Word Of The Day

[Dr T]

scion \SY-uhn\, noun:

1. A detached shoot or twig of a plant used for grafting.

2. Hence, a descendant; an heir.

Convinced he was the scion of Louis Alexandre Lebris de Kerouac, a noble Breton, he was off to do genealogical research in the Paris libraries and then to locate his ancestor's hometown in Brittany.

-- Ellis Amburn, Subterranean Kerouac

Gates is the scion of an old, affluent Seattle family; Jobs is the adopted son of a machinist in Northern California.

-- "Steve Jobs, Hesitant Co-Founder, Makes New Commitment to Apple", New York Times, August 7, 1997

Scion derives from Old French cion, of Germanic origin.

[Dr T]

Brobdingnagian \brob-ding-NAG-ee-uhn\, adjective:

Of extraordinary size; gigantic; enormous.

The venture capital business has a size problem. A monstrous, staggering, stupefying one. Brobdingnagian even.

-- Russ Mitchell, "Too Much Ventured Nothing Gained", Fortune, November 11, 2002

Any savvy dealer . . . will try to talk you up to one of the latest behemoths, which have bloated to such Brobdingnagian dimensions as to have entered the realm of the absurd.

-- Jack Hitt, "The Hidden Life of SUVs", Mother Jones, July/August 1999

Brobdingnagian is from Brobdingnag, a country of giants in Swift's Gulliver's Travels.

[Dr T]

gnomic \NOH-mik\, adjective:

Uttering, containing, or characterized by maxims; wise and pithy.

A long pause, during which the group reflects on this gnomic pronouncement.

-- Ruth Shalit, "Send in the clowns", Salon, June 21, 2000

But the young man's gnomic utterances -- that life is "a journey" and "a big circle" -- might reflect not Buddhist-tinged wisdom so much as the fact that he has been skating around in circles for years.

-- Gary Kamiya, "Flight of the wonder boy", Salon, February 14, 2002

Gnomic derives from Greek gnomikos, from gnome, "intelligence, hence an expressed example of intelligence," from gignoskein, "to know."

[Lindy]

I've never heard this outside of the kitchen.

ebullient \ih-BUL-yuhnt\, adjective:

1. Overflowing with enthusiasm or excitement; high-spirited.

2. Boiling up or over.

boil."

Funny I haven't heard it used INSIDE a kitchen either

Maybe I'm in the wrong kitchen ?

[Dr T]

If your in it Lindy, it's the right kitchen. :)

[Dr T]

comity \KOM-uh-tee\, noun:

1. A state of mutual harmony, friendship, and respect, especially between or among nations or people; civility.

2. The courteous recognition by one nation of the laws and institutions of another.

3. The group of nations observing international comity.

In Athens last week, E.U. leaders offered a picture of comity as they formally signed accession treaties with 10 new members.

-- James Graff, "Can France Put a Cork In It?", Time Europe, April 28, 2003

Despite the image of civil-military comity during World War II, there were many differences between Franklin Roosevelt and his military advisers.

-- Mackubin Thomas Owens, "Sniping", National Review, April 2, 2003

Short-term initiatives in 1919 became longer-term strategies for bringing the two pariahs, Germany and Russia, into the comity of nations.

-- Kenneth O. Morgan, "Lloyd George and the Lost Peace: from Versailles to Hitler, 1919-1940", English Historical Review, June 2002

Everyone hopes that Saddam Hussein will honour his agreement with Kofi Annan and that Iraq will be received back into the comity of nations.

-- Marrack Goulding, "A wider role for the UN", New Statesman, March 13, 1998

Comity is from Latin comitas, from comis, "courteous."

[Dr T]

tyro \TY-roh\, noun:

A beginner in learning; a novice.

It's difficult to imagine a tyro publishing a book on medical procedures or economic theory.

-- Philip Zaleski, "God Help the Spiritual Writer", New York Times, January 10, 1999

He was a sensitive, fine soul alert to the pleasures of being green, a tyro, an amateur, unwilling to close his mind before it had been tempted.

-- Paul West, Sporting With Amaryllis

And, though we were mere tyros, beginners, utterly insignificant, he was invariably as kind and considerate and thoughtful, and as lavish in the gift of his time, as though he had nothing else to do.

-- Leonard Warren, Joseph Leidy: The Last Man Who Knew Everything

Tyro is from Latin tiro, "a young soldier, a recruit," hence "a beginner, a learner."

[Dr T]

prolix \pro-LIKS; PRO-liks\, adjective:

1. Extending to a great length; unnecessarily long; wordy.

2. Tending to speak or write at excessive length.

It was a cumbersome book, widely criticized for being prolix in style and maddeningly circular in argument.

-- Simon Winchester, "Word Imperfect", The Atlantic, May 2001

Montaigne is a little too prolix in his determination to tell us almost everything that happens as he fishes his way across the country, and he gives us a few too many accounts of the people he meets and of their repetitiously gloomy opinions.

-- Adam Hochschild, "Deep Wigglers of the Volga", New York Times, June 28, 1998

Prolix is derived from Latin prolixus, "poured forth, overflowing, extended, long," from pro-, "forward" + liquere, "to be fluid."

[Dr T]

diffident \DIF-uh-dunt; -dent\, adjective:

1. Lacking self-confidence; distrustful of one's own powers; timid; bashful.

2. Characterized by modest reserve; unassertive.

He lived naturally in a condition that many greater poets never had, or if they had it, were embarrassed or diffident about it: a total commitment to his own powers of invention, a complete loss of himself in his materials.

