Word of the Day

[Gail]

Re: George Washington at prayer

I've heard that he suffered in life with bad-fitting dentures. This picture reflects that. The way he holds his mouth certainly looks painful.

[D. Allan]

compendium (kehm-PEN-dee-ehm), noun ; plural, compendiums / compendia

1. a short but comprehensive account of a subject, esp. in book form; a summary or abstract containing the essential information in brief form.

2. a list or compilation of various items

[Latin, a weighing together, abridgment < compendere, to weigh together; com-, together + pendere, to weigh]

related words:

compend, noun, a compendium

compendious , adj., containing all the essentials in a brief form

synonyms: abstract, apercu, brief, conspectus, digest, epitome, essence, guide, handbook, manual, overview, pandect, précis, sketch, summary, survey, syllabus

“The Global Compendium of Weeds is a list of plant species (over 28000 names) that have been cited in specific references (approximately 1000) as weeds.” www.hear.org/gcw/

“A Visual Compendiumof Roman Emperors. The goal of this page is to present an illustrated list of Roman Emperors.” - www.thepaoloas.com/emperors/emperors.html

“Life in Elizabethan England, A Compendium of Common Knowledge, 1558-1603, Elizabethan Commonplaces for Writer, Actors, and Re-enactors, 9th Edition, Spring 2008”

“We are naturally not concerned with the question of what was theoretically and officially taught in the ethical compendia of the time, however much practical significance this may have had through the influence of Church discipline, pastoral work, and preaching. We are interested rather in something entirely different: the influence of those psychological sanctions which, originating in religious belief and the practice of religion, gave a direction to practical conduct and held the individual to it.” – Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. 1905, Chapter IV

[D. Allan]

“In the morning so soon as we could see the trace, we proceeded on our journey, and had the track until we had compassed the head of a long creek, and there they took into another wood, and we after them, supposing to find some of their dwellings, but we marched through boughs and bushes, and under hills and valleys, which tore our very armor in pieces, and yet could meet with none of them, nor their houses, nor find any fresh water, which we greatly desired, and stood in need of, for we brought neither beer nor water with us, and our victuals was only biscuit and Holland cheese, and a little bottle of aquavitae, so as we were sore athirst. About ten o'clock we came into a deep valley, full of brush, wood-gaile, and long grass, through which we found little paths or tracks, and there we saw a deer, and found springs of fresh water, of which we were heartily glad, and sat us down and drunk our first New England water with as much delight as ever we drunk drink in all our lives. “ - A RELATION OR JOURNAL OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE PLANTATION settled at Plymouth in NEW ENGLAND, BY William Bradford, 1622

aqua vitae

Latin: “water of life”

“An archaic name for a concentrated aqueous solution of ethanol. The term originated in the Middle Ages and was originally used as a generic name for all types of distillates. It eventually came to refer more specifically to distillates of alcoholic beverages. Aqua vitae was typically prepared by distilling wine, and was sometimes known as "Spirit of Wine" in English texts. Spirit of Wine is a specific name for brandy that has been repeatedly distilled. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_vitae

Dromio of Syracuse: “ … Our fraughtage, sir, I have convey’d aboard, and I have bought the oil, the balsamum, and aqua-vitae. “ A Comedy of Errors, IV,(1),87 , William Shakespeare

The vertuose boke of Dstyllacyon by Hieronymous Braunschweig published in English, translated by L. Andrew. First book on the subject, treated aqua vitae as a medicine. (1527) - http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/jhb/whisky/history.html

“Burn cork, and quench it in aqua vitae, then dissolve it in a sufficient quantity of water, wherein you shall have melted a little gumm arabick, in order to make an ink as black as common ink. You must separate the cork that can’t dissolve, and if the ink be not black enough, add more cork as before.” Inks called sympathetical (Seventeenth Century) -

http://www.djmcadam.com/curiosa.html

[D. Allan]

“On the banks of the Granicus his helmet was cleft through to his scalp by a sword; at Gaza his shoulder was wounded by a missile; at Maracanda his shin was so torn by an arrow that by the force of the blow the larger bone was broken and extruded. Somewhere in Hyrcania his sight was dimmed, and for many days he was haunted by the fear of blindness. Among the Assacenians his ankle was wounded by an Indian arrow; that was the time when he smilingly said to his flatterers, 'this that you see is blood, not ‘Ichor, that which flows from the wounds of the blessed immortals’.” Plutarch, Morlia, De Fortuna Alexandri

ichor (AHY-kawr, AHY-ker), noun

1. in classical mythology. the ethereal fluid which flowed, instead of blood, in the veins of the gods.

