Friday, June 13, 2008

#95

effulgence \i-FUL-juhn(t)s\, noun:
The state of being bright and radiant; splendor; brilliance.

The purity of his private character gave effulgence to his public virtues.
-- "Congressman Henry Lee's Eulogy for George Washington" , December 4, 1908

The setting sun as usual shed a melancholy effulgence on the ruddy towers of the Alhambra.
-- Washington Irving, The Alhambra

Nice gave him a different light from Paris -- a high, constant effulgence with little gray in it, flooding broadly across sea, city and hills, producing luminous shadows and clear tonal structures.
-- Robert Hughes, "Inventing A Sensory Utopia: The paintings Matisse did in Nice include some of his best", Time, November 17, 1986

From Latin ex, "out of, from" + fulgere, "to shine." The adjective form of the word is effulgent.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

#94




Cool is an aesthetic of attitude, behavior, comportment, appearance, style and Zeitgeist. Because of the varied and changing connotations of cool, as well its subjective nature, the word has no single meaning. It has associations of composure and self-control (cf. the OED definition) and often is used as an expression of admiration or approval.