Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from March, 2021

bakfiets: Word of the day for April 1, 2021

bakfiets , n : (cycling, originally Netherlands) A bicycle or tricycle with a long wheelbase between the front wheel and handlebars holding a large box, originally used to transport goods but now more commonly for carrying young children. fat bikes n (cycling, winter sports) plural of fat bike (“a bicycle equipped with larger than normal tyres and a wider frame to accommodate them, which provides better traction on off-road surfaces such as sand or snow”) To celebrate April Fools’ Day, we are featuring a series of anagrams. Enjoy!

stifle: Word of the day for March 27, 2021

stifle , v : (transitive, also figuratively) To make (an animal or person) unconscious or cause (an animal or person) death by preventing breathing; to smother, to suffocate. (transitive, hyperbolic) To cause (someone) difficulty in breathing, or a choking or gagging feeling. (transitive, also figuratively) To prevent (a breath, cough, or cry, or the voice, etc.) from being released from the throat. (transitive) To make (something) unable to be heard by blocking it with some medium. (transitive, figuratively) (transitive) To keep in, hold back, or repress (something). (transitive) To prevent (something) from being revealed; to conceal, to hide, to suppress. (transitive, agriculture (sericulture)) To treat (a silkworm cocoon) with steam as part of the process of silk production. (intransitive) To die of suffocation. (intransitive, hyperbolic) To feel smothered; to find it difficult to breathe. stifle n (rare) An act or state of being stifled. [...]

waffle: Word of the day for March 26, 2021

waffle , n : (countable, originally US) A flat pastry pressed with a grid pattern, often eaten hot with butter and/or honey or syrup. (countable, Britain) In full potato waffle: a savoury flat potato cake with the same kind of grid pattern. (construction, also attributively) A concrete slab used in flooring with a gridlike structure of ribs running at right angles to each other on its underside. (textiles, chiefly attributively) A type of fabric woven with a honeycomb texture. waffle v (transitive, slang) To smash (something). [...] Yesterday, the Feast of the Annunciation, was celebrated in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden as Waffle Day with the eating of waffles. The tradition originated from the similarity of Swedish Vårfrudagen (“Our Lady’s Day, that is, the Feast of the Annunciation”) to Våffeldagen (“waffle day”).

homo Aristophaneus: Word of the day for March 25, 2021

homo Aristophaneus , n : (linguistics, rare) A person with the characteristics and nature depicted in the comedies of the ancient Athenian playwright Aristophanes (c. 446 – c. 386 B.C.E.) as a literary figure, rather than a historically accurate Athenian person; an Aristophanic man. Today is Εορτασμός της Ελληνικής Επανάστασης του 1821, the Celebration of the Greek Revolution of 1821, which marks the start of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire on this day 200 years ago in 1821, and is Greece’s Independence Day.

hocus-pocus: Word of the day for March 24, 2021

hocus-pocus , interj : A phrase used (by a stage magician, etc.) as a magical incantation to bring about some change: abracadabra, hey presto. hocus-pocus n (uncountable) Some ineffectual action or speech, especially if intended to divert attention; nonsense. (uncountable, derogatory) Religious or supernatural phenomena one holds to be nonsense or mere trickery; superstitious mumbo-jumbo. (countable, uncountable, chiefly US, also attributively) Some action carried out to bring about change as if by magic; a trick; sleight of hand, trickery. (countable, obsolete) A conjurer. (countable, obsolete) A conjurer's trick. hocus-pocus v (transitive, intransitive, colloquial, dated) To play tricks or practise sleight of hand (on someone); (by extension) to cheat, to deceive. The American escape artist and illusionist Harry Houdini was born on this day in 1874.

pea-souper: Word of the day for March 23, 2021

pea-souper , n : (Britain, Canada, informal) A dense, yellowish fog, often mixed with smoke; a pea-soup fog, a smog. (Canada, slang, derogatory) A French-Canadian person, especially a Francophone from the province of Québec. Today is World Meteorological Day, which is recognized by the United Nations to highlight the contribution that national meteorological and hydrological services make to the safety and well-being of society.

