Desultory

Coming from a word, in the 1500's, refering to a rider who jumps from one horse to another, 'desultory' is used to describe something random, fitful, and lacking consistency or order. Also, disconnected. It can refer to conversation, as in straying from the main subject.

Brio

Live with brio! This means with vigor, energy, vivacity. Put some 'umph' into your regular old day-to-day activities, some italian-sounding flourish!

Sere

This is an adjective meaning 'dry' or 'withered.' Usually it is used in reference to grass or vegetation that has dried up, and the month of August used to be referred to as "sere month." It is related to the word sear, as in searing hot.

Limn

Pronounced "lim," this word means to draw, paint, or describe in writing. It is related to the word "illuminate," as it is a way of portraying and/or depicting various things.

Irenic

No, this is not a misspelling of the Alanis Morisette song; irenic means peaceful, conciliatory, and/or to promote peace.

Quotidian

This blog aims to be quotidian [kwoh-tid-ee-uhn], which means 'occuring daily,' although during the summer months does not always acheive this goal. Since something quotidian, such as a fever, or report, occurs daily, this word has also come to refer to the commonplace qualities of things, such as a quotidian painting, of 'everyday' quality.

Edacious

To be edacious means to be devouring or consuming (food) voraciously.

Mellifluous

Smoothly flowing or sweet-sounding, as in a melliflous voice or musical tone.

Maunder

This word is kind of an amalgum of the words 'wander' and 'meander;' it means to talk or walk (or move) in a foolish, rambling sort of way.

Melee

A melee (pronounced may-lay or mey-ley) is a confused jumble, mess, or fight. You can have a melee of rush hour traffic, or a melee of a busy shopping day, for example.

Aestival

This word is used to describe pretty much anything relating to summer. For example, is is an aestival semester.

Susurrus

This is an onomatopoetic word, or, one that sounds like what it means; susurrus refers to the sound of a whisper, murmur, or rustling. It is pronounced /soo-sur-uh s/

Rudiment

As an example, 'the rudiments of a plan' refers to the very beginnings, the slightest start, of that plan. This semester, then, is in a rudimentary, or beginning, stage.

Denouement

The outcome or resolution of a series of occurences, for example, finals week is the denouement of a stressful semester! Also means the 'conclusion' or 'end.'

Salubrious

Many things can be salubrious, for example, air or food. It means 'healthful' or, 'promoting of good health.' As a 12 year old I once used this word in the following sentence in a journal: "We had salubrious rice and corn for dinner tonight!"

Concatenate

Concatenate is primarily a word used in computer science and means to merge or link something together. It comes from the Latin "linked together."

Peruse

This verb means to survey, read, or examine extensively, and in great detail. Example: We must peruse our texts in preparation for finals!

Overextend

This is what you do NOT want to do during finals! To overextend oneself is to extend or to reach further than is safe or reasonable . . . it is also used to mean to obligate oneself to more activities than one can accomplish well.

Ratiocinate

Pronounced *rash-ee-us-uh-nate*, this word means reason, or to think or argue logically.

Animus

Animus has two very differing definitions that link back to the word's Latin origin. In one sense, animus has a negative connotation and means ill will or open hostility. For example, "Spartan animus towards anything non-Spartan is reknowned." The word, however, can become confusing when when used in it other sense which mean disposition or motivation: "Alexander's animus to conquer the world is reknowned." The original Latin means "motivation or intellect." How it came to mean ill-will is reflected in the word animosity.

Inure

To inure is to become habbituated or accustomed to something.

Venerate

One may venerate another by regarding or treating them with deep respect and/or awe. This verb is related to the word venus, which means love/desire.

Vernal

Vernal means in, of or pertaining to the season of spring. The spring equinox, for example, is often called the vernal equinox. The word comes from the Latin ver which means, appropriatley enough, spring*.

*Spring, by the way, is a shortened version of the older spring tide.

Obtuse

This is an adjective meaning 'blunt' and/or 'not sharp' used to describe objects, and, less kindly, people who are not acting observant or alert.

