bivouac: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Thursday, March 31, 2011 bivouac \BIV-wak, BIV-uh-wak\, noun: 1. An encampment for the night, usually under little or no shelter. intransitive verb: 1. To encamp for the night, usually under little or no shelter. Rob had made his emergency bivouac just below the South Summit. -- David Breashears, "Death on the mountain", The Observer, March 30, 2003 They were stopped by savage winds and forced to bivouac 153 m below the day's goal. -- Erik Weihenmayer, "Men of the Mountain", Time Pacific, February 4, 2002 Bivouac comes from French bivouac, from German Beiwache, "a watching or guarding," from bei, "by, near" + wachen, "to watch." Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help
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What words will be changed in two new editions of the Bible? Transcribing the text of the Bible has been an ongoing and often controversial process ever since the Greeks translated ancient Hebrew manuscripts around the 3rd century BC. The revised New International Version (NIV) and The New American Bible, respectively, will include gender-neutral language and substitute words that the editors claim will reflect a modern understanding... Read more ››
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lucre: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Wednesday, March 30, 2011 lucre \LOO-kuhr\, noun: Monetary gain; profit; riches; money; -- often in a bad sense. His stories began to be published in the American Mercury before he moved to L.A., lured by the dream of Hollywood lucre. -- Jerome Boyd Maunsell, "Truly madly weepy", Times (London), June 10, 2000 They ought to feel a calling for service rather than lucre. -- Sin-Ming Shaw, "It's Time to Get Real", Time Asia, July 1, 2002 But surely there are other motives for writing, and they range from the desire for filthy lucre to the pleasure in doing the thing itself to the impulse to delight readers. -- Robert Alter, "The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages", New Republic, October 10, 1994 Picture the place where you grew up. Now, imagine it trampled by an avalanche of capital and the stampede of lucre-crazed hordes chasing after it. -- Katharine Mieszkowski, "I Want to Blow Up Silicon Valley", Salon, July 14, 2000 Lucre comes from Latin lucrum, "gain, profit." It is related to lucrative, "profitable." Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help
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What words will be changed in two new editions of the Bible? Transcribing the text of the Bible has been an ongoing and often controversial process ever since the Greeks translated ancient Hebrew manuscripts around the 3rd century BC. The revised New International Version (NIV) and The New American Bible, respectively, will include gender-neutral language and substitute words that the editors claim will reflect a modern understanding... Read more ››
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bedaub: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Tuesday, March 29, 2011 bedaub \bih-DOB\, transitive verb: 1. To smudge over; to besmear or soil with anything thick and dirty. 2. To overdecorate; to ornament showily or excessively. The patient's signature is less neat than usual, not only because of his agitated state but also, quite possibly, because the pen is so bedaubed with chocolate that it slips through his fingers. -- Marcel Beyer, "The Karnau Tapes.", Grand Street, Fall 1997 Only their wagon keeps on rolling, empty, bedaubed with tears, under our windows. -- Laszlo Darvasi and Ivan Sanders, "Stories of Kisses, Stories of Tears.", Grand Street, March 1, 1997 Bedaub is from be-, "thoroughly" + daub, from Medieval French dauber, "to plaster," perhaps from Old French dauber, "to clothe in white, white-wash, plaster," from Latin dealbare, "to whitewash, to plaster," from de- (intensive prefix) + albus, "white." Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help
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What words will be changed in two new editions of the Bible? Transcribing the text of the Bible has been an ongoing and often controversial process ever since the Greeks translated ancient Hebrew manuscripts around the 3rd century BC. The revised New International Version (NIV) and The New American Bible, respectively, will include gender-neutral language and substitute words that the editors claim will reflect a modern understanding... Read more ››
