Word of the Day

[D. Allan]

benison noun

1. literary a blessing

2. a spoken blessing

origin: c.1300, from Old Eng. Beneysun, benesoun, from Old. Fren. beneiçon "blessing, benediction," from L. benedictionem

Following a benison on the venison, the pork went onto forks while the preaching continued. – ‘The Book, the blood, the blessed hope,’ - Washington D. C. Examiner, Nov, 2009

A benison upon a smiling lip, a kindly eye, and a cheerful voice ! — whether they belong to the young or to the old. . . Mrs. S. C. Hall, The buccaneer: A tale,’ p. 69, 1840

That love which she [Queen Victoria] afterwards idealised as a divine benison was rooted in vigorous feelings of sexual allure. Albert pleased her from head to toe, from his “lovely, lovely blue eyes . . . those of an angel” to his muscular thighs.... –Matthew Dennison, ‘Beneath the Starch, Victoria’s Secret,’ The Times, March 12, 2010

. . . scudding gunmetal clouds passing at Chickenlicken height and occasionally chucking a brief benison of water on to the lawns below. – Simon Barnes, ‘Federer proves he’s the raining champion,’ The Times, July 5, 2004

[D. Allan]

al fresco

in the open-air; outdoors

1753, from It., lit. "in the fresh (air)." –online etymology dictionary

It was gramma who had decreed this annual outing. . . . that the family should meet each summer, when travel was easier, and eat together al fresco. –Helen Barolini, ‘How I learned to speak Italian.

The British are now embracing al fresco living with a vengeance. – The Times, June 20, 2009

Heaven is a full pipe. Not everywhere has cast smokers into an al fresco wilderness. Not only is Poland still wreathed in blue fumes, but its young women are championing a surprising new trend. . . . –Neil Clark, ‘Did you see?,’ The Times, July 4, 2007

The family that runs the shop next door to my house has officially marked the start of spring: their hot-dog machine is now out on the sidewalk to encourage shopping al fresco. –Evan Osnos, ‘Letter From China,’ The New Yorker, March 3, 2010

Exercising al fresco is one of the great pleasures of living in Southern California. –Anna Gosline and Jeannine Stein, LATimes, June 4, 2007

[D. Allan]

en plein air

in the open air

A French expression used in English, especially in describing landscape painting out doors. Practically interchangeable with the Italian expression al fresco except in painting al fresco refers to the practice of painting onto fresh plaster.

I’ve noticed the expression is sometimes shortened to ‘plein air,’ especially when preceeded by an English preposition or an article.

At another point in the fifties, she [Grandma Moses] obliged a photographer by posing with brushes and a painting outdoors, as if she were at work en plein air, which was not her method at all. –Peter Schjeldahl, ‘The Original,’ The New Yorker, May 28, 2001

He had a particular love of painters working en plein air, especially those based in Rome in the early 19th century. –‘Carlos van Hasselt: art historian and connoisseur,’ The Times of London, Obituaries, Oct. 15, 2009

Fruit grown under cover is more consistent, needs to be sprayed less and has a longer shelf life than its en plein air equivalent. –Clive Aslet, ‘April is no longer apple blossom time,’ The Times of London, April 25, 2009

...a sprawl of Virginia creeper, a kitchen that gave onto the garden, a full-size pool and a long table for meals en plein air. –Stanley Stewart, ‘There’s more to Provence than sun-bathing,’ The Sunday Times of London, March 22, 2009

The Prince of Wales has enjoyed watercolour painting for 20 years. en plein air–Grayson Perry, ‘Watercolour needn’t be a wishy-washy medium,’ The London Times, March 7, 2007

This show explores the river that inspired such artists as Rousseau, Monet, Caillbotte and Renoir to leave their ateliers and breathe in the plein air. –Karen Burshtein, Canwest News Service, ‘It’s the summer of excellence,’ Ottawa Citizen, June 19, 2010

[D. Allan]

gawk (verb and noun)

1. to look or stare at someone or something in a rude or stupid way

2. a lout, an oaf, a clumsy stupid person

1785, perhaps from M.E. gowen "to stare"