-- James Dickey, "The Geek of Poetry", New York Times, December 23, 1979

Minny was too delicate and diffident to ask her cousin outright to take her to Europe.

-- Brooke Allen, "Borrowed Lives", New York Times, May 16, 1999

Diffident is from the present participle of Latin diffidere, "to mistrust, to have no confidence," from dis- + fidere, "to trust." The noun form is diffidence.

[Dr T]

comestible \kuh-MES-tuh-buhl\, adjective:

1. Suitable to be eaten; edible.

noun:

1. Something suitable to be eaten; food.

No matter how many flip-flops the nutrition gurus may make in deciding whether a particular comestible will kill or cure, most Americans seem to trust their instincts and eat what they please.

-- Richard Martin, "Dollars to doughnuts", Nation's Restaurant News, May 29, 2000

This rare comestible calls for specially designed platters, holders, and forks, but how well worth their acquisition!

-- Samuel Chamberlain, Clémentine in the Kitchen

Comestible comes from Late Latin comestibilis, from comestus, from comesus, past participle of comedere, "to eat up, to consume," from com-, intensive prefix + edere, "to eat."

[dereksmom2204]

ewash

Toddler for squash.

[Dr T]

that is cute D's mom :)

[Dr T]

grok \GRAWK\, transitive verb slang:

To understand, especially in a profound and intimate way. Slang.

If you want to grok the language, get your mitts on the new Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang."

-- San Jose Mercury News, July 22, 1994

For those who don't quite grok the Web, it can be an intimidating challenge.

-- New York Times, June 1, 1997

The slang word grok was coined by Robert A. Heinlein in the science fiction novel "Stranger in a Strange Land", where it is a Martian word meaning literally "to drink" and metaphorically "to be one with". It was adopted into the vocabulary of 1960's youth and hackish jargon, whence it has become a part of net culture.

[Blessed]

Sounds klingon to me. :-)

[Dr T]

LOL :)

[Princess3dward]

AHHH! TOO MANY WORDS!

[Dr T]

Hey Des,

The last was a slang word. I thought you might have heard it. It was new to me.

Dr. T

[Princess3dward]

It is new to me too!

[Dr T]

Maybe I'll shift to easier words; words that are more common. Perhaps if they are more common, and we see these refreshers, their use will be easier.

propitious \pruh-PISH-uhs\, adjective:

1. Presenting favorable circumstances or conditions.

2. Favorably inclined; gracious; benevolent.

By the early 1500s rice was being planted on the Cape Verde island most propitious for agriculture, Santiago.

-- Judith A. Carney, Black Rice

It is hard to imagine a less propitious start to a marriage: in a single blow Vincent forfeited the trust of his wife, the respect of her family, and the means of his own support.

-- Matthew Sturgis, Aubrey Beardsley: A Biography

If the fates are propitious we may succeed.

-- A. K. Green

Propitious derives from Latin propitius, "favorable."

[Dr T]

cogent \KOH-juhnt\, adjective:

Having the power to compel conviction; appealing to the mind or to reason; convincing.

One woman, Adrian Pomerantz, was so intelligent that the professors always lit up when Adrian spoke; her eloquent, cogent analyses forced them not to be lazy, not to repeat themselves.

-- Meg Wolitzer, Surrender, Dorothy

Cogent derives from Latin cogere, "to drive together, to force," from co-, "with, together" + agere, "to drive."

[Dr T]

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

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.

[Laureltree]

OMG Dr T, are you trying to make my brain work over time to remember that lol

\I'll have to practice that one....

[Dr T]

I know. :) The hard part of that work is the i instead of the e in it's pronunciation. I'll try to use it but we'll see.

[Dr T]

I'm sure we've all done this (or made fun of someone who did). Here is the actual word:

spoonerism \SPOO-nuh-riz-uhm\, noun:

The transposition of usually initial sounds in a pair of words.

Some examples:

We all know what it is to have a half-warmed fish ["half-formed wish"] inside us.

The Lord is a shoving leopard ["loving shepherd"].

It is kisstomary to cuss ["customary to kiss"] the bride.

Is the bean dizzy ["dean busy"]?

When the boys come back from France, we'll have the hags flung out ["flags hung out"]!

Let me sew you to your sheet ["show you to your seat"].

Spoonerism comes from the name of the Rev. William Archibald Spooner (1844-1930), a kindly but nervous Anglican clergyman and educationalist. All the above examples were committed by (or attributed to) him.

[Dr T]

This word is common but people often think it only means to "steal" which is not accurate. Here's the word:

abscond \ab-SKOND\, intransitive verb:

To depart secretly; to steal away and hide oneself -- used especially of persons who withdraw to avoid arrest or prosecution.

The criminal is not concerned with influencing or affecting public opinion: he simply wants to abscond with his money or accomplish his mercenary task in the quickest and easiest way possible so that he may reap his reward and enjoy the fruits of his labours.

-- Bruce Hoffman, Inside Terrorism

Pearl, now an orphan (her father having absconded shortly after her conception), has been taken to live with her great-aunt Margaret in the north of England.

-- Zoe Heller, Everything You Know

Abscond comes from Latin abscondere, "to conceal," from ab-, abs-, "away" + condere, "to put, to place."