Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 14, 2013 is: heartstring • \HAHRT-string\ • noun : the deepest emotions or affections - usually used in plural Examples: "Thou touchest my inmost centre, boy; thou art tied to me by cords woven of my heart-strings." - From Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick, 1851 "This former Indy icon still tugs on the heartstrings of local baby boomers, who recall cruising into the drive-ins for a Big Chief burger, onion rings and a milkshake." - From an article by Jolene Ketzenberger in The Indianapolis Star, January 11, 2013 Did you know? Before a song or movie or heart-shaped card accompanied by a box of chocolates could tug at your heartstrings, the job was more likely to be accomplished by a surgeon: the word "heartstring" used to refer to a nerve believed to sustain the heart. (The metaphor is a bit more apparent in the Melville quote above than it is in most modern uses.) You might recognize the word's second syllable in the term "hamstring," which refers to both a group of tendons at the back of the knee and to any of three muscles at the backs of the upper legs. It's also apparent in a rare dialect term for the Achilles' tendon: "heel string." And in light of these terms, it's not surprising to know that "string" itself was at one time used independently to refer to cords like tendons and ligaments. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 13, 2013 is: companionable • \kum-PAN-yuh-nuh-bul\ • adjective : marked by, conducive to, or suggestive of companionship : sociable Examples: I've come to enjoy sharing a dorm room with Brad; he's a companionable roommate and we get along well together. "Most of the 100 or more mama cows and calves stand in a companionable cluster as they munch on rye grass and red clover." - From an article by John Kessler in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 23, 2012 Did you know? A "companionable" person is someone who (etymologically at least) is willing to share bread with you. "Companionable" is the adjective form of "companion," which ultimately derives from a combination of the Latin prefix "com-," meaning "with" or "together," and the noun "panis," meaning "bread, loaf, or food." "Companionable" first appeared in print in English in the 14th century ("companion" has been around for at least a century longer). Other descendants of "panis" include "pantry" (a place for storing food), "pannier" (a basket such as might carry food), and "panettone" (a kind of yeast bread). Even "food" itself is derived from the same ancient root that gave rise to "panis" in Latin. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 12, 2013 is: aegis • \EE-jus\ • noun 1 : a shield or breastplate 2 a : protection b : controlling or conditioning influence 3 : auspices, sponsorship b: control or guidance especially by an individual, group, or system Examples: The studies were conducted under the aegis of the National Institutes of Health. "[Julian Fellowes] is also at work on a big-screen reconceptualization of Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents's Gypsy ... under the aegis of Barbra Streisand and Joel Silver, who will produce the film." - From a review by David Kamp in Vanity Fair, December 2012 Did you know? We borrowed "aegis" from Latin, but the word ultimately derives from the Greek noun "aigis," which means "goatskin." In ancient Greek mythology, an aegis was something that offered physical protection. In some stories, it was the thundercloud where Zeus kept the thunderbolts he used as weapons. In others, the aegis was a magical protective cloak made from the skin of the goat that had suckled Zeus as an infant. The word first entered English in the 16th century as a noun meaning "shield" or "protection," and by the 20th century it had acquired the extended senses of "auspices" or "sponsorship." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 11, 2013 is: meretricious • \mair-uh-TRISH-us\ • adjective 1 : of or relating to a prostitute : having the nature of prostitution 2 a : tawdrily and falsely attractive b : superficially significant : pretentious Examples: The critic panned the book as a well-written but meretricious work with little substance beneath its veneer of forceful rhetoric and righteous indignation. "In his hands, works by Respighi and Arvo Pärt that generally sound cheesy or meretricious-at least to this listener-suddenly seemed worthy of, if not affection, then at least respect and indulgence." - From a music review by Joshua Kosman in The San Francisco Chronicle, October 6, 2012 Did you know? "Meretricious" can be traced back to the Latin verb "merēre," meaning "to earn, gain, or deserve." It shares this origin with a small group of other English words, including "merit," meritorious," and "emeritus." But, while these words can suggest some degree of honor or esteem, "meretricious" is used to suggest pretense, insincerity, and cheap or tawdry ornamentation. The Latin "merēre" is at the root of the Latin noun "meretrix," meaning "prostitute," and its related adjective "meretricius" ("of or relating to a prostitute"). The Latin "meretricius" entered into English as "meretricious" in the 17th century. Shortly after being adopted, "meretricious" also began to be used to indicate things which are superficially attractive but which have little or no value or integrity. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 10, 2013 is: reprove • \rih-PROOV\ • verb 1 : to scold or correct usually gently or with kindly intent 2 : to express disapproval of : censure 3 : to express rebuke or reproof Examples: "Remember to say 'thank you,'" the mother gently reproved her toddler. "He reproved me, good-naturedly: 'Well, I don't think it's very nice to make fun of my accent!' Chastened, I assured him it was involuntary and that it was a form of homage, not disrespect." - From an article by John Weeks in Contra Costa Times, January 8, 2013 Did you know? "Reprove," "rebuke," "reprimand," "admonish," "reproach," and "chide" all mean to criticize. "Reprove" implies an often kindly intent to correct a fault. "Rebuke" suggests a sharp or stern criticism (as in "the letter rebuked her opponents"). "Reprimand" implies a severe, formal, often public or official rebuke ("he was reprimanded by the ethics committee"). "Admonish" suggests earnest or friendly warning and counsel ("admonished to control expenses"). "Reproach" and "chide" suggest displeasure or disappointment expressed in mild scolding ("reproached him for tardiness" and "chided by their mother for untidiness"). Incidentally, the resemblance of "reprove" to "prove" is not coincidental-both words can be traced back to the Latin "probar" ("to test" or "to approve"). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 9, 2013 is: froufrou • \FROO-froo\ • noun 1 : a rustling especially of a woman's skirts 2 : showy or frilly ornamentation Examples: Styled in the manner of a Victorian mansion, the bed-and-breakfast featured so much froufrou that Darlene and Brian dared not touch a thing. "Indeed, there was less froufrou on display over all, a development that may-at least in the short term-bury the tired question of whether haute couture is relevant and instead focus attention on what makes it exciting." - From an article by Amy Verner in The Globe and Mail (Canada), July 14, 2012 Did you know? Nineteenth-century Europe featured a lot of sophisticated fashions-especially in Paris, a city considered by many to be the fashion capital of the world. Women's dresses were often made of drooping layers of fabric (such as satin or silk) that rustled as the women moved around, and "froufrou" was the French word coined in imitation of the sound they made. The word made its first appearance in English in 1870 as a noun meaning "rustling." It later came to mean "ostentatious decoration," and its usage expanded beyond the world of fashion to other crafts such as architecture and interior design. These days it also shows up as the adjective "frou-frou," meaning "very heavily decorated and fancy," as in "frou-frou designs." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 8, 2013 is: métier • \MET-yay\ • noun 1 : vocation, trade 2 : an area of activity in which one excels : forte Examples: Within a short time of Sonia's first piano lessons, it was clear to her parents that music was her métier. "The protagonist in [Cary] Fagan's first story ... is a judge on the Ontario Supreme Court who handles sensational cases and is widely admired for his devotion to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. What we learn is that his life as a judge is merely a sideshow to the métier he really cares about: being a magician." - From a book review by Jennifer Hunter in the Toronto Star, January 6, 2013 Did you know? The words "métier," "employment," "occupation," and "calling" all perform similar functions in English, though each word gets the job done in its own way. These hard-working synonyms can all refer to a specific sustained activity, especially an activity engaged in to earn a living, but these words also have slightly different shades of meaning. "Employment" implies simply that one was hired and is being paid by an employer, whereas "occupation" usually suggests special training, and "calling" generally applies to an occupation viewed as a vocation or profession. "Métier," a French borrowing acquired by English speakers in the late 18th century, typically implies a calling for which one feels especially fitted. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 7, 2013 is: lackluster • \LAK-luss-ter\ • adjective : lacking in sheen, brilliance, or vitality : dull, mediocre Examples: In spite of its owner's hard work, the little shop was forced to close due to lackluster sales. "After a lackluster first half, the Cabrillo girls water polo team began to find the net and pulled away from Paso Robles, on the way to a 14-9 non-league win at the Cabrillo high pool." - From an article by Brad Memberto in the Santa Maria Times (California), December 13, 2012 Did you know? In its earliest uses, "lackluster" (also spelled "lacklustre") usually described the eyes or face, as in "a lackluster stare." Later, it came to describe other things whose sheen had been removed; Charles Dickens, in his 1843 novel Martin Chuzzlewit, writes of the faded image of the dragon on the sign outside a village alehouse: "many a wintry storm of rain, snow, sleet, and hail, had changed his colour from a gaudy blue to a faint lack-lustre shade of grey." In addition to "a glow or sheen," "luster" can refer to a superficial attractiveness or appearance of excellence; it follows that "lackluster" is often used as a synonym for "unspectacular," as in our examples. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 6, 2013 is: factotum • \fak-TOH-tuhm\ • noun 1 : a person having many diverse activities or responsibilities 2 : a general servant Examples: After graduating from college, Jerry worked for several years as an office factotum. "It also was in contrast to the burgeoning and ballooning bureaucracy of the bank, which may not have rivaled the U.N. in its quantity of factotums, but still has swelled to more than 10,000 employees." - From an article by Zachary Karabell on The Daily Beast, March 24, 2012 Did you know? "Do everything!" That's a tall order, but it is exactly what a factotum is expected to do. It's also a literal translation of the New Latin term "factotum," which in turn traces to the Latin words "facere" ("to do") and "totum" ("everything"). In the 16th century, "factotum" was used in English much like a surname, paired with first names to create personalities such as "Johannes Factotum" (literally "John Do-everything"). Back then, it wasn't necessarily desirable to be called a "factotum"; the term was a synonym of "meddler" or "busybody." Now the word is more often used for a handy, versatile individual responsible for many different tasks. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 5, 2013 is: sangfroid • \SAHNG-FRWAH\ • noun : self-possession or imperturbability especially under strain Examples: The lecturer's sangfroid never faltered, even in the face of some tough questions from the audience. "Daniel Craig portrays a vulnerability far removed from the glib sangfroid of his celluloid predecessors and has retired to an exotic bolt-hole after he is assumed to have died during a botched operation." - From a movie review by Des O' Neill in the Irish Times, January 2, 2013 Did you know? If you're a lizard, "cold-blooded" means your body temperature is strongly influenced by your environment. If you're an English-speaking human, it means you are callous and unfeeling. If you're a French speaker, it means that you're calm, cool, and collected in stressful situations. By the mid-1700s, English speakers had already been using "cold-blooded" for more than a century, but they must have liked the more positive spin the French put on having "cold blood" because they borrowed the French "sang-froid" (literally, "cold blood") for someone who is imperturbable under strain. The French term, by the way, developed from the Latin words "sanguis" ("blood") and "frigidus" ("cold"). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 4, 2013 is: eurytopic • \yur-ih-TAH-pik\ • adjective : tolerant of wide variation in one or more environmental factors Examples: Eurytopic groups are observed in a wide range of habitats. "Eurytopic species tend to have longer geologic ranges than stenotopic ones because they are more likely to survive environmental disturbances and therefore persist through time." - From Ronald Martin's 2013 book Earth's Evolving Systems Did you know? "Eurytopic" evolved in the 1930s along with "stenotopic," which means "having a narrow range of adaptability to changes in environmental conditions." Both words are rooted in Greek, with "eurys" meaning "broad" or "wide," "stenos" meaning "close" or "narrow," and "topos" meaning "place." Eurytopic species can typically be found in a broad range of places. An example would be the perch, a fish that can be found in ponds, lakes, streams, and rivers. By contrast, stenotopic species inhabit a narrow region. Examples include the rare Spoon-billed Sandpiper as well as the plants, animals, and other organisms bearing a specific area-related name, such as the Indiana Bat. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 3, 2013 is: redolent • \RED-uh-lunt\ • adjective 1 : exuding fragrance : aromatic 2 a : full of a specified fragrance : scented b : evocative, suggestive Examples: The house was redolent with the aroma of baking bread. "Clam chowder, redolent of sweet cream and thick with clams and diced carrots, was a hearty companion for the numerous panini (which can be made with gluten-free bread)." - From a restaurant review by Christina Mueller in the Marin Independent Journal, January 2, 2013 Did you know? "Redolent" traces back to the Latin verb "olēre" ("to smell") and is a relative of "olfactory" ("of, relating to, or connected with the sense of smell"). In its earliest English uses in the 15th century, "redolent" simply meant "having an aroma." Today, it usually applies to a place or thing impregnated with odors. It can also be used of something that reminds us of something else or evokes a certain emotional response, as in "a city redolent of antiquity." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 2, 2013 is: largesse • \larh-ZHESS\ • noun 1 : liberal giving (as of money) to or as if to an inferior; also : something so given 2 : generosity Examples: Thanks to their grandparents' largesse, both children were able to go to college. "Just how heavily a borrower may rely on family largess to cover a down payment depends on the type of mortgage involved and the size of the gift. With a conventional loan, lenders require that borrowers contribute at least 5 percent of their own money." - From an article by Lisa Prevost in New York Times, January 2, 2013 Did you know? The word "largesse," which also can be spelled "largess" (as in our second example sentence), has been part of the English language since at least the 13th century. It derives via Anglo-French from the Latin word "largus," meaning "abundant" or "generous." "Largus" is also the source of our word "large." As far back as the 14th century, we used the word "largeness" as a synonym of "largesse" ("liberal giving"). In fact, that may have been the first sense of "largeness," which has since come to refer to physical magnitude and bulk more often than to magnanimity. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 1, 2013 is: amortize • \AM-er-tyze\ • verb 1 : to pay off (as a mortgage) gradually usually by periodic payments of principal and interest or by payments to a [sinking fund](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sinking fund) 2 : to gradually reduce or write off the cost or value of (as an asset) Examples: "It's time we made permanent decisions on policy that begin to amortize and reduce our debt over time...." - Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) on CNBC's "Squawk Box," January 4, 2013 "As early as 1990-91, the government began to amortize the surplus to better reflect the pension liabilities it would be on the hook for in the future." - From an article by Kathryn May in the Ottawa Citizen, December 20, 2012 Did you know? When you amortize a loan, you "kill it off" gradually by paying it down in installments. This is reflected in the word's etymology. "Amortize" derives via Middle English and Anglo-French from Vulgar Latin "admortire," meaning "to kill." The Latin noun "mors" ("death") is a root of "admortire"; it is related to our word "murder," and it also gave us a word naming a kind of loan that is usually amortized: "mortgage." "Amortize" carries a different meaning in the field of corporate finance, where it means to depreciate the cost or value of an asset (as, for example, to reduce interest revenue on that asset for tax purposes). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 31, 2013 is: jabberwocky • \JAB-er-wah-kee\ • noun : meaningless speech or writing Examples: "The salesman started spewing computer jabberwocky at me like an auctioneer. I understood about every sixth word he uttered."- From an article by Larry D. Clifton in The Tampa Tribune, September 6, 1998 "When LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh stepped into the crowded room, fashionably late, jabberwocky ceased and the only sound you heard was the whir and click of cameras."- From an article by Greg Cote in The Miami Herald, September 28, 2010 Did you know? In a poem titled "Jabberwocky" in the book Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1872), Lewis Carroll warned his readers about a frightful beast: Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch! This nonsensical poem caught the public's fancy, and by 1902 "jabberwocky" was being used as a generic term for meaningless speech or writing. The word "bandersnatch" has also seen some use as a general noun, with the meaning "a wildly grotesque or bizarre individual." It's a much rarer word than "jabberwocky," though, and is entered only in our unabridged dictionary, Webster’s Third New International. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 30, 2013 is: mala fide • \mal-uh-FYE-dee\ • adverb or adjective : with or in bad faith Examples: The company's board is accused of acting mala fide and with criminal intentions. "NTC analyzes each traveler's risk before departure to identify ... criminal activity, fraud, and other mala fide travelers, including U.S. citizens." - From a document in Congressional Documents and Publications, September 11, 2012 Did you know? You may be familiar with the more commonly used "bona fide" (boh-nuh-FYE-dee), which can mean "made in good faith" (as in "a bona fide agreement") or "genuine or real" ("a bona fide miracle"). You also may have encountered the noun "bona fides," used in reference to evidence of a person's good faith, genuineness, qualifications, or achievements. Not surprisingly, in Latin "bona fide" means "in good faith" and "mala fide" means "in bad faith." These days "mala fide," which dates from the mid-16th century, tends to turn up primarily in legal contexts. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 29, 2013 is: nomothetic • \nah-muh-THET-ik\ • adjective : relating to, involving, or dealing with abstract, general, or universal statements or laws Examples: "Even the authors that emphasize the existence of cross-cultural differences ... acknowledge that a nomothetic characterization of a country cannot apply equally to every member of its population." - From an article by Jaime Bonache et al. in the Journal of Business Research, December 2012 "Moreover, there is the often-incorrect assumption that crimes and offenders are sufficiently similar to be lumped together for aggregate study. In such cases the resulting nomothetic knowledge is not just diluted, it is inaccurate and ultimately misleading." - From Brent E. Turvey's 2011 book Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis, Fourth Edition Did you know? "Nomothetic" is often contrasted with "idiographic," a word meaning "relating to or dealing with something concrete, individual, or unique." Where "idiographic" points to the specific and unique, "nomothetic" points to the general and consistent. The immediate Greek parent of "nomothetic" is a word meaning "of legislation"; the word has its roots in "nomos," meaning "law," and "-thetēs," meaning "one who establishes." "Nomos" has played a part in the histories of words as varied as "metronome," "autonomous," and "Deuteronomy." The English contributions of "-thetēs" are meager ("nomothetic" is the only one in our Collegiate dictionary), but "-thetēs" itself comes from "tithenai," meaning "to put," and "tithenai" is the ancestor of many common words ending in "thesis"-"hypothesis," "parenthesis," "prosthesis," "synthesis," and "thesis" itself-as well as "theme," "epithet," and "apothecary." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 28, 2013 is: gambit • \GAM-bit\ • noun 1 : a chess opening in which a player risks minor pieces to gain an advantage 2 : a remark intended to start a conversation 3 : a calculated move Examples: Mentioning that he had nothing to do on Saturday night was an obvious gambit by Miles to get invited to Donna's party. "Square's gift card gambit is its latest stab at separating itself from a crowded field of competitors, including PayPal, Google, Intuit and Groupon." - From an article by Jon Swartz in USA Today, December 10, 2012 Did you know? In 1656, a chess handbook was published that was said to have almost a hundred illustrated "gambetts." That early spelling of "gambit" is close to the Italian word, "gambetto," from which it is derived. "Gambetto" was used for an act of tripping-especially one that gave an advantage, as in wrestling. The original chess gambit is an opening in which a bishop's pawn is sacrificed to gain some advantage, but the name is now applied to many other chess openings. After being pinned down to chess for about two centuries, "gambit" finally broke free of the hold and showed itself to be a legitimate contender in the English language by weighing in with other meanings. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 27, 2013 is: whelm • \WELM\ • verb 1 : to cover or engulf completely with usually disastrous effect 2 : to overcome in thought or feeling : overwhelm 3 : to pass or go over something so as to bury or submerge it Examples: The avalanche whelmed everything in its path. "Nevertheless, much will remain whelmed in mystery. Messrs Cameron and Clegg both promised before the general election that the new regime would cover Network Rail, an oddly constituted body laden with publicly backed debt that runs Britain's railway tracks." - From an article in The Economist, January 22, 2011 Did you know? "It is not overwhelming and it is not underwhelming. You leave the production feeling merely whelmed." Thus wrote Michael Phillips in the Los Angeles Times, February 6, 2001. Contemporary writers like Philips sometimes use "whelm" to denote a middle stage between "underwhelm" and "overwhelm." But that's not how "whelm" has traditionally been used. "Whelm" and "overwhelm" have been with us since Middle English (when they were "whelmen" and "overwhelmen"), and throughout the years their meanings have largely overlapped. Both words early on meant "to overturn," for example, and both have also come to mean "to overpower in thought or feeling." Around 1950, however, folks started using a third word, "underwhelmed," for "unimpressed," and lately "whelmed" has been popping up with the meaning "moderately impressed." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 26, 2013 is: provocateur • \proh-vah-kuh-TER\ • noun : one who incites or stimulates another to action Examples: The show's host is a notable provocateur who has made a career of creating controversy for its own sake. "The 66-year-old director has always fared best as a provocateur. His 1991 film, JFK, might not be great history, but it did prompt the release of thousands of pages of previously classified documents. [Oliver] Stone is a relentless stirrer who is never happier than when tipping buckets on the received wisdom." - From an article by Tim Elliott in the Sydney Morning Herald, December 15, 2012 Did you know? In "provocateur," a word borrowed directly from French, one sees the English verb "provoke." Both "provoke" and "provocateur" derive from Latin "provocare," meaning "to call forth." Why do we say "provocateur" for one who incites another to action, instead of simply "provoker"? Perhaps it's because of "agent provocateur," a term of French origin that literally means "provoking agent." Both "agent provocateur" and the shortened "provocateur" can refer to someone (such as an undercover police officer or a political operative) whose job is to incite people to break the law so that they can be arrested, but only "provocateur" is used in English with the more general sense of "one who provokes." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 25, 2013 is: satiate • \SAY-shee-ayt\ • verb : to satisfy (as a need or desire) fully or to excess Examples: After eating three pieces of pie and one of cake at the potluck, Jamie's sweet tooth was finally satiated. "Consequently, I have to satiate my craving for Louisiana citrus at Hollygrove Market and Farm or the Crescent City Farmers Market in Mid-City where locally grown fruits and vegetables abound. If you haven't treated yourself to a market visit lately, do." - From an article by Melinda Shelton in the Times-Picayune (New Orleans), October 31, 2012 Did you know? "Satiate," "sate," "surfeit," "cloy," "pall," "glut," and "gorge" all mean to fill to repletion. "Satiate" and "sate" sometimes imply only complete satisfaction but more often suggest repletion that has destroyed interest or desire, as in "Years of globe-trotting had satiated their interest in travel" and "Readers were sated with sensationalistic stories." "Surfeit" implies a nauseating repletion, as in "They surfeited themselves with junk food," while "cloy" stresses the disgust or boredom resulting from such surfeiting, as in "The sentimental pictures cloyed after a while." "Pall" emphasizes the loss of ability to stimulate interest or appetite: "A life of leisure eventually began to pall." "Glut" implies excess in feeding or supplying, as in "a market glutted with diet books." "Gorge" suggests glutting to the point of bursting or choking, as in "They gorged themselves with chocolate." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 24, 2013 is: engagé • \ahn-gah-ZHAY\ • adjective : committed to or supportive of a cause Examples: Our next-door neighbor Michael, an engagé environmental activist, uses solar power to heat his home and drives a hybrid automobile. "George MacDonald was a Scottish Congregationalist who pastored an English Congregationalist chapel for a while, drifted away into freelance preaching, but stayed true to his desire to bring an engagé Christianity to workers stuck in the industrial heartland." - From Valentine Cunningham's 2011 book Victorian Poetry Now Did you know? "Engagé" is the past participle of the French verb "engager," meaning "to engage." The French have used "engagé" since the 19th century to describe socially or politically active people. The term became particularly fashionable in the wake of World War II, when French writers, artists, and intellectuals felt it was increasingly important for them to take a stand on political or social issues and represent their attitudes in their art. By 1946, English speakers had adopted the word for their own politically relevant writing or art, and within a short time "engagé" was being used generally for any passionate commitment to a cause. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 23, 2013 is: fanfaronade • \fan-fair-uh-NAYD\ • noun : empty boasting : bluster Examples: Having grown weary of the former governor's fanfaronade and lack of concrete action, voters sent a clear message at the polls and elected his opponent by a landslide. "I don't intend this as an article about how to divorce oneself from conceit, narcissism and fanfaronade...." - From an article by Phil Guarnieri in the Floral Park Dispatch (New York), August 10, 2012 Did you know? If we tell you that fanfaronade is what fanfarons do, you'll easily guess that "fanfaron" means "braggart." Both "fanfaron" (a fairly uncommon word found in unabridged dictionaries) and "fanfaronade" derive from "fanfarrón," a Spanish word for a boaster that probably developed in imitation of the verbal claptrap blared by blowhards. "Fanfarrón" gave Spanish speakers "fanfarronada," which the French borrowed with the spelling "fanfaronnade"; English speakers further modified the French term into "fanfaronade" in the mid-1600s. Some etymologists believe English speakers borrowed "fanfaron" directly from Spanish, but others think that word also passed through French before reaching our language. It isn't clear whether "fanfaron" and "fanfaronade" are directly related to the similar "fanfare" or if that term arose as yet another transliteration of the sound of a showy or pompous display. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 22, 2013 is: euchre • \YOO-ker\ • verb 1 : to prevent from winning three tricks in the card game euchre 2 : to cheat or trick Examples: "'You fooled us good,' Frank confessed. 'After Northfield, Jesse knew we'd been euchred somehow. But I wouldn't have suspected you in a thousand years.'" - From Matt Braun's 2008 novel Manhunter / Deadwood "He'd never held a pick or shovel in those waxy white hands. His principal business was euchring anyone who was sucker enough to do business with him." - From Richard S. Wheeler's 2005 novel Seven Miles to Sundown Did you know? Euchre is a card game for four players that is played in tricks, or rounds, with a deck of 32 cards. Etymologists aren't sure where we got the name for the game, though they do know that it first appeared in English in the mid-19th century. The first sense of the verb "euchre" arose from an action that takes place during the game: a player is "euchred" when an opponent blocks him or her from winning three or more tricks after making trump. Deception can often be key to a winning strategy, and sure enough it took almost no time at all for "euchre" to develop a sense meaning "cheat" or "trick." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 21, 2013 is: zarzuela • \zahr-ZWAY-luh\ • noun : a usually comic Spanish operetta Examples: "The first major trip was leaving Spain, with my sister and our aunt, to travel by ship to Mexico, where my parents had set up their own zarzuela company." - From an interview with Placido Domingo in the Chicago Tribune, October 14, 2012 "In Napa, Calif., the Jarvis Conservatory presents one or two zarzuelas during the month of June and produces the only DVD of zarzuelas." - From an article by Alicia Garcia Clark in The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, October 23, 2006 Did you know? "Zarzuela" is connected with the Spanish opera La Zarzuela, which entranced audiences with its different vocal and musical styles. The word toured into English in the 18th century. Alfred Einstein (the musicologist cousin of Albert) assisted in its establishment in the language by including it in his 1947 work Music in the Romantic Era. More recently, the word has begun to appear on the Spanish culinary stage as a term for a rich and savory seafood dish. A couple of the specific entrées that have emerged are the piebald "zarzuela de maiscos," a mixture of seafood, and the "zarzuela de pescados," a potpourri of fish. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 20, 2013 is: preen • \PREEN\ • verb 1 : to groom with the bill 2 : to dress or smooth up : primp 3 : to pride or congratulate (oneself) on an achievement : to behave or speak with obvious pride or self-satisfaction Examples: Even though he was particularly thrilled about the promotion, Jeff tried hard not to preen in front of his coworkers. "Both birds seem to be in very good condition. They will perch on a branch and preen themselves after some of their work periods." - From an article by Bud Simpson in The Logan Daily News, November 23, 2012 Did you know? The incubation of "preen" began in 14th-century Middle English with the spelling "prenen," which can itself be traced to the Anglo-French forms "pur-," meaning "thoroughly," and "uindre" or "oindre," meaning "to anoint or rub." One of the first writers to apply "preen" to the human act of primping was Geoffrey Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales. It took a long time-around 500 years-for the prideful meaning of "preen" to hatch, but another bird-related word, "plume," was available for use with the meaning "to pride or congratulate (oneself)" from the first half of the 17th century. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 19, 2013 is: mentor • \MEN-tor\ • noun 1 : a trusted counselor or guide 2 : tutor, coach Examples: The young man regarded the professor not only as a mentor, but as a good friend as well. "Every time a Strong Women Strong Girls (SWSG) group from Point Park speaks to an after-school program full of elementary school girls, they introduce them to a positive female role model in society. Every time, they encourage going to college. Every time, both young girls and mentors end up laughing. And every time, the girls have a hard time saying goodbye." - From an article by Marina Weiss in The Globe (Point Park University, Pennsylvania), December 4, 2012 Did you know? We acquired "mentor" from the literature of ancient Greece. In Homer's epic The Odyssey, Odysseus was away from home fighting and journeying for 20 years. During that time, Telemachus, the son he left as a babe in arms, grew up under the supervision of Mentor, an old and trusted friend. When the goddess Athena decided it was time to complete the education of young Telemachus, she visited him disguised as Mentor and they set out together to learn about his father. Today, we use the word "mentor" for anyone who is a positive, guiding influence in another (usually younger) person's life. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 18, 2013 is: traduce • \truh-DOOSS\ • verb 1 : to expose to shame or blame by means of falsehood and misrepresentation 2 : violate, betray Examples: At the apex of the journalist's career, a jealous rival attempted to traduce her name with false allegations. "In his introductory remarks, Stuart Proffitt, publishing director of Penguin Press and chairman of the prize committee, praised the BBC as the greatest cultural institution in the history of the world.... Here, at last, was someone prepared publicly to speak up for the BBC when so many others were seeking to traduce and destroy it." - From an article by Jason Cowley in New Statesman, November 19, 2012 Did you know? "Traduce" is one of a number of English synonyms that you can choose when you need a word that means "to injure by speaking ill of." Choose "traduce" when you want to stress the deep personal humiliation, disgrace, and distress felt by the victim. If someone doesn't actually lie, but makes statements that injure by specific and often subtle misrepresentations, "malign" may be the more precise choice. To make it clear that the speaker is malicious and the statements made are false, "calumniate" is a good option. But if you need to say that certain statements represent an attempt to destroy a reputation by open and direct abuse, "vilify" is the word you want. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 17, 2013 is: vernissage • \vair-nih-SAHZH\ • noun : a private showing or preview of an art exhibition Examples: Before the art auction, there will be a vernissage during which people can mingle with the artists and preview their work. "Art Basel officially opens with its vernissage Nov. 30 and runs through Dec. 4, but Miami Art Week-as it is being called-sprawls across the calendar with events from Nov. 27 on, basically Sunday to Sunday." - From an article by Beth Dunlop in The Miami Herald, September 18, 2011 Did you know? "Vernissage" has its roots in the old practice of setting aside a day before an exhibition's opening for artists to varnish and put finishing touches to their paintings-a tradition that reportedly dates to at least 1809, when it was instituted by England's Royal Academy of Arts. (One famous member of the Academy, Joseph Mallord William Turner, was notorious for making major changes to his paintings on this day.) English speakers originally referred to this day of finishing touches simply as "varnishing day," but sometime around 1912 we also began using the French term "vernissage" (literally, "varnishing"). Today, however, you are more likely to encounter vino than varnish at a vernissage, which is often a gala event marking the opening of an exhibition. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 16, 2013 is: inchmeal • \INCH-meel\ • adverb : little-by-little, gradually Examples: The fog that had been concentrated over the valley dissipated inchmeal, revealing a quiet busyness in the small village below. "I glanced at my Luminox wristwatch. The glowing dial showed 6:10.... Light came inchmeal, like torture. Another flock [of ducks] blew like rocket chaff across the gray-black sky. I sneaked another peek. 6:20." - From an article by Joe Doggett in The Houston Chronicle, December 19, 2012 Did you know? "All the infections that the sun sucks up / From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall, and make him / By inch-meal a disease!" So goes one of the curses the hated and hateful Caliban hurls in the direction of Prospero in Shakespeare's The Tempest. The origin of "inchmeal" is simple; the "inch" half is the familiar measurement, and the "meal" is the suffix we know from the more common word "piecemeal" (which shares the "gradually" meaning of "inchmeal," and has several other meanings as well). "Meal" is an old suffix that means "by a (specified) portion or measure at a time"; it is related to the modern German word "mal," meaning "time," as in the German word "manchmal," meaning "sometimes." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 15, 2013 is: kanban • \KAHN-bahn\ • noun : a manufacturing strategy wherein parts are produced or delivered only as needed Examples: "To stay competitive," Rob said, "we need to reduce our manufacturing costs by switching to a kanban system." "The inbox and calendar are used to generate kanban and schedules. This helps to discriminate between what you are doing and what you should be doing." - From an article by Marc A. Feldman in the Quality Progress, November 2012 Did you know? Toyota Motor Company is credited with developing the kanban system of manufacturing, which takes its name from the Japanese word for "sign" or "placard." In the kanban system, each shipment of parts used in making a product comes with a "kanban," or sign. When the parts are nearly exhausted, the sign is sent to suppliers, who ship new ones to the assembly line. In the early 1980s, "kanban" became a buzzword in the American business community-offering a perfect example of how languages often reflect larger societal trends … and how trading partners often trade more than durable goods. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 14, 2013 is: taradiddle • \tair-uh-DID-ul\ • noun 1 : a trivial or childish lie : fib 2 : pretentious nonsense Examples: "Even parents with the very best of intentions find themselves telling taradiddles to their offspring." - From a blog post by Ben Schott at nytimes.com, November 12, 2010 "As truths go, the history of Miss Rossiter she had laid out was unimpressive: a forked-tongue taraddidle of the highest order and if I were to serve it up to Hardy and be found out afterwards I should be lucky to escape arrest, if not a smack on the legs with a hairbrush for the cheek of it." - From Catriona McPherson's 2009 novel Danny Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains Did you know? The true origin of "taradiddle" is unknown, but that doesn't mean you won't encounter a lot of balderdash about its history. Some folks try to connect it to the verb "diddle" (meaning "to cheat"), but that hasn’t been proven and may turn out to be poppycock. You may hear some tommyrot about it coming from the Old English verb "didrian," which meant "to deceive," but that couldn’t be true unless "didrian" was somehow suddenly revived after eight or nine centuries of disuse. No one even knows when "taradiddle" was first used. It must have been long before it showed up in a 1796 dictionary of colloquial speech (where it was defined as a synonym of "fib"), but if we claimed we knew who said it first, we’d be dishing out pure applesauce. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 13, 2013 is: Abhor • \ub-HOR\ • verb : to regard with extreme repugnance : loathe Examples: She is a strict vegetarian who abhors the consumption of meat. "In fairness, Darwin mostly refrained from extrapolating natural selection to human society. And he abhorred slavery at a time when many justified it as the natural order of things." - From an article by Shankar Vedantam in The Washington Post, February 5, 2006 Did you know? "Abhor" implies strong feelings of repugnance, disgust, and aversion. This degree of distaste is seen in the word's history. In earlier use, "abhor" sometimes implied an actual shrinking away from something in horror or repugnance. Appropriately, the word's Latin source, the verb "abhorrēre," comes from the prefix "ab-" ("from, away") and the verb "horrēre" ("to shudder"). As you may have guessed, Latin "horrēre" is also the source of the English words "horror," "horrify," and "horrible." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 12, 2013 is: remuneration • \rih-myoo-nuh-RAY-shun\ • noun : compensation, payment Examples: She was hired on several occasions as a consultant and given generous remunerations for her services. "BSkyB CEO Jeremy Darroch saw his remuneration for the latest fiscal year ended in June rise around 7 percent…." - From an article by Georg Szalai in Hollywood Reporter, September 25, 2012 Did you know? Our evidence shows "remuneration" to be most at home in writing that concerns financial matters, especially when large amounts of money-or other forms of compensation-are involved. Whether it's because money denotes numerals, or simply because the "n" and "m" are adjacent to each other on our keyboards, "reMUNeration" appears misspelled as "reNUMeration" to a rather inordinate degree in an electronic database of published periodicals. ("Renumeration," a very rare word, means "to enumerate [to count or list] again.") It pays to know that the "-mun-" in "remuneration" is from Latin "munus," meaning "gift," a root it shares with "munificent," an adjective which means "very liberal in giving." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 11, 2013 is: realia • \ree-AL-ee-uh\ • noun plural : objects or activities used to relate classroom teaching to the real life especially of peoples studied Examples: Among the realia used for the class's lesson on World War II was a helmet and canteen that had belonged to one student’s great-grandfather. "It's common knowledge that eighth grade is one of life's low points. Here, it literally makes Ginny Davis sick. Photo-collages of poems, notes, text and chat messages, comics, realia of all sorts and, especially, food document the descent of Ginny's school year." - From a book review in Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 2012 Did you know? "Realia," as defined above, was first used in the late 19th century, and is still mostly used in the classroom by teachers, especially foreign language teachers. It is also used in library cataloguing (in reference to such bizarre things as an author's hair and teeth donated posthumously) and occasionally finds its way into other contexts as well. You might, for example, hear of someone putting "realia"-objects that represent present-day life-in a time capsule. "Realia" is also sometimes used philosophically to distinguish real things from the theories about them-a meaning that dates to the early 19th century. "Realia" is one of those plural formations without a corresponding singular form. Like "memorabilia" ("memorable things" or "mementos"), "juvenilia" ("works produced in an artist's or author's youth"), and "marginalia" ("marginal notes or embellishments"), it incorporates the Latin plural ending "-ia." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 10, 2013 is: Apollonian • \ap-uh-LOH-nee-un\ • adjective 1 : of, relating to, or resembling the god Apollo 2 : harmonious, measured, ordered, or balanced in character Examples: His paintings exhibit a stately and Apollonian elegance, but too often fail to engage the viewer emotionally. "[Pianist Andras] Schiff is described as cool, Apollonian, restrained, though this could be as much about his serene appearance than about the actual sound of the instrument." - From a review by Anne Midgette in The Washington Post, October 28, 2012 Did you know? To the ancient Greeks, Apollo represented the perfection of youthful manhood. He was the god of music, poetry, archery, prophecy, and healing, among other things. English speakers began using the adjective "Apollonian" for someone who resembled Apollo in physical beauty or talent as long ago as 1663. Due partly to the work of Nietzsche and other German scholars, we now associate Apollo with the forces of calm rationality (as opposed to the "Dionysian" forces, which are instinctive, frenzied, and uninhibited). Despite these associations, Apollo himself was not always a force of reason-he had a terrible temper and a lust for young girls as well. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 9, 2013 is: buttonhole • \BUT-un-hohl\ • verb : to detain in conversation by or as if by holding on to the outer garments of Examples: I'm sorry I'm late. I was buttonholed by a coworker just as I was leaving my office. "The school's administrative assistant, Kristine Silva, who attended Jefferson when she was a little girl, made a Facebook event that attracted about 9,000 people. And she buttonholed anyone she encountered who happened to be carrying a smartphone, including store clerks and a stranger in a food court in an Albuquerque mall." - From an article by Leslie Linthicum in the Albuquerque Journal, November 22, 2012 Did you know? "Buttonhole" is easy to pin down as a noun referring to the slit or loop through which a button is passed to fasten something, but its shift to a verb meaning "to detain in conversation" requires some explanation. "Buttonhole" is an alteration of another verb now long out of use: "buttonhold," which literally meant to hold on to the buttons or lapels of someone's coat when speaking to him or her. In the mid-19th century, English speakers altered the verb to "buttonhole," perhaps as a result of hearing "buttonhold" as "buttonholed." The overlap is apparent in an early instance of this spelling, an 1862 London publication called All Year Round: "The man who is button~holed, or held … and must listen to half an hour's harangue about nothing interesting." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 8, 2013 is: ramify • \RAM-uh-fye\ • verb 1 : to split up into branches or constituent parts 2 : to send forth branches or extensions 3 : to cause to branch Examples: "The people of Rafadh had decisions to make, ones that might soon ramify across all of Yemen's remote mountains and deserts and even half a world away in the Pentagon." - From an article by Robert F. Worth in the New York Times Magazine, July 6, 2010 "And most of these stories aren't over yet. They'll ripple and ramify for years to come, in ways that are destined to both shock and gratify us." - From a review by Armin Rosen of the top international news stories of 2012, in the Atlantic, December 7, 2012 Did you know? "Ramify" has been part of English since the 15th century and is an offshoot of the Latin word for "branch," which is "ramus." English acquired several scientific words from "ramus," including "biramous" ("having two branches"). Another English word derived from "ramus" is the now obsolete "ramage," meaning "untamed" or "wild." "Ramage" originated in falconry-it was initially used of young hawks that had begun to fly from branch to branch in trees. "Ramify" started out as a scientific word, at first referring to branching parts of plants and trees and later to veins and nerves, but it soon branched out into non-scientific and even figurative uses, as in "ideas that ramify throughout society." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 7, 2013 is: pedagogical • \ped-uh-GAH-jih-kul\ • adjective : of, relating to, or befitting a teacher or education Examples: New teachers will be evaluated on pedagogical skills such as lesson planning and classroom management. "The report suggests that the exam be multidimensional and include subject knowledge as well as pedagogical knowledge. In other words, in addition to having to know the subject they teach, teachers would have to demonstrate that they had the qualities to be 'caring, competent and confident.'" - From an article by Donna Krache at CNN's Schools of Thought blog, December 4, 2012 Did you know? "Pedagogical," which has the somewhat less common spelling variant "pedagogic," was coined in the early 17th century from a Greek adjective of the same meaning. That adjective, "paidagōgikos," in turn derives from the noun "paidagōgos," meaning "teacher." The English word "pedagogue" (which can simply mean "teacher" but usually suggests one who is particularly dull) derives from the same root. Though the words "educational" and "teacher" make the grade in most contexts, "pedagogical" and "pedagogue" are useful additions to the class. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 6, 2013 is: quintessence • \kwin-TESS-unss\ • noun 1 : the essence of a thing in its purest and most concentrated form 2 : the most typical example or representative Examples: Roasting marshmallows over an open fire is the quintessence of the camping experience. "A seven-minute cartoon ... containing the quintessence of frustration and despair, Froggy features a construction worker whose sanity begins to unravel when he discovers an ebullient performing frog that he might make a fortune from-if it didn't turn taciturn and morose the moment anyone else is watching." - From an article by Nick Pinkerton in The Village Voice, November 20, 2012 Did you know? Long ago, when people believed that the earth was made up of four elements-earth, air, fire, and water-they thought the stars and planets were made up of yet another element. In the Middle Ages, people called this element by its Medieval Latin name, "quinta essentia," literally, "fifth essence." Our forebears believed the quinta essentia was essential to all kinds of matter, and if they could somehow isolate it, it would cure all disease. We have since given up on that idea, but we kept "quintessence," the offspring of "quinta essentia," as a word for the purest essence of a thing. Some modern physicists have given "quintessence" a new twist-they use it for a form of so-called "dark energy," which is believed to make up 70 percent of the universe. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 5, 2013 is: imperturbable • \im-per-TER-buh-bul\ • adjective : marked by extreme calm, impassivity, and steadiness : serene Examples: The imperturbable pilot did not panic when her plane flew into an electrical storm. "But ZZ Top has always excelled when it lets notes growl and grooves simmer, relaxing rather than rushing, and maintaining a laid-back musical cool to parallel its imperturbable attitude." - From a review by Bob Gendron in the Chicago Tribune, October 12, 2012 Did you know? There is an interesting time lag between the appearance of "imperturbable" and its antonym, "perturbable." Although "imperturbable" is known to have existed since the middle of the 15th century, "perturbable" didn't show up in written English until 1800. The verb "perturb" (meaning "to disquiet" or "to throw into confusion") predates both "imperturbable" and "perturbable"; it has been part of English since the 14th century. All three words derive from Latin "perturbare" (also meaning "to throw into confusion"), which in turn comes from the combination of "per-" and "turbare," which means "to disturb." Other relatives of "imperturbable" include "disturb" and "turbid." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 4, 2013 is: doctrine of signatures • \DAHK-trun-uv-SIG-nuh-cherz\ • noun : a theory in old natural philosophy: the outward appearance of a body signals its special properties (as of magic or healing virtue) and there is a relationship between the outward qualities of a medicinal object and the diseases against which it is effective Examples: Among the documents are the notes of a 17th-century physician, who discusses his use of the doctrine of signatures to determine which medicinal plants to use for which ailments. "Lungwort (Pulmonaria) is legacy from the ancient doctrine of signatures, which included a belief that a plant resembling a part of the anatomy had medicinal properties for that part. The broad, elongated white-spotted leaves of this plant were thought to resemble the lung and used to treat pulmonary ailments." - From an article by Julie Finucane in The Argus-Press (Owosso, Michigan), November 12, 2012 Did you know? The idea that a plant's appearance might give clues to its healing capacities is an old one (it was advocated by the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder). The word "signature" (from Latin "signare," meaning "to sign or mark") has been used to refer to a plant feature that suggests its potential medicinal value since the 1600s. For instance, bloodroot, with its red sap, was considered effective against blood disorders, and liverwort, which has a three-lobed leaf that resembles the liver, was used to treat-you guessed it-liver diseases. Many examples of the variety of herbal medicine espoused by the doctrine of signatures can be found in Nicholas Culpeper's pseudo-scientific A Physicall Directory, published in 1649. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 3, 2013 is: festoon • \fess-TOON\ • noun 1 : a decorative chain or strip hanging between two points 2 : a carved, molded, or painted ornament representing a decorative chain Examples: Festoons of colored paper were draped along the classroom's walls. "Imagine how the parlor was created and decorated, and note the bright azalea color of the silk drapery with festoons lined in an apple green." - From an article by Carleton Varney in the Palm Beach Daily News, March 23, 2012 Did you know? "Festoon" can also be a verb that is used as a synonym of "decorate" or "adorn" (as in "the room was festooned with streamers and balloons"). The verb "festoon," which first appeared in the late 1700s, comes from the noun "festoon," which appeared over 100 years earlier. "Festoon" traces back (by way of French and Italian) to Latin "festa," the plural of "festum," meaning "festival." "Festa" is also an ancestor of the English noun "feast." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 2, 2013 is: heliacal • \hih-LYE-uh-kul\ • adjective : relating to or near the sun - used especially of the last setting of a star before and its first rising after invisibility due to conjunction with the sun's rising and setting Examples: The heliacal rising of Pleiades marked the beginning of summer in the old Julian calendar, which was introduced by Julius Caesar. "Nowadays, if you wish to watch the heliacal rising of Sirius, you've got to wait until August. This is because Earth wobbles on its axis ... and over several millennia, the positions of celestial objects shift slightly." - From an article by Dennis Mammana in Newsday (New York), July 14, 2012 Did you know? The word "heliacal" rose in the mid-16th century. Its source is the Greek word "hēlios," meaning "sun." Helios is also the Sun god of ancient Greece. "Heliacal" often suggests a relationship between a star and the sun as they appear to the human eye in the sky, as in our example sentences. It's also used in reference to the ancient Egyptian year, which began on the date when Sirius (or the Dog Star) first appeared on the eastern horizon at sunrise. English speakers have referred to this year as the heliacal year or the Sothic year. ("Sothic" comes from "Sōthōs," the Greek word for Sirius.) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 1, 2013 is: hark back • \HAHRK-BAK\ • verb 1 : to turn back to an earlier topic or circumstance 2 : to go back to something as an origin or source Examples: The restaurant's art deco interior harks back to Paris in the 1920s. "The design features the city's iconic Spanish-style entryway, a large mission bell and two oxen pulling a bountiful cart of grapes, harking back to the days when the mission was known to produce wine." - From an article by Rosanna Xia in the Los Angeles Times, November 23, 2012 Did you know? "Hark," a very old word meaning "listen," was used as a cry in hunting. The master of the hunt might cry "Hark! Forward!" or "Hark! Back!" The cries became set phrases, both as nouns and verbs. Thus, a "hark back" was a retracing of a route by dogs and hunters, and "to hark back" was to turn back along the path. From its use in hunting, the verb soon acquired its current figurative meanings. In the early 20th century, English speakers began using "hearken back" and its variant "harken back" synonymously with the verb "hark back." (Like "hark," "hearken" and "harken" can mean "listen.") And since the 1980s, there's been another development: "harken" can now be used alone to mean "hark back." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 31, 2012 is: hangover • \HANG-oh-ver\ • noun 1 : something (as a surviving custom) that remains from what is past 2 a : disagreeable physical effects following heavy consumption of alcohol or the use of drugs b : a letdown following great excitement or excess Examples: "Keep at about one drink an hour, about three drinks maximum for an entire episode, and then you really will prevent hangovers." - Dr. Krista Lisdahl (neurologist), as quoted in the ABC News Transcript, September 21, 2012 "Pliny the Elder includes, in a list of rabies cures, a recipe for inserting the ashes from a biting dog's tail into the wound-the origin of our hangover cure 'hair of the dog.'" - From an article by Monica Murphy and Bill Wasik in Wired, August 2012 Did you know? The effects of hangovers have been hanging around for ages. The word itself, however, has only been fermenting since the late 19th century. Originally, "hangover" described someone or something that remained or simply survived, but it was later distilled into common use as a word for the effects of overconsumption of alcohol or drugs. These days, "hangover" can also suggest an emotional letdown or an undesirable prolongation of notes or sounds from a loudspeaker. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 30, 2012 is: promulgate • \PRAH-mul-gayt\ • verb 1 : to make (as a doctrine) known by open declaration : proclaim 2 a : to make known or public the terms of (a proposed law) b : to put (a law) into action or force Examples: Her ideas have been widely promulgated on the Internet. "Expectations are high that the EPA will act swiftly in Obama's second term to more aggressively promulgate a variety of new rules and regulations aimed at all forms of pollution, including greenhouse gases. These will almost certainly meet legal challenges of their own." - From an article by Tom Zeller, Jr. at The Huffington Post, November 28, 2012 Did you know? The origin of "promulgate" is a bit murky, or perhaps we should say "milky." It comes from Latin "promulgatus," which in turn derives from "pro-," meaning "forward," and "-mulgare," a form that is probably related to the verb "mulgēre," meaning "to milk" or "to extract." "Mulgēre" is an ancestor of the English word "emulsion" ("mixture of mutually insoluble liquids"), and it is also related to the Old English word that became "milk" itself. Like its synonyms "declare," "announce," and "proclaim," "promulgate" means to make known publicly. It particularly implies the proclaiming of a dogma, doctrine, or law. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 29, 2012 is: vacuous • \VAK-yuh-wus\ • adjective 1 : emptied of or lacking content 2 : marked by lack of ideas or intelligence : stupid, inane 3 : devoid of serious occupation : idle Examples: The student's vacuous facial expression suggested a lack of comprehension. "When the leaves begin to turn and the temperature calls for long sleeves, we stow the whites and rosés in favor of reds. It's easy but vacuous logic. Color is not the most significant factor in drinking [wine] seasonally. It's texture and weight." - From an article by Eric Asimov in the New York Times, October 24, 2012 Did you know? As you might have guessed, "vacuous" shares the same root as "vacuum"-the Latin adjective "vacuus," meaning "empty." This root also gave us the noun "vacuity" (the oldest meaning of which is "an empty space") as well as the verb "evacuate" (originally meaning "to empty of contents"). Its predecessor, the verb "vacare," is also an ancestor of the words "vacation" and "vacancy" as well as "void." All of these words suggest an emptiness of space, or else a fleeing of people or things from one place to another. "Vacuous" appeared in English in the middle of the 17th century, at first literally describing something that was empty. It acquired its figurative usage, describing one who is lacking any substance of the mind, in the mid-1800s. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 28, 2012 is: donnybrook • \DAH-nee-brook\ • noun 1 : free-for-all, brawl 2 : a usually public quarrel or dispute Examples: The two antique collectors found themselves embroiled in a spirited donnybrook over the value of an unusual piece of furniture at the auction. "We are in the middle of a donnybrook about the threat that falling off a 'fiscal cliff' poses for national security (to say nothing of what it would do to domestic discretionary spending)." - From an article by Gordon Adams in The Inquirer (Philadelphia), October 25, 2012 Did you know? The Donnybrook Fair was an annual event held in Donnybrook-then a suburb of Dublin, Ireland-from the 13th to the 19th centuries. The fair was legendary for the vast quantities of liquor consumed there, for the number of hasty marriages performed during the week following it, and, most of all, for the frequent brawls that erupted throughout it. Eventually, the fair's reputation for tumult was its undoing. From the 1790s on there were campaigns against the drunken brawl the fair had become. The event was abolished in 1855, but not before its name had become a generic term for a free-for-all. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 27, 2012 is: mise-en-scène • \meez-ahn-SEN\ • noun 1 a : the arrangement of actors and scenery on a stage for a theatrical production b : stage setting 2 a : the physical setting of an action (as of a narrative or a motion picture) : context b : environment, milieu Examples: "Rick Owens creates worlds more than fashion. His shows are famous for their otherworldly ambience, from the mise-en-scène (from foam to fire to electrifying light shows) to the soundtrack." - From a post by Matthew Schneier on Style.com's Style File blog, November 5, 2012 "Studio pictures tend to have a more controlled and artificial mise-en-scène no matter how elaborate and detailed the setting. The lighting is, after all, unnatural, space is confined, and locations are constructed. The emphasis is more on the interaction of characters and less on the interaction of character and environment." - From Ira Konigsberg's 1987 publication The Complete Film Dictionary Did you know? In French, "mise en scène" literally means "the action of putting onto the stage." The term's use originated in stage drama, where it refers to the way actors and scenery props are arranged; as its usage expanded into other narrative arts, its meaning shifted. In film production, "mise en scène" refers to all of the elements that comprise a single shot; that includes, but is not limited to, the actors, setting, props, costumes, and lighting. The director of a play or film is called the "metteur en scène"-literally, "one who puts on the stage." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.