2015
pogonip : (noun) A dense winter fog containing ice particles.; ice fog; He trudged on through the pogonip, oblivious to the delicate ice crystals melting on his face and hands. 

reticence : noun: A reluctance to express one's thoughts and feelings.
; "What distinguished Bates was his quietness, reticence, and emotional
reserve. No towering rages for him or tirades of invective."
Obituary of Sir Alan Bates; The Daily Telegraph (London, UK); Dec 29, 2003.


See more usage examples of reticence in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists, who are dedicated to justice, peace, and brotherhood. The trailblazers in human, academic, scientific, and religious freedom have always been nonconformists. In any cause that concerns the progress of mankind, put your faith in the nonconformist! -Martin Luther King, Jr., civil-rights leader (15 Jan 1929-1968)


	*****January 19, 2016*****
aeonian : eternal; everlasting; 
It was the caverns drinking from the tempest overhead, the grasses growing under the snow, the stars making music with the dark, the streams filling the night with the sounds the day had quenched, the whispering call of the dreams left behind in 'the fields of sleep,'--in a word, the central life pulsing in aeonian peace through the outer ephemeral storms.
George MacDonald, Robert Falconer, 1868

Accolade :   n. An expression of praise or admiration. An award or privilege granted; an acknowledgment of merit. "The scientist was given many accolades for his research." 

Eloquent : 1 : marked by forceful and fluent expression; Because Max is such an eloquent speaker, he was asked to give the toast at his grandfather's 75th birthday party.
salient : (adjective) Strikingly conspicuous.; prominent, outstanding, striking, spectacular; I took in much of this in the few seconds during which we stood facing each other, and I also observed another salient feature of her appearance: she was frightfully dirty. 

brass hat : noun: A high-ranking official, especially from the military or police.
; "'I don't understand why a brass hat from the police would want to talk
to me,' I tell him. 'I'm just a passing academic.'"
Shashi Warrier; The Girl Who Didn't Give Up; Tranquebar Press; 2015.


See more usage examples of brass hat in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: If triangles had a God, he would have three sides. -Charles de Montesquieu, philosopher and writer (18 Jan 1689-1755)


	*****January 20, 2016*****
kerflooey : Informal. to cease functioning, especially suddenly and complete..; 
When firemen in Wenatchee, Wash., were testing a new machine which disgorges mountains of detergent foam to smother flames, something went kerflooey. Instead of billowing up behind the firehouse as it was supposed to do, the foam came cascading into the station itself.
, "Cloud Nine in the Firehouse," Life, January 29, 1965

Bellicose :   adj. Hostile in manner or temperament. Demonstrating aggression or a willingness to fight. "His bellicose behavior concerned authorities." 

Expatiate : 1 : to move about freely or at will : wander; "By the time the Song Festival rep finished remarks, the orchestra staff promoted the raffle, and the conductor expatiated, it was 25 minutes into the afternoon before the oboe sounded the tuning A." — Donald J. Behnke, The Green Valley (Arizona) News and Sun, 25 Jan. 2015
apex : (noun) The highest point.; acme, vertex, peak; Though he was afraid of heights, he forced himself to climb to the roof's apex to fix the leak. 

sackcloth : noun:
1. A coarse cloth of jute, flax, etc., used for making sacks.
2. A garment made of this cloth, worn to express remorse, humility, grief, etc.
3. An expression of penitence, mourning, humility, etc.
; "This disappointment, coming just at the time when the yearly interest
upon the mortgage was due, had brought upon his father one of those
paroxysms of helpless gloom and discouragement in which the very world
itself seemed clothed in sackcloth."
Harriet Beecher Stowe; The Writings of Harriet Beecher Stowe; Houghton,
Mifflin; 1865.

"'Don't speak to him, Laura,' she had said. 'It will show how we despise
him for his disgraceful conduct, and make him the sooner come creeping
to our knees in sackcloth and ashes.'"
George Manville Fenn; Blind Policy; John Long; 1904.


See more usage examples of sackcloth in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. -Edgar Allan Poe, poet and short-story writer (19 Jan 1809-1849)


	*****January 21, 2016*****
aposiopesis : Rhetoric. a sudden breaking off in the midst of a sentence, as..; 
“ … It's their job, when you come to think of it; but it'll be jolly difficult to get them to take it on, whereas you and I ——” And he turned away with a shrug to point his admirable aposiopesis.
Ernest William Hornung, Witching Hill, 1913

Atrophy :   n. A decrease in size or wasting away or progressive decline, as from disuse. "Misleading and infrequent reporting have facilitated the atrophy of self-sufficiency." 

Thew : 1 a : muscular power or development ; "In Rocco's melodramatically murky illustrations, men and women alike display rippling thews and plenty of skin as they battle ravening monsters." — Kirkus Reviews, 22 July 2015
teem : (verb) To be full of things; abound or swarm.; pullulate, swarm; The street teemed with hundreds of policemen who questioned every potential witness. 

straitlaced or straight-laced : adjective: Excessively strict, rigid, old-fashioned, or prudish.
; "Aren't they the rather dull, unimaginative, straitlaced characters who keep
their noses constantly buried in rule books?"
Your Stars; The Gold Coast Bulletin (Southport, Australia); Oct 13, 2015.


See more usage examples of straitlaced in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: All art is autobiographical; the pearl is the oyster's autobiography. -Federico Fellini, film director, and writer (20 Jan 1920-1993)


	*****January 22, 2016*****
presenteeism : the practice of coming to work despite illness, injury, anxie..; 
Researchers say that presenteeism--the problem of workers' being on the job but, because of illness or other medical conditions, not fully functioning--can cut individual productivity by one-third or more.
Paul Hemp, "Presenteeism: At Work--But Out of It," Harvard Business Review, October, 2004

Demonstrative :   adj. Tending to show feelings, especially the open expression of emotion. "A demonstrative argument." 

Effete : 1 : no longer fertile; "Virginia Woolf is often depicted as a dreamy, effete snob, agonizing all day over a single adjective while sipping tea…." — Julia Keller, The Chicago Tribune, 2 Nov. 2008
philistine : (noun) A smug, ignorant, especially middle-class person who is regarded as being indifferent or antagonistic to artistic and cultural values.; anti-intellectual; He may have an advanced degree in mathematics, but the man is a total philistine when it comes to the arts. 

sansculotte or sans-culotte : noun:
1. An extreme radical republican during the French Revolution.
2. A radical or revolutionary.
; "The bigger deal is that the council ... was snookered into signing on
with a group of environmental and legal sansculottes."
Colin McNickle; Thrice the Hubris; Tribune-Review (Pittsburgh); Nov 21, 2010.


See more usage examples of sansculotte in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The gods of the valley are not the gods of the hills. -Ethan Allen, revolutionary (21 Jan 1738-1789)


	*****January 23, 2016*****
sitzmark : Skiing. a sunken area in the snow marking a backward fall of a sk..; 
These Winter Olympics have been awfully confusing for American fans. Our anointed hero, Bode "I Am a Rebel and I Said So on 60 Minutes" Miller, has thus far left a giant sitzmark on the Italian Alps.
Charles P. Pierce, “Hail the Conquering Goofballs!” Slate, February 16, 2006

Disparate :   adj. Essentially different in kind; not allowing comparison. markedly distinct in quality or character. "He is a strong leader capable of managing a disparate team to achieve their goals." 

Rapscallion : : rascal, ne’er-do-well; With his shaggy, perpetually unkempt hair and his charmingly crooked smile, the actor seems to have been born to play scamps and rapscallions.
cannoneer : (noun) A serviceman in the artillery.; gunner, artilleryman; You were a cannoneer that day there, and you were among the first to enter the accursed fortress when it fell. 

bootleg : verb tr., intr.: To make, sell, or transport something illegally.
noun: Something illegally made, sold, or distributed.
adjective: Made, sold, or distributed illegally.
; "I swear, every single movie he had was bootleg. I think his whole room was bootleg."
Michelle Stimpson; Trouble in My Way; Pocket Books; 2008.


See more usage examples of bootleg in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: He who is only just is cruel. Who on earth could live were all judged justly? -Lord Byron, poet (22 Jan 1788-1824)


	*****January 24, 2016*****
selenology : the branch of astronomy that deals with the nature and origin o..; 
Colleges, societies and clubs would be founded for the new knowledge; every human being, with opportunity and capacity, would become a specialist in selenography and selenology--a lunar expert, devoted to his science.
Ambrose Bierce, "The Moon in Letters," The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, 1911

Melancholy :   n. A deep, pensive, and long-lasting sadness. adj. Sad, gloomy, or depressed. "She was in a melancholy mood." 

Gravitate : 1 : to move under the influence of gravitation; After we were finished with our second helpings of chili and cornbread, we naturally gravitated toward the dessert table to check out the sweeter offerings.
abdicate : (verb) To relinquish (power or responsibility) formally.; renounce; The King abdicated the throne when he married a divorcee. 

bootleg : verb tr., intr.: To make, sell, or transport something illegally.
noun: Something illegally made, sold, or distributed.
adjective: Made, sold, or distributed illegally.
; "I swear, every single movie he had was bootleg. I think his whole room was bootleg."
Michelle Stimpson; Trouble in My Way; Pocket Books; 2008.


See more usage examples of bootleg in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: He who is only just is cruel. Who on earth could live were all judged justly? -Lord Byron, poet (22 Jan 1788-1824)


	*****January 25, 2016*****
vociferous : crying out noisily; clamorous; 
The grass grew quietly in the highways--the bleating sheep and frolicksome calves sported about the verdant ridge, where now the Broadway loungers take their morning stroll… and flocks of vociferous geese cackled about the fields, where now the great Tammany wigwam and the patriotic tavern of Martling echo with the wranglings of the mob.
Washington Irving, A History of New York, 1809

Gourmand :   n. A person who enjoys eating and often eats too much; gluttonous. A connoisseur of good food. "The traveling gourmand seldom passed up a restaurant." 

Pundit : 1 : a learned person : teacher; Grandpa likes watching liberal and conservative pundits spar about the issues of the day on the Sunday morning talk shows.
guile : (noun) Treacherous cunning; skillful deceit.; craftiness, foxiness, slyness, wiliness, cunning; Her mild eyes seemed incapable of any severity or guile, and yet she has committed a murder. 

bootleg : verb tr., intr.: To make, sell, or transport something illegally.
noun: Something illegally made, sold, or distributed.
adjective: Made, sold, or distributed illegally.
; "I swear, every single movie he had was bootleg. I think his whole room was bootleg."
Michelle Stimpson; Trouble in My Way; Pocket Books; 2008.


See more usage examples of bootleg in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: He who is only just is cruel. Who on earth could live were all judged justly? -Lord Byron, poet (22 Jan 1788-1824)


	*****January 26, 2016*****
cupidity : eager or excessive desire, especially to possess something; greed..; 
"Now Jonah's Captain, shipmates, was one whose discernment detects crime in any way, but whose cupidity exposes it only in the penniless. In this world, shipmates, sin that pays its way can travel freely…"
Herman Melville, Moby Dick, 1851

Amorphous :   adj. Without a clearly defined shape or form. Vague; ill-organized; unclassifiable. "The amorphous package caused alarm to many people in the terminal." 

Harry : 1 : to make a pillaging or destructive raid on : assault; The young boy harried the kitten until it swiped him with its claws.
evince : (verb) To show or demonstrate clearly; manifest.; express, show; The baby couldn't tell us she disliked the cereal, but she evinced her distaste by grimacing. 

autolycan : adjective: Characterized by thievery or trickery.
; "In a disarming note at the beginning of the book, Adams offers an
apology for his autolycan procedures."
Times Literary Supplement; Jun 5, 1981.

"His art was Autolycan, snapping-up, catching the mean minnows of the
commonplace when they were off their guard."
Anthony Burgess; Tremor of Intent; W.W. Norton; 1966. 

Thought For The Day: Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind. -William Somerset Maugham, writer (25 Jan 1874-1965)


	*****January 27, 2016*****
nimiety : excess; overabundance: nimiety of mere niceties in conversation; 
As he said it, a nimiety of memories came back to him of the sick, the wounded, the dying: disease, war, famine, flood, fire, devastation--he had seen them for over three millennia and had never grown used to any of them.
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, A Feast In Exile, 2001

Efficacy :   n. The ability to produce a desired or intended result. "The efficacy of the new marketing plan has not been proven." 

Zeugma : : the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words in such a way that it applies to each in a different sense or makes sense with only one (as in "opened the door and her heart to the homeless boy"); A clever use of zeugma was demonstrated by Groucho Marx's character Rufus T. Firefly in Duck Soup (1933):"You can leave in a taxi. If you can't get a taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that's too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff."
reticle : (noun) A grid or pattern placed in the eyepiece of an optical instrument, used to establish scale or position.; graticule, reticule; Looking through the microscope's eyepiece, he was able to establish the size of the molecule with the help of a reticle. 

herculean : adjective:
1. Requiring extraordinary strength or effort.
2. Having great strength or size.
; "It would take a herculean performance for someone to wrest the world
sprint title away from Christine Nesbitt."
Rita Mingo; Dutchman Has Race of His Life; The Calgary Herald (Canada);
Jan 30, 2012.


See more usage examples of herculean in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Catch-and-release, that's like running down pedestrians in your car and then, when they get up and limp away, saying -- Off you go! That's fine. I just wanted to see if I could hit you. -Ellen DeGeneres, comedian, television host, and actress (b. 26 Jan 1958)


	*****January 28, 2016*****
pugnacious : inclined to quarrel or fight readily; quarrelsome; belligerent;..; 
Pugnacious people, if they did not actually terrify Oscar, were at least the sort of people he could not control, and whom he feared as possibly able to coerce him.
George Bernard Shaw, "My Memories of Oscar Wilde," Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions by Frank Harris, 1916

Empathy; Empathetic :   adj. The action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another. "Her doctor was empathetic to her condition." 

Proscribe : 1 : to publish the name of as condemned to death with the property of the condemned forfeited to the state; The town passed an ordinance that proscribed the ownership of snakes and other exotic pets.
succinct : (adjective) Characterized by clear, precise expression in few words; concise and terse.; compendious, summary, compact; Some students enjoyed the teacher's succinct style, while others wished she would elaborate on certain topics. 

titan : noun: A person, organization, or thing of great strength, size, or achievement.
; "But investors haven't exactly rewarded the media titan: Disney's stock
has tumbled more than six percent since that premiere."
Drew Harwell; Has the Force Deserted Disney?; The Argus (Cape Town,
South Africa); Jan 8, 2016.


See more usage examples of titan in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: A fellow of mediocre talent will remain a mediocrity, whether he travels or not; but one of superior talent (which without impiety I cannot deny that I possess) will go to seed if he always remains in the same place. -Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer and musician (27 Jan 1756-1791)


	*****January 29, 2016*****
insouciant : free from concern, worry, or anxiety; carefree; nonchalant; 
But for his thoughtful diagnosis of the perils that lay before me, I should at this juncture have been deep in the mulligatawny and no hope of striking for the shore. As it was, I was able to be nonchalant, insouciant, and debonair. I was like the fellow I once heard Jeeves speak of who was armed so strong in honesty that somebody's threats passed by him as the idle wind, which he respected not.
P. G. Wodehouse, Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves, 1962

Churlish :   adj. Rude in a mean-spirited and surly way. "It was rather churlish of him to complain about the small donations." 

Jeremiad : : a prolonged lamentation or complaint; also : a cautionary or angry harangue; Mrs. Whinge waggled a finger at us and launched into a doleful jeremiad about how we would come to no good end.
burnish : (verb) To make smooth or glossy by or as if by rubbing; polish.; furbish, buff, flush; Every afternoon, she would obsessively burnish the floors until the parlor gleamed like an ice rink. 

siren song : noun: An enticing appeal that ultimately leads to disaster.
; "We must reaffirm our commitment to the principles of open society and
resist the siren song of the likes of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, however
hard that may be."
George Soros; The Terrorists and Demagogues Want Us to Be Scared. We
Mustn't Give in; The Guardian (London, UK); Dec 28, 2015.


See more usage examples of siren song in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: To a poet, silence is an acceptable response, even a flattering one. -Colette, author (28 Jan 1873-1954)


	*****January 30, 2016*****
zenith : a highest point or state; culmination; 
And at the zenith of his fame, how he would suddenly appear at the old village and stalk into church, brown and weather-beaten, in his black velvet doublet and trunks, his great jack-boots, his crimson sash, his belt bristling with horse pistols, his crime-rusted cutlass at his side, his slouch hat with waving plumes, his black flag unfurled, with the skull and crossbones on it, and hear with swelling ecstasy the whisperings, "It's Tom Sawyer the Pirate!--the Black Avenger of the Spanish Main!"
Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 1876

Congruent; Congruous :   adj. In agreement or harmony. Suitable; appropriate. "The company's operations were congruent with its business plan." 

Obstreperous : 1 : marked by unruly or aggressive noisiness : clamorous; After two months at sea with dwindling food supplies and declining confidence in the captain, the ship's crew became obstreperous and began to plot a mutiny.
hydroponics : (noun) A technique of growing plants (without soil) in water containing dissolved nutrients.; aquiculture, tank farming; The soil where he lived was poor in nutrients, so he decided to try his luck with hydroponics. 

bacchant : noun: A boisterous reveler.
; "I did not, as a young bacchant in the '60s and '70s, absent myself from the
garden of herbal and pharmacological delights -- far from it -- so I found
myself in an odd position, that is, lecturing a parent about drugs."
Christopher Buckley; Mum and Pup And Me; The New York Times Magazine;
Apr 26, 2009.


See more usage examples of bacchant in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Love, friendship, respect, do not unite people as much as a common hatred for something. -Anton Chekhov, short-story writer and dramatist (29 Jan 1860-1904)


	*****January 31, 2016*****
isthmus : a narrow strip of land, bordered on both sides by water, connectin..; 
So I again kept to the open beaches as I made my way west, until I came to the town of Coátzacoálcos, what you now call Espíritu Santo, which was the terminus of the north-south trade route across the narrow isthmus of Tecuantépec.
Gary Jennings, Aztec, 1980

Brusque :   adj. Abrupt and curt in manner or speech; discourteously blunt. "Her boss gave a brusque reply." 

Herald : 1 : to give notice of : announce; The first real snowfall heralded the arrival of skiing season.
cozen : (verb) To mislead by means of a petty trick or fraud.; deceive, delude, lead on; He has wronged me and deceived me enough, he shall not cozen me further! 

bacchant : noun: A boisterous reveler.
; "I did not, as a young bacchant in the '60s and '70s, absent myself from the
garden of herbal and pharmacological delights -- far from it -- so I found
myself in an odd position, that is, lecturing a parent about drugs."
Christopher Buckley; Mum and Pup And Me; The New York Times Magazine;
Apr 26, 2009.


See more usage examples of bacchant in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Love, friendship, respect, do not unite people as much as a common hatred for something. -Anton Chekhov, short-story writer and dramatist (29 Jan 1860-1904)


	*****February 01, 2016*****
cryophilic : preferring or thriving at low temperatures; 
Cryophilic or cryotolerant species dwell at low temperatures in snow and ice packs, for example, where temperatures typically approach or fall below the freezing point of water.
O. Roger Anderson, Comparative Protozoology: Ecology, Physiology, Life History, 1988

Peevish :   adj. Easily irritated, particularly by unimportant things. "He was peevish around smokers." 

Sumptuous : : extremely costly, rich, luxurious, or magnificent; The hotel's most sumptuous suite overlooks the lush gardens and includes a palatial marble bathroom with a spa and a commodious, intricately tiled walk-in shower.
rhetorician : (noun) A person who delivers a speech or oration.; orator, speechifier, speechmaker; They continued to correspond, she in the unweighed language of unwavering affection, he in the chilly phraseology of the polished rhetorician. 

bacchant : noun: A boisterous reveler.
; "I did not, as a young bacchant in the '60s and '70s, absent myself from the
garden of herbal and pharmacological delights -- far from it -- so I found
myself in an odd position, that is, lecturing a parent about drugs."
Christopher Buckley; Mum and Pup And Me; The New York Times Magazine;
Apr 26, 2009.


See more usage examples of bacchant in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Love, friendship, respect, do not unite people as much as a common hatred for something. -Anton Chekhov, short-story writer and dramatist (29 Jan 1860-1904)


	*****February 02, 2016*****
nonce : the present, or immediate, occasion or purpose (usually used in the ..; 
...I deemed it best to shelve their problem for the nonce and turn the mind to the matter of Gussie, which presented a brighter picture.
P. G. Wodehouse, Right Ho, Jeeves, 1934

Surreptitious :   adj. Kept secret, particularly because it would not be approved of. "His surreptitious drug habit could land him in jail." 

Abject : 1 : sunk to or existing in a low state or condition; The organization is dedicated to alleviating the suffering of those living in abject poverty.
cadge : (verb) Ask for and get free; be a parasite.; bum, grub, mooch, sponge; Though she had a pantry full of groceries, Sheila loved to cadge her meals from her sister. 

yerk : verb tr., intr.: To rise, stir, strike, whip, pull, kick, etc.
noun: A sudden movement, kick, jerk, stab, etc.
; "This was our warm-up for the Wild Chipmunk, the legendary Lakeside
roller coaster famous for its endless jerking and yerking."
Ricardo Baca; Bars; Denver Post (Colorado); Oct 6, 2006. 

Thought For The Day: When you turn the corner / And you run into yourself / Then you know that you have turned / All the corners that are left. -Langston Hughes, poet and novelist (1 Feb 1902-1967)


	*****February 03, 2016*****
aeromancy : the prediction of future events from observation of weather cond..; 
Mostly we compare them / to silent things, sensing / that thunder is something else / that gets into them—a stone, a god— / and, as for what they want to say, / aeromancy, which presumed to interpret, / never caught on.
James Richardson, "Essay on Clouds," The New Yorker, February 2, 2015

Nascent :   adj. Recently coming into existence and beginning to display signs of future potential. Not yet fully developed; emerging. "The business remains nascent but very promising." 

Foliage : 1 : a representation of leaves, flowers, and branches for architectural ornamentation; A trip to the local conservatory was just the thing to beat my winter blues—the bright flowers against the backdrop of verdant foliage was rejuvenating.
fanfare : (noun) A spectacular public display.; ostentation; Because they were considered hometown heroes, the returning astronauts were greeted with much fanfare. 

unco : adjective: Unusual; remarkable; strange.
adverb: Remarkably; extremely.
noun: 1. A stranger. 2. News.
; "'You're unco late, dear,' she would say wearily."
George Douglas Brown; The House with the Green Shutters;
McClure, Phillips & Co.; 1902.

"Each tells the uncos that he sees or hears."
Robert Burns; The Cotter's Saturday Night; 1785.


See more usage examples of unco in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Jobs are like going to church: it's nice once or twice a year to sing along and eat something and all that, but unless you really believe there's something holy going on, it gets to be a drag going in every single week. -Thomas Michael Disch, science fiction author and poet (2 Feb 1940-2008) 


	*****February 04, 2016*****
alpenglow : a reddish glow often seen on the summits of mountains just befor..; 
Now came the solemn, silent evening. Long, blue, spiky shadows crept out across the snow-fields, while a rosy glow, at first scarce discernible, gradually deepened and suffused every mountain-top, flushing the glaciers and the harsh crags above them. This was the alpenglow, to me one of the most impressive of all the terrestrial manifestations of God.
John Muir, The Mountains of California, 1894

Potentate :   n. One who has the power and position to rule over others: A monarch or ruler. "Industrial potentates." 

Reminisce : : to indulge in the process or practice of thinking or telling about past experiences; Justin met up with some of his college buddies to reminisce about old times.
surcease : (noun) A stopping.; cessation; More than anything else in the world, my frayed and frazzled mind wanted surcease from weariness in the way it knew surcease would come. 

saga : noun:
1. A long narrative of heroic exploits.
2. A long detailed report.
; "This May's Avengers movie will bring together the successful Iron Man,
Thor, and Captain America sagas into one franchise-uniting megamovie."
Darren Franich; Avengers vs. X-Men #1; Entertainment Weekly (New York);
Feb 8, 2012.


See more usage examples of saga in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Writers, like teeth, are divided into incisors and grinders. -Walter Bagehot, journalist and businessman (3 Feb 1826-1877)


	*****February 05, 2016*****
desiderata : things wanted or needed; the plural of desideratum; 
Over time, however, I came to realize that my friend, nice as he is, prizes extreme beauty above all the other desiderata that one might seek in a partner.
Adelle Waldman, "'A First-Rate Girl': The Problem of Female Beauty," The New Yorker, October 2, 2013

Recidivate; Recidivism :   intr. v. To return to a previous pattern of behavior. Relapse: go back to bad or criminal behavior. "The convictions for those over sixty are unlikely to recidivate.” 

Whilom : : former; I was pleased to find an interview with the whilom president of my alma mater in the local paper.
inveigh : (verb) To give vent to angry disapproval; protest vehemently.; rail; The detective had, indeed, good reasons to inveigh against the bad luck which pursued him. 

diel : noun: A period of 24 hours.
adjective: Lasting 24 hours or having a 24-hour period.
; "Composition of fishing labour, sites worked, gear used, and target species
all vary during the diel cycle. For example, in American Samoa both men
and women fish by day, but night-time fishing is primarily a male task."
Nicholas V.C. Polunin and Callum M. Roberts; Reef Fisheries; Springer; 1996. 

Thought For The Day: The mark of the educated man is not in his boast that he has built his mountain of facts and stood on the top of it, but in his admission that there may be other peaks in the same range with men on the top of them, and that, though their views of the landscape may be different from his, they are nonetheless legitimate. -E.J. Pratt, poet (4 Feb 1882-1964)


	*****February 06, 2016*****
nugatory : of no real value; trifling; worthless; 
Just at the moment, he was covering Art in a provincial paper for a financially nugatory consideration: a disadvantageous circumstance which he would explain as arising solely from his exceptional professional integrity.
Michael Innes, Money from Holme, 1964

Nuance :   n. A subtle difference in or shade of meaning, expression, or sound. "Subtle nuances of her on-screen character." 

Challah : : egg-rich yeast-leavened bread that is usually braided or twisted before baking and is traditionally eaten by Jews on the Sabbath and holidays; My father made a blessing over the challah before it was broken and passed around the Shabbat table.
paring : (noun) Something, such as a skin or peel, that has been pared off.; shaving, sliver; We do not mourn over the parings of our nails nor the cut locks of our hair, though they were once part of ourselves. 

alar : adjective:
1. Relating to wings; wing-shaped.
2. Relating to the armpit.
; "Fred Urquhart began in 1937 to experiment with different ways of marking
these delicate insects in order to study their migration patterns,
eventually developing and refining the method of applying an alar tag to
the monarch's wing."
Gerry Rising; A Salute to the King of the Monarch Butterflies;
Buffalo News (New York); Dec 16, 1996.


See more usage examples of alar in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The hardest thing about any political campaign is how to win without proving that you are unworthy of winning. -Adlai Stevenson, governor, ambassador (5 Feb 1900-1965)


	*****February 07, 2016*****
provenance : place or source of origin: The provenance of the ancient manusc..; 
"I suppose you can tell me nothing of his provenance?" he asked indifferently. "As to his provenance, Sir, I'm in the way of thinking...that he was sent down from Heaven, Sir."
Stephen Fry, The Liar, 1991

Sycophant; Sycophantic :    Attempting to win favor from influential people by flattery; A servile self-seeking flatterer. "There was sycophantic laughter from the audience at their bosses jokes." 

Rescript : 1 : a written answer of a Roman emperor or of a pope to a legal inquiry or petition; The rescript declared that the lands surrounding the new palace would henceforth belong to the royal family.
fatuity : (noun) Something that is utterly stupid or silly.; absurdity, fatuousness, silliness; In his fatuity, the beggar believed the princess to be in love with him. 

alar : adjective:
1. Relating to wings; wing-shaped.
2. Relating to the armpit.
; "Fred Urquhart began in 1937 to experiment with different ways of marking
these delicate insects in order to study their migration patterns,
eventually developing and refining the method of applying an alar tag to
the monarch's wing."
Gerry Rising; A Salute to the King of the Monarch Butterflies;
Buffalo News (New York); Dec 16, 1996.


See more usage examples of alar in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The hardest thing about any political campaign is how to win without proving that you are unworthy of winning. -Adlai Stevenson, governor, ambassador (5 Feb 1900-1965)


	*****February 08, 2016*****
dipsy-doodle : Slang. a quick dipping, sliding motion of the body, as made b..; 
Martin carried 12 times for 40 yards, including an 8-yard dipsy-doodle on the second play of the game that he nearly broke open.
Gerald Eskenazi, "Pro Football; Jets Have More Problems to Consider After the Loss," New York Times, August 16, 1998

Ruminate :   v. Think deeply about something. "We sat ruminating on the nature of existence." 

Peccadillo : : a slight offense; Mark's thank-you note to his hostess was sincere and touching; his only peccadillo was addressing her by her first name instead of "Mrs. Henderson."
reredos : (noun) A painted or carved screen placed above and behind an altar or communion table.; altarpiece; The artist is best known for the reredos he painted for the church in his hometown. 

alar : adjective:
1. Relating to wings; wing-shaped.
2. Relating to the armpit.
; "Fred Urquhart began in 1937 to experiment with different ways of marking
these delicate insects in order to study their migration patterns,
eventually developing and refining the method of applying an alar tag to
the monarch's wing."
Gerry Rising; A Salute to the King of the Monarch Butterflies;
Buffalo News (New York); Dec 16, 1996.


See more usage examples of alar in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The hardest thing about any political campaign is how to win without proving that you are unworthy of winning. -Adlai Stevenson, governor, ambassador (5 Feb 1900-1965)


	*****February 09, 2016*****
sagacity : acuteness of mental discernment and soundness of judgment; 
Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers--of my sagacity. I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph. To think that there I was, opening the door, little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts.
Edgar Allan Poe, "The Tell-Tale Heart," The Pioneer, January, 1843

acuity :   n. Sharpness or keenness of thought, vision, or hearing. "The sun's glare can cause discomfort and reduces visual acuity." 

Exonerate : 1 : to relieve of a responsibility, obligation, or hardship; Dana was exonerated for the crime of taking the money after it was found that her fingerprints did not match those on the cashbox.
larynx : (noun) The part of the respiratory tract between the pharynx and the trachea, having walls of cartilage and muscle and containing the vocal cords enveloped in folds of mucous membrane.; voice box; By cunning operations on tongue, throat, larynx, and nasal cavities a man's whole enunciation and manner of speech could be changed. 

Maecenas : noun: A generous patron, especially of art, music, or literature.
; "A local businessman and cycling fan from his Jura region, Daniel Germond,
took on the role of Maecenas and disinterestedly paid his wages for a
season, enabling the Frenchman to remain a professional cyclist."
Alasdair Fotheringham; Froome Goes on the Attack to Faze Rivals;
The Independent on Sunday (London, UK); Jul 12, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. -John Ruskin, author, art critic, and social reformer (8 Feb 1819-1900)


	*****February 10, 2016*****
vicissitude : a change or variation occurring in the course of something; 
I can see yet his patient, kindly face and that steady eye which no vicissitude of fortune could perturb.
John Buchan, Mr. Standfast, 1919

Rapier :   n. Quick and incisive. A sharp-pointed sword used for thrusting. "Rapier combat was not for the meek." "Rapier wit." 

Jocund : : marked by or suggestive of high spirits and lively mirthfulness; Clayton gave a jocund shout when he entered the room and saw the many friends who had come for his surprise 50th birthday celebration.
affectation : (noun) A show, pretense, or display.; pose, mannerism; Strickland would not go near them, not from any affectation of stoicism, for I found him seated on a three-legged stool when I went into the studio one day and he was alone, but because he did not like them. 

guy : noun: A man (in plural, persons of either sex).
verb tr.: To make fun of; ridicule.

noun: A rope to steady, guide, or secure something.
verb tr.: To steady, guide, or secure something with a rope.
; "There was much guying of America's Tea Party movement or teabaggers,
as some hilariously call themselves."
Veronica Lee; Bigots and the PC Brigade are Expertly Skewered;
The Independent (London, UK); May 27, 2015.

"Ropes guyed it down to the goalpost crossbars."
Ian McDonald; Kirinya; Gollancz; 1998.


See more usage examples of guy in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: He who would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. -Thomas Paine, philosopher and writer (9 Feb 1737-1809)


	*****February 11, 2016*****
fubsy : British Dialect. short and stout; 
Oppress not the cubs of the stranger, but hail them as Sister and Brother, / For though they are little and fubsy, it may be the Bear is their mother.
Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, 1894

Ghoulish :   adj. Suggesting the horror of death and decay; morbid or disgusting. "The ghoulish mask was a scary Halloween favorite." 

Gruntle : : to put in a good humor; The hour-long wait at the restaurant irked us, but once we were seated, we were soon gruntled by an amiable waiter.
curlicue : (noun) A fancy twist or curl, such as a flourish made with a pen.; squiggle; Her penmanship was beautiful, but with so many curlicues, it was hard to read. 

Victorian : adjective:
1. Prudish; outdated; exaggeratedly proper; hypocritical.
2. Relating to the period of the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901).
3. Relating to ornate architecture, furnishings, etc., characteristic of the period.
; "'We've been discussing how she's not allowed to be alone with a boy until
she's twenty-five;'
Evan smiled. 'How very Victorian of you.'"
Roni Loren; Forever Starts Tonight; InterMix Books; 2014.


See more usage examples of Victorian in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I see too plainly custom forms us all. Our thoughts, our morals, our most fixed belief, are consequences of our place of birth. -Aaron Hill, dramatist and writer (10 Feb 1685-1750)


	*****February 12, 2016*****
interstitial : pertaining to, situated in, or forming small or narrow spaces..; 
Philosophy should never have been purified. Rather than being seen as a problem, “dirty hands” should have been understood as the native condition of philosophic thought--present everywhere, often interstitial, essentially interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary in nature. Philosophy is a mangle. The philosopher’s hands were never clean and were never meant to be.
Robert Frodeman and Adam Briggle, "When Philosophy Lost Its Way," New York Times, January 11, 2016

Hyperbole; Hyperbolic :   n. Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally. "The company chairman may have been guilty of too much hyperbole during the shareholders meeting." 

Incumbent : 1 : the holder of an office or ecclesiastical benefice; The two-term incumbent has already raised almost a million dollars for the upcoming congressional race.
leeway : (noun) A margin of freedom or variation, as of activity, time, or expenditure; latitude.; margin, allowance, tolerance; Lisa's parents gave her a lot of leeway with her curfew, but they expected her to finish all her chores before she left the house. 

Gongorism : noun: An affected literary style marked by intricate language and elaborate figures of speech.
; "And the staggering Gongorisms! Shall the ship be called just 'ship'?
Perish the thought of such banality! Oh eyes, no eyes, but fountains
fraught with tears!"
Aldous Huxley; Beyond the Mexique Bay; Chatto & Windus; 1934.


See more usage examples of Gongorism in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I was sixteen years old when the first World War broke out, and I lived at
that time in Hungary. From reading the newspapers in Hungary, it would have
appeared that, whatever Austria and Germany did was right and whatever
England, France, Russia, or America did was wrong. A good case could be
made out for this general thesis, in almost every single instance. It would
have been difficult for me to prove, in any single instance, that the
newspapers were wrong, but somehow, it seemed to me unlikely that the two
nations located in the center of Europe should be invariably right, and
that all the other nations should be invariably wrong. History, I reasoned,
would hardly operate in such a peculiar fashion, and it didn't take long
until I began to hold views which were diametrically opposed to those held
by the majority of my schoolmates. ... Even in times of war, you can see
current events in their historical perspective, provided that your passion
for the truth prevails over your bias in favor of your own nation. -Leo
Szilard, physicist (11 Feb 1898-1964)


	*****February 13, 2016*****
calumniate : to make false and malicious statements about; slander; 
The "plaudits of the multitude" can not long be held by the poet, and are not worth holding. The multitude knows nothing of poetry and does not read it. The multitude will applaud you to-day, calumniate you to-morrow and thwack you athwart the mazzard the day after.
Ambrose Bierce, "Edwin Markham's Poems," The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce: Volume X, 1911

Peckish :   adj. Ill-tempered; irritable; Chiefly British feeling slightly hungry. "He felt rather peckish close to bedtime." 

Marmoreal : : of, relating to, or suggestive of marble or a marble statue especially in coldness or aloofness; "'Thank you for your submission,' the note begins with marmoreal courtesy. It ends with a wish for success in placing your manuscript with another house." — William Germano, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 20 Feb. 2011
cultivable : (adjective) Capable of being farmed productively.; arable, tillable; Though she had inherited a large farm, it was practically worthless because of the lack of cultivable land. 

Addisonian : adjective: Having clarity and elegance.
; "Murray Kempton enjoyed being in a group of reporters; he liked to try
out ideas for columns, dropping fully formed Addisonian sentences into
conversation to see which ones got a nod or a laugh. The winners turned
up in the next day's paper."
David Von Drehle; A Journalist's Singular Voice; The Washington Post;
May 6, 1997. 

Thought For The Day: I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to
do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to
me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent
and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae with the
express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of
caterpillars, or that a cat should play with mice. -Charles Darwin,
naturalist and author (12 Feb 1809-1882) 


	*****February 14, 2016*****
groggery : a slightly disreputable barroom; 
P. Dusenheimer, standing in the door of his uninviting groggery, when the trains stopped for water, never received from the traveling public any patronage except facetious remarks upon his personal appearance.
Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, The Gilded Age, 1873

Canard :   n. A false or unfounded rumor or story. "The tabloid included some of Hollywood's oldest canards." 

Tribulation : : distress or suffering resulting from oppression or persecution; also : a trying experience; "Now Lemsford's great care, anxiety, and endless source of tribulation was the preservation of his manuscripts." — Herman Melville, White Jacket; or, the World in a Man-of-War, 1850
sanies : (noun) A thin, fetid, greenish fluid consisting of serum and pus discharged from a wound, ulcer, or fistula.; pus, festering, ichor, purulence, suppuration; The doctor bandaged my hand and told me to call him if sanies began to ooze from the wound. 

Addisonian : adjective: Having clarity and elegance.
; "Murray Kempton enjoyed being in a group of reporters; he liked to try
out ideas for columns, dropping fully formed Addisonian sentences into
conversation to see which ones got a nod or a laugh. The winners turned
up in the next day's paper."
David Von Drehle; A Journalist's Singular Voice; The Washington Post;
May 6, 1997. 

Thought For The Day: I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to
do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to
me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent
and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae with the
express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of
caterpillars, or that a cat should play with mice. -Charles Darwin,
naturalist and author (12 Feb 1809-1882) 


	*****February 15, 2016*****
amative : disposed to love; amorous; 
Chocolate, it can be said, is not merely a candy, but a powerful love potion whose reputation for inspiring amative feelings is universally known.
Anahad O'Connor, Never Shower in a Thunderstorm, 2007

Peripatetic :   adj. Traveling from place to place, esp. working or based in various places for relatively short periods. "He maintained a peripatetic lifestyle." 

Canoodle : : to engage in amorous embracing, caressing, and kissing; Chaperones watched for couples attempting to sneak under the gymnasium's bleachers to canoodle.
coeval : (adjective) Originating or existing during the same period; lasting through the same era.; coetaneous, contemporaneous; The range was composed of grand, solid, abrupt masses of granite, which appeared as if they had been coeval with the beginning of the world. 

Addisonian : adjective: Having clarity and elegance.
; "Murray Kempton enjoyed being in a group of reporters; he liked to try
out ideas for columns, dropping fully formed Addisonian sentences into
conversation to see which ones got a nod or a laugh. The winners turned
up in the next day's paper."
David Von Drehle; A Journalist's Singular Voice; The Washington Post;
May 6, 1997. 

Thought For The Day: I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to
do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to
me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent
and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae with the
express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of
caterpillars, or that a cat should play with mice. -Charles Darwin,
naturalist and author (12 Feb 1809-1882) 


	*****February 16, 2016*****
encomium : a formal expression of high praise; eulogy: An encomium by the pr..; 
In a fond encomium to Krim...he reminds us what really made Krim’s work sing. It was that he was “furiously funny, which is no small matter, and no small reward.”
Dwight Garner, "A Slap Here, a Handshake There," New York Times, October 24, 2013

Mellifluous :   adj. Sweet or musical; pleasant to hear. "She had a mellifluous voice." 

Pulchritude : : physical comeliness; The snowboarder's talent won her many medals, and her pulchritude gained her much attention from sponsors looking for a spokeswoman.
hauteur : (noun) Haughtiness in bearing and attitude.; arrogance, haughtiness, highhandedness, lordliness; There was no trace of hauteur in her expression, and she seemed humbled and meek. 

megrim : noun:
1. (In plural, megrims) Low spirits.
2. Whim.
3. Migraine.
; "Those who listen to this stuff get the megrims, the fantods, and loose bowels."
Malcolm Berko; The Dow Jones at 23,000; Creators Syndicate (Los Angeles); Nov 11, 2015.

"The family began moving from city to city on the whims and megrims of
his father's employer."
Rohinton Mistry; Tales from Firozsha Baag; Penguin Books; 1987.


See more usage examples of megrim in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The question is not Can they reason?, nor Can they talk?, but Can they suffer?
-Jeremy Bentham, jurist and philosopher (15 Feb 1748-1832)


	*****February 17, 2016*****
castellated : having many castles; 
As we said, history, like the Rhine, passes through a castellated region, and like that of the river, this stratum begins and ends suddenly.
Samuel Lucas, Secularia; or, Surveys on the Mainstream of History, 1862

Penitent :   n. Feeling or showing sorrow and regret for having done wrong; repentant. "After the robbery, the thief was penitent and returned the property." 

Sub Rosa : : in confidence : secretly; "For 30 years he kept notes, almost sub rosa, finally publishing his work with his own funds just before his death." — Jeannette Ferrary, The New York Times Book Review, 31 May 1987
august : (adjective) Inspiring awe or admiration; majestic.; lordly, grand; He was of august lineage, and was widely admired for his family connections. 

posthumous : adjective:
Happening after someone's death, but relating to something done earlier.
For example, a book published after the death of the author, a child born
after the death of the father, an award given after the death of a person.
; "President Aquino has authorized the posthumous conferment of Medal of
Valor to two SAF commandos who died during the Mamasapano mission."
Pres. Aquino to Confer Posthumously Medal of Valor; Asia News Monitor
(Bangkok, Thailand); Jan 26, 2016.


See more usage examples of posthumous in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the
systematic organization of hatreds. -Henry Adams, historian and teacher (16
Feb 1838-1918)


	*****February 18, 2016*****
celerity : swiftness; speed; 
It was the swift celerity of his death, / Which I did think with slower foot came on, / That brain'd my purpose. But, peace be with him!
William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, 1623

Boorish :   adj. Resembling or characteristic of a boor; rude and clumsy in behavior. "His boorish behavior was unacceptable to the directors." 

Nimrod : 1 : hunter; "The hunting season is now in full blast. Several nimrods, both veteran and amateur, are shouldering the gun and marching to the woods and marshes." — Gary Pullano, The Holland (Michigan) Sentinel, 13 Dec. 2015
putsch : (noun) A sudden attempt by a group to overthrow a government.; coup, coup d'etat, takeover; The people had been expecting a putsch for years, but they were surprised to wake up one morning and find themselves the subjects of a new government. 

lutestring : noun: A glossy silk fabric.
; "Her modish Pomona green lutestring gown, which she'd thought so becoming
earlier, now seemed a less than ideal choice."
Heather Cullman; A Perfect Scoundrel; Signet; 2000.


See more usage examples of lutestring in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: A man is known by the company he keeps. A company is known by the men it
keeps. -Thomas J. Watson, businessman (17 Feb 1874-1956)


	*****February 19, 2016*****
autodidact : a person who has learned a subject without the benefit of a tea..; 
You could have presented yourself as being self-taught, the product of your own worthy efforts, there's nothing to be ashamed of, society in the past took pride in its autodidacts…
José Saramago, translated by Giovanni Pontiero, The History of the Siege of Lisbon, 1996

Epicene :   adj. Having characteristics of both sexes or no characteristics of either sex; of indeterminate sex. "Clothing fashions are becoming increasingly epicene." 

Deasil : : clockwise; The worshippers dance around the fire deasil, or sunwise.
aide-memoire : (noun) A memorandum setting forth the major points of a proposed discussion or agreement, used especially in diplomatic communications.; position paper; After the conference, they wrote an aide-memoire and sent copies of it to everyone in the department who had been unable to attend the meeting. 

messuage : noun: A residential building with outbuildings and the attached land.
; "Can you tell me where I can find a messuage by the name of Neolithic Villa?"
JRL Anderson; Redundancy Pay; Littlehampton Book Services; 1976.


See more usage examples of messuage in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: What a strange machine man is! You fill him with bread, wine, fish, and
radishes, and out comes sighs, laughter, and dreams. -Nikos Kazantzakis,
poet and novelist (18 Feb 1883-1957)


	*****February 20, 2016*****
cosmology : the branch of philosophy dealing with the origin and general str..; 
In these works, [H.G. Wells] explored the implications of recent discoveries about evolution and cosmology in thrilling yarns which tapped into deep sources of anxiety and wonder in the collective unconscious.
David Lodge, "Introduction," Kipps by H.G. Wells, 2005

Untenable :   adj. Not able to be maintained or defended against attack or objection. "She was in an untenable situation that was difficult to get out of." 

Astrolabe : : a compact instrument used to observe and calculate the position of celestial bodies before the invention of the sextant; "His astrolabe of silver was the gift of the Emperor of Germany…." — Sir Walter Scott, Quentin Durward, 1823
scrooge : (noun) A mean-spirited miserly person.; niggard, skinflint, churl; The old scrooge was married to his money, and spending a penny was, to him, as traumatic as divorce. 

frontispiece : noun:
1. An illustration facing or preceding the title page of a book.
2. A facade, especially an ornamental facade, of a building.
3. An ornamental pediment over a door or window.
; "I still have the physical copy, its frontispiece decorated with
characters from the stories."
Francine Prose & Ayana Mathis; Bookends; The New York Times Book Review;
Oct 26, 2014.

"An ornate frontispiece above the front door, shutters, and flower boxes
add charm to the white painted brick facade."
Lauren Beale; Eva Gabor's Onetime Estate in Holmby Hills is for Sale;
Los Angeles Times; Oct 22, 2015.


See more usage examples of frontispiece in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: There's nothing that makes you so aware of the improvisation of human
existence as a song unfinished. Or an old address book. -Carson McCullers,
writer (19 Feb 1917-1967)


	*****February 21, 2016*****
abstemious : sparing or moderate in eating and drinking; temperate in diet; 
Mr. Hall was no bon vivant: he was naturally an abstemious man, indifferent to luxury; but Boultby and Helstone both liked good cookery…
Charlotte Brontë, Shirley, 1849

Machinate :   v. Engage in plots and intrigues; scheming. "To machinate the overthrow of the government." 

