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Merriam-Webster | Word of the Day
carrefour
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 22, 2009 is:
carrefour • \kair-uh-FOOR\ • noun
1 : crossroads *2 : square, plaza
Example sentence:
“The farmers as a rule preferred the open carrefour for their transactions, despite its inconvenient jostlings and the danger from crossing vehicles….” (Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge)
Did you know?
An interesting thing about "carrefour" is that even though the second half of the word contains the number "four," it is actually the first half of the word that derives from the Latin word for "four." "Carrefour" derives via Middle French from Late Latin "quadrifurcus," an adjective meaning "having four forks," formed by combining Latin "quadri-" ("four") and "furca" ("fork"). "Carrefour" has been a part of the English language since the 15th century. It once referred to an intersection of four roads at a single point, but later came to refer to any public square or plaza. "Carfax," a similar word that also derives from "quadrifurcus," can be found in some British place names, such as the primary intersection in the city of Oxford, England.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 21, 2009 is:
plenary • \PLEE-nuh-ree\ • adjective
*1 : complete in every respect : absolute, unqualified 2 : fully attended or constituted by all entitled to be present
Example sentence:
The U.S. Congress has plenary power to pass laws regulating immigration and naturalization.
Did you know?
In the 14th century, the monk Robert of Brunne described a situation in which all the knights of King Arthur's Round Table were present at court by writing, "When Arthures court was plener, and alle were comen, fer and ner. . . ." For 200 years, "plener" (also spelled "plenar") served English well for both senses that we reserve for "plenary" today. But we'd borrowed "plener" from Anglo-French, and, although the French had relied on Latin "plenus" ("full") for their word, the revival of interest in the Classics during the English Renaissance led scholars to prefer purer Latin origins. In the 15th century, English speakers turned to Late Latin "plenarius" and came up with "plenary." ("Plenarius" also comes from "plenus," which is the source of our "plenty" and "replenish" as well.)
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 20, 2009 is:
deasil • \DEE-zil\ • adv
: clockwise
Example sentence:
One pictograph shows a group of warriors dancing deasil around what appears to be a gigantic wild boar speared numerous times.
Did you know?
According to an old custom, you can bring someone good fortune by walking around the person clockwise three times while carrying a torch or candle. In Scottish Gaelic, the word "deiseil" is used for the direction one walks in such a luck-bringing ritual. English speakers modified the spelling to "deasil," and have used the word to describe clockwise motion in a variety of rituals.
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 19, 2009 is:
posture • \PAHSS-cher\ • verb
1 : to strike a pose for effect *2 : to assume an artificial or pretended attitude : attitudinize
Example sentence:
Posturing as pro-worker, he won the support of the trade unions, only to cave in to big business almost the minute he got elected.
Did you know?
Can you guess which of the following come from the same Latin ancestor as "posture"?
A. positive B. impose C. posit D. expose E. oppose
F. component G. dispose H. position I. postpone
We won't put off the answer to our quiz : they all do. The Latin verb "ponere," meaning "to put" or "to place," is the ancestor of numerous English terms, including "posture" and our nine quiz words. The past participle of "ponere" -- "positus" -- gave Latin the noun "positura" (same meaning as the English noun "posture"). That noun passed through Italian and Middle French and was finally adopted by English speakers as "posture" around 1586. The verb "posture" followed later from the noun, finding its place in English around 1645.*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 18, 2009 is:
cupidity • \kyoo-PID-uh-tee\ • noun
*1 : inordinate desire for wealth : avarice, greed 2 : strong desire : lust
Example sentence:
"This time, developing-world economies far from the pinstriped epicentres of mass cupidity are suffering massive collateral damage as the global downturn cuts heavily into demand for their agricultural and resource commodities." (David Olive, The Toronto Star, March 29, 2009)
Did you know?
From its verb "cupere" ("to desire") Latin derived three nouns which have passed with minimal modification into English. "Cupiditas" meant "yearning" and "desire"; English borrowed this as "cupidity," which originally in the 15th century was synonymous with "lust." (The "greed" meaning of "cupidity" developed very soon after this other now-archaic meaning.) Latin "cupido" started out as a near synonym of "cupiditas," but it came to stand for the personification of specifically carnal desire, the counterpart of Greek "eros"; this is the source of our familiar (and rather domesticated) Cupid. A strengthened form of "cupere" -- "concupiscere," meaning "to desire ardently" -- yielded the noun "concupiscentia" in the Late Latin of the Christian church. "Concupiscentia" came specially to denote sexual desire, a meaning reflected in the English version "concupiscence," meaning "sexual desire."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 17, 2009 is:
domiciliary • \dah-muh-SILL-ee-air-ee\ • adjective
1 a : of, relating to, or constituting a domicile: as b : provided or taking place in the home* c : providing care and living space (as for disabled veterans)
Example sentence:
Citing the need to provide more assistance to the state's homeless veterans, the veterans home has asked the legislature to increase funding for the home's domiciliary unit.
Did you know?
