Word of the Day for Wednesday, February 29, 2012
quadrennial \kwo-DREN-ee-uhl\, adjective:
1. Occurring every four years.
2. Of or lasting for four years.
noun:
1. An event occurring every four years, as an anniversary or its celebration.
...all we merely have here is just what Rod might call an exaggerated example of a quadrennial problem any administration with vision is going to have to face eventually anyway.
-- David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest
The inauguration of a President of the United States, I think, has always been treated as a great quadrennial ceremonial.
-- United States Senate, Subcommittee of the Committee on the District of Columbia, Suffrage Parade
Clearly, quadrennial comes from the Latin words quadri- meaning four and annus meaning years, with the suffix -ial meaning pertaining to.
四年一度的\\果嶺兒童EE-UHL，形容詞：
1。每四年發生。
2。或為期四年。
名詞：
1。事件發生的每四年為一週年的慶祝。
我們只是在這裡有是什麼棒，可以稱之為一個四年期的問題，具有遠見的任何當局將不得不面對最終反正誇張的例子。
- 大衛·福斯特·華萊士，無限開玩笑
美國總統的就職典禮，我想，一直被視為一個偉大的四年一次的儀式。
- 美國參議院小組委員會在哥倫比亞特區，選舉權遊行
顯然，四年一度的來自拉丁詞與後綴-IAL有關的意義，誇德里的意義四和安努什含義年。
2012年2月29日 星期三
2012年2月28日 星期二
2012_02_28 pettifog \PET-ee-fog\, verb: 狡辯, 鬥嘴
Word of the Day for Tuesday, February 28, 2012
pettifog \PET-ee-fog\, verb:
1. To bicker or quibble over trifles or unimportant matters.
2. To carry on a petty, shifty, or unethical law business.
3. To practice chicanery of any sort.
Marius, my boy, you are a baron, you are rich, don't pettifog, I beg of you.
-- Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
Naturally, the wonderful tubers Brillat-Savarin dug up and dished out lacked the penultimate refinements of washing and cooking, but it would've been gauche to pettifog.
-- Elizabeth Gundy, The Disappearance of Gregory Pluckrose
Pettifog comes from the Middle Dutch word voeger meaning one who arranges things and the word petty meaning insignificant.
1。鬥嘴或超過瑣事或不重要的事項狡辯。
2。攜帶一個小，縮骨，或不道德的法律業務。
3。要實行任何形式的狡辯。
馬呂斯，我的孩子，你是一個男爵，你很有錢，不pettifog，我求求你。
- 雨果“悲慘世界”
當然，精彩塊莖特薩瓦倫-薩瓦林挖出拋出缺乏倒數第二個精煉洗衣，做飯，但它會已經笨拙到pettifog的。
- 伊麗莎白范甘迪，格雷戈里Pluckrose的的失踪
pettifog \PET-ee-fog\, verb:
1. To bicker or quibble over trifles or unimportant matters.
2. To carry on a petty, shifty, or unethical law business.
3. To practice chicanery of any sort.
Marius, my boy, you are a baron, you are rich, don't pettifog, I beg of you.
-- Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
Naturally, the wonderful tubers Brillat-Savarin dug up and dished out lacked the penultimate refinements of washing and cooking, but it would've been gauche to pettifog.
-- Elizabeth Gundy, The Disappearance of Gregory Pluckrose
Pettifog comes from the Middle Dutch word voeger meaning one who arranges things and the word petty meaning insignificant.
1。鬥嘴或超過瑣事或不重要的事項狡辯。
2。攜帶一個小，縮骨，或不道德的法律業務。
3。要實行任何形式的狡辯。
馬呂斯，我的孩子，你是一個男爵，你很有錢，不pettifog，我求求你。
- 雨果“悲慘世界”
當然，精彩塊莖特薩瓦倫-薩瓦林挖出拋出缺乏倒數第二個精煉洗衣，做飯，但它會已經笨拙到pettifog的。
- 伊麗莎白范甘迪，格雷戈里Pluckrose的的失踪
2012年2月27日 星期一
2012_02_27 flexuous 波狀的 \FLEK-shoo-uhs\, adjective:
Word of the Day for Monday, February 27, 2012
flexuous \FLEK-shoo-uhs\, adjective:
Full of bends or curves; sinuous.
Her flexuous and stealthy figure became an integral part of the scene. At times her whimsical fancy would intensify natural processes around her till they seemed a part of her own story.
-- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D'Urbervilles
What is anomalous about Nietzsche in this context is scarcely the hold this plot has on him, but indeed the flexuous sweetness with which sometimes he uniquely invests it...
-- Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Epistemology of the Closet
Flexuous is derived from the Latin word flexuōsus which meant full of turns or crooked. This is an interesting example where the suffix changes the implication of the word. Unlike the more common word flexible, which means "capable of being bent" because of the suffix -ible, flexuous has the suffix, -ous meaning "full of."
flexuous \FLEK-shoo-uhs\, adjective:
Full of bends or curves; sinuous.
波狀的
骫
-- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D'Urbervilles
What is anomalous about Nietzsche in this context is scarcely the hold this plot has on him, but indeed the flexuous sweetness with which sometimes he uniquely invests it...
-- Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Epistemology of the Closet
Flexuous is derived from the Latin word flexuōsus which meant full of turns or crooked. This is an interesting example where the suffix changes the implication of the word. Unlike the more common word flexible, which means "capable of being bent" because of the suffix -ible, flexuous has the suffix, -ous meaning "full of."
2012年2月25日 星期六
2012_02_25 bandy 羅圈 give and take \BAN-dee\, verb:
Word of the Day for Saturday, February 25, 2012
bandy \BAN-dee\, verb:
1. To pass from one to another or back and forth; give and take 讓一步.
2. To throw or strike to and fro or from side to side, as a ball in tennis.
3. To circulate freely.
adjective:
1. (Of legs) having a bend or crook outward; bowed.
noun:
1. An early form of tennis.
2. Chiefly British. (Formerly) hockey or shinny.
3. Obsolete. A hockey or shinny stick.
"I want all my clients to be like you," Peter says, which is probably not the shrewdest of comments ("client" isn't a word to bandyabout)...
-- Michael Cunningham, By Nightfall
He was supposedly a great cook, he would bandy about names of exotic mushrooms, but I never saw him boil an egg when I was visiting you.