Weird : 1 : of, relating to, or caused by witchcraft or the supernatural : magical; "Again was I suddenly recalled to my immediate surroundings by a repetition of the weird moan from the depths of the cave." — Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Princess of Mars, 1917
glockenspiel : (noun) A percussion instrument with a series of metal bars tuned to the chromatic scale and played with two light hammers.; orchestral bells; She was always capricious in her tastes, but even her close friends were surprised when she dismissed her piano teacher and took up the glockenspiel. 

frontispiece : noun:
1. An illustration facing or preceding the title page of a book.
2. A facade, especially an ornamental facade, of a building.
3. An ornamental pediment over a door or window.
; "I still have the physical copy, its frontispiece decorated with
characters from the stories."
Francine Prose & Ayana Mathis; Bookends; The New York Times Book Review;
Oct 26, 2014.

"An ornate frontispiece above the front door, shutters, and flower boxes
add charm to the white painted brick facade."
Lauren Beale; Eva Gabor's Onetime Estate in Holmby Hills is for Sale;
Los Angeles Times; Oct 22, 2015.


See more usage examples of frontispiece in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: There's nothing that makes you so aware of the improvisation of human
existence as a song unfinished. Or an old address book. -Carson McCullers,
writer (19 Feb 1917-1967)


	*****February 22, 2016*****
passel : a group or lot of indeterminate number: a passel of dignitaries; 
If you had a passel of kids, then you'd always have a troop to boss when you felt like bossing. It would occupy your brain and you wouldn't get gloomy as often.
Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove, 1985

Conflate :   v. Combine two or more texts, ideas, etc. into one. "Their ideas were conflated in ways that were not helpful." 

Vignette : 1 : a running ornament or design (as of vine leaves, tendrils, and grapes) put on or just before a title page or at the beginning or end of a chapter; The film is a series of vignettes about people and their dogs.
excursionist : (noun) A tourist who is visiting sights of interest.; rubberneck, sightseer, tripper; The city's economy depends on tourism, and an influx of enthusiastic excursionists is always welcome. 

frontispiece : noun:
1. An illustration facing or preceding the title page of a book.
2. A facade, especially an ornamental facade, of a building.
3. An ornamental pediment over a door or window.
; "I still have the physical copy, its frontispiece decorated with
characters from the stories."
Francine Prose & Ayana Mathis; Bookends; The New York Times Book Review;
Oct 26, 2014.

"An ornate frontispiece above the front door, shutters, and flower boxes
add charm to the white painted brick facade."
Lauren Beale; Eva Gabor's Onetime Estate in Holmby Hills is for Sale;
Los Angeles Times; Oct 22, 2015.


See more usage examples of frontispiece in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: There's nothing that makes you so aware of the improvisation of human
existence as a song unfinished. Or an old address book. -Carson McCullers,
writer (19 Feb 1917-1967)


	*****February 23, 2016*****
apatetic : Zoology. assuming colors and forms that effect deceptive camoufla..; 
In the following scheme Protective and Aggressive Resemblances are grouped with Mimicry under the first head of Apatetic Colours, because an animal is thus made to resemble some other species or some other object.
Edward Bagnall Poulton, The Colours of Animals: Their Meaning and Use Especially Considered in the Case of Insects, 1890

Luddite :   n. A person opposed to increased industrialization or new technology, and is often someone who is incompetent when using new technology. "He was a luddite that preferred his typewriter over a computer." 

Bumptious : : presumptuously, obtusely, and often noisily self-assertive : obtrusive; The talk show often features interesting guests, but the bumptious host's tendency to turn the interview back to himself can get annoying.
preachment : (noun) A tiresome or unwelcome moral lecture or discourse; tedious sermonizing.; homily; Don't torment me with your preachments now, unless you want to kill me outright. 

piacular : adjective: Making or requiring atonement.
; "The piacular sacrifice took place several days later."
Colleen McCullough; Fortune's Favourites; William Morrow; 1993. 

Thought For The Day: The closing years of life are like the end of a masquerade party, when the
masks are dropped. -Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher (22 Feb 1788-1860)


	*****February 24, 2016*****
parapraxis : Psychology. a slip of the tongue or pen, forgetfulness, misplac..; 
Slips of the tongue are rare with me. When I make them I can be sure I’m under strain. So I was horrified when I was describing to Denoon my odyssey through Old Naledi and heard myself say that when I saw the shebeen I decided to give the guys at it a wide breast. …But it was a proof of gentility that he overlooked my first parapraxis in his presence…
Norman Rush, Mating, 1991

Misogynous; Misogyny; Misogynistic :   adj. Of or characterized by a hatred of women. "Police believe it was a misogynous assault." 

Hale : : free from defect, disease, or infirmity : sound; also : retaining exceptional health and vigor; "He was a rich and powerful noble, then in his sixty-second year, but hale and sturdy, a great horseman and hunter and a pious man." — Edith Wharton, "Kerfol," 1916
smattering : (noun) A small, scattered amount or number.; handful; Her skin had a healthy glow, and her nose was dotted with a smattering of freckles. 

demotic : adjective: Relating to common people; popular.
noun: Modern Greek.
;  "I've often found myself wondering what Christopher Hitchens would say about
this or that event in the news. What I wouldn't give to read him on ... the
darkly demotic presidential campaign of Donald Trump."
Damon Linker; Pleasures of Dispute; The New York Times; Jan 8, 2016.


See more usage examples of demotic in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Leaving home in a sense involves a kind of second birth in which we give
birth to ourselves. -Robert Neelly Bellah, sociologist and author (23 Feb
1927-2013)


	*****February 25, 2016*****
supercilious : haughtily disdainful or contemptuous, as a person or a facial..; 
In the shadow under the green visor of the cap Ignatius J. Reilly's supercilious blue and yellow eyes looked down upon the other people waiting under the clock at the D. H. Holmes department store, studying the crowd of people for signs of bad taste in dress.
John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces, 1980

Glower :   v. Have an angry or sullen look on one's face; scowl. "The librarian glowered at her for talking too loud." 

Zwieback : : a usually sweetened bread enriched with eggs that is baked and then sliced and toasted until dry and crisp; The crust of the pie is made of crumbled zwieback.
ingrate : (noun) A person who shows no gratitude.; thankless wretch, ungrateful person; This bird was a godsend to us, and I should be an ingrate if I forgot to make honorable mention of him in these pages. 

parsimony : noun: Excessive frugality; stinginess.
; "In what is by now a grand American tradition, Thoreau justified his own
parsimony by impugning the needy. 'Often the poor man is not so cold and
hungry as he is dirty and ragged and gross. It is partly his taste, and
not merely his misfortune. If you give him money, he will perhaps buy
more rags with it.'"
Kathryn Schulz; Pond Scum; The New Yorker; Oct 19, 2015.


See more usage examples of parsimony in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Come, live in my heart and pay no rent. -Samuel Lover, songwriter,
composer, novelist, and artist (24 Feb 1797-1868)


	*****February 26, 2016*****
sylvan : of, relating to, or inhabiting the woods; 
The scene thrills one like military music!…wide grass-carpeted avenues that branched hither and thither in every direction and wandered to seemingly interminable distances, walled all the way on either side with compact ranks of leafy trees whose branches met above and formed arches as faultless and as symmetrical as ever were carved in stone; and here and there were glimpses of sylvan lakes with miniature ships glassed in their surfaces.
Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad; or, The New Pilgrim's Progress, 1869

Coltish :   adj. Energetic but awkward in one's movements or behavior. Playful, not trained or disciplined. "Coltish horseplay to celebrate their graduation." 

Quantal : 1 : of, relating to, or having only two experimental alternatives (such as dead or alive, all or none); "Many bioassays are based on quantal responses: Challenge assays record whether the subjects are dead or alive (or moribund or not moribund) at the end of the assay; seed-germination assays record whether seeds germinate by the end of the assay." — Ann Yellowlees et al., BioScience, June 2013
demigod : (noun) A person with great powers and abilities.; superman, Ubermensch; The saints and demigods whom history worships we are constrained to accept with a grain of allowance. 

gaucherie : noun: A lack of tact or grace; also an instance of this.
; "Also typical of modern Americans is Trump's bad taste. ... He puts
his own individual stamp on gaucherie."
PJ O'Rourke; Garish Tastes, Awful Hair; The Daily Beast (New York);
Jun 16, 2015.


See more usage examples of gaucherie in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: In the cellars of the night, when the mind starts moving around old trunks
of bad times, the pain of this and the shame of that, the memory of a small
boldness is a hand to hold. -John Leonard, critic (25 Feb 1939-2008)


	*****February 27, 2016*****
internecine : mutually destructive; 
Scientists such as Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, and Edward Teller claimed that only by uniting in a world government the peoples could avoid internecine nuclear wars…
Furio Cerutti, Global Challenges for Leviathan, 2007

Apocryphal :   adj. Of doubtful authenticity, although widely circulated as being true. "Apocryphal stories dating from Hollywood's golden age." 

Keelhaul : 1 : to haul under the keel of a ship as punishment or torture; Several key employees were keelhauled for an error that cost the company millions of dollars.
bluejacket : (noun) An enlisted person in the US or British Navy.; sailor; The big steam pinnace went off to her ship to bring over a few bluejackets to furl my sails for me. 

valence : noun:
1. The combining capacity of an atom or a group of atoms to form molecules.
2. The capacity of someone or something to affect another.
; "Bernie Sanders sought common ground by adding new valences to one or
two of his standard arguments."
Margaret Talbot; The Populist Prophet; The New Yorker; Oct 12, 2015.


See more usage examples of valence in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved -- loved
for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves. -Victor Hugo,
novelist and dramatist (26 Feb 1802-1885)


	*****February 28, 2016*****
natter : to talk incessantly; chatter; 
…scholars nattered away at one another on such matters as the propriety of starting a vocal trill from the upper note, and a critics' convocation nattered back.
Alan Rich, "The Desiccation of 'Poppea'," New York, June 15, 1981

Circumspect :   adj Wary and unwilling to take risks. "His circumspect approach to investing." 

Oaf : 1 : a stupid person ; In high school Bryan was a big oaf, so we were surprised not only by his refined mien but by his position as CEO of a high-tech company.
immiscible : (adjective) That cannot undergo mixing or blending.; unmixable; When two immiscible liquids, such as oil and water, are shaken together, an emulsion is produced. 

valence : noun:
1. The combining capacity of an atom or a group of atoms to form molecules.
2. The capacity of someone or something to affect another.
; "Bernie Sanders sought common ground by adding new valences to one or
two of his standard arguments."
Margaret Talbot; The Populist Prophet; The New Yorker; Oct 12, 2015.


See more usage examples of valence in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved -- loved
for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves. -Victor Hugo,
novelist and dramatist (26 Feb 1802-1885)


	*****February 29, 2016*****
premiate : to grant a prize or an award to; 
I assumed then that they mayor might want suggestions about who should be on the commission to "premiate" the buildings....[The commission] produced a list of thirty-nine buildings to be designated landmarks.
Leon M. Despres with Kenan Heise, Challenging the Daley Machine: A Chicago Alderman's Memoir, 2005

Sartorial :   adj. Of or relating to tailoring, clothes, or style of dress. "Sartorial taste; "Sartorial elegance." 

Lexical : 1 : of or relating to words or the vocabulary of a language as distinguished from its grammar and construction; For her paper on youth slang, Elyse studied the lexical habits of her generation versus those of her parents and grandparents.
cerumen : (noun) A soft yellow wax secreted by glands in the ear canal.; earwax; A buildup of cerumen was irritating Billy's ear, so his mother gently cleaned the area with a cotton swab. 

valence : noun:
1. The combining capacity of an atom or a group of atoms to form molecules.
2. The capacity of someone or something to affect another.
; "Bernie Sanders sought common ground by adding new valences to one or
two of his standard arguments."
Margaret Talbot; The Populist Prophet; The New Yorker; Oct 12, 2015.


See more usage examples of valence in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved -- loved
for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves. -Victor Hugo,
novelist and dramatist (26 Feb 1802-1885)


	*****March 01, 2016*****
bissextus : February 29th: the extra day added to the Julian calendar every ..; 
This odd day was inserted after the sixth day before the kalends of March, i.e., after the 24th of February, and was not counted as an addition to the year, but as a sort of appendix. Hence the sixth of the kalends of March was called bissextus, or double sixth, which root is still retained in our word bissextile, though the day is now added at the end of February.
E. S. Burns, "History of Chronology," The Popular Science Monthly, April, 1881

Truculent :   adj. Eager or quick to argue or fight; aggressively defiant. "Truculent children." 

Glean : 1 : to gather grain or other produce left by reapers; Investigators have been able to glean some useful information from the seized documents.
peignoir : (noun) A woman's loose-fitting dressing gown.; neglige, wrapper, housecoat; The tears came so fast to Mrs. Pontellier's eyes that the damp sleeve of her peignoir no longer served to dry them. 

personalty : noun: Personal property: movable property, as contrasted with real estate.
; "If the trustee had done his duty there would have been no land,
there would have been a fund of personalty."
F.W. Maitland; Equity; Cambridge University Press; 2011.


See more usage examples of personalty in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Animals cannot speak, but can you and I not speak for them and represent
them? Let us all feel their silent cry of agony and let us all help that
cry to be heard in the world. -Rukmini Devi Arundale, dancer and
choreographer (29 Feb 1904-1986)


	*****March 02, 2016*****
rabble-rouser : a person who stirs up the passions or prejudices of the publ..; 
She used every emotional trick of the rabble-rouser to whip them up into frenzies, made them drunk on emotion, created a scene of back-pounding, shouting, jittering maniacs.
Mark Clifton, "What Now, Little Man?" The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1959

Maniacal :   adj.  Characterized by excessive enthusiasm or excitement. "A maniacal grin on his face." 

A Cappella : : without instrumental accompaniment; The audience quieted when the singer walked out and began singing a cappella.
prohibitionist : (noun) A reformer who opposes the use of intoxicating beverages.; dry; She was a tireless prohibitionist who raided saloons and destroyed bottles of liquor with a hatchet. 

truchman : noun: An interpreter.
; "From there Gaveston appears to the audience as a kind of presenter
of a comedy, like Hieronimo, a truchman to this political masque."
Michael Hattaway; Elizabethan Popular Theatre; Routledge; 1982. 

Thought For The Day: We should not be simply fighting evil in the name of good, but struggling
against the certainties of people who claim always to know where good and
evil are to be found. -Tzvetan Todorov, philosopher (b. 1 Mar 1939)


	*****March 03, 2016*****
rodomontade : vainglorious boasting or bragging; pretentious, blustering tal..; 
"The sloop I have the honour to command is always ready to put to sea," said Clonfert. That was mere rodomontade: no ship was always ready to put to sea unless she never used up any water, stores, powder or shot …
Patrick O'Brian, The Mauritius Command, 1977

Amorous :   adj. Showing, feeling, or relating to sexual desire. "She did not appreciate his amorous advances." 

Somnolent : 1 : of a kind likely to induce sleep; "George, a somnolent ginger [cat] curled in an orange felt bed, was sleeping through the overtures of Molly Flanagan…." — Penelope Green, The New York Times, 6 Nov. 2015
apologue : (noun) A moral fable, especially one having animals or inanimate objects as characters.; allegory, parable, fable; The minister liked to incorporate apologues into his sermons, thinking the moral tales about sly foxes and witty rabbits would appeal to the children in the congregation. 

popinjay : noun: Someone who indulges in vain and empty chatter.
; "If the polls are to be believed, an intellectually unserious popinjay born
on third base tops the field of candidates for the Republican nomination
for president."
Tony Norman; Trump's Delusions Will Catch up to Him; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
(Pennsylvania); Jul 21, 2015.


See more usage examples of popinjay in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: One does not advance the swimming abilities of ducks by throwing the eggs
in the water. -Multatuli (pen name of Eduard Douwes Dekker), novelist (2
Mar 1820-1887)


	*****March 04, 2016*****
florilegium : a collection of literary pieces; anthology; 
… Brichot who was not merely kind to Morel, but would cull from the Greek philosophers, the Latin poets, the oriental storytellers, appropriate texts which decorated the Baron's propensity with a strange and charming florilegium.
Marcel Proust, translated by C. K. Scott Moncrieff & Terence Kilmartin, The Captive, 1992

Protagonist :   n. The main figure or one of the most prominent figures in a real situation. The leading character or a major character in a drama, movie, novel, or other fictional text. "The unnamed protagonist was the hit of the film." 

Camaraderie : : a spirit of friendly good-fellowship; The sense of camaraderie among colleagues in the sales department is the main reason Julie enjoys coming to work each day.
calamari : (noun) Squid prepared as food.; squid; Lisa ordered calamari at the Italian restaurant. 

arsenious : adjective: Relating to or containing arsenic (especially when trivalent).
; "The next time you're having a bad day, pause for a moment to be grateful:
that you weren't born in the Victorian age and consequently are not likely
to be in danger of being poisoned by arsenic. Come, come, you might be
thinking. This is a slender reason to be cheerful -- who's to say that
anyone would wish to slip a splash of arsenious acid into my cup of tea?"
Rebecca Armstrong; Victorian Lives of Poison, Passion, and Peril;
The Independent (London, UK); Mar 19, 2010.

"The institute detected an arsenious substance in some of the samples
that was later found to be white arsenic."
Arsenic at Hayashi House 'Highly toxic'; The Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo, Japan); Oct 20, 1998.


See more usage examples of arsenious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: If there be such a thing as truth, it must infallibly be struck out by the
collision of mind with mind. -William Godwin, philosopher and novelist (3
Mar 1756-1836)


	*****March 05, 2016*****
factotum : any employee or official having many different responsibilities; 
Mickey was a qualified solicitor who no longer practised the law but instead worked full-time as a factotum, fixer and odd-job man for a Premiership football club.
John Lanchester, Capital, 2012

Tumult :   n. Confusion or disorder. A loud, confused noise, esp. one caused by a large mass of people. "He quickly became aware of the violent tumult behind the trees." 

Zaftig : : having a full rounded figure : pleasingly plump; "… Marilyn is lucky that … the Hollywood powers at least had the smarts not to put her on a diet. She looked plenty good zaftig." — Bookwormroom.com, 31 May 2012
battlement : (noun) A notched parapet built on top of a wall, with alternating merlons and crenels for decoration or defense.; crenelation, crenellation; I came upon it by a winding ledge of road, which clung to the bare side of the hill like the battlements of some huge castle. 

brio : noun: Vigor or vivacity.
; "Ms. Woodward ... was all sparkling energy and springing brio, with
wonderfully pliant, strong feet."
Alastair Macaulay; New York City Ballet Introduces Its Future with
a Flurry of Nutcracker Debuts; The New York Times; Dec 28, 2015.


See more usage examples of brio in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: It took less than an hour to make the atoms, a few hundred million years to
make the stars and planets, but five billion years to make man! -George
Gamow, physicist and cosmologist (4 Mar 1904-1968)


	*****March 06, 2016*****
rupestrine : Biology. living or growing on or among rocks. Also, rupicolous...; 
Later I saw two of the wrens hunting insects in Bebbia bushes, showing that it is not rock crevices alone that get attention from these rupestrine birds when hungry.
Edmund Carroll Jaeger, Our Desert Neighbors, 1950

Verbose :  (ver·bose) adj.  Using or containing a great and usually an excessive number of words; wordy. "She was too verbose in her narrative." 

Jettison : 1 : to throw (goods) overboard to lighten a ship or aircraft in distress; As the boat began to take on water, the pirates argued over whether they should jettison some of the heavy, stolen loot.
jongleur : (noun) A wandering minstrel, poet, or entertainer in medieval England and France.; folk singer, minstrel, poet-singer, troubadour; The group of jongleurs was so popular that King Edward requested a private performance. 

brio : noun: Vigor or vivacity.
; "Ms. Woodward ... was all sparkling energy and springing brio, with
wonderfully pliant, strong feet."
Alastair Macaulay; New York City Ballet Introduces Its Future with
a Flurry of Nutcracker Debuts; The New York Times; Dec 28, 2015.


See more usage examples of brio in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: It took less than an hour to make the atoms, a few hundred million years to
make the stars and planets, but five billion years to make man! -George
Gamow, physicist and cosmologist (4 Mar 1904-1968)


	*****March 07, 2016*****
commodious : spacious and convenient; roomy: a commodious apartment; 
Sometimes on the journey, trapped in the ship's stink and heave, they had talked about the premises they would have at journey's end. They should be commodious, Vance said, and in a fashionable neighbourhood …
Hilary Mantel, The Giant, O'Brien, 1998

Contemporaneous :  (con·tem·po·ra·ne·ous) adj.  Originating, existing, or happening during the same period of time: "The contemporaneous court cases for the two defendants." 

Restaurateur : : the operator or proprietor of a restaurant; Fred began his career in the food-service industry as a humble busboy, but today he is a successful restaurateur who recently opened his third eating establishment.
palpitation : (noun) A trembling or shaking.; shakiness, trembling, quiver, vibration; Cornelius put his hand on his heart, to repress as it were its violent palpitation. 

brio : noun: Vigor or vivacity.
; "Ms. Woodward ... was all sparkling energy and springing brio, with
wonderfully pliant, strong feet."
Alastair Macaulay; New York City Ballet Introduces Its Future with
a Flurry of Nutcracker Debuts; The New York Times; Dec 28, 2015.


See more usage examples of brio in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: It took less than an hour to make the atoms, a few hundred million years to
make the stars and planets, but five billion years to make man! -George
Gamow, physicist and cosmologist (4 Mar 1904-1968)


	*****March 08, 2016*****
autoschediasm : something that is improvised or extemporized; 
It is of course possible that Eur. indulges in autoschediasm … and freely invents the monument, but more likely he conveys a contemporary tradition which, for whatever reason, Aristodemus could not verify in his day …
Donald J. Mastronarde, "Commentary" in Phoenissae by Euripides, 1994

Enigmatic :  (en·ig·mat·ic) adj.  Of or resembling an enigma; puzzling: "An enigmatic tax form." 

Babel : 1 : (sometimes capitalized Babel) a confusion of sounds or voices; Amidst the babel in the auditorium, Kathy thought she could hear someone calling her name.
vallecula : (noun) Any furrow or channel on a bodily structure or part.; groove; The medical students studied the diagram depicting the vallecula between the hemispheres of the brain. 

chicane : verb tr.: To trick or deceive.
noun: 1. Deception.
2. An artificial narrowing or a turn added to a road to slow traffic down.
; "I was totally bamboozled; I was chicaned."
David James Duncan; The River Why; Sierra Club Books; 1983.

"He rounded the chicane to see another car slowing down."
Anthony Hulse; The Club; Lulu; 2014.


See more usage examples of chicane in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: If we had paid no more attention to our plants than we have to our
children, we would now be living in a jungle of weed. -Luther Burbank,
horticulturist (7 Mar 1849-1926)


	*****March 09, 2016*****
Perpetuity :  (per·pe·tu·i·ty) n.pl.  1. Time without end; eternity.  2. The quality or condition of being perpetual: "The terms of the agreement remain in effect in perpetuity." 

Inflammable : 1 :  capable of being easily ignited and of burning : flammable; After the baserunner was called out on a close play, the crowd watched as the inflammable manager tore out of the dugout to argue with the umpire.
deprecate : (verb) To belittle.; depreciate; The teacher should not deprecate his student's efforts. 

derogate : verb tr.: To disparage or belittle.
verb intr.: 1. To detract from (authority, value, etc.).
2. To deviate from (a standard, for example).
; "We could all, in perfect simplicity, derogate the government, loathe the
police, and get wasted with impunity."
Lynn Crosbie; Disappointed in the Man I Once Revered; The Globe and Mail
(Canada); Feb 26, 2005.

"Joe Perici Calascione insisted that Malta can derogate from the EU's
trapping ban."
Tim Diacono; Hunters' Boss Claims Malta Can Win EU Court Battle for
Bird Trapping; Malta Today (San Gwann, Malta); Sep 23, 2015.


See more usage examples of derogate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Men are not against you; they are merely for themselves. -Gene Fowler,
journalist and author (8 Mar 1890-1960)


	*****March 10, 2016*****
Ravenous :  (rav·en·ous) adj.  1. Extremely hungry; voracious.  2. Rapacious; predatory.  3. Greedy for gratification: "Ravenous for power." 

Rankle : 1 : to cause anger, irritation, or deep bitterness in; The ongoing roadwork has begun to rankle local owners who worry that the closed-off streets are hurting their businesses.
chloasma : (noun) A patchy brown or dark brown skin discoloration that usually occurs on a woman's face and may result from hormonal changes, as in pregnancy.; mask of pregnancy, melasma; She developed chloasma on her face during her pregnancy, but it disappeared when her baby was a few months old. 

ludic : adjective: Relating to play; playful.
; "A couple of comments bore particular appeal, to my academic as well as
ludic sense."
Alfred A. Yuson; Double Whammy; The Philippine Star (Manila); Apr 18, 2011.


See more usage examples of ludic in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: What I want to happen to religion in the future is this: I want it to be
like bowling. It's a hobby, something some people will enjoy, that has some
virtues to it, that will have its own institutions and its traditions and
its own television programming, and that families will enjoy together. It's
not something I want to ban or that should affect hiring and firing
decisions, or that interferes with public policy. It will be perfectly
harmless as long as we don't elect our politicians on the basis of their
bowling score, or go to war with people who play nine-pin instead of
ten-pin, or use folklore about backspin to make decrees about how biology
works. -PZ Myers, biology professor (b. 9 Mar 1957)


	*****March 11, 2016*****
Plagiarize :  (pla·gia·rize) v.  1. To use and pass off (the ideas or writings of another) as one's own.  2.To appropriate for use as one's own passages or ideas from another. 

Palatable : 1 : agreeable to the palate or taste; Derrick is afraid of flying so traveling by train is the best and most palatable alternative.
abidance : (noun) Adherence.; compliance, conformity; In my parents' household, strict abidance by the rules was required, so naturally I rebelled. 

altercate : verb intr.: To argue or dispute heatedly.
; "Been altercating forever. What I got to do is make sure neither of them wins."
Mike Ashley; The Mammoth Book of Sorceror's Tales; Constable & Robinson; 2004.


See more usage examples of altercate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: No poet has ever let go of his homeland. -Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff,
poet, novelist, and playwright (10 Mar 1788-1857)


	*****March 12, 2016*****
Demonstrable :  (de·mon·stra·ble) adj.  1. Capable of being demonstrated or proved: "demonstrable truths."  2. Obvious or apparent: "demonstrable lies." 

Levigate : 1 : polish, smooth; The apothecary levigated zinc oxide and calcium carbonate with linseed oil.
philippic : (noun) A verbal denunciation characterized by harsh, often insulting language; a tirade.; tirade, broadside; Ferrars looked exceedingly angry, and drawing herself up more stiffly than ever, pronounced in retort a bitter philippic. 

complot : noun: A plot or conspiracy.
verb tr., intr.: To plot or conspire.
; "The complot is obvious. It's only a matter of smelling out details."
Lee Williams; Author of Destiny; Livingston Press; 2002.


See more usage examples of complot in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don't know the
answer. -Douglas Adams, author (11 Mar 1952-2001)


	*****March 13, 2016*****
Lucid :  (lu·cid) adj.  1. Easily understood; intelligible. 2. Mentally sound; sane or rational. "A lucid conversation." 3. Translucent or transparent. 

Theriac : 1 : a mixture of many drugs and honey formerly held to be an antidote to poison; "Town authorities tried to monitor the manufacture and supply of theriac to ensure that the citizens were not hoodwinked...." — Philip Ball, The Devil's Doctor, 2006
helicon : (noun) A tuba that coils over the shoulder of the musician.; bombardon; As the marching band strolled by, Karen could see that the small boy carrying the giant helicon was sweating profusely. 

complot : noun: A plot or conspiracy.
verb tr., intr.: To plot or conspire.
; "The complot is obvious. It's only a matter of smelling out details."
Lee Williams; Author of Destiny; Livingston Press; 2002.


See more usage examples of complot in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don't know the
answer. -Douglas Adams, author (11 Mar 1952-2001)


	*****March 14, 2016*****
Placid :  (plac·id) adj.  1. Satisfied; complacent.  2. Undisturbed by tumult or disorder; calm or quiet. 

Deter : 1 : to turn aside, discourage, or prevent from acting; The heavy fines are meant to deter people from illegally dumping old computers and electronic devices.
scapegrace : (noun) A scoundrel.; rascal; Both Kuragin and Dolokhov were at that time notorious among the rakes and scapegraces of Petersburg. 

complot : noun: A plot or conspiracy.
verb tr., intr.: To plot or conspire.
; "The complot is obvious. It's only a matter of smelling out details."
Lee Williams; Author of Destiny; Livingston Press; 2002.


See more usage examples of complot in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don't know the
answer. -Douglas Adams, author (11 Mar 1952-2001)


	*****March 15, 2016*****
Nexus :  (nex·us) n.  A means of connection; a link or tie: "The nexus between the mob and gambling."  2. A connected series or group.  3. The core or center. 

Verbatim : : in the exact words : word for word; The coach was quoted verbatim in the article announcing that she would retire at the end of the season.
varsity : (noun) The principal team representing a university, college, or school in sports, games, or other competitions.; first team; She was determined to make the varsity basketball team and practiced her game all summer. 

rebus : noun: A representation of a word or phrase using pictures, symbols, letters, etc.
; "Daniel Clowes's narratives are full of anagrams and rebuses, clues (a wand,
an eye, a movie camera) to an underlying mystery that is never solved."
Tad Friend; Comics from Underground; The New Yorker; Jul 30, 2001.


See more usage examples of rebus in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new
courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth.
-Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (14 Mar 1879-1955)


	*****March 16, 2016*****
Expeditious :  (ex·pe·di·tious) adj.  Acting or done with speed and efficiency. 

Golem : 1 : an artificial being in Hebrew folklore endowed with life; "Honestly I don't remember all that much about how the golem looked; it had big feet, each with five clay toes…." — Michael Chabon, Maps and Legends, 2008
clotheshorse : (noun) A person excessively concerned with dress.; dandy, dude, fashion plate, fop, gallant, sheik, beau, swell; The clotheshorse could be found at the boutique once a week, poring over a variety of suits, sweaters, and ties, and inevitably buying at least three of each. 

calligram : noun: A word, phrase, or piece of text arranged to form a picture of the subject described.
; "In his calligram, not only does [Joseph Cornell] mention the names of
artists, poets, and musicians alongside the names of scientists and their
inventions, he also transforms the building of the laboratory/observatory
itself into a sort of puzzle of words."
Analisa Pauline Leppanen-Guerra; Children's Stories and "Child-Time" in
the Works of Joseph Cornell and the Transatlantic Avant-Garde; Ashgate
Publishing; 2011. 

Thought For The Day: Beware of the stories you read or tell; subtly, at night, beneath the
waters of consciousness, they are altering your world. -Ben Okri, poet and
novelist (b. 15 Mar 1959)


	*****March 17, 2016*****
Ostentatious :  (os·ten·ta·tious) adj.  Characterized by or given to pretentiousness. "The chandelier was the most ostentatious I have ever seen." 

Obnubilate : : becloud, obscure; The writer's essay includes some valid points, but they are obnubilated by his convoluted prose style.
schoolman : (noun) A scholar who is skilled in academic disputation.; academician; The symposium was scheduled to end at seven, but the schoolman continued to lecture the group for an additional hour. 

ambigram : noun:
A word or phrase written in a manner that it reads the same (sometimes,
a different word or phrase) when oriented in a different way, for example,
when reflected or rotated.
; "Come In & Go Away Doormat. This fun and clever graphic uses an ambigram
to greet and dismiss your visiting guests: 'come in' on arrival 'go away'
when leaving."
Wipe Your Feet in Style This Winter; The Kent and Sussex Courier
(Tunbridge Wells, UK); Oct 4, 2013.

"Toryn Green already had his first Fuel album commemorated with an ambigram
tattoo -- in one direction it reads 'angel' and in the other direction it
reads 'devil'."
Sarah Henning; Driven to Succeed; Anchorage Daily News (Alaska); Dec 16,
2007. 

Thought For The Day: The means of defence against foreign danger have been always the
instruments of tyranny at home. -James Madison, fourth US president (16 Mar
1751-1836)


	*****March 18, 2016*****
Formative :  (for·ma·tive) adj.  Of or relating to formation, growth, or development: the formative stages of a child. 

Morass : 1 : marsh, swamp; "Once the sales are complete, the work won't be over. Delivering the items means navigating a morass of regulations from shippers, insurance companies and foreign governments." — Thad Moore, The Tampa Bay Times, 16 Feb. 2016
redoubt : (noun) A small, often temporary defensive fortification.; sconce; Great mounds had been heaped about the crest of the hill, making a huge redoubt of it. 

pangram : noun: A sentence that makes use of all the letters of the alphabet.
; "'Whatcha working on, kid? Something new for me?' ...
'Pangram,' Bill said with the curtness of a drill sergeant.
'When zombies arrive, quickly fax Judge Pat.'"
George Wright Padgett; Cruel Devices; Grey Gecko Press; 2014. 

Thought For The Day: When an individual is protesting society's refusal to acknowledge his
dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him.
-Bayard Rustin, civil rights activist (17 Mar 1912-1987)


	*****March 19, 2016*****
Epicurean :  (ep·i·cu·re·an) adj.  Devoted to the pursuit of sensual pleasure, particularly  the enjoyment of gourmet food. 

Epistemic : : of or relating to knowledge or knowing : cognitive; Professor Rich is convinced that the quest for epistemic certainty is a foolhardy one.
entrepot : (noun) A place where goods are stored or deposited and from which they are distributed.; transshipment center; Bahrain has been an entrepot of trade between Arabia and India since the second millennium BCE. 

acrostic : noun:
A composition in which the first letter of each line spells out a word
or message.
; "In 2009, Schwarzenegger released a memorable message. He used a vulgar
acrostic to reject a bill by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano."
Michael Mishak & Anthony York; Brown Sends a Message With His Pen;
Los Angeles Times; Oct 8, 2011.


See more usage examples of acrostic in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Shelved rows of books warm and brighten the starkest room, and scattered
single volumes reveal mental processes in progress -- books in the act of
consumption, abandoned but readily resumable, tomorrow or next year. -John
Updike, writer (18 Mar 1932-2009)


	*****March 20, 2016*****
Epicurean :  (ep·i·cu·re·an) adj.  Devoted to the pursuit of sensual pleasure, particularly  the enjoyment of gourmet food. 

Kismet : : fate; It may have been kismet that brought the business duo together, but it was a case of smart research and development on his part and innovative advertising on hers that really launched the product.
declination : (noun) A polite refusal of an invitation.; regrets; His declination of the dinner invitation was a great disappointment to the would-be host. 

acrostic : noun:
A composition in which the first letter of each line spells out a word
or message.
; "In 2009, Schwarzenegger released a memorable message. He used a vulgar
acrostic to reject a bill by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano."
Michael Mishak & Anthony York; Brown Sends a Message With His Pen;
Los Angeles Times; Oct 8, 2011.


See more usage examples of acrostic in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Shelved rows of books warm and brighten the starkest room, and scattered
single volumes reveal mental processes in progress -- books in the act of
consumption, abandoned but readily resumable, tomorrow or next year. -John
Updike, writer (18 Mar 1932-2009)


	*****March 21, 2016*****
Cerebral :  (cer·e·bral) adj.  Appealing to or requiring the use of the intellect; intellectual rather than emotional: "Her methods were cerebral, analytical, and cautious." 

Nidifugous : : leaving the nest soon after hatching; "Little is known about the mortality of nidifugous shorebird chicks." — Hans Schekkerman et al., The Journal of Ornithology, January 2009
celerity : (noun) Swiftness of action or motion; speed.; rapidity, quickness; These rapid attentions were bestowed with the celerity and skill of a practiced surgeon. 

acrostic : noun:
A composition in which the first letter of each line spells out a word
or message.
; "In 2009, Schwarzenegger released a memorable message. He used a vulgar
acrostic to reject a bill by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano."
Michael Mishak & Anthony York; Brown Sends a Message With His Pen;
Los Angeles Times; Oct 8, 2011.


See more usage examples of acrostic in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Shelved rows of books warm and brighten the starkest room, and scattered
single volumes reveal mental processes in progress -- books in the act of
consumption, abandoned but readily resumable, tomorrow or next year. -John
Updike, writer (18 Mar 1932-2009)


	*****March 22, 2016*****
Halcyon :  (hal·cy·on) Adj 1. Calm; peaceful; tranquil: "Halcyon seas." 2. Rich; wealthy; prosperous: "Halcyon times before the recession." 

Farraginous : : consisting of a confused mixture : formed of various materials in no fixed order or arrangement; The large box at the hotel's lost and found desk contained a farraginous assortment of hats, umbrellas, cell phones, and other personal items.
melange : (noun) A mixture.; mishmash, farrago, hodgepodge, mingle-mangle, oddments, odds and ends, omnium-gatherum, ragbag; The movie was a strange melange of romance, science fiction, comedy, and drama. 

	*****March 23, 2016*****
Pernicious :  (per·ni·cious) adj Having a harmful effect, particularly in a gradual or subtle way. "The hostile takeover will have a pernicious effect on the business." 

Hie : 1 : to go quickly : hasten; "Then hie you hence to Friar Laurence's cell; / There stays a husband to make you a wife." — William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, 1597
acquittance : (noun) A written release from an obligation, specifically a receipt indicating payment in full.; release; After years of haggling over debts and money owed, the two men resolved their dispute and drew up an acquittance. 

quale : noun: A quality or property as perceived by a person: a subjective experience.
; "But one cannot convey to the stereo-blind what stereopsis is like; the
subjective quality, the quale, of stereopsis is unique and no less
remarkable than that of color."
Oliver Sacks; Stereo Sue; New Yorker; Jun 19, 2006. 

Thought For The Day: There is far too much law for those who can afford it and far too little
for those who cannot. -Derek Bok, lawyer and educator (b. 22 Mar 1930)


	*****March 24, 2016*****
Bifurcate; bifurcation :  (bi·fur·cate) v Divide into two branches or forks: "The river bifurcates at the base of the mountain." 

Propensity : : an often intense natural inclination or preference; His propensity to speak his mind makes some of his colleagues wary.
apiary : (noun) A place where bees and beehives are kept, especially a place where bees are raised for their honey.; bee house; She had started her apiary with a small capital, a book of practical hints, and a second-hand queen. 

starets : noun: A religious teacher or adviser.
; "Grigori Rasputin was neither mad nor a monk, but an unconventional
starets."
Cecilia Rasmussen; Shadowed by Rasputin's Evil Reputation;
Los Angeles Times; Oct 10, 1999.


See more usage examples of starets in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Understanding a person does not mean condoning; it only means that one does
not accuse him as if one were God or a judge placed above him. -Erich
Fromm, psychoanalyst and author (23 Mar 1900-1980)


	*****March 25, 2016*****
Frenetic :  (fre·net·ic) adj Fast and energetic in a rather wild and uncontrolled way: "A frenetic ride on the snowboard." 

Consummate : 1 : complete in every detail : perfect; Always the consummate professional, Erika has testimonials from dozens of satisfied clients on her website.
coagulum : (noun) A lump of material formed from the content of a liquid.; clot; His nose began to bleed again when a hearty sneeze dislodged the coagulum that had formed inside his nostril. 

genus : noun: 1. In biology, a group covering one or more species. 2. A kind, class, group, etc.
; "All around them bloomed flowers of every color and genus."
Heather Cullman; Tomorrow's Dreams; Topaz; 1996.


See more usage examples of genus in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Our homeland is the whole world. Our law is liberty. We have but one
thought, revolution in our hearts. -Dario Fo, actor, playwright, theater
director, Nobel laureate (b. 24 Mar 1926)


	*****March 26, 2016*****
Vociferous :  (vo·cif·er·ous) adj Characterized by vehemence, clamour, or noisiness: "A vociferous crowd." 

Undulant : 1 : rising and falling in waves; The narrow greens, pesky hazards, and undulant fairways make the golf course one of the most challenging places to play in the area.
bucolic : (adjective) Of or characteristic of the countryside or its people; rustic.; rustic, arcadian, pastoral; The illustrations in the book depicted pleasant, bucolic scenes with farmers happily toiling in the fields. 

paries : noun: A wall of a body part or cavity.
; "An important cause is the original sin working defects in human embryo
while yet in his mother's womb. It causes the parietes to yield to the
forces of the intra-abdominal pressure."
Hanna Rizk Wannas; The Original Sin and Human Diseases; WestBow Press;
2014.


See more usage examples of paries in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Conformity may give you a quiet life; it may even bring you to a University
Chair. But all change in history, all advance, comes from the
nonconformists. If there had been no trouble-makers, no dissenters, we
should still be living in caves. -A.J.P. Taylor, historian (25 Mar
1906-1990)


	*****March 27, 2016*****
Perspicacious :  (per·spi·ca·cious) adj Having strong insight into and understanding of things. "She showed perspicacious judgment." 

Mirage : 1 : an illusion sometimes seen at sea, in the desert, or over hot pavement that looks like a pool of water or a mirror in which distant objects are seen inverted; The members of the caravan thought they spied water ahead, but it turned out to be a mirage.
libelous : (adjective) Harmful and often untrue; tending to discredit or malign.; calumnious, defamatory, denigrating, libellous, slanderous; The article, being libelous, had to be returned as impossible; and I had to renounce my dream of dragging its author into the limelight. 

paries : noun: A wall of a body part or cavity.
; "An important cause is the original sin working defects in human embryo
while yet in his mother's womb. It causes the parietes to yield to the
forces of the intra-abdominal pressure."
Hanna Rizk Wannas; The Original Sin and Human Diseases; WestBow Press;
2014.


See more usage examples of paries in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Conformity may give you a quiet life; it may even bring you to a University
Chair. But all change in history, all advance, comes from the
nonconformists. If there had been no trouble-makers, no dissenters, we
should still be living in caves. -A.J.P. Taylor, historian (25 Mar
1906-1990)


	*****March 28, 2016*****
Mendacious :  (men·da·cious) adj Not telling the truth; lying: "A mendacious politician;" "A mendacious defendant." 

Winnow : 1 : to remove (as chaff) by a current of air; also : to free (as grain) from waste in this manner; The search committee is finding it extremely difficult to winnow the list of job applicants down to five; many of them are highly qualified and very desirable.
roomer : (noun) A tenant in someone's house.; boarder, lodger; My aunt took in roomers for years and is still in touch with many of her former tenants. 

paries : noun: A wall of a body part or cavity.
; "An important cause is the original sin working defects in human embryo
while yet in his mother's womb. It causes the parietes to yield to the
forces of the intra-abdominal pressure."
Hanna Rizk Wannas; The Original Sin and Human Diseases; WestBow Press;
2014.


See more usage examples of paries in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Conformity may give you a quiet life; it may even bring you to a University
Chair. But all change in history, all advance, comes from the
nonconformists. If there had been no trouble-makers, no dissenters, we
should still be living in caves. -A.J.P. Taylor, historian (25 Mar
1906-1990)


	*****March 29, 2016*****
Rapacious :  (ra·pa·cious) Adj Aggressively greedy or ravenous; plundering: "A rapacious salesman." 

Auspicious : 1 : showing or suggesting that future success is likely : propitious; Being nominated for four awards, including Best Picture, the movie proved to be an auspicious start to his directing career.
declivity : (noun) A downward slope or bend.; fall, downslope, declension, declination, decline, descent; As best I could, I stumbled after him down a steep declivity beginning at the forest's edge. 

clarigation : noun: A demand for restitution for some wrong, as a precursor to declaring war.
; "I would say 'well done, BBC' for inciting this joint clarigation from such
bitter enemies just before an election."
Susanne Cameron-Blackie; Maverick Meltdown; AnnaRaccoon.com; Mar 16, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: A scholar is just a library's way of making another library. -Daniel
Dennett, philosopher, writer, and professor (b. Mar 28 1942)


	*****March 30, 2016*****
Myopic; Myopia :   n.   Distant objects appear blurred - Lack of discernment or long-range perspective in thinking or planning: "Myopic thinking." 

Quorum : 1 : a select group   ; The organization's charter states that a quorum of at least seven board members must be present before any voting can take place. 
perquisite : (noun) A payment or profit received in addition to a regular wage or salary, especially a benefit expected as one's due.; fringe benefit, perk; We had promised her a liberal perquisite in the event of our success. 

apricity : noun: Warmth of the sun; basking in the sun.
; "As he stood in the sunshine, apricity began to cover him like a wool sweater."
Ryan Patrick Sullivan; Mrs. O'Leary's Cow; Trafford; 2014. 

Thought For The Day: Kindness is always fashionable. -Amelia Barr, novelist (29 Mar 1831-1919)


	*****March 31, 2016*****
Penurious :  (pe·nu·ri·ous) adj Extremely poor; poverty-stricken; miserly. "The penurious family were forced from their home." 

Sidereal : 1 : of or relating to stars or constellations; David's parents were so pleased by his newfound interest in sidereal phenomena that they bought him an expensive telescope for his birthday.
anonym : (noun) A pseudonym.; nom de guerre, pseudonym; Aware that all kinds of people would be reading the bulletin board, he used an anonym when posting messages on it. 

punalua : noun: A group of brothers marrying a group of sisters.
; "In turn, the Turanian kinship system reflects the organization on the
basis of punalua and the gens."
Marshall Sahlins; Culture and Practical Reason; University of Chicago
Press; 1976. 

Thought For The Day: Conscience is a man's compass, and though the needle sometimes deviates,
though one often perceives irregularities when directing one's course by
it, one must still try to follow its direction. -Vincent van Gogh, painter
(30 Mar 1853-1890)


	*****April 01, 2016*****
Loquacious :  (lo·qua·cious) adj Very talkative; garrulous. "Her loquacious sales pitch lasted the entire afternoon." 

Parry : 1 : to ward off a weapon or blow; The fencer skillfully parried her opponent's thrusts.
watchword : (noun) A slogan used to rally support for a cause.; cry; "Fight and fall, but fly not," that was our watchword. 

constative : noun: A statement that can be judged as true or false.
adjective: Capable of being true or false.
; "Declaring an active disinterest in the constative question of whether
Mitchy's arrangement with Petherton is or is not a scandal ..."
David Kurnick; Empty Houses; Princeton University Press; 2012. 

Thought For The Day: It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate
between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital
connection between them. -Leo Buscaglia, author (31 Mar 1924-1998)


	*****April 02, 2016*****
Reciprocity :  (rec·i·proc·i·ty) n A reciprocal condition or relationship. "The president's proposal calls for full reciprocity." 

Vagary : : an erratic, unpredictable, or extravagant manifestation, action, or notion; The vagaries of fashion make it difficult to predict what styles will be popular a year or two from now.
propinquity : (noun) The property of being close together.; proximity; She loved Emma Jane, but it was a friendship born of propinquity and circumstance, not of true affinity. 

entoptic : adjective: Relating to images that originate within the eye (as opposed to images
resulting from the light entering the eye).