2. medical. a thin, watery, acrid serum from an ulcer or wound.

“If the blood get exceedingly liquid, animals fall sick; for the blood then turns into something like ichor, or a liquid so thin that it at times has been known to exude through the pores like sweat. In some cases blood, when issuing from the veins, does not coagulate at all, or only here and there.” - Aristotle, The History of Animals, trans. by D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson

“This said, she wiped from Venus’ wounded palm

The sacred Ichor, and infused the balm.” - Alexander Pope, The Iliad (1720)

“Wrap him for shroud in a pedal.

Embalm him with ichor of nettle.” - Robert Frost, ‘Departmental’, (1936)

"The ichor of the spring

Proceeds clear as it ever did

From the broken throat, the marshy lip." - Sylvia Plath, Colossus

[D. Allan]

“One of our company, being abroad, came running in and cried, "They are men! Indians! Indians!" and withal, their arrows came flying amongst us. Our men ran out with all speed to recover their arms, as by the good providence of God they did. In the meantime, Captain Miles Standish, having a snaphance ready, made a shot, and after him another.” - A RELATION OR JOURNAL OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE PLANTATION settled at Plymouth in NEW ENGLAND, BY William Bradford, 1622

snaphance, snaphaunce

1. A spring lock for discharging a firearm; also, the firearm to which it is attached.

2. A trifling or second-rate thing or person. [Obs.]

“His first car, when daddy brought it home , turned out to be a shaphance , an ugly second-hand Edsel, the color of two-toned dust.” -anon.

“A Snaphance or Snaphaunce is a particular type of mechanism for firing a gun (or a gun using that mechanism). Like the earlier snaplock later flintlock the snaphaunce drives a flint onto a steel to create a shower of sparks to ignite the main charge .

The origin of the name snaphance is thought to come from Dutch "Snap Haan" or German "Schnapphahn"—both of which roughly mean "hen peck", and could relate to the shape of the mechanism and its downward-darting action (and would also explain the thus the name "c0ck" for the beak-shaped mechanism which holds the flint).” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snaphance

[D. Allan]

Simon Vouet, Les Muses Uranie et Calliope, c. 1634.

Uranian (yoor-RAY-neeuhn), adjective:

1. of Uranus, a planet in the Solar System

2. of Urania, the Greek Muse of Astronomy and Astrology

“She [urania] is often associated with Universal Love and the Holy Spirit. She is dressed in a cloak embroidered with stars and keeps her eyes and attention focused on the Heavens. Those who are most concerned with philosophy and the heavens are dearest to her. . . . During the Renaissance, Urania began to be considered the Muse for Christian poets. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urania

“ [color:#33CCFF] Uranian Love, in the mythological philosophy of Plato, is the deity or genius of pure mental passion for the good and the beautiful; and Pandemian Love, of ordinary sexual attachment.” – Thomas Love Peacock’s notes to Rhododaphne (1818); cited by Mary Shelly, The Last Man, notes p.24

"Ah, Camille," he exclaimed, "the Uranian way is the best. It is only by studying the heavens that we shall be able to understand this little earth of ours, and the part we play in it. Look at the midnight sky, streaming with the light of infinite suns, and filled with an unending procession of worlds in which the spirit of life clothes itself in an unimaginable variety of forms. This clot of dust on which we live will grow cold, and break and scatter in the abysses of space. But it is not our home; we are only passengers, and when our journey here is done, fairer mansions are waiting for us in the depths of the sky.” – Camille Flammarion, Urania (1889)

"Yes, there is a way of escape," said Spero, "the Uranian way. By soaring aloft into the serene region of spiritual ideas, a terrestrial soul can still free itself from its animality. -ibid

“The Uranian way is open to all, and the day will arrive when every inhabitant of your wild, dark planet will recognize that he, too, is a citizen of heaven. - ibid

“The figure of Urania, based on Plato's heavenly Aphrodite - `the eldest daughter of Uranus, born without a mother, whom we call the Uranian ' (Plato, Symposium 210 E, trans. Shelley VII 174) and Milton's Muse, belongs to this dimension. Plotinus identifies this figure with the Soul: The heavenly one (ourania), since she is said to be the child of Kronos, and he is Intellect, must be the most divine kind of soul, springing directly from him, pure from the pure, remaining above, as neither wanting nor being able to descend to the world here below. . . “ - O’Leary, Joseph S., PLOTINUS IN `MONT BLANC' AND ADONAIS

[D. Allan]

hebdomad (HEB-deh-mad), noun

1. a period of seven consecutive days, a week

2. (math) the number seven, a group of seven

[from Greek &#7953;&#946;&#948;&#959;&#956;&#940;&#962;, hebdomas, the number seven < hebdomos, seventh < hepta, seven]

hebdomadal, (heb- DOM-eh-d’l) adj. weekly, occurring every seven days

hebdomadary adj. weekly, occurring every seven days

hebdomadally, adv. ; each week, without missing a week

Although Nastie’s and Miliscent’s abodes nested in a forest miles from ecclesiastical amenities, yet they attended church services hebdomadally . –anon.