-- Rick Moody, "The Mansion on the Hill," The Paris Review Book for Planes, Trains, and Waiting Rooms
Though the origin of bandy is uncertain, it came into common usage in French during the rise of tennis in the 1500s, as in to bandy the ball.
bandy \BAN-dee\, verb:
1. To pass from one to another or back and forth; give and take 讓一步.
2. To throw or strike to and fro or from side to side, as a ball in tennis.
3. To circulate freely.
adjective:
1. (Of legs) having a bend or crook outward; bowed.
noun:
1. An early form of tennis.
2. Chiefly British. (Formerly) hockey or shinny.
3. Obsolete. A hockey or shinny stick.
"I want all my clients to be like you," Peter says, which is probably not the shrewdest of comments ("client" isn't a word to bandyabout)...
-- Michael Cunningham, By Nightfall
He was supposedly a great cook, he would bandy about names of exotic mushrooms, but I never saw him boil an egg when I was visiting you.
-- Rick Moody, "The Mansion on the Hill," The Paris Review Book for Planes, Trains, and Waiting Rooms
Though the origin of bandy is uncertain, it came into common usage in French during the rise of tennis in the 1500s, as in to bandy the ball.
2012年2月24日 星期五
2012_02_24 adamantine 金剛 Utterly unyielding \ad-uh-MAN-teen\, adjective:
Word of the Day for Friday, February 24, 2012
adamantine \ad-uh-MAN-teen\, adjective:
1. Utterly unyielding or firm in attitude or opinion.
2. Too hard to cut, break, or pierce.
3. Like a diamond in luster.
That will shock some people at the Folger, but Shakespeare is adamantine.
-- Tad Friend, "Compleat Works," The New Yorker, Jan. 9, 2012
…and when she saw the state his clothes were in her resolution to turn his Saturday holiday into captivity at hard labor became adamantine in its firmness.
-- Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Related to adamant, adamantine comes from the Greek word adamántinos, a combination of the word adamant and the suffix -ine which means "of or pertaining to."
adamantine \ad-uh-MAN-teen\, adjective:
1. Utterly unyielding or firm in attitude or opinion.
2. Too hard to cut, break, or pierce.
3. Like a diamond in luster.
That will shock some people at the Folger, but Shakespeare is adamantine.
-- Tad Friend, "Compleat Works," The New Yorker, Jan. 9, 2012
…and when she saw the state his clothes were in her resolution to turn his Saturday holiday into captivity at hard labor became adamantine in its firmness.
-- Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Related to adamant, adamantine comes from the Greek word adamántinos, a combination of the word adamant and the suffix -ine which means "of or pertaining to."
2012年2月23日 星期四
2012_02_23 plenum 一個完整的組件，作為一個聯合議會。
plenum \PLEE-nuhm\, noun:
1. A full assembly, as a joint legislative assembly.
2. The state or a space in which a gas, usually air, is contained at a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure.
3. A space, usually above a ceiling or below a floor, that can serve as a receiving chamber for air that has been heated or cooled to be distributed to inhabited areas.
4. The whole of space regarded as being filled with matter (opposed to vacuum).
The plenum allegedly demanded that Bukharin cease his hunger strike.
-- Yuri Trifonov, Disappearance
They convened a plenary session of the Central Committee, and the plenum sided with them — the game was over!
-- Feliks Ivanovich Chuev, Molotov Remembers
Plenum is literally the opposite of a vacuum. It came to be used in the sense of a full meeting of legislators in 1772 in Sweden.
全會\ PLEE nuhm\，名詞：
1。一個完整的組件，作為一個聯合議會。
2。國家或一個空間，在其中，通常是空氣，氣體壓力大於大氣壓力中。
3。一個通常高於上限或低於地面的空間，可以作為一個空氣室已被加熱或冷卻，分發到居民區。
4。整個空間被視為與物質填補（反對真空）。
據稱全會要求，布哈林停止絕食。
- 尤里·特里福諾夫，失踪
他們召開了一次中央委員會全體會議，全會與他們站在一邊 - 遊戲結束了！
- 費利克斯·伊万諾維奇·Chuev，莫洛托夫記得
全會字面上是一個真空的對面。它後來被使用的立法者在瑞典1772次會議的意義。
1. A full assembly, as a joint legislative assembly.
2. The state or a space in which a gas, usually air, is contained at a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure.
3. A space, usually above a ceiling or below a floor, that can serve as a receiving chamber for air that has been heated or cooled to be distributed to inhabited areas.
4. The whole of space regarded as being filled with matter (opposed to vacuum).
The plenum allegedly demanded that Bukharin cease his hunger strike.
-- Yuri Trifonov, Disappearance
They convened a plenary session of the Central Committee, and the plenum sided with them — the game was over!
-- Feliks Ivanovich Chuev, Molotov Remembers
Plenum is literally the opposite of a vacuum. It came to be used in the sense of a full meeting of legislators in 1772 in Sweden.
全會\ PLEE nuhm\，名詞：
1。一個完整的組件，作為一個聯合議會。
2。國家或一個空間，在其中，通常是空氣，氣體壓力大於大氣壓力中。
3。一個通常高於上限或低於地面的空間，可以作為一個空氣室已被加熱或冷卻，分發到居民區。
4。整個空間被視為與物質填補（反對真空）。
據稱全會要求，布哈林停止絕食。
- 尤里·特里福諾夫，失踪
他們召開了一次中央委員會全體會議，全會與他們站在一邊 - 遊戲結束了！
- 費利克斯·伊万諾維奇·Chuev，莫洛托夫記得
全會字面上是一個真空的對面。它後來被使用的立法者在瑞典1772次會議的意義。
2012年2月22日 星期三
2012_02_22 ad rem \ad REM\, adverb: 有關;
Word of the Day for Wednesday, February 22, 2012
ad rem \ad REM\, adverb:
1. Without digressing; in a straightforward manner.
adjective:
1. Relevant; pertinent.
I am sure these things are not ad rem. Some persons think, my lord, it is very hard these men should be forced against their consciences from the church.
-- Richard Baxter, The Practical Works of Richard Baxter
The letter seems free of formulae, which suggests it was composed specifically ad rem.
-- Roger Rees, Layers of Loyalty in Latin Panegyric
Ad rem is a useful Latin phrase that literally means "at thing" from the roots ad and rēs.
廣告物\ AD REM\，副詞：
1。沒有離題;在一個簡單的方式。
形容詞：
1。有關;有關。
ad rem \ad REM\, adverb:
1. Without digressing; in a straightforward manner.
adjective:
1. Relevant; pertinent.
I am sure these things are not ad rem. Some persons think, my lord, it is very hard these men should be forced against their consciences from the church.