   Example: floaters, thread-like fragments that appear to float in front of
   the eye but are caused by the matter within the eye.
; "The people whom we loved seem to float across our hearts (like those
entoptic specks that drift across our eyeballs)."
Mark Leyner; My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist; Vintage; 1990. 

Thought For The Day: Mankind's true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried
from view), consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy:
animals. And in this respect mankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a
debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it. -Milan Kundera,
novelist, playwright, and poet (b. 1 Apr 1929)


	*****April 03, 2016*****
Chagrin :   n.   A keen feeling of mental unease, as of annoyance or embarrassment, caused by failure, disappointment, or a disconcerting event. "He decided to take the day off, much to the chagrin of his boss." 

Abrasive : 1 : tending to wear away by rubbing; Coworkers tolerated Jane's abrasive personality because she was brilliant, but many privately wished she could learn to be a bit more polite.
fumigate : (verb) To subject to smoke or fumes, usually in order to exterminate pests or disinfect.; fume; When we found out there was an infestation next door, we considered fumigating our house too. 

entoptic : adjective: Relating to images that originate within the eye (as opposed to images
resulting from the light entering the eye).

   Example: floaters, thread-like fragments that appear to float in front of
   the eye but are caused by the matter within the eye.
; "The people whom we loved seem to float across our hearts (like those
entoptic specks that drift across our eyeballs)."
Mark Leyner; My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist; Vintage; 1990. 

Thought For The Day: Mankind's true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried
from view), consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy:
animals. And in this respect mankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a
debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it. -Milan Kundera,
novelist, playwright, and poet (b. 1 Apr 1929)


	*****April 04, 2016*****
Nefarious :   adj.   Infamous by way of being extremely wicked. Wicked in the extreme; abominable; iniquitous; atrociously villainous; execrable; detestably vile. "His nefarious scheme cost investors millions of dollars." 

Zenith : 1 : the point of the celestial sphere that is directly opposite the nadir and vertically above the observer; "'As a film actor,' muses [Helen] Mirren, 'I didn't really reach my zenith until comparatively recently.' That zenith was probably the 2006 release of The Queen, with Mirren portraying Queen Elizabeth's response to the death of Princess Diana…." — Neala Johnson, The Courier Mail (Australia), 19 July 2014
haversack : (noun) A bag carried over one shoulder to transport supplies, as on a hike.; backpack, knapsack; She carried the heavy haversack for most of the hike. 

entoptic : adjective: Relating to images that originate within the eye (as opposed to images
resulting from the light entering the eye).

   Example: floaters, thread-like fragments that appear to float in front of
   the eye but are caused by the matter within the eye.
; "The people whom we loved seem to float across our hearts (like those
entoptic specks that drift across our eyeballs)."
Mark Leyner; My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist; Vintage; 1990. 

Thought For The Day: Mankind's true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried
from view), consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy:
animals. And in this respect mankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a
debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it. -Milan Kundera,
novelist, playwright, and poet (b. 1 Apr 1929)


	*****April 05, 2016*****
Voluminous :   adj.   Having great volume, fullness, size, or number; ample or lengthy in speech or writing. "Voluminous paperwork." 

variegate : (verb) Make something more diverse and varied.; vary; After the third consecutive dinner of mashed potatoes, we began to hope that the cook would begin to variegate the menu. 

lunkhead : noun: A dull or slow-witted person.
; "[Rugby] is about more than 30 lunkheads beating seven kinds of nonsense
out of each other."
Stuart Jeffries; Sex, Violence, Class, Power, Politics -- the School
Rugby Row Has it All; The Guardian (London, UK); Mar 5, 2016.


See more usage examples of lunkhead in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must
understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no
matter what their color. -Maya Angelou, poet (4 Apr 1928-2014)


	*****April 06, 2016*****
Insipid :   adj.   Lacking flavor or zest; not tasty. Lacking qualities that excite, stimulate, or interest; dull. "The insipid play caused many to walk out of the theater." 

gainsay : (verb) To oppose, especially by contradiction.; challenge, dispute; In vain did the poor old father weep and implore her pity; she was firm, and he dared not gainsay her. 

clairaudience : noun: The supposed ability to hear what is inaudible.
; "Paul Solotaroff said that in his time with Trump, he found 'a guy with
two extraordinary senses.
One is something I call clairvoyance, the ability to read a market way before
it is formed and get there first. The second is clairaudience,
hear what is in people's hearts and minds.'
He described clairaudience this way: 'There's Donald, on the 26th floor
of his massive office in the Trump Tower, and somehow he read and saw and
heard into the hearts of disaffected underemployed white people in
Coatesville, Pennsylvania, in, you know, West Virginia, in Ohio. And not
only was he able to hear that seething rage, he was able to read it back
to them, word for word, in ways that no Republican has ever done before.'"
Brian Stelter; Rolling Stone Writer: Trump 'Was Not Talking About Her
Persona'; CNNMoney (Atlanta); Sep 11, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: Curiosity is the lust of the mind. -Thomas Hobbes, philosopher (5 Apr
1588-1679)


	*****April 07, 2016*****
Fortuitous :   adj.   Happening by accident or chance. Happening by a fortunate accident or chance. Lucky or fortunate. "The check could not have arrived at a more fortuitous time." 

solemnity : (noun) A trait of dignified seriousness.; staidness, sedateness; Do I seem to have lost my solemnity, my gravity, my poise, my dignity? 

affluential : adjective: Having power and influence because of wealth.
noun: Rich and powerful person.
; "The thing to remember is that, for affluentials, money has become the tool
with which to buy non-material things -- space, time, health, fitness, and
meaningful experiences."
Shane Watson; The Art of Being Affluential; The Guardian (London, UK);
Jun 22, 2001. 

Thought For The Day: Conscience is a dog that does not stop us from passing but that we cannot
prevent from barking. -Nicolas de Chamfort, writer (6 Apr 1741-1794)


	*****April 08, 2016*****
Ubiquitous :   adj.   Being or seeming to be everywhere, or in all places, at the same time; omnipresent. "Ubiquitous cell phones." 

sunspot : (noun) Any of the relatively cool dark spots appearing periodically in groups on the surface of the sun that are associated with strong magnetic fields.; macula; Come, cheer up, old man; there's no use in losing your grip and going back to this child's play merely because this big sunspot is drifting across your shiny new disk. 

bankster : noun: A banker who engages in dishonest or illegal behavior.
; "So far for example, no bankster has been indicted/convicted for
having a major hand in running the global economy to the ground."
Demise of the Prevalent Political Economy; Capital (Addis Abada,
Ethiopia); Mar 11, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: Nature never did betray the heart that loved her. -William Wordsworth, poet (7
Apr 1770-1850)


	*****April 09, 2016*****
Antiquated :   adj.   Very old; aged. Too old to be fashionable, suitable, or useful; outmoded, obsolete. "The committee thought the marketing strategy was too antiquated to approve." 

chrism : (noun) A consecrated mixture of oil and balsam, used for anointing in church sacraments such as baptism and confirmation.; holy oil, sacramental oil; Though his parents told him it was unlikely, he believed he could remember the smell of the chrism used in his baptism. 

sheeple : noun: People who unquestioningly accept what's said by a political leader, marketer, etc.
; "The general public -- the mass of sheeple -- want to cling to two core beliefs."
Pinchas Landau; Who's in Charge?; Jerusalem Post (Israel); Nov 14, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: Life is short, short, brother! / Ain't it the truth? / And there is no
other / Ain't it the truth? / You gotta rock that rainbow while you still
got your youth! -Yip Harburg, lyricist (8 Apr 1896-1981)


	*****April 10, 2016*****
Atypical :   adj.   Not conforming to type; unusual or irregular. Deviating from what is usual or common or to be expected; often somewhat odd or strange. "The strong sales were atypical of the normally weak market." 

chophouse : (noun) A restaurant that specializes in steaks.; steakhouse; The best steak we ever ate was at a small chophouse in California. 

sheeple : noun: People who unquestioningly accept what's said by a political leader, marketer, etc.
; "The general public -- the mass of sheeple -- want to cling to two core beliefs."
Pinchas Landau; Who's in Charge?; Jerusalem Post (Israel); Nov 14, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: Life is short, short, brother! / Ain't it the truth? / And there is no
other / Ain't it the truth? / You gotta rock that rainbow while you still
got your youth! -Yip Harburg, lyricist (8 Apr 1896-1981)


	*****April 11, 2016*****
Placate :  (pla·cate) verb To appease or pacify; make (someone) less angry or hostile. "The customer service representative tried to placate the dissatisfied customer." 

soupcon : (noun) A very small amount; a trace.; mite, tinge, jot, hint, pinch, speck, touch; This dish could use a soupcon of salt. 

sheeple : noun: People who unquestioningly accept what's said by a political leader, marketer, etc.
; "The general public -- the mass of sheeple -- want to cling to two core beliefs."
Pinchas Landau; Who's in Charge?; Jerusalem Post (Israel); Nov 14, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: Life is short, short, brother! / Ain't it the truth? / And there is no
other / Ain't it the truth? / You gotta rock that rainbow while you still
got your youth! -Yip Harburg, lyricist (8 Apr 1896-1981)


	*****April 12, 2016*****
Bucolic :  (bu·col·ic) adj. Of or relating to the pleasant aspects of country life. "He retired to a more bucolic life on his farm." 

editorialist : (noun) A journalist who writes editorials.; columnist; He grew so weary of armchair-general editorialists that he stopped reading the Op-Ed pages altogether and picked up a book on political theory. 

snowclone : noun: A cliché adapted to a new use.
For example, a statement of the form "X is the new Y" (such as "Gray is the new black"). See more examples here.
; "The next time you read about a 'hidden epidemic', be aware that you are
drifting into a snowclone: recent hidden epidemics have involved chlamydia,
illiteracy, autism, and gambling."
David Rowan; The Next Big Thing; The Times (London, UK); Dec 3, 2005. 

Thought For The Day: No greater mistake can be made than to think that our institutions are
fixed or may not be changed for the worse. ... Increasing prosperity tends
to breed indifference and to corrupt moral soundness. Glaring inequalities
in condition create discontent and strain the democratic relation. The
vicious are the willing, and the ignorant are unconscious instruments of
political artifice. Selfishness and demagoguery take advantage of liberty.
The selfish hand constantly seeks to control government, and every increase
of governmental power, even to meet just needs, furnishes opportunity for
abuse and stimulates the effort to bend it to improper uses. ... The peril
of this nation is not in any foreign foe! We, the people, are its power,
its peril, and its hope! -Charles Evans Hughes, jurist and statesman (11
Apr 1862-1948)


	*****April 13, 2016*****
Odious :  (o·di·ous) adj. Extremely unpleasant; repulsive. Deserving of hatred or repugnance. "The detective said it was the most odious crime she had ever seen." 

syncope : (noun) A brief loss of consciousness caused by a temporary deficiency of oxygen in the brain; a swoon.; deliquium, faint, swoon; She was an enormous flirt, laughing at all the men's jokes and even feigning syncope to garner their concern. 

ecdysiast : noun: A person who disrobes to provide entertainment for others.
; "Lena Dunham drenched the market with her formidable musings under
the title of Not That Kind of Girl, a biography memoir in the great
tradition of Pamela Anderson and other literary ecdysiasts."
Rex Murphy; The Year in Activist Feminism; National Post (Canada);
Dec 27, 2014.


See more usage examples of ecdysiast in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: All religions united with government are more or less inimical to liberty.
All, separated from government, are compatible with liberty. -Henry Clay,
statesman and orator (12 Apr 1777-1852)


	*****April 14, 2016*****
Anomalous :  (a·nom·a·lous) adj. Deviating from what is standard, normal, or expected. "The marketing department could not explain the anomalous sales performance." 

raffish : (adjective) Marked by smartness in dress and manners.; jaunty, natty, rakish, dapper, spiffy, spruce, dashing, snappy, smart; His raffish costume befits his confident personality. 

petrichor : noun: The pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell.
; "They declared that they have found the earthy scent of petrichor, as if
it was secretly drizzling in some deep corner of the city undetected by
meteorologists. And when it rained on Monday, they smiled with pride and
said: 'I told you so.'"
Eye on Sky; The Times of India (New Delhi); Mar 17, 2016. 

Thought For The Day: There is also an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth,
without either virtue or talents... The artificial aristocracy is a
mischievous ingredient in government, and provisions should be made to
prevent its ascendancy. -Thomas Jefferson, third US president, architect,
and author (13 Apr 1743-1826)


	*****April 15, 2016*****
Recalcitrant :  (re·cal·ci·trant) adj. Stubborn, often defiant of authority; difficult to manage or control. "After months of recalcitrant behavior, the employee was terminated." 

pyrosis : (noun) A painful burning sensation in the chest caused by gastroesophageal reflux (backflow from the stomach irritating the esophagus); symptomatic of an ulcer or a diaphragmatic hernia or other disorder.; heartburn; Even after he swore off spicy foods, his pyrosis kept him up at night. 

exaptation : noun: The adaptation of a trait for a purpose other than for which it was evolved.
For example, feathers were evolved for warmth and later co-opted for display
and/or flight.
; "The gradual development of propulsion devices like wings and flagella, by
contrast, can be explained by exaptation, the process by which 'a feature
that originally evolved for one purpose is co-opted for a different purpose'.
Both feathers and flightless wings might have developed originally for the
purpose of thermoregulation rather than flight."
Kenneth Krause; Design, Doubts, and Darwin; Skeptical Inquirer (Amherst,
New York); Nov 2006. 

Thought For The Day: The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play.
-Arnold J. Toynbee, historian (14 Apr 1889-1975)


	*****April 16, 2016*****
Prodigious :  (pro·di·gious) adj. Remarkably or impressively great in extent, size, or degree. "Her prodigious sales performance resulted in a promotion." 

sobriquet : (noun) An affectionate or humorous nickname.; cognomen, moniker, nickname, soubriquet; Usually he saw things long before others were aware that there was anything to see—a trait that had won for him the sobriquet of Hawk. 

blet : verb tr.: To overripen to the point of rotting.
; "She is now bletting a tray of medlars (allowing them to start to rot) for
medlar jelly, which is great with cheese."
Catherine Cleary; The City Where the Wild Things Are; Irish Times (Dublin);
Sep 27, 2011. 

Thought For The Day: Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an
injury to one's self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are
aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily; and why older persons,
especially if vain or important, cannot learn at all. -Thomas Szasz,
author, professor of psychiatry (15 Apr 1920-2012)


	*****April 17, 2016*****
Derisive :  (de·ri·sive) adj. Expressing contempt or ridicule; mocking or scornful. "A derisive laugh." 

cistron : (noun) A section of DNA that contains the genetic code for a single polypeptide and functions as a hereditary unit.; gene, factor; When cistrons are located in reproductive cells, they pass their information to the next generation. 

blet : verb tr.: To overripen to the point of rotting.
; "She is now bletting a tray of medlars (allowing them to start to rot) for
medlar jelly, which is great with cheese."
Catherine Cleary; The City Where the Wild Things Are; Irish Times (Dublin);
Sep 27, 2011. 

Thought For The Day: Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an
injury to one's self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are
aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily; and why older persons,
especially if vain or important, cannot learn at all. -Thomas Szasz,
author, professor of psychiatry (15 Apr 1920-2012)


	*****April 18, 2016*****
Duplicitous :   adj.   Given to or marked by deliberate deceptiveness in behavior or speech. "They warned him not to trust the duplicitous telemarketer." 

swarthy : (adjective) Having a dark complexion or color.; dusky, swart, dark-skinned; He is a noble of very lofty carriage, black hair, swarthy complexion, piercing eye, white teeth, and has a scar on his temple. 

blet : verb tr.: To overripen to the point of rotting.
; "She is now bletting a tray of medlars (allowing them to start to rot) for
medlar jelly, which is great with cheese."
Catherine Cleary; The City Where the Wild Things Are; Irish Times (Dublin);
Sep 27, 2011. 

Thought For The Day: Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an
injury to one's self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are
aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily; and why older persons,
especially if vain or important, cannot learn at all. -Thomas Szasz,
author, professor of psychiatry (15 Apr 1920-2012)


	*****April 19, 2016*****
Disingenuous :   adj.  Not straightforward or candid; insincere or calculating.  "It was disingenuous of her to claim she had no financial interest in the company." 

vainglory : (noun) Boastful, unwarranted pride in one's accomplishments or qualities.; boastfulness; I share my substance with the poor, making no display of good works, lest I let hypocrisy and vainglory, those enemies that subtly take possession of the most watchful heart, find an entrance into mine. 

galumph : verb intr.: To move clumsily or heavily.
; "It was excruciating, watching him galumph around the floor
in a giraffe-skin patterned leotard."
Matt Butler; It's a 10 for Mediocrity; The Independent (London, UK);
Sep 15, 2014.


See more usage examples of galumph in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other
man's freedom. You can only be free if I am free. -Clarence Darrow, lawyer
and author (18 Apr 1857-1938)


	*****April 20, 2016*****
Ostensible :   adj.    Stated or appearing to be true, but not necessarily so. Being such in appearance, plausible rather than demonstrably true or real. "The ostensible purpose of the trip was for business." 

shivaree : (noun) A noisy mock serenade for newlyweds.; belling, callithump; The clamorous shivaree stood in stark contrast to the refined, reserved marital ceremony it followed. 

slithy : adjective: Smooth and active; slimy; slithery.
; "He's still inclined to take the law into his own hands when it needs to
be taken -- in this case, against a couple of slithy loan sharks."
Pick of the Day; The Times (London, UK); May 9, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later. -Fred Brooks,
computer scientist (b. 19 Apr 1931)


	*****April 21, 2016*****
Euphemism :   n. A mild, inoffensive expression that is substituted for one that is often considered harsh or offensive. "To pass away" is a euphemism for "to die." 

attenuate : (adjective) Reduced or weakened, as in strength, value, or virulence.; faded, weakened; She placed a record in the player, and the attenuate tones of the old recording swept through the house. 

chortle : noun: A joyful laugh.
verb tr., intr.: To laugh in a joyful manner.
; "How the 1-percenters would chortle at the thought that the three currently
highest valued state houses in the country outside Auckland ... when added
together could barely purchase the boat ramp and perhaps a bathroom door on
the incinerated Waiheke estate."
Rosemary McLeod; Lifestyles of the Flaming Rich; The Dominion Post
(New Zealand); Mar 17, 2016.


See more usage examples of chortle in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I love you, and because I love you, I would sooner have you hate me for
telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies. -Pietro Aretino,
satirist and dramatist (20 Apr 1492-1556)


	*****April 22, 2016*****
Austere :   adj.  1. Markedly simple without adornment or ornamentation. "An austere office;" "An austere writing style." 2. Strict or stern in appearance or manner. "He was an austere movie critic." 

tittle : (noun) A tiny or scarcely detectable amount.; iota, scintilla, shred, smidgeon, whit; Sydney Carton drank nothing but a tittle coffee. 

bandersnatch : noun:
1. A fast and ferocious wild creature.
2. An uncouth or bizarre person.
; "A momma-bear-sized bandersnatch was lumbering toward them, drool oozing
out of her spiky-toothed jaw."
Shannon Hale; Ever After High; Little, Brown; 2014. 

Thought For The Day: As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand.
-Josh Billings, columnist and humorist (21 Apr 1818-1885)


	*****April 23, 2016*****
Ambiguous :   adj.   Open to more than one interpretation: "An ambiguous response." Doubtful or uncertain. "The survey results were ambiguous." 

graver : (noun) A tool used by an engraver.; pointel; The jewelry designer's studio was attached to her shop, so customers could watch her hammer metals and draw elegant designs with her graver. 

frabjous : adjective: Wonderful; delightful.
; "In a happy development for couch potatoes everywhere, Netflix last week
announced a partnership with Epix entertainment channel. This is frabjous
news."
Monica Hesse; For Fans of Truly Bad Movies; The Washington Post; Aug 20,
2010. 

Thought For The Day: Do not commit the error, common among the young, of assuming that if you
cannot save the whole of mankind, you have failed. -Jan de Hartog,
playwright and novelist (22 Apr 1914-2002)


	*****April 24, 2016*****
Copious :   adj.   Large in quantity; abundant. Abounding in matter, thoughts, or words; wordy.  "He took copious notes during the business meeting." 

distend : (verb) To cause to expand by or as if by internal pressure; dilate.; dilate; It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. 

frabjous : adjective: Wonderful; delightful.
; "In a happy development for couch potatoes everywhere, Netflix last week
announced a partnership with Epix entertainment channel. This is frabjous
news."
Monica Hesse; For Fans of Truly Bad Movies; The Washington Post; Aug 20,
2010. 

Thought For The Day: Do not commit the error, common among the young, of assuming that if you
cannot save the whole of mankind, you have failed. -Jan de Hartog,
playwright and novelist (22 Apr 1914-2002)


	*****April 25, 2016*****
alfresco : out-of-doors; in the open air: to dine alfresco; 
                On this glorious day—temperature in the low 70s, blue sky overhead—they join the mobs dining alfresco, watching as the gondolas drift by.
                Daniel Gross, "Leaving Las Vegas" Slate, October 27, 2007
            
Altruism :   n.   Unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness.  (also 'Altruistic'). "Despite his miserly demeanor, his life is driven by Altruism." "Altruistic motives." 

Omniscient : 1 : having infinite awareness, understanding, and insight; The novel opens with an omniscient narrator recalling memories of her twelfth birthday.
feckless : (adjective) Generally incompetent and ineffectual.; inept; Much to his wife's dismay, Jim refused to call a professional, and continued his feckless attempts at repairing the plumbing in the house. 

frabjous : adjective: Wonderful; delightful.
; "In a happy development for couch potatoes everywhere, Netflix last week
announced a partnership with Epix entertainment channel. This is frabjous
news."
Monica Hesse; For Fans of Truly Bad Movies; The Washington Post; Aug 20,
2010. 

Thought For The Day: Do not commit the error, common among the young, of assuming that if you
cannot save the whole of mankind, you have failed. -Jan de Hartog,
playwright and novelist (22 Apr 1914-2002)


	*****April 26, 2016*****
flivver : Older Slang. an automobile, especially one that is small, inexpens..; 
                Conrad met me with a flivver, a real American flivver, but the most battered rattling, rusted flivver I ever expect to see.
                Jo Davidson, "Conrad lives in the country with his cook!," Joseph Conrad: Interviews and Recollections, edited by Martin Ray, 1990
            
Laborious :   adj.   Hard-working; industrious. Marked by or requiring long, hard work. "It was a laborious project, but they still kept it under budget." 

Juxtapose : : to place side by side (as to compare or contrast); Darlene has a keen eye for fashion, and she likes to juxtapose vintage pieces with contemporary styles to create new looks.
rejoinder : (noun) A quick reply to a question or remark (especially a witty or critical one).; riposte, comeback, retort, replication, counter, return; Her eyes darkened, and he expected an indignant rejoinder. 

truculent : adjective: Eager to fight; destructive; cruel; savage.
; "Sir Geoffrey also visited PW Botha, the South African president, but
found him 'defiant, ill-mannered, and truculent', according to a report
he wrote for Mrs Thatcher."
Britain 'Was Seen as a Friend of Apartheid'; Daily Mail (London, UK);
Feb 19, 2016.


See more usage examples of truculent in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The rain begins with a single drop. -Manal al-Sharif, human rights activist
(b. 25 Apr 1979)


	*****April 27, 2016*****
puckish : mischievous; impish; 
                In my late teens and early twenties I'd seen myself as a Puckish figure, smart and quick-limbed, incorrigible.
                Michael Cunningham, A Home at the End of the World, 1990
            
Diminutive :   adj. Extremely small in size; tiny. A very small person or thing. "Although diminutive in stature, they were a formidable opponent;" "A diminutive report." 

Inveterate : 1 : firmly established by long persistence; Since Ernie is an inveterate liar, we naturally didn't believe him when he told us he'd met the movie star.
bookplate : (noun) A label bearing the owner's name or other identification that is pasted usually on the inside cover of a book.; ex libris; I learned from the bookplate that the previous owner of my copy of Gone with the Wind had been a woman named Scarlett. 

unctuous : adjective: Displaying insincere earnestness or piousness; oily.
; "Personally he is sleek and unctuous, is always found among the godly."
Clifton Rodman Woolridge; Twenty Years a Detective in the Wickedest
City in the World; Library of Alexandria; 2015.


See more usage examples of unctuous in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: A new word is like a fresh seed sown on the ground of the discussion.
-Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher (26 Apr 1889-1951)


	*****April 28, 2016*****
amanuensis : a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy wha..; 
                Gwen, my amanuensis, is a college student employed as an intern at the research center where I am housed. It is she who acts as midwife to these words which my mind conceives and my lungs and tongue bear forth, delivering them from my mouth and by the sheer process of documentation imbuing them with the solemnity and permanence of literature.
                Benjamin Hale, The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore, 2011
            
Pragmatic :   adj.   More concerned with practical results than with theories and principles. "The CEO used a pragmatic approach to making his business a success." 

Belvedere : : a structure (such as a cupola or summerhouse) designed to command a view; The couple wandered down to the belvedere at the edge of the bluff to take in the vivid colors of the sunset.
anemometer : (noun) An instrument for measuring wind force and velocity.; wind gauge; The storm chasers loaded their van with high-tech gear, including a number of powerful anemometers. 

irresolute : adjective: Uncertain or indecisive.
; "Ayub Khan was seen as a very hesitant and irresolute commander."
Sushant Singh; The War No One Lost; Indian Express (Mumbai); Oct 24, 2015.


See more usage examples of irresolute in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Taught from their infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes
itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn
its prison. -Mary Wollstonecraft, reformer and writer (27 Apr 1759-1797)


	*****April 29, 2016*****
gonzo : (of journalism, reportage, etc.) filled with bizarre or subjective i..; 
                But what was the story? Nobody had bothered to say. So we would have to drum it up on our own. Free Enterprise. The American Dream. Horatio Alger gone mad on drugs in Las Vegas. Do it now: pure Gonzo journalism.
                Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 1972
            
Temporal :   adj.   Relating to, or limited by time. Lasting only for a time; not eternal.  Also: fleeting, passing, momentary, temporary, transient, short-lived. "The beneficial effects of the loan were temporal." 

Invincible : : incapable of being conquered, overcome, or subdued; "He calls the mixture Bulletproof coffee. Drink it, the name implies, and you'll feel invincible." — Gordy Megroz, Bloomberg Businessweek, 4 May 2015
furuncle : (noun) A painful sore with a hard pus-filled core.; boil; His doctor referred him to a dermatologist who would examine the furuncle on his leg. 

veracious : adjective: Truthful; honest; accurate.
; "Olivia had instinctively perceived that the girl was neither exaggerating
nor embellishing, and she knew she had listened to a veracious witness."
Barbara Taylor Bradford; A Woman of Substance; Doubleday; 1979.


See more usage examples of veracious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: If you don't turn your life into a story, you just become a part of someone
else's story. -Terry Pratchett, novelist (28 Apr 1948-2015)


	*****April 30, 2016*****
woodnote : a wild or natural musical tone, as that of a forest bird; 
                At the top she halted, still longing to hear at his side that marvellous wood-note …
                George Washington Cable, Bylow Hill, 1902
            
Exacerbate :   transitive verb.   To make more violent, bitter, or severe; to irritate or make worse. "The continued delays were greatly exacerbated by the lack of workers on the project." 

Mulct : 1 : to punish by a fine; Francis was finally barred from the securities industry when it was discovered he'd been mulcting investors for years.
revetment : (noun) A facing, as of masonry, used to support an embankment.; stone facing; Like seawalls, revetments armor and protect the land behind them. 

doughty : adjective: Brave; courageous; determined.
; "Alex Gordon was also a doughty fighter for the underdog."
The Herald (Glasgow, UK); Mar 12, 2016. 

Thought For The Day: Science is built with facts as a house is with stones, but a collection of
facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house. -Jules Henri
Poincaré, mathematician, physicist, and philosopher (29 Apr 1854-1912)


	*****May 01, 2016*****
prink : to fuss over one's dress, especially before the mirror; 
                Anne wasn't a mossel vain, but nights she expected Gil she'd prink for hours afore her glass, fixing her hair this way and that, and trying on all her good clothes to see which become her most.
                Lucy Maud Montgomery, "Aunt Susanna's Birthday Celebration," Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1905 to 1906, 2008
            
Nebulous :   adj. 1. Lacking definition or definite content. 2. Lacking definite form or limits; vague. "The test results were nebulous and determined to be unusable." 

Decorous : : marked by propriety and good taste : correct; Before making her daily announcements, the principal mentioned how proud she was of the students' decorous conduct at their prom.
baleen : (noun) A horny material from the upper jaws of certain whales; used as the ribs of fans or as stays in corsets.; whalebone; Baleen, formerly used in buggy whips, parasol ribs, and corsets, has largely been replaced by plastic in these items. 

doughty : adjective: Brave; courageous; determined.
; "Alex Gordon was also a doughty fighter for the underdog."
The Herald (Glasgow, UK); Mar 12, 2016. 

Thought For The Day: Science is built with facts as a house is with stones, but a collection of
facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house. -Jules Henri
Poincaré, mathematician, physicist, and philosopher (29 Apr 1854-1912)


	*****May 02, 2016*****
tulipomania : (in 17th-century Holland) a widespread obsession with tulips, ..; 
                An extravagant passion for collecting flowers, and which obtained the name of tulipomania, or tulip madness, is said to have become, not many years ago, the subject of a restrictive law in one of the most frugal countries in Europe.
                James Marriott, "On the genteel mania," October 21, 1756, The World, Vol. 4, 1794
            
Anachronism :   n. One that is out of its proper, chronological, or historical order, especially a person or practice that belongs to an earlier time. "A sword is an anachronism in modern warfare." 

Beltane : : the Celtic May Day festival; Although Beltane celebrates the approach of summer, those attending the Beltane Fire Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, are warned to dress for the cool weather that is typical of early spring there.
arriviste : (noun) A person who has recently attained high position or great power but not general acceptance or respect; an upstart.; nouveau-riche, parvenu, upstart; The arriviste tried to gain acceptance into society through ostentatious displays of his newfound wealth, but his actions only inspired resentment. 

doughty : adjective: Brave; courageous; determined.
; "Alex Gordon was also a doughty fighter for the underdog."
The Herald (Glasgow, UK); Mar 12, 2016. 

Thought For The Day: Science is built with facts as a house is with stones, but a collection of
facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house. -Jules Henri
Poincaré, mathematician, physicist, and philosopher (29 Apr 1854-1912)


	*****May 03, 2016*****
jeremiad : a prolonged lamentation or mournful complaint; 
                Starting from the sinister change in the racing-world ... he launched forth into a jeremiad on the condition of things in general. Parliament, he thought, especially now that members were paid, had lost its self-respect; the towns had eaten up the country; hunting was threatened; the power and vulgarity of the press were appalling; women had lost their heads; and everybody seemed afraid of having any "breeding."
                John Galsworthy, Beyond, 1917
            
Ominous :   adj. Menacing; threatening. "Ominous black clouds;" "An ominous scream prior to the shooting." 

Moil : 1 : to work hard : drudge; Revelations that the popular motivational speaker was born into a wealthy family cast further doubts on his claims that he holds the secret to finding wealth without the need to toil and moil.
flattop : (noun) A large warship that carries planes and has a long flat deck for take-offs and landings.; aircraft carrier; Before the invasion, the general ordered a large flattop to anchor several miles offshore to facilitate a swift aerial attack. 

gapeseed : noun:
1. One who stares especially with an open mouth.
2. Something that is an object of staring: anything unusual.
; "'And you have not spoken to him since?'
'Not a word. But that does not stop him from staring at me like a fool.
He might be a wonder in Parliament, but here in Bath he looks the
veriest gapeseed.'"
Catherine Blair; Athena's Conquest; Zebra Regency Romance; 2001. 

Thought For The Day: Man can be the most affectionate and altruistic of creatures, yet he's
potentially more vicious than any other. He is the only one who can be
persuaded to hate millions of his own kind whom he has never seen and to
kill as many as he can lay his hands on in the name of his tribe or his
God. -Benjamin Spock, pediatrician and author (2 May 1903-1998)


	*****May 04, 2016*****
snuggery : British. a comfortable or cozy room; 
                Gregory had managed to get home for a hurried lunch and a smoke afterwards in the little snuggery ...
                Saki, "The Philanthropist and the Happy Cat," Beasts and Super-Beasts, 1914
            
Incongruous :   adj. 1. Lacking in harmony; incompatible. 2. Not in agreement, as with principles; inconsistent. "A plan incongruous with reason." 3. Not in keeping with what is correct, proper, or logical; inappropriate. "She showed incongruous behavior." 

Callow : : lacking adult sophistication : immature; "So callow was Williams that there was a clause in his first contract, which he signed at the age of 18, that stipulated the team would pay for his mother to be with him at least one week of every month." — Steve Hummer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 9 Dec. 2012
nadir : (noun) An extreme state of adversity; the lowest point of anything.; low-water mark, rock bottom; They lost everything in the fire and reached the nadir of their fortunes. 

windrow : noun: 1. A row of raked hay laid to dry in the wind before being baled.
         2. A row of leaves, dust, snow, or other material swept together.
verb tr.: To arrange in a windrow.
; "If the crop was harvested, it should be placed in windrows up to 2.5m
high and 6m wide."
Pat Deavoll; Beet Success is All in the Preparation; Timaru Herald
(New Zealand); Mar 28, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at
the men he has around him. -Niccolo Machiavelli, political philosopher and
author (3 May 1469-1527)


	*****May 05, 2016*****
toponym : a place name; 
                To christen the inhabitants of his faraway galaxies, George Lucas, the film's creator, made numerous references to some earthly names: Darth Vader (dark water), Luke Skywalker (walks through the sky), Princess Leia (lei -- garland of flowers) and Han Solo (the lone hand). Mr. Lucas's poetry also extends to naming planets. Consider his most prominent toponym, a cold planet named Hoth.
                Roger Bromfield, "'Star Wars' Names Resonate in Time," New York Times, February 14, 1997
            
Esoteric :   adj. 1. Difficult to understand; abstruse. 2. Not publicly disclosed; confidential. 3. Of rare, special, or unusual interest. "Her software's success was based on an esoteric programming language." 

Wisenheimer : : smart aleck; Leslie delivered a flawless presentation even in spite of interruptions from the wisenheimers in the back of the classroom.
cincture : (noun) A band of material around the waist that strengthens a skirt or trousers.; waistband, waistcloth, girdle, sash; Their adornments were completed by passing a few loose folds of white tappa, in a modest cincture, around the waist. 

unwonted : adjective: Unusual or unaccustomed.
; "[The play] looks at why the placid-seeming Howe was driven to such
unwonted ferocity."
Michael Billington; Dead Sheep Review; The Guardian (London, UK);
Apr 6, 2015.


See more usage examples of unwonted in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon
insufficient evidence. -William Kingdon Clifford, mathematician and
philosopher (4 May 1845-1879)


	*****May 06, 2016*****
margaritaceous : resembling mother-of-pearl; pearly; 
                The species of this genus may be better known by the margaritaceous or pearly hues of their delicate mostly yellow, or pale straw-colored wings, which are in general rather faintly streaked with transverse lines ...
                James Francis Stephens, Illustrations of British Entomology, 1834
            
Acerbic :   adj. Sharp or biting, as in character or expression. "The director occasionally allowed an acerbic tone to an otherwise subtle dialogue." 

Gormandize : : to eat greedily, gluttonously, or ravenously ; "People stuff themselves, they gorge, they gormandize; their fingers are greasy from morning to night." — Philippe Sagant, The Dozing Shaman, 1996
crotchet : (noun) An odd, whimsical, or stubborn notion.; oddity, queerness, quirk; He is perhaps the sanest man and has the fewest crotchets of any I chance to know. 

angor : noun: Extreme anguish or mental distress.
; "But each word helps to create the tone of the story, set the mood,
build the atmosphere, and illustrate the characters' sense of angor."
Anu Garg; Confessions of a Word Addict; Writer Magazine (Waukesha,
Wisconsin); Dec 2003.


See more usage examples of angor in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Life is a foreign language; all men mispronounce it. -Christopher Morley,
journalist, novelist, essayist, and poet (5 May 1890-1957)


	*****May 07, 2016*****
turpitude : vile, shameful, or base character; depravity; 
                He would, perhaps, argue that, though abstract Right is absolute and unchangeable, the alternative Wrong, though never shading down into Right, varies immeasurably in degree of turpitude ...
                Joseph Furphy, Such Is Life, 1903
            
Pugnacious :   adj. 1. Quarrelsome or combative in nature; belligerent. 2. Expressing an argument or opinion very forcefully. "Rather than maintaining a calm demeanor, his boss was quite pugnacious." 

Tranche : : a division or portion of a pool or whole; "JPMorgan Chase must retain 5% of each tranche, or class, of notes to be issued by the trust…. The bank must also comply with disclosure and reporting requirements introduced for securitization…." — Allison Bisbey, The American Banker, 17 Mar. 2016
arborist : (noun) A specialist in the care of woody plants, especially trees.; tree surgeon; The arborist informed the homeowners that the sick tree would need to be cut down. 

refect : verb tr.: To refresh with food or drink.
; "[I attempt] recipes that refect thrill-seeking appetites, and which can
be served together like a spread-out picnic."
Rose Prince; Spring Free; Telegraph Magazine (London, UK); Apr 4, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: Thinking is an experimental dealing with small quantities of energy, just
as a general moves miniature figures over a map before setting his troops
in action. -Sigmund Freud, neurologist, founder of psychoanalysis (6 May
1856-1939)


	*****May 08, 2016*****
quaff : to drink a beverage, especially an intoxicating one, copiously and w..; 
                I have heard that Papa ... never dined alone for twenty-seven years and three quarters, and rather than be without company he would sit and laugh and quaff with the horrid bailiffs who often arrested him.
                William Makepeace Thackeray, "The Lion Huntress of Belgravia," Punch, August and September, 1850
            
Incredulous :   adj. 1. Skeptical; disbelieving. "Most people are incredulous of stories about flying saucers." 2. Expressive of disbelief. "An incredulous stare." 

Amicable : : characterized by friendly goodwill : peaceable; Tim and Audrey's relationship remained amicable even after they broke up.
raring : (adjective) Full of eagerness; enthusiastic.; impatient; Standing at the starting line of the race, he shifted from foot to foot and was raring to go. 

refect : verb tr.: To refresh with food or drink.
; "[I attempt] recipes that refect thrill-seeking appetites, and which can
be served together like a spread-out picnic."
Rose Prince; Spring Free; Telegraph Magazine (London, UK); Apr 4, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: Thinking is an experimental dealing with small quantities of energy, just
as a general moves miniature figures over a map before setting his troops
in action. -Sigmund Freud, neurologist, founder of psychoanalysis (6 May
1856-1939)


	*****May 09, 2016*****
oenomel : something combining strength with sweetness; 
                Alas, that now no more/ The arm-chair or the pulpit will be filled / With that kind presence--keen attention thrilled / By tales of "men and cities," or the lore / Of those book-depths from which thou knew'st so well / To mix for mind and heart an oenomel.
                Samuel John Stone, "Frederick Arnold," The Guardian, October 28, 1891
            
Quixotic :   adj. 1. Idealistic without regard to practicality; impractical. 2. Impulsive: tending to act on whims or impulses. "It was clearly a quixotic case against the defendant." 

Nonplus : : to cause to be at a loss as to what to say, think, or do : perplex ; The student's unexpected about-face during the class discussion nonplussed the teacher.
windsock : (noun) A tapered, open-ended sleeve pivotally attached to a standard, that indicates the direction of the wind blowing through it.; drogue, air sock, wind cone; The air traffic controller noted that the airport's windsock was fully extended. 

refect : verb tr.: To refresh with food or drink.
; "[I attempt] recipes that refect thrill-seeking appetites, and which can
be served together like a spread-out picnic."
Rose Prince; Spring Free; Telegraph Magazine (London, UK); Apr 4, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: Thinking is an experimental dealing with small quantities of energy, just
as a general moves miniature figures over a map before setting his troops
in action. -Sigmund Freud, neurologist, founder of psychoanalysis (6 May
1856-1939)


	*****May 10, 2016*****
larruping : Chiefly Western U.S. very; exceedingly: That was a larruping goo..; 
                Hewey dug into his pocket for the bankroll that had been resurrected from near death when Tarpley had paid his hands. Two bits for a larruping good supper and two bits for a shot of whisky. A sound investment, he thought.
                Elmer Kelton, Six Bits a Day, 2005
            
Specious :   adj.   1. Having the ring of truth or plausibility but actually fallacious. "A specious argument." 2. Deceptively attractive. 

Hubris : : exaggerated pride or self-confidence; The company's failure was ultimately brought on by the hubris of its founder.
paroxysm : (noun) A sudden uncontrollable attack.; convulsion, fit; Michael strained backward in a paroxysm of rage, making fierce short jumps to the end of the tether as he snarled and growled with utmost fierceness. 

licit : adjective: Legal or legitimate.
; "Many officials in governance and administration have undergone an
accelerated improvement in lifestyle based on no visible, or licit,
revenue streams."
Lifestyle Audits Will Sniff Out Corruption; The Star (Nairobi, Kenya);
Nov 17, 2015.


See more usage examples of licit in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from
themselves. -James Matthew Barrie, author (9 May 1860-1937)


	*****May 11, 2016*****
cunctator : a procrastinator; delayer; 
                "Are you ready?" "Yes, I am!" Gorik would answer, even if he wasn't quite ready, which happened often, since he was a sleepyhead and a "cunctator," that is, a "procrastinator," as his father said.
                Yury Trifonov, translated by David Lowe, Disappearance, 1991
            
Cognitive :   adj. 1. Relating to the process of acquiring knowledge by the use of reasoning, intuition, or perception. 2. Having a basis in or reducible to empirical factual knowledge. "A Cognitive model for success." 

Urbane : : notably polite or polished in manner; Deirdre was an urbane and sociable party guest who could seamlessly transition from one conversation to the next.
malediction : (noun) The calling down of a curse.; imprecation; They muttered maledictions and curses, but we ignored them. 

peccable : adjective: Imperfect; flawed; capable of sinning.
; "We picked up a Peugeot 406 automatic at Toulouse airport. I approached
the glossy woman at the airport desk and announced in extremely peccable
French: 'The car is here, brothel-owning lady, for us.'"
Mark Dapin; Lost in France; The Times (London, UK); Aug 21, 2004.


See more usage examples of peccable in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The higher up you go, the more mistakes you are allowed. Right at the top,
if you make enough of them, it's considered to be your style. -Fred
Astaire, dancer, actor, singer, musician, and choreographer (10 May
1899-1987)


	*****May 12, 2016*****
eldritch : eerie; weird; spooky; 
                We boys used to overrun the place, and I can still recall my youthful terror not only at the morbid strangeness of this sinister vegetation, but at the eldritch atmosphere and odor of the dilapidated house, whose unlocked front door was often entered in quest of shudders.
                H. P. Lovecraft, "The Shunned House," Weird Tales, October 1937
            
Pensive :   adj. Deeply, often wistfully or dreamily thoughtful. Expressive of melancholy thoughtfulness. "She was feeling pensive after seeing an old boyfriend." 

Palooka : 1 : an inexperienced or incompetent boxer  ; "The boxing audiences loved him…. Though often reckless, Mickey was never a palooka and learned from every opponent he faced." — Tom Fox, Hidden History of the Irish of New Jersey, 2011
interlanguage : (noun) A common language used by speakers of different languages.; lingua franca, koine; Koine Greek was the interlanguage of the empire of Alexander the Great and was widely spoken throughout the eastern Mediterranean. 

clement : adjective: Mild; gentle; lenient.
; "When the alpine grasses go brown, when the frosts hit, when the snow
flies, the elk have got to come down from these highlands and all the
others to find more clement conditions."
David Quammen; Into the Backcountry; National Geographic (Washington, DC);
May 2016.


See more usage examples of clement in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad. -Salvador
Dali, painter (11 May 1904-1989)


	*****May 13, 2016*****
obviate : to anticipate and prevent or eliminate (difficulties, disadvantage..; 
                Well, sir, to obviate the inquiries which would inevitably be set on foot, should Mr Fink-Nottle not present himself at Deverill Hall this evening, it would appear to be essential that a substitute, purporting to be Mr Fink-Nottle, should take his place.
                P. G. Wodehouse, The Mating Season, 1949
            
Auspicious :   adj. Marked by success; prosperous. Suggesting a positive and successful future. "An auspicious time to purchase the stock." 

Fauve : 1 : of or relating to painters practicing fauvism; "Fauve colors brought sizzle back to tableware, but could you really eat off a Rorschach of orange, black and pink?" — Julie V. Iovine, The New York Times Magazine, 14 Mar. 1993
multifarious : (adjective) Having great variety; diverse.; multifaceted, many-sided; This famous old French trading post continued to be a rallying point for a multifarious and motley population. 

effable : adjective: Capable of being expressed.
; "The humanities, whose products are necessarily less tangible and effable
than their science and engineering peers (and less readily yoked to the
needs of the corporate world), have been an easy target for this sprawling
new management class."
Alex Preston; The War Against Humanities at Britain's Universities;
The Observer (London, UK); Mar 30, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: I do not torture animals, and I do not support the torture of animals, such
as that which goes on at rodeos: cowardly men in big hats abusing simple
beasts in a fruitless search for manhood. -George Carlin, comedian, actor,
and author (12 May 1937-2008)


	*****May 14, 2016*****
trophic : of or relating to nutrition; concerned in nutritive processes; 
                He charted the foraging grounds, the potential nest holes, the roosts and flyways across the valley; he identified the mated pairs within the flock and noted the species' strong affinity for wax palms ... and surmised a trophic relationship.
                Ben Fountain, "Near-Extinct Birds of the Central Cordillera," Brief Encounters with Che Guevara, 2006
            
Visceral :   adj. 1. Instinctual: proceeding from instinct rather than from reasoned thinking or intellect. "A visceral business decision." 2. Emotional: characterized by or showing crude or elemental emotions. 

Venerate : 1 : to regard with reverential respect or with admiring deference; "In William Shakespeare's classic, the Romans venerate their leader, but Brutus sees that Julius Caesar may be too powerful for the good of the nation." — Chris Kocher, The Star-Gazette (Elmira, New York), 10 Mar. 2016
tyro : (noun) A beginner in learning something.; beginner, initiate, novice; I once heard a pirate swear, but his best efforts would have seemed like those of a tyro alongside of Perry's masterful and scientific imprecations. 

scrutable : adjective: Capable of being understood.
; "In fact, that's the great irony of the court's decision: By ruling that
Google had to alter its 'memories' for some, it essentially ruled that
it should become less scrutable and less transparent for others."
Caitlin Dewey; Europe's Highest Court Says People Have 'the Right to Be
Forgotten'; The Washington Post; May 13, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: The Panama Canal was dug with a microscope. -Ronald Ross, doctor and Nobel
Prize laureate (13 May 1857-1932) [alluding to the research done to get rid
of the mosquito (details)]


	*****May 15, 2016*****
forthwith : immediately; at once; without delay: Any official accused of dis..; 
                Jurgis would clap him upon the back, in his hearty way, crying "Come now, brother, give us a tune." And then Tamoszius' face would light up and he would get out his fiddle, tuck it under his chin, and play. And forthwith the soul of him would flame up and become eloquent ...
                Upton Sinclair, The Jungle, 1906
            
Gregarious :   adj. 1. Seeking and enjoying the company of others; sociable. "She is a gregarious, outgoing person." 

