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Showing posts from December, 2018

box: Word of the day for December 26, 2018

box , v : (transitive) To place inside a box; to pack in one or more boxes. (transitive) Usually followed by in: to surround and enclose in a way that restricts movement; to corner, to hem in. (transitive) To mix two containers of paint of similar colour to ensure that the color is identical. (transitive, agriculture) To make an incision or hole in (a tree) for the purpose of procuring the sap. (transitive, architecture) To enclose with boarding, lathing, etc., so as to conceal (for example, pipes) or to bring to a required form. (transitive, engineering) To furnish (for example, the axle of a wheel) with a box. (transitive, graphic design, printing) To enclose (images, text, etc.) in a box. (transitive, object-oriented programming) To place a value of a primitive type into a corresponding object. Today is celebrated as Boxing Day in many countries.

mistletoe: Word of the day for December 24, 2018

mistletoe , n : (countable, uncountable) Any of several hemiparasitic evergreen plants of the order Santalales with white berries that grow in the crowns of apple trees, oaks, and other trees, such as the European mistletoe (Viscum album) and American mistletoe or eastern mistletoe (Phoradendron leucarpum). (uncountable) A sprig of one such plant used as a Christmas decoration, associated with the custom that a man may kiss any woman standing beneath it. Have yourself a merry little Christmas Eve!

parse: Word of the day for December 23, 2018

parse , v : (transitive, linguistics) To resolve (a sentence, etc.) into its elements, pointing out the several parts of speech, and their relation to each other by agreement or government; to analyze and describe grammatically. [from mid 16th c.] (transitive, by extension) To examine closely; to scrutinize. (transitive, by extension, computing) To resolve (a string of code or text) into its elements to determine if it conforms to a particular grammar. (transitive, by extension, computing) To split a file or other input into pieces of data that can be easily manipulated or stored. (intransitive, computing, linguistics) Of a string of code or text, sentence, etc.: to conform to rules of grammar, to be syntactically valid.

turntable: Word of the day for December 19, 2018

turntable , n : A circular rotating platform. (music) The circular rotating platform of a record player or a disk jockey's console on which the record rests during play; (by extension), a record player. (rail transport, road transport) A rotating platform placed in a circular pit, used for turning locomotives, cars, or trucks.

prototype: Word of the day for December 16, 2018

prototype , n : An original form or object which is a basis for other forms or objects (particularly manufactured items), or for its generalizations and models. An early sample or model built to test a concept or process. (computing) A declaration of a function that specifies the name, return type, and parameters, but none of the body or actual code. (semantics) An instance of a category or a concept that combines its most representative attributes.

sinew: Word of the day for December 15, 2018

sinew , n : (anatomy) A cord or tendon of the body. A cord or string, particularly (music) as of a musical instrument. (figuratively) muscular power, muscle; nerve, nervous energy; vigor, vigorous strength. (figuratively, often in the plural) That which gives strength or in which strength consists; a supporting factor or member; mainstay.

plaque: Word of the day for December 13, 2018

plaque , n : (countable) Any flat, thin piece of clay, ivory, metal, etc., used for ornament, or for painting pictures upon, as a dish, plate, slab, etc., hung upon a wall; also, a smaller decoration worn by a person, such as a brooch. (countable) A piece of flat metal with writing on it, attached to a building, monument, or other structure to remind people of a person or an event. (countable, biology) A clearing in a bacterial lawn caused by a virus. (countable, music) In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system: any flat, thin musical instrument. (countable, pathology) A broad patch of abnormal tissue distinguishable from surrounding tissue, especially a broad papule (“inflamed, irritated patch”) on the skin. (countable, uncountable, pathology) An abnormal accumulation of material in or on an organ of the body, often associated with disease. (countable, uncountable, pathology) An accumulation in artery walls made up of macrophage cells and debris containing lipids, (cholesterol ...

dame: Word of the day for December 9, 2018

dame , n : (Britain) Usually capitalized as Dame: a title equivalent to Sir for a female knight. (Britain) A matron at a school, especially Eton College. (Britain, theater) In traditional pantomime: a melodramatic female often played by a man in drag. (US, dated, informal, slightly derogatory) A woman. (archaic) A lady, a woman. English actress Dame Judi Dench was born on this day in 1934. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1988.

archetype: Word of the day for December 3, 2018

archetype , n : An original model of which all other similar concepts, objects, or persons are merely copied, derivative, emulated, or patterned; a prototype. An ideal example of something; a quintessence. (literature) A character, object, or story that is based on a known character, object, or story. (psychology) According to Swiss psychologist Carl Jung: a universal pattern of thought, present in an individual's unconscious, inherited from the past collective experience of humanity. (textual criticism) A protograph (“original manuscript of a text from which all further copies derive”).