felicity: Word of the day for March 21, 2021

felicity , n : (uncountable) Happiness; (countable) an instance of this. (uncountable) An apt and pleasing style in speech, writing, etc.; (countable) an apt and pleasing choice of words. (uncountable, rare) Good luck; success; (countable) An instance of unexpected good luck; a stroke of luck; also, a lucky characteristic. (uncountable, semiotics) Reproduction of a sign with fidelity. (countable) Something that is either a source of happiness or particularly apt. Yesterday was the International Day of Happiness, which is recognized by the United Nations to highlight the need for a more inclusive approach to economic growth that promotes sustainable development and the eradication of poverty for the happiness and well-being of all peoples.

in the arms of Morpheus: Word of the day for March 19, 2021

in the arms of Morpheus , prepositional phrase : (literary, figuratively) Asleep, sleeping. (by extension, figuratively) In a state of being completely forgotten, or of unawareness. Today, the Friday before the March equinox, is World Sleep Day in 2021, 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.

argument: Word of the day for March 18, 2021

argument , n : (countable, also figuratively) A fact or statement used to support a proposition; a reason. (logic, philosophy) A series of propositions organized so that the final proposition is a conclusion which is intended to follow logically from the preceding propositions, which function as premises. (countable) A process of reasoning; argumentation. (countable) An abstract or summary, as of the contents of a book, chapter, or poem; (figuratively) the contents themselves. (countable) A verbal dispute; a quarrel. (countable, linguistics) Any of the phrases that bears a syntactic connection to the verb of a clause. (countable, mathematics) The independent variable of a function. The phase of a complex number. (also astronomy) A quantity on which the calculation of another quantity depends. (countable, programming) A value, or a reference to a value, passed to a function. A parameter at a function call; an actual parameter, as opposed to a formal parameter. (countable, obsolete) A...

minx: Word of the day for March 16, 2021

minx , n : A flirtatious, impudent, or pert young woman. (derogatory, dated) A promiscuous woman; also, a mistress (“the other woman in an extramarital relationship”) or a prostitute. (obsolete) A pet dog. minx v (transitive, intransitive) Used transitively when followed by it: to behave like a minx, that is, in a flirtatious and impudent manner. (transitive) To make (someone) like a minx; (intransitive) to become like a minx.

corona: Word of the day for March 15, 2021

corona , n : A large, round, pendent chandelier, with spikes around its upper rim to hold candles or lamps, usually hung from the roof of a church. (anatomy) An upper or crownlike portion of certain parts of the body. [...] (astronomy) The luminous plasma atmosphere of the Sun (the solar corona) or other star, extending millions of kilometres into space, most easily seen during a total solar eclipse. (also geology) An oval-shaped astrogeological feature, present on both the planet Venus and Uranus's moon Miranda, probably formed by upwellings of warm material below the surface. (biology) Any appendage of an organism that resembles a crown or corona [...] (electricity) A luminous appearance caused by corona discharge, often seen as a bluish glow in the air adjacent to pointed metal conductors carrying high voltages. (by extension) Any luminous or crownlike ring around an object or person. [...] (Ancient Rome, historical) A crown or garland bestowed among the Romans as a reward fo...

relativity: Word of the day for March 14, 2021

relativity , n : (uncountable) The state of being relative to something else; the absence of universally applicable rules or standards; relativism; (countable) an instance of this. (uncountable, physics) Short for principle of relativity (“the principle that the laws of physics should be the same for all observers”). (specifically) Also Einsteinian relativity: the reliance of the nature of physical phenomena (such as gravity, light, mass, and time) on the relative motion between an observer and the thing observed, as developed by Albert Einstein in two theories, special relativity and general relativity. (countable, chiefly in the plural) An evaluation of the similarities and differences between things; a comparison; hence, a difference in position or status between things; a disparity. (economics, specifically) The difference in pay or positions between different employees in a business (internal relativity), or between different businesses (external relativity); a differential. Th...

nexus: Word of the day for March 13, 2021

nexus , n : A form or state of connection. (Canada, US, finance, law) The relationship between a vendor and a jurisdiction for the purpose of taxation, established for example by the vendor operating a physical store in that jurisdiction. A connected group; a network, a web. A centre or focus of something. (grammar) In the work of the Danish linguist Otto Jespersen (1860–1943): a group of words expressing two concepts in one unit (such as a clause or sentence). (Ancient Rome, law, historical) A person who had contracted a nexum or obligation of such a kind that, if they failed to pay, their creditor could compel them to work as a servant until the debt was paid; an indentured servant.