Subpoena : : a writ commanding a person designated in it to appear in court under a penalty for failure; Subpoenas have been issued to several of the defendant's family members ordering that they testify at trial.
cumulonimbus : (noun) An extremely dense, vertically developed cumulus with a relatively hazy outline and a glaciated top extending to great heights, usually producing heavy rains, thunderstorms, or hailstorms.; thundercloud; The cumulonimbus looming above our heads did not bode well for the future of our barbecue. 

scrutable : adjective: Capable of being understood.
; "In fact, that's the great irony of the court's decision: By ruling that
Google had to alter its 'memories' for some, it essentially ruled that
it should become less scrutable and less transparent for others."
Caitlin Dewey; Europe's Highest Court Says People Have 'the Right to Be
Forgotten'; The Washington Post; May 13, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: The Panama Canal was dug with a microscope. -Ronald Ross, doctor and Nobel
Prize laureate (13 May 1857-1932) [alluding to the research done to get rid
of the mosquito (details)]


	*****May 16, 2016*****
gaucherie : lack of social grace, sensitivity, or acuteness; awkwardness; cr..; 
                ... talking of his brother, and lamenting the extreme gaucherie which he really believed kept him from mixing in proper society, he candidly and generously attributed it much less to any natural deficiency, than to the misfortune of a private education ...
                Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, 1811
            
Capricious :   adj.   Characterized by or subject to whim; impulsive and unpredictable. "He's such a capricious boss I never know how he'll react." 

Eminently : : to a high degree : very; The candidate is so eminently qualified that it is difficult to imagine why she would not get the position.
pressmark : (noun) A mark consisting of characters written on a book; used to indicate shelf location.; call number, call mark; Long days spent examining pressmarks had taken a toll on the librarian's eyes. 

scrutable : adjective: Capable of being understood.
; "In fact, that's the great irony of the court's decision: By ruling that
Google had to alter its 'memories' for some, it essentially ruled that
it should become less scrutable and less transparent for others."
Caitlin Dewey; Europe's Highest Court Says People Have 'the Right to Be
Forgotten'; The Washington Post; May 13, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: The Panama Canal was dug with a microscope. -Ronald Ross, doctor and Nobel
Prize laureate (13 May 1857-1932) [alluding to the research done to get rid
of the mosquito (details)]


	*****May 17, 2016*****
botryoidal : Mineralogy. having the form of a bunch of grapes: botryoidal he..; 
                After I spent enough time touching and moving around the most fascinating stones (botryoidal limonites, that is, resembling bunches of grapes, drab pitch-black or brown uranites, inflatable vermiculites that scale away and buckle when exposed to heat, milk white nephrites with the same name as the disease ...), often I would leave for the entire afternoon ...
                Michel Butor, translated by Dominic Di Bernardi, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ape, 1995
            
Dogmatic :   adj. 1. Expressing rigid opinions; Prone to expressing strongly held beliefs and opinions. "A dogmatic speech." 2. Asserting opinions in a doctrinaire or arrogant manner; opinionated. 

Quincunx : : an arrangement of five things in a square or rectangle with one at each corner and one in the middle; The sculptures in the square were arranged in a quincunx with the outer ones marking the perimeter and the middle one serving as the centerpiece.
pinnace : (noun) A light boat propelled by sails or oars, formerly used as a tender for merchant and war vessels.; ship's boat, cutter, tender; Seated upon the projection formed by the hull of the pinnace, I inhaled the salt breeze with delight. 

factious : adjective: Divisive; seditious; relating to or arising from faction.
; "The agreement last month of Syria's traditionally factious and fractious
three million Kurds to put aside their differences and form the Kurdish
National Council has alarmed neighbouring Turkey."
Jonathan Manthorpe; Arab Spring Awakens Kurdish Dreams of Autonomy;
The Vancouver Sun (Canada); Aug 3, 2012.


See more usage examples of factious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I want people to talk to one another no matter what their difference of
opinion might be. -Studs Terkel, author and broadcaster (16 May 1912-2008)


	*****May 18, 2016*****
panjandrum : a self-important or pretentious official; 
                Dr. Samuel Johnson, the great panjandrum of late eighteenth-century English letters, once said to James Boswell, his biographer: "I am willing to love all mankind except an American." That remark was made in 1778. It came at a time when many Englishmen were naturally inclined to deplore our revolutionary ways.
                Charles Poore, "Books of the Times," New York Times, June 19, 1958
            
Myriad :   adj.   Constituting a very large, indefinite number; innumerable: "The myriad snowflakes in the winter." 

Hector : 1 : to play the bully : swagger; The judge sternly ordered the attorney to stop hectoring the witness.
mettlesome : (adjective) Full of mettle; spirited and plucky.; spirited, game, gritty, spunky; Joe, being a mettlesome fellow, returned the stranger's angry glance with a steady look. 

repudiate : verb tr.: To reject, refuse, or disown.
; "Callers repudiated the new tax but most also took the Senate to task for
its factious role in delaying the legislation."
Patrick Conlon; Public Opinion; The Globe and Mail (Canada); Apr 1, 1991.


See more usage examples of repudiate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: A change in perspective is worth 80 IQ points. -Alan Kay, computer
scientist (b. 17 May 1940)


	*****May 19, 2016*****
embonpoint : excessive plumpness; stoutness; 
                An embonpoint that was just sufficient to distinguish her from most of her companions, a fine colour, brilliant eyes, a sweet smile, rich hair, and such feet and hands as Sir George Templemore had, somehow--he scarcely knew how, himself--fancied could only belong to the daughters of peers and princes, rendered Grace so strikingly attractive this evening, that the young baronet began to think her even handsomer than her cousin.
                James Fenimore Cooper, Home as Found, 1838
            
Ephemeral :   adj. 1. Lasting for a markedly brief time: "The ephemeral nature of fashion trends." 2. Living or lasting only for a day, as with certain plants or insects. 

Nomenclature : 1 : name, designation; "Most Americans are aware of differences in nomenclature between British and American English, e.g. flat versus apartment, lift versus elevator, petrol versus gasoline." — Sara Boyett, The Silver City (New Mexico) Daily Press & Independent, 31 Mar. 2016
fecund : (adjective) Marked by intellectual productivity.; prolific, fertile; He had a fecund imagination and wrote four novels in two years. 

blandishment : noun: Something (action, speech, etc.) designed to flatter, coax, or influence.
; "The House should take the opportunity to demonstrate that it isn't really
susceptible to the blandishments of a special interest and repudiate the
bill."
Big Bucks for Billboards; The Post and Courier (Charleston, South Carolina);
Feb 5, 2006.


See more usage examples of blandishment in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to
think sanely under the influence of a great fear. -Bertrand Russell,
philosopher, mathematician, author, Nobel laureate (18 May 1872-1970)


	*****May 20, 2016*****
furphy : Australian. a false report; rumor; 
                The furphy is we're heading to Siam, but if you believed every bloody furphy we've been told, we'd've been home a dozen times by now.
                Mark Dapin, Spirit House, 2011
            
Plethora :   n. A superabundance; an excessive amount or number: "Upon returning from the trip, she had a plethora of calls to make." 

Ramshackle : 1 : appearing ready to collapse : rickety; The yard was sectioned off by a ramshackle wooden fence that was just barely held together with chicken wire.
cowpuncher : (noun) A hired hand who tends cattle and performs other duties on horseback.; cattleman, cowboy, cowhand, cowherd, cowman, cowpoke; The only time the cowpuncher was not on horseback was when he was repairing the fence around the estate. 

ignominious : adjective: Deserving or causing disgrace or shame.
; "Bureaucratic, hand-typed, without puffery or blandishment, they may be the
most ignominious documents in the Jews' 4,000-year history.
They are four sheets of paper dated Sep 15, 1935, signed by Adolf Hitler,
that legally excluded Jews from German life and set the groundwork for
exterminating them from Europe."
Daniel B. Wood; Some Dark Words of History Come to Light;
The Christian Science Monitor (Boston, Massachusetts); Jul 1, 1999.


See more usage examples of ignominious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Humankind is made up of two sexes, women and men. Is it possible for
humankind to grow by the improvement of only one part while the other part
is ignored? -Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder and the first president of
Turkey (19 May 1881-1938)


	*****May 21, 2016*****
inspissate : to thicken, as by evaporation; make or become dense; 
                Spells were directed at the portrait and hand drums were beaten, scents of noxious herbs alight arose to inspissate the air beneath the hanging image.
                Anthony Burgess, Earthly Powers, 1980
            
Petulant; Petulance :   adj. 1. Contemptuous in speech or behavior. 2. Unreasonably irritable or ill-tempered; rude. "She was fired over her petulant attitude to our customers." 

Dally : 1 a : to act playfully; especially : to play amorously; He dithered and dallied, avoiding his work for as long as possible.
reprobate : (noun) A morally unprincipled person.; miscreant; The prison was full of notorious reprobates. 

fractious : adjective: 1. Irritable; cranky. 2. Unruly.
; "This is a tie that could bring an ignominious end to Mourinho's fractious
reign in Madrid."
Oliver Holt; Thanks to Sir Alex, Jose Will Be Judged at Old Trafford;
The Daily Mirror (London, UK); Feb 14, 2013.


See more usage examples of fractious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Power is not revealed by striking hard or often, but by striking true.
-Honore de Balzac, novelist (20 May 1799-1850)


	*****May 22, 2016*****
complaisant : inclined or disposed to please; obliging; agreeable or graciou..; 
                ... Emma was obliged, in common honesty, to stop and admit that her own behaviour to him had been so complaisant and obliging, so full of courtesy and attention, as (supposing her real motive unperceived) might warrant a man of ordinary observation and delicacy, like Mr. Elton, in fancying himself a very decided favorite.
                Jane Austen, Emma, 1815
            
Mercurial :   adj.   1. Quick and changeable in temperament; volatile: "His mercurial temperament made him difficult to work for." 

Zeroth : : being numbered zero in a series; also : of, relating to, or being a zero; "Many tall buildings lack a 13th floor, skipping from 12 to 14 to avoid that dreaded number. Most buildings—at least in the U.S.A.—also lack a zeroth floor." — Pat Murphy and Paul Doherty, Fantasy & Science Fiction, March 2005
flinders : (noun) Bits, fragments, or splinters.; slivers, splinters; The bullet blew the glass bottle into flinders. 

fractious : adjective: 1. Irritable; cranky. 2. Unruly.
; "This is a tie that could bring an ignominious end to Mourinho's fractious
reign in Madrid."
Oliver Holt; Thanks to Sir Alex, Jose Will Be Judged at Old Trafford;
The Daily Mirror (London, UK); Feb 14, 2013.


See more usage examples of fractious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Power is not revealed by striking hard or often, but by striking true.
-Honore de Balzac, novelist (20 May 1799-1850)


	*****May 23, 2016*****
dulcinea : a ladylove; sweetheart; 
                But that little song! It has all the passion of the old chivalry in it--it is only to say, 'My Dulcinea is prettier, sweeter, brighter-eyed than yours!' and the other says, 'You wait till I can get at you, and then we will see!'
                Arthur Christopher Benson, Father Payne, 1917
            
Autonomous :   adj. 1. Independent in mind or judgment; self-directed. 2. Not controlled by others or by outside forces; independent: "The business divisions operate autonomously." 

Ideate : 1 : to form an idea or conception of (something); Jocelyn used the lunch hour at the education seminar to talk with other teachers and ideate new activities to use in the classroom.
indigence : (noun) Poverty; neediness.; beggary, pauperism, penury, need; The luxury of one class is counterbalanced by the indigence of another. 

fractious : adjective: 1. Irritable; cranky. 2. Unruly.
; "This is a tie that could bring an ignominious end to Mourinho's fractious
reign in Madrid."
Oliver Holt; Thanks to Sir Alex, Jose Will Be Judged at Old Trafford;
The Daily Mirror (London, UK); Feb 14, 2013.


See more usage examples of fractious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Power is not revealed by striking hard or often, but by striking true.
-Honore de Balzac, novelist (20 May 1799-1850)


	*****May 24, 2016*****
jimjams : Slang. extreme nervousness; jitters; 
                ... by George, they give me the jim-jams and the fan-tods and caked up what brains I had, and turned them solid ...
                Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer, Detective, 1896
            
Innocuous :   adj. 1. Having no adverse effect; harmless. 2. Not likely to offend or provoke to strong emotion; insipid. "The innocuous looking e-mail actually contained a virus." 

Litotes : : understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary; "Vacationing in the Caribbean wasn't a total drag," said Sheila with her characteristic flair for litotes.
promulgate : (verb) To make known (a decree, for example) by public declaration; announce officially.; exclaim, proclaim; Where is the staircase from which Charles VI promulgated his edict of pardon? 

senescence : noun: The process or the state of growing old.
; "It's delightful to know that as we old-timers pass into senescence,
our rivers will be in capable hands."
Willem Lange; A Gathering of Wilderness Paddlers; Valley News
(White River Junction, Vermont); Mar 8, 2016.


See more usage examples of senescence in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it. -Margaret
Fuller, author (23 May 1810-1850)


	*****May 25, 2016*****
gormless : Chiefly British Informal. lacking in vitality or intelligence; st..; 
                She was clearly a gormless girl, and just as clearly an ideal match for his gormless grandson.
                Tom Sharpe, The Throwback, 1978
            
Feckless :   adj. 1. Careless and irresponsible. "The kids were feckless during spring break." 2. Lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or ineffective - unlikely to be successful. "It was a feckless attempt to make the company a success." 

Stolid : : having or expressing little or no sensibility : unemotional; The stolid detective spoke to the witness in a precise, unequivocal manner.
ramose : (adjective) Having many branches.; branching; The ramose tree sheltered us from the blistering sun. 

tromometer : noun: An instrument for detecting or measuring faint tremors caused by an earthquake.
; "A tromometer being perfectly at rest whilst a heavy gale was blowing
round the observatory shows that the connection between two sets of
phenomena is not so close as might at first be supposed."
John Milne; Seismology; Cambridge; 1898. 

Thought For The Day: A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night,
and in between he does what he wants to do. -Bob Dylan, singer-songwriter
(b. 24 May 1941)


	*****May 26, 2016*****
hypnagogic : of or relating to drowsiness; 
                I was tired; I think I had fallen into that half-waking state which psychologists call hypnagogic; what I was chiefly aware of as I walked was a series of mental images of unusual vividness.
                Michael Innes, There Came Both Mist and Snow, 1940
            
Sanguine :   adj. Cheerfully optimistic, hopeful, or confident: "A sanguine disposition;" "Sanguine expectations." 

Jeopardize : : to expose to danger or risk : imperil; Jerry was warned that a continued decrease in his sales performance could jeopardize his chances for a promotion.
escarp : (noun) A steep artificial slope in front of a fortification.; protective embankment; Instead of trying to breach the escarp, the army encircled the fortress, planning to starve out the inhabitants above. 

happenchance : noun: A chance occurrence.
adjective: Resulting from chance.
; "Whether this came from happenchance or a carefully crafted winning
formula is not clear."
Richard Kitheka; Author Jackie Collins Revealed Hollywood Decadence
to World; Daily Nation (Nairobi, Kenya); Oct 9, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: What's madness but nobility of soul at odds with circumstance? -Theodore
Roethke, poet (25 May 1908-1963)


	*****May 27, 2016*****
zoogenic : produced or caused by animals; 
                Phytogenic erosion includes soil destruction caused by roots. ... Zoogenic erosion is [a] different situation in which animals destroy the soil when searching for food, moving ..., or excavating their hiding places on the surface and under the ground.
                Dusan Zacahr, Soil Erosion, 1982
            
Anecdotal :   adj.  Based on casual observations or indications rather than rigorous or scientific analysis: "There is anecdotal evidence that the stock will soon double in price." 

Milquetoast : : a timid, meek, or unassertive person; Brian was such a milquetoast that he agreed to work extra hours on Sunday even though he had already told his boss that he needed that day off.
phlegmatic : (adjective) Having or suggesting a calm, sluggish temperament; unemotional.; indifferent, cold, heavy, dull, stoical, bovine, apathetic, frigid, lymphatic, listless, impassive, stolid, unfeeling, undemonstrative; No sign of astonishment appeared on Emil's phlegmatic face. 

natant : adjective: Swimming or floating.
; "Perhaps no other athlete has been under more pressure to perform at these
Games than Freeman. Not Marion Jones in her pursuit of five gold medals.
Not Ian Thorpe, the 17-year-old swimming prodigy or any of his natant mates."
Fran Blinebury; 2000 Sydney Olympic Games; Houston Chronicle; Sep 25, 2000. 

Thought For The Day: Historians tell the story of the past, novelists the story of the present.
-Edmond de Goncourt, writer, critic, and publisher (26 May 1822-1896)


	*****May 28, 2016*****
fard : Archaic. to apply cosmetics to (the face); 
                ... he frisles and he fards, / He oynts, he bathes, his visage he regards ...
                Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas, translated by Thomas Hudson, The Historie of Judith, 1584
            
Furtive :   adj. 1. Marked by quiet, caution or secrecy; taking pains to avoid being observed. "A furtive kiss." 2. Characterized by stealth; surreptitious. "A furtive attempt to take control of the business." 

Aureate : 1 : of a golden color or brilliance; The poems display the writer's mastery of both colloquial and aureate diction.
epicure : (noun) A person devoted to refined sensuous enjoyment (especially good food and drink).; gastronome, bon vivant, foodie, gourmet; He fancied himself an epicure and dined out at the finest restaurants every night. 

succus : noun: Juice; fluid.
; "For this reason, the extract and succus are usually prepared during the
months of September and October."
Hugh Chisholm; Encyclopedia Britannica; 1922.


See more usage examples of succus in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: There are those who say to you -- we are rushing this issue of civil
rights. I say we are 172 years late. -Hubert Humphrey, US Vice President
(27 May 1911-1978)


	*****May 29, 2016*****
colophon : a publisher's or printer's distinctive emblem, used as an identif..; 
                Sixty years is a ripe age for any trademark, but the people at the National Biscuit Co. boast that their 60-year-old symbol traces its line to prehistoric times. ... A bibliophile by avocation, he [A. W. Green, the corporation's first chairman] came across it in an old book depicting this fifteenth-century colophon (a device placed at the end of a book or manuscript) of the Society of Printers in Venice.
                , "The Story Behind Nabisco," Changing Times, February, 1960
            
Extemporaneous :   adj. 1. Unrehearsed.  Done or said without advance preparation or thought; impromptu. 2. Prepared in advance but delivered without notes or text: "An extemporaneous speech." 

Foozle : : to manage or play awkwardly : bungle; After the receiver foozled the catch, the kicking team recovered the ball at the opponent's 10-yard line.
touchstone : (noun) A basis for comparison; a reference point against which other things can be evaluated.; criterion, standard, measure; You appear to me to be the very touchstone of responsibility. 

succus : noun: Juice; fluid.
; "For this reason, the extract and succus are usually prepared during the
months of September and October."
Hugh Chisholm; Encyclopedia Britannica; 1922.


See more usage examples of succus in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: There are those who say to you -- we are rushing this issue of civil
rights. I say we are 172 years late. -Hubert Humphrey, US Vice President
(27 May 1911-1978)


	*****May 30, 2016*****
metanoia : a profound, usually spiritual, transformation; conversion; 
                "Turn," let us not forget, is the word Tolkien uses for the moment of change in fairy-stories, the moment of becoming. It is reversal, metanoia, felt before the mind can grasp it, before the apprehension of the happy ending and the consolation.
                Verlyn Flieger, Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World, 2002
            
Synergism :   n. Interaction of discrete agencies or conditions where the total effect is greater than the sum of the individual parts. "The directors saw considerable synergism in the business merger." (also Synergy). 

Ken : 1 a : the range of vision; The author advised the aspiring writers in the crowd to develop an authoritative voice by sticking to subjects within their ken.
roustabout : (noun) A member of a ship's crew who performs manual labor.; deckhand; He worked as a roustabout on the Mississippi from the time he was a boy. 

succus : noun: Juice; fluid.
; "For this reason, the extract and succus are usually prepared during the
months of September and October."
Hugh Chisholm; Encyclopedia Britannica; 1922.


See more usage examples of succus in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: There are those who say to you -- we are rushing this issue of civil
rights. I say we are 172 years late. -Hubert Humphrey, US Vice President
(27 May 1911-1978)


	*****May 31, 2016*****
doughty : steadfastly courageous and resolute; valiant; 
                ... shall he be well spoken of, as he was a doughty man.
                Euripides (c. 484 BC - 406 BC), translated by Theodore Alois Buckley, Heracleidae, 1854
            
Haughty :   adj. Condescending: behaving in a superior, condescending, or arrogant way. "He always seemed haughty in company meetings." 

Cavalier : 1 : debonair  ; Miranda has a cavalier attitude when it comes to spending money.
billfold : (noun) A pocket-size case for holding papers and paper money.; wallet, notecase, pocketbook; The thief was at the bar, eyeing the patrons' billfolds and gauging their levels of intoxication. 

nitty-gritty : noun: The essential, practical, or most important details.
; "Boyce Chait, 84, and his wife Evelyn, 80, live in New Jersey. They demanded
   but were refused a refund after their $34,995 mentorship [program offered by
   Trump 'University'] proved, Boyce says, 'to be worth nothing. When it came
   to the nitty-gritty, there was nothing there.'
   Nonetheless, Boyce said he and his wife would still 'vote for Trump over
   Hillary Clinton,' because they are members of the Tea Party."
   Steven Brill; What the Legal Battle Over Trump University Reveals About
   Its Founder; Time (New York); Nov 5, 2015.
   Also see this.


See more usage examples of nitty-gritty in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Speculation is perfectly all right, but if you stay there you've only
founded a superstition. If you test it, you've started a science. -Hal
Clement, science fiction author (30 May 1922-2003)


	*****June 01, 2016*****
mugwump : a person who is unable to make up his or her mind on an issue, esp..; 
                I was very anxious to keep him in his place, but at first I could not think of any way to help him, for I was a mugwump. We, the mugwumps, a little company made up of the unenslaved of both parties, the very best men to be found in the two great parties--that was our idea of it--voted sixty thousand strong for Mr. Cleveland in New York and elected him.
                Mark Twain, "Chapters from My Autobiography.--VII," North American Review, December 7, 1906
            
Prolific :   adj. Productive: Producing abundant works or results. "A prolific artist." "A prolific writer." 

Tousle : : to make untidy : dishevel, rumple; The cats got into a loud scuffle, tousling the clean sheets that Hugh had just put on the bed.
rivulet : (noun) A small brook or stream.; rill, runnel, streamlet, run; A tiny rivulet of cold water trickled outward from the opening. 

blag : verb tr.: To obtain something by guile; to cheat, rob, snatch, steal, scam, or beg.
noun: A robbery, con, or theft.
; "This ability to blag people into believing he [Trump] was a commercial genius
was most vividly illustrated in a helicopter ride we took over New York."
Selina Scott; The Comb-Over Creep Who Hates Women; Daily Mail (London, UK);
Jan 31, 2016. 

Thought For The Day: I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.
-Walt Whitman, poet (31 May 1819-1892)


	*****June 02, 2016*****
tickety-boo : Chiefly British Informal. fine; OK; 
                "Yes, yes--I'm tickety-boo, just tickety-boo." This was nothing short of the truth. Mr. Edward Trencom, the proprietor of Trencoms--the tenth generation of the family to occupy this position--was in the finest possible fettle.
                Giles Milton, Edward Trencom's Nose: A Novel of History, Dark Intrigue, and Cheese, 2007
            
Extrapolate :   v.tr. To infer or estimate by extending or projecting known information. "He extrapolated the historical data to determine the projected outcome." 

Exemplary : 1 : deserving imitation especially because of excellence : commendable; Members of the community who have demonstrated exemplary public service will be honored at the ceremony.
viscus : (noun) A main organ that is situated inside the body.; internal organ; The doctor showed the students a detailed model of the viscus and explained its many functions. 

fetid : adjective: Having a strong unpleasant odor.
; "The more Trump ratchets up the demented rhetoric, the higher his polls go,
so he is content to ride the fetid wave of a campaign based chiefly on
blind bigotry and unapologetic stupidity."
Trump's Latest Bigotry is Pure Fantasy. But it Works; Star-Ledger (Newark,
New Jersey); Nov 23, 2015.
(WebCite)


See more usage examples of fetid in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: A career is wonderful, but you can't curl up with it on a cold night.
-Marilyn Monroe, actress (1 Jun 1926-1962)


	*****June 03, 2016*****
Pierian : of or relating to poetry or poetic inspiration; 
                And the fellow of this verse terminated like myself in 'boots.'--Other efforts were equally successful--'bloom' suggested to my imagination no rhyme but 'perfume'!--'despair' only reminded me of my 'hair'--and 'hope' was met, at the end of the second verse, by the inharmonious antithesis of 'soap.' Finding, therefore, that my forte was not in the Pierian line, I redoubled my attention to my dress …
                Edward Bulwer Lytton, Pelham, 1828
            
Avarice :   n. Immoderate desire, greed for wealth: an unreasonably strong desire to obtain and keep money. "His life was consumed by ambition and avarice." 

Cadence : 1 a : a rhythmic sequence or flow of sounds in language; Stephanie relaxed at the beach, listening to the cadence of the surf.
decollete : (adjective) Cut low at the neckline.; low-cut, low-necked; She wore a decollete dress that many of the guests deemed inappropriately revealing. 

prowess : noun: Superior skill, ability, strength, etc.
; "[Trump] liked to brag about his sexual prowess and his desirability
as a date, no matter who was around."
Michael Barbaro & Megan Twohey; Crossing the Line: Trump's Private
Conduct With Women; The New York Times; May 15, 2016.
(WebCite)


See more usage examples of prowess in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: If Galileo had said in verse that the world moved, the Inquisition might
have let him alone. -Thomas Hardy, novelist and poet (2 Jun 1840-1928)


	*****June 04, 2016*****
olykoek : Hudson Valley: Older Use. doughnut; 
                Such heaped up platters of cakes of various and almost indescribable kinds, known only to experienced Dutch housewives! There was the doughty doughnut, the tender olykoek, and the crisp and crumbling cruller …
                Washington Irving, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," The Sketch Book, 1820
            
Specificity :   n. 1. The condition or state of being specific rather than general. "His input added a desirable note of specificity to the discussion." 

Jubilate : : to rejoice; The crowd jubilated as the baserunner slid across home plate with the winning run.
hydrophyte : (noun) A plant adapted to grow in water.; aquatic plant; Water lilies and other hydrophytes dotted the surface of the lake. 

condign : adjective: Well-deserved, appropriate.
; "Were [Trump] to be nominated, conservatives would have two tasks. One would
be to help him lose 50 states -- condign punishment for his comprehensive
disdain for conservative essentials, including the manners and grace that
should lubricate the nation's civic life."
George F. Will; If Trump is Nominated, the GOP Must Keep Him Out of the
White House; The Washington Post; Apr 29, 2016.
(WebCite)


See more usage examples of condign in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: 'Writing' is the Latin of our times. The modern language of the people is
video and sound. -Lawrence Lessig, professor and political activist (b. 3
Jun 1961)


	*****June 05, 2016*****
natatorium : a swimming pool, especially one that is indoors; 
                "I wondered which you'd rather see first," explained his escort; "the art gallery or the natatorium. I'm afraid you'll get tired before you've seen everything." "Suppose we begin with the art gallery," said he. "There's not much to see in a swimming pool."
                Upton Sinclair, The Metropolis, 1908
            
Precipitous :   adj. Done rashly: acting too quickly and without sufficient thought. "Excessive spending caused the precipitous demise of the company." 

Ablution : 1 : the washing of one's body or part of it (as in a religious rite); Francis awakened at dawn and performed his ablutions. 
inebriety : (noun) A temporary state resulting from excessive consumption of alcohol.; drunkenness, tipsiness, intoxication; He was a man who would have made a success of life a century and a half ago when conversation was a passport to good company and inebriety no bar. 

condign : adjective: Well-deserved, appropriate.
; "Were [Trump] to be nominated, conservatives would have two tasks. One would
be to help him lose 50 states -- condign punishment for his comprehensive
disdain for conservative essentials, including the manners and grace that
should lubricate the nation's civic life."
George F. Will; If Trump is Nominated, the GOP Must Keep Him Out of the
White House; The Washington Post; Apr 29, 2016.
(WebCite)


See more usage examples of condign in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: 'Writing' is the Latin of our times. The modern language of the people is
video and sound. -Lawrence Lessig, professor and political activist (b. 3
Jun 1961)


	*****June 06, 2016*****
villatic : of or relating to the country or to a farm; rural; 
                … And as an evening dragon came, / Assailant on the perched roosts / And nests in order ranged / Of tame villatic fowl …
                John Milton, Samson Agonistes, 1671
            
Hubris :   n. 1. Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance. 2. A strong belief in a person's own importance. "He was disciplined for his hubris." 

Lucid : 1 a : suffused with light : luminous; "The sound swelled and enveloped us, and indeed it was like laughter, waves upon waves of … lucid laughter…." — Anne Rice, Memnoch the Devil, 1995
engram : (noun) A physical alteration thought to occur in living neural tissue in response to stimuli, posited as an explanation for memory.; memory trace; The neuroscientist likened engrams in neural tissue to data on the hard drive of a computer. 

condign : adjective: Well-deserved, appropriate.
; "Were [Trump] to be nominated, conservatives would have two tasks. One would
be to help him lose 50 states -- condign punishment for his comprehensive
disdain for conservative essentials, including the manners and grace that
should lubricate the nation's civic life."
George F. Will; If Trump is Nominated, the GOP Must Keep Him Out of the
White House; The Washington Post; Apr 29, 2016.
(WebCite)


See more usage examples of condign in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: 'Writing' is the Latin of our times. The modern language of the people is
video and sound. -Lawrence Lessig, professor and political activist (b. 3
Jun 1961)


	*****June 07, 2016*****
gegenschein : Astronomy. a faint, elliptical patch of light in the night sky..; 
                At first it seems imaginary, a haze against the sky, hard to make out with all the stellar objects clamoring for attention, but as the night progresses you will see it is a faint disk. It is called the gegenschein, the counterglow.
                Andrew Sean Greer, The Path of Minor Planets, 2001
            
Systemic :   adj. Relating to or common to a system. A problem, risk, or change that is a basic one, experienced by the whole of a system or organization and not just particular parts of it. "The systemic risks of the investment." 

Welter : 1 a : writhe, toss; also : wallow; "As debris weltered in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, the landfill company River Birch Inc. used helicopter tours to argue against the government's reopening of Old Gentilly Landfill in eastern New Orleans." — Richard Rainey, NOLA.com, 5 June 2011
cataplasm : (noun) A medical dressing consisting of a soft heated mass of meal or clay that is spread on a cloth and applied to the skin to treat inflamed areas or improve circulation etc.; poultice, plaster; In an effort to reduce the inflammation, they wrapped the horse's leg in a cataplasm made of leaves. 

ingenuous : adjective: Guileless; innocent; frank; naive.
; "Clementine is an ingenuous third-grader with a good heart and a particular
talent for finding herself in trouble."
Sarah Hunter; Ramona Quimby's Cousins; The Booklist (Chicago); Jul 2014.


See more usage examples of ingenuous in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Fearing no insult, asking for no crown, receive with indifference both
flattery and slander, and do not argue with a fool. -Aleksandr Pushkin,
poet, novelist, and playwright (6 Jun 1799-1837)


	*****June 08, 2016*****
comity : mutual courtesy; civility; 
                To this serene, this lovely state of being / within this comity of citizens, / joined in good faith, this dwelling-place so sweet …
                Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), translated by Mark Musa, The Divine Comedy: Paradise, 1984
            
Supercilious :   adj. 1. Full of contempt and arrogance. 2. Behaving as if or showing that a person thinks they are better than other people, and that their opinions, beliefs or ideas are not important, condescending. "He spoke in a haughty, supercilious voice." 

Nescience : : lack of knowledge or awareness : ignorance; "Fallacious statements, which I will be generous and attribute to nescience and not to deliberate equivocation, include the following examples…." — H. B. "Bud" Thompson, The Fresno (California) Bee, 26 Sept. 2009
ennui : (noun) Listlessness and dissatisfaction resulting from lack of interest; boredom.; boredom, tedium; On rainy days, of which we have had a good many of late, it is quite painful to witness his ennui. 

specious : adjective: Superficially true, but actually wrong.
; "As always, exchange officials will make the final judgment and, we assume,
reject specious claims."
Health Care Caricature; The New York Times; Mar 22, 2014.


See more usage examples of specious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: There is always something to do. There are hungry people to feed, naked
people to clothe, sick people to comfort and make well. And while I don't
expect you to save the world, I do think it's not asking too much for you
to love those with whom you sleep, share the happiness of those whom you
call friend, engage those among you who are visionary, and remove from your
life those who offer you depression, despair, and disrespect. -Nikki
Giovanni, poet and professor (b. 7 Jun 1943)


	*****June 09, 2016*****
onomatopoeia : the formation of a word, as cuckoo, meow, honk, or boom, by i..; 
                … lyric poetry relies on imagery, as well as on the aural effects of onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance, and consonance that enhance content and please the ear.
                Susan Ioannou, "Know Your Critics," Holding True: Essays on Being a Writer, 2010
            
Garish :   adj. 1. Marked by strident color or excessive ornamentation; gaudy. 2. Loud and flashy. "Garish makeup." 

Ululate : : howl, wail; "Millions of pop culture devotees weep and ululate over the death of David Bowie. His passing is noteworthy, given his significant celebrity profile, but I shall miss [journalist] George Jonas' contributions more." — Randall Bell, letter in The National Post (Canada), 13 Jan. 2016
threnody : (noun) A poem or song of mourning or lamentation.; coronach, dirge, requiem, lament; He had made all the plans for his funeral, choosing and purchasing a casket and even selecting the threnody he wanted played. 

purblind : adjective:
1. Partially blind.
2. Lacking in understanding, insight, or vision.
; "Robots themselves cannot see very well. And people are understandably
wary of purblind contraptions bumping into them willy-nilly in the
street or at home."
Eye Robot; The Economist (London, UK); Oct 23, 2010.

"The Administration had wanted to arm, and a purblind Congress wouldn't
vote the money."
Upton Sinclair; A World to Win; Viking; 1946.


See more usage examples of purblind in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The true birthplace is that wherein for the first time one looks
intelligently upon oneself; my first homelands have been books, and to a
lesser degree schools. -Marguerite Yourcenar, novelist (8 Jun 1903-1987)


	*****June 10, 2016*****
heuristic : encouraging a person to learn, discover, understand, or solve pr..; 
                Not least, the rigidity of the dictation has also been the subject of long arguments over its heuristic value as a learning method.
                Lilia Blaise, "In Paris Suburbs, Adopting a Dreaded School Test as a Tool of Integration," New York Times, May 11, 2016
            
Exponential :   adj. Characterized by an extremely rapid increase (as in size or extent). "The company enjoyed an exponential growth rate." 

Passel : : a large number or amount; When problems at the printing plant caused a delay in delivery of the newspaper, Rebecca was tasked with handling the passel of complaints from angry subscribers.
camarilla : (noun) A group of confidential, often scheming advisers.; cabal, faction, junto; The people thought the war was for a righteous cause, but in truth, it was the brainchild of a greedy camarilla that hoped to profit from it. 

feisty : adjective:
1. Spirited; full of courage, spunk, or energy.
2. Touchy, irritable, or ill-tempered.
; "When did our national temperament get so feisty, so pugnacious?"
Jim Coyle; Sorry, Canadians Just Aren't So Nice Anymore; The Toronto Star
(Canada); May 29, 2016.


See more usage examples of feisty in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Ethics, decency, and morality are the real soldiers. -Kiran Bedi, police
officer and social activist (b. 9 Jun 1949)


	*****June 11, 2016*****
slyboots : an engagingly sly or mischievous person; 
                … even though he never said a word, he had more than one trick up his sleeve, the old slyboots.
                Emmanuel Carrère, translated by Linda Coverdale, A Russian Novel, 2010
            
Benevolent :   adj. 1. Charitable: performing good or charitable acts and not seeking to make a profit. 2. Characterized by or suggestive of doing good; showing kindness or goodwill. 

Semelparous : : reproducing or breeding only once in a lifetime; The article's author is a scientist who spent years studying semelparous butterflies.
stymie : (verb) Hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of.; blockade, obstruct, embarrass, hinder; He worked to improve his athletic skills, but his weak knees stymied his progress at every turn. 

officious : adjective:
1. Excessively eager in offering unwanted or unneeded advice or help.
2. Acting in pompous or domineering manner, especially in trivial matters.
; "Zimmerman, wearing a banker's collar and projecting an officious air into
the room, continued."
Sonia Smith; Unfriendly Climate; Texas Monthly (Austin); May 2016.


See more usage examples of officious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: [Destroying rain forest for economic gain] is like burning a Renaissance
painting to cook a meal. -E.O. Wilson, biologist, naturalist, and author
(b. 10 Jun 1929)


	*****June 12, 2016*****
terraqueous : consisting of land and water, as the earth; 
                Sometimes I believe that this less material life is our truer life, and that our vain presence on this terraqueous globe is itself the secondary or merely virtual phenomenon.
                H. P. Lovecraft, "Beyond the Wall of Sleep," Pine Cones, October 1919
            
Pervasive :   adj. Having the quality or tendency to pervade or permeate. "The pervasive odor of garlic." 

Renovate : 1 : to restore to a former better state (as by cleaning, repairing, or rebuilding); "… society gains nothing whilst a man, not himself renovated, attempts to renovate things around him: he has become tediously good in some particular, but negligent or narrow in the rest…." — Ralph Waldo Emerson, "New England Reformers," 3 Mar. 1844
timbre : (noun) The combination of qualities of a sound that distinguishes it from other sounds of the same pitch and volume.; tone, quality; The timbre of her soprano was rich and lovely. 

officious : adjective:
1. Excessively eager in offering unwanted or unneeded advice or help.
2. Acting in pompous or domineering manner, especially in trivial matters.
; "Zimmerman, wearing a banker's collar and projecting an officious air into
the room, continued."
Sonia Smith; Unfriendly Climate; Texas Monthly (Austin); May 2016.


See more usage examples of officious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: [Destroying rain forest for economic gain] is like burning a Renaissance
painting to cook a meal. -E.O. Wilson, biologist, naturalist, and author
(b. 10 Jun 1929)


	*****June 13, 2016*****
overslaugh : to pass over or disregard (a person) by giving a promotion, pos..; 
                … General Stark, a former British officer who had been overslaughed for promotion and now took handsome revenge …
                Robert Graves, Sergeant Lamb's America, 1940
            
Divisive :   adj. Creating dissension or discord; Causing disagreement or hostility within a group so that it is likely to split. "Divisive politics." 

Quaff : : to drink deeply; The kids thoroughly enjoyed running a lemonade stand for the day, and weren't bothered in the least by the paltry profits that always result when the proprietors quaff most of the product.
fetor : (noun) An offensive odor; a stench.; malodor, reek, stench, stink, mephitis; He waited in the basement, trying to ignore the moldy fetor that permeated the air. 

officious : adjective:
1. Excessively eager in offering unwanted or unneeded advice or help.
2. Acting in pompous or domineering manner, especially in trivial matters.
; "Zimmerman, wearing a banker's collar and projecting an officious air into
the room, continued."
Sonia Smith; Unfriendly Climate; Texas Monthly (Austin); May 2016.


See more usage examples of officious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: [Destroying rain forest for economic gain] is like burning a Renaissance
painting to cook a meal. -E.O. Wilson, biologist, naturalist, and author
(b. 10 Jun 1929)


	*****June 14, 2016*****
paranymph : a groomsman or a bridesmaid; 
                The bridegroom is shaved by his paranymph or groom's man, in a very grave and dignified manner, in the presence of all the young ladies invited.
                Elizabeth Gaskell, "Modern Greek Songs," Household Words, February 25, 1854
            
Demure :   adj. 1. Modest and reserved in manner or behavior. "Despite her demure appearance, she is an accomplished mountain climber." 

Tocsin : 1 : an alarm bell or the ringing of it; A coalition of parents was sounding the tocsin for the school music program—if voters didn't approve a tax increase, the program was sure to be axed.
antechamber : (noun) A smaller room serving as an entryway into a larger room.; foyer, lobby, vestibule, hall, anteroom, entrance hall; He led the way across the hall, through the common drawing-room and one useless antechamber, into a room magnificent both in size and furniture. 

hugger-mugger : noun: 1. Confusion. 2. Secrecy.
adjective: 1. Confused. 2. Secret.
verb tr., intr.: To keep secret or act in a secretive manner.
adverb: 1. Secretly. 2. Confusingly.
; "The ancient mud-brick flanks of the Red Fort rose from a hugger-mugger
of chai stalls, around which cycle rickshaws and tuk-tuks jockeyed for
a functionally useless position."
Will Self; Real Meals; New Statesman (London, UK); Jan 22, 2016.

"Mark Rylance [is] a Russian spy at the center of all the Cold War
hugger-mugger in 'Bridge of Spies'."
Steven Rea; So, Who Did Get the Nod?; Philadelphia Daily News
(Pennsylvania); Jan 15, 2016.


See more usage examples of hugger-mugger in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with
ourselves we make poetry. -William Butler Yeats, writer, Nobel laureate (13
Jun 1865-1939)


	*****June 15, 2016*****
vexillology : the study of flags; 
                Our kid, sprawled on the floor with an old encyclopedia, just like I'd done, but our kid wouldn't be alone, I'd be sprawled next to him. Aiding him in his budding vexillology, which sounds less like a study of flags than a study in annoyance, which would have suited my father's attitude toward me.
                Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl, 2012
            
Acrimonious :   adj. 1. Bitter and sharp in language or tone; rancorous: "An acrimonious debate between the two candidates." 

Obtuse : 1 a : not pointed or acute : blunt; "A wrinkled brow or wrinkled nose in response to someone volunteering life-changing news, imbued with hope for change, is the domain of the ignorant, the determinedly obtuse or the bigot." — Nicky Clark, The Independent (London), 8 Mar. 2016
enervating : (adjective) Causing debilitation.; debilitative, enfeebling, weakening; The air of the place, so fresh in the spring and early summer, was stagnant and enervating now. 

argle-bargle : noun:
1. A vigorous discussion or noisy dispute.
2. Nonsense.
; "We have already decided on that, so let me have no argle-bargle from you!"
Georgette Heyer; The Toll-Gate; William Heinemann; 1954.

"This week's big business argle-bargle is the decision whether or not to
bail out Bombardier."
Brendan McAleer; Ski-Doos Live on Even as Company Crumbles; North Shore
News (North Vancouver, Canada); Feb 19, 2016.


See more usage examples of argle-bargle in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself now, I'm basically the same. The temperament is not that different. -Donald Trump, Republican Party's nominee for US president (b. 14 Jun 1946)
Reference: 1, 2


	*****June 16, 2016*****
iatrogenic : (of a medical disorder) caused by the diagnosis, manner, or tre..; 
                Time was, doctors could safely communicate among themselves by leaving messages written in Greek and Latin in the patient's charts, and iatrogenic--doctor-produced--disorders and nosocomial--hospital-produced--infections were very common.
                Richard Dooling, Critical Care, 1992
            
Intrepid :   adj. 1. Resolutely courageous; fearless. Persistent in the pursuit of something. "A team of intrepid explorers." 

Verdure : 1 : the greenness of growing vegetation; also : such vegetation itself; "All right, I have to admit it. It's stunning. Even though the summer drought has leached the verdure from the grand, sweeping lawns." — Zofia Smardz, The Washington Post, 24 Oct. 2007
myelinated : (adjective) Covered with a layer of myelin.; medullated; The medical textbook had a detailed diagram of myelinated nerve fibers. 

hoity-toity : adjective: Haughty; pretentious; huffy.
; "Now, Liz lives in a very hoity-toity part of town and rubs shoulders with
the rich and famous."
Marla Jo Fisher; Frumpy Middle-Aged Mom; McClatchy-Tribune News Service
(Washington, DC); Feb 15, 2016.


See more usage examples of hoity-toity in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Of all nature's gifts to the human race, what is sweeter to a man than his
children? -Marcus Tullius Cicero, statesman, orator, writer (106-43 BCE)


	*****June 17, 2016*****
cater-cousin : an intimate friend; 
                His master and he, saving your worship's reverence, are scarce catercousins.
                William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, 1600
            
Obtuse :   adj. 1. Lacking quickness of perception or intellect. 2. Characterized by a lack of intelligence or sensitivity. "An obtuse remark." 3. Not distinctly felt. "An obtuse pain." 

MacGuffin : : an object, event, or character in a film or story that serves to set and keep the plot in motion despite usually lacking intrinsic importance; The missing document is the MacGuffin that brings the two main characters together, but the real story centers on their tumultuous relationship.
polliwog : (noun) A larval frog or toad.; tadpole; The boy found it hard to believe that this tiny, legless polliwog would someday sprout limbs and hop away a fully formed frog. 

tussie-mussie : noun: A small bouquet of flowers. Also known as a posy or a nosegay.
; "There were several tussie-mussies on display in the Mixsell House parlor,
each with a card indicating the message such a bouquet would have sent."
Christy Potter; Love in the Time of Cholera; Morning Call (Allentown,
Pennsylvania); Feb 14, 2016. 

Thought For The Day: H. sapiens is the species that invents symbols in which to invest passion
and authority, then forgets that symbols are inventions. -Joyce Carol
Oates, writer (b. 16 Jun 1938)


	*****June 18, 2016*****
alliaceous : having the odor or taste of garlic, onion, etc; 
                Officially, asafetida is "a gum resin with an alliaceous odor." That's putting it mildly; in my lifetime I have eaten onions, garlic, wild leeks, scallions, and such, but the odor from the bag of asafetida made all other smells I have ever encountered absolute aromas and fragrant attars.
                Harry Botsford, "Rigorous Remedies," The Rotarian, July 1957
            
Guile :   n. Treacherous cunning; skillful deceit. Particular skill and cleverness in tricking or deceiving people. "Considerable guile was involved in the transaction." 