-- Richard Baxter, The Practical Works of Richard Baxter
The letter seems free of formulae, which suggests it was composed specifically ad rem.
-- Roger Rees, Layers of Loyalty in Latin Panegyric
Ad rem is a useful Latin phrase that literally means "at thing" from the roots ad and rēs.
廣告物\ AD REM\，副詞：
1。沒有離題;在一個簡單的方式。
形容詞：
1。有關;有關。
2012年2月21日 星期二
2012_02_21 bespeak To show; indicate.預示著\; 指示 \bih-SPEEK\, verb:
Word of the Day for Tuesday, February 21, 2012
bespeak \bih-SPEEK\, verb:
1. To show; indicate.
2. To ask for in advance.
3. To reserve beforehand; engage in advance; make arrangements for.
4. Literary. To speak to; address.
5. Obsolete. To foretell; forebode.
Let the crooked flower bespeak its purpose in straightness — to seek the light.
-- Allen Ginsberg, Journals Mid-Fifties
In the execution of this universal gesture, most people bring down their thumb to signify the hammer's dropping, but Sean actually pulls his trigger finger, which I find much more threatening, since it seems to bespeak a genuine familiarity with the real thing.
-- Jonathan Tropper, The Book of Joe
Bespeak is derived from the Old English word besprecan. It developed a wide range of meanings, such as request, discuss, or arrange.
預示著\波黑，聚醚醚酮\，動詞：
1。為了顯示;指示。
2。要求提前。
3。要事先預約，搞提前作出安排。
4。文學。發言;地址。
5。過時。預言;預示。
bespeak \bih-SPEEK\, verb:
1. To show; indicate.
2. To ask for in advance.
3. To reserve beforehand; engage in advance; make arrangements for.
4. Literary. To speak to; address.
5. Obsolete. To foretell; forebode.
Let the crooked flower bespeak its purpose in straightness — to seek the light.
-- Allen Ginsberg, Journals Mid-Fifties
In the execution of this universal gesture, most people bring down their thumb to signify the hammer's dropping, but Sean actually pulls his trigger finger, which I find much more threatening, since it seems to bespeak a genuine familiarity with the real thing.
-- Jonathan Tropper, The Book of Joe
Bespeak is derived from the Old English word besprecan. It developed a wide range of meanings, such as request, discuss, or arrange.
預示著\波黑，聚醚醚酮\，動詞：
1。為了顯示;指示。
2。要求提前。
3。要事先預約，搞提前作出安排。
4。文學。發言;地址。
5。過時。預言;預示。
2012年2月20日 星期一
2012_02_20 morceau \mawr-SOH\, noun: 片;一口 Piece; morsel.
Word of the Day for Monday, February 20, 2012
morceau \mawr-SOH\, noun:
1. Piece; morsel.
2. An excerpt or passage of poetry or music.
That is easily done; madame is hungry; oblige her with a morceau of that paté and a glass of champagne.
-- Louisa May Alcott, The Portable Louisa May Alcott
Not unless you are able to provide me with a little morceau of help.
-- Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies
Morceau comes directly from the same French word which is related to the Latin word morsum meaning something bitten off.
morceau \mawr-SOH\, noun:
1. Piece; morsel.
2. An excerpt or passage of poetry or music.
That is easily done; madame is hungry; oblige her with a morceau of that paté and a glass of champagne.
-- Louisa May Alcott, The Portable Louisa May Alcott
Not unless you are able to provide me with a little morceau of help.
-- Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies
Morceau comes directly from the same French word which is related to the Latin word morsum meaning something bitten off.
2012年2月19日 星期日
2012_02_19 spruce \sproos\, verb: 雲杉的
為了使整潔或短小精悍
Word of the Day for Sunday, February 19, 2012
spruce \sproos\, verb:
1. To make neat or dapper (often followed by up).
2. To make oneself spruce (usually followed by up).
adjective:
1. Trim in dress or appearance; neat; smart; dapper.
When the two bridges embrace all of Astoria Park, a lush, well-populated recreation area old as the neighborhood itself, another finger of public lands extends north of Hell Gate called Ralph Demarco, recently developed with the help of nearby Con Edison to spruce up the rather bleak city projects across the street.
-- Lionel Shriver, Checker and the Derailleurs
He scraped his change up off the bar, having a little trouble with the dimes because he'd chopped off the tips of his fingernails with a penknife just this morning as part of a general effort to spruce up his image.
-- T. Coraghessen Boyle, Drop City
Spruce has an unusual history. It literally meant "from Prussia" (or Pruce). It came to be associated with the tree which was brought by Prussian merchants to England. The sense of "to make dapper" came about from a type of coat, the spruce jerkin, that was made with leather from Prussia.
Word of the Day for Sunday, February 19, 2012
spruce \sproos\, verb:
1. To make neat or dapper (often followed by up).
2. To make oneself spruce (usually followed by up).
adjective:
1. Trim in dress or appearance; neat; smart; dapper.
When the two bridges embrace all of Astoria Park, a lush, well-populated recreation area old as the neighborhood itself, another finger of public lands extends north of Hell Gate called Ralph Demarco, recently developed with the help of nearby Con Edison to spruce up the rather bleak city projects across the street.
-- Lionel Shriver, Checker and the Derailleurs
He scraped his change up off the bar, having a little trouble with the dimes because he'd chopped off the tips of his fingernails with a penknife just this morning as part of a general effort to spruce up his image.
-- T. Coraghessen Boyle, Drop City
Spruce has an unusual history. It literally meant "from Prussia" (or Pruce). It came to be associated with the tree which was brought by Prussian merchants to England. The sense of "to make dapper" came about from a type of coat, the spruce jerkin, that was made with leather from Prussia.
2012年2月18日 星期六
2012_02_18 大象 pachyderm \PAK-i-durm\, noun: An elephant.
Word of the Day for Saturday, February 18, 2012
pachyderm \PAK-i-durm\, noun:
1. A person who is not sensitive to criticism, ridicule, etc.
2. Any of the thick-skinned, nonruminant ungulates, as the elephant, hippopotamus, and rhinoceros.
3. An elephant.
He writhed as he saw himself finally a toughened pachyderm in Eliza's world—sprucing up confidently, throwing his shoulders back proudly, making people “think he was somebody” as he cordially acknowledged an introduction by producing a card setting forth the joys of life in Altamont and Dixieland...
-- Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeword, Angel
To judge by his work, our writer is unquestionably a stubborn man, said the Serb, he's stubborn as a mule, as a pachyderm...
-- Roberto Bolaño, 2666, Volume 1
Pachyderm clearly comes from the Greek roots pachý meaning "thick" and dermatos meaning "skin." Its metaphorical meaning of a person with thick skin is attested to in the 1860s.
任何皮厚，單胃有蹄類動物，如大象，河馬，犀牛。
一個人，誰是不敏感的批評，嘲笑等
pachyderm \PAK-i-durm\, noun:
1. A person who is not sensitive to criticism, ridicule, etc.
2. Any of the thick-skinned, nonruminant ungulates, as the elephant, hippopotamus, and rhinoceros.
3. An elephant.
He writhed as he saw himself finally a toughened pachyderm in Eliza's world—sprucing up confidently, throwing his shoulders back proudly, making people “think he was somebody” as he cordially acknowledged an introduction by producing a card setting forth the joys of life in Altamont and Dixieland...
-- Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeword, Angel
To judge by his work, our writer is unquestionably a stubborn man, said the Serb, he's stubborn as a mule, as a pachyderm...
-- Roberto Bolaño, 2666, Volume 1
Pachyderm clearly comes from the Greek roots pachý meaning "thick" and dermatos meaning "skin." Its metaphorical meaning of a person with thick skin is attested to in the 1860s.
任何皮厚，單胃有蹄類動物，如大象，河馬，犀牛。
一個人，誰是不敏感的批評，嘲笑等
2012年2月17日 星期五
2012_02_17 tramontane 國外;野蠻。\truh-MON-teyn\, adjective:
Foreign; barbarous. -- 國外;野蠻。
Word of the Day for Friday, February 17, 2012
tramontane \truh-MON-teyn\, adjective:
1. Being or situated beyond the mountains.
2. Beyond the Alps as viewed from Italy; transalpine.
3. Of, pertaining to, or coming from the other side of the mountains.
4. Foreign; barbarous.
noun:
1. A person who lives beyond the mountains: formerly applied by the Italians to the peoples beyond the Alps, and by the latter to the Italians.
2. A foreigner; outlander; barbarian.
3. A violent, polar wind from the northwest that blows in southern France.
The tramontane concerns of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company were managed by two resident partners, Fitzgerald and Bridger.
-- Washington Irving, History, Tales, and Sketches
Governor Spottiswood's tramontane expedition had not long gone its romantic way when there came over the mountain trail an English sailor-pioneer named John Shore.
-- Frances Courtenay Baylor, Beyond the Blue Ridge
Tramontane comes from the Latin word trānsmontānus which meant beyond the mountains. It is made of three roots: mont meaning mountain, trans meaning over, and -an, a suffix denoting "coming from."
Word of the Day for Friday, February 17, 2012
tramontane \truh-MON-teyn\, adjective:
1. Being or situated beyond the mountains.
2. Beyond the Alps as viewed from Italy; transalpine.
3. Of, pertaining to, or coming from the other side of the mountains.
4. Foreign; barbarous.
noun:
1. A person who lives beyond the mountains: formerly applied by the Italians to the peoples beyond the Alps, and by the latter to the Italians.
2. A foreigner; outlander; barbarian.
3. A violent, polar wind from the northwest that blows in southern France.
The tramontane concerns of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company were managed by two resident partners, Fitzgerald and Bridger.
-- Washington Irving, History, Tales, and Sketches
Governor Spottiswood's tramontane expedition had not long gone its romantic way when there came over the mountain trail an English sailor-pioneer named John Shore.
-- Frances Courtenay Baylor, Beyond the Blue Ridge
Tramontane comes from the Latin word trānsmontānus which meant beyond the mountains. It is made of three roots: mont meaning mountain, trans meaning over, and -an, a suffix denoting "coming from."
2012年2月16日 星期四
2012_02_16 拜金主義 mammonism \MAM-uh-niz-uhm\, noun:
Word of the Day for Thursday, February 16, 2012
mammonism \MAM-uh-niz-uhm\, noun:
The greedy pursuit of riches.
We will bring to mind a young man or young woman bitterly awakened from a fancy dream of accomplishment, action or glory, forced instead to come to terms with a considerably reduced status, a betrayed love, and a hideously bourgeois world of crass mammonism and philistine taste.
-- Rudyard Kipling, Kim
Claiming mutual “affection and confidence” with his collaborating reader whom he expects to agree, Dickens also indicts the false religion of Mammonism.
-- Linda M. Lewis, Dickens, His Parables, and His Readers
Mammonism is an odd combination of Aramaic and Greek. The word mammon meant wealth in Aramaic, and the suffix -ism forms a noun from a verb, as in criticism and plagiarism.
mammonism \MAM-uh-niz-uhm\, noun:
The greedy pursuit of riches.
We will bring to mind a young man or young woman bitterly awakened from a fancy dream of accomplishment, action or glory, forced instead to come to terms with a considerably reduced status, a betrayed love, and a hideously bourgeois world of crass mammonism and philistine taste.
-- Rudyard Kipling, Kim
Claiming mutual “affection and confidence” with his collaborating reader whom he expects to agree, Dickens also indicts the false religion of Mammonism.
-- Linda M. Lewis, Dickens, His Parables, and His Readers
Mammonism is an odd combination of Aramaic and Greek. The word mammon meant wealth in Aramaic, and the suffix -ism forms a noun from a verb, as in criticism and plagiarism.
2012年2月15日 星期三
2012_02_15 vilipend 折舊 \vil-UH-pend\, verb: To vilify ; depreciate.
Word of the Day for Wednesday, February 15, 2012
vilipend \vil-UH-pend\, verb: 折舊
1. To regard or treat as of little value or account.
2. To vilify; depreciate.
She will seize her opportunity to vilipend me, and I shall be condemned by the kind of court-martial which hurries over the forms of a trial to sign the execution-warrant that makes it feel like justice.
-- George Meredith, The Tragic Comedian
This endeavoured to fit the same mould as Pragmaticus and Melancholicus, but was too pedantic and dull, despite Wharton's use of it to vilipend the parliamentarian astrologer William Lilly.
-- Joad Raymond, The Invention of the Newspaper
Vilipend is derived from the Old French roots vīli meaning vile and pendere meaning to consider, also the root of pensive.
vilipend \vil-UH-pend\, verb: 折舊
1. To regard or treat as of little value or account.
2. To vilify; depreciate.
She will seize her opportunity to vilipend me, and I shall be condemned by the kind of court-martial which hurries over the forms of a trial to sign the execution-warrant that makes it feel like justice.