Related:

gawked

gawking

gawker (noun)

gawky:(adj) "awkward, ungainly," 1724, from gawk hand "left hand" (1703) probably from English dialect gawk ‘left-landed-

gawkily (adverb)

Other patients would marvel at Trauner’s athleticism. In the gymnasium, they would stop to gawk as he played badminton, floor hockey or basketball on mechanical legs fitted with combat boots. –Andrew Duffy, The Ottawa Citizen Feb.19, 2010

The sweet fragility of the kids, especially the gawky boy with glasses. –Garrison Keillor, ‘A Parent’s Prayer,’ NYTimes, June 30, 2010

Mr. Haim, who was born and raised in Toronto, shot to fame as the gawky adolescent star of coming-of-age comedies like "Lucas,". . . . –NYTimes, March 11, 2010

I took him to the Museum of Modern Art and he gawked at the refined tourists gawking at weird artwork. – Carey Kilgannon, ‘Eddie Comes to The City,’ NYTimes, Feb. 22, 2010

. . . here is a gawker’s guide to arguably the 10 most significant models:. . . . –Jerry Garrett,’ Top 10 Cars at the Los Angelos Auto Show,’ NYTimes Dec 9, 2009

The young woman in question is a gawk/ly attractive English girl, married to a Welsh actor (and egomaniac) David Evans. – Daniel Stern, ‘What Emma Learned; The Garrick Year.’ April 4, 1965

[D. Allan]

gawkily (adverb)

The turning point came in 2004, when he introduced Chair_One, a gawkily geometric aluminum chair, which was the result of his experiments ... Alice Rawsthorn, ‘Eloquent Ode to the Simple,’ NYTimes, Nov. 23, 2009

Some in the crowd at the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza were reacting with gawkily un-self-conscious dance moves. Nate Chinen, ‘Out of the Swamp, Dripping With Both Wildness and Cool,’ NYTimes, Oct. 27, 2009

[D. Allan]

fungo noun or adj

1. A ground or fly ball hit for fielding practice by a player who tosses the ball up and hits it as it falls with a long, thin, light bat.

2. A long, light, thin bat used in fielding practice

Origin: There are several possibilities. Old English, Fonge, which meant to catch. - German, Fungen, to catch - Scottish, Fung, to pitch, toss or fling. - An old street baseball game in which the hitter would toss the ball and hit it, and on each hit yell "one goes, two goes..." and if someone caught it on a fly the hitter would yell "fun go" and be replaced by the person who made the catch. -WikiAnswers

Standing near home plate, he aimed a series of fungo flies at the centre-field bleachers. Measurement of Babe's longest fungo recorded a distance of 447 feet. NYTimes, August 1, 1929

The pitcher was Pedro Ramos, who accidentally hit Roger Maris of the Yanks on the left ankle while swinging a fungo bat. –NYTimes, May 30, 1960

During the game that became more and more boring for fans that became more and more drunk, nearly a dozen spectators jumped onto the field and had to be escorted off. The Rangers’ players armed themselves with bats. Legendary manager and epic jerk Billy Martin grabbed the first fungo bat himself with the classic line: “Let's go get 'em, boys.” - Washington D.C Examiner, July 1, 2008

[D. Allan]

elide (uh LIED) verb

1. (gram.) to omit or slur over part of a word while speaking, esp. the final vowel

2. (gram.) to strike out something written .

3. to leave out of consideration, delete or ignore something (formal)

4. to abridge, shorten

elision, noun

eliding

elided

Origin: from Latin elidere ‘crush out.’ To break in pieces or to demolish is the first definition in Webster’s Dictionary of 1913. That definition is now obsolete.