Benign : 1 : of a gentle disposition : gracious; "No doubt the history of this genial, white-haired American emigre was benign, but, still, I remember wondering about his real story, as distinct from the one he was telling me." — Chris Jones, The Chicago Tribune, 29 July 2013
clairvoyant : (adjective) Having the supposed power to see objects or events that cannot be perceived by the senses.; precognitive, second-sighted; An advertisement marked "fortune-teller" listed the abilities of a supposedly clairvoyant woman. 

hurly-burly : noun: Disorder; confusion; commotion; uproar.
adjective: Characterized by disorder, confusion, commotion, uproar, etc.
; "You won't have a minute to spare as you find yourself caught up in the
hurly-burly of a sporting and social event."
Golden Rules of Successful Punting at the Cheltenham Festival; Beverley
Guardian (Driffield, UK); Feb 29, 2016.


See more usage examples of hurly-burly in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The ultimate sense of security will be when we come to recognize that we
are all part of one human race. Our primary allegiance is to the human race
and not to one particular color or border. I think the sooner we renounce
the sanctity of these many identities and try to identify ourselves with
the human race the sooner we will get a better world and a safer world.
-Mohamed ElBaradei, diplomat, Nobel laureate (b. 17 Jun 1942)


	*****June 19, 2016*****
jamboree : a carousal; any noisy merrymaking; 
                At an outdoor jamboree in Kansas, they listened to the fiddlers and banjo players and watched the people of all ages dancing the Virginia reel and waltzing to "The Blue Danube."
                Linda Bruckheimer, Dreaming Southern, 1999
            
Precarious :   adj. 1. Dangerously lacking in security or stability: "The precarious life of an undercover cop." 2. Subject to chance or unknown conditions. 3. Based on uncertain, unwarranted, or unproved premises. "A precarious solution to a difficult problem." 

Kvell : : to be extraordinarily proud : rejoice; Critics kvelled over the violinist's triumphant return to the stage where she had made her debut many years ago.
overtone : (noun) An ulterior, usually implicit meaning or quality; an implication or a hint. Often used in the plural.; connotation, hint, implication, undercurrent, intimation; There were overtones of discontent in his speech. 

hurly-burly : noun: Disorder; confusion; commotion; uproar.
adjective: Characterized by disorder, confusion, commotion, uproar, etc.
; "You won't have a minute to spare as you find yourself caught up in the
hurly-burly of a sporting and social event."
Golden Rules of Successful Punting at the Cheltenham Festival; Beverley
Guardian (Driffield, UK); Feb 29, 2016.


See more usage examples of hurly-burly in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The ultimate sense of security will be when we come to recognize that we
are all part of one human race. Our primary allegiance is to the human race
and not to one particular color or border. I think the sooner we renounce
the sanctity of these many identities and try to identify ourselves with
the human race the sooner we will get a better world and a safer world.
-Mohamed ElBaradei, diplomat, Nobel laureate (b. 17 Jun 1942)


	*****June 20, 2016*****
nonpareil : a person or thing having no equal; 
                The dandelion in full flower, a little sun bristling with sun-rays on the green earth, is a nonpareil, a non-such. Foolish, foolish, foolish to compare it to anything else on earth.
                D. H. Lawrence, "Reflections on the Death of a Porcupine," Reflections on the Death of a Porcupine and Other Essays, 1925
            
Assiduous :   adj. 1. Constant in application or attention; diligent: "An assiduous worker who strove for perfection." 2. Unceasing; persistent: "Assiduous cancer research." 

Dolorous : : causing, marked by, or expressing misery or grief; With his dolorous songs about hard-bitten people down on their luck, Johnny Cash garnered legions of fans across generations.
equivocate : (verb) To be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information.; prevaricate, beat around the bush, palter, tergiversate; She was known for her tendency to equivocate, and many of her friends gave up on trying to discern her true opinions. 

hurly-burly : noun: Disorder; confusion; commotion; uproar.
adjective: Characterized by disorder, confusion, commotion, uproar, etc.
; "You won't have a minute to spare as you find yourself caught up in the
hurly-burly of a sporting and social event."
Golden Rules of Successful Punting at the Cheltenham Festival; Beverley
Guardian (Driffield, UK); Feb 29, 2016.


See more usage examples of hurly-burly in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The ultimate sense of security will be when we come to recognize that we
are all part of one human race. Our primary allegiance is to the human race
and not to one particular color or border. I think the sooner we renounce
the sanctity of these many identities and try to identify ourselves with
the human race the sooner we will get a better world and a safer world.
-Mohamed ElBaradei, diplomat, Nobel laureate (b. 17 Jun 1942)


	*****June 21, 2016*****
zeitgeber : an environmental cue, as the length of daylight or the degree of..; 
                In nearly every land animal, light is the major Zeitgeber ("time giver"), with temperature a distant second.
                Richard Restak, The Brain, 1984
            
Vexatious :   adj. 1. Full of annoyance or distress; harassed. 2. Causing or creating vexation; annoying. "Her ex-husband put her in a vexatious situation." 

Heliolatry : : sun worship; Archeologists believe that the members of the ancient civilization practiced heliolatry because each temple faced east, toward the rising sun.
midden : (noun) A dunghill or refuse heap.; muckheap, muckhill, dunghill; His opponent, as proud as the rooster who is left unchallenged upon the midden, crowed away in a last long burst of quotation and deduction. 

poecilonym : noun: A synonym.
; "Billy Dorminy was perspicuous, talking about poecilonyms on television."
James Barron; A Contest Where the Competitors Flex Their Lexicons;
The New York Times; Mar 6, 2007. 

Thought For The Day: Since when do we have to agree with people to defend them from injustice?
-Lillian Hellman, playwright (20 Jun 1905-1984)


	*****June 22, 2016*****
sniglet : any word coined for something that has no specific name; 
                Author (and actor-comedian) Rich Hall defines a sniglet as "any word that doesn't appear in a dictionary but should," which makes sniglet itself a sniglet.
                Richard Lederer, The Miracle of Language, 1991
            
Pedantic :   adj. 1. Characterized by a narrow, often ostentatious concern for book learning and formal rules. "A pedantic attention to details." 

Inchoate : : being only partly in existence or operation : incipient; especially : imperfectly formed or formulated : formless, incoherent; Five years ago, the restaurant was merely an inchoate notion in Nathan's head; today it is one of the most popular eateries in the city.
airscrew : (noun) A propeller that rotates to push against air.; prop; The model airplane had an airscrew powered by a rubber band. 

nephalism : noun: Teetotalism: abstinence from alcohol.
; "Which, though not entirely teetotal, is next door to nephalism."
Jack McLean's; We'll All Be Beeping About from Bar to Bar;
The Herald (Glasgow, UK); Apr 21, 2001. 

Thought For The Day: Once you hear the details of victory, it is hard to distinguish it from a
defeat. -Jean-Paul Sartre, writer and philosopher (21 Jun 1905-1980)


	*****June 23, 2016*****
tohubohu : chaos; disorder; confusion; 
                Learn this: joy is not merely joyful; it is great. So be lovers gaily then, the devil! and marry, when you do marry, with the fever and the dizziness and the uproar and the tohubohu of happiness.
                Victor Hugo, translated by Charles E. Wilbour, Les Misérables, 1862
            
Deciduous :   adj. Not permanent or lasting; ephemeral. "The fire created a deciduous outlook for the company." 

Feign : 1 : to give a false appearance of : to induce as a false impression; "If a predator approaches the nest, the parent feigns a broken wing, often leading the predator far from the nest before bursting into flight, the injured wing suddenly fully functional." — Jan Bergstrom, The St. Cloud (Minnesota) Times, 7 May 2016
nimiety : (noun) Superfluity; excess.; excess, surplus, surplusage; After her long nap, the baby had a nimiety of energy that exhausted her parents. 

tachyphylaxis : noun: Mithridatism: Successively decreased response to a drug or a toxin over time.
; "However, tachyphylaxis and skin atrophy associated with long-term use make
steroids unsuitable for lengthy treatment."
The Psoriasis Curse; New Straits Times (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia); Mar 2, 1999. 

Thought For The Day: I feel we are all islands -- in a common sea. -Anne Morrow Lindbergh,
writer (22 Jun 1906-2001)


	*****June 24, 2016*****
rib-tickling : very amusing; funny or hilarious: a book of rib-tickling stor..; 
                Oldmixon was a rotund, hearty man, with a booming voice, red face and the habit of clapping his equals on the back and regaling them with stories that he considered rib-tickling but whose point his listeners usually failed to catch …
                James Michener, Caribbean, 1989
            
Paradigm :   n. A typical example or pattern of something; a model. "The economic paradigm was flawed." 

Genius : 1 : a single strongly marked capacity or aptitude; "An airplane mechanic in World War II, my father had a genius for anything mechanical. He would overhaul an engine at the drop of a hat." — Jack McCall, The Hartsville (Tennessee) Vidette, 28 Apr. 2016
extirpate : (verb) To destroy totally.; eradicate, exterminate, uproot; The tyrant's first order of business upon assuming power was to extirpate the vestiges of political democracy. 

nullifidian : noun: An atheist: a person who has no religious faith or belief in god(s).
adjective: Having no faith or belief.
; "Riding a backlash against centuries of Puritanism and uptight strictures,
   we've turned nullifidian."
   James Royson; On Casino Question, Let the People Decide; Toronto Star
   (Canada); Apr 23, 2013.

  "This [the Internet] is where like-minded folk of a nullifidian bent come
   together, as demonstrated by the extraordinary success of a campaign to
   raise money for Britain's first atheist advertisements."
   Jemima Lewis; Thank Heaven for a British Faith in Bet-Hedging; The Sunday
   Telegraph (London, UK); Oct 26, 2008. 

Thought For The Day: Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If
you're alive, it isn't. -Richard Bach, writer (b. 23 Jun 1936)


	*****June 25, 2016*****
Endsville : (sometimes lowercase) Slang. most wonderful or exciting: a rock ..; 
                She responded by flinging her arms around his neck. "Curtie, it'll be endsville!"
                Arthur Hailey, Hotel, 1965
            
Vernacular :   n. The language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people in a particular country or region. An idiomatic word, phrase, or expression. The idiom of a particular trade or profession: "In the legal vernacular." 

Hermetic : 1 : relating to or characterized by occultism or abstruseness : recondite; The infomercial claimed that the new containers used modern technology to guarantee a hermetic seal that would keep food fresh for months.
gamboge : (noun) A strong yellow color.; lemon yellow, maize, lemon; His blood may be gamboge yellow with green spots, for all anybody knows. 

marrowsky : noun: Spoonerism: The transposition of (usually) the initial sounds of words
producing a humorous result.
For example, "Runny Babbit" instead of "Bunny Rabbit".
; "I remember one perfect evening when my friend sparkled with quips, and
marrowskies, and anecdotes."
Vladimir Nabokov; Pale Fire; Putnam; 1962. 

Thought For The Day: History is a vast early warning system. -Norman Cousins, editor and author
(24 Jun 1915-1990)


	*****June 26, 2016*****
encephalon : Anatomy. the brain; 
                The head, though in many species very voluminous, is formed only in small part by the cranium which closely embraces the encephalon.
                Georges Cuvier, translated by Edward Griffith, The Animal Kingdom, Volume 9: The Class Reptilia, 1831
            
Accoutrement :   n. Additional items of dress or equipment, carried or worn by a person or used for a particular activity. The General dressed for battle in shining accoutrements." 

Extirpate : 1 a : to destroy completely : wipe out; "The spread of piracy has been treated more as a nuisance to be endured rather than as a deadly cancer that must be extirpated for the sake of both Somalia and the rule of law." — Tara Helfman and Dan O'Shea, Commentary, February 2011
tortuosity : (noun) The quality or condition of being tortuous; twistedness or crookedness.; crookedness, torsion, contortion; The old tree was enormous, and they built a tree house in the tortuosities of its boughs. 

marrowsky : noun: Spoonerism: The transposition of (usually) the initial sounds of words
producing a humorous result.
For example, "Runny Babbit" instead of "Bunny Rabbit".
; "I remember one perfect evening when my friend sparkled with quips, and
marrowskies, and anecdotes."
Vladimir Nabokov; Pale Fire; Putnam; 1962. 

Thought For The Day: History is a vast early warning system. -Norman Cousins, editor and author
(24 Jun 1915-1990)


	*****June 27, 2016*****
remontant : (of certain roses) blooming more than once in a season; 
                The rosarians of that time were so enthusiastic over these hybrids that they named them "perpetual." Later and more cautious rosarians have renamed this class "Remontant," meaning blooming again, as many varieties will bloom twice in a season, once in June and again in the early Fall. There are a few varieties which really deserve the name "perpetual."
                Stephen Reynolds, "June Roses Add to Garden Beauty," New York Times, May 7, 1933
            
Pervicacious :   adj. Stubborn, extremely willful, obstinate. "He became quite pervicacious in his old age." 

Jactitation : : a tossing to and fro or jerking and twitching of the body; "The effect of the first dose was most fortunate. In about ten minutes after it was swallowed, the jactitation ceased." — Edward H. Clarke, The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 16 June 1870
vapid : (adjective) Lacking taste, zest, or flavor; flat.; flavorless, insipid, savorless, bland, flat; The bar was rundown and filthy, serving vapid beer and stale peanuts. 

marrowsky : noun: Spoonerism: The transposition of (usually) the initial sounds of words
producing a humorous result.
For example, "Runny Babbit" instead of "Bunny Rabbit".
; "I remember one perfect evening when my friend sparkled with quips, and
marrowskies, and anecdotes."
Vladimir Nabokov; Pale Fire; Putnam; 1962. 

Thought For The Day: History is a vast early warning system. -Norman Cousins, editor and author
(24 Jun 1915-1990)


	*****June 28, 2016*****
transmogrify : to change in appearance or form, especially strangely or grot..; 
                How strangely can that miscreant enchanter, who is my enemy, transmogrify things to thwart me? Know, Sancho, that it is a very easy matter for necromancers to make us assume what shapes they please; and the malicious wretch who persecutes me, envying the glory I should have gained in this battle, hath doubtless metamorphosed the squadrons of the foe, into flocks of sheep …
                Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), translated by Tobias Smollett, Don Quixote, 1755
            
Oxymoron :   n.pl. A phrase in which two words of contradictory meaning are used together for special effect, for example, “wise fool” or “to make haste slowly.” 

Crackerjack : : of striking ability or excellence; She is a crackerjack athlete who excels in soccer and softball.
borecole : (noun) A hardy cabbage with coarse curly leaves that do not form a head.; kale, Brassica oleracea acephala, colewort; The aristocrats did not enjoy the health benefits of borecole because they considered it a peasant's food. 

vermeil : noun: 1. Vermilion color: bright orange-red. 2. Metal, such as silver, bronze, or copper that has been gilded.
adjective: Bright red in color.
; "What grabs your attention are the four big Chinese characters in vermeil
red."
Jurie Hwang; Keeping Hanbok Traditional But Trendy: McClatchy-Tribune
Business News (Washington, DC); Jan 19, 2011.


See more usage examples of vermeil in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: There is no greater fallacy than the belief that aims and purposes are one
thing, while methods and tactics are another. -Emma Goldman, social
activist (27 Jun 1869-1940)


	*****June 29, 2016*****
automagical : (of a usually complicated technical or computer process) done,..; 
                According to Sterling, the result "is that I no longer inventory my possessions inside my own head. They're inventoried through an automagical inventory voodoo, work done far beneath my notice by a host of machines. I no longer bother to remember where I put things."
                Marcus Boon, In Praise of Copying, 2010
            
Antithesis :   n.pl. 1. Direct contrast; opposition. 2. The direct or exact opposite. "Hope is the antithesis of despair." 

Licit : : conforming to the requirements of the law : not forbidden by law : permissible; The program subsidizes farmers growing licit crops, such as rubber, cassava, and cocoa.
philistinism : (noun) A desire for wealth and material possessions with little interest in ethical or spiritual matters.; materialism; His unabashed philistinism offended Susan, who had abandoned a lucrative business career to pursue her humanitarian interests. 

teal : noun: 1. Any of the various species of small dabbling ducks. 2. Greenish blue color.
adjective: Of greenish blue color.
; "My particular favourite combination is with a soft dull teal, which is
almost grey, but warmed through with blue-green."
Tickled Pink; The Dover Express (Dover, UK); Jun 16, 2016.


See more usage examples of teal in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness? -Jean Jacques
Rousseau, philosopher and author (28 Jun 1712-1778)


	*****June 30, 2016*****
supererogatory : going beyond the requirements of duty; 
                The manner of the Quartermaster had that air of supererogatory courtesy about it which almost invariably denotes artifice; for, while physiognomy and phrenology are but lame sciences at the best, the perhaps lead to as many false as right conclusions, we hold that there is no more infallible evidence of insincerity of purpose, short of overt acts, than a face that smiles when there is no occasion, and the tongue that is out of measure smooth.
                James Fenimore Cooper, The Pathfinder, 1840
            
Arduous :   adj. 1. Demanding great effort or labor; difficult. "An arduous undertaking."  2. Testing severely the powers of endurance; strenuous. "A long and arduous process." 

Attenuate : 1 : to make thin or slender; "… it's been well established that daily exercise such as walking for 30 minutes yields substantial health benefits and that regular physical activity attenuates the health risks associated with overweight and obesity." — Yuri Elkaim, The Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, 4 June 2016
dyspepsia : (noun) Disturbed digestion.; indigestion, upset stomach; Certain foods trigger his dyspepsia, so he makes sure to avoid them at all costs. 

ponceau : noun: A bright red color.
adjective: Of bright red color.
; "Eternal alliances which ordinarily terminate in a quarrel about the shade
of a ponceau ribbon ..."
Ouida; Beatrice Boville and Other Stories; J.B. Lippincott Company; 1905. 

Thought For The Day: Transport of the mails, transport of the human voice, transport of
flickering pictures -- in this century, as in others, our highest
accomplishments still have the single aim of bringing men together.
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author and aviator (29 Jun 1900-1944)


	*****July 01, 2016*****
towser : a big dog; 
                In the house, even on the hearth-rug before the fire, Tabby has not a moment's peace. In comes some visitor with a Towser. Tabby's back goes up, her tail dilates with anger, and she spits and strikes in great distress …
                , "Cats and Dogs," The Kingdom of Nature: An Illustrated Museum of the Animal World, edited by Mrs. Frank Leslie, 1900
            
Secular :   adj. 1. Worldly rather than spiritual. 2. Not specifically relating to religion or to a religious body. "A secular book." 

Nadir : 1 : the point of the celestial sphere that is directly opposite the zenith and vertically downward from the observer; Only once the novel's protagonist reaches her nadir does she arouse the reader's empathy, and we root for her to climb back to respectability.
gourmand : (noun) A lover of good food.; trencherman, glutton; Because he had a great appreciation for fine cuisine, the gourmand was asked to serve as a judge in the televised cooking contest. 

taupe : noun: A brownish gray, similar to the color of moleskin.
adjective: Of a brownish gray color.
; "White and taupe are ideal for any space in which you wish to create
a neutral palette or soothing atmosphere."
Cathy Hobbs; Clearing Up Gray Areas About the Use of White; Orlando
Sentinel (Florida); Jun 18, 2016.


See more usage examples of taupe in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Not that I want to be a god or a hero. Just to change into a tree, grow for
ages, not hurt anyone. -Czeslaw Milosz, poet and novelist (30 Jun
1911-2004)


	*****July 02, 2016*****
churrasco : Latin-American Cookery. meat cooked over an open fire; 
                Here gauchos in their traditional dress of baggy trousers, outsize spurs, and leather leg guards herd their cattle, sip their chimarrăo (bitter maté tea), charcoal-roast their delicious churrasco (barbecue) of beef, pork, veal, sausage, chicken, seafood, and other choice viands, stage their famous rodeos, and perform their wild and intricate dances.
                Jo Nugent, "Giant Land, Gentle People," The Rotarian, August 1987
            
Aplomb :   n.   Self-confident assurance, skill, and poise - especially in difficult or challenging circumstances. 

Qua : : in the capacity or character of : as; "Coben's novels have made him rich, but that's not what's important to him. It's sales qua sales—his statistical record—that motivates Coben, rather than the money his sales bring in." — Eric Konigsberg, The Atlantic, July/August 2007
myopia : (noun) A visual defect in which distant objects appear blurred because their images are focused in front of the retina rather than on it; nearsightedness.; nearsightedness, shortsightedness; By the time she was 30, her myopia had gotten so bad that she was declared legally blind. 

sepia : noun: 1. A reddish brown color.
2. A brown pigment originally made from the cuttlefish ink.
3. A drawing made with this pigment.
4. A monochrome photograph in this color.
adjective: Of a reddish-brown color.
; "I know it sounds strange to invoke the sepia-toned suffering of the 1930s
when we're talking about an economy that has only 5.1 percent unemployment."
Matt O'Brien; Brexit' and the Far Right's Rise in UK and Elsewhere; The
Washington Post; Jun 1, 2016.


See more usage examples of sepia in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The American who first discovered Columbus made a bad discovery. -Georg
Christoph Lichtenberg, scientist and philosopher (1 Jul 1742-1799)


	*****July 03, 2016*****
punctilio : strictness or exactness in the observance of formalities or amen..; 
                Overstrained etiquette at last gave way. It is not known who first overstepped the bounds of punctilio; but the consequences were immediate.
                O. Henry, "Past One at Rooney's," Strictly Business, 1910
            
Gratuitous :   adj. 1. Given or granted without return or recompense; unearned. 2. Unnecessary or unwarranted; unjustified: A gratuitous remark. 

Defalcation : 1 : the act or an instance of embezzling; "Early in my career, I uncovered a defalcation that resulted from one individual having too much control over the cash handling process." — James Williams, quoted in The Washington Business Journal, 30 Jan. 2015
spelldown : (noun) A contest in which you are eliminated if you fail to spell a word correctly.; spelling bee; Our school hosts a spelldown every year, but since Tom always wins, it's not very exciting. 

sepia : noun: 1. A reddish brown color.
2. A brown pigment originally made from the cuttlefish ink.
3. A drawing made with this pigment.
4. A monochrome photograph in this color.
adjective: Of a reddish-brown color.
; "I know it sounds strange to invoke the sepia-toned suffering of the 1930s
when we're talking about an economy that has only 5.1 percent unemployment."
Matt O'Brien; Brexit' and the Far Right's Rise in UK and Elsewhere; The
Washington Post; Jun 1, 2016.


See more usage examples of sepia in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The American who first discovered Columbus made a bad discovery. -Georg
Christoph Lichtenberg, scientist and philosopher (1 Jul 1742-1799)


	*****July 04, 2016*****
tourbillion : a whirlwind or something resembling a whirlwind; 
                How did it come to be suspended in the sky by some freak of electrical or gravitational vortex, sitting as a tennis ball might do upon a jet of air except on a much larger scale? Perhaps it rested upon a tourbillion of unknown energy.
                Adam Roberts, Swiftly: A Novel, 2008
            
Gratuitous :   adj. 1. Given or granted without return or recompense; unearned. 2. Unnecessary or unwarranted; unjustified: A gratuitous remark. 

Ossify : 1 : to become or change into bone or bony tissue; When a baby is born, many of the bones in its body have yet to ossify.
menage : (noun) A domestic establishment.; household; What sort of a menage is it which pays double the market price for a governess but does not keep a horse, although six miles from the station. 

sepia : noun: 1. A reddish brown color.
2. A brown pigment originally made from the cuttlefish ink.
3. A drawing made with this pigment.
4. A monochrome photograph in this color.
adjective: Of a reddish-brown color.
; "I know it sounds strange to invoke the sepia-toned suffering of the 1930s
when we're talking about an economy that has only 5.1 percent unemployment."
Matt O'Brien; Brexit' and the Far Right's Rise in UK and Elsewhere; The
Washington Post; Jun 1, 2016.


See more usage examples of sepia in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The American who first discovered Columbus made a bad discovery. -Georg
Christoph Lichtenberg, scientist and philosopher (1 Jul 1742-1799)


	*****July 05, 2016*****
egalitarian : asserting, resulting from, or characterized by belief in the e..; 
                ... Americans, in their Declaration of Independence, held out the hope of a democratic and egalitarian future. The Americans' success in gaining their independence, achieved only after eight years of exhausting and bloody warfare, would send a message to the rest of the world, changing the course of history in the process.
                Richard R. Beeman, Our Lives, Our Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor, 2013
            
Ambivalence :   n. 1. Uncertainty or indecisiveness as to which course to follow. 2. The coexistence of opposing attitudes or feelings, such as love and hate, toward a person, object, or idea. 

Yankee : 1 a : a native or inhabitant of New England; "I am an American. I was born and reared in Hartford, in the State of Connecticut…. So I am a Yankee of the Yankees…." — Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, 1889
guidepost : (noun) A rule or principle that provides guidance to appropriate behavior.; rule of thumb, guideline; His guidepost in social situations was the belief that people tend to be kind to those who are kind. 

knavery : noun: Dishonest dealing or an instance of this.
; "Each nation is fighting a righteous war, brought about by the intolerable
knavery of the other."
Kenneth Roberts; Boon Island; Doubleday; 1956.


See more usage examples of knavery in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted
and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out
soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes
may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth.
-Nathaniel Hawthorne, writer (4 Jul 1804-1864)


	*****July 06, 2016*****
orthography : the art of writing words with the proper letters, according to..; 
                ... at bottom I disrespect our orthography most heartily, and as heartily disrespect everything that has been said by anybody in defence of it. Nothing professing to be a defence of our ludicrous spellings has had any basis, so far as my observation goes, except sentimentality.
                Mark Twain, "Chapters from My Autobiography," North American Review, Volume CLXXXV, 1907
            
Causative :   adj. 1. Indicative that the subject causes an act to be performed or a condition to come into being. "A causative factor of war." 

Felicitous : 1 : very well suited or expressed : apt; The warm air and clear, dark skies made for felicitous conditions for the fireworks show.
trencherman : (noun) A hearty eater.; glutton, gourmand; The waiter set the steak down in front of the smiling trencherman who had already polished off three other entrees. 

wroth : adjective: Extremely angry.
; "The fat man was so wroth that he took a vow to live on bread and wine
till he had his vengeance."
George R. R. Martin; A Dance with Dragons; Bantam; 2011.


See more usage examples of wroth in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by
bolts of lightning. -Bill Watterson, comic strip artist (b. 5 Jul 1958)
[Calvin & Hobbes]


	*****July 07, 2016*****
skerrick : Australian. a small piece or quantity; a bit: Not even a skerrick..; 
                No skerrick of light snuck around his door and I knew he had put out his lamps and set to clean his equipment in the dark, his long hands fluttering across the blade and type bed like a blind watchmaker.
                Peter Carey, Parrot and Olivier in America, 2009
            
Progeny :   n.pl. 1. Something that originates or results from something else; outcome; issue. 2. A result of creative effort; a product. 

Negotiate : 1 : to confer with another so as to arrive at the settlement of some matter; also : to arrange for or bring about by such conferences; Our driver had lived on the island all her life, and was adept at negotiating the narrow, winding roads along the island's coast.
hautboy : (noun) A slender double-reed instrument; a woodwind with a conical bore and a double-reed mouthpiece.; oboe; What hautboys and Zamora bagpipes we shall hear, what tabors, timbrels, and rebecks! 

knar : noun: A knot on a tree or in wood.
; "When Gong Chun decided to make a teapot that resembled the knar of an old
ginkgo tree, he did it by hand."
Kuei-hsiang Lo; The Stonewares of Yixing; Hong Kong University Press; 1986. 

Thought For The Day: All the arguments to prove man's superiority cannot shatter this hard fact:
in suffering the animals are our equals. -Peter Singer, philosopher and
professor (b. 6 Jul 1946)


	*****July 08, 2016*****
velleity : a mere wish, unaccompanied by an effort to obtain it; 
                I wanted to believe Ed was free of contradictions, I wanted to believe in his massive stolidity as in a state towards which I could slumber halfheartedly should the velleity arise.
                Michael Brodsky, Detour, 2003
            
Savant :   n. A person of learning; wise or scholarly. 

commodious : (adjective) Spacious; roomy.; roomy, large, ample, spacious, expansive, capacious; The accommodations were commodious, and we had plenty of room to store our belongings. 

wrick : verb tr., intr.: To sprain or wrench.
noun: Sprain.
; "Fraulein Hunyády had wricked her ankle that afternoon when coming
down stairs."
Dennis Wheatley; The Duke de Richleau Series; Bloomsbury; 2014.


See more usage examples of wrick in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Men rarely (if ever) managed to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most
gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child. -Robert A. Heinlein,
science-fiction author (7 Jul 1907-1988)


	*****July 09, 2016*****
selenotropism : Biology. growth in response to moonlight; 
                Selenotropism of Plants. *--Ch. Musset, struck by the heliotropic movements of plants, has made some experiments on the influence of the moon. ... The bud seemed to follow the moon, and when the plants were placed at a window with a western aspect a fresh movement was seen, and this continued until the moon disappeared behind the hills.
                Edited by Frank Crisp, Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, Ser. II--Vol. III, 1883
            
Indigenous :   adj. Originating and living or occurring naturally in an area or environment. "The cactus is indigenous to Arizona." 

Lout : : an awkward brutish person; To get away from the obnoxious louts making noise in the restaurant, Jared and Fiona asked the waiter if they could be moved to another table.
swallowtail : (noun) A man's full-dress jacket with two long tapering tails at the back.; morning coat; When he decided to wear a swallowtail to his wedding, he endured some playful mockery from his groomsmen. 

gnomic : adjective:
1. Relating to a gnome (an aphorism or a pithy saying).
2. Puzzling, ambiguous, or incomprehensible yet seemingly profound.
; "Others believed that George arrived every year with a single guiding
business idea. 'Information cannot be taxed' or 'Improbability is the
river in which we fish' or some other gnomic pronouncement. One year,
the rumors ran, George uttered a single word: 'China'."
Stephen Marche; The Hunger of the Wolf; Simon & Schuster; 2015.

"Charles was finding the conversation a little gnomic. 'I'm sorry,
I don't quite get what you mean.'"
Simon Brett; The Cinderella Killer; Severn House; 2015.


See more usage examples of gnomic in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: People are like stained glass windows: they sparkle and shine when the sun
is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if
there is a light within. -Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, psychiatrist and author (8
Jul 1926-2004)


	*****July 10, 2016*****
sockdolager : Older Slang. something unusually large, heavy, etc; 
                And every second or two there'd come a glare that lit up the whitecaps for half a mile around, and you'd see the islands looking dusty through the rain, and the trees thrashing around in the wind; then comes a h-whack!--bum! bum! bumble-umble-um-bum-bum-bum-bum--and the thunder would go rumbling and grumbling away, and quit--and then rip comes another flash and another sockdolager.
                Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 1884
            
Metaphor :   n. A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate something else. Example: "She was drowning in money." 

Jovial : 1 : (capitalized Jovial) of or relating to Jove; He was fondly remembered for his jovial temperament and generosity.
debunk : (verb) To expose or ridicule the falseness, sham, or exaggerated claims of.; expose; When Rosa heard the ridiculous rumor being spread around the class, she decided to debunk the myth herself. 

gnomic : adjective:
1. Relating to a gnome (an aphorism or a pithy saying).
2. Puzzling, ambiguous, or incomprehensible yet seemingly profound.
; "Others believed that George arrived every year with a single guiding
business idea. 'Information cannot be taxed' or 'Improbability is the
river in which we fish' or some other gnomic pronouncement. One year,
the rumors ran, George uttered a single word: 'China'."
Stephen Marche; The Hunger of the Wolf; Simon & Schuster; 2015.

"Charles was finding the conversation a little gnomic. 'I'm sorry,
I don't quite get what you mean.'"
Simon Brett; The Cinderella Killer; Severn House; 2015.


See more usage examples of gnomic in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: People are like stained glass windows: they sparkle and shine when the sun
is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if
there is a light within. -Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, psychiatrist and author (8
Jul 1926-2004)


	*****July 11, 2016*****
nixie : a letter or parcel that is undeliverable by the post office because ..; 
                If the envelope of a nixie doesn't give any clue to the whereabouts of either the sender or the addressee, the letter is opened; if there's still no clue, it is just held by the Dead Letter Office.
                , Talk of the Town section, The New Yorker, August 21, 1937
            
Analogous :   adj. 1. Similar or alike in such a way as to permit the drawing of an analogy. "The brain and the Acme 1000 supercomputer are analogous to each other." 

Iconoclast : 1 : a person who destroys religious images or opposes their veneration; "Hollywood loves trotting out some irascible iconoclast who denies love's potency, only to have them felled by their own emotion like a sapling in a hurricane." — Piers Marchant, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 20 May 2016
unctuous : (adjective) Characterized by affected, exaggerated, or insincere earnestness.; oleaginous, buttery, fulsome, smarmy, oily; In David Copperfield, the unctuous Uriah Heep is notable for his cloying humility and general insincerity. 

gnomic : adjective:
1. Relating to a gnome (an aphorism or a pithy saying).
2. Puzzling, ambiguous, or incomprehensible yet seemingly profound.
; "Others believed that George arrived every year with a single guiding
business idea. 'Information cannot be taxed' or 'Improbability is the
river in which we fish' or some other gnomic pronouncement. One year,
the rumors ran, George uttered a single word: 'China'."
Stephen Marche; The Hunger of the Wolf; Simon & Schuster; 2015.

"Charles was finding the conversation a little gnomic. 'I'm sorry,
I don't quite get what you mean.'"
Simon Brett; The Cinderella Killer; Severn House; 2015.


See more usage examples of gnomic in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: People are like stained glass windows: they sparkle and shine when the sun
is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if
there is a light within. -Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, psychiatrist and author (8
Jul 1926-2004)


	*****July 12, 2016*****
tweedle : to lure by or as by music: The Pied Piper tweedled the children in..; 
                Hark, from aloft his tortur'd Cat-gut squeals, /He tickles ev'ry String, to ev'ry Note / He bends his pliant Neck, his single Eye / Twinkles with Joy, his active Stump beats Time. / Let but this subtle Artist softly touch / The trembling Chords, the faint expiring Swain / Trembles no less, and the fond yielding Maid / Is tweedled into Love.
                William Somervile, "Hobbinol, or the Rural Games, " 1740
            
Embellish :   tr.v. 1. To make beautiful, as by ornamentation; decorate. 2. To add fictitious details to exaggerate the truth: "A dramatic account that embellished the true story." 

Liminal : 1 : of or relating to a sensory threshold; "Kipling is drawn to images of his characters sitting in perilous places, because he aims to communicate a liminal anxiety about identity and imperial history." — Tom Paulin, The Times Literary Supplement, 8 Mar. 2002
contumely : (noun) A rude expression intended to offend or hurt.; insult, revilement, vilification, abuse; I can bear Dishonor, public insult, many shames, Shrill scorn, and open contumely, but he Who filches from me something that is mine ... he Perils his soul and body in the theft And dies for his small sin. 

probative : adjective: Serving to test something or providing a proof.
; "There seems to be a slight trail here, but we haven't found anything
probative yet."
Jack Phillips; Off the Deep End; Page Publishing; 2015.


See more usage examples of probative in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: We grow tyrannical fighting tyranny. The most alarming spectacle today is
not the spectacle of the atomic bomb in an unfederated world, it is the
spectacle of the Americans beginning to accept the device of loyalty oaths
and witchhunts, beginning to call anybody they don't like a Communist.
-E.B. White, writer (11 Jul 1899-1985)


	*****July 13, 2016*****
campestral : of or relating to fields or open country; 
                There was not enough Goya above stairs to satisfy us, but in the Goya room in the basement there are a series of scenes from Spanish life, mostly frolic campestral things, which he did as patterns for tapestries and which came near being enough in their way: the way of that reality which is so far from the reality of Velasquez.
                William Dean Howells, “Phases of Madrid,” North American Review, Volume CXCVI, 1912
            
Salient :   adj.  1. Strikingly conspicuous; prominent.  "A salient argument." 

Gust : : keen delight; "He was pleased to find his own importance, and he tasted the sweets of companionship with more gust than he had yet done." — Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Godolphin, 1833
vibist : (noun) A musician who plays the vibraphone.; vibraphonist; The singing group hired a vibist to spruce up one of the tracks on their latest record. 

jobbery : noun: The use of a public office for private gain.
; "Scandals about cronyism, jobbery, and the overzealous advancement of party
advantage caused deep and lasting damage."
Liam Fay; Independent TDs are Losing Their Way in a Fog of Self-Importance;
Irish Independent (Dublin); Jan 17, 2015.


See more usage examples of jobbery in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Words / as slippery as smooth grapes, / words exploding in the light / like
dormant seeds waiting / in the vaults of vocabulary, / alive again, and
giving life: / once again the heart distills them. -Pablo Neruda, poet,
diplomat, Nobel laureate (12 Jul 1904-1973)


	*****July 14, 2016*****
vox populi : the voice of the people; popular opinion; 
                Polls are certainly useful devices for plumbing the depths of the vox populi.
                James D. Williams, "Detroit News Poll Not Quite What It Seems," The Crisis, June–July 1992
            
Auspices :   n.pl. 1. With the protection or support of someone or something, especially an organization: "Financial aid is being provided under the auspices of NATO." 

Natant : : swimming or floating in water; The pond was quiet, though occasionally a fish would rise to make a little splash among the natant lily pads.
tallith : (noun) A shawl with a ritually knotted fringe at each corner; worn by Jews at morning prayer.; prayer shawl; He donned his tallith as he entered the synagogue. 

ostensible : adjective: Appearing as such; supposed.
; "Thoreau disdained his ostensible friends, once responding to a social
invitation with the words 'such are my engagements to myself, that I
dare not promise.'"
Kathryn Schulz; Pond Scum; The New Yorker; Oct 19, 2015.


See more usage examples of ostensible in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny. -Wole Soyinka,
playwright, poet, Nobel laureate (b. 13 Jul 1934)


	*****July 15, 2016*****
puissant : Literary. powerful; mighty; potent; 
                His authority held an incalculable element, precisely described as uncanny. His spirit was puissant, elemental, his activity irresistible.
                Algernon Blackwood, “The Regeneration of Lord Ernie,” Incredible Adventures, 1914
            
Episodic :   adj. Happening at irregular intervals. "He has episodic migraines." 

éclat : 1 : ostentatious display : publicity; "The … protagonist is a familiar archetype, that washed-up star who can't quite reclaim the éclat of decades past." — Kevin Zawacki, Paste, 25 Aug. 2014
tempestuous : (adjective) As if showing violent anger.; angry, furious, raging, wild; The raging sea and tempestuous winds indicated that a big storm was coming. 

fane : noun: A place of worship.
; "Here, in a fane of stone she ended her days, a shaved priestess of
a grim unloving order."
Tanith Lee; Night's Master; DAW Books; 1978. 

Thought For The Day: Literature encourages tolerance - bigots and fanatics seldom have any use
for the arts, because they're so preoccupied with their beliefs and actions
that they can't see them also as possibilities. -Northrop Frye, writer and
critic (14 Jul 1912-1991)


	*****July 16, 2016*****
animadversion : an unfavorable or censorious comment: to make animadversions..; 
                All sorts of animadversions have been thrust at the business man. We discover now, for instance, that in a group of occupational classes composed of professional, clerical, skilled labor, semi-skilled labor, business, and unskilled labor, business men know less about their schools than any class save unskilled labor, and but little more than that class.
                Calvin T. Ryan, "The Business Man and the Schools," The Rotarian, October 1929
            
Egregious :   adj. Conspicuously bad or offensive. "The judge's conduct was egregious." 

Ostracize : 1 : to exile by ostracism; Athletes who cheat risk being ostracized by their peers and colleagues—in addition to suffering professional ruin.
ridgepole : (noun) A horizontal beam at the ridge of a roof to which the rafters are attached.; rooftree; I knew a girl in Marysville who could walk the ridgepole of a roof. 

arable : adjective: Suitable for farming.
noun: Land that's suitable for farming.
; "A diet based on plants uses a sixth the arable land as a diet based
on meat, poultry, and dairy."
David Macfarlane; Are Vegans Right?; The United Church Observer
(Toronto, Canada); May 2016.


See more usage examples of arable in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Choose only one master -- Nature. -Rembrandt, painter and etcher (15 Jul
1606-1669)


	*****July 17, 2016*****
zoosemiotics : the study of the sounds and signals used in animal communicat..; 
                The basic assumption of zoosemiotics is that, in the last analysis, all animals are social beings, each species with a characteristic set of communication problems to solve.
                Thomas A. Sebeok, Perspectives in Zoosemiotics, 1972
            
Venality :   n. 1. The condition of being susceptible to bribery or corruption. 2. The use of a position of trust for dishonest gain: "The venality of a corrupt judge." 

Caesura : 1 : a break in the flow of sound usually in the middle of a line of verse; "The Anglo-Saxon idiom of Beowulf sounds particularly alien to modern ears: four stresses per line, separated in the middle by a strong pause, or caesura, with the third stress in each line alliterating with one or both of the first two." — Paul Gray, Time, 20 Mar. 2000
sinuous : (adjective) Characterized by many curves or turns; winding.; wiggly, sinuate; We tried to trace the path of the sinuous stream, but it veered and curved in every direction. 

arable : adjective: Suitable for farming.
noun: Land that's suitable for farming.
; "A diet based on plants uses a sixth the arable land as a diet based
on meat, poultry, and dairy."
David Macfarlane; Are Vegans Right?; The United Church Observer
(Toronto, Canada); May 2016.


See more usage examples of arable in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Choose only one master -- Nature. -Rembrandt, painter and etcher (15 Jul
1606-1669)


	*****July 18, 2016*****
ambrosial : exceptionally pleasing to taste or smell; especially delicious o..; 
                She thought she was possibly romanticizing the omelette--she'd been so hungry even stale bread would have tasted ambrosial.
                Freya North, Secrets, 2009
            
Voracity; Voracious :   adj. Consuming or eager to consume great amounts of food; ravenous. 2. Having or marked by an insatiable appetite for an activity or pursuit; greedy: "A voracious reader." 

Parlay : 1 : to bet in a parlay; "Leong said she parlayed a measly $5 winning ticket into her big bonanza. First she exchanged the $5 winning ticket for another that won $10, and with that she bought a $10 ticket that won $100. She decided to try her luck two more times and used the winnings to buy two $20 tickets, one of which hit the mother lode." — Megan Cerullo & Nancy Dillon, The New York Daily News, 8 June 2016
discalced : (adjective) Barefoot or wearing sandals. Used of certain religious orders.; unshod; When a procession of discalced friars passed through the doors, I wondered if I should remove my shoes. 

arable : adjective: Suitable for farming.
noun: Land that's suitable for farming.
; "A diet based on plants uses a sixth the arable land as a diet based
on meat, poultry, and dairy."
David Macfarlane; Are Vegans Right?; The United Church Observer
(Toronto, Canada); May 2016.


See more usage examples of arable in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Choose only one master -- Nature. -Rembrandt, painter and etcher (15 Jul
1606-1669)


	*****July 19, 2016*****
arrears : the state of being behind or late, especially in the fulfillment o..; 
                This was his system with his tenants: he allowed them to get into arrears, neglect their fences, reduce their stock, sell their straw, and otherwise go the wrong way,--and then, when he became short of money in consequence of this indulgence, he took the hardest measures and would listen to no appeal.
                George Eliot, Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe, 1861
            
Epochal :   adj. 1. Highly significant or important; momentous: "Epochal decisions made by the president." 2. Without parallel: "Epochal stupidity." 

Astute : 1 : having or showing shrewdness and perspicacity; The candidate made a number of astute observations about both foreign and domestic policy during the debate.
punctilious : (adjective) Strictly attentive to minute details of form in action or conduct.; meticulous; The old prince, like all fathers indeed, was exceedingly punctilious on the score of the honor and reputation of his daughters. 

shermanesque : adjective:
1. Unequivocal, especially in refusing to run for an office.
2. Brutally thorough, especially in defeating someone.
; "Justin Trudeau's Shermanesque statement -- 'Canada does not - and will
not - pay ransom to terrorists, directly or indirectly' -- is likely to
be tested the next time a Canadian is taken overseas. And it may not be
as categorical as it seems."
Andrew Cohen; Regarding Hostage-Taking, is Justin Trudeau His Father's
Son?; The Ottawa Citizen (Canada); May 4, 2016.

"After making a Shermanesque march through the Metro League, the Lakeside
boys soccer team continued to roll last night, shutting out visiting
Lakes 3-0."
Craig Smith; Lakeside Extends Win Streak; The Seattle Times; May 16, 2001. 

Thought For The Day: It is never my custom to use words lightly. If twenty-seven years in prison
have done anything to us, it was to use the silence of solitude to make us
understand how precious words are and how real speech is in its impact on
the way people live and die. -Nelson Mandela, activist, South African
president, Nobel laureate (18 Jul 1918-2013)


	*****July 20, 2016*****
doctrinaire : dogmatic about others' acceptance of one's ideas; fanatical: a..; 
                And in contrast with Austen's light touch, Eliot occasionally ran the risk of being doctrinaire--a worthwhile danger when one believes as earnestly as she did in the improving powers of literature, and the way in which a novel might change a reader's life.
                Rebecca Mead, "Without Austen, No Eliot," The New Yorker, January 28, 2013
            
Effusive :   adj.  1. Unrestrained or excessive in emotional expression; gushy: "An effusive manner." 2. Profuse; overflowing: "effusive praise." 

Raconteur : : a person who excels in telling anecdotes; A bona fide raconteur, Taylor can turn even mundane experiences into hilariously entertaining stories.
dissenter : (noun) A person who dissents from some established policy.; objector, dissident, protester, contestant; With the exception of one or two dissenters, the members agreed to the proposition. 

carpetbagger : An opportunistic outsider, especially a political candidate who contests
election in an area while having little connection to it.
; "Unlike many of the pro-establishment candidates who have spent years
in their respective districts serving residents and neighborhoods with
dedication, a number of opposition candidates are carpetbaggers, who
suddenly appeared in a district just before election time."
Not a Hard Choice; China Daily (Hong Kong); Nov 23, 2015.


See more usage examples of carpetbagger in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, "Mother, what was war?"
-Eve Merriam, poet and writer (19 Jul 1916-1992)


	*****July 21, 2016*****
Bildungsroman : a type of novel concerned with the education, development, a..; 
                Great Expectations is the only bildungsroman of its day that one may call a tragicomedy; it goes on long enough (and is written with sufficient retrospective) for Pip to learn that life is one too.
                Jerome Meckier, Dickens's Great Expectations: Misnar's Pavilion versus Cinderella, 2002
            
Opine :   v.tr.  To state as an opinion. Latin: opinari - to have an opinion. 

Winkle : 1 : (chiefly British) to displace, remove, or evict from a position; "In 1483 a new English king, Richard III, tried again to winkle Henry out of Brittany, but he found that the young man was now a significant pawn on the European chessboard." — Nigel Calder, The English Channel, 1986
telamon : (noun) A figure of a man used as a supporting pillar.; atlas; The portico of the Hermitage Museum in Russia features ten enormous telamones carved from granite. 

logrolling : noun:
1. The exchanging of favors, especially by legislators by voting for each
other's legislation.
2. A sport in which two players stand on a floating log and try to knock
each other off by spinning the log with their feet.  
; "Potential externals are identified by the supervisor and through a system
of logrolling enticed to take on the duty -- as a favour that it is
anticipated will be returned."
John Wakeford; Postgraduate Courses: What Goalposts?; The Guardian
(London, UK); Sep 17, 2002.