-- George Meredith, The Tragic Comedian
This endeavoured to fit the same mould as Pragmaticus and Melancholicus, but was too pedantic and dull, despite Wharton's use of it to vilipend the parliamentarian astrologer William Lilly.
-- Joad Raymond, The Invention of the Newspaper
Vilipend is derived from the Old French roots vīli meaning vile and pendere meaning to consider, also the root of pensive.
2012年2月14日 星期二
2012_02_14 cordate 心形 \KAWR-deyt\, adjective:
Word of the Day for Tuesday, February 14, 2012
cordate \KAWR-deyt\, adjective:
1. Heart-shaped.
2. (Of leaves) heart-shaped, with the attachment at the notched end.
Despite their strong and interlinked root structure, the actual flowers were of a lowly order, though, canted towards the sun, they attracted the cordate butterflies.
-- Brian Wilson Aldiss, Hothouse
Without any wind blowing, the sheer weight of a raindrop, shining in parasitic luxury on a cordate leaf, caused its tip to dip, and what looked like a globule of quicksilver performed a sudden glissando down the center vein, and then, having shed its bright load, the relieved leaf unbent.
-- Vladimir Nabakov, Speak, Memory
Related to core, cordate comes from the Latin word for heart, cor, and the suffix -ate which forms an adjective from a noun.
cordate \KAWR-deyt\, adjective:
1. Heart-shaped.
2. (Of leaves) heart-shaped, with the attachment at the notched end.
Despite their strong and interlinked root structure, the actual flowers were of a lowly order, though, canted towards the sun, they attracted the cordate butterflies.
-- Brian Wilson Aldiss, Hothouse
Without any wind blowing, the sheer weight of a raindrop, shining in parasitic luxury on a cordate leaf, caused its tip to dip, and what looked like a globule of quicksilver performed a sudden glissando down the center vein, and then, having shed its bright load, the relieved leaf unbent.
-- Vladimir Nabakov, Speak, Memory
Related to core, cordate comes from the Latin word for heart, cor, and the suffix -ate which forms an adjective from a noun.
2012年2月13日 星期一
2012_02_13 exoteric 顯宗 Popular \ek-suh-TER-ik\, adjective: 顯宗
顯宗 Word of the Day for Monday, February 13, 2012
exoteric \ek-suh-TER-ik\, adjective:
1. Suitable for or communicated to the general public.
2. Not belonging, limited, or pertaining to the inner or select circle, as of disciples or intimates.
3. Popular; simple; commonplace.
4. Pertaining to the outside; exterior; external.
Every religion under the heavens has a set of exoteric beliefs for the common man and a secret set of esoteric beliefs known only to a privileged inner circle.
-- C. M. Palov, The Templar's Code
The exoteric explanation is the one that conforms to the level of the simple thought patterns and understanding of the majority.
-- Kate H. Winter, The Woman in the Mountain
Like its opposite esoteric, exoteric is from the Greek root -teros. Exōterikós generally referred to anything outside.
exoteric \ek-suh-TER-ik\, adjective:
1. Suitable for or communicated to the general public.
2. Not belonging, limited, or pertaining to the inner or select circle, as of disciples or intimates.
3. Popular; simple; commonplace.
4. Pertaining to the outside; exterior; external.
Every religion under the heavens has a set of exoteric beliefs for the common man and a secret set of esoteric beliefs known only to a privileged inner circle.
-- C. M. Palov, The Templar's Code
The exoteric explanation is the one that conforms to the level of the simple thought patterns and understanding of the majority.
-- Kate H. Winter, The Woman in the Mountain
Like its opposite esoteric, exoteric is from the Greek root -teros. Exōterikós generally referred to anything outside.
2012年2月12日 星期日
2012_02_12 auscultation 聽診 The act of listening to sounds within the body
Word of the Day for Sunday, February 12, 2012
auscultation \aw-skuhl-TEY-shuhn\, noun:
The act of listening to sounds within the body as a method of diagnosis.
Auscultation shows it clearly enough, once I had grown accustomed to his particular bodily sounds. It is a very valuable diagnostic tool, little known in England, I believe.
-- Patrick O'Brian, The Yellow Admiral
Even as he examined the cousins, he went on talking about the matter in a melancholy, resigned tone of voice, for he was such an expert in auscultation that he could simultaneously listen to a patient's interior, talk about something else, and dictate what he had heard to his assistant.
-- Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain
The Latin roots of auscultation have been buried in English. The word auscultāre meant "to hear or to listen" from the root auris which meant "ear." The suffix -ion forms nouns from stems, as in communication and opinion.
auscultation \aw-skuhl-TEY-shuhn\, noun:
The act of listening to sounds within the body as a method of diagnosis.
Auscultation shows it clearly enough, once I had grown accustomed to his particular bodily sounds. It is a very valuable diagnostic tool, little known in England, I believe.
-- Patrick O'Brian, The Yellow Admiral
Even as he examined the cousins, he went on talking about the matter in a melancholy, resigned tone of voice, for he was such an expert in auscultation that he could simultaneously listen to a patient's interior, talk about something else, and dictate what he had heard to his assistant.
-- Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain
The Latin roots of auscultation have been buried in English. The word auscultāre meant "to hear or to listen" from the root auris which meant "ear." The suffix -ion forms nouns from stems, as in communication and opinion.
2012年2月11日 星期六
2012_02_11 burled \burld\, adjective: Having small knots
Word of the Day for Saturday, February 11, 2012
burled \burld\, adjective:
Having small knots that produce a distorted grain in wood.
It was Friday evening, and the master of Turpmtine, Charlie Croker, was presiding over dinner at the burled tupelo maple table Ronald Vine had devised for the Gun Room, which was the showpiece of the plantation's new Gun House.
-- Tom Wolfe, A Man in Full
Then they passed underneath two burled trees that leaned against each other and stopped at the edge of an empty glade.
-- Christopher Paolini, Eldest
Burled comes from the Old French word bourle, which meant a tuft of wool, from the Latin word for wool, burra. It is also the root of the word "burr."
burled \burld\, adjective:
Having small knots that produce a distorted grain in wood.
It was Friday evening, and the master of Turpmtine, Charlie Croker, was presiding over dinner at the burled tupelo maple table Ronald Vine had devised for the Gun Room, which was the showpiece of the plantation's new Gun House.
-- Tom Wolfe, A Man in Full
Then they passed underneath two burled trees that leaned against each other and stopped at the edge of an empty glade.