One late afternoon last week, when spring was eliding into summer … -Alastair Reid, ‘Comment,’ The New Yorker, June 30, 1980

I was like a zombie. The days seemed to elide into one another. – Colin Thubron, ‘Best of Times, Worst of Times,’ The Sunday Times (UK), Aug 17, 2008

For people who don't elide, elision is maddening. I grew up with a father who constantly demanded that I enunciate properly. Until I was eight, I actually thought my name was "Enunciate." - Readers’ Comments, NYTimes, Jan. 9th, 2010

All this has a certain fascination, and, as “Troilus and Cressida” unfolds, the rolled “r”s, the elided pronouns, and the longer, tenser vowels give the audience a frisson of extra drama. – John Lahr, ‘The Globe goes Elizabethan,’ The New Yorker, Sept. 19, 2005

Let's not get hung up over this. In some instances, elision creates a useful word. Take the burgeoning >wannabe, a new noun and adjective, which is the would-be replacement for >would-be. –William Safire, NYTImes, August 13, 1989

But although Orwell didn't want Communism, he didn't want capitalism, either. This part of his thought was carefully elided, and "Animal Farm" became a warning against political change per se. It remains so today. –Louis Menand, ‘Honest, Decent, Wrong,’ The New Yorker, Jan. 27, 2003

I was hoping that as a professor of law and literature you would point out the gaps in the traditional analysis here, rather than elide them. Reader’s Comment, NYTimes, July 14, 2009

… but both statements elide the fact that there remain real social differences between Australians, . . . –Sarah Burnside, ‘Conflict can still produce good policy,’ The Sydney Morning Herald, June 30, 2010

[Guest]

Well, who uh..lied?

[Gail]

lol

[D. Allan]

'e lied

[D. Allan]

carom verb and noun

1 v. to collide and rebound, glancing off, or cause to collide and rebound off

2. n. a collision followed by a rebound (as in billiards or pool)

Origin: Late 18th century. Shortening of carambole< Spanish carambola, probably < bola "ball"] –encarta

Essays are how we speak to one another in print – caroming thoughts not merely in order to convey a certain packet of information, but with a special edge or bounce of a personal character…. Edward Hoagland ‘Introduction: Writers Afoot’ from Best American Essays 1999

I saw something move and squeezed off a laser beam. But I was rattled and it caromed harmlessly off a huge graviton. – Lewis Grossberger, Fiction, ‘Tracking the Elusive Quark,’ The New Yorker May 10, 1976

Tyson's life has truly been a roller coaster that would even crack the hardest of men. Still however, Tyson insists he is out to pull a carom and turn his life around. –Dennis Guillermo, ‘Mike Tyson: Sympathy for the Beast,’ Washington D.C. Examiner, 13 Oct. 2009

How else to explain a crazy carom off the glass that resulted in a gift goal by Chris Kelly? None of the Penguins could remember a puck ricocheting off a stanchion... –Wayne Scanlan, ‘First Ben, now this,’ The Ottawa Citizen, 16 April 2010

She quirkily caroms from flirty hopefulness to unrequited longing and remorse, her catchy compositions buoyed by her sweetly brooding voice and jaunty accordion, guitar and keyboard playing. – Reed Johnson, ‘Album review: Julieta Venegas’ ‘OtraCosa’,’ Los Angeles Times, 15 March 2010

[D. Allan]

confect verb

to create something by putting together different materials or items

Origin: Middle English confecten, to prepare, from Latin c&#333;nficere, c&#333;nfect

Related:

confection

. . . why we have not yet conquered Mars is because half the world’s scientists are employed by cosmetics companies to confect exciting new lotions that claim to make skin appear ten years younger, . . . . “I Moisturise Therefore I Am,” The Times of London, 20 Dec. 2007

...persimmon cake with rummy orange icing, heaped hazelnut meringue over raspberry jam over chocolate-hazelnut cookie dough, confected a tart of diminutive pears set in almond custard and glazed them with fresh pomegranate jelly. –Sylvia Thompson, “And now, for something new…,” LATimes, 3 Nov. 2008

Ms. Farkas, a paralegal from San Francisco, will dispense with the traditional large gown and train, and instead ask her designer to confect a minidress with a small pouf at the hem. She envisions it as shapely but also elastic enough to enable her to mount the donkey she hopes to ride from the church to the reception. –Ruth La Ferla, “The Perfect Gown? It’s Adventurous and Travels Light,” NYTimes 10 Feb. 2008

An extraordinary crimson confection, as it turned out, with her by-now-trademark plunging neckline, thigh-high hemline and stratospheric heels. -The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 July 2010