See more usage examples of logrolling in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The most valuable possession you can own is an open heart. The most
powerful weapon you can be is an instrument of peace. -Carlos Santana,
musician (b. 20 Jul 1947)


	*****July 22, 2016*****
megillah : Slang. a) a lengthy and tediously complicated situation or matter..; 
                "You think this will make a good book?" "Your friend Tex, you mean?" "Everything that's happening, the whole megillah. Who'd believe what's going on right this minute? ..."
                William Kennedy, Changó's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes, 2011
            
Repugnant :   adj. Arousing disgust or aversion; offensive or repulsive. 

Tactile : 1 : perceptible by touch : tangible; "The keyboard has good tactile feedback, and the touch pad is responsive without being too twitchy." — Bruce Brown, PC Magazine, 20 Feb. 2001
dieresis : (noun) A mark ( ¨ ) placed over the second of two adjacent vowels to indicate that they are to be pronounced as separate sounds rather than a diphthong, as in naďve.; umlaut; The presence of a dieresis might indicate that a word originated in a foreign language. 

dog whistle : noun: A coded message that appears innocuous to the general public,
but that has an additional interpretation meant to appeal to the
target audience, for example, to racists.

adjective: Relating to such a message.
; "In the early 1970s, 'African American' and 'welfare' were used
interchangeably and it was a well-established hallmark of dog-whistle
politics, which allowed speakers to appeal to racist beliefs without
using openly racist terms."
Michael D'Antonio; Is Donald Trump Racist? Here's What the Record Shows;
Fortune (New York); Jun 7, 2016. 

Thought For The Day: I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is
immoral is what you feel bad after. -Ernest Hemingway, author, journalist,
Nobel laureate (21 Jul 1899-1961)


	*****July 23, 2016*****
woolgathering : indulgence in idle fancies and in daydreaming; absentmindedn..; 
                The key to Jane Austen's fortune with posterity has been in part the extraordinary grace of her facility, in fact of her unconsciousness: as if ... she sometimes, over her work-basket, her tapestry flowers, in the spare, cool drawing-room of other days, fell a-musing, lapsed too metaphorically, as one may say, into wool-gathering, and her dropped stitches, of these pardonable, of these precious moments, were afterwards picked up as little touches of human truth ...
                Henry James, "The Lesson of Balzac," The Atlantic, August 1905
            
Eclectic :   adj. 1. Composed of elements drawn from various sources 2. Not following any one system, but selecting and using what are considered the best elements of all systems. "An eclectic taste in decorating; an eclectic approach to management." 

Usufruct : 1 : the legal right of using and enjoying the fruits or profits of something belonging to another; He has willed all of his property to the conservation society, though his children will retain the house as a 50-year usufruct.
recant : (verb) Formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure.; abjure, forswear, retract, resile; The dissident refused to recant and was imprisoned. 

suffrage : noun:
The right to vote; also, the exercise of such a right.
; "Victoria Claflin Woodhull, a leader in the women's suffrage movement,
was the first woman to run for the US presidency, though she couldn't
even vote for herself on election day, Nov 5, 1872."
Simon Carswell; She is a Tough Lady. She is All of Our Hero;
Irish Times (Dublin); Jun 9, 2016.


See more usage examples of suffrage in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe
free, / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. / Send these, the
homeless, tempest-tost to me, / I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
-Emma Lazarus, poet and playwright (22 Jul 1849-1887) [from a poem written
to raise funds for building the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty]


	*****July 24, 2016*****
connubial : of marriage or wedlock; matrimonial; conjugal: connubial love; 
                They loved one another. They would have children. Then let everybody and everything else fade into insignificance outside this connubial felicity.
                D. H. Lawrence, "The Blind Man," England, My England and Other Stories, 1922
            
Redact(ed) :   tr.v.  Edit something: to edit, revise, or delete content in preparation for publication. "The documents were redacted so personal information wasn't released to the public." 

Vatic : : prophetic, oracular; "Compared with [Stan] Lee's wisecracking dialogue and narrative prose, [Jack] Kirby's writing was stilted and often awkward, though at times it rose to a level of vatic poetic eloquence." — Jeet Heer, The New Republic, 7 Aug. 2015
compendium : (noun) A list or collection of various items.; collection; Aglaya's husband was to be a compendium of all the virtues, and of all success, not to speak of fabulous wealth. 

suffrage : noun:
The right to vote; also, the exercise of such a right.
; "Victoria Claflin Woodhull, a leader in the women's suffrage movement,
was the first woman to run for the US presidency, though she couldn't
even vote for herself on election day, Nov 5, 1872."
Simon Carswell; She is a Tough Lady. She is All of Our Hero;
Irish Times (Dublin); Jun 9, 2016.


See more usage examples of suffrage in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe
free, / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. / Send these, the
homeless, tempest-tost to me, / I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
-Emma Lazarus, poet and playwright (22 Jul 1849-1887) [from a poem written
to raise funds for building the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty]


	*****July 25, 2016*****
pantechnicon : a furniture van; moving van. Also called pantechnicon van; 
                On the day that the pantechnicon came, which was shortly before Easter at the beginning of April, I sat by the first fire to burn in the barn while George and Tom put the books on the shelves in the places I indicated.
                Jane Duncan, My Friends George and Tom, 1976
            
Circuitous :   adj. Being or taking a roundabout, lengthy course: "He took a circuitous route to avoid traffic." 

Simulacrum : 1 : image, representation; "Most theater shows aim to conjure a simulacrum of reality onstage." — Rohan Preston, The Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 21 Apr. 2015
skinflint : (noun) A selfish person who is unwilling to give or spend.; scrooge, churl, niggard; He had earned for himself the reputation of an awful skinflint, of a miser in the matter of living. 

suffrage : noun:
The right to vote; also, the exercise of such a right.
; "Victoria Claflin Woodhull, a leader in the women's suffrage movement,
was the first woman to run for the US presidency, though she couldn't
even vote for herself on election day, Nov 5, 1872."
Simon Carswell; She is a Tough Lady. She is All of Our Hero;
Irish Times (Dublin); Jun 9, 2016.


See more usage examples of suffrage in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe
free, / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. / Send these, the
homeless, tempest-tost to me, / I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
-Emma Lazarus, poet and playwright (22 Jul 1849-1887) [from a poem written
to raise funds for building the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty]


	*****July 26, 2016*****
chiasmus : Rhetoric. a reversal in the order of words in two otherwise paral..; 
                What Phillips likes best, however, is wordplay. Inversion, circumlocution, alliteration, assonance, chiasmus, paradox: there’s nothing he doesn’t go in for. “The unexamined life is surely worth living, but is the unlived life worth examining?”
                Joan Acocella, "This Is Your Life," The New Yorker, February 25, 2013
            
Cathartic :   adj. Producing a feeling of being purified emotionally, spiritually, or psychologically as a result of an intense emotional experience or therapeutic technique. "The strength of the movie had a cathartic effect on her." 

Berate : : to scold or condemn vehemently and at length; When her son arrived home way past curfew without so much as a phone call or text, Nancy berated him for his lack of consideration.
floorshow : (noun) A series of entertainments presented in a nightclub.; cabaret; The floorshow was spectacular and loud, and the next morning, he had a splitting headache. 

equanimous : adjective: Even-tempered: calm and composed in all circumstances.
; "AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal was seen in the war room, watching the exit
polls unfold. Though volunteers claim that he was equanimous throughout,
and so are they about winning and losing, the sheer glee is palpable."
Aradhna Wal; Door-to-Door Campaign Reaped Votes for AAP; DNA Sunday
(Mumbai, India); Feb 8, 2015.


See more usage examples of equanimous in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all the unifying agents.
Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never
without belief in a devil. -Eric Hoffer, philosopher and author (25 Jul
1902-1983) Reference


	*****July 27, 2016*****
inculcate : to implant by repeated statement or admonition; teach persistent..; 
                "Speaking of morals," said Lady Roseville, "do you not think every novel should have its distinct object, and inculcate, throughout, some one peculiar moral, such as many of Marmontel's and Miss Edgeworth's?" "No!" answered Vincent ...
                Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton, Pelham; or, Adventures of a Gentleman, 1828
            
Truncate :   tr.v. 1. To shorten or cut off. 2. To shorten (a number) by dropping one or more digits after the decimal point. 

Pidgin : : a simplified speech used for communication between people with different languages; "In his 1992 book, A History of American English, the late linguist J.L. Dillard … demonstrates that the most originally American form of English was a pidgin, originating with sailor's language. Early explorers of North America, he argues, would have used nautical pidgins and passed those on to native people." — Sarah Laskow, Atlas Obscura, 17 July 2015
befuddled : (adjective) Perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements; filled with bewilderment.; bewildered, confounded, baffled, mixed-up, bemused, lost; The audience was befuddled by the speaker's contradictory statements. 

mumpish : adjective: Sullen; silent; depressed.
; Nickie seemed a bit mumpish, possibly out of a feeling that he was being railroaded."
Peter De Vries; Comfort Me with Apples; Little, Brown; 1956. 

Thought For The Day: I have never thought much of the courage of a lion tamer. Inside the cage
he is at least safe from other men. There is not much harm in a lion. He
has no ideals, no religion, no politics, no chivalry, no gentility; in
short, no reason for destroying anything that he does not want to eat.
-George Bernard Shaw, writer, Nobel laureate (26 Jul 1856-1950)


	*****July 28, 2016*****
sonorous : rich and full in sound, as language or verse; 
                ... he could hear Spanish being spoken on the other side of the doors, not that he was listening, but the sonorous language of Cervantes penetrates everywhere.
                José Saramago, The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis, translated by Giovanni Pontiero, 1991
            
Intuitive :   adj. Known automatically: known directly and instinctively, without being discovered or consciously perceived. "He intuitively knew that one day she would become a movie star." 

Doff : 1 a : to remove (an article of wear) from the body; We'd only planned to stop briefly at the pond, but the children couldn't resist doffing their shoes and were quickly waist-deep in the cool water.
edification : (noun) Intellectual, moral, or spiritual improvement; enlightenment; He knew very well that he must tell some story this evening for the edification of the company. 

compunctious : adjective: Feeling remorse or guilt.
; "Fun often comes in the form of a compunctious husband who can't come
up with what to say on the card accompanying his floral offering of
atonement to an angry wife."
Kelly L. Brooks; Emotional Moments Bloom for Floral Designer;
Sarasota Herald Tribune (Florida); Nov 17, 2003.


See more usage examples of compunctious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: In any free society, the conflict between social conformity and individual
liberty is permanent, unresolvable, and necessary. -Kathleen Norris,
novelist and columnist (27 Jul 1880-1966)


	*****July 29, 2016*****
virgule : a short oblique stroke (/) between two words indicating that which..; 
                It can be used, of course to indicate the choices, one or more, that may "properly" fill the blank space that follows. But the virgule need not be strictly identified with a particular or exclusive binary. It can be argued that the virgule is the poststructuralist punctuation par excellence (although a strong case can be made for the hyphen), in that is can be deployed to suggest the endlessness of binariness, a serial proliferation of constrastives in horizontally endless adjacencies ...
                Virgil Lokke, "The Naming of the Virgule in the Linguistic/Extralinguistic Binary," After the Future: Postmodern Times and Places, edited by Gary Shapiro, 1990
            
Caveat :   n. 1. A warning or proviso: something said as a warning, caution, or qualification. "The agreement contains the usual caveats." 

Numinous : 1 : supernatural, mysterious; Pilgrims to the shrine spoke to the congregation about their numinous experiences.
indefatigable : (adjective) Incapable or seemingly incapable of being fatigued.; tireless, unflagging, unwearying; His indefatigable spirit helped him to cope with the illness. 

vituperative : adjective: Criticizing bitterly, scathing, abusive.
; "Korean Internet users are capable of being equally vituperative,
particularly over the disputed island of Tokto."
Richard Lloyd; McDonald's Serves Up Asian Bowing Row; The Times
(London, UK); Apr 14, 2016.


See more usage examples of vituperative in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: We are social creatures to the inmost centre of our being. The notion that
one can begin anything at all from scratch, free from the past, or
unindebted to others, could not conceivably be more wrong. -Karl Popper,
philosopher and a professor (28 Jul 1902-1994)


	*****July 30, 2016*****
skylark : to frolic; sport: The children were skylarking on the beach; 
                They began to skylark; to play with the sacred lights; to giggle when Carol was trying to make the sentimental Myrtle Cass into a humorous office-boy; to act everything but "The Girl from Kankakee."
                Sinclair Lewis, Main Street, 1920
            
Attenuate :   v. 1. To reduce in force, value, amount, or degree; weaken: "The layoffs attenuated the company's sales forecast." 

Flounder : 1 : to struggle to move or obtain footing : thrash about wildly; "The four Royal Air Force pilots ditched their broken bomber and dropped into the North Sea, near Britain. It was February 23, 1942…. Floundering in the frigid water, the pilots released their last hope: a tiny, bedraggled carrier pigeon named Winkie." — Sarah Kaplan, The Washington Post, 9 June 2016
marque : (noun) A model or brand of a manufactured product, especially an automobile.; brand, trade name; The public relations department argued that the prestige consumers associated with marque of the car was even more important than the quality of the product. 

ingenious : adjective: Clever, creative, inventive.
; "The mothers and their daughters prove to be brave, resourceful, and
remarkably ingenious at befuddling the goons."
Marilyn Stasio; Predator and Prey; New York Times Book Review; Apr 20, 2014.


See more usage examples of ingenious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I have noticed that when chickens quit quarreling over their food they
often find that there is enough for all of them I wonder if it might not be
the same with the human race. -Don Marquis, humorist and poet (29 Jul
1878-1937)


	*****July 31, 2016*****
aesthete : a person who has or professes to have refined sensitivity toward ..; 
                A fanatical aesthete to the end, Kessler never diverged from the young Nietzsche’s belief that art justifies life.
                Alex Ross, "Diary of an Aesthete," The New Yorker, April 23, 2012
            
Solicitous :   adj. 1. Marked by or given to anxious care and often hovering attentiveness. 2. Extremely careful; meticulous: "solicitous in matters of behavior." 3. Anxious or concerned: "a solicitous parent." 

Littoral : : of, relating to, or situated or growing on or near a shore especially of the sea; The report shows dramatic improvement in the condition of the state's littoral waters since the cleanup effort began.
emetic : (noun) An agent that causes vomiting.; nauseant, vomitive, vomit; She was highly allergic to dairy products; pizza gave her a stomachache, and ice cream was a virtual emetic. 

ingenious : adjective: Clever, creative, inventive.
; "The mothers and their daughters prove to be brave, resourceful, and
remarkably ingenious at befuddling the goons."
Marilyn Stasio; Predator and Prey; New York Times Book Review; Apr 20, 2014.


See more usage examples of ingenious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I have noticed that when chickens quit quarreling over their food they
often find that there is enough for all of them I wonder if it might not be
the same with the human race. -Don Marquis, humorist and poet (29 Jul
1878-1937)


	*****August 01, 2016*****
polyphonic : consisting of many voices or sounds; 
                The animals were singing. The chorus was improvised but polyphonic, true music, and in that music Amy could hear joy and longing in equal parts.
                Jincy Willett, Amy Falls Down, 2013
            
Cornucopia :   n. A large amount of something; a great supply, an abundance: "A cornucopia of employment opportunities." 

Homily : 1 : a usually short sermon; The calendar features serene photographs captioned by inspirational proverbs and homilies.
atavism : (noun) A reappearance of an earlier characteristic.; throwback, reversion; Perhaps some deep-rooted atavism urges the wanderer back to lands which his ancestors left in the dim beginnings of history. 

ingenious : adjective: Clever, creative, inventive.
; "The mothers and their daughters prove to be brave, resourceful, and
remarkably ingenious at befuddling the goons."
Marilyn Stasio; Predator and Prey; New York Times Book Review; Apr 20, 2014.


See more usage examples of ingenious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I have noticed that when chickens quit quarreling over their food they
often find that there is enough for all of them I wonder if it might not be
the same with the human race. -Don Marquis, humorist and poet (29 Jul
1878-1937)


	*****August 02, 2016*****
conciliate : to overcome the distrust or hostility of; placate; win over: to..; 
                ... I shall convince you I have not only always acted the part of a friend to the family, but am particularly willing to conciliate your lordship's goodwill.
                Maria Edgeworth, The Absentee, 1812
            
Apathetic :   adj. 1. Feeling or showing little or no emotion; unresponsive. 2. Feeling or showing a lack of interest or concern; indifferent. "He seemed very apathetic about the company's closure." 

Kerfuffle : : (chiefly British) disturbance, fuss; I didn't mean to start such a kerfuffle when I suggested that we hold the company picnic at a different location this year.
placeman : (noun) One who has a political appointment in the government.; placeseeker; They viewed the placeman as a colorless bureaucrat. 

calumniate : verb tr.: To make false statements about someone maliciously.
; "The APC demonized President Jonathan as a matter of course. They
calumniated him with the constancy of a devout man's daily prayers."
Chuks Iloegbunam; Why Fayemi Was Trashed; The Sun (Lagos, Nigeria);
Jun 25, 2014.


See more usage examples of calumniate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks. But in each event --
in the living act, the undoubted deed -- there, some unknown but still
reasoning thing puts forth the mouldings of its features from behind the
unreasoning mask. -Herman Melville, novelist and poet (1 Aug 1819-1891)


	*****August 03, 2016*****
galluses : Older Use. a pair of suspenders for trousers; 
                He wore a pale green shirt with a thin black stripe in it and blue galluses and his trousers cut across a protruding stomach that he pressed tenderly from time to time with his big flat thumb.
                Flannery O'Connor, "A Temple of the Holy Ghost," A Good Man Is Hard to Find, 1955
            
Insidious :   adj. 1. Working or spreading harmfully in a subtle or stealthy manner: insidious rumors; an insidious disease. 2. Beguiling but harmful; alluring: insidious pleasures. 

Glower : : to look or stare with sullen annoyance or anger; Kelly glowered at me after I sided with Brenda in their dispute about the chores.
asthenopia : (noun) A tiredness of the eyes caused by prolonged close work by a person with an uncorrected vision problem.; eyestrain; The jeweler developed asthenopia due to the long hours he spent fitting small clasps on thin chains. 

floccipend : verb tr.: To regard as worthless.
; "Harvey was penned off among the 'black sheep' in a profession prone to
floccipend odd locks of thought from woolly-headed thinkers."
William Thomson; Bacon and Shakespeare on Vivisection; Sands & McDougall;
1881. 

Thought For The Day: I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for
this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. -James
Baldwin, writer (2 Aug 1924-1987)


	*****August 04, 2016*****
Fletcherize : to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly; 
                ... don't choke down your food. Eat slowly. Fletcherize--chew your food, you know. I know you're nearly famished, but you must gradually accustom yourself to a proper diet.
                L. Frank Baum, Aunt Jane's Nieces Out West, 1914
            
Prognosticate :   tr.v. To predict according to present indications or signs; foretell. "The armchair quarterback tried to prognosticate the play from his recliner." 

Amity : : friendship; especially : friendly relations between nations; "Cousin friendships really are special. They provide an unmatched level of amity and support, without the rivalries that often exist between siblings." — Helaine Becker, Today's Parent, June 2006
congeries : (noun) A sum total of many heterogeneous things taken together.; conglomeration, aggregate; The top floor is devoted to the servants—a congeries of little kitchens and cubicles, used by many as lumber-rooms. 

exonerate : verb tr.:
1. To free from blame.
2. To release from a task or obligation.
; "The five teenagers spent years in prison before being exonerated."
Nicholas Kristof; Is Donald Trump a Racist; The New York Times; Jul 23, 2016.


See more usage examples of exonerate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: What a child doesn't receive he can seldom later give. -P.D. James,
novelist (3 Aug 1920-2014)


	*****August 05, 2016*****
paronomasia : Rhetoric. punning; the use of a word in different senses or th..; 
                It was between Whitefield Street and the Tottenham Court Road, in a "heavenly Mews," as he liked to call it (for he had a characteristic weakness for philosophical paronomasia) that Casimir Lypiatt lived and worked.
                Aldous Huxley, Antic Hay, 1923
            
Axiom :   n. 1. An established rule, principle, or law. 2. A self-evident or universally recognized truth; a maxim. 3. A self-evident principle or one that is accepted as true without proof as the basis for argument. 

Edify : : to instruct and improve especially in moral and religious knowledge : uplift; also : enlighten, inform; "Reading Lawrence, I am amazed and edified by the raw emotional intensity of his characters. I’m looking for ways to internalize this rich, untamed emotion and try to impart something of it to the characters who come to life in my keyboard." — A. B. Yehoshua, quoted in The New York Times Book Review, 16 June 2016
compeer : (noun) A person who is of equal standing with another in a group.; equal, peer, match; He was a motivated and slightly competitive student who worked hard to distinguish himself from his compeers. 

foozle : verb tr., intr.: To botch or bungle, especially to make a poor shot in golf.
noun: A botched attempt at something.
; "Did Butterworth foozle the case or what?"
Michael Underwood; Murder Made Absolute; Ian Henry Publications; 1975. 

Thought For The Day: America has changed over the years. But these values my grandparents taught
me -- they haven't gone anywhere. They're as strong as ever; still
cherished by people of every party, every race, every faith. They live on
in each of us. What makes us American, what makes us patriots, is what's in
here. That's what matters. And that's why we can take the food and music
and holidays and styles of other countries, and blend it into something
uniquely our own. That's why we can attract strivers and entrepreneurs from
around the globe to build new factories and create new industries here.
That's why our military can look the way it does -- every shade of
humanity, forged into common service. That's why anyone who threatens our
values, whether fascists or communists or jihadists or homegrown
demagogues, will always fail in the end. -Barack Obama, US President (b. 4
Aug 1961)  Source


	*****August 06, 2016*****
cosmopolis : an internationally important city inhabited by many different p..; 
                The streets--with their pearly awnings and gay bustle of hats and parasols--were all a-shimmer in the heat, and swarming with "foreigners," with the result that Glasgow had assumed the air of a cosmopolis, resembling, perhaps, Seville, Paris or even Naples, on a fęte day.
                Jane Harris, Gillespie and I, 2011
            
Attrition :   n. 1. A gradual, natural reduction in membership or personnel, as through retirement, resignation, or death. 2. A gradual diminution in number or strength. "The company's attrition rate was quite high." 

Kith : : familiar friends, neighbors, or relatives; "The joy of returning to kith and kin was greater than all her former joys. … Never before … had Shelby seen such an outpouring of affection." — Dorothy West, The Wedding, 1995
passementerie : (noun) Ornamental trimming for a garment, as braid, lace, or metallic beads.; trim; The passementerie on her hat was so elaborate that it made the brim droop. 

propitiate : verb tr.: To gain the favor of someone; to appease.
; "A visitor from Jupiter might surmise that this civilization is required
to bring grass sacrifices to propitiate some pastoral god."
Clay Jenkinson; Those Who Whack Weeds Are the Chosen People of God;
Bismarck Tribune (North Dakota); Jul 6, 2014.


See more usage examples of propitiate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you.
-Wendell Berry, farmer and author (b. 5 Aug 1934)


	*****August 07, 2016*****
bumptious : offensively self-assertive: a bumptious young upstart; 
                It was Offenbach's fortune to have even his most egregious effronteries rewarded. ... In other decades his daring might have been considered at least bumptious and possibly dishonorable. He might have been cast out of society and a gentler, more deferential spirit ushered in to enjoy the privileges that Offenbach now enjoyed.
                Fred Chappell, "Barcarole," More Shapes Than One, 1991
            
Tempestuous :   adj. Tumultuous; stormy: "A tempestuous relationship." 

Misanthrope : : a person who hates or distrusts humankind; "The conventional image of Groucho [Marx] was that he was on the side of the little guy, and he spoke defiantly and insolently to powerful people and wealthy people. But my feeling is that Groucho was out to deflate everybody—that he was a thoroughgoing misanthrope." — Lee Siegel, speaking on NPR, 23 Jan. 2016
husbandman : (noun) A person who operates a farm.; farmer, granger, sodbuster; The husbandman will not make his own plough or mattock, or other implements of agriculture, if they are to be good for anything. 

propitiate : verb tr.: To gain the favor of someone; to appease.
; "A visitor from Jupiter might surmise that this civilization is required
to bring grass sacrifices to propitiate some pastoral god."
Clay Jenkinson; Those Who Whack Weeds Are the Chosen People of God;
Bismarck Tribune (North Dakota); Jul 6, 2014.


See more usage examples of propitiate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you.
-Wendell Berry, farmer and author (b. 5 Aug 1934)


	*****August 08, 2016*****
spindrift : spray swept by a violent wind along the surface of the sea; 
                Spindrift blew off the waves and foam gathered in clots that rolled along the shore, full of bubbles like scalded milk.
                Keith Donohue, The Boy Who Drew Monsters, 2014
            
Enervate :   tr.v. 1. To weaken or destroy the strength or vitality. 2. Lacking physical, mental, or moral vigor. "Prolonged exposure to the sun and dehydration enervated the desert racing team." 

Devotion : 1 a : religious fervor : piety; "Intensely competitive and a gifted athlete, [Mariano]  Rivera will delight baseball fans. But the memories recounted here … ultimately reveal something deeper: Rivera's almost incredible humility, unshakeable faith, and devotion to his family (he married his childhood sweetheart, Clara)." — Publisher's Weekly Review, 12 Mar. 2014
effigy : (noun) A likeness or image, especially of a person.; simulacrum, image; The penny bears an effigy of Lincoln. 

propitiate : verb tr.: To gain the favor of someone; to appease.
; "A visitor from Jupiter might surmise that this civilization is required
to bring grass sacrifices to propitiate some pastoral god."
Clay Jenkinson; Those Who Whack Weeds Are the Chosen People of God;
Bismarck Tribune (North Dakota); Jul 6, 2014.


See more usage examples of propitiate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you.
-Wendell Berry, farmer and author (b. 5 Aug 1934)


	*****August 09, 2016*****
presentiment : a feeling or impression that something is about to happen, es..; 
                ... the good lady set that question entirely at rest, by informing them that she had a presentiment on the subject--a species of second-sight with which she had been in the habit of clinching every argument with the deceased Mr Nickleby, and in nine cases and three-quarters out of every ten, determining it the wrong way.
                Charles Dickens, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, 1839
            
Aesthetic(s) :   adj. 1. Of or concerning the appreciation of beauty or good taste. 2. Characterized by a heightened sensitivity to beauty. "The aesthetic design of the building is amazing!" 

Bogus : : not genuine : counterfeit, sham; "Any time you are provided with anything that is supposedly 'free' or 'complimentary,' including a security monitoring service for a year, when you do not actually know if your personal data has been compromised, it's likely a bogus scheme to steal your identity." — Martha R. Tromberg, The (Jackson) Florida Times-Union, 5 July 2016
complaisance : (noun) A disposition or tendency to yield to the will of others.; deference, compliancy, obligingness, compliance; He complied with her request, and answered her challenge in a large wine-cup; she then proceeded with her story, as if appeased by his complaisance. 

dabster : noun:
1. An expert.
2. A bungler.
; "She's a dabster at bow-ties! At home all the boys used to go to her
for the final touch."
Ruby Ayres; One Woman Too Many; Bloomsbury; 2011.

"No, I don't claim that, for I am not a genius; in fact, I am a very
indifferent amateur, a slouchy dabster, a mere artistic sarcasm."
Mark Twain; The American Claimant; Charles L. Webster; 1892. 

Thought For The Day: When I can look Life in the eyes, / Grown calm and very coldly wise, / Life
will have given me the Truth, / And taken in exchange---my youth. -Sara
Teasdale, poet (8 Aug 1884-1933)


	*****August 10, 2016*****
simoleon : Slang. a dollar; 
                What few people know is that Gussie had inked a Lone Star in one corner of every single simoleon. Gussie's bills turn up in the strangest places -- like Effie Sue Etheridge's garden and the effects of two teen-age runaways ...
                Kit Reed, "In Short: Fiction; The Laying Out of Gussie Hoot," New York Times, January 20, 1991
            
Nocturnal :   adj. Occurring or coming out at night: "A nocturnal lifestyle." 

Rectify : 1 : to set right : remedy; After Jennifer pointed out to the store manager that she was not charged the sale price for her purchase, he promised to rectify the situation and refund her the difference.
contraption : (noun) A device that is very useful for a particular job.; gizmo, appliance, contrivance, gadget, widget, gismo, convenience; He turned the contraption around and around in his hands, not believing that such simple, small thing could save lives. 

salad days : noun:
1. A period of youthful innocence and inexperience.
2. A period of great success: heyday.
; "The elderly gentleman couldn't help recollect the good old salad days."
Marcus Mergulhao; Percussionist Bondo in a World of His Own; The Times
of India (New Delhi); Jul 18, 2016.

"Warren Buffett is justifiably revered by investors around the world ...
Nevertheless, from my perch, Buffett's salad days seem to be over; the
only question that remains is the timing and to what degree investors
will abandon the Oracle of Omaha."
Doug Kass; Doug Kass on the Market; Wiley; 2014.


See more usage examples of salad days in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The principal goal of education in the schools should be creating men and
women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other
generations have done; men and women who are creative, inventive, and
discoverers, who can be critical and verify, and not accept, everything
they are offered. -Jean Piaget, psychologist (9 Aug 1896-1980)


	*****August 11, 2016*****
titivate : to make smart or spruce: She titivated her old dress with a new b..; 
                “Come on, lovey, just a little cup of tea and a nice piece of cake. There'll be plenty of time to titivate afterwards.” “Titivate?” Joanna said slowly as if this was some strange foreign word she had not heard before. “Titivate? What for?” [...] “I'm not going out anywhere if that's what you mean.”
                Nina Bawden, A Little Love, a Little Learning, 1965
            
Gothic :   adj.  1. Relating to an architectural style reflecting the influence of the medieval Gothic. 2. Relating to a style of fiction characterized by the use of desolate or remote settings and macabre, mysterious, or violent incidents. 

Resilience : 1 : the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress; Terry and Rayanne were proud of their daughter's resilience during her search for a summer job—after being passed over for one positon, she immediately applied to five more.
abridgment : (noun) A shortened version of a written work.; condensation, capsule; In a word, I gave him an abridgment of this whole history; I gave him a picture of my conduct for fifty years in miniature. 

depthless : adjective:
1. Immeasurably deep.
2. Shallow; superficial.
; "And then there was the ache I was feeling, intense and depthless."
Jennifer Echols; Dirty Little Secret; MTV Books; 2013.

"Many of the characters appeared depthless, as the lines were given
rather flatly."
Linda Maleh; 'Nightingale' Shows Violence of Greek Myth; The Justice
(Waltham, Massachusetts); Nov 3, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: Monsters remain human beings. In fact, to reduce them to a subhuman level
is to exonerate them of their acts of terrorism and mass murder -- just as
animals are not deemed morally responsible for killing. Insisting on the
humanity of terrorists is, in fact, critical to maintaining their profound
responsibility for the evil they commit. And, if they are human, then they
must necessarily not be treated in an inhuman fashion. You cannot lower the
moral baseline of a terrorist to the subhuman without betraying a
fundamental value. -Andrew Sullivan, writer (b. 10 Aug 1963)


	*****August 12, 2016*****
lief : gladly; willingly: I would as lief go south as not; 
                I was bashful and ungracious enough to loathe the very sound of it when I came home in my pride of youth; but i would lief hear it once more.
                Charlotte Mary Yonge, The Caged Lion, 1870
            
Erudite :   adj. Deep, extensive learning. "He has a reputation as an erudite intellectual with a deep understanding of the issues." 

Filial : 1 : of, relating to, or befitting a son or daughter; Margaret's sense of filial responsibility is only part of her motivation for carrying on her parents' business; she also loves the work.
subterfuge : (noun) Something intended to misrepresent the true nature of an activity.; blind; The manner in which he said this made Ned feel sure that Tom had had other thoughts, and that he had used a little subterfuge in his answer. 

grog : noun:
1. An alcoholic drink diluted with water.
2. A strong alcoholic drink.
; "There were discarded flasks of water and that stinking brown grog."
Raymond Dodds; Family Holiday; Xlibris; 2015.

"One of my favorite parts about cruising with the Mouse is the ship's
lack of tolerance for overindulgence in the grog. I don't believe
drunks have any business being around children. Neither does Disney."
Robert Kirby; This Kraken Has Finally Washed Ashore; The Salt Lake
Tribune (Utah); May 21, 2016.


See more usage examples of grog in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Courage without conscience is a wild beast. -Robert Green Ingersoll, lawyer
and orator (11 Aug 1833-1899)


	*****August 13, 2016*****
blandishment : something, as an action or speech, that tends to flatter, coa..; 
                This daughter or Atlas has got hold of poor unhappy Ulysses, and keeps trying by every kind of blandishment to make him forget his home, so that he is tired of life, and thinks nothing but how he may once more see the smoke of his own chimneys.
                Homer, The Odyssey, translated by Samuel Butler, 1900
            
Impugn :   tr.v. To attack as false or questionable; challenge in argument: "To impugn a political opponent's record." 

Vestige : 1 a : a trace, mark, or visible sign left by something (such as an ancient city or a condition or practice) vanished or lost; There was not a vestige of doubt in the jurors' minds that the defendant was guilty.
pedicab : (noun) A tricycle (usually propelled by pedaling); used in the Orient for transporting passengers for hire.; cycle rickshaw; Boys who once pulled rickshaws now pedal pedicabs. 

sententious : adjective:
1. Full of pithy expressions.
2. Full of pompous moralizing.
; "Sizzlingly smart and agreeably sententious, Mr. Garland's film transcends
some all-too-human imperfections with gorgeous images, astute writing, and
memorably strong performances."
Joe Morgenstern; Stylish 'Machina' Artfully Programmed for Pleasure;
The Wall Street Journal (New York); Apr 10, 2015.

"In [Walden's] first chapter, 'Economy', Thoreau lays out a program
of abstinence so thoroughgoing as to make the Dalai Lama look like a
Kardashian. (That chapter must be one of the highest barriers to entry
in the Western canon: dry, sententious, condescending, more than eighty
pages long.)"
Kathryn Schulz; Pond Scum; The New Yorker; Oct 19, 2015.


See more usage examples of sententious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: People share a common nature but are trained in gender roles. -Lillie
Devereux Blake, novelist, essayist, and reformer (12 Aug 1833-1913)


	*****August 14, 2016*****
me-tooism : the adopting of policies, methods, products, etc., similar or id..; 
                The way he sees it, over the past few years gamification has become the "it girl" of business, spawning conferences and a hefty dose of me-too-ism as some companies, eager to embrace it, tack on points or badges to just about any mundane activity to trick employees into thinking it's actually fun.
                Adam Penenberg, Play at Work: How Games Inspire Breakthrough Thinking, 2013
            
Dexterous :   adj.  Skillful in the use of the hands. Having mental skill or adroitness; clever. Done with dexterity. "A dexterous wood craftsman." 

Zest : 1 : a piece of the peel of a citrus fruit (such as an orange or lemon) used as flavoring; Healthy and active as a senior citizen, Richard had a zest for life, a desire to travel and see the world, and a perpetual interest in trying new things.
concordat : (noun) A signed written agreement between two or more parties (nations) to perform some action.; compact, covenant; The two nations were bitter enemies, but the signing of a concordat showed progress. 

sententious : adjective:
1. Full of pithy expressions.
2. Full of pompous moralizing.
; "Sizzlingly smart and agreeably sententious, Mr. Garland's film transcends
some all-too-human imperfections with gorgeous images, astute writing, and
memorably strong performances."
Joe Morgenstern; Stylish 'Machina' Artfully Programmed for Pleasure;
The Wall Street Journal (New York); Apr 10, 2015.

"In [Walden's] first chapter, 'Economy', Thoreau lays out a program
of abstinence so thoroughgoing as to make the Dalai Lama look like a
Kardashian. (That chapter must be one of the highest barriers to entry
in the Western canon: dry, sententious, condescending, more than eighty
pages long.)"
Kathryn Schulz; Pond Scum; The New Yorker; Oct 19, 2015.


See more usage examples of sententious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: People share a common nature but are trained in gender roles. -Lillie
Devereux Blake, novelist, essayist, and reformer (12 Aug 1833-1913)


	*****August 15, 2016*****
sacerdotal : of priests; priestly; 
                ... she saved enough to buy tall thick sacerdotal candles from an ecclesiastical shop in London.
                Virginia Woolf, "Miss Pryme," The Complete Shorter Fiction of Virginia Woolf, 1985
            
Eccentric :   adj.  1. Departing from a recognized, conventional, or established norm or pattern. 2. n. One that deviates markedly from an established norm, especially a person of odd or unconventional behavior. "His eccentricities now extend to never leaving his home." 

Tog : : to dress especially in fine clothing — usually used with up or out; Christine smiled as she took pictures of her teenage son, who was togged out in a tuxedo and standing next to his prom date.
cuspidor : (noun) A receptacle for spit (usually in a public place).; spittoon; Louisa was revolted when their mysterious guest coughed, spitting mucus into his already brimming cuspidor. 

sententious : adjective:
1. Full of pithy expressions.
2. Full of pompous moralizing.
; "Sizzlingly smart and agreeably sententious, Mr. Garland's film transcends
some all-too-human imperfections with gorgeous images, astute writing, and
memorably strong performances."
Joe Morgenstern; Stylish 'Machina' Artfully Programmed for Pleasure;
The Wall Street Journal (New York); Apr 10, 2015.

"In [Walden's] first chapter, 'Economy', Thoreau lays out a program
of abstinence so thoroughgoing as to make the Dalai Lama look like a
Kardashian. (That chapter must be one of the highest barriers to entry
in the Western canon: dry, sententious, condescending, more than eighty
pages long.)"
Kathryn Schulz; Pond Scum; The New Yorker; Oct 19, 2015.


See more usage examples of sententious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: People share a common nature but are trained in gender roles. -Lillie
Devereux Blake, novelist, essayist, and reformer (12 Aug 1833-1913)


	*****August 16, 2016*****
whigmaleerie : a whim; notion; 
                It tells the weird story of the Holroyds, a fun-loving family of witches and wizards who speak half-hollowly and give free reign to their every whimsical whigmaleerie.
                , "Bewitching Tale About Witches," Life, November 24, 1958
            
Monolithic :   adj. 1. Massive, solid, and uniform: "The monolithic cathedral." 2. Large and unchanging: massive, uniform in character, and slow to change. 

tremulous : (adjective) Marked by trembling, quivering, or shaking.; quavering; The moonlight on the lawn was tremulous, as if the sward were a rippling sea. 

jambalaya : noun:
1. A dish made of rice, herbs, spices, vegetables, and meat.
2. A heterogeneous mixture.
; "Troopers represented a jambalaya of race and ethnicity."
Sylvia Madsen; The Drunkard's Path; Etopia Press; 2012.


See more usage examples of jambalaya in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: There is no human being who, as a result of desiring to build a better
life, should be named or declared illegal. -Alejandro G. Iñárritu, film
director, producer, screenwriter, and composer (b. 15 Aug 1963)


	*****August 17, 2016*****
honorific : a title or term of respect; 
                In some quarters, recognition of Ms. was slow in coming. The New York Times waited until 1986 to announce that it would embrace the use of Ms. as an honorific alongside Miss and Mrs.
                Ben Zimmer, "Ms.," New York Times, October 23, 2009
            
Eponym :   n. A person whose name is or is thought to be the source of the name of something, such as a city or country. "George Washington is the eponym of Washington DC." 

Dedication : 1 : a devoting or setting aside for a particular purpose or use; "Each of my days with my children embodies my dedication when I am open to them. Sitting around our kitchen table over dinner … we are giving thanks, talking to each other, laughing…." — Kathryn Black, in The Imperfect Mom, 2006
erratum : (noun) An error in printing or writing, especially such an error noted in a list of corrections and bound into a book.; misprint, typo, literal error; Subsequent printings of the book contained an index of the errata that had been noted since the first printing. 

farraginous : adjective: Heterogeneous; having a mix of random things.
; "If at first glance the visitor mistakes this farraginous exhibition
for a Royal Antiques Roadshow, he is not far from the truth."
Brian Sewell; All the Charm of an Antiques Roadshow; Evening Standard
(London, UK); Mar 14, 2013. 

Thought For The Day: It is fortunate to be of high birth, but it is no less so to be of such
character that people do not care to know whether you are or are not. -Jean
de la Bruyere, essayist and moralist (16 Aug 1645-1696)


	*****August 18, 2016*****
mountebank : any charlatan or quack; 
                So you restored the money to the widow, publicly, of course, because you love playing to the gallery and ranting and posing, like the mountebank that you are.
                Maurice Leblanc, The Confessions of Arsčne Lupin, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, 1912
            
Clandestine :   adj. 1. Kept or done in secret, often in order to conceal an illicit or improper purpose. "The CIA maintains clandestine operations in many countries." 

Dunnage : 1 : loose materials used to support and protect cargo in a ship's hold; also : padding in a shipping container; The listed weight on the shipping order did not account for the container and dunnage.
magnanimous : (adjective) Courageously noble in mind and heart.; greathearted; Then he imagined how, after the attack, Bogdanich would come up to him as he lay wounded and would magnanimously extend the hand of reconciliation. 

kool-aid : noun:
Something accepted without question. Usually used in the phrase 
"to drink the kool-aid": to accept something unquestioningly or to 
demonstrate unquestioning loyalty.
; "Not all Shakespeare's fans are glassy-eyed kool-aid quaffers."
James Gingell; Rejecting the Cult of Bardolatry Does Not Make You
a Philistine; The Guardian (London, UK); May 20, 2016.

"[Trump's] answers -- Build a wall! Deport 11 million illegals! Make America
great again! Bomb the s--- out of ISIS! -- are so appealingly (and
appallingly) simple, it's no wonder so many people are gulping down the
Kool-Aid."
Doug Elmets; For Reagan Adviser, Voting for Hillary is an Easy Call;
The Sacramento Bee (California); Jun 9, 2016. 

Thought For The Day: I speak two languages, Body and English. -Mae West, actress, playwright,
singer, screenwriter, and comedian (17 Aug 1893-1980)


	*****August 19, 2016*****
opacus : Meteorology. (of a cloud) dense enough to obscure the sun or moon; 
                What is the cloudspotter to do when the cloud layer has grown thick enough to be of the opacus, rather than the translucidus, variety, so that it doesn't show the position of the sun or moon?
                Gavin Pretor-Pinney, The Cloudspotter's Guide: The Science, History, and Culture of Clouds, 2006
            
Diatribe :   n. 1. A bitter, sharply abusive denunciation, attack, or criticism: "Repeated diatribes against the candidates." 

Panoptic : : being or presenting a comprehensive or panoramic view; The new security cameras installed in the jewelry store capture panoptic views of the entrance and display cases.
terse : (adjective) Brief and to the point; effectively concise.; laconic, curt, crisp; The officer's orders were terse, but everyone understood his instructions. 

ragout : noun
1. A highly seasoned stew of meat, vegetables, etc.
2. A mixture of disparate elements.
; "Opera ... sensual pleasures celebrated in its rich ragout of music,
emotion, and stagecraft."
Daniel J. Wakin; Don't Sing With Your Mouth Full; The New York Times;
May 7, 2012.


See more usage examples of ragout in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: A good storyteller is the conscience-keeper of a nation. -Gulzar, poet,
lyricist, and film director (b. 18 Aug 1934)


	*****August 20, 2016*****
mesmerism : a compelling attraction; fascination; 
                There's a spell about the hand-organ and a mesmerism about spinning round and round that no youngster can resist.
                , "An Itinerant Merry-Go-Round in New York City," The Outlook, Volume 132, September–December, 1922
            
Cavernous :   adj. Resembling a cavern, as in depth, vastness, or effect: a cavernous hole; cavernous echoes. 

Fret : 1 a : to eat or gnaw into : wear, corrode; also : fray; "You shouldn't fret so much over your wardrobe," Liza said. "You look great no matter what you wear."
credenza : (noun) A buffet, sideboard, or bookcase, especially one without legs.; credence; There was no room on the dining table, so they placed the desserts on the nearby credenza and encouraged their guests to help themselves to cake. 

immolate : verb tr.: To kill or sacrifice, especially by burning.
; "Aline's burning jealousy threatens to immolate all of them."
Chris Knight; Misters Write; The Ottawa Citizen (Canada); Jul 1, 2016.


See more usage examples of immolate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: If you would be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams -- the
more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. -Robert Southey, poet (1774-1843)


	*****August 21, 2016*****
stultify : to make, or cause to appear, foolish or ridiculous; 
                I have become your poodle. You trample on my heart, you crush me, you stultify me, and I love you as I have never loved in my life.
                Honoré de Balzac, Cousin Betty, translated by James Waring, 1901
            
Homogeneous :   adj. 1. Uniform in structure or composition. 2. Of the same or similar nature or kind: "The corporation maintains tight-knit, homogeneous board members." 

ragamuffin : (noun) A shabbily clothed, dirty child.; tatterdemalion; The wealthy bachelor had pity on the ragamuffin and handed him a wad of bills, instructing him to buy himself dinner and a new coat. 

immolate : verb tr.: To kill or sacrifice, especially by burning.
; "Aline's burning jealousy threatens to immolate all of them."
Chris Knight; Misters Write; The Ottawa Citizen (Canada); Jul 1, 2016.


See more usage examples of immolate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: If you would be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams -- the
more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. -Robert Southey, poet (1774-1843)


	*****August 22, 2016*****
auriferous : yielding or containing gold; 
                Of the mineral products by far the most important is gold, and it may be conceded that this is a highly auriferous region.
                Richard Austin Freeman, Travels and Life in Ashanti and Jaman, 1898
            
Ignominious :   adj. Deserving or causing public disgrace or shame; humiliating: "An ignominious defeat." 

Hypocorism : 1 : a pet name; People began to refer to the elusive and mysterious Loch Ness monster by the hypocorism "Nessie" in the 1940s.
honky-tonk : (noun) A cheap, noisy bar or dance hall.; barrelhouse; The missionaries went to the honky-tonk on a Saturday night hoping to save souls, but they were not very successful. 

immolate : verb tr.: To kill or sacrifice, especially by burning.
; "Aline's burning jealousy threatens to immolate all of them."
Chris Knight; Misters Write; The Ottawa Citizen (Canada); Jul 1, 2016.


See more usage examples of immolate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: If you would be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams -- the
more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. -Robert Southey, poet (1774-1843)


	*****August 23, 2016*****
lucubrate : to work, write, or study laboriously, especially at night; 
                I wanted a modern outlook on architecture, a Western outlook, and I was willing to work all day and lucubrate till dawn to get it.
                T. C. Boyle, The Women, 2009
            
Temerity :   n. Excessive confidence or boldness; audacity: "No one had the temerity to question her decision." 