“Now then, in the earth these people cannot stand much church --- an hour and a quarter is the limit, and they draw the line at once a week. That is to say, Sunday. One day in seven; and even then they do not look forward to it with longing. And so --- consider what their heaven provides for them: "church" that lasts forever, and a Sabbath that has no end! They quickly weary of this brief hebdomadal Sabbath here, yet they long for that eternal one; they dream of it, they talk about it, they think they think they are going to enjoy it --- with all their simple hearts they think they think are going to be happy in it!” – Mark Twain, Letters from Earth

“Former President Bill Clinton and their daughter, Chelsea, also campaigned this hebdomad in the sprawled but least thickly settled United States state. ” 08 March 2008, http://purplenewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2008/03/obama-leads-clinton-in-wyoming-as.html

“The hebdomad within the decade is neither product nor factor. For this reason some people, have likened it to the motherless, ever virgin Athena.” Moehring, Horst "Arithmology as an Exegetical Tool in the Writings of Philo of Alexandria," pp. 191-227 in SBL Seminar Papers 1978/1.

“In ‘The Coming Prince,’ the late Sir Robert Anderson marshalled conclusive proofs to show that our Savior entered Jerusalem on the very day which marked the completion of the sixty-ninth "hebdomad" of Daniel 9.” - http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/John/john_42.htm

[Gail]

Hence, the French word for weekly, hebdomadaire

[D. Allan]

Frida Kahlo, Self-portrait With Thorns and Hummingbird, (1940)

idiasm (ID-ee-az-um), noun, pl. idiasms

peculiarity or idiosyncrasy; an individual mannerism

[probably from idi- < idio- ,a combining form meaning one’s own, personal, distinct, < Greek idios, one’s own, + -asm]

“…trying to single out some personal idiasm as a key to the woman…” - David Grambs, The Endangered English Dictionary: Bodacious Words Your Dictionary Forgot, p. 83, (pub. 1994)

“James Joyce’s main idiasm was his penchant for writing in stream of consciousness.” 2004 Scripps National Spelling Bee Consolidated Word List: Words Appearing with Moderate Frequency p.12

“We sometimes meet with a conventional phrase, or idiotism, employed by Shakespeare in a sense peculiar to himself, i. e. as an idiasm .” - Jahrbuch de Deutsche Shakespeare-Gesellschaft, p. 218, Deutsche Shakespeare-Gesellschaft,( 1867)

“Evidently a word so unusual as to be unintelligible may be a perfectly legitimate word: or if not, may be the word intended by the dramatist: indeed it may be an idiasm – a restoration or a coinage of Shakespeare’s: in which case it might well be wholly unknown to his critics. With that precipitancy, or disregard of facts, which seems to us so unwise and injurious, a great number of words have been emended for no other reason than their strangeness.” - Clement Mansfield Ingleby, Shakespeare Hermeneutics, pp. 106-107. (1875)

“There remain phrases and words peculiar to some creative writer, these we call idiasms . The idiom is a grammatical, the idiotism a proverbial, and the idiasm a private and peculiar mode of phraseology.” Clement Mansfield Ingleby, The British Controversialist and Literary Magazine, p. 92, (1869)

Frida Kahlo’s artistic idiasm is to paint herself as part of the flora and fauna of the earth. –anon. (2008)

[D. Allan]

“Genius is a promontory jutting out into the infinite.” - Victor Hugo (French, 1802 – 1885)

promontory (PROM-uhn-tawr-ee, tohr-ee) noun, plural promontories.