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afflatus: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Monday, March 28, 2011 afflatus \uh-FLAY-tuhs\, noun: A divine imparting of knowledge; inspiration. Whatever happened to passion and vision and the divine afflatus in poetry? -- Clive Hicks, "From 'Green Man' (Ronsdale)", Toronto Star, November 21, 1999 Aristophanes must have eclipsed them . . . by the exhibition of some diviner faculty, some higher spiritual afflatus. -- John Addington Symonds, Studies of the Greek Poets The miraculous spring that nourished Homer's afflatus seems out of reach of today's writers, whose desperate yearning for inspiration only indicates the coming of an age of "exhaustion. -- Benzi Zhang, "Paradox of origin(ality)", Studies in Short Fiction, March 22, 1995 Afflatus is from Latin afflatus, past participle of afflare, "to blow at or breathe on," from ad-, "at" + flare, "to puff, to blow." Other words with the same root include deflate (de-, "out of" + flare); inflate (in-, "into" + flare); soufflé, the "puffed up" dish (from French souffler, "to puff," from Latin sufflare, "to blow from below," hence "to blow up, to puff up," from sub-, "below" + flare); and flatulent. Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help
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What words will be changed in two new editions of the Bible? Transcribing the text of the Bible has been an ongoing and often controversial process ever since the Greeks translated ancient Hebrew manuscripts around the 3rd century BC. The revised New International Version (NIV) and The New American Bible, respectively, will include gender-neutral language and substitute words that the editors claim will reflect a modern understanding... Read more ››
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equivocate: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Sunday, March 27, 2011 equivocate \ih-KWIV-uh-kayt\, intransitive verb: To be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or to avoid committing oneself to anything definite. The witness shuffled, equivocated, pretended to misunderstand the questions. -- Thomas Babington Macaulay, History of England By equivocating, hesitating, and giving ambiguous answers, she effected her purpose. -- Harriet Martineau, Letters from Ireland Dr. Lindzen does not equivocate. "We don't have any evidence that this is a serious problem," he says flatly. -- William K. Stevens, "Skeptic Asks, Is It Really Warmer?", New York Times, June 17, 1996 To equivocate is literally to call equally one thing or the other: It comes from Medieval Latin aequivocare, from the Latin aequus, equal + vocare, to call (from Latin vox, voice). Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help
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What was Scrabble's original name, and what does "brailing" have to do with the game? Great things can come out of hard times - take Scrabble. During the Great Depression, architect Alfred Mosher Butts couldn't find work. So, he decided to create a board game that required the vocabulary skills of anagrams and crossword puzzles but also had an element of chance. Butts hand-drew the original board with architectural drafting equipment.... Read more ››
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verisimilitude: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Saturday, March 26, 2011 verisimilitude \ver-uh-suh-MIL-uh-tood; -tyood\, noun: 1. The appearance of truth; the quality of seeming to be true. 2. Something that has the appearance of being true or real. In an attempt to create verisimilitude, in addition to the usual vulgarities, the dialogue is full of street slang. -- Wilborn Hampton, "Sugar Down Billie Hoak': An Unexpected Spot to Find a Father", New York Times, August 1, 1997 For those plays, Ms. Smith interviewed hundreds of people of different races and ages, somehow managing to internalize their expressions, anger and quirks enough to be able to portray them with astonishing verisimilitude. -- Sarah Boxer, "An Experiment in Artistic Democracy", New York Times, August 7, 2000 The old man's massive forehead, penetrating eyes and enormous beard lent verisimilitude to this unappealing portrait. -- "Charm itself", Economist, October 16, 1999 Verisimilitude comes from Latin verisimilitudo, from verisimilis, from verus, "true" + similis, "like, resembling, similar." The adjective form is verisimilar. Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help
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"American Idol" and Tourette Syndrome — what is the link, and how exactly does Tourette's affect language? You can never predict the circumstances that rocket a word into the stratosphere of public awareness. This season's "American Idol" has accomplished this feat for not one, but two complex illnesses: Tourette Syndrome (TS) and Asperger Syndrome (AS.) One of the "Idol" constestants, James Durbin from Santa Cruz, California, has both of these disorders. As each week... Read more ››