Lenient : 1 : exerting a soothing or easing influence : relieving pain or stress; Because Kevin didn't have any past violations on his driving record, the officer decided to be lenient and let him off with a written warning.
irk : (verb) To be irritating, wearisome, or vexing to.; gall; The sight of her gave Sheldon fresh courage, and the tedious hours of waiting did not irk him. 

estivate/aestivate : verb: To pass the summer in a dormant state.
; "Unlike aquatic species, the turtles have the ability to travel upland and
estivate for the remainder of the summer."
Marta Yamamoto; Popular Berkeley Lake Reduced to a Puddle; The Mercury News
(San Jose, California); Sep 17, 2015.


See more usage examples of estivate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The problem in our country isn't with books being banned, but with people
no longer reading. ... You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture.
Just get people to stop reading them. -Ray Bradbury, science-fiction writer
(22 Aug 1920-2012)


	*****August 24, 2016*****
venial : able to be forgiven or pardoned; not seriously wrong, as a sin (opp..; 
                Now a venial sin being the slightest and least of all sins--being halved--or, by taking either only the half of it, and leaving the rest--or, by taking it all, and amicably halving it betwixt yourself and another person--in course becomes diluted into no sin at all.
                Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Volume 4, 1761
            
Colloquialism :   n. 1. An informal word or phrase that is more common in conversation than in formal speech or writing. Colloquialisms can include words such as "gonna" and phrases such as "ain't nothin'" and "dead as a doornail." 

Journeyman : 1 : a worker who has learned a trade and works for another person usually by the day; "I started working exclusively as an actor when I was 25 years old…. I was a journeyman actor, working here and there. And I loved it." — Bryan Cranston, quoted in The Los Angeles Times, 28 Feb. 2016
odium : (noun) Strong dislike, contempt, or aversion.; abhorrence, detestation, execration, loathing, abomination; He rather deserved the odium which he had incurred. 

diurnal : adjective: 1. Of or pertaining to the daytime. 2. Occurring every day.
noun: Diary; journal; newspaper.
; "His dictionary described moths as 'nightflying butterflies' so if this
moth was diurnal, how come it was a moth and not a butterfly."
Uwe Tellkamp; The Tower; Penguin; 2014.


See more usage examples of diurnal in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: There is no such thing as a 'self-made' man. We are made up of thousands of
others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one word
of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and
of our thoughts. -George Matthew Adams, newspaper columnist (23 Aug
1878-1962)


	*****August 25, 2016*****
thrummy : of or abounding in thrums; shaggy or tufted; 
                They stood Englishly around a bandy-legged Scot with a thrummy beard.
                Guy Davenport, "A Field of Snow on a Slope of the Rosenberg," Da Vinci's Bicycle, 1979
            
Egalitarian :   adj. Affirming, promoting, or characterized by belief in equal political, economic, social, and civil rights for all people. 

Insinuate : 1 a : to introduce (as an idea) gradually or in a subtle, indirect, or covert way; "They are confident buildings, but not boastful ones. They have a way of insinuating themselves into the landscape, behaving as if they’ve always been there." — Karrie Jacobs, Architect, 18 June 2013
monomania : (noun) Pathological obsession with one idea or subject.; possession; He thought of it constantly, so that it became a monomania. 

ultimogeniture : noun:
A system of inheritance in which the youngest child inherits a title,
estate, etc.
; "Bao's mother died in a small plane crash, and Bao as the youngest daughter
had to go home and take care of the things, including possession of the
family home. Ultimogeniture in action."
Kim Stanley Robinson; Blue Mars; Bantam; 1996.


See more usage examples of ultimogeniture in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: How can you have a war on terrorism when war itself is terrorism? -Howard
Zinn, historian, playwright, and social activist (24 Aug 1922-2010)


	*****August 26, 2016*****
mirabilia : Latin. marvels; miracles; 
                ... I shall like still better to sing it with you when we meet. That that is to be so soon, and under circumstances joyful, are among the mirabilia of this changing world. To see and re-see such a cluster of not indifferent persons as the programme for the wedding gives, will be almost too large a bonne-bouche.
                , George Eliot to Sara Hennell, September 16, 1843, in George Eliot's Life as Related in Her Letters and Journals, 1885
            
Bloviate :   i.v. To speak or write at length in a pompous or boastful manner. 

Notch : 1 a : a V-shaped indentation; The angle of the futon can be adjusted by inserting the pin into one of three notches.
inglenook : (noun) A nook or corner beside an open fireplace.; chimney corner; Yet no one had retired, except the children and "old Feyther Taft," who being too deaf to catch many words, had some time ago gone back to his inglenook. 

distributary : noun:
A branch of a river that flows away from the main stream and does not rejoin
it, as in a delta.
; "[The Mekong river] cuts Cambodia in two, and then splits into
distributaries in south-western Vietnam."
Requiem for a River; The Economist (London, UK); Feb 13, 2016.


See more usage examples of distributary in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise
against, not with, the wind. -John Neal, author and critic (25 Aug
1793-1876)


	*****August 27, 2016*****
truepenny : a trusty, honest fellow; 
                Ha, ha, boy, say'st thou so, art thou there trupenny?
                William Shakespeare, Hamlet, 1604
            
Rhetorical :   adj. Of or relating to rhetoric. Characterized by language that is elaborate, pretentious, insincere, or intellectually vacuous. 

Guttural : 1 : articulated in the throat; The only response we could get from him was an inarticulate guttural grunt.
annulus : (noun) A toroidal shape.; doughnut, anchor ring, halo, ring; He was reclining on the red couch, blowing annuli of smoke that would slowly ascend and disappear into wisps. 

dissensus : noun: Widespread disagreement.
; "The incident is one illustration of the increasingly divergent views ...
'There is a growing global dissensus on drugs policy,' said Vanda
Felbab-Brown of the Brookings Institution."
John Paul Rathbone, Geoff Dyer, Jude Webber; World Split in Fight Over
Drugs; Financial Times (London, UK); Apr 19, 2016. 

Thought For The Day: In the new version of the law of supply and demand, jobs are so cheap -- as
measured by the pay -- that a worker is encouraged to take on as many of
them as she possibly can. -Barbara Ehrenreich, journalist and author (b. 26
Aug 1941)


	*****August 28, 2016*****
limacine : pertaining to or resembling a slug; sluglike; 
                A man on the downhill side of prime--limbs beginning to shrink, the limacine middle expanding, flesh disintegrating into the beard.
                John Edgar Wideman, Hurry Home, 1970
            
Transitory :   adj. 1. Not lasting, enduring, permanent, or eternal. 2.Lasting only a short time; brief; short-lived; temporary. "It was a transitory stage in the actor's career." 

Plinth : 1 : the lowest part of the base of an architectural column; An empty plinth remains where the statue of the toppled dictator once commanded.
regalia : (noun) Magnificent attire; finery.; raiment, array; He arrayed himself in the regalia of millionaires and presidents. 

dissensus : noun: Widespread disagreement.
; "The incident is one illustration of the increasingly divergent views ...
'There is a growing global dissensus on drugs policy,' said Vanda
Felbab-Brown of the Brookings Institution."
John Paul Rathbone, Geoff Dyer, Jude Webber; World Split in Fight Over
Drugs; Financial Times (London, UK); Apr 19, 2016. 

Thought For The Day: In the new version of the law of supply and demand, jobs are so cheap -- as
measured by the pay -- that a worker is encouraged to take on as many of
them as she possibly can. -Barbara Ehrenreich, journalist and author (b. 26
Aug 1941)


	*****August 29, 2016*****
kith : acquaintances, friends, neighbors, or the like; persons living in the..; 
                ... they endure hardships and privations of every kind--supported by the one thought of the day when they can return home again, and when ... they can rest from wandering, and seated amidst their kith and kind, tell of the wondrous things they have seen in their journeyings.
                Charles Lever, The Dodd Family Abroad, 1854
            
Vicarious :   adj. 1. Experienced in the imagination through the feelings or actions of another person: "A vicarious thrill." 2. Acting or done for another: "A vicarious atonement." 

Embellish : 1 : to make beautiful with ornamentation : decorate; Kevin later admitted that he may have embellished the truth about the size of the dog that chased him out of the yard.
solecism : (noun) A socially awkward or tactless act.; faux pas, gaffe, slip, gaucherie; She smiled again, turned, and walked away, leaving George to reckon up all the social solecisms he had contrived to commit in the space of a single moment. 

dissensus : noun: Widespread disagreement.
; "The incident is one illustration of the increasingly divergent views ...
'There is a growing global dissensus on drugs policy,' said Vanda
Felbab-Brown of the Brookings Institution."
John Paul Rathbone, Geoff Dyer, Jude Webber; World Split in Fight Over
Drugs; Financial Times (London, UK); Apr 19, 2016. 

Thought For The Day: In the new version of the law of supply and demand, jobs are so cheap -- as
measured by the pay -- that a worker is encouraged to take on as many of
them as she possibly can. -Barbara Ehrenreich, journalist and author (b. 26
Aug 1941)


	*****August 30, 2016*****
matriculate : to enroll in a college or university as a candidate for a degr..; 
                ... Tom Brown received a summons from the authorities, and went up to matriculate at St. Ambrose's College, Oxford ...
                Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, 1861
            
Assuage :   v. 1. To make milder or less severe; relieve; ease; mitigate: "to assuage one's pain." 2. to appease, satisfy, or relieve: "To assuage one's hunger." 3. to soothe or calm: "To assuage his fears;" "To assuage her anger." 

Rarefied : 1 : being less dense; Cartography is one of those rarefied fields at which only a select few can actually earn a living.
lentigo : (noun) A small, flat, pigmented spot on the skin.; freckle; The dermatologist advised the patient to keep an eye on the large lentigo near her lip and to alert him if there was a change in its size or shape. 

top-hat : noun:
1. A man's tall, cylindrical hat.
2. An important or high-ranking person.
; "Some understandably disgusted prominent African-American women, such as
Grace Campbell, would complain to the party top-hats."
Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr.; Is Black Literature Red-Fleshed?; New York
Amsterdam News; Aug 26, 1999.


See more usage examples of top-hat in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The mind of a bigot to the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour on it,
the more it contracts.	-Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., poet, novelist,
essayist, and physician (29 Aug 1809-1894)


	*****August 31, 2016*****
vilipend : to regard or treat as of little value or account; 
                ... instead of imitating the retired and monastic manner of his brother deceased, he became a gay visitor, and such a reveller, that in process of time he was observed to vilipend the modest fare which had at first been esteemed a banquet by his hungry appetite, and thereby highly displeased my wife ...
                Sir Walter Scott, Count Robert of Paris, 1832
            
Fastidious :   adj. 1. Very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail. 2. excessively particular, critical, or demanding; hard to please: "A fastidious eater." 3. Very concerned about matters of cleanliness. 

Collude : : conspire, plot; "Two forestry companies colluded for more than a decade to control the prices of toilet paper and other products following a meeting at a golf course to end a price war, according to Chile's competitive practices regulator." — The Observer-Dispatch (Utica, New York), 30 Oct. 2015
quietude : (noun) A state of peace and quiet.; tranquility, quietness; Who can tell how scenes of peace and quietude sink into the minds of pain-worn dwellers in close and noisy places. 

coattail : noun:
1. The long back part of a tailcoat that hangs down.
2. The success of another person or organization.
Usually used in the idiom "to ride on someone's coattails" meaning
to achieve success by association with someone successful.
; "Ted Strickland seems to be counting on riding Clinton's coattails to
victory, rather than mounting his own hard-hitting campaign."
Deirdre Shesgreen & Jessie Balmert; Portman's Union Support Raises Fears;
Cincinnati Enquirer (Ohio); Jul 27, 2016.

"Observers note that David Duke is re-emerging on the political landscape
as he senses an opportunity to ride Trump's coattails back into the
national spotlight."
Ex-Ku Klux Klan Leader to Run for US Senate; Los Angeles Times; Jul 23, 2016.


See more usage examples of coattail in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The term 'working mother' is ridiculously redundant. -Donna Reed, actress
(1921-1986)


	*****September 01, 2016*****
nodus : a difficult or intricate point, situation, plot, etc; 
                We are approaching the true nodus of our business, difficulty of difficulties ...
                Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich the Second, Called Frederick the Great, 1858–65
            
Vacillate :   v. Alternate or waver between different opinions or actions; be indecisive. "Her tendency to vacillate made her a poor director." 

Trepidation : : timorous uncertain agitation : apprehension; Fran's trepidation going into the interview dissipated quickly, and her confidence and poise led her to getting offered the job a week later.
compunction : (noun) A strong uneasiness caused by a sense of guilt.; remorse, self-reproach; This child had taken and lost her treasured amethyst brooch and now sat there calmly without the least apparent compunction or repentance. 

hairshirt : noun:
1. A shirt made of haircloth, worn next to the skin as a penance.
2. A self-imposed punishment or penance.
3. A secret affliction.
; "'We have spent a lot of time in this state wearing the hairshirt that
we're not going to pay people large sums of money to run institutions
in this state,' Jones said."
Patrick O'Donnell; State Superintendent's Salary Debated; The Plain
Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio); Jan 14, 2016.


See more usage examples of hairshirt in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The fingers of your thoughts are molding your face ceaselessly. -Charles
Reznikoff, poet (31 Aug 1894-1976)


	*****September 02, 2016*****
peradventure : chance, doubt, or uncertainty; 
                It must demonstrate beyond peradventure that it exists only to aid and assist the onward march and progress of all worthy causes ...
                Stewart C. McFarland, "Will Rotary Survive?" The Rotarian, April 1921
            
Tenacious :   adj. 1. Not readily letting go of, giving up, or separated from an object that one holds, a position, or a principle: "A tenacious hold." 2. Not easily dispelled or discouraged; persisting in existence or in a course of action: "A tenacious legend." 

Oenophile : : a lover or connoisseur of wine; Serious oenophiles will not be impressed with this particular wine, but it should be up to the standards of less-discriminating consumers.
presentiment : (noun) A sense that something is about to occur; a premonition.; boding, foreboding, premonition; We've gone and lost your father's flat, Diana, and I have a presentiment that we'll not be allowed to row on the pond any more. 

stuffed shirt : noun: A pompous, self-satisfied, and old-fashioned person.
; "Peter Dawson's persona might come across as a stuffed shirt but he is,
in fact, a personable character with a mischievous sense of humour."
James Corrigan; Farewell to the Moderniser of the R&A; The Sunday Telegraph
(London, UK); Jul 12, 2015.


See more usage examples of stuffed shirt in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: It seems like the less a statesman amounts to, the more he adores the flag.
-Kin Hubbard, humorist (1 Sep 1868-1930)


	*****September 03, 2016*****
gaposis : Facetious. a noticeable gap or series of gaps, as between the fast..; 
                For years metal-zipper industries have been spending thousands of dollars educating the public in the horror and neurosis attendant on "Gap-osis"--bulging lags between fastenings.
                , "Manufacturers Design Zipperless Fashions," Life, December 15, 1941
            
Pundit :   n. 1. Somebody who expresses an opinion: somebody who acts as a critic or authority on a particular subject, especially in the media. "The election results threw the political pundits into confusion." 2. Somebody wise: somebody with knowledge and wisdom. 

Adjuvant : 1 : serving to aid or contribute : auxiliary; The study showed caffeine to have an adjuvant effect when combined with certain pain relievers, increasing the potency of the latter.
tractable : (adjective) Easily managed or controlled; governable.; manipulable; I felt him become suddenly tractable again like an animal, like a good-tempered horse when the object that scares him is removed. 

slyboots : noun: Someone who is clever or crafty in a playful or engaging way.
; "A real slyboots he is, if you take my meaning, Your Grace. He would have
dropped the boot and bent down low to fetch it, all the while trying to
see where he shouldn't ought see, my apologies to your lady."
Kasey Michaels; How To Beguile a Beauty; Harlequin; 2010.


See more usage examples of slyboots in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Progressive societies outgrow institutions as children outgrow clothes.
-Henry George, economist, journalist, and philosopher (2 Sep 1839-1897)


	*****September 04, 2016*****
paean : any song of praise, joy, or triumph; 
                The sunlight was flooding in at the open lattice and, as if borne upon this shaft of glory, came the mingled fragrance of herb and flower and ripening fruit with the blithe carolling of birds, a very paean of thanksgiving ...
                Jeffery Farnol, The Amateur Gentleman, 1913
            
Juxtapose :   tr.v. 1. To place side by side, especially for comparison or contrast. "The exhibition juxtaposes Picasso's early drawings with some of his later works." 

Quodlibet : 1 : a philosophical or theological point proposed for disputation; also : a disputation on such a point; "In Part II the orchestral interlude is Happy Voices, which Del Tredici took in punning fashion and created a raucous fugue followed by a 'quodlibet' of all the tunes from the piece." — Vance R. Koven, The Boston Musical Intelligencer, 27 Mar. 2016
jalopy : (noun) An old, dilapidated motor vehicle, especially an automobile.; heap, bus; The jalopy didn't even make it to the junkyard, breaking into a thousand pieces as soon as we climbed inside. 

slyboots : noun: Someone who is clever or crafty in a playful or engaging way.
; "A real slyboots he is, if you take my meaning, Your Grace. He would have
dropped the boot and bent down low to fetch it, all the while trying to
see where he shouldn't ought see, my apologies to your lady."
Kasey Michaels; How To Beguile a Beauty; Harlequin; 2010.


See more usage examples of slyboots in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Progressive societies outgrow institutions as children outgrow clothes.
-Henry George, economist, journalist, and philosopher (2 Sep 1839-1897)


	*****September 05, 2016*****
abeyance : temporary inactivity, cessation, or suspension: Let's hold that p..; 
                The mass does not act by reason. A mass is not even formed by reason. The more intense or extended the COLLECTIVE consciousness, the more does the truly reasonable, individual consciousness sink into abeyance.
                D. H. Lawrence, Kangaroo, 1923
            
Agnostic :   n. A person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena. 

Asperse : 1 : sprinkle; especially : to sprinkle with holy water; "Though my opponent's supporters have aspersed my character, I think my record speaks for itself," said the candidate.
rowlock : (noun) A holder attached to the gunwale of a boat that holds the oar in place and acts as a fulcrum for rowing.; thole, tholepin, peg, pin, oarlock; It was that dull kind of a regular sound that comes from oars working in rowlocks when it's a still night. 

slyboots : noun: Someone who is clever or crafty in a playful or engaging way.
; "A real slyboots he is, if you take my meaning, Your Grace. He would have
dropped the boot and bent down low to fetch it, all the while trying to
see where he shouldn't ought see, my apologies to your lady."
Kasey Michaels; How To Beguile a Beauty; Harlequin; 2010.


See more usage examples of slyboots in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Progressive societies outgrow institutions as children outgrow clothes.
-Henry George, economist, journalist, and philosopher (2 Sep 1839-1897)


	*****September 06, 2016*****
spinebash : Australian Slang. to rest; loaf; 
                He had an egg (no, two) and some weak black tea; then took himself into the backyard and flopped down, "To spine-bash," he murmured experimentally, under the gumtree.
                Rodney Hall, A Place Among People, 1975
            
Vacuous :   adj. Having or showing a lack of thought or intelligence; mindless: "a vacuous smile." 

subspecies : (noun) A taxonomic group that is a division of a species; usually arises as a consequence of geographical isolation within a species.; race; The scientist identified a rare subspecies of the animal, and his discovery made international headlines. 

flagrant : adjective: Conspicuously offensive.
; "The Saudi-led coalition warplanes waged on Tuesday three raids ... in a
flagrant breach to the ceasefire."
Saudi War Jets Launch Three Raids on Harib Nehm in Mareb; Yemen News Agency
(Sana'a); May 24, 2016.


See more usage examples of flagrant in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened
of the old ones. -John Cage, composer (5 Sep 1912-1992)


	*****September 07, 2016*****
vagarious : characterized by vagaries; erratic; capricious: a vagarious fore..; 
                For Americans to have talked of launching ten million tons of shipping in one year would have seemed vagarious.
                Paul P. Harris, "Convention Message from Rotary's Founder," The Rotarian, August 1918
            
Garrulous :   adj. Excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters. "A garrulous reprimand." 

catkin : (noun) A usually dense, cylindrical, often drooping cluster of unisexual apetalous flowers found in willows, birches, and oaks.; ament; Walking some forty paces away, Sergey Ivanovitch, knowing he was out of sight, stood still behind a bushy spindle-tree in full flower with its rosy red catkins. 

mendacious : adjective: Telling lies, especially as a habit.
; "Usually I only meet fishermen more flagrantly mendacious than anywhere
else. But they've got bored with me because I always unhesitatingly go
two pounds better than the biggest juggler of avoirdupois present."
Compton Mackenzie; Sinister Street; Martin Secker; 1914.


See more usage examples of mendacious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or
any other kind of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or
goals are in doubt. -Robert M. Pirsig, author and philosopher (b. 6 Sep
1928)


	*****September 08, 2016*****
corybantic : frenzied; agitated; unrestrained; 
                From outside we hear a confused shouting that grows louder and louder, and suddenly the shrine is invaded by a throng of corybantic worshipers. They rush to the altar, they tear off one another's aprons and fling them in a mounting pile at the foot of the Arch-Vicar's throne.
                Aldous Huxley, Ape and Essence, 1948
            
Insolent :   adj. Showing a rude or arrogant lack of respect. "The child's insolent behavior was unacceptable." 

Untoward : 1 : difficult to guide, manage, or work with : unruly, intractable; I eyed the stranger suspiciously, but I had to admit that there was nothing untoward about his appearance.
fiat : (noun) A legally binding command or decision entered on the court record (as if issued by a court or judge).; decree, edict, rescript, order; The judge issued a fiat that was met with widespread protest. 

venal : adjective: 1. Capable of being bought: open to bribery. 2. Of or related to bribery.
; "Everything that was wrong, venal, lazy, and mendacious about GM in the
1980s was crystallized in this flagrant insult to the good name and fine
customers of Cadillac."
Dan Neil; The 50 Worst Cars of All Time; Time (New York); Sep 2007.


See more usage examples of venal in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: America has been called a melting pot, but it seems better to call it a
mosaic, for in it each nation, people, or race which has come to its shores
has been privileged to keep its individuality, contributing at the same
time its share to the unified pattern of a new nation. -King Baudouin of
Belgium (7 Sep 1930-1993)


	*****September 09, 2016*****
phalanx : a number of individuals, especially persons united for a common pu..; 
                Mr. Mildmay, Mr. Gresham, and Mr. Monk were the best friends in the world, swearing by each other in their own house, and supported in the other by as gallant a phalanx of Whig peers as ever were got together to fight against the instincts of their own order in compliance with the instincts of those below them.
                Anthony Trollope, Phineas Finn, 1869
            
Innervate :   v. To stimulate or supply nervous energy. 

Bevy : 1 : a large group or collection; "… Prince William admits his son George is 'far too spoiled' after getting a bevy of gifts for his 3rd birthday." — The Daily News (New York), 25 July 2016
gazebo : (noun) A freestanding, roofed, usually open-sided structure providing a shady resting place.; summerhouse; There was a gazebo about a quarter-mile away from the mansion where we would talk, surrounded by nature and protected from the sun. 

feckless : adjective: Weak; ineffective; incompetent; irresponsible.
; "UK university managers are neither venal nor mendacious, today's students
are no lazier or more feckless than we were, and the vast majority of
graduates still find employment suitable to their studies."
Steven Schwartz; V-Cs, Get Set to Do the Maths; The Times Higher Education
Supplement (London, UK); Dec 20, 2012.


See more usage examples of feckless in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: If more politicians in this country were thinking about the next generation
instead of the next election, it might be better for the United States and
the world. -Claude Pepper, senator and representative (8 Sep 1900-1989)


	*****September 10, 2016*****
lucida : Astronomy. the brightest star in a constellation; 
                ... if we pass across the Milky Way in the opposite direction, we arrive at Deneb, the lucida of Cygnus; and beyond the Swan, a little out of the Milky Way, is Vega, the bright star in the Lyre.
                George Frederick Chambers, A Handbook of Descriptive and Practical Astronomy, 1861
            
Decadent :   n.  A person who is luxuriously self-indulgent. (adj.) Characterized by or reflecting a state of decay or cultural decline, as in being self-indulgent or morally corrupt. 

Sylvan : 1 a : living or located in the woods or forest; "The climb up the hill … was a short, hot pilgrimage to a sylvan glade, where the reading tents and outlets for drinks, falafels, crêpes and so on were situated." — Hugo Williams, The Times Literary Supplement, 13 Aug. 2004
vesicle : (noun) A small sac or cyst, especially one containing fluid.; cyst; All living things have much in common, in their chemical composition, their germinal vesicles, and their laws of growth and reproduction. 

veritable : adjective: True; real (typically used as an intensifier for a metaphor).
; "Given that Albany is the home of the venal, the feckless, and the
indifferent -- a veritable temple of dysfunction -- it's difficult to
imagine, given their record, that it has the capacity to do anything right."
Leonard Quart; Transit Woes Result of Government Failure; The Berkshire Eagle
(Pittsfield, Massachusetts); Apr 8, 2010.


See more usage examples of veritable in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: A man is like a fraction whose numerator is what he is and whose
denominator is what he thinks of himself. The larger the denominator, the
smaller the fraction. -Leo Tolstoy, novelist and philosopher (9 Sep
1828-1910)


	*****September 11, 2016*****
pulverulent : covered with dust or powder; 
                ... On shelves pulverulent, majestic stands / His library; in ragged plight, and old; / Replete with many a load of criticism…
                Mark Akenside, "The Poet," Gentleman's Magazine, July 1737
            
Didactic :   adj. (1) Intended to teach, particularly in having moral instruction as an ulterior motive. (2) In the manner of a teacher, particularly so as to treat someone in a patronizing way. "The didactic speech influenced the weaker members of the audience." 

Devolve : 1 a : to pass by transmission or succession; Over time, the weekly book club meeting devolved into mean-spirited gossip sessions.
commissariat : (noun) A stock or supply of foods.; provisions, viands, victuals, provender; During the war with Spain he was employed in the commissariat of the French army, and made a fortune. 

veritable : adjective: True; real (typically used as an intensifier for a metaphor).
; "Given that Albany is the home of the venal, the feckless, and the
indifferent -- a veritable temple of dysfunction -- it's difficult to
imagine, given their record, that it has the capacity to do anything right."
Leonard Quart; Transit Woes Result of Government Failure; The Berkshire Eagle
(Pittsfield, Massachusetts); Apr 8, 2010.


See more usage examples of veritable in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: A man is like a fraction whose numerator is what he is and whose
denominator is what he thinks of himself. The larger the denominator, the
smaller the fraction. -Leo Tolstoy, novelist and philosopher (9 Sep
1828-1910)


	*****September 12, 2016*****
dabster : Slang. an expert; 
                There was no getting away from it, when it came to making something out of nothing Archie was a dabster, and absolute dabster!
                R. F. Delderfield, The Avenue Goes to War, 1958
            
Masticate :   v. To chew (as in food). To reduce to pulp by crushing, grinding or kneading. "The patient was unwilling to masticate or swallow his food." 

Myrmidon : : a loyal follower; especially : a subordinate who executes orders unquestioningly or unscrupulously; "… when [Howard] Cosell came to TV he was utterly in contrast to the toothy myrmidons who reigned at the microphone and who spoke no evil save for the mayhem they regularly perpetrated upon the English language." — Frank Deford, Sports Illustrated, 8 Aug. 1983
atelier : (noun) A studio especially for an artist or designer.; artist's workroom; Joe and Delia met in an atelier where a number of art and music students had gathered to discuss chiaroscuro, Wagner, music, wall paper, Chopin, and Oolong. 

veritable : adjective: True; real (typically used as an intensifier for a metaphor).
; "Given that Albany is the home of the venal, the feckless, and the
indifferent -- a veritable temple of dysfunction -- it's difficult to
imagine, given their record, that it has the capacity to do anything right."
Leonard Quart; Transit Woes Result of Government Failure; The Berkshire Eagle
(Pittsfield, Massachusetts); Apr 8, 2010.


See more usage examples of veritable in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: A man is like a fraction whose numerator is what he is and whose
denominator is what he thinks of himself. The larger the denominator, the
smaller the fraction. -Leo Tolstoy, novelist and philosopher (9 Sep
1828-1910)


	*****September 13, 2016*****
eutaxy : good order or management; 
                The meeting, in fact, put the final touches to the establishment of the first real Stock Exchange; henceforward eutaxy was to reign.
                Charles Duguid, The Story of the Stock Exchange, 1901
            
Lascivious :   adj. Feeling or revealing an overt and often offensive sexual desire. "He gave her a lascivious wink." Inclined to lustfulness; wanton; lewd. "The lascivious old man." 

Flippant : : lacking proper respect or seriousness; The singer's fans were not amused by his flippant remark in response to the tragedy.
lackey : (noun) A servile follower.; toady, crawler, sycophant; The archdeacon had in Quasimodo the most submissive slave, the most docile lackey, the most vigilant of dogs. 

boulevardier : noun: A socially active man who likes to visit fashionable places.
; "In the first act, I was a smoothly sophisticated boulevardier who was
having a giddy night out in an elegant restaurant with a young girl
approximately half his age. He is a delightful 'stranger' from Cairo
in impeccable evening clothes who comes mysteriously into town once a
month."
Beaumont Bruestle; Threads; CreateSpace; 2009.


See more usage examples of boulevardier in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more
uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right
and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of
men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped
them up and tried to enforce them. The truly civilized man is always
skeptical and tolerant, in this field as in all others. His culture is
based on "I am not too sure." -H.L. Mencken, writer, editor, and critic (12
Sep 1880-1956)


	*****September 14, 2016*****
chimerical : wildly fanciful; highly unrealistic: a chimerical plan; 
                I don't need to tell you that writers sometimes get ideas which practical-minded individuals regard as chimerical.
                Henry Miller, Nexus, 1960
            
Superfluous :   adj. Unnecessary, being beyond what is required or sufficient. "The repeated warnings were superfluous." "Superfluous details." 

Kibosh : : something that serves as a check or stop; Heavy rains put the kibosh on many of the activities scheduled for the day.
arboreal : (adjective) Relating to or resembling a tree.; arborical, arborous; Clayton had erected a frail partition of boughs to divide their arboreal shelter into two rooms—one for the girl and the other for Monsieur Thuran. 

pachyderm : noun
1. Someone or something having thick skin, for example, elephant, hippopotamus, and rhinoceros.
2. An insensitive person.
3. A person who is not affected by criticism or ridicule.
; "This pachyderm we work for can survive a few slings and arrows."
Arthur Hailey; Overload; Doubleday; 1979.


See more usage examples of pachyderm in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Much of writing might be described as mental pregnancy with successive
difficult deliveries. -J.B. Priestley, author (13 Sep 1894-1984)


	*****September 15, 2016*****
longanimity : patient endurance of hardship, injuries, or offense; forbearan..; 
                If your beauteousness scorns me, if your worth does not favour me, if your disdain is my humiliation, I shall ill be able, albeit I am well furnished with longanimity, to suffer a grief that is not merely intense but protracted.
                Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote, translated by John Rutherford, 2000
            
Paradox :   n. A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth. An opinion or statement contrary to commonly accepted opinion, but may be factual. 

Hare : : to go swiftly : tear; Andrew hared along the country road on his motorbike.
hegira : (noun) A flight to escape danger.; exodus; The oppressed villagers secretly planned a hegira to escape the czar's army. 

revenant : noun: A person who returns after a long absence or supposedly after death.
; "Lawrence Osborne seems to be a revenant from a species that has,
paradoxically, become almost extinct following the triumph of
globalisation: the traveller (or travel-writer)-novelist."
Neel Mukherjee; Hunters in the Dark; The Guardian (London, UK);
May 6, 2015.


See more usage examples of revenant in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Men make counterfeit money; in many more cases, money makes counterfeit
men. -Sydney J. Harris, journalist and author (14 Sep 1917-1986)


	*****September 16, 2016*****
eponym : a person, real or imaginary, from whom something, as a tribe, natio..; 
                What Calvin Klein, designer, wanted to draw attention to was Calvin Klein, trademark. Still, if some of the attention paid to the man himself came along in the bargain; if the border between eponym and product blurred, connoting a state of mind and a way of being that were new and dark and strange and uniquely compelling--well, that didn't hurt business a bit.
                James Kaplan, "The Triumph of Calvinism," New York, September 18, 1995
            
Endemic :   adj. Native to a specific region or environment and not occurring naturally anywhere else. "Malaria is endemic in tropical climates." (n.) An endemic plant or animal. 

Implacable : : not placable : not capable of being appeased, significantly changed, or mitigated; "I am studying physics at a small graduate school because the implacable laws of the universe are of interest to me." — Fiona Maazel, Ploughshares, Summer 2015
scintilla : (noun) A minute amount; an iota or trace.; shred, smidge, smidgeon, tittle, whit; When the party was over, not a scintilla of food remained. 

rhapsode : noun: A professional reciter of poems.
; "It may be argued that our republic is, in performance, really enacting
today the grandest arts, poems, etc. by beating up the wilderness into
fertile farms, and in her railroads, ships, machinery, etc. And it may
be asked, Are these not better, indeed, for America, than any utterances
even of greatest rhapsode, artist, or literatus?"
Walt Whitman; Democratic Vistas; 1871. 

Thought For The Day: Those who are incapable of committing great crimes do not readily suspect
them in others. -Francois de La Rochefoucauld, aphorist (15 Sep 1613-1680)


	*****September 17, 2016*****
overweening : presumptuously conceited, overconfident, or proud: a brash, in..; 
                He was an envious and overweening man who resented the fact that Sir Balin had won the sword.
                Peter Ackroyd, The Death of King Arthur: The Immortal Legend; A Retelling, 2010
            
Atrocious :   adj. Horrifyingly wicked: "Atrocious cruelties." Of a very poor quality; extremely bad or unpleasant: "Atrocious weather." 

dungaree : (noun) A sturdy, often blue denim fabric.; jean, denim; He wore an open jacket, with a splotch of tar on the sleeve, a red-and-black check shirt, dungaree trousers, and heavy boots badly worn. 

bon viveur : noun: A person who enjoys good food, drinks, luxuries, etc.
; "If Lebanon was a man or woman, I'd picture someone very stylish, enjoying
a song and dance, while eating tabbouleh and holding up a glass of
something merry-looking in their hand; a bon viveur trying to make the
most of their evening before the electricity is cut off."
Tanya Dernaika; Brand Lebanon Ready for Export; The Daily Star (Beirut,
Lebanon); May 18, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: Would the boy you were be proud of the man you are? -Laurence J. Peter,
educator and author (16 Sep 1919-1990)


	*****September 18, 2016*****
zymurgy : the branch of applied chemistry dealing with fermentation, as in w..; 
                He was going to work in a brewery for the summer, attracted by the job's requiring a knowledge of zymurgy ...
                Geoffrey Wagner, The Asphalt Campus, 1963
            
Abysmal :   adj. Extremely bad; appalling. "The results were pretty abysmal;" "Abysmal failure." 

Gadarene : : headlong, precipitate; The chairman was worried that in the company's gadarene rush to go public its original obligation to the customer would be forgotten.
wharfage : (noun) A platform built out from the shore into the water and supported by piles; provides access to ships and boats.; pier, dock; After the storm, she stood at the end of the wharfage, waiting for her brother's boat to return. 

bon viveur : noun: A person who enjoys good food, drinks, luxuries, etc.
; "If Lebanon was a man or woman, I'd picture someone very stylish, enjoying
a song and dance, while eating tabbouleh and holding up a glass of
something merry-looking in their hand; a bon viveur trying to make the
most of their evening before the electricity is cut off."
Tanya Dernaika; Brand Lebanon Ready for Export; The Daily Star (Beirut,
Lebanon); May 18, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: Would the boy you were be proud of the man you are? -Laurence J. Peter,
educator and author (16 Sep 1919-1990)


	*****September 19, 2016*****
stentorian : very loud or powerful in sound: a stentorian voice; 
                "I'll tell you something else about which I've been lately thinking!" he bellowed in a suddenly stentorian voice. "I've been thinking about our beautiful country!"
                George Saunders, The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, 2005
            
Fractious :   adj. (1) Easily irritated; bad-tempered: "they fight and squabble like fractious kids." (2) (of an organization) Difficult to control; unruly. 

Loll : 1 : to hang or let hang loosely : droop; "'Ginny, please wake up,' Harry muttered desperately, shaking her. Ginny's head lolled hopelessly from side to side." — J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 1999
nonstarter : (noun) An idea, proposal, or candidate with no chance of being accepted or successful.; failure, loser; Many lawmakers are pronouncing the budget a nonstarter. 

bon viveur : noun: A person who enjoys good food, drinks, luxuries, etc.
; "If Lebanon was a man or woman, I'd picture someone very stylish, enjoying
a song and dance, while eating tabbouleh and holding up a glass of
something merry-looking in their hand; a bon viveur trying to make the
most of their evening before the electricity is cut off."
Tanya Dernaika; Brand Lebanon Ready for Export; The Daily Star (Beirut,
Lebanon); May 18, 2015. 

Thought For The Day: Would the boy you were be proud of the man you are? -Laurence J. Peter,
educator and author (16 Sep 1919-1990)


	*****September 20, 2016*****
cosset : to treat as a pet; pamper; coddle; 
                Mrs. Dhondt is like Mrs. Crommelynck but ten times more so--in truth, a dreadful creation who heads the Belgian Equestrian Society, drives the Dhondt Bugatti herself, and cossets a powder-puff Pekingese called Wei-wei.
                David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, 2004
            
Austerity :   n. (1) Sternness or severity of manner or attitude. (2) Extreme plainness and simplicity of style or appearance. 

Eclogue : : a poem in which shepherds converse; Modern critics tend to have little tolerance for the idealized world of the old eclogues, in which poverty is bathed in golden light.
bedeck : (verb) To adorn or ornament in a showy fashion.; bedight, deck; It was at the dawn of day in the merry Maytime, when hedgerows are green and flowers bedeck the meadows. 

kitsch : noun: Art objects that are gaudy or overly sentimental, designed for popular appeal.
adjective: Tawdry, tacky, sentimental.
; "I could see kitschy statues of androgynous male 'saints' and of angels with
effeminate faces. Above this kitsch hung gaudy red and yellow 'pavaljuni'."
The Maltese Festa; The Malta Independent (Valletta); Sep 4, 2016.


See more usage examples of kitsch in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories.
Some take us forward, they're called dreams. -Jeremy Irons, actor (b. 19
Sep 1948)


	*****September 21, 2016*****
circumbendibus : Informal. a roundabout way; circumlocution; 
                It took what that literal fellow, Captain Lawton, calls a circumbendibus, a route never taken by the swords of his men, notwithstanding the multiplied pains I have been at to teach him how to cut scientifically.
                James Fenimore Cooper, The Spy, 1821
            
Luminous :   adj.     Bright or shining, esp. in the dark. Glowing with health, vigor, or a particular emotion: "Her eyes were luminous with joy." 

Nefarious : : flagrantly wicked or impious : evil; "The company will not call you to ask for your Social Security or account number, but nefarious scammers might." — Ellen Marks, The Albuquerque Journal, 31 July 2016
cupidity : (noun) Excessive desire, especially for wealth.; covetousness, avarice; Their very cupidity was to prove the means of their undoing, in the matter of the ransom at least. 

verboten : adjective: Not allowed; forbidden.
; "Those attending the Wagner festival in Bayreuth this month, including
Angela Merkel, have been told that cushions are now verboten. It is
claimed that this is for security reasons, although Wagner, in designing
the Festspielhaus [festival theater], had wanted exceptionally hard
wooden seats to prevent the audience from treating his operas as fun."
Patrick Kidd; [Theresa] May Life Story is Not Written; The Times
(London, UK); Jul 12, 2016.


See more usage examples of verboten in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary
depends upon his not understanding it. -Upton Sinclair, novelist and
reformer (20 Sep 1878-1968)


	*****September 22, 2016*****
afflatus : inspiration; an impelling mental force acting from within; 
                Through me the afflatus surging and surging, through me the current and index.
                Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself," Leaves of Grass, 1855
            
Mitigate :   v. (1) Make less severe, serious, or painful: "he wanted to mitigate the damages in court." (2) Lessen the gravity of (an offense or mistake). 

Consigliere : : counselor, adviser; "Luisi’s goal was to create his own family in Boston, with Guarente as his underboss and Gentile as his consigliere." — Stephen Kurkjian and Shelley Murphy, The Boston Globe, 26 July 2016
pyrexia : (noun) Fever.; febricity, febrility, feverishness; His pyrexia made the doctors nervous, and they immersed him in a bath of ice water to bring down his body temperature. 

ubermensch : noun: An ideal man; also used ironically.
; "Trump, the thrice-married ubermensch who jokes about Megyn Kelly's period,
is the more usual reality."
Ross Douthat; A Playboy for President; The New York Times; Aug 13, 2016.


See more usage examples of ubermensch in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Good books don't give up all their secrets at once. -Stephen King, novelist
(b. 21 Sep 1947)


	*****September 23, 2016*****
flavescent : turning yellow; yellowish; 
                A few flavescent leaves, shed during delivery, fell to weaving the carpet that would be finished by nightfall.
                Patrick Chamoiseau, Chronicle of the Seven Sorrows, translated by Linda Coverdale, 1999
            
Determinate :   adj. Having exact and discernible limits or form. 

Palpable : 1 : capable of being touched or felt : tangible; The tension in the courtroom was palpable as the jury foreman stood to announce the verdict.
dovecote : (noun) A compartmental structure, often raised on a pole, for housing domesticated pigeons.; columbary; They were not allowed to keep doves themselves, and when the swarms from my lord's dovecote settled on their crops they must not lose their temper and kill a bird. 

gauleiter : noun: An overbearing petty official.
; "Even if you don't like a council leader, don't call her a gauleiter."
Stuart Jeffries; 'Swamped' and 'Riddled'; The Guardian (London, UK);
Oct 28, 2014. 

Thought For The Day: The characteristic of a well-bred man is, to converse with his inferiors
without insolence, and with his superiors with respect and with ease. -Lord
Chesterfield, statesman and writer (22 Sep 1694-1773)


	*****September 24, 2016*****
plutocracy : the rule or power of wealth or of the wealthy; 
                Two per cent of our people owned 60 per cent of all our wealth, thus causing a condition of extreme plutocracy on the one hand and extreme poverty on the other.
                D. F. Garland, "The City Manager and the Baby," The Rotarian, March 1916
            
Divergence :   n. (1) A difference or conflict in opinions, interests, wishes, etc. (2) The process or state of diverging. 

Mettle : 1 a : vigor and strength of spirit or temperament; "People aren't trying to hide their prosthetics like they once did. There is a sense of community, being proud of who you are and showing off your mettle." — Rebekah Spielman, quoted in The San Diego Union Tribune, 21 Aug. 2016
deponent : (noun) A person who testifies or gives a deposition.; testifier; In the taking of legal oaths, for instance, deponents seem to enjoy themselves mightily when they come to several good words in succession. 

clerisy : noun: The well-educated class; the literati; the intelligentsia.
; "[Bob Corker's] mind is unclouded by long immersion in the conventional
thinking of the foreign policy clerisy."
George Will; Why Bob Corker is the Senator to Watch in 2015;
The Washington Post; Jan 2, 2015.


See more usage examples of clerisy in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The radical novelty of modern science lies precisely in the rejection of
the belief ... that the forces which move the stars and atoms are
contingent upon the preferences of the human heart. -Walter Lippmann,
journalist (23 Sep 1889-1974)


	*****September 25, 2016*****
cackleberry : Facetious. a hen's egg used for food; 
                "This cackle-berry's got a double yolk." She scowled at the thing. "I don't remember right off if that's a good sign or a bad one."
                James D. Doss, The Witch's Tongue, 2004
            
Propitious :   adj. (1) Indicating a good chance of success; favorable. "It was a propitious time to leave the party without offending the host." (2) Favorably disposed toward someone. 

Reconcile : 1 a : to restore to friendship or harmony; "The trailer shows his earliest struggles to reconcile his religious convictions with his duty to his country, as he gently explains to his Army higher-ups that he can't, and won't, touch a gun." — RollingStone.com, 28 July 2016
docket : (noun) A list of things to be done.; agenda, schedule; Since everyone wanted to discuss healthcare, we put it on the docket for the next town meeting. 

clerisy : noun: The well-educated class; the literati; the intelligentsia.
; "[Bob Corker's] mind is unclouded by long immersion in the conventional
thinking of the foreign policy clerisy."
George Will; Why Bob Corker is the Senator to Watch in 2015;
The Washington Post; Jan 2, 2015.


See more usage examples of clerisy in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The radical novelty of modern science lies precisely in the rejection of
the belief ... that the forces which move the stars and atoms are
contingent upon the preferences of the human heart. -Walter Lippmann,
journalist (23 Sep 1889-1974)


	*****September 26, 2016*****
albatross : a seemingly inescapable moral or emotional burden, as of guilt o..; 
                If the Republicans want a clean and decisive victory in November, or perhaps any kind of victory, they must get rid of this albatross before going to voters.
                , "Morals and Politics: The Republicans Must Drop an Albatross Before They Can Achieve Real Harmony," Life, July 14, 1952
            
Tactile :   adj. (1) Of or connected with the sense of touch. (2) Perceptible by touch or apparently so; tangible: "A tactile keyboard." 

Iota : 1 : the 9th letter of the Greek alphabet; "The rooms were impeccably decorated, with not an iota of clutter." — Judy DiForte, AnnArbor.com, 21 Mar. 2011
verruca : (noun) A firm abnormal elevated blemish on the skin; caused by a virus.; wart; When he developed a verruca on the bottom of his foot, walking became extremely painful. 

clerisy : noun: The well-educated class; the literati; the intelligentsia.
; "[Bob Corker's] mind is unclouded by long immersion in the conventional
thinking of the foreign policy clerisy."
George Will; Why Bob Corker is the Senator to Watch in 2015;
The Washington Post; Jan 2, 2015.


See more usage examples of clerisy in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The radical novelty of modern science lies precisely in the rejection of
the belief ... that the forces which move the stars and atoms are
contingent upon the preferences of the human heart. -Walter Lippmann,
journalist (23 Sep 1889-1974)


	*****September 27, 2016*****
bon mot : a witty remark or comment; clever saying; witticism; 
                He was an extrovert and a character, again like his mother, with a knack for tossing off the perfect bon mot. Once at a dinner party, he told his seat mate, "We are all worms. But I do believe that I am a glow-worm."
                Craig Shirley, December 1941: 31 Days That Changed America and Saved the World, 2011
            
Facetious :   adj. Treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor; flippant. 