1. a high point of land or rock projecting into a body of water

2. a prominent mass of land overlooking or projecting into a lowland

3. anatomy a protuberant or prominent part

synonym: headland

“After a careful reconnaissance, the gunboats were anchored just above the point of the promontory which was opposite the land batteries. The land of this promontory , which here creates so remarkable a bend in the river, is so low that the batteries on Island Number Ten, two miles and a half distant, could be distinctly seen across the point from the decks of the gunboats.” John Stevens Cabot Abbott, The History of the Civil War in America p. 263 (1873)

“There’s a gargantuan handprint on the massive boulder balanced at the tip of the promontory . According to local legend, a drunk giant male fairy made it when he fell while spying a female fairy bathing nude at Bai Tien (Fairy Beach). . . .” Nick Ray, Wendy Yanagihara, Vietnam, p. 269 (2005)

“The third occupy the eastern part from the said limits, as far, that is, as the promontory of Italy, where the Adriatic sea begins, and to Sicily. “ Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

“Toward four o’clock the human spirit again began to lick the body, as a flame licks a black promontory promontory of coal.” Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out

“He was a thin, hard-featured man, with an ascetic, acquiline cast of face, grizzled and hollow-cheeked, clean-shaven with the exception of the tiniest curved promontory of ash-colored whisker.” Arthur Conan Doyle, Beyond The City

I

There once was a guy named Cory,

(Oh it's a very sad story!)

He fell asleep

on ‘Lover’s Leap’

and rolled off that promontory .

II

He woke up as he splashed

and quickly he was dashed

on rocks and stones

and lover’s bones

while waters roared and crashed.

- anon. 19 Apr 2008

[D. Allan]

insufflate (in-SUHF-leyt, IN-suh-fleyt) v.t.

1. to blow or breathe into or upon

2. to blow upon baptisimal waters or or person being baptized

3. medical: to blow a powder or air (or other gas) into the lungs or other bodily cavity

insufflation, noun

insufflators, noun

“ Insufflate, insufflate , wind hibernal!

Thou art not so cruel

As human ingratitude.

Thy dentition is not so penetrating,” – John Fiske, The Unseen World, and Other Essays, p. 247

Mr. Fiske made this amusing rewording of Shakespeare’s poetry to illustrate his conviction that Longfellow, the American poet, is wrong in translating Dante’s Italian words by using their Romantic Language equivalents in English. He arrived at his amusing rewording by re-translating from French back into English the Shakespearian lines using Mr. Longfellow’s principle. Here is the French version of Shakespeare’s lines. (Anyone who knows no French still can see how similar they are to the English Mr. Fiske used in the retranslation.)

« Souffle, souffle, vent d’hiver!

-Tu n’es pas si cruel

Que l’ingratitude de l’homme.

Ta dent n’est pas si pénétrante, »

“Blow, blow, thou winter wind!

Thou art not so unkind

As man’s ingratitude.

Thy tooth is not so keen,” - Shakespeare

[D. Allan]

insolate (IN-soh-leyt) t.v. insolated, insolating

1. to expose to sunlight

2. to prepare or treat by putting out in the sun (drying, bleaching, etc.)

[< Latin insolare, to expose to the sun]

“High esteem was made of garum by the ancients, and was used in sauces, puddings, &c. If simply made with aromatic mixture, as is delivered, it cannot but have an ungrateful smell, however a haut gout, for it was the liquor or the resolution of guts of fishes, salt and insolated .” - Sir Thomas Browne, Recipes for Pickles

“Reptiles and amphibians are cold-blooded, meaning that their body temperature is not regulated internally, but rather is affected by the temperature of the air, soil, water, and sunshine around them. They cannot move fast when cool, so they insolate , or absorb heat from the sun by moving into a sunny area, or they may lie on warm sand, or sleep.” Peggy Lantz, Wendy Hale, The Young Naturalist’s Guide to Florida, p. 123 (2006)

“In cases of insolation it is not at all unusual to see a patient whose temperature cannot be registered by an ordinary thermometer. Any one who has been resident at a hospital in which heat-cases are received in the summer will substantiate this.” – George M. Gould, Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine

This poor word, insolate , much more often than not suffers the indignity of being used as a misspelling of “insulate” or “isolate.” Wouldn't it help to put the accent on the second syllable instead of the first: (in-SOH-leyt, -luht)?

[D. Allan]

febrile (FEH-brehl, FEE-brehl) adjective

1. characterized by fever, feverish,

2. caused by fever

[1651 > Medieval Latin febrilis, > L. febris fever]

febrility , noun; a rise in the temperature of the body

“Very young children are prone to fevers, as their body's temperature control is not yet fully developed. This can lead to fits, known as febrile convulsions.”