-- Christopher Paolini, Eldest
Burled comes from the Old French word bourle, which meant a tuft of wool, from the Latin word for wool, burra. It is also the root of the word "burr."
2012年2月10日 星期五
2012_02_10 供認 depone \dih-POHN\, verb:To testify under oath; depose.
depone \dih-POHN\, verb:
To testify under oath; depose.
These two females did afterwards depone that Mr. Willet in his consternation uttered but one word, and called that up the stairs in a stentorian voice, six distinct times.
-- Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge
I cannot depone positively to the exact proportion of his waking or of his sleeping dreams that was of their weaving.
-- Edmund Quincy, The Haunted Adjutant
In Latin, dēpōnere meant "to put aside." In Medieval Latin it came to mean "to testify" and came directly into English.
To testify under oath; depose.
These two females did afterwards depone that Mr. Willet in his consternation uttered but one word, and called that up the stairs in a stentorian voice, six distinct times.
-- Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge
I cannot depone positively to the exact proportion of his waking or of his sleeping dreams that was of their weaving.
-- Edmund Quincy, The Haunted Adjutant
In Latin, dēpōnere meant "to put aside." In Medieval Latin it came to mean "to testify" and came directly into English.
2012年2月9日 星期四
2012_02_09 screed 熨平板 \skreed\, noun:essay; Verb: To tear, rip
熨平板
screed \skreed\, noun:
1. A long discourse or essay, especially a diatribe.
2. An informal letter, account, or other piece of writing.
3. Building Trades. A. A strip of plaster or wood applied to a surface to be plastered to serve as a guide for making a true surface. B. A wooden strip serving as a guide for making a true level surface on a concrete pavement or the like. C. A board or metal strip dragged across a freshly poured concrete slab to give it its proper level.
4. British Dialect. A fragment or shred, as of cloth.
5. Scot. A. A tear or rip, especially in cloth. B. A drinking bout.
verb:
1. Scot. To tear, rip, or shred, as cloth.
By the time this screed gets to you the drafts may have come, but as I've heard nothing yet and been writing for two months now, you'd better have a look anyway. Will you please?
-- Ernest Hemingway, Selected Letters
I bet I could turn out a rattling good screed. Why, last year I almost got the prize. I sent in fearfully hot stuff.
-- P. G. Wodehouse, The Prefect's Uncle
Screed is related to the Old English word for shred. Its alternate sense of a long speech was first recorded in 1789 and may be related to the sense of the word meaning a long lists of names.
screed \skreed\, noun:
1. A long discourse or essay, especially a diatribe.
2. An informal letter, account, or other piece of writing.
3. Building Trades. A. A strip of plaster or wood applied to a surface to be plastered to serve as a guide for making a true surface. B. A wooden strip serving as a guide for making a true level surface on a concrete pavement or the like. C. A board or metal strip dragged across a freshly poured concrete slab to give it its proper level.
4. British Dialect. A fragment or shred, as of cloth.
5. Scot. A. A tear or rip, especially in cloth. B. A drinking bout.
verb:
1. Scot. To tear, rip, or shred, as cloth.
By the time this screed gets to you the drafts may have come, but as I've heard nothing yet and been writing for two months now, you'd better have a look anyway. Will you please?
-- Ernest Hemingway, Selected Letters
I bet I could turn out a rattling good screed. Why, last year I almost got the prize. I sent in fearfully hot stuff.
-- P. G. Wodehouse, The Prefect's Uncle
Screed is related to the Old English word for shred. Its alternate sense of a long speech was first recorded in 1789 and may be related to the sense of the word meaning a long lists of names.
2012年2月8日 星期三
2012_02_08 piacular 贖罪 reparatory \pahy-AK-yuh-ler\, adjective:
piacular \pahy-AK-yuh-ler\, adjective:
1. Expiatory; atoning; reparatory.
2. Requiring expiation; sinful or wicked.
The journey to obtain scriptures in the Western Heaven is, for Tripitaka and his disciples, also the piacular journey of return to Buddha, and like the Odysseus of the Homeric poem, the scripture pilgrim must pass through appalling obstacles for past offenses against the gods.
-- Anthony C. Yu, Journey to the West
…and this high-ranking Greek guy actually came around to 1009 after Saturday's supper to apologize on behalf of practically the entire Chandris shipping line and to assure me that ragged-necked Lebanese heads were even at that moment rolling down various corridors in piacular recompense for my having had to carry my own bag.
-- David Foster Wallace, A Supposedly Fun Things I'll Never Do Again
Piacular is derived from two Latin roots: pia, which is related to the word pious, and a variation of the suffix -cule which denotes a diminutive nouns, like particle.
賠償性;贖罪
1. Expiatory; atoning; reparatory.
2. Requiring expiation; sinful or wicked.
The journey to obtain scriptures in the Western Heaven is, for Tripitaka and his disciples, also the piacular journey of return to Buddha, and like the Odysseus of the Homeric poem, the scripture pilgrim must pass through appalling obstacles for past offenses against the gods.
-- Anthony C. Yu, Journey to the West
…and this high-ranking Greek guy actually came around to 1009 after Saturday's supper to apologize on behalf of practically the entire Chandris shipping line and to assure me that ragged-necked Lebanese heads were even at that moment rolling down various corridors in piacular recompense for my having had to carry my own bag.
-- David Foster Wallace, A Supposedly Fun Things I'll Never Do Again
Piacular is derived from two Latin roots: pia, which is related to the word pious, and a variation of the suffix -cule which denotes a diminutive nouns, like particle.
賠償性;贖罪
2012年2月7日 星期二
2012_02_07 crib \krib\, verb:嬰兒床 To pilfer or steal, especially to plagiarize.
嬰兒床,
飼槽,
拘禁
crib \krib\, verb:
1. To pilfer or steal, especially to plagiarize.
2. To confine in or as if in a crib.
3. To provide with a crib or cribs.
4. To line with timber or planking.
5. Informal. A. To use a crib in examinations, homework, translating, etc. B. To steal; plagiarize.
6. (Of a horse) to practice cribbing.
2. To confine in or as if in a crib.
3. To provide with a crib or cribs.
4. To line with timber or planking.
5. Informal. A. To use a crib in examinations, homework, translating, etc. B. To steal; plagiarize.
6. (Of a horse) to practice cribbing.
noun:
1. A child's bed with enclosed sides.
2. A stall or pen for cattle.
3. A rack or manger for fodder, as in a stable or barn.
4. A bin for storing grain, salt, etc.
5. Informal. A. A translation, list of correct answers, or other illicit aid used by students while reciting, taking exams, or the like; pony. B. Plagiarism. C. A petty theft.