Oblast

Oblast is a fairly uncommon loanword to the English Language from Russian. It refers specifically to a political division in soviet countries. The closest equivelant we have is province.

Oblation

An oblation is a sacred offering to a diety. In Christianity this is often the bread and the wine of the Eucharist.

Obdurate

Obdurate means stubborn or persistent and usually refers to wrong-doing, such as a hardened criminal might exhibit. Nevertheless, it is also used in describing someone who has become resistant to emotions and or is just hard-hearted and stubborn. Obdurate comes from the Latin "to harden." -dur in the middle of the word can be found in other words such as durable which also conotates to hardness or toughness.

Eulogize

To eulogize is to praise highly, in speech or in writing. For example, we tend to provide eulogies formally at funerals. A eulogy can be like an epic poem, praising a person's wonderful qualities.

Objurgate

This means to scold or reprimand sharply and critically, or to express strong disapproval of something or someone. It resembles closely and stems from the latin verb meaning "to rebuke."

Maudlin

Maudlin is mostly used negatively to indicate something that is overly emotion-laden or foolishly sentimental. Slushy or gushy are more colloquial terms for such bathos. It derrives from Mary Magdalene who was portrayed iconographically in paintings as weeping.

Choleric

A choleric person is easily moved to anger, given that choler or yellow bile was the humor of anger.

Melancholoy

Sad, gloomy, and depressed are appropriate words that describe melancholy. Like the other humors, it is connected to a bodily fluid--this time black bile. One supposes that too much black bile is never good for anyone. Interestingly enough, instead of sadness, melancholy's nature was laziness.

Sanguine

A sanguine person is very happy and generally optimistic. It is one of the humors and derives from the French for "blood." Blood was sometimes considered to be the fire of the body (and the heart was the furnace) although in the case of the humors, choler takes on that function.

Humors

Referring to the four fluids anciently considered the substances of the human body . . . also associated with the four 'elements.' Blood corresponded to fire, Phlegm to water, Black Bile to earth, and Yellow Bile to Air. Imbalances of these fluids were thought to be the cause of most human illnesses, as well as personality traits and characteristics.

Phlegmatic

Phlegmatic describes a person who is calm and lacks emotion. It does indeed derive from "phlegm" in that to the ancients, phlegm was the body's calming agent. We'll explore the other humors, as they are called, in the next little while. (Well at least I will. I don't know what likeaduck has in store for us.)

Hyperkinesis

Hyperkinesis is the medical term for cramp or a muscle that is in spasm. It is also used in psychiatry to indicate children who are hyperactive and have a difficult time concentrating. It is Greek for "above normal motion."

Effect

An effect is a result of something which caused it, i.e. cause-and-effect. One thing (a push) causes another thing (a fall) and the fall would be the effect, or result, of the push.

Caper

Caper means to skip or jump around as a child might. Metaphorically it has come to mean a far-fetched story or a mystery. The Hardy Boys, for example, are not attempting to figure out how to jump but are trying to solve a mystery.

Affect

This is a verb, an action which means to impress or move. It can also mean to produce change in something. Music can affect one deeply, for example.

Convoluted

Convoluted literally means having overlapping coils or shells, like a nautilus. Metaphorically it takes on the notion of complexity or intricacy. A convoluted argument is one that has many twists and turns and is difficult to understand.

Complement

Complement means to fill up or complete. A full complement, therefore, means something is a complete set. Complement derives from the Latin "to fill up or complete."

Compliment

In English we use this word as either a noun or a verb in different contexts. As nouns, or objects, compliments are commonly given to be courteous, civil, or kind; they are considered gifts.
Examples: "Your hair is done so nicely," "Your smile brightens the room!"
When complimenting people, implying a verb or action, we can be congragulating or bestowing an honor upon others.
Example: "They complimented us by throwing a party in our honor"
We received this word from Spanish roots, rising from the word 'comply' and the ending '-ment.'