"Domiciliary" can be traced back through French "domiciliaire" and Medieval Latin "domiciliarius" to the earlier Latin word "domicilium" ("domicile"). "Domicilium" comes from the Latin "domus" ("home"), which is at the heart of a number of other English words, including "domestic" and "domicile." It is even the source of the English word "dome." In Medieval Latin, "domus" came to mean "church," and was borrowed by French for the word "dôme" ("dome" or "cathedral") and by Italian for "duomo" ("cathedral"). In the 1500s, English drew on these words for "dome," a word which originally referred not to a vaulted roof or ceiling but to a mansion or a stately building.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 16, 2009 is:
repudiate • \rih-PYOO-dee-ayt\ • verb
1 : to refuse to have anything to do with : disown *2 : to refuse to acknowledge, accept, or pay
Example sentence:
The nation's president has unequivocally repudiated the arms treaty, and it is very probable that he has green-lighted the manufacturing of strategic nuclear weapons.
Did you know?
In Latin, the noun "repudium" refers to the rejection of a spouse or prospective spouse, and the related verb "repudiare" means "to divorce" or "to reject." In the 16th century, English writers used the derivative "repudiate" to mean "to divorce," when in reference to a wife, or "to disown," when in reference to a member of one's family, or just generally "to reject or cast off." By the 19th century the word had also come to be used for the rejection of things that one does not accept as true or just, ranging from opinions and accusations to contracts and debts.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 15, 2009 is:
scrupulous • \SKROO-pyuh-lus\ • adjective
1 : having moral integrity : acting in strict regard for what is considered right or proper *2 : punctiliously exact : painstaking
Example sentence:
In The House of Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne writes that it would be unseemly for Judge Pyncheon, a man "generally so scrupulous in his attire," to wear a stained shirt to dinner.
Did you know?
"Scrupulous" and its close relative "scruple" ("an ethical consideration") come from the Latin noun "scrupulus," the diminutive of "scrupus." "Scrupus" refers to a sharp stone, so "scrupulus" means "small sharp stone." "Scrupus" retained its literal meaning but eventually also came to be used with the metaphorical meaning "a source of anxiety or uneasiness," the way a sharp pebble in one's shoe would be a source of pain. When the adjective "scrupulous" entered the language in the 15th century, it meant "principled." Now it also commonly means "painstaking" or "careful."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 14, 2009 is:
bludge • \BLUJ\ • verb, chiefly Australia & New Zealand
1 : to avoid work or responsibility *2 : to get something from or live on another by imposing on hospitality or good nature : sponge
Example sentence:
"If I want to go to Rotto, I’ll catch the ferry or bludge a ride on the new boat of one of my commodity-boomed nouveau riche friends." (Phil Haberland, The [Perth, Australia] Guardian Express, March 6, 2007)
Did you know?
Though they can be annoying, people who bludge -- bludgers -- are relatively harmless. On the other hand, a bully armed with a bludgeon -- a "bludgeoner" -- can cause serious harm. In the 19th century, "bludgeoner" was shortened to "bludger" and used as a slang word for "pimp." That "bludger" was certainly a kind of bully, one apparently willing to wield a bludgeon now and then to insure his livelihood. In the early 20th century, "bludge" became the verb for what a bludger does. By then, a somewhat softened "bludger" had appeared in Australia and New Zealand: the pimping and the bullying were eliminated, and the parasitical tendencies reduced to mere cadging or sponging.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 13, 2009 is:
calamari • \kah-luh-MAHR-ee\ • noun
: squid used as food
Example sentence:
Ophelia tried fried calamari for the first time from a small seafood shack near the beach.
Did you know?
The word "calamari" was borrowed into English from 17th-century Italian, where it functioned as the plural of "calamaro" or "calamaio." The Italian word, in turn, comes from the Medieval Latin noun "calamarium," meaning "ink pot" or "pen case," and can be ultimately traced back to Latin "calamus," meaning "reed pen." The transition from pens and ink to squid is not surprising, given the inky substance that a squid ejects and the long tapered shape of the squid's body. English speakers have also adopted "calamus" itself as a word referring to both a reed pen and to a number of plants.
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 12, 2009 is:
ulterior • \ul-TEER-ee-er\ • adjective
1 a : further, future* b : more distant : remoter c : situated on the farther side : thither 2 : going beyond what is openly said or shown and especially what is proper
Example sentence:
"The poet, by an ulterior intellectual perception, gives [symbols] a power which makes their old use forgotten, and puts eyes, and a tongue, into every dumb and inanimate object." (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: Second Series)
Did you know?
Although now usually hitched to the front of the noun "motive" to refer to a hidden need or desire that inspires action, "ulterior" began its career as an adjective in the mid-17th century describing something occurring at a subsequent time. By the early 18th century it was being used to mean both "more distant" (literally and figuratively) and "situated on the farther side." The "hidden" sense with which we're most familiar today followed quickly after those, with the word modifying nouns like "purpose," "design," and "consequence." "Ulterior" comes directly from the Latin word for "farther" or "further," itself assumed to be the comparative form of "ulter," meaning "situated beyond."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
Yahoo.com | Words of the Day
durable - May 22, 2009
Phrases.org | Phrase of the week
Cotton-picking