6. A room, closet, etc., in a factory or the like, in which tools are kept and issued to workers.
7. A shallow, separate section of a bathing area, reserved for small children.
8. Any confined space.
9. Slang. A house, shop, etc., frequented by thieves or regarded by thieves as a likely place for burglarizing.
10. Building Trades, Civil Engineering. Any of various cellular frameworks of logs, squared timbers, or steel or concrete objects of similar form assembled in layers at right angles, often filled with earth and stones and used in the construction of foundations, dams, retaining walls, etc.
11. A barrier projecting part of the way into a river and then upward, acting to reduce the flow of water and as a storage place for logs being floated downstream.
12. A lining for a well or other shaft.
13. Slang. One's home; pad.
14. Cribbage. A set of cards made up by equal contributions from each player's hand, and belonging to the dealer.
15. A cheap, ill-kept brothel.
16. A wicker basket.
17. British, Australian. Lunch, especially a cold lunch carried from home to work and eaten by a laborer on the job; snack.
1. A child's bed with enclosed sides.
2. A stall or pen for cattle.
3. A rack or manger for fodder, as in a stable or barn.
4. A bin for storing grain, salt, etc.
5. Informal. A. A translation, list of correct answers, or other illicit aid used by students while reciting, taking exams, or the like; pony. B. Plagiarism. C. A petty theft.
6. A room, closet, etc., in a factory or the like, in which tools are kept and issued to workers.
7. A shallow, separate section of a bathing area, reserved for small children.
8. Any confined space.
9. Slang. A house, shop, etc., frequented by thieves or regarded by thieves as a likely place for burglarizing.
10. Building Trades, Civil Engineering. Any of various cellular frameworks of logs, squared timbers, or steel or concrete objects of similar form assembled in layers at right angles, often filled with earth and stones and used in the construction of foundations, dams, retaining walls, etc.
11. A barrier projecting part of the way into a river and then upward, acting to reduce the flow of water and as a storage place for logs being floated downstream.
12. A lining for a well or other shaft.
13. Slang. One's home; pad.
14. Cribbage. A set of cards made up by equal contributions from each player's hand, and belonging to the dealer.
15. A cheap, ill-kept brothel.
16. A wicker basket.
17. British, Australian. Lunch, especially a cold lunch carried from home to work and eaten by a laborer on the job; snack.
An otherwise dense early college roommate used to prate that "reality is mankind's greatest illusion," something he cribbed from a psych professor who got it from Erik Erikson.
-- Jim Harrison, The Road Home
-- Jim Harrison, The Road Home
Radford's a lazy bastard, you know, and apparently he cribbed a bunch of his lecture notes from somewhere — some old tome he thought nobody had ever read or ever would read — but Archy spotted it instantly, of course, and is making a hell of a stink.
-- Edith Taylor, The Serpent Under It
-- Edith Taylor, The Serpent Under It
Crib comes from the German word krebe which meant basket. Its alternate sense meaning "to steal" arose in the 1600s and leant itself to the current sense of "to plagiarize."
2012年2月6日 星期一
2012_02_06 filiopietistic adj. Pertaining to reverence of forebears or tradition, especially if carried to excess.
Word of the Day for Monday, February 6, 2012
filiopietistic \fil-ee-oh-pahy-i-TIS-tik\, adjective:
Pertaining to reverence of forebears or tradition, especially if carried to excess.
The popular historical narratives of the many immigrant groups may indeed be filiopietistic in the exaggerated and often shrilly made claims for their important contributions to the making of the country of their choice.
-- Orm Øverland, immigrant Minds, American Identities
In a filiopietistic age it would be difficult to find a more filiopietistic man — toward his own father, the founders, and the past generally — than Edward Everett.
-- Paul A. Varg, Edward Evertt: The Intellectual in the Turmoil of Politics
A clunky word, filiopietistic is a clear combination of Latin roots. Filio means "brotherly"; piet is related to piety; and the suffix -istic (related to -ism) denotes the noun related to a verb (like baptism).
filiopietistic \fil-ee-oh-pahy-i-TIS-tik\, adjective:
Pertaining to reverence of forebears or tradition, especially if carried to excess.
The popular historical narratives of the many immigrant groups may indeed be filiopietistic in the exaggerated and often shrilly made claims for their important contributions to the making of the country of their choice.
-- Orm Øverland, immigrant Minds, American Identities
In a filiopietistic age it would be difficult to find a more filiopietistic man — toward his own father, the founders, and the past generally — than Edward Everett.
-- Paul A. Varg, Edward Evertt: The Intellectual in the Turmoil of Politics
A clunky word, filiopietistic is a clear combination of Latin roots. Filio means "brotherly"; piet is related to piety; and the suffix -istic (related to -ism) denotes the noun related to a verb (like baptism).
2012年2月5日 星期日
2012_02_05 pied \pahyd\, adjective: Wearing pied clothing.
pied \pahyd\, adjective:
1. Having patches of two or more colors, as various birds and other animals.
2. Wearing pied clothing.
"Lashing his tail, he followed the pied mare reluctantly into the cave. Its upper walls and ceiling clustered with glowing lichens and fungi in rose, ghost blue, saffron, and plum."
-- Meredith Ann Pierce, Dark Moon
The fact of the pied birds being pursued and persecuted with much clamour by the other ravens of the island was the chief cause which led Brünnich to conclude that they were specifically distinct.
-- Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man
Pied, like the pastry pie, is related to the Latin word for magpie, pīca. Magpies have black and white coats, so that type of patched coat came to be called "pied."
1. Having patches of two or more colors, as various birds and other animals.
2. Wearing pied clothing.
"Lashing his tail, he followed the pied mare reluctantly into the cave. Its upper walls and ceiling clustered with glowing lichens and fungi in rose, ghost blue, saffron, and plum."
-- Meredith Ann Pierce, Dark Moon
The fact of the pied birds being pursued and persecuted with much clamour by the other ravens of the island was the chief cause which led Brünnich to conclude that they were specifically distinct.
-- Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man
Pied, like the pastry pie, is related to the Latin word for magpie, pīca. Magpies have black and white coats, so that type of patched coat came to be called "pied."