- http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/febrileconvulsions2.shtml

“What I do know for sure is that the blogs are making politics more febrile .” – Steve Richards, 02 Aug. 2007 www.independent.co.uk/opinion

“Madame de Saverne remained for some time in this febrile condition, if not unconscious of her actions, at least not accountable for all of them. “ William Makepeace Thackeray, Miscellanies, p. 260

“. . . but he was somehow conscious of a sharp and chilling scrutiny which irritated and yet overmastered him. ''You need not think, he broke out suddenly, in an explosive, febrile manner that startled and alarmed himself, 'that I am a stay-at-home, because I fear anything under God.” – Robert Louis Stevenson, Merry Men

“The shriek of a train-whistle reached me, a sound which breaks the stillness of the most silent London night, telling of the ceaseless, febrile life of the great world-capital whose activity ceases not with the coming of darkness.” Sax Rohmer, The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu

[D. Allan]

fattoush (feh- TOOSH), noun

A salad made from moistened toasted bread, cucumbers, tomatoes, mint, and other ingredients.

[< Colloquial Arabic fattus] Fattoush was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in June of 2007.

"Fattoush is a Lebanese salad, good for hot weather. This recipe uses two unusual ingredients: sumac and purslane. Sumac, usually sold ground, is ground red berries and used in Middle Eastern, particularly Lebanese, cooking. Purslane is succulent with a lemony flavor, and makes a nice salad green. I find them at farmer's markets." - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Authentic-Lebanese-Fattoush/Detail.aspx

[D. Allan]

testaceous (te-STEY-shuhs), adjective

1. of or like a shell or shells

2. having a testa or hard shell

3. of the reddish-brown or yellowish-brown color of unglazed earthenware or bricks.

[Latin testaceus, made of brick, tile, or shell < testa piece of burned clay, shell or skull]

“He was a testaceous old man, for the years of trouble and hardship had formed an impenetrable shell completely enclosing his heart; or so we thought until that fateful day the hapless fellow obtained a glance of widow O’Bleary.” -anon.

“. . . which begat some doubt, whether they were burnt, or only baked in oven or sun, according to the ancient way, in many bricks, tiles, pots, and testaceous works; and, as the word testa is properly to be taken, when occurring without addition and chiefly intended by Pliny, when he commendeth bricks and tiles of two years old, and to make them in the spring.” - Sir Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, Hydrotaphia, and the Letter to a Friend.

“Instead of these, I would recommend a certain fine insipid Powder, called Magnesia alba, which at the same time that it corrects and sweetens all Sournesses, rather more effectually than the testaceous Powders, is likewise a lenient Purgative, and keeps the Body gently open.” – William Cadogan, An Essay Upon Nursing and the Management of Children

“This species is liable to considerable variation ; the elytra are often pale testaceous, and sometimes the whole body partakes more or less of that colour.” - James Wilson, James Duncan, (1834) Entomologia Edinensis

"I am informed by Mr. F. Smith that the male ants of several species are black, the females being testaceous." Charles Darwin; The Descent Of Man (1871)

Testaceous animals are such as have a strong thick entire shell, as oysters and clams; and are thus distinguished from crustaceous animals, whose shells are more thin and soft, and consist of several pieces jointed, as lobsters. . .Testaceous medicines, are all preparations of shells and like substances, as the powders of crabs' claws, pearl, &c. – 1828 Noah Webster’s Dictionary

[D. Allan]

quizzical (KWI-zi-kehl), adjective

odd or eccentric ; comical

mildly teasing or mocking; given to making fun of others

showing puzzlement, curiosity or disbelief; perplexed, questioning

quizzicality (kwi-zeh-KA-leh-tee), noun

quizzically (KWI-zi-klee), adverb

[1789, from quiz "odd or eccentric person" (1782), of unknown origin] – etymonline.com

“Still on his delicate pale face

A quizzical thin smile is showing,

His cheeks are wrinkled like fine lace,

His kind blue eyes are gay and glowing.” - Joyce Alfred Kilmer, Trees and Other Poems

“She paused. The woman’s face seemed to grow quizzical , though the pleasantness did not abate. "But how do you know you will be happy in the country?" she asked.” - Jack London, The Valley of the Moon

“He evidently regarded his tall shipmate with a feeling half-wondrous half- quizzical ; and stared up occasionally in his face as the red setting sun stares up at the crags of Ben Nevis.” - Edgar Allan Poe, King Pest

“. . . but he had scarcely sat down in my parlour before he began to find fault with the cut and colour

of my coat, and to express his astonishment that I could wear such a quizzical peruke. I laughed; but he gave the subject a serious turn and; vowed that such queer ways as I had, disgraced the family,. . . “ – Lionel Thomas Berguer, The British Essayists With Prefaces Biographical, Historical and Critical, vol. XLIII, p. 80 (1823)

