#145252 - 11/23/07 11:40 PM
Re: Word of the Day
[Re: D. Allan]
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Panning for gold
Registered: 08/28/00
Posts: 3883
Loc: les Etats-Unis d'Amerique
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postprandial \post-PRAN-dee-uhl\, adjective:
Happening or done after a meal.
A gourmand who zealously avoids all exercise as "seriously damaging to one's health," he had caviar for breakfast and was now having oysters for lunch, whetted with wine, as he fueled himself for a postprandial reading at the Montauk Club in Brooklyn.
-- Mel Gussow, "The Man Who Put Horace Rumpole on the Case", New York Times, April 12, 1995
When I wake up in the morning, I can have my usual breakfast -- a slightly bizarre concoction of three kinds of cold cereal topped with grapes and a cup of decaf -- and then stagger back to bed for a postprandial snooze.
-- Sylvan Fox, "It's Less Hectic Staying Put In One Place", Newsday, April 3, 1994
Postprandial is from post- + prandial, from Latin prandium, "a late breakfast or lunch."
- Dictionary.com
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#145391 - 11/25/07 01:40 AM
Re: Word of the Day
[Re: D. Allan]
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Panning for gold
Registered: 08/28/00
Posts: 3883
Loc: les Etats-Unis d'Amerique
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an·ti·ma·cas·sar (ān'tĭ-mə-kās'ər) noun:
A protective covering for the backs of chairs and sofas.
[anti- + Macassar, a brand of hair oil.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
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antimacassar
coined 1852, from anti- + macassar oil, imported hair tonic from Sulawesi. Cloth to protect chair and sofa fabric from people leaning their oily heads back against it.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
------------------------------------------------
Ma·cas·sar –noun
a former name of Ujung Pandang.
Also, Makassar, Makasar.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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Makassar, (Macassar, Mangkasar) is the provincial capital of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and the largest city on Sulawesi Island. From 1971 to 1999, the city was formally named Ujung Pandang, after a precolonial fort in the city, and the two names are often used interchangeably. ...
Economy
The city is southern Sulawesi's primary port, with regular domestic and international shipping connections. It is nationally famous as an important port of call for the pinisi boats, sailing ships which are among the last in use for regular long-distance trade.
During the colonial era, the city was famous for being the namesake of Makassar oil, which it exported in great quantity. Makassar ebony is a warm black, streaked with deep red, and highly prized for fine cabinetry and veneers.
-Wikipedia
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#145552 - 11/27/07 06:20 PM
Re: Word of the Day
[Re: D. Allan]
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Panning for gold
Registered: 08/28/00
Posts: 3883
Loc: les Etats-Unis d'Amerique
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kvetch \KVECH\:
1. To complain habitually.
noun:
1. A complaint.
2. A habitual complainer.
People kvetched when someone else wouldn't relinquish his position.
-- Barry Lopez, "Before the Temple of Fire.", Harper's Magazine, January 1998
They begin to look like malcontents who kvetch about the weather so much that they don't notice the sun coming out.
-- David Shenk, "Slamming Gates", The New Republic, January 26, 1998
Time for my biennial kvetch about the West End theatre.
-- Simon Hoggart, "Hose bans, petrol mania: saying 'don't panic' always triggers chaos", The Guardian, November 4, 2000
He's just a very up person, she says, which is odd, because he is also a big complainer, a class-A kvetch.
-- Penny Wolfson, "Moonrise", The Atlantic, December 2001
He had difficulty getting American publishers for his later novels, partly because of his self-created image by then as a crusty old kvetch.
-- Geoffrey Wheatcroft, "What Kingsley Can Teach Martin", The Atlantic, September 2000
Kvetch comes from Yiddish kvetshn, "to squeeze, to complain," from Middle High German quetzen, quetschen, "to squeeze."
Dictionary.com Entry
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#145655 - 11/29/07 01:18 AM
Re: Word of the Day
[Re: D. Allan]
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Panning for gold
Registered: 08/28/00
Posts: 3883
Loc: les Etats-Unis d'Amerique
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soi-disant \swah-dee-ZAHN\, adjective:
Self-styled; so-called.
The study exposes most varieties of 'human resource management' as a complete waste ofttimes promoted by soi-disant gurus and self-serving consultants with an eye for a quick buck.
-- "Support for an old-fashioned view", Independent, May 12, 1994
The troupe, soi-disant egalitarians, mostly turn out to be royal phonies.
-- Craig Offman, "Whiz Kid", Time, February 1, 1999
Soi-disant comes from the French, from soi, "oneself" + disant, "saying," present participle of dire, "to say."
Dictionary.com Entry
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#145722 - 11/29/07 09:32 PM
Re: Word of the Day
[Re: D. Allan]
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Panning for gold
Registered: 08/28/00
Posts: 3883
Loc: les Etats-Unis d'Amerique
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favonian • \fuh-VOH-nee-un\ • adjective
: of or relating to the west wind : mild
Example Sentence:
A favonian wind blew across the plains, a welcome sign of spring's imminent arrival.
Did you know?
In "Ode to the West Wind," poet Percy Bysshe Shelley called the "wild West Wind" the "breath of Autumn's being." But according to Greco-Roman tradition, the west wind was warm and usually gentle. Its Latin name, "Favonius," is the basis for the English adjective "favonian" and derives from roots that are akin to the Latin "fovēre," meaning "to warm." "Zephyros," a Greek name for the west wind, is the ultimate source of "zephyr," meaning "a gentle breeze." In Greco-Roman tradition, it was the north wind, Boreas (aka Aquilo), who was the rude and blustery type.
-Merriam-Webster online
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#145910 - 12/01/07 04:30 PM
Re: Word of the Day
[Re: D. Allan]
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Panning for gold
Registered: 08/28/00
Posts: 3883
Loc: les Etats-Unis d'Amerique
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nuance • \NOO-ahnss\ • noun
*1 : a subtle distinction or variation
2 : a subtle quality : nicety
3 : sensibility to, awareness of, or ability to express delicate shadings (as of meaning, feeling, or value)
Example Sentence:
Because she wanted to set her novel in New England, the author spent three months in New Hampshire learning the nuances of the local dialect.
Did you know?
The history of "nuance" starts in Latin with the noun "nubes," meaning "cloud." "Nubes" floated into Middle French as "nue," also meaning "cloud," and "nue" gave rise to "nuer," meaning "to make shades of color." "Nuer" in turn produced "nuance," which in Middle French meant "shade of color." English borrowed "nuance" from French, with the meaning "a subtle distinction or variation," in the late 18th century. That use persists today. Additionally, "nuance" is sometimes used in a specific musical sense, designating a subtle, expressive variation in a musical performance (such as in tempo, dynamic intensity, or timbre) that is not indicated in the score.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
- Merriam Webster online
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