vociferate: to speak or cry out loudly or noisily; shout; bawl.

[читать дальше...]

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 15, 2011 is:

terpsichorean • \terp-sih-kuh-REE-un\  • adjective
: of or relating to dancing

Examples:
One film critic speculated that this feel-good, terpsichorean movie would have tweens across the nation begging their parents to send them to dance school.

The Jazz Singer turned the industry on its ear, and Jolson's contribution can hardly be overstated. His vitality, inseparable from his ego, was tuned to a vocal, terpsichorean, and comedic pitch that nullified the need for microphones, scripts, or other actors. -- From Gary Giddins' 2010 book Warning Shadows: Home Alone with Classic Cinema

Did you know?
In Greek and Roman mythology, Terpsichore was one of the nine muses, those graceful sister-goddesses who presided over learning and the arts. Terpsichore was the patron of dance and choral song (and later lyric poetry), and in artistic representations she is often shown dancing and holding a lyre. Her name, which earned an enduring place in English through the adjective terpsichorean, literally means dance-enjoying, from terpsis, meaning enjoyment, and choros, meaning dance. Choros is also the source of choreography and chorus (those choruses in Athenian drama consisted of dancers as well as singers). The only other word we know that incorporates terpsis is terpodion, an obsolete term for a piano-like musical instrument that was invented in 1816 but never really caught on.

[читать дальше...]

moratory: authorizing delay of payment.

[читать дальше...]

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 14, 2011 is:

compurgator • \KAHM-per-gay-ter\  • noun
: one who under oath vouches for the character or conduct of an accused person

Examples:
As a compurgator, you do not have to believe in the innocence of the defendant, but you do have to feel confident speaking positively about that person's character.

To clear himself, the defendant required corroboration from a prescribed number of compurgators or 'oath-helpers,' which varied according to the nature and severity of the accusation. Neither the defendant nor his compurgators were required to present any evidence to the court. -- From Bruce L. Benson and Paul R. Zimmerman's 2010 book Handbook on the Economics of Crime

Did you know?
Compurgator is a descendant of the Latin verb compurgare, meaning to purify wholly. The root of that word, purgare, also gave English purge (to clear of guilt, to cause evacuation from, or to get rid of) and expurgate (to cleanse of something morally harmful, offensive, or erroneous). Compurgator has occasionally been used in a more general sense of one who supports or defends another, but its primary application is to the specific legal situation in which someone appears in court as a character witness for the defendant. Compurgator has been used in English with this specific legal meaning since the 16th century.

[читать дальше...]

praxis: practice, as distinguished from theory; application or use, as of knowledge or skills.

[читать дальше...]

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 13, 2011 is:

vestige • \VESS-tij\  • noun
: a mark or visible sign left by something that existed before; also: a minute remaining amount

Examples:
Viaducts, walls, and ancient baths remain as vestiges of the Roman occupation of Britain.

Outside her home flies a large American flag, but inside there are vestiges of her native France, with paintings all round of the City of Lights and its grand boulevards and striking architecture. -- From an article in the Gloucester Daily Times (Massachusetts), March 3, 2011

Did you know?
Vestige is derived via Middle French from the Latin noun vestigium, meaning footstep, footprint, or track. Like trace and track, vestige can refer to a perceptible sign made by something that has now passed. Of the three words, vestige is the most likely to apply to a tangible reminder, such as a fragment or remnant of what is past and gone. Trace, on the other hand, may suggest any line, mark, or discernible effect (the snowfield is pockmarked with the traces of caribou). Track implies a continuous line that can be followed (the fossilized tracks of dinosaurs).

[читать дальше...]

oppugn: to assail by criticism, argument, or action.

[читать дальше...]

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 12, 2011 is:

concatenate • \kahn-KAT-uh-nayt\  • verb
: to link together in a series or chain

Examples:
As part of her presentation, Tiffany created a flow chart that concatenated all of the company’s suppliers and accounts.