2012年2月4日 星期六
2012_02_04 caprice \kuh-PREES\, noun: 任性
caprice \kuh-PREES\, noun:
1. A sudden, unpredictable change, as of one's mind or the weather.
2. A tendency to change one's mind without apparent or adequate motive; whimsicality; capriciousness.
3. Music. Capriccio.
Does she turn, thought he, thus, from one to the other, with no preference but of accident or caprice? Is her favour thus light of circulation?
-- Fanny Burney, Camilla, or a Picture of Youth
You lose, you gain—it's all caprice. The omnipotence of caprice. The likelihood of reversal. Yes, the unpredictable reversal and its power.
-- Philip Roth, The Humbling
Caprice is from the Italian word capriccio which means a sudden start or motion. It comes from the word capro meaning goat.
Saturday, 2012_02_04 caprice
1. A sudden, unpredictable change, as of one's mind or the weather.
2. A tendency to change one's mind without apparent or adequate motive; whimsicality; capriciousness.
3. Music. Capriccio.
Does she turn, thought he, thus, from one to the other, with no preference but of accident or caprice? Is her favour thus light of circulation?
-- Fanny Burney, Camilla, or a Picture of Youth
You lose, you gain—it's all caprice. The omnipotence of caprice. The likelihood of reversal. Yes, the unpredictable reversal and its power.
-- Philip Roth, The Humbling
Caprice is from the Italian word capriccio which means a sudden start or motion. It comes from the word capro meaning goat.
Saturday, 2012_02_04 caprice
2012年2月3日 星期五
2012_02_03 默想 excogitate \eks-KOJ-i-teyt\, verb: To think out; devise; invent.
默想
excogitate \eks-KOJ-i-teyt\, verb:
1. To think out; devise; invent.
2. To study intently and carefully in order to grasp or comprehend fully.
But observe the singular phenomenon — on approximately the same date several thousand men and women of letters retire to secluded corners to excogitate a thing described as "charm"; each cudgeling his or her head for some variety which can possibly be regarded as original...
-- Upton Sinclair, Money Writes!
I preferred to relate aloud, to excogitate in a lively, external manner, with a flow of invention as useless as was my declamation of it, a whole novel crammed with adventure, in which the Duchess, fallen upon misfortune…
-- Marcel Proust, Swann's Way
Excogitate is related to the word cogitate which means "to think." The prefix ex- typically means "out of", but in this case it means "thoroughly."
excogitate \eks-KOJ-i-teyt\, verb:
1. To think out; devise; invent.
2. To study intently and carefully in order to grasp or comprehend fully.
But observe the singular phenomenon — on approximately the same date several thousand men and women of letters retire to secluded corners to excogitate a thing described as "charm"; each cudgeling his or her head for some variety which can possibly be regarded as original...
-- Upton Sinclair, Money Writes!
I preferred to relate aloud, to excogitate in a lively, external manner, with a flow of invention as useless as was my declamation of it, a whole novel crammed with adventure, in which the Duchess, fallen upon misfortune…
-- Marcel Proust, Swann's Way
Excogitate is related to the word cogitate which means "to think." The prefix ex- typically means "out of", but in this case it means "thoroughly."
2012年2月2日 星期四
2012_02_02 peroration \per-uh-REY-shuhn\, noun: A long speech characterized by lofty and often pompous language.
peroration \per-uh-REY-shuhn\, noun:
1. A long speech characterized by lofty and often pompous language.
2. Rhetoric. The concluding part of a speech or discourse, in which the speaker or writer recapitulates the principal points and urges them with greater earnestness and force.
Thus he apostrophised his house and race in terms of the most moving eloquence; but when it came to the peroration—and what is eloquence that lacks a peroration?—he fumbled. He would have liked to have ended with a flourish to the effect that he would follow in their footsteps and add another stone to their building.
-- Virginia Woolf, Orlando: A Biography
This person always provides a dramatic peroration; it is expected of him and he seldom disappoints. Tamsour is the theme; and the substance is usually personal aggrandizement, sometimes a bit of self-pity, but never apologies for past misdeeds, real or imaginary.
-- Jack Vance, Night Lamp
Peroration comes from the Latin word perōrātiōn which meant "a closing speech."
1. A long speech characterized by lofty and often pompous language.
2. Rhetoric. The concluding part of a speech or discourse, in which the speaker or writer recapitulates the principal points and urges them with greater earnestness and force.
Thus he apostrophised his house and race in terms of the most moving eloquence; but when it came to the peroration—and what is eloquence that lacks a peroration?—he fumbled. He would have liked to have ended with a flourish to the effect that he would follow in their footsteps and add another stone to their building.
-- Virginia Woolf, Orlando: A Biography
This person always provides a dramatic peroration; it is expected of him and he seldom disappoints. Tamsour is the theme; and the substance is usually personal aggrandizement, sometimes a bit of self-pity, but never apologies for past misdeeds, real or imaginary.
-- Jack Vance, Night Lamp
Peroration comes from the Latin word perōrātiōn which meant "a closing speech."
2012年2月1日 星期三
2012_02_01 doyenne \doi-EN\, noun: A woman who is the senior member of a group, class, or profession.
doyenne \doi-EN\, noun:
A woman who is the senior member of a group, class, or profession.
Inspector Neele propounded to himself three separate highly coloured reasons why the faithful doyenne of the typists' room should have poisoned her employer's mid-morning cup of tea, and rejected them as unlikely.
-- Agatha Christie, A Pocket Full of Rye
Her physical characteristics had shifted over time, from soft to hard, from blond to gray, and tight to slack and swollen. This doyenne of crochet and pregnancy was to me one woman and all women, because everything about her was variable, including her temperament.
-- Darin Strauss, Chang and Eng
Doyenne only came into common English use in the early 1900s, but it originates in the Old French word deien, which is also the root of the word dean. The suffix -enne is a French suffix for a personal female noun.
A woman who is the senior member of a group, class, or profession.
Inspector Neele propounded to himself three separate highly coloured reasons why the faithful doyenne of the typists' room should have poisoned her employer's mid-morning cup of tea, and rejected them as unlikely.
-- Agatha Christie, A Pocket Full of Rye
Her physical characteristics had shifted over time, from soft to hard, from blond to gray, and tight to slack and swollen. This doyenne of crochet and pregnancy was to me one woman and all women, because everything about her was variable, including her temperament.
-- Darin Strauss, Chang and Eng
Doyenne only came into common English use in the early 1900s, but it originates in the Old French word deien, which is also the root of the word dean. The suffix -enne is a French suffix for a personal female noun.
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