[D. Allan]

“Sir,” said Dr. Johnson, “the corporeal[color:#33CCFF] gelidity and horripilation superinduced by the niveous atmosphere cannot be mitigated even by the mental incalescence evolved by indignation.” “He means,” whispered Mr. Boswell, “that it’s so infernally cold in the cars of the Third Avenue elevated that even swearing at the directors won’t warm you.” - New York Sun, 1888

gelid (JEH - lehd), adjective

extremely cold; frozen, frosty, icy

gelidity (jeh – LIH – deh – tee), noun

gelidly (JEH – lehd – lee), adverb

gelidness , noun

1630: Gelid comes from Latin gelidus, from gelu, frost, cold

synonyms in context from Roget: (Adjective): cold, cool; chill, chilly; icy; gelid , frigid, algid; fresh, keen, bleak, raw, inclement, bitter, biting, niveous, cutting, nipping, piercing, pinching; clay-cold; starved. (made cold); chilled to the bone, shivering. Verb: aguish; frostbitten, frost-bound, frost-nipped.

“I began to have a morbid longing to do something startling, something that would break the [color:#33CCFF] gelid monotony of my existence.” – Rhoda Broughton, Cometh Up As a Flower, Vol. 1

“The man behind the counter touched his fingertips together thoughtfully. He had a tiny button of a nose and beautiful eyes, gelid blue with black around the irises.” Jane Avrich, The Winter Without Milk: Stories (2003)

“We pick our way over a bed of pine boughs a foot or two deep, covering the ground, each twig and needle thickly incrusted with ice, one vast gelid mass, which our feet crunch, as if we were walking through the cellar of some confectioner to the gods.” - Henry David Thoreau, “Winter,” The Writings of Henry David Thoreau With Bibliographical Introductions, p. 97 (1887)

“Kidneys were in his mind as he moved about the kitchen softly, righting her breakfast things on the humpy tray. Gelid light and air were in the kitchen but out of doors gentle summer morning everywhere. Made him feel a bit peckish.” James Joyce, Ulysses

[D. Allan]

"Be silent!" cried Dmitri, "wait till gone. Dare in my presence to asperse the good name of an honourable girl! That you should utter a word about her is an outrage, and I permit it!" He was breathless. He was breathless.’ - Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

asperse (ahs-PURS), v.t.

1. to sprinkle with water (esp. with holy water)

2. to defame or attack by spreading damaging charges or false rumors; to slander

synonyms: malign, slander, defame, calumniate, vilify, libel, traduce, slur, sully, soil, stain

Etymology:

Latin aspersus, past participle of aspergere, from ad- + spargere to scatter

Related:

aspersion , noun, act of aspersing

aspersorium , noun, basin or font for holy water; pl. aspersoria

“However, I did not omit to bless the water and asperse the people; and as I thought that the solemnity of the day demanded a little preaching, I preached, and gave notice that I should say mass on the following day.” – John Weiss, “The Horrors of San Domingo,” The Atlantic Monthly, (Sept. 1862)

‘

“If I have caused you some dissatisfaction, in former Letters, by my endeavours to establish the innocence of those whom you were labouring to asperse , I shall afford you pleasure in the present by making you acquainted with the sufferings which you have inflicted upon them.” - Blaise Pascal , The Provincial Letters

“The stupidest mind may invent a rankling phrase or brand the innocent with a cruel aspersion .” - Joseph Conrad, Nostromo

“Men asperse their neighbours by malignant insinuations.” - Wilhelm Dreser, Englische Synonmik, p. 417, (1881)

‘Julian Bond, reaching deep into the old-school bag of tricks, turned to rhyme to asperse Dr. Rice's authenticity: "Just because they are your skin folks, doesn't mean they're your kinfolks." ‘ - John Ridley, Esquire Magazine, Dec. 2006

“This last requirement applies also to aspersion of cereal, fodder crops, nurseries, ... with B quality water.” - François Brissaud, “Wastewater Reclamation and Reuse in France”

[D. Allan]

Today’s word has been around a while (since 1884); however, it is among those added just this March to the Oxford English Dictionary.

[color:#33CCFF] girlcott v.