“You may want to place fields on a data-entry form quite differently from the way you want them to print on reports. For example, on the data-entry form, you might want to display separate fields for first, middle, and last names, but on a printed report, you may want to concatenate those fields into a single full name.”-- From an article by William Porter in Macworld, February 1, 2011

Did you know?
Concatenate comes directly from Latin concatenare, which in turn is formed from con-, meaning with or together, and catena, meaning chain. In fact, the word chain itself evolved from catena. Concatenate has a somewhat longer history as an adjective, meaning linked together, than as a verb. The adjective first appeared in English in the 15th century and the verb was in use by the early 17th century. Catenate, a verb in its own right meaning to link in a series, had also arrived on the scene by the early 17th century.

[читать дальше...]

balderdash: Senseless, stupid, or exaggerated talk or writing; nonsense.

[читать дальше...]

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 11, 2011 is:

haphazard • \hap-HAZZ-erd\  • adjective
: marked by lack of plan, order, or direction

Examples:
Because of the haphazard way the cars were parked in the field, it was difficult for drivers to exit in an orderly fashion after the reception.

With bookshelves piled to the ceiling, and every inch of space filled with stacks both meticulous and haphazard, Lippincott Books seems so firmly entrenched in its Central Street, Bangor location that one can’t imagine how it will close its doors this spring. -- From an article by Jennifer Vincent in The Maine Campus (University of Maine), February 20, 2011

Did you know?
The hap in haphazard comes from an English word that means happening, as well as chance or fortune, and that derives from the Old Norse word happ, meaning good luck. Perhaps it’s no accident that hazard, as well, has its own connotations of luck: while it now refers commonly to something that presents danger, at one time it referred to a dice game similar to craps. (The name ultimately derives from the Arabic al-zahr, or the die.) Haphazard first entered English as a noun (again meaning chance) in the 16th century, and soon afterward was being used as an adjective to describe things with no apparent logic or order.

[читать дальше...]

simpatico: congenial or like-minded.

[читать дальше...]

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 10, 2011 is:

panegyric • \pan-uh-JEER-ik\  • noun
: a eulogistic oration or writing; also : formal or elaborate praise

Examples:
Written on the tenth anniversary of his mother’s death, the poet’s latest piece is a panegyric in her honor.

Football's over reliance on expert based statistics, mathematical probabilities and the highest panegyric going to non-players goes against my grain. -- From an article by Bill Dement in the Ruidoso News (New Mexico), January 13, 2011

Did you know?
On certain fixed dates throughout the year, the ancient Greeks would come together for religious meetings. Such gatherings could range from hometown affairs to great national assemblies, but large or small, the meeting was called a panēgyris. (That name comes from pan, meaning all, and agyris, meaning assembly.) At those assemblies, speakers provided the main entertainment, and they delivered glowing orations extolling the praises of present civic leaders and reliving the past glories of Greek cities. To the Greeks, those laudatory speeches were panēgyrikos, which means of or for a panēgyris. Latin speakers ultimately transformed panēgyrikos into the noun panegyricus, and English speakers adapted that Latin term to form panegyric.

[читать дальше...]

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 09, 2011 is:

organoleptic • \or-guh-noh-LEP-tik\  • adjective
1 : being, affecting, or relating to qualities (as taste, color, odor, and feel) of a substance (as a food or drug) that stimulate the sense organs 2 : involving use of the sense organs

Examples:
In addition to extra virgin olive oil, there are a number of other grades which define chemical and organoleptic qualities. -- From an article posted March 28th, 2011, at oliveoiltimes.com

The goal of beverage distillers is generally a beverage, often very traditional in nature, with very specific organoleptic properties…. -- From Steven E. Ullrich's 2011 book Barley: Production, Improvement, and Uses

Did you know?
English speakers first got a taste of organoleptic in an 1852 translation of a French chemistry textbook. Its spelling is an Anglicization of the French word organoleptique, which derives from organ (same meaning as in English) and Greek lēptikos, meaning disposed to take or accept. Lēptikos is also an ingredient in neuroleptic (a type of powerful tranquilizer). The parent of lēptikos -- the verb lambanein, meaning to take or seize -- contributed to the formation of several English words, including epilepsy and syllable.

[читать дальше...]

tenterhooks: in a state of uneasy suspense or painful anxiety.

[читать дальше...]

futz: to pass time in idleness (usually followed by around).

[читать дальше...]