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Showing posts from March, 2019

couth: Word of the day for April 1, 2019

couth , adj : (obsolete) Familiar, known; well-known, renowned. (Scotland) Variant of couthie. Agreeable, friendly, pleasant. Comfortable; cosy, snug. […] Marked by or possessing a high degree of sophistication; cultured, refined. To celebrate April Fools’ Day, we are featuring a series of less familiar cousins to common words – enjoy!

wagon: Word of the day for March 27, 2019

wagon , n : A four-wheeled cart for hauling loads. A four-wheeled child's riding toy, pulled or steered by a long handle attached to the front. An enclosed vehicle for carrying goods or people; (by extension) a lorry, a truck. An enclosed vehicle used as a movable dwelling; a caravan. Short for dinner wagon (“set of light shelves mounted on castors so that it can be pushed around a dining room and used for serving”). (slang) Short for paddy wagon (“police van for transporting prisoners”). (rail transport) A freight car on a railway. (chiefly Australia, US, slang) Short for station wagon (“type of car in which the roof extends rearward to produce an enclosed area in the position of and serving the function of the boot (trunk)”); (by extension) a sport utility vehicle (SUV); any car. (Ireland, slang, derogatory, dated) A woman of loose morals, a promiscuous woman, a slapper; (by extension) a woman regarded as obnoxious; a bitch, a cow.

adytum: Word of the day for March 25, 2019

adytum , n : (Ancient Greece, religion) The innermost sanctuary or shrine in an ancient temple, from where oracles were given. (by extension) A private chamber; a sanctum. Today is Greece’s Independence Day, which marks the day in 1821 when the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire was declared.

bulldog clip: Word of the day for March 23, 2019

bulldog clip , n : A binder clip with rigid handles. (surgery) A surgical instrument with serrated jaws and a spring-loaded handle used to grip blood vessels or similar organs. Today is celebrated as National Puppy Day in the United States. The commemoration was founded in 2006 by Colleen Paige to celebrate the relationship between young dogs and humans, and to promote adoption of orphaned puppies and highlight the cruelty of puppy mills.

jar: Word of the day for March 18, 2019

jar , v : (transitive) To preserve (food) in a jar. […] (transitive) To knock, shake, or strike sharply, especially causing a quivering or vibrating movement. (transitive) To harm or injure by such action. (transitive, figuratively) To shock or surprise. (transitive, figuratively) To act in disagreement or opposition, to clash, to be at odds with; to interfere; to dispute, to quarrel. (transitive, intransitive) To (cause something to) give forth a rudely tremulous or quivering sound; to (cause something to) sound discordantly or harshly. (intransitive) To quiver or vibrate due to being shaken or struck. (intransitive, figuratively) Of the appearance, form, style, etc., of people and things: to look strangely different; to stand out awkwardly from its surroundings; to be incongruent.

growl: Word of the day for March 16, 2019

growl , v : (intransitive) To utter a deep guttural sound, as an angry animal; to give forth an angry, grumbling sound. (intransitive, jazz) Of a wind instrument: to produce a low-pitched rumbling sound. (intransitive, software) To send a user a message via the Growl software library. (transitive) To express (something) by growling. (transitive, jazz) To play a wind instrument in a way that produces a low-pitched rumbling sound.

slugabed: Word of the day for March 15, 2019

slugabed , n : (archaic, now chiefly Canada, US) A lazy person who lies in bed after the usual time for getting up; a sluggard. Today is World Sleep Day in 2019, an event organized by the World Sleep Society to highlight the benefits of healthy sleep and the burden of sleep problems, and to promote the prevention and management of sleep disorders.

ledger: Word of the day for March 13, 2019

ledger , n : A book for keeping notes, especially one for keeping accounting records; a record book, a register. A large, flat stone, especially one laid over a tomb. (accounting) A collection of accounting entries consisting of credits and debits. (construction) A board attached to a wall to provide support for attaching other structural elements (such as deck joists or roof rafters) to a building. (fishing) Short for ledger bait (“fishing bait attached to a floating line fastened to the bank of a pond, stream, etc.”) or ledger line (“fishing line used with ledger bait for bottom fishing; ligger”).

ply: Word of the day for March 9, 2019

ply , v : (transitive, obsolete) To bend; to fold; to mould; (figuratively) to adapt, to modify; to change (a person's) mind, to cause (a person) to submit. (intransitive) To bend, to flex; to be bent by something, to give way or yield (to a force, etc.). […] (transitive) To work at (something) diligently. (transitive) To wield or use (a tool, a weapon, etc.) steadily or vigorously. (transitive) To press upon; to urge persistently. (transitive) To persist in offering something to, especially for the purpose of inducement or persuasion. (transitive, transport) To travel over (a route) regularly. (intransitive, obsolete) To work diligently. (intransitive, nautical, obsolete) To manoeuvre a sailing vessel so that the direction of the wind changes from one side of the vessel to the other; to work to windward, to beat, to tack.

muliebrity: Word of the day for March 8, 2019

muliebrity , n : (literary) The state or quality of being a woman; the features of a woman's nature; femininity, womanhood. (literary) The state of attainment of womanhood following maidenhood. (physiology) The state of puberty in a female. Today is designated by the United Nations as International Women’s Day, which commemorates the movement for women’s rights.

periodic table: Word of the day for March 6, 2019

periodic table , n : (chemistry) A tabular chart of the chemical elements according to their atomic numbers so that elements with similar properties are in the same group (column). On this day 150 years ago in 1869, Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev presented the first periodic table of elements to the Russian Chemical Society. In commemoration of this achievement, the United Nations General Assembly and UNESCO have proclaimed 2019 the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements.

dekulakize: Word of the day for March 5, 2019

dekulakize , v : (transitive, historical) Usually with reference to the Soviet Union and communist Eastern Europe: to dispossess (a kulak, that is, a prosperous peasant) of his or her property and/or rights. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, whose administration implemented policies of collectivization and dekulakization in the 1920s and 1930s, died on this day in 1953.

triangulation: Word of the day for March 3, 2019

triangulation , n : (uncountable, surveying) A technique in which distances and directions are estimated from an accurately measured baseline and the principles of trigonometry. (countable, surveying) The network of triangles so obtained, that are the basis of a chart or map. (countable, chess) A delaying move in which the king moves in a triangular path to force the advance of a pawn. (uncountable, navigation, seismology) A process by which an unknown location is found using three known distances from known locations. (uncountable, politics) The practice of repositioning one's group or oneself on the political spectrum in an attempt to capture the centre. (uncountable, qualitative research) The use of three (or more) researchers to interview the same people or to evaluate the same evidence to reduce the impact of individual bias.