Speaking at the Slowacki Theater, a 19th-century confection of gilt and pink cherubs in downtown Krakow, Clinton held out Poland as a model of democratic and free-market transformation. –Mary Beth Sheridan, “In Poland, Clinton pledges support for citizen action worldwide,” The Washington Post, 4 July 2010

That teary response in a diner the day before the New Hampshire primary was a genuine, not confected, moment. –Art Winslow, “The Battle for America 2008,” LATimes, 9 Aug 2009

[D. Allan]

flume noun

1. A tube or smooth narrow open surface for people to slide down in a swimming pool or amusement park.

2. A narrow channel for water to flow along (esp. to move logs)

Origins: late 12c., "stream," from O.Fr. flum, from L. flumen "river," from fluere "to flow" (see fluent). In U.S., used especially of artificial streams channeled for some industrial purpose. –online etymology dictionary

God decants the universe of time in a stream, and our best hope is to, by our own awareness, step into the stream and serve, empty as flumes to keep it moving. –Annie Dillard, ‘For the Time Being’

Crew members felt that Herzog’s version of the scene, filmed with Bale and Zahn, lacked a proper log-flume exuberance, and had not been shot from enough angles;…-Daniel Zalewski, ‘The Ecstatic Truth’ The New Yorker, 24 April 2006

...and then slid the last five metres with so much spray flying up it was like watching somebody coming down a flume at a water park. –Martin Johnson, ‘Cardiff 18: Blues progress to final in Paris,’ The Sunday Times of London, 02 May 2010

...Trent, which has the first indoor water rollercoaster in Britain, a four-lane family multislide, wave pool and plenty of flumes. –‘School’s out: Ideas for adventurous families,’ The Times of London, 22 Aug. 2009

Once meth reaches the circulatory system, it's a near instant flume ride to the central nervous system. ‘Times Topics, Methamphetamines’ The New York Times, 14 July 2010

Nobody could help laughing at the child’s notion of leaving a warm bed, and dragging them from a cheerful fire, to visit the basin of the Flume,—a brook which tumbles over the precipice, deep within in the Notch. – Nathaniel Hawthorne, ‘The Ambitious Guest’

[pindoc]

Confect, yummy... Those food descriptions are enticing. I was already hungry; now I really am!

:pizza:

[D. Allan]

I know! Me too!

[D. Allan]

insouciant adjective (in SUE see unt)

lightheartedly unconcerned about possible problems; nonchalant

1829, from Fr. insouciant, from in- "not" + souciant "caring," prp. of soucier "to care”

related words:

insouciance noun

insouciantly

The Dixie accent is in place, the wig has just the right wave, and the way the mink is thrown around her shoulders lets us know she's ready for insouciant battle." David Ng. ‘ “Looped” confirmed for Broadway in March,” LATimes, Dec. 10, 2009

Caviar sellers have been having a thin time of it lately, and the most insouciant gourmet cannot but feel a bit guilty eating the eggs of a fish that’s heading inexorably towards extinction. ‘Food: Lydia Slater: Truly scrumptious: Front roe,’ The Sunday Times (UK), June 8, 2003

The swaggering General MacArthur, with his corncob pipe, open shirt and insouciant conviction that he was working for idiots, bears little resemblance to Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, . . . . –David E. Sanger, ‘McChrystal Tests Obama’s Priorities,’ NYTimes, June 23, 2010

His recordings for Decca whetted the appetite for a singer who negotiated the purling bel canto repertory with such expressive, informed, insouciant ease. – Chris Pasles, ‘Music re view: A showcase for Juan Diego Florez, LATimes, Nov. 5, 2009

I cannot make them hurry, not even to a movie or a play, which I tell them will start whether or not we are there; they remain insouciant; . . . –Andre Dubus, “Witness”

[D. Allan]

A unusual word from our Scottish friends. I could not fine any American useages. I hope it will entertain you anyway.

jouk

1. verb. to duck the head; dodge or stoop; to bow or courtesy

2. verb to bow or courtesy

3. noun a sudden evasive movement of the body

4. noun a shelter from storm or from a blow

I jouk beneath Misfortune’s blows

As weel’s I may;

Sworn foe to sorrow, care, and prose,

I rhyme away. –Robert Burns, “Epistle to James Smith”

Though you, gudewife, may be content

Beneath sic haughtiness to cower,

For nae one born will I consent

To jouk an’ lat the jaw gae ower.