nonpareil: Word of the day for March 12, 2021

nonpareil , adj : (frequently postpositive) Unequalled, unrivalled; unique. nonpareil n (countable) A person or thing that has no equal; a paragon. (countable, biology) The blue underwing or Clifden nonpareil (Catocala fraxini), a species of moth distributed across the Palearctic; also (obsolete) any of a number of moths of other species. (chiefly Australia, archaic) In full nonpareil parrot: the eastern rosella (Platycercus eximius), a species of rosella (parrot) native to southeastern Australia. (chiefly US) The painted bunting (Passerina ciris), a brightly-coloured finch native to North America. (archaic) In full nonpareil apple: a variety of apple tasting both sweet and tart which ripens very late in the season; also, the tree producing this fruit. (countable, chiefly US, cooking) (archaic) Any of various types of small sweets. (by extension, dated) A small pellet of white or coloured sugar used as decoration on baked goods and candy. (by extension) A small, flat chocolate drop ...

rebus: Word of the day for March 11, 2021

rebus , n : An arrangement of pictures, symbols, and/or words representing phrases or words, especially as a word puzzle. (specifically, heraldry) An arrangement of pictures on a coat of arms which suggests the name of the person to whom it belongs. rebus v (transitive, obsolete, rare) To represent (a phrase or word) as a rebus. To apply a rebus to (something).

solemn: Word of the day for March 10, 2021

solemn , adj : (religion, specifically Christianity) Of or pertaining to religious ceremonies and rites; (generally) religious in nature; sacred. (by extension) Characterized by or performed with appropriate or great ceremony or formality. Deeply serious and sombre; grave. Inspiring serious feelings or thoughts; sombrely impressive. (obsolete) Cheerless, gloomy, sombre.

a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle: Word of the day for March 8, 2021

a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle , phrase : (figuratively, humorous, simile) A woman is capable of living a complete and independent life without a man. Today is International Women’s Day, which is commemorated by the United Nations to recognize women’s achievements and to promote their rights and participation in economic and political spheres.

drop: Word of the day for March 6, 2021

drop , v : (intransitive) Of a liquid: to fall in drops or droplets. (intransitive, also figuratively) To fall (straight down) under the influence of gravity, like a drop of liquid. (intransitive) To fall or sink quickly or suddenly to the ground. [...] (intransitive) Usually followed by by, in, or into: of a person: to visit someone or somewhere informally or without a prior appointment. (intransitive, computing, music, television, colloquial) Of a programme, software, a music album or song, etc.: to enter public distribution. [...] (transitive) To drip (a liquid) in drops or small amounts. (transitive, ergative, also figuratively) To let (something) fall; to allow (something) to fall (either by releasing hold of, or losing one's grip on). [...] (transitive) To mention (something) casually or incidentally, usually in conversation. (transitive) To let (a letter, etc.) fall into a postbox; hence, to send (a letter, email, or other message) in an offhand manner. [...] (transitive)...

constitutional: Word of the day for March 4, 2021

constitutional , adj : Belonging to, or inherent in, the constitution or structure of one's body or mind. For the benefit of one's constitution or health. Relating to the constitution or composition of something; essential, fundamental. (law) Relating to a legal or political constitution (“the basic law of a nation or institution; the formal or informal system of primary principles and laws that regulates a government or other institution”). (law) In compliance with or valid under a legal or political constitution. (law, politics) Of a monarch: having a purely ceremonial role, or possessing powers limited by a constitution rather than plenary or unlimited powers. constitutional n A walk that is taken regularly for good health and wellbeing. The Constitution of the United States came into force on this day in 1789.

catamount: Word of the day for March 2, 2021

catamount , n : (US) A wild animal of the family Felidae, especially the cougar or puma (Puma concolor). (obsolete) Synonym of catamountain (“a leopard, a panther (Panthera pardus))”) Today is the eve of World Wildlife Day, which is recognized by the United Nations to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s wild fauna and flora.