Capriole

A capriole is a specific move in horsemanship or dressage where the horse leaps from the ground and kicks out her hind legs out (see video). The word originally referred to a dance move where, one assumes, the human kicked his or her legs into the air in similar fashion to the horse. The word is related to caper: to dance or jump about.

Morphology

In linguistics, morphology is the study of the form of words. In science (most particularly biology) it means the study of the form or structure of phenomena. Morphological biology studies the form and structure of living things, such as how bacteria are structured. Linguistically, morphology refers to the how words are structured and concerns itself with elements that act as building blocks for words. For example, linguistic morphology is interested in how "asks" differs from "asked" to indicated a specific sense of time based out of the root "ask." It comes from the Greek morphe--"form" combined with the suffix -ology--the study of a particular subject.

Saturnine

To be gloomy and slow to move is to be saturnine. The word, indeed, does derive from the planet Saturn: the slowest moving planet visible to the naked eye. The planet was associated with Saturn, the king of the Titans--the predecessor of the famous Olympian gods. No doubt the gloomy nature of the word comes not from its divine origin, but more from the association with astronomer's surroundings: the dark.

Discombobulated

To Discombobulate some thing or person is to utterly confuse, upset, or frustrate it or them, "throw[ing them] into a state of confusion." (American Heritage Dictionary) A person can be discombobulated by multiple others harrassing him or her for information. An animal can be discombobulated by a small child picking it up, turning it in circles, chasing it around and then pulling it's tail.

Bucolic

Bucolic indicates something that comes from the country or reminds one of rural life or pastoral pursuits. It is a highly poetic word, given the hardscrabble life that many farmers and other country folk had to endure. It derives from the Greek bous--ox given that a boukolous was an oxherd .

Bellicose

Bellicose means war-like, combative, or hostile. It derives from the Latin bellum or war. It is often confused with bombastic (which makes sense, given the bellicose nature of that word.)

Torrent

A torrent is a fast-moving stream of water or other liquid. Like the other T-words in the past few days, it is often confused with other meanings. For example, many people assume that torrent means storm, simply because it is used metaphorically since heavy rain could be seen as being so intense that it is just like a river.

Torrid

Torrid means hot and dry. A desert is a torrid place. Torrid is often used metaphorically to refer to something that is enticing or alluring, despite the rather desiccated nature of the word.

Turgid

Turgid means swollen or bloated. It is often used metaphorically to describe writing that is verbose or overwrought.

Turbid

Turbid means a muddy appearing liquid (or color). The Colorado River, for example, can be described as turbid. Metaphorically, turbid refers to ideas that are muddied or confused.

Febrile

Febrile means feverish but is most often used as an adjective to describe a great deal of nervous excitement or energy: "The politician's febrile response to his opponent's speech caused anxiety amongst the voters in his district." It derives from the Latin febrilis--fever.

Marplot

Just like it sounds, marplot is a person who ruins a plan or an event. (The word comes from mar+plot.

Paramnesia

Paramnesia is a psychological disorder in which the afflicted cannot tell dreams or fantasy from waking life. The mental state of déjà vu--a feeling that something has happened before is sometimes identified with this disorder.

Asperity

Asperity means rigor, severity, harshness in general or, (denoting the origins of the word) a rough surface or something that is uneven.

Perturbation

Perturbation has two distinct meanings depending on the context in which it is used. When used in physics or sciences such as astronomy, perturbation means a deviation of a system (sometimes slight). For example, in astronomy gravity occasionally causes deviations in the orbit of a celestial body. This is called a perturbation. However, when referring to human beings, it means mental unease or anxiety. A person's perturbations, therefore, are disturbances of her or his emotional state. While this disturbance is relevant to deviation, as an emotion perturbation appears to relate much more closely to the Latin which the word derives from: "to disturb greatly." Generally we are more familiar with the verb form "to perturb" when talking about states of mind. Being perturbed is not generally seen as something slight or minor, but it certainly is enraged either.

Pinchbeck

When pinchbeck is used derisively it means fake. When it is used less-derisively it means imitation. It is an eponym, or a word that is define from a proper name of an actual person or place. (See watt below.) In this case pinchbeck comes from the 18th century London chemist Christopher Pinchbeck who invented an imitation gold made from copper and zinc.