Poetical sketches of Scottish life and character by James E. Watt, 1880, p.31

But why should we to nobles jouk,

And its against the law that;

For why, a lord may be a gouk,

Wi’ ribbon, star, an’ a’ that.

-The poetical works of Robert Burns, Vol 3, p.170

Apparently well established on some levels of American English is a strange word of uncertain origin —jouk. American youths during the past few years have shaped the term to fill a real need; jouk functions as noun, verb. . . – Louis Pound, Kemp Malone, Arthur Garfield in ‘American Speech’, 1941

I wasn't able to obtain anymore of this book online. I remain tantalized.

[D. Allan]

jocose adjective

given to jesting and joking; humorous or playful

origins: 1670s, from L. jocosus "full of jesting, joking," from jocus "pastime, sport.” Implies ponderous humor. –Online Etymology Dictionary

jocosely, adverb

jocoseness, jocosity nouns

Am I jocoserious about that recommendation? Perhaps a little more serious than jocose. Absotively. Posilutely. –Bryan A. Garner, “Webinar,” New York Times, 25 Feb, 2010

Further to your last answers (Questions Answered, July 2), surely everybody knows that the six stages of inebriation are: Jocose, Verbose, Morose, Bellicose, Lachrymose, Comatose. -Paul Blanchard, Chinnor, Oxfordshire. “Questions Answered,” The Times of London, 06 July 2004

I inquired about my aunt among the boatmen first, and received various answers. One said she lived in the South Foreland Light, and had singed her whiskers by doing so; another, that she was made fast to the great buoy outside the harbour, and could only be visited at half-tide; a third, that she was locked up in Maidstone Jail for child-stealing; a fourth, that she was seen to mount a broom, in the last high wind, and make direct for Calais. The fly-drivers, among whom I inquired next, were equally jocose and equally disrespectful;… Charles Dickens, “David Copperfield” 1917

Steerforth, after very much improving Mrs. Gummidge’s spirits by a cheerful salutation and a jocose embrace, took my arm, and hurried me away. –Charles Dickens, “David Coopperfield” 1917

…having to cope with such irksome present-day vagaries as the difficulty of locating “a suitably jocose but not obscene or hostile birthday card”. –Peter Kemp, “My Father’s Tears and Endpoint by John Updike,” Times of London, 05 July 2009

[D. Allan]

How did you spend your weekend? Did you invent any new words? Because Sarah Palin did. And that word is: "Refudiate." -gawker.com

refudiate verb

origins: 2010, from Latin re “back to original place, again, also with a sense of undoing c.12oo from Old Fr. and directly from Latin, “again, back, against.” Often merely intensive. + fud “backside, buttocks,” a Scottish and Northern dialect word, possibly Scandinavian + i + ate, a verbal suffix for Latin verbs. Old English commonly made verbs from adjectives by adding a verbal ending to the word.

Given the above etymology – what could the word mean? I submit that it has the same meaning as repudiate (to cast off, reject, condiment) except with a more folksy style.

1. figurative. to repudiate by showing one’s back to someone or something or “mooning:” showing ones backside to the opposing idea or proposition or entity.

2. figurative. to kick in the backside an unwanted idea or proposition or entity.

3.

Anyone have a better definition?...

[Jeannieb43]

Knowing Sarah Palin's history, I'd say she has "invented" dozens of new words, simply by mispronouncing something she's only heard. She is not a student. She does not read, or study.

Which is a symptom of our generation. People these days get their news by listening to TV or radio, not by reading. So nobody knows how to spell, either, any more!

[SivartM]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-borowitz/palin-says-refudiate-appe_b_650841.html

Of course refudiate a real word; it's in the fictionary.

[D. Allan]

good one SivartM !!!!

[D. Allan]

supercilious adjective

a supercilious person acts as if they are better or more important than anyone else behaving in an arrogantly superior, contemptuous and haughty manner.