A boycott by women

“Humorously understanding the verb boycott as showing the noun boy in its first element (it in fact derives from Captain Charles C. Boycott, who was an early recipient of the treatment to which he gave his name), this formation, denoting the carrying out of a boycott by women, has had a long life. It is first recorded in a short newspaper sketch of 1884, describing how the young women of Groton, Massachusetts ‘have resolved to girlcott any young man that smokes or goes out of the theatre between acts’. “ - http://www.oed.com/news/updates/newwords0803.html

“The Cabinet wives girlcotted Peggy and lobbied at Jackson until the Secretary was forced to resign.” 1943 Kingsport (Tennessee) News

“During the boycott of 1920, Sir Reginald Craddock, the Lt. – Governor, sarcastically referred to the schoolgirls taking part in the boycott as those who “ girlcott ” their schools.” Kyaw Ei, Aye Kyaw, The Voice of Young Burma, p. 82, (1993)

[D. Allan]

[color:#666666] stochastic (stuh-KAS-tik), adjective,

1. Involving or containing a random variable or variables.

2. Involving chance or probability.

3. Conjectural; able to conjecture. [Obs.] --Whitefoot.

Related : stochastically , adverb

[ stochastic: 1662, "pertaining to conjecture," from Gk. stokhastikos "able to guess, conjecturing," from stokhazesthai "guess," from stokhos "a guess, aim, target, mark," lit. "pointed stick set up for archers to shoot at. “ The sense of "randomly determined" is first recorded 1934, from Ger. Stochastik. - online etymology dictionary ]

(Statistics) “of or pertaining to a process involving a randomly determined sequence of observations each of which is considered as a sample of one element from a probability distribution.” - Dictionary.com Unabridged

If stochastic statistics are not completely clear to you, don’t feel alone. First, what is a probability distribution, a “bunch of things” put in sequence by chance, not according to rule or plan? The dictionary which ‘resides’ on my piano, had this phrase: “ Stochastic variation implies randomness as opposed to a fixed rule or relation in passing from one observation to the next in order.” Now that sounds like a description of my life! Understanding is dawning.

In experimental science randomness is eliminated as much as possible so that the experiment is always the same and the results always the same. The variables can then be altered to see what changes are caused in the results. Those are ‘deterministic’ observations, not random, not stochastic .

“Tho' he were no Prophet, nor Son of a Prophet, yet in that Faculty which comes nearest it, he excelled, i. e. the Stochastick [3rd def.], wherein he was seldom mistaken, as to future Events, as well Publick as Private; but not apt to discover any Presages or Superstition.” - Some MINUTES for the Life of Sir THOMAS BROWNE, by John Whitefoot, M.A. late Rector of Heigham, in NORFOLK. – from the 1712 edition of Browne’s Posthumous Works

“. . . at the same time that he far surpassed all in his deductions of the future from the PAST; or was the best guesser of the future from the past. Should this faculty of moral and political prediction be ever considered as a science, we can even furnish it with a denomination; for the writer of the life of Sir Thomas Browne, prefixed to his works, in claiming the honour of it for that philosopher, calls it ‘the Stochastic ,’ a term derived from the Greek and from archer, meaning, ‘to shoot at a mark.’ “ Simon Wilkin, The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, footnote p. xxxi

“Glynn Isaac's model of pounding two stones together for a while, then sorting through the fragments for particularly useful ones, would be a more advanced type of " stochastic toolmaking." - William H. Calvin, The River That Flows Uphill, (1987)

“ Stochastic effects are those effects [e.g. cancer or leukaemia] whose probability of occurring is proportional to the radiation exposure received.” - OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development, Nuclear Energy Today, p. 101, (2003)

“The argument is related to the condition that demand for the goods in question

is stochastic. . . .” Economic Research Centre, Report of the 127th Round Table on Transport Economics, p. 75

“Because of the variation in survivability, and other variability, whether the driver is fatally injured or not is stochastic in nature.” Leonard Evans, Traffic Safety and the Driver, p. 222, (1991)

“It was in the marbled thinking chamber that we were reading both Playboy and the New Yorker at once. A theory resulted: That the rate of humor found in New Yorker cartoons is the exact same as naturally occurring humor in the world. That is to say, in the case of any decent drawing set-up, one could pair a drawing with any caption and reasonably expect to laugh the same amount. We decided to test our theory of stochastic humor by mashing-up Playboy cartoons with New Yorker captions and vice versa. “ - http://gawker.com/news/cartooning/

“ Stochastic crafts are complex systems whose practitioners, even if complete experts, cannot guarantee success. Classical examples of this are medicine: a doctor can administer the same treatment to multiple patients suffering from the same symptoms, however, the patients may not all react to the treatment the same way. This makes medicine a stochastic process. Additional examples are warfare and rhetoric, where the successes and failures cannot be certainly predicted.” - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stochastic

