Wednesday, September 5, 2007

#28

quash \KWOSH\, transitive verb:
1. (Law) To abate, annul, overthrow, or make void; as, "to quash an indictment."
2. To crush; to subdue; to suppress or extinguish summarily and completely; as, "to quash a rebellion."

The Shelby Globe attributed her death to acute heart failure and yellow jaundice and did its best to quash a curious town rumor that had her being poisoned by eating oyster sandwiches.
-- Tim Page, Dawn Powell: A Biography

The German-French entente made NATO intervention to quash the Balkan civil wars possible, and the collapse of the Soviet Union made NATO's intervention deep into the former Soviet sphere of influence permissible.
-- Thomas L. Friedman, "Was Kosovo World War III?", New York Times, July 2, 1999

[The law] . . . also installed newspaper censorship, enabling the government to quash anything "calculated to jeopardise the success of the operations of any of His Majesty's forces or to assist the enemy."
-- Philip Hoare, Oscar Wilde's Last Stand


Quash comes from Medieval French quasser, from Latin quassare, "to shake violently, to shatter," frequentative form of quatere, "to shake." Quash, "to annul," has been sense-influenced by Late Latin cassare, "to annul," from Latin cassus, "empty," whereas quash, "to crush," has been sense-influenced by squash.



lomography.com

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

#27

eleemosynary \el-uh-MOS-uh-ner-ee\, adjective:
1. Of or for charity; charitable; as, "an eleemosynary institution."
2. Given in charity; having the nature of alms; as, "eleemosynary assistance."
3. Supported by or dependent on charity; as, "the eleemosynary poor."

We also need to revive the great eleemosynary institutions through which compassionate people serve those in need with both greater flexibility and discipline than government agencies are capable.
-- Clifford F. Thies, "Bring back the bridewell", The World & I, September 1, 1995

An author ought to consider himself, not as a gentleman who keeps 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, Tom Jones

Like Hilda's "eleemosynary doves," these birds depend upon the Author's charity, require mothering, just as Hilda finds solace in the Virgin--"a child, lifting its tear-stained face to seek comfort from a Mother."
-- John Dolis, "Domesticating Hawthorne: Home Is for the Birds", Criticism, Winter 2001


The source of eleemosynary is Medieval Latin eleemosynarius, from Late Latin eleemosyna, "alms," from Greek eleemosyne, from eleemon, "pitiful," from eleos, "pity."


Thursday, August 30, 2007

#26

denizen \DEN-uh-zuhn\, noun:
1. A dweller; an inhabitant.
2. One that frequents a particular place.
3. [Chiefly British] An alien granted certain rights of citizenship.
4. An animal, plant, etc. that has become naturalized.

Goethe, who visited Berlin only once, found the "wit and irony" of its denizens quite remarkable.
-- Peter Gay, My German Question

But he will know one thing about what it means to be an American, because he has known the raw continent, and not as tourist but as denizen.
-- "Noted With Pleasure", New York Times, February 2, 1992

So Charlie McCreevy is a regular denizen of the "Dáil bar."
-- Kathy Sheridan, "Feeling a little Bullish", Irish Times, April 22, 2000


Denizen comes from Anglo-French denzein, "(one) living within (a city or state)," from Old French denz, "within," from Late Latin deintus, "from within," from Latin de-, "from" + intus, "within."


Wednesday, August 29, 2007

#25

limn \LIM\, transitive verb:
1. To depict by drawing or painting.
2. To portray in words; to describe.

Oh, yes, I write, as I limn the familiar perfections of his profile, "you look very well."
-- Kimberly Elkins, "What Is Visible", The Atlantic, March 2003

In telling these people's stories Mr. Butler draws upon the same gifts of empathy and insight, the same ability to limn an entire life in a couple of pages.
-- Michiko Kakutani, "Earthlings May Endanger Your Peaceful Rationality", New York Times, March 10, 2000

But used faithfully and correctly, language can "limn the actual, imagined and possible lives of its speakers, readers, writers."
-- John Darnton, "In Sweden, Proof of The Power Of Words", New York Times, December 8, 1993


Limn is from Middle English limnen, alteration of luminen, from enluminen, from Medieval French enluminer, from Late Latin illuminare, "to illuminate," ultimately from Latin lumen, "light."




http://www.serrao.eu/

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

#24

pukka \PUHK-uh\, adjective:
1. Authentic; genuine.
2. Good of its kind; first-class.