Tantivy : : at a gallop; The horse rushed tantivy over the dirt roads that wound through the fields and pastures.
squalid : (adjective) Dirty and wretched, as from poverty or lack of care.; flyblown, sordid; They lived like beasts in great squalid labor-ghettos, festering in misery and degradation. 

henchman : noun: A supporter or subordinate, especially one who engages in illegal activities for a powerful boss or criminal.
; "Baron Bomburst hears of the special car and wants it for his own, sending
two henchmen, Boris and Goran, to seize it one way or another."
Review: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Theatre Royal Newcastle; Northumberland
Gazette (Alnwick, UK); Jun 2, 2016.


See more usage examples of henchman in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Half of the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to
feel important. They don't mean to do harm but the harm does not interest
them. -T.S. Eliot, poet (26 Sep 1888-1965)


	*****September 28, 2016*****
haimish : Slang. homey; cozy and unpretentious; 
                An English captain of police, trying to get a haimish farfel soup and boiled beef at the inn, told me he believed both concoctions kept replenishing themselves day in day out without human assistance.
                , The Menorah Journal, Volume 14, 1928
            
Existential :   adj. (1) Of or relating to existence. (2) Concerned with existence, esp. human existence as viewed in the theories of existentialism. "An existential threat." 

Peculiar : 1 : characteristic of only one person, group, or thing : distinctive; "'I'm not like you. … I'm common, just like my grandfather.' Emma shook her head. 'Is that really what you think?' 'If I could do something spectacular like you, don't you think I would've noticed by now? … There's nothing peculiar about me. I'm the most average person you'll ever meet.'" — Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, 2011
yardmaster : (noun) A railroad employer who is in charge of a railway yard.; train dispatcher, trainmaster; Observing that the yardmaster had his back turned, the vagabonds leaped into one of the boxcars. 

poodle-faker : noun: A man who seeks out the company of upper-status women, especially for advancing himself.
; "Too many people still think of Liszt as a long-haired, pianistic
poodle-faker, seducing aristocratic ladies with superficially
glittering pieces that have more notes than substance."
David Mellor; Franz is Top of My Liszt; Mail on Sunday (London, UK);
Jan 23, 2011. 

Thought For The Day: The central function of imaginative literature is to make you realize that
other people act on moral convictions different from your own. -William
Empson, literary critic and poet (27 Sep 1906-1984)


	*****September 29, 2016*****
eristic : Also, eristical. pertaining to controversy or disputation; controv..; 
                Does free speech tend to move toward the truth or away from it? When does it evolve into a better collective understanding? When does it collapse into the Babel of trolling, the pointless and eristic game of talking the other guy into crying “uncle”?
                Mattathias Schwartz, "The Trolls Among Us," New York Times, August 3, 2008
            
Caprice :   n. A sudden and unaccountable change of mood or behavior. 

Vamoose : : to depart quickly; With the sheriff and his posse hot on their tails, the bank robbers knew they had better vamoose.
plainsong : (noun) A liturgical chant of the Roman Catholic Church.; Gregorian chant, plainchant; The music professor explained that in the Western church four main dialects of plainsong developed—Ambrosian, Roman, Mozarabic, and Gallican. 

harebrained : adjective: Foolish; reckless; ridiculous.
; "Hagrid had some harebrained scheme in hand, which might make him miss Sirius."
JK Rowling; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; Bloomsbury; 2000.


See more usage examples of harebrained in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Military justice is to justice what military music is to music. -Georges
Clemenceau, statesman (28 Sep 1841-1929)


	*****September 30, 2016*****
lodestone : something that attracts strongly; 
                The portrait was for him a lodestone imbued with some irresistible magnetic force.
                Allen Kurzweil, A Case of Curiosities, 1992
            
Indolent; Indolence :   n. Having or showing a disposition to avoid exertion; slothful, lazy: "an indolent person." 

Cabal : 1 : the artifices and intrigues of a group of persons secretly united in a plot (as to overturn a government); also : a group engaged in such artifices and intrigues; "A 'cabal' of wealthy conservatives has begun using New York State's campaign finance laws to sway local elections…." — Michael Gormley, Newsday (New York), 24 Aug. 2016      
tidbit : (noun) A choice morsel, as of gossip or food.; choice morsel, titbit; The book is chock-full of colorful tidbits about theater and theater people. 

duck soup : noun: Something that is very easy to do.
; "With fear of math giving way to love for numbers, complex fractions and
compound interest are duck soup for the little math wizards."
Prerna Katiyar; How Techniques Like Vedic Math, Abacus, and Soroban are
Making Mathematics Fun for Kids; The Economic Times (New Delhi, India);
Nov 16, 2014.


See more usage examples of duck_soup in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: No fathers or mothers think their own children ugly; and this self-deceit
is yet stronger with respect to the offspring of the mind. -Miguel de
Cervantes, novelist (29 Sep 1547-1616)


	*****October 01, 2016*****
testudinal : pertaining to or resembling a tortoise or tortoise shell; 
                Once Mrs. Buckland found herself being shaken awake in the middle of the night, her husband crying in excitement: “My dear, I believe that Cheirotherium’s footsteps are undoubtedly testudinal.” … Mrs. Buckland made a flour paste, which she spread across the table, while the Reverend Buckland fetched the family tortoise.
                Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, 2003
            
Salacious :   adj. Treating sexual matters in an indecent way. Lustful; lecherous: "A salacious grin." 

brandish : (verb) To wave or flourish (a weapon, for example) menacingly.; flourish, wave; The farmer, seeing before him this figure in full armor brandishing a lance over his head, gave himself up for dead. 

skylark : verb intr.: To frolic or to engage in horseplay.
; "Before a race, while opponents buried themselves in their own private
world, Bolt skylarked with spectators and with race officials."
Is Jamaican Legend's Track Career Over?; Timaru Herald (New Zealand);
Jun 30, 2015.


See more usage examples of skylark in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Racism tends to attract attention when it's flagrant and filled with
invective. But like all bigotry, the most potent component of racism is
frame-flipping -- positioning the bigot as the actual victim. So the gay do
not simply want to marry; they want to convert our children into sin. The
Jews do not merely want to be left in peace; they actually are plotting
world take-over. And the blacks are not actually victims of American power,
but beneficiaries of the war against hard-working whites. This is a
respectable, more sensible bigotry, one that does not seek to name-call,
preferring instead change the subject and straw man. -Ta-Nehisi Coates,
writer and journalist (b. 30 Sep 1975)


	*****October 02, 2016*****
amphiboly : ambiguity of speech, especially from uncertainty of the grammati..; 
                Maybe it was better to evade the issue, to delay, to be ambiguous and equivocal, indulge in vagueness, anacoluthon, and amphiboly?
                Mallock, The Cemetery of Swallows, translated by Steven Rendall, 2013
            
Alchemy :   n. 1. A power or process of transforming something common into something special. 2. An inexplicable or mysterious process by which paradoxical results are achieved with no obvious rational explanation. 

Empyreal : 1 : of or relating to the heavens or firmament : celestial; Night after night, the comet shone brightly against the empyreal tapestry of the sky.
bunsen : (noun) A gas burner used in laboratories; has an air valve to regulate the mixture of gas and air.; etna; I accidentally singed my eyebrows while lighting my bunsen in chemistry class. 

skylark : verb intr.: To frolic or to engage in horseplay.
; "Before a race, while opponents buried themselves in their own private
world, Bolt skylarked with spectators and with race officials."
Is Jamaican Legend's Track Career Over?; Timaru Herald (New Zealand);
Jun 30, 2015.


See more usage examples of skylark in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Racism tends to attract attention when it's flagrant and filled with
invective. But like all bigotry, the most potent component of racism is
frame-flipping -- positioning the bigot as the actual victim. So the gay do
not simply want to marry; they want to convert our children into sin. The
Jews do not merely want to be left in peace; they actually are plotting
world take-over. And the blacks are not actually victims of American power,
but beneficiaries of the war against hard-working whites. This is a
respectable, more sensible bigotry, one that does not seek to name-call,
preferring instead change the subject and straw man. -Ta-Nehisi Coates,
writer and journalist (b. 30 Sep 1975)


	*****October 03, 2016*****
understory : the shrubs and plants growing beneath the main canopy of a fore..; 
                Outside, in the rambling estate with its green canopies and wandering animals, its replanted indigenous understory and its old enclosures now becoming overgrown, the birds and the ground dwellers were settling to roost and sleep as they did every night when the light dimmed to a dusky blue and the earth began to cool.
                Paddy O'Reilly, The Wonders, 2015
            
Vitriol; Vitriolic :   n. Cruel, bitter, scathing criticism; Abusive feeling or expression. "A vitriolic tone of voice." 

Deliquesce : 1 : to dissolve or melt away; "'Number Nine,' a 16-minute bonbon of a ballet …, keeps its yellow-clad ensemble and four principal couples wheeling through kaleidoscopic patterns that surprise as they smoothly crystallize and deliquesce, sometimes matching the musical rhythms, sometimes working against them." — Roslyn Sulcas, The New York Times, 26 Sept. 2012
apiarist : (noun) One who keeps bees, specifically one who cares for and raises bees for commercial or agricultural purposes.; apiculturist, beekeeper; Profits from the sale of honey comprised only a small portion of the apiarist's income. 

skylark : verb intr.: To frolic or to engage in horseplay.
; "Before a race, while opponents buried themselves in their own private
world, Bolt skylarked with spectators and with race officials."
Is Jamaican Legend's Track Career Over?; Timaru Herald (New Zealand);
Jun 30, 2015.


See more usage examples of skylark in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Racism tends to attract attention when it's flagrant and filled with
invective. But like all bigotry, the most potent component of racism is
frame-flipping -- positioning the bigot as the actual victim. So the gay do
not simply want to marry; they want to convert our children into sin. The
Jews do not merely want to be left in peace; they actually are plotting
world take-over. And the blacks are not actually victims of American power,
but beneficiaries of the war against hard-working whites. This is a
respectable, more sensible bigotry, one that does not seek to name-call,
preferring instead to change the subject and straw man. -Ta-Nehisi Coates,
writer and journalist (b. 30 Sep 1975)


	*****October 04, 2016*****
druthers : Informal. one's own way, choice, or preference: If I had my druth..; 
                Such interviews are torture for Hardy, who, given his druthers, would have passed the responsibility on to Littlewood.
                David Leavitt, The Indian Clerk, 2007
            
Capacious :   adj. Having a lot of space inside; roomy. "A capacious closet." 

Guerdon : : reward, recompense; "The big hurdle … was early promotion to captain. … This early promotion, this small dry irrevocable statistic in the record, was his guerdon for a quarter of a century of getting things done." — Herman Wouk, The Winds of War, 1971
castellated : (adjective) Having turrets and battlements in the style of a castle.; castled, crenellated, battlemented; He summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends...and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys. 

narcissism : noun: Excessive self-interest or self-love.
; "George Simon, a clinical psychologist who conducts seminars on manipulative
behavior, says Trump is 'so classic that I'm archiving video clips of him
to use in workshops because there's no better example' of narcissism. ...
"When, in the summer of 1999, he stood up to offer remarks at his father's
funeral, Trump spoke mainly about himself. It was the toughest day of his
own life, Trump began. He went on to talk about Fred Trump's greatest
achievement: raising a brilliant and renowned son."
Dan P. McAdams; The Mind of Donald Trump; The Atlantic (Washington, DC);
Jun 2016.

In His Own Words:
  "I feel like a supermodel. Except like times 10. It's true. I'm a supermodel.
   I'm on the cover of these magazines -- I'm on the cover of the biggest magazines."
   -Donald Trump
   (reference)

  "My fingers are long and beautiful, as, it has been well documented, are various
   other parts of my body."
   -Donald Trump (reference)


See more usage examples of narcissism in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested
in money, compliments, or publicity. -Thomas Wolfe, novelist (3 Oct
1900-1938)


	*****October 05, 2016*****
potboiler : a mediocre work of literature or art produced merely for financi..; 
                Although it remains one of the most discussed works by Henry James, James himself soon dismissed it as "an inferior, a merely pictorial, subject and rather a shameless potboiler."
                Edited by John Auchard, The Portable Henry James, 2004
            
Predacious :   adj. Predatory; Given to victimizing, plundering, or destroying for one's own gain. "A victim of predacious behavior." 

Banausic : : relating to or concerned with earning a living — used pejoratively; also : utilitarian, practical; "At the far end was a wooden board on which were hung saws, chisels, knives and other banausic instruments of the trade." — Sebastian Faulk, Human Traces, 2005
sunstone : (noun) A translucent quartz spangled with bits of mica or other minerals.; aventurine; He loved the red gold of the sunstone, and the moonstone's pearly whiteness, and the broken rainbow of the milky opal. 

lien : noun: A claim on another's property until a debt owed by that person is paid back.
; "At least 60 lawsuits, along with hundreds of liens, judgments, and other
government filings reviewed by the USA Today Network, document people
who have accused Trump and his businesses of failing to pay them for
their work. Among them: a dishwasher in Florida. A glass company in New
Jersey. A carpet company. A plumber. Painters. Forty-eight waiters.
Dozens of bartenders and other hourly workers at his resorts and clubs,
coast to coast. Real estate brokers who sold his properties. And,
ironically, several law firms that once represented him in these suits
and others."
Steve Reilly; Hundreds Allege Donald Trump Doesn't Pay His Bills;
USA Today (Washington, DC); Jun 9, 2016.

In His Own Words:
"I like money. I'm very greedy. I'm a greedy person. I shouldn't tell you
that, I'm a greedy -- I've always been greedy. I love money, right?"
-Donald Trump (reference)


See more usage examples of lien in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: He serves his party best who serves the country best. -Rutherford B. Hayes,
19th US president (4 Oct 1877-1881)


	*****October 06, 2016*****
deleterious : harmful; injurious: deleterious influences; 
                I do not mean to exaggerate the beneficial effects of my friendship or, for that matter, the deleterious influence of Sue.
                Zoë Heller, What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal, 2003
            
Vitiate :   v. Spoil or impair the quality or efficiency of. "The government programs were vitiated by excessive red tape." Destroy or impair the legal validity of. 

Invective : 1 : an abusive expression or speech; "The ongoing collapse of responsible broadcast and cable journalism and the explosive role that social media has assumed in this campaign have made for a nasty brew of invective, slurs and accusations…." — Susan J. Douglas, In These Times, July 2016
frankincense : (noun) An aromatic gum resin obtained from various Arabian or East African trees; formerly valued for worship and for embalming and fumigation.; gum olibanum, olibanum, thus; A crow caught in a snare prayed to Apollo to release him, making a vow to offer some frankincense at his shrine. 

vitriol : noun: Cruel, mean-spirited, bitter criticism.
; "Trump's vitriol is making it off the campaign trail and into the lingua
franca of children at an alarming rate. Just watch coverage from Trump
rallies to hear the next phrases kids will be slinging at school."
Petula Dvorak; The 'Trump Effect' is Contaminating Our Kids -- and Could
Resonate for Years; The Washington Post; Mar 7, 2016.

In His Own Words:
"My entire life, I've watched politicians bragging about how poor they are,
how they came from nothing, how poor their parents and grandparents were.
And I said to myself, if they can stay so poor for so many generations,
maybe this isn't the kind of person we want to be electing to higher office.
How smart can they be? They're morons."
-Donald Trump (reference)


See more usage examples of vitriol in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Wandering in a vast forest at night, I have only a faint light to guide me.
A stranger appears and says to me: 'My friend, you should blow out your
candle in order to find your way more clearly.' The stranger is a
theologian. -Denis Diderot, philosopher (5 Oct 1713-1784)


	*****October 07, 2016*****
mavourneen : Irish English. darling; dear; 
                I love you, mavourneen, I love you as no one ever loved you before.
                E. M. Dell, "The Honourable Burford," The Novel Magazine, April–September 1906
            
Spurious :   adj. Not genuine, authentic, or true; not from the claimed, pretended, or proper source; counterfeit. Not being what it purports to be; false or fake. "Spurious claims." 

Vulnerary : : used for or useful in healing wounds; "Rebecca examined the wound, and having applied to it such vulnerary remedies as her art prescribed, informed her father that if fever could be averted … there was nothing to fear for his guest's life, and that he might with safety travel to York with them on the ensuing day." — Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, 1820
neonate : (noun) A newborn infant, especially one less than four weeks old.; newborn; The doctor examined the writhing neonate with great care but with a seeming coldness that bothered the baby's mother. 

precarious : adjective: Risky; uncertain; insecure; unstable; unsafe.
; "The craft plunged 2,800 feet to the ground, killing all five passengers.
Among them were three of Trump's top casino executives. ... By early 1990,
as financial prospects at the casinos worsened, Trump began badmouthing
the executives who had died, laying blame on them, although the cause of
his problems was the precarious, debt-laden business structure he had built."
Kurt Eichenwald; Donald Trump's Many Business Failures, Explained; Newsweek
(New York); Aug 2, 2016.

In His Own Words:
"I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself now, I'm basically
the same. The temperament is not that different."
-Donald Trump (reference)


See more usage examples of precarious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: It's good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good,
too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven't lost the
things that money can't buy. -George H. Lorimer, editor (6 Oct 1867-1937)


	*****October 08, 2016*****
etymology : the derivation of a word; 
                Occasionally people make the mistake of asking me where a word comes from. They never make this mistake twice. I am naturally a stern and silent fellow; even forbidding. But there's something about etymology and where words come from that overcomes my inbuilt taciturnity.
                Mark Forsyth, Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connections of the English Language, 2011
            
Pejorative :   adj. Expressing contempt or disapproval. Disparaging; belittling. "He used pejorative overtones in his speech." 

Macadam : : a roadway or pavement of small closely packed broken stone; The sloping, curved street saw light traffic and had a smooth macadam surface that made it popular with skateboarders.
omnipotent : (adjective) Having unlimited or universal power, authority, or force.; all-powerful, almighty; Doug lived in the shadow of his seemingly omnipotent father. 

demagogue or demagog : noun: A person who appeals to the prejudices and emotions of the people to gain power.
verb tr., intr.: To manipulate an issue, to speak, or to act in the manner of a demagogue.
; "We're at a tipping point in America, and a media so eager to be objective
can no longer pretend that Donald Trump isn't the most dangerous,
authoritarian, and unhinged demagogue to ever seek the nation's highest
office. We can barely keep up now with his misstatements and lies, with
his name-calling and racist rants, with his crazy, self-absorbed
pontifications. It's so bad that I almost suspect each new mini-scandal
is a deliberate ruse to distract from the last one. And his candidacy is
so toxic that I can no longer pretend to show respect for anyone who still
supports him."
Dianne Williamson; Time to Stop Pretending Trump is Presidential Material;
Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Massachusetts); Jun 9, 2016.

In His Own Words:
"We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated."
-Donald Trump (reference)


See more usage examples of demagogue in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a
very narrow field. -Niels Bohr, physicist, Nobel laureate (7 Oct 1885-1962)


	*****October 09, 2016*****
stiver : the smallest possible amount: not worth a stiver; not a stiver of w..; 
                ... I care not a stiver for popularity; and as to suspicion, who is he that can escape from the calumny of the envious?
                Edward Bulwer-Lytton, My Novel; or, Varieties in English Life, 1853
            
Sardonic :   adj. Grimly mocking or cynical. "His sardonic smile." 

Truncate : : to shorten by or as if by cutting off; "Apparently, a federal law … requires printed credit card receipts truncate not only the credit card number, but also the expiration date." — Jack Greiner, The Cincinnati Enquirer, 28 Aug. 2016
jurist : (noun) A public official authorized to decide questions brought before a court of justice.; judge, magistrate, justice; A very humane jurist once said, "The worst use you can put a man to is to hang him." 

demagogue or demagog : noun: A person who appeals to the prejudices and emotions of the people to gain power.
verb tr., intr.: To manipulate an issue, to speak, or to act in the manner of a demagogue.
; "We're at a tipping point in America, and a media so eager to be objective
can no longer pretend that Donald Trump isn't the most dangerous,
authoritarian, and unhinged demagogue to ever seek the nation's highest
office. We can barely keep up now with his misstatements and lies, with
his name-calling and racist rants, with his crazy, self-absorbed
pontifications. It's so bad that I almost suspect each new mini-scandal
is a deliberate ruse to distract from the last one. And his candidacy is
so toxic that I can no longer pretend to show respect for anyone who still
supports him."
Dianne Williamson; Time to Stop Pretending Trump is Presidential Material;
Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Massachusetts); Jun 9, 2016.

In His Own Words:
"We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated."
-Donald Trump (reference)


See more usage examples of demagogue in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a
very narrow field. -Niels Bohr, physicist, Nobel laureate (7 Oct 1885-1962)


	*****October 10, 2016*****
stemwinder : Older Slang. a. a rousing speech, especially a stirring politic..; 
                Just in case, the old gentleman had a real stem-winder of a speech which he kept in his pocket. And on two occasions in some 25 years, he filled in for the absent speaker. Both times he made so effective a speech that he received a dozen invitations to deliver it to other organizations.
                Wesley C. Clark, "The care and feeding of a head table," The Rotarian, January 1977
            
Veracity :   n. Conformity to facts; accuracy. "What is the veracity of these allegations." Habitual truthfulness. "Her veracity and character." 

Odious : : arousing or deserving hatred or repugnance : hateful; Volunteers gathered on Saturday morning to scrub away the odious graffiti spray-painted on the school.
balladeer : (noun) A singer of popular ballads.; crooner; The balladeer sang about the tragic fate of the star-crossed lovers. 

demagogue or demagog : noun: A person who appeals to the prejudices and emotions of the people to gain power.
verb tr., intr.: To manipulate an issue, to speak, or to act in the manner of a demagogue.
; "We're at a tipping point in America, and a media so eager to be objective
can no longer pretend that Donald Trump isn't the most dangerous,
authoritarian, and unhinged demagogue to ever seek the nation's highest
office. We can barely keep up now with his misstatements and lies, with
his name-calling and racist rants, with his crazy, self-absorbed
pontifications. It's so bad that I almost suspect each new mini-scandal
is a deliberate ruse to distract from the last one. And his candidacy is
so toxic that I can no longer pretend to show respect for anyone who still
supports him."
Dianne Williamson; Time to Stop Pretending Trump is Presidential Material;
Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Massachusetts); Jun 9, 2016.

In His Own Words:
"We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated."
-Donald Trump (reference)


See more usage examples of demagogue in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a
very narrow field. -Niels Bohr, physicist, Nobel laureate (7 Oct 1885-1962)


	*****October 11, 2016*****
dilatory : tending to delay or procrastinate; slow; tardy; 
                I remembered also the necessity imposed upon me of either journeying to England, or entering into a long correspondence with those philosophers of that country, whose knowledge and discoveries were of indispensable use to me in my present undertaking. The latter method of obtaining the desired intelligence was dilatory and unsatisfactory ...
                Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, 1818
            
Abstruse :   adj. Difficult to understand; obscure. "An abstruse argument presented by the lawyers." 

Roister : : to engage in noisy revelry : carouse; Hugh didn't get much sleep last night because his neighbors were roistering until the wee hours of the morning.
eulogy : (noun) A laudatory speech or written tribute, especially one praising someone who has died.; encomium, paean, panegyric; Mournfully and low the man of God began his eulogy of the dead. 

confute : verb tr.: To prove to be wrong.
; "Page after page of these volumes confute that claim by showing how
philoprogenitive the mothers were who sat for [the artist George]
Romney with their children."
Edward Short; The English Look; The Weekly Standard (Washington, DC);
Jun 6, 2016.


See more usage examples of confute in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to
set. -Lin Yutang, writer and translator (10 Oct 1895-1976)


	*****October 12, 2016*****
bailiwick : a person's area of skill, knowledge, authority, or work: to conf..; 
                Arguing cases in front of the Supreme Court isn't Hamp's bailiwick. He's an old-school criminal defense attorney.
                Paul Beatty, The Sellout, 2015
            
Labyrinth :   n. A complicated irregular network of passages or paths in which it is difficult to find one's way; a maze. "Exploring the labyrinth of waterways." An intricate and confusing arrangement. 

Scion : 1 : a detached living portion of a plant (as a bud or shoot) joined to a stock in grafting and usually supplying solely aerial parts to a graft; "The duke was the billionaire owner of swaths of central London, a friend of Britain's royal family and the scion of an aristocratic family stretching back to the Norman Conquest." — The Boston Herald, 14 Aug. 2016
digression : (noun) A message that departs from the main subject.; divagation, excursus, parenthesis, aside; The lecture on animal behavior was interesting until the professor indulged in a long digression about his beloved dog. 

propine : verb tr.: To gift, tip, or pledge.
noun: A gift or tip.
; "The priests of a neighbouring convent, in expectation of the ample donation
... which Cedric had propined, attended upon the car."
Walter Scott; Ivanhoe; A. Constable & Co.; 1820. 

Thought For The Day: Most men resemble great deserted palaces: the owner occupies only a few
rooms and has closed off wings where he never ventures. -François Mauriac,
writer, Nobel laureate (11 Oct 1885-1970)


	*****October 13, 2016*****
opuscule : a small or minor work; 
                Its proprietor was William Heckler, who had already achieved fame in his chosen profession and who had written some 10 years earlier his opuscule on the peregrinations of trained fleas, ''Pulicology.''
                Ricky Jay, "Times Square at 100; Please Don't Squash the Actors," New York Times, June 13, 2004
            
Bromide :   n.  A commonplace remark or notion; a platitude. "Her speech contained the usual bromides about teamwork." A tiresome or dull person; a bore. 

Phlegmatic : 1 : resembling, consisting of, or producing the humor phlegm  ; "She said 'Good morning, Miss,' in her usual phlegmatic  and brief manner; and taking up another ring and more tape, went on with her sewing." — Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, 1847
retrograde : (adjective) Tending towards an earlier worse condition; declining or deteriorating.; deteriorating, backward, regressive, retrogressive; It would be a retrograde step to revert to the old system. 

flocculate : verb tr., intr.: To form or cause to form into clumps.
; "Organic matter causes clay particles to flocculate and make larger lumps."
Laurie Donnelly; Soil Smarts; Country Living Gardener (Birmingham, Alabama);
Fall 2004.


See more usage examples of flocculate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The mosque is too far from home, so let's do this / Let's make a weeping
child laugh. -Nida Fazli, poet (12 Oct 1938-2016)


	*****October 14, 2016*****
hinterland : Often, hinterlands. the remote or less developed parts of a cou..; 
                In the sparsely populated hinterlands of Vermont and northern Maine, the high-tech revolution has been transforming the higher education process.
                E. B. Baatz, "Trendlines: Getting There from Here," CIO, September 1, 1995
            
Doleful :   adj Expressing sorrow; mournful. "A doleful look." Causing misfortune or grief. "Doleful consequences." 

Univocal : 1 : having one meaning only; The president declared that it was important to send a univocal message of support to the beleaguered country.
matriarch : (noun) A woman who rules a family, clan, or tribe.; materfamilias; When the matriarch of the clan appeared in the doorway, all conversation immediately ceased. 

absolve : verb tr.: To free from guilt, blame, responsibility, obligation, etc.
; "His Eminence might also be able to absolve us of the original sin of
being Mets fans, which is purgatory on Earth."
Denis Hamill; Oh, the Pain of Mets Fans; New York Daily News; Jul 5, 2015.


See more usage examples of absolve in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: You can't do anything with anybody's body to make it dirty to me. Six
people, eight people, one person -- you can do only one thing to make it
dirty: kill it. Hiroshima was dirty. -Lenny Bruce, comedian and social
critic (13 Oct 1925-1966)


	*****October 15, 2016*****
mutable : given to changing; constantly changing; fickle or inconstant: the ..; 
                ... we are all, I think, betrayed by those eyes of memory which are as mutable and particular as the ones with which we regard the material world, the vision altering, as it so often does, from near in youth to far in age.
                Gore Vidal, Messiah, 1954
            
Malicious :   adj. Characterized by malice; intending or intended to do harm. "Malicious rumors." 

Nemesis : 1 a : one that inflicts retribution or vengeance; "My nemesis was a young woman who, at the end of the film, had the honour of sending me to my doom at the bottom of a well. Her name meant nothing to me then: Jennifer Aniston." — Warwick Davis, Dailymail.com, 10 Apr. 2010
morass : (noun) A soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot.; quagmire, mire, quag; The path from the wood leads to a morass, and from thence to a ford, which, as the rains have abated, may now be passable. 

objurgate : verb tr.: To scold severely.
; "Occasionally he objurgated Mr. Ledbetter's clumsiness, and urged him to hurry."
H.G. Wells; Mr. Ledbetter's Vacation; The Strand Magazine (London, UK);
Jul-Dec 1898.


See more usage examples of objurgate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: To read fast is as bad as to eat in a hurry. -Vilhelm Ekelund, poet (14 Oct
1880-1949)


	*****October 16, 2016*****
ignominy : disgrace; dishonor; public contempt; 
                Walking in the shadow of a dream, as it were, and perhaps actually under the influence of a species of somnambulism, Mr. Dimmesdale reached the spot, where, now so long since, Hester Prynne had lived through her first hour of public ignominy.
                Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, 1850
            
Incorrigible :   adj. Not able to be corrected, improved, or reformed. "His bad habits were incorrigible." 

Waggish : 1 : resembling or characteristic of a wag : displaying good-humored mischief; "A warm person who enjoys banter with often-waggish reporters, [Elizabeth] Brenner joked that her next move would be to take a newspaper-carrier route in Pewaukee. 'No, that's not what I'm going to do,' she quickly added. 'Can't get up that early.'" — Rick Romell, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 17 May 2016
homochromatic : (adjective) Of or characterized by one color; (of light or other electromagnetic radiation) having only one wavelength.; monochromatic; The room appeared dull yellow in the dim, homochromatic light. 

objurgate : verb tr.: To scold severely.
; "Occasionally he objurgated Mr. Ledbetter's clumsiness, and urged him to hurry."
H.G. Wells; Mr. Ledbetter's Vacation; The Strand Magazine (London, UK);
Jul-Dec 1898.


See more usage examples of objurgate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: To read fast is as bad as to eat in a hurry. -Vilhelm Ekelund, poet (14 Oct
1880-1949)


	*****October 17, 2016*****
lexicon : the vocabulary of a particular language, field, social class, pers..; 
                The English lexicon is so vast and varied that it is impossible to classify it into neat categories.... The lexicon is a particularly sensitive index of historical, social, and technological change.
                David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, 1995
            
Efficacious :   adj. Successful in producing a desired or intended result; effective. "Efficacious treatment for the disease." 

Lavation : : the act or an instance of washing or cleansing; "… we cannot keep the skin healthy without frequent lavations of the whole body in pure water. It is impossible to calculate the benefits of this simple practice." — Walt Whitman, "Bathing, Cleanliness, Personal Beauty," June 1846
gaunt : (adjective) Thin and bony; angular.; cadaverous, haggard, pinched, skeletal, wasted; A gaunt Wolf was almost dead with hunger when he happened to meet a House-dog who was passing by. 

objurgate : verb tr.: To scold severely.
; "Occasionally he objurgated Mr. Ledbetter's clumsiness, and urged him to hurry."
H.G. Wells; Mr. Ledbetter's Vacation; The Strand Magazine (London, UK);
Jul-Dec 1898.


See more usage examples of objurgate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: To read fast is as bad as to eat in a hurry. -Vilhelm Ekelund, poet (14 Oct
1880-1949)


	*****October 18, 2016*****
nudnik : Slang. a persistently dull, boring pest; 
                Pinni becomes enraged and says my brother is a nudnik. I agree with Pinni. Even though my brother Elyahu is my own flesh and blood, he's an awful nudnik.
                Richard Burgin, Conversations with Isaac Bashevis Singer, 1985
            
Tepid :   adj. Showing little enthusiasm: "The president had a tepid response to the proposal." 

cellblock : (noun) A group of cells that make up a section or unit of a prison.; ward; At the prison, one cellblock was reserved for particularly violent criminals, and it was monitored by twice the number of armed guards. 

ruminate : verb tr., intr.:
1. To think deeply upon.
2. To chew the cud.
; "A 33-year-old writer and teacher named Ben is ruminating on the possibility
of a second novel."
Philip Maughan; Future Fiction; New Statesman (London, UK); Jan 16-22, 2015.


See more usage examples of ruminate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: Don't be seduced into thinking that that which does not make a profit is
without value. -Arthur Miller, playwright and essayist (17 Oct 1915-2005)


	*****October 19, 2016*****
apotheosis : the ideal example; epitome; quintessence: This poem is the apot..; 
                ... his favorite phrase was "see it through"; he considered his novel about Frederick the Great to be the very apotheosis of this command, which he looked upon as the quintessence of the virtue that remains active in spite of suffering.
                Thomas Mann (1875–1955), Death in Venice, translated by Stanley Appelbaum, 1995
            
Provenance :   n. The beginning of something's existence; something's origin. The place of origin or earliest known history of something. "An exquisite vase of Chinese provenance." 

Jacquerie : : (often capitalized Jacquerie) a peasants' revolt ; "There were no bloodthirsty sansculottes preparing to erect guillotines; nor were farmers, however angry about government excise taxes and other matters—as Shays's Rebellion suggested—ready to burn down the manorial estates of their feudal overlords in some version of an American jacquerie." — Steve Fraser, Wall Street: America's Dream Palace, 2008
venire : (noun) The panel of prospective jurors from which a jury is selected.; panel; Most of the people on the venire just wanted to go home, but I was hoping to be selected for the jury. 

bushwa or bushwah : noun: Nonsense; bull.
; "There ain't no Santa Claus ... It's all bushwa."
Sam Ross; Melov's Legacy; Permanent Press; 1984. 

Thought For The Day: A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to
the meaning of life. -Isadora James


	*****October 20, 2016*****
harum-scarum : reckless; rash; irresponsible: He had a harum-scarum youth; 
                ... he warn't bad, so to say--only mischeevous. Only just giddy and harum-scarum, you know. He warn't any more responsible than a colt.
                Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 1876
            
Onerous :   adj. Involving heavy obligations. Involving a burdensome amount of effort and difficulty. "The court's stipulations were onerous." 

Colubrine : 1 : of, relating to, or resembling a snake; The trellis's latticework was covered with colubrine ivy.
drumbeater : (noun) One that supports a cause, especially vehemently.; partisan, zealot; The editor of the newspaper was an unabashed drumbeater for the cause. 

obambulate : verb intr.: To walk about.
; "Mukul was obambulating in circles like a caged animal."
Sam Mukherjee; Chopped Green Chillies in Vanilla Ice Cream; Rupa
Publications; 2011. 

Thought For The Day: Life is mostly froth and bubble, / Two things stand like stone, / Kindness
in another's trouble, / Courage in your own. -Adam Lindsay Gordon, poet (19
Oct 1833-1870)


	*****October 21, 2016*****
paroxysm : any sudden, violent outburst; a fit of violent action or emotion:..; 
                But oh, ye powers! into what a paroxysm of passion did each new outrage of the Yankees throw the choleric little governor!
                Washington Irving, A History of New York, 1809
            
Dismal :   adj Gloomy. Depressing; dreary. "The business was a dismal failure;" "Dismal weather." 

Hoick : : to move or pull abruptly : yank; "Occasionally he hoicks up the waistband of his trousers when he thinks no one is looking." — Elizabeth Day, The Observer, 24 Feb. 2015
retinue : (noun) The group following and attending to some important person.; entourage, cortege, suite; Guillaume Lejean…reached Karthoum by way of the Red Sea, and embarked upon the Nile with a retinue of twenty-one hired men and twenty soldiers. 

trumpery : noun:
1. Something showy but worthless.
2. Nonsense or rubbish.
3. Deceit; fraud; trickery.
; "The room was crowded with a chilly miscellany of knick-knacks and
ornaments, gewgaws, and trumpery of every kind."
Leo Bruce; Case for Three Detectives; Academy Chicago; 1980.

"History, made up as it is of so much trumpery, treachery, and tyranny,
needs deeds of valor, of sacrifice, and of heroism if it is to be
palatable."
The Medal of Honor: A History of Service Above and Beyond; Zenith Press;
2014.


See more usage examples of trumpery in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I have three ex-wives. I can't remember any of their names, so I just call
'em Plaintiff. -Lewis Grizzard, humorist (20 Oct 1946-1994)


	*****October 22, 2016*****
rollick : to move or act in a carefree, frolicsome manner; behave in a free,..; 
                They decided to rollick off to a party on Jefferson Street.
                Thomas Pynchon, V., 1963
            
Incendiary :   adj. Designed to cause fires. "An incendiary device." 

Evanescent : : tending to vanish like vapor; "As stunning as his dishes could be, in the end, the maestro understood its evanescent nature. Furstenberg remembers Richard telling him, 'It's supposed to be food.'" — Tom Sietsema, The Washington Post, 15 Aug. 2016
gastronome : (noun) A connoisseur of good food and drink.; epicure, epicurean, foodie, gourmet, bon vivant; He was quite the gastronome, and restaurant chefs around the town knew it was important to impress him. 

hilarity : noun: Cheerfulness; merriment.
; "A merry school of porpoises, a square mile of them, suddenly appear,
tossing themselves into the air in abounding strength and hilarity."
John Muir; Travels in Alaska; Houghton Mifflin; 1915.


See more usage examples of hilarity in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: If you would stand well with a great mind, leave him with a favorable
impression of yourself; if with a little mind, leave him with a favorable
impression of himself. -Samuel Taylor Coleridge, poet, and philosopher (21
Oct 1772-1834)


	*****October 23, 2016*****
stalwart : firm, steadfast, or uncompromising: a stalwart supporter of the U..; 
                Throughout Europe, Social Democrats have long since shifted from the kind of stalwart ideology that Sanders now pushes toward what Germans called the Neue Mitte (New Center) and those in other countries referred to as the Third Way.
                Russell Shorto, "Bernie Sanders's Forty-Year-Old Idea," The New Yorker, April 17, 2016
            
Gravitas :   n. Dignity, seriousness, or solemnity in manner. "He has the necessary gravitas to lead the company." 

Frieze : 1 : the part of an entablature between the architrave and the cornice; "The house commands a hilltop and is forbidding, imposing, but softened with a frieze of beautiful American elms." — Lady Bird Johnson, A White House Diary, 1970
brawny : (adjective) Strong and muscular.; hefty, sinewy, muscular, powerful; The muscles of his brawny arms showed through the sleeves of his light summer coat. 

hilarity : noun: Cheerfulness; merriment.
; "A merry school of porpoises, a square mile of them, suddenly appear,
tossing themselves into the air in abounding strength and hilarity."
John Muir; Travels in Alaska; Houghton Mifflin; 1915.


See more usage examples of hilarity in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: If you would stand well with a great mind, leave him with a favorable
impression of yourself; if with a little mind, leave him with a favorable
impression of himself. -Samuel Taylor Coleridge, poet, and philosopher (21
Oct 1772-1834)


	*****October 24, 2016*****
thunderstruck : overcome with consternation; confounded; astounded: He was t..; 
                He seemed awed,—stunned,—crushed. He had all the bearing and mien of one who, having defiantly predicted a calamity, was thunderstruck by the verification of his prophecy.
                Charles King, From the Ranks, 1887
            
Docile :   adj. Submissive. Ready to accept control or instruction. "The dog was very docile around children." 

Glaucous : 1 a : of a pale yellow-green color; "Her eyes, a clear, glaucous gray, express unambiguous yearning." — Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 26 May 2016
exacta : (noun) A method of betting, as on a horserace, in which the bettor must correctly pick those finishing in the first and second places in precisely that sequence.; perfecta; Even though she knew it was risky, she was tempted to go for the exacta, which had a higher payout than a bet on just the winning horse. 

hilarity : noun: Cheerfulness; merriment.
; "A merry school of porpoises, a square mile of them, suddenly appear,
tossing themselves into the air in abounding strength and hilarity."
John Muir; Travels in Alaska; Houghton Mifflin; 1915.


See more usage examples of hilarity in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: If you would stand well with a great mind, leave him with a favorable
impression of yourself; if with a little mind, leave him with a favorable
impression of himself. -Samuel Taylor Coleridge, poet, and philosopher (21
Oct 1772-1834)


	*****October 25, 2016*****
compunction : a feeling of uneasiness or anxiety of the conscience caused by..; 
                It might be supposed that he would feel some compunction at robbing his stepmother of her all. Whatever her faults, she was devoted to him. But Willis Ford had a hard, selfish nature, and the only thought that troubled him was the fear that he might be found out.
                Horatio Alger Jr., Helping Himself, 1886
            
Frugal; Frugality :   adj. Economical with regard to money or food. Simple and plain that costs very little: "A frugal meal." 

Domicile : 1 : a dwelling place : place of residence : home; "I got married, when I was 66, to David Bale.... I thought the women's movement has struggled for 25 years to allow marriage to be an equal partnership, so I no longer had to give up my name, my domicile, my credit rating, so why not? — Gloria Steinem, quoted in The Scottish Daily Mail, 29 Feb. 2016
daiquiri : (noun) An iced cocktail of rum, lime or lemon juice, and sugar.; rum cocktail; They knew he was lying about being a bartender when he was unable to correctly mix a daiquiri. 

ornery : adjective: Having an unpleasant disposition: irritable, stubborn, combative, etc.
; "DI John Rebus is an ornery and often difficult detective who is
frequently at odds with his young assistant and his supervisors."
Tom Budlong; Video; Library Journal (New York); Oct 15, 2016.


See more usage examples of ornery in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: I have no riches but my thoughts, yet these are wealth enough for me.
-Sarah Josepha Hale, writer and editor (24 Oct 1788-1879)


	*****October 26, 2016*****
soupbone : Baseball Slang. a pitcher's throwing arm; 
                "Got to rest the old soupbone," he said, flexing his pitching arm, which was muscular and huge, as he headed up the stairs.
                W. P. Kinsella, "Distances," The Further Adventures of Slugger McBatt, 1988
            
Reciprocal; Reciprocate :   adj. Done or performed in return: "Reciprocal respect." 

Imbue : 1 : to permeate or influence as if by dyeing; The children were imbued with a passion for nature by their parents, both biologists.
calumet : (noun) A long-stemmed sacred or ceremonial tobacco pipe used by certain Native American peoples.; peace pipe; Among the Blackfeet warriors who advanced with the calumet of peace she recognized a brother. 

passel : noun: A large group or a large number.
; "Must be tough, going from no relatives at all to a whole passel of them."
Vicki Lewis Thompson; Midnight Thunder; Harlequin; 2015.


See more usage examples of passel in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he
would never be found out. -Thomas Babington Macaulay, author and statesman
(25 Oct 1800-1859)


	*****October 27, 2016*****
lionize : to treat (a person) as a celebrity: to lionize the visiting poet; 
                She brought me up to royalties, and people with stars and garters, and elderly ladies with gigantic tiaras and parrot noses. She spoke of me as her dearest friend. I had only met her once before, but she had took it into her head to lionize me.
                Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
            
Ambivalent; Ambivalence :   adj. Having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone. "She has ambivalent feelings about the relationship." 

Beatific : 1 : of, possessing, or imparting a state of utmost bliss; "She was Italian, funny, a beatific tomboy, with just the hint of a lazy eye, and wore a pair of glasses that made me think of the wonders of the library." — Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run, 2016
burgher : (noun) A comfortable or complacent member of the middle class.; bourgeois; From the serfs of the Middle Ages sprang the chartered burghers of the earliest towns. 

sassy : adjective: Impudent; bold; outspoken; lively; feisty; stylish.
; "Ada had sounded like her strong and sassy self on the phone."
Laura Trentham; Slow and Steady Rush; St. Martin's; 2015.


See more usage examples of sassy in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear
weapons. ... America's strength doesn't come from lashing out. Strength
relies on smarts, judgment, cool resolve, and the precise and strategic
application of power. That's the kind of Commander-in-Chief I pledge to be.
-Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State, Senator, Democratic nominee for the
US president (b. 26 Oct 1947)


	*****October 28, 2016*****
delectation : delight; enjoyment; 
                As you look at the drawings, secrets come out of them, -- private jokes, as it were, imparted to you by the author for your special delectation.
                William Makepeace Thackeray, "John Leech's Pictures of Life and Character," Quarterly Review, December 1854
            
Slavish :   adj. Showing no originality; blindly imitative: "A slavish copy of the original work." 

Myriad : 1 : ten thousand; "After sold-out shows in New York and Los Angeles, Rise will make its debut in Boston with a myriad of hand-carved jack o' lanterns that will light up a trail that people can walk on as music plays in the background." — Matt Juul, Boston Magazine, 21 Sept. 2016
calumny : (noun) A false statement maliciously made to injure another's reputation.; aspersion, defamation, denigration, slander; When it became clear that he could not win the election any other way, the candidate resorted to calumny and dirty tricks. 

tarnal : adjective, adverb: Damned.
; "Why had he let himself get suckered into that tarnal poker game?"
W. Michael Gear; Long Ride Home; Tor Books; 1988. 

Thought For The Day: It is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or
birthplace, or origin. -Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US President (27 Oct
1858-1919)


	*****October 29, 2016*****
ensorcell : to bewitch: The beauty of the moon ensorcelled them; 
                But after puzzling over it, I finally decided that J.F.K. had the sort of magnetism that could ensorcell big crowds ...
                Maureen Dowd, "Grandmama Mia!" New York Times, April 11, 2015
            
Dubious :   adj. Hesitating or doubting. Not to be relied upon; suspect. "He seemed dubious about the idea." 

Variegated : 1 : having discrete markings of different colors; The flower has bright variegated petals.
camion : (noun) A low heavy horse cart without sides; used for haulage.; dray; An empty camion came bumping down the cobblestone street, pulled by two exhausted horses. 

raiment : noun: Clothing.
; "I wear this raiment while working at my desk."
Tom Wolfe; My Favorite Thing; Esquire (New York); Sep 2016.


See more usage examples of raiment in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. 

Thought For The Day: It is a curious thing that every creed promises a paradise which will be
absolutely uninhabitable for anyone of civilized taste. -Evelyn Waugh,
novelist (28 Oct 1903-1966)


	*****October 30, 2016*****
apparition : a supernatural appearance of a person or thing, especially a gh..; 
                He turned his eyes towards the entrance and beheld a strange and dreadful apparition, a monstrous and fearful shape standing silently by his side.
                , Plutarch, Parallel Lives, translated by Bernadotte Perrin, 1917
            
Corpulent :   adj. Physically bulky; fat. "The once corpulent woman is now trim and fit." 

Osculate : : kiss; "One thing I forgot to ask the guy in the bar: When his significant other ended their relationship, did she at least osculate him goodbye?" — Mike Royko, "Love Lost in Lingo," 3 June 1981
piddling : (adjective) So trifling or trivial as to be beneath one's consideration.; trivial, petty, fiddling, footling, niggling, picayune, piffling, lilliputian, little; Because she had only invested a piddling sum of money, she was not worried about the stock's poor performance. 

raiment : noun: Clothing.
; "I wear this raiment while working at my desk."
Tom Wolfe; My Favorite Thing; Esquire (New York); Sep 2016.


See more usage ex