[D. Allan]

abulia ( eh-BOO-lee-eh), also spelled aboulia , noun:

a lack of will or motivation, usually with an inability to make decisions or set goals

[Greek aboulia,without will]

abulic , adjective

“I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a week, sometimes, to make it up.” - Mark Twain

"So difficult does he find it to choose between any competing alternatives that he was once paralyzed at a family Thanksgiving dinner with his fork in midair, drooling, unable to decide between the turkey, the stuffing and the cranberry sauce. In other words, Dwight suffers from abulia – an inability to make decisions.” - Jay McInerney, reviewing Benjamin Kunkel’s book Indecision, in The New York Times, (Aug 28, 2005)

“He also engages in word play, using 'abulia' ,’ or the loss of the ability to act independently, as a metaphor for land that has been exploited beyond its ability to regenerate.” Roberta Hershensen, “Footlights,” The New York Times, article, (May 12, 2008)

“Alberto had said that the knowledge of death causes abulia and that strong men and strong nations are like the cunning fox who will gnaw at its own paw to free itself from a trap, even though it may be left crippled. (Hence, the title of La pata de la raposa.) Arias on the other hand blamed his abulia on the impossible dreams that he conjured up in his mind and could not carry out in real life.” Margaret Pol Stock, Dualism and Polarity in the Novel of Ramon Pérez de Ayala, p. 146 (1988)

" Abulia may result from a variety of brain injuries which cause personality change, such as dementing illnesses, trauma, or intracerebral hemorrhage (stroke), especially stroke causing diffuse injury to the right hemisphere." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abulia

[D. Allan]

[color:#33CCFF] mnemonics (nee-MON-iks), noun (used with a singular verb)

a device to help one remember, such as a formula, rhyme, acronym, etc.

mnemonic , adjective

mnemonically , adverb

Mnemosyne , in Greek Myth, the goddess of memory and mother of the Muses and inventor of language and words..

“To always spell ‘cemetery’ correctly,” said Dr. Taylor, “just remember that a cemetery is a place of ease. .. also it has three E’s!!!” -anon.

“I always forget whether I should order the book-shop people to send home a work on numismatics or a work on mnemonics mnemonics. One of them is about money, you know, and the other is about memory.” - Don Marquis, Hermoine and Her Little Group of Serious Thinkers

A mnemonic device for spelling RHYTHM correctly is: Rhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move

“Perhaps the most practical reason for mnemonics to survive is the universal desire to remember names. Experts give the same initial advice: when meeting someone, pay attention. Most people do not forget a name; they never really learn it. Danielle Lapp, author of ''Don't Forget'' and a researcher on memory at Stanford, recommends, first, picking out a facial feature, forcing you to focus. In her case, you might choose her eyes. Second, on hearing the name, ask yourself if it means anything. Third, visualize name and face together; the more ridiculous -- eyes in her lap -- the more likely you are to remember both. “ - Jack Rosenthal, “On Language,” The New York Times, July 17, 2005

REMEMBERING NUMBERS:

“The most common type of [color:#33CCFF] mnemonic is the word-length mnemonic in which the number of letters in each word corresponds to a digit. This simple one gives pi to seven decimal places:

“How I wish I could calculate pi.

For longer versions of PI see http://www.fun-with-words.com/mnem_numbers.html

[LynnDel]

Too bad mnemonic isn't phonetically spelled. I need a mnemonic to remember how to spell it.

[D. Allan]

Too bad mnemonic isn't phonetically spelled. I need a mnemonic to remember how to spell it.

kneemonic?

Just remember that the 'm' is pronounced just like the 'p' in pneumonia. Also M&Ns get along sooo well together that 'M' always defers to 'N' when they are hanging around together (so does 'K' as in 'knee' and 'knife').

[D. Allan]

oculus (OK-yuh-luhs) noun, plural: oculi

1. an eye

2. architectural : a round window, especially one at the top of a dome.

3. archaeology: a motif of prehistoric art resembling eyes and consisting of a pair of circular or spiral marks.

[Latin, oculus eye]

“The central point of the Pantheon is far above visitors’ heads: the great eye, or oculus , in the room. It looks small, but it’s 27 ft. across and the source of all light in the building – symbolic of how the sun is the source of all light on earth. Rain that comes through collects in a drain in the center of the floor, . . . . Every year, on June 21st, the rays of the sun at the summer equinox shines from the oculus through the front door.” - http://atheism.about.com/od/christianchu...heon-Rome-V.htm