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bumptious: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Friday, March 25, 2011 bumptious \BUMP-shuhs\, adjective: Crudely, presumptuously, or loudly self-assertive. The clown in the girl is bumptious as can be: bouncing about in the peaked cap and oversized coat of a boy she hasn't learned to love yet, pacing in lockstep behind a fellow-lodger for the sheer love of badgering him, blowing out her cheeks like a fussed walrus when crossed. -- Walter Kerr, Anne Frank Shouldn't Be Anne's Play, New York Times, January 7, 1979 Still a tremendous singer and a man so confident of his own sex appeal that he could make the most outrageously bumptious behaviour seem not only engaging but also entirely natural. -- David Sinclair, "Larger than life and twice as rocky", Times (London), March 13, 2000 Wells did not meet his father until he was an adult, by which time he had developed his own blunt, sometimes bumptious personality. -- George Vecsey, "An Outsider Who Became an Insider", New York Times, October 7, 1998 Bumptious is perhaps a blend of bump and presumptuous. Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help
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"American Idol" and Tourette Syndrome — what is the link, and how exactly does Tourette's affect language? You can never predict the circumstances that rocket a word into the stratosphere of public awareness. This season's "American Idol" has accomplished this feat for not one, but two complex illnesses: Tourette Syndrome (TS) and Asperger Syndrome (AS.) One of the "Idol" constestants, James Durbin from Santa Cruz, California, has both of these disorders. As each week... Read more ››
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kismet: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Thursday, March 24, 2011 kismet \KIZ-met; -mit\, noun: Destiny; fate. It's pure kismet when these two find each other. -- Janet Maslin, "The Mighty': Talents to Make Buddies -- Walking and Wisecracking", New York Times, October 9, 1998 Winning wasn't essential, though it seemed kismet that Cone, for a second straight year, came back from injury to pitch in a game that clinched a bit of postseason bliss. -- Claire Smith, "Cone Puts the Yankees' Minds at Ease", New York Times, September 21, 1997 Applewhite's writings are heavy with kismet: he said he was visiting a hospitalized friend when Mrs. Nettles entered the room and their eyes locked in a shared recognition of esoteric secrets. -- Barry Bearak, "Eyes on Glory: Pied Pipers of Heaven's Gate", New York Times, April 28, 1997 Kismet comes (via Turkish) from Arabic qismah, "portion, lot." Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help
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Why does the single letter C represent so many different sounds, including the same sound as K? The third letter of the alphabet is somewhat of a chameleon; one might even question its usefulness. The letter /c/ can represent the "hard C" (carrot,) the "soft C" (nice,) or even "silent C" (indict,). Why does our alphabet have more than one letter to represent the same sound, as in K and C, or... Read more ››
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eschew: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Wednesday, March 23, 2011 eschew \es-CHOO\, transitive verb: To shun; to avoid (as something wrong or distasteful). In high school and college the Vassar women had enjoyed that lifestyle, but afterward they had eschewed it as shallow. -- Nina Burleigh, A Very Private Woman While teaching in Beijing, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang in the late 1920s, he helped launch what became known as the "new poetry" movement, which eschewed traditional forms and encouraged topics based on everyday life. -- Bruce Gilley, Tiger on the Brink Finally, the first American diplomats . . . made a point of eschewing fancy dress, titles, entertainments, and all manner of protocol, so as to be walking, talking symbols of republican piety. -- Walter A. McDougall, Promised Land, Crusader State Eschew comes from Old French eschiver, ultimately of Germanic origin, scheuchen. Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help
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Why does the single letter C represent so many different sounds, including the same sound as K? The third letter of the alphabet is somewhat of a chameleon; one might even question its usefulness. The letter /c/ can represent the "hard C" (carrot,) the "soft C" (nice,) or even "silent C" (indict,). Why does our alphabet have more than one letter to represent the same sound, as in K and C, or... Read more ››
Dictionary.com Word of the Day http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/ You are currently subscribed to Dictionary.com Word of the Day as: anujshailgupt@gmail.com Unsubscribe To subscribe to Word of the Day by email, please send a blank message to: join-wordoftheday@lists.lexico.com ©2011 by Dictionary.com, LLC. 555 12th Street Suite 500 Oakland CA 94607 Subscriptions to The Word of the Day can be turned on and off via the Web at http://www.dictionary.com/help/faq/wordoftheday/   Tell a friend about The Word of the Day!