Awry

Awry usually means something is not working or not functioning the way they should, as in His plans to write a blog have gone awry. Awry, however, can also mean askew or crooked. Awry is a conflation of "wry" and "a-" which in Old English meant "on." In fact, according to the OED, "on wry" is the first noted use of awry.

Haze

As mentioned under smog the pleasant-sounding word haze is used often to indicate air pollution. The editors of Word! feel compelled to make a correction in calling haze a euphemism of smog. Haze can, indeed, be caused by smoke particles. It can also be caused by dust or water or anything in the atmosphere that "obscures the normal clarity of the sky" (Wikipedia: Haze). We apologize for the error, but still feel that "haze" is used as a way of making pollution sound somehow pleasant. Haze comes from the Old English haswa which means "dusky."

Smog

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, smog, a thoroughly unpleasant word used to describe air pollution, was first referenced in July of 1905 in the Daily Graphic. One Dr. des Voeux, treasurer of the Coal Smoke Abatement Society, is said to have used the term in a paper delivered to Congress. Suitably enough, smog, is a conflation of "smoke" and "fog." Euphemisms abound for smog in smog-bound cities. Haze is a particularly troubling one.

Opine

To opine as a verb means to express and authorotative opinion about a topic. It comes from the latin "to think."

Pinion

As a noun the pinion is the outermost part of a bird's wing--especially when extended in flight. The verb to pinion (to restrain) comes from this, in that birds that a pinioned have their flight feather tied back or restrained.

Fête

Despite its French appearance, fête is a word that has been in the English language at least since Middle English (think medieval). It does indeed come from the French feste, however, and is one of the few words in English that has an accent mark. Fête, as a noun, means a celebration. As a verb it means to laud someone or throw them a party.

Watt

A watt is the unit of measurement for electricity. It is equivalent to one joule per second (which is the force of one newton moving 1 meter per second in the direction of the force). One newton is equivalent to the force need to give one kilogram of matter an acceleration of one meter per second per second. Not sure what all that means? Neither is your tireless lexicographer. But I do know the next time that I flip on that 60 watt light bulb, there is a whole lot of shaking going on.

The watt, as with other terms used in physics, derives from the Scottish inventor James Watt, born on this day in 1736. (The newton was named for Isaac Newton and the joule was named for James Prescott Joule.)

Polymath

Given that it is the birthday of renowned physician and scholar Peter Mark Roget, the word for today is polymath. A polymath is a person with a vast amount of knowledge or learning. Roget was a polymath because he did not only concern himself with being a medical doctor, but was also very knowledgeable about literature and language and invented the ever-useful thesaurus. Polymath comes from the Greek meaning "having learned much." Poly- meaning "much" and -math deriving from manthanein--"to learn."

Bookworm

As I indicated yesterday, a bookworm is a person who loves to read and spends a great deal of time doing it. There is a great deal of folk etymology surrounding this word. Folk etymology for those of you who don't know, is a commonly accepted, but difficult to verify origin of a word. In this case, the word bookworm is often said to be derived from the an actual insect that infects books. There is an insect (anobium or furniture beatle) that may also chow down on your favorite book, but it turns out that the holes that one might occasionally find in books are most likely not caused by a single so-called bookworm insect, but more likely by a host of insects including, I hate to say it, cockroach larvae and the insect silverfish. The application of bookworm to human beings is supposedly a connotation or metaphorical use (like we've already seen with the word rampant.) Some dispute this connection in that according to the OED, bookworm seems to have been first applied to humans and then was only later (1855 to be exact) applied to insects that devour the pages of a book).

Bibliophily

Bibliophily is the love of books--not necessarily for their content, but more because of their format. In other words a bibliophile loves books in general and may even collect them. A bookworm, on the other hand, loves to read and the format of what she is reading doesn't necessarily matter. Bibliophily derives from the Greek words for both book (biblio-) and love (-phily).