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

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


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



-------



pu·ca [poo-kuh] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
(in folklore) an Irish spirit, mischievous but not malevolent, corresponding to the English Puck.
Also, pooka.


[Origin: < Ir púca; see Puck]



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042546/

Friday, August 24, 2007

#23

caterwaul \KAT-uhr-wawl\, intransitive verb:
1. To make a harsh cry.
2. To have a noisy argument.

noun:
1. A shrill, discordant sound.

John met Angela head-to-head and there was a lot of bellowing and caterwauling.
-- Matthew Parris, "Prescott grapples with his feminine side", Times (London), December 14, 2000

In the early days, when people were still shocked by the novelty of cursing, screaming, caterwauling emotional incontinents attacking each other on stage, he [Jerry Springer] used to produce high-falutin' justifications for the show.
-- Paul Hoggart, "Paul Hoggart's television choice", Times (London), December 9, 2000

The forest silence is impermeable, entirely undisturbed by the soft bell notes of hidden birds, the tick of descending leaves and twigs or soft thump of falling fruit, or even the far caterwaul of monkeys.
-- Peter Matthiessen, African Silences


Caterwaul is from Middle English caterwawen, "to cry as a cat," either from Medieval Dutch kater, "tomcat" + Dutch wauwelen, "to tattle," or for catawail, from cat-wail, "to wail like a cat."



by Charley Harper

Thursday, August 23, 2007

#22

rhyme [rahym] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation noun, verb, rhymed, rhym·ing.
–noun
1.
identity in sound of some part, esp. the end, of words or lines of verse.
2.
a word agreeing with another in terminal sound: Find is a rhyme for mind and womankind.
3.
verse or poetry having correspondence in the terminal sounds of the lines.
4.
a poem or piece of verse having such correspondence.
5.
verse (def. 4).
–verb (used with object)
6.
to treat in rhyme, as a subject; turn into rhyme, as something in prose.
7.
to compose (verse or the like) in metrical form with rhymes.
8.
to use (a word) as a rhyme to another word; use (words) as rhymes.
–verb (used without object)
9.
to make rhyme or verse; versify.
10.
to use rhyme in writing verse.
11.
to form a rhyme, as one word or line with another: a word that rhymes with orange.
12.
to be composed in metrical form with rhymes, as verse: poetry that rhymes.
—Idiom
13.
rhyme or reason, logic, sense, or plan: There was no rhyme or reason for what they did.
Also, rime.


[Origin: 1250–1300; ME rime < OF, deriv. of rimer to rhyme < Gallo-Romance *rimāre to put in a row ≪ OHG rīm series, row; prob. not connected with L rhythmus rhythm, although current sp. (from c1600) appar. by assoc. with this word]



Assonant rhyme
Rhyming of similar vowels but different consonants.
example: dip/limp

Consonant rhyme
Similar consonants but different vowels.
example: limp/lump

Eye rhyme
Based on spelling and not on sound.
example: love/move

Feminine rhyme (double, triple, extra-syllable, multi-syllable, extended)
Differing beginnings followed by multiple rhyming syllables.
example: drinking/shrinking

Identical rhyme
Uses the same word to rhyme with itself however may hold a different meaning.

Light line
Rhyming of a stressed syllable with a secondary stress.
example: mat/combat

Macaronic rhyme
Rhyming of two words with different languages.

Masculine rhyme
Differing consonant sounds ending with identically stressed syllables.
example: report/support

Near rhyme (half, slant, approximate, off, oblique)
Final consonant sounds the same but initial consonants and vowel sounds are different.
example: tought/sat

Perfect rhyme (exact, true, full)
Begins with different sounds and end with the same.
example: pie/die

Rich rhyme (French for rime riche)
Word that rhymes with its homonym.
example: blue/blew

Scarce rhyme
Rhyming of words with limited rhyming alternatives.
example: whisp/lisp

Wrenched rhyme
A stressed syllable with an unstressed one (occurs most often in ballads and folk poetry).
example: lady/a bee



http://www.switch-foot.com/view_artist.php?creative_id=82&image_id=126