Origins: 1520s, from Latin superciliosus meaning "haughty, arrogant," from supercilium which literally means "eyebrow" (via the notion of raising the eyebrow to express haughtiness), from super "above" + cilium "eyelid."

Synonyms: arrogant, proud, conceited, haughty, self-satisfied, vain, egocentric, patronizing

TO HIS BOOK. (IX)

by Robert Herrick

Take mine advice, and go not near

Those faces, sour as vinegar.

For these, and nobler numbers can

Ne’er please the supercilious man.

For it is esteemed a kind of dishonour unto learning to descend to inquiry or meditation upon matters mechanical, except they be such as may be thought secrets, rarities, and special subtilities; which humour of vain and supercilious arrogancy is justly derided in Plato;. . . -The Second Book of Francis Bacon of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning Divine and Human. -1605

Has a flat and a man who does breakfast for him. Has his own sophisticated and set ideas about the fair sex and always raises eyebrow in supercilious fashion when talking about, them. –Nancy Hardin, “Portrait of a Gilded Male Lily,” The New Yorker, 14 Dec. 1929

His executors published it, and the Times wrote a supercilious review, not only mocking the book and the author but noting the fact that he’d never finished it. Lillian Ross, “Mamet Talk,” The New Yorker, 19 May 2008

I know a great officer of the army, who will sit for some time with a supercilious and impatient silence, full of anger and contempt for those who are talking;. . . –Jonathan Swift, “Hints Towards an Essay on Conversation”

…so that the cutting speech which quivered on her ready tongue died upon her lips, and she contented herself with receiving his stammering apology with supercilious eyelids and the gathered skirts of uncontamination. –Francis Bret Harte (1836-1902), The Idyl of Red Gulch

The younger Huston’s line readings are delivered in the same tone of jovial, supercilious menace. –Stephen Holden, “Their Real Art Form Is Backstabbing,” New York Times, 23 April 2010

Poem # 585

I like to see it lap the Miles-

And lick the Valleys up -

And stop to feed itself at Tanks -

And then, prodigious, step

Around a Pile of Mountains - 5

And, supercilious, peer

In Shanties - by the sides of Roads -

And then a Quarry pare

To fit its Ribs

And crawl between

Complaining all the while 10

In horrid - hooting stanza -

Then chase itself down Hill -

And neigh like Boanerges -

Then - punctual as a Star

Stop—docile and omnipotent— 15

At its own stable door –

---Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

[D. Allan]

...this is elegant writting by Bret Hart:

…so that the cutting speech which quivered on her ready tongue died upon her lips, and she contented herself with receiving his stammering apology with supercilious eyelids and the gathered skirts of uncontamination. –Francis Bret Harte (1836-1902), The Idyl of Red Gulch

I love that phrase 'the gathered skirts of uncontamination.'

[D. Allan]

aerie noun

1. a large nest built by a large bird high in a tree or on a cliff

2. a house or other building that is very high and difficult to reach

origin: "eagle's nest," 1580s (attested in Anglo-L. from early 13c.), from O.Fr. aire, from L.L. area "nest of a bird of prey." –Online Etymology Dictionary

Two eagles, coming in the spring to the garden near the palace, made their aerie on the top of a tall palm tree. While these eagles had their young as yet unfledged, a flock of vultures, flying to the aerie, destroyed it and killed the young birds; ...- Lacus Curtius, Dionysius’ Roman Antiquities Book IV, p. 471

“I do believe in spooks. I do. I do. I do” is the cowardly Lion’s mantra as the foursome approach the Wicked Witch’s aerie. In life, Dad [bert Lahr] was constantly spooked…. –John Lahr, “The Lion and Me”

Once on Madeira, I first stayed at the Estalagem da Ponta do Sol, a wonderfully hip, James Bond-like aerie 25 minutes outside the island’s capital, Funchal. Perched on top of one of the island’s soaring sea cliffs, the 54-room hotel is accessed by means of an outdoor elevator that leads to a suspended catwalk… -Henry Alford, “Night Comes Alive in Madeira,” New York Times, 2 July 2010