effluvium: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Friday, February 4, 2011 effluvium \ih-FLOO-vee-uhm\, noun: A slight or invisible exhalation or vapor, esp. one that is disagreeable Beside them was the dark well-hole, with that horrid effluvium stealing up from its mysterious depths. -- Bram Stoker, The lair of the white worm That was no real problem, however, for Alobar simply followed the scent, that effluvium of goat glands that hung in the air like a salty mist and drew him ever higher up the craggy vertebrae. -- Tom Robbins, Jitterbug perfume Effluvium comes into English from the Latin effluere, "to flow out." 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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If "w" is double u, why is it made of two v's? The 23rd letter of the English alphabet is a bit of a wonder. The humble "w" is the only letter of the alphabet with a three-syllable name. It is also the only letter with a name that does not indicate its phonetic use. The complications of "w" are doublefold because of it's name, 'double u' and... Read more ››
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eclat: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Thursday, February 3, 2011 eclat \ey-KLAH\, noun: 1. Brilliance of success, reputation, etc. 2. Showy or elaborate display. 3. Acclamation; acclaim. It was a great object with her to escape all enquiry or éclat; but it was her intention to be as decidedly cool to him as might be compatible with their relationship ; and to retrace, as quietly as she could, the few steps of unnecessary intimacy she had been gradually led along. -- Jane Austen, Northanger abbey: A novel Aimee's Bistro combines Parisian eclat with contemporary California beach chic in this well- established bistro. -- Los Angeles Magazine, June, 2004 Eclat comes from the French eclat, "fragment, burst, splinter, flash," which relates to esclater, "to burst, break violently." 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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If "w" is double u, why is it made of two v's? The 23rd letter of the English alphabet is a bit of a wonder. The humble "w" is the only letter of the alphabet with a three-syllable name. It is also the only letter with a name that does not indicate its phonetic use. The complications of "w" are doublefold because of it's name, 'double u' and... Read more ››
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elide: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Wednesday, February 2, 2011 elide \ih-LAHYD\, verb: 1. To suppress; omit; ignore; pass over. 2. To omit (a vowel, consonant, or syllable) in pronunciation. 3. In law, to annul or quash. Later she understood it was a smile born of fear at what she had to say, but in that moment when sleep and consciousness elide, her expression seemed humorous, so when the woman said she had bad news and that their father was dead, Annie thought it was a joke. -- Nicholas Evans, The horse whisperer Introductions were made - here I elide all of the tedious formalities and small talk - and the Marquise explained to me that she had been looking for a tutor to educate her daughter. -- Neal Stephenson, Quicksilver Elide derives from the Latin elidere, "to wound." 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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How are groundhogs connected to a dying, 3,000 year-old language? February 2 marks the annual Groundhog's Day. This year's winter has been particularly harsh on the East Coast, so we'll keep our fingers crossed that Punxsutawney Phil does not see his shadow. While the frost is still thick on the ground, we want to explore the unusual origin of the common name for the herbivorous... Read more ››
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ambisinister: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Tuesday, February 1, 2011 ambisinister \am-bi-SIN-uh-ster\, adjective: Clumsy or unskillful with both hands. I feared I had simply become ambisinister until I realized that his sitar had fewer frets than mine did. -- Richard Connerney, The Upside Down Tree: India's Changing Culture Professor Fischer says that the reserve physicians "Were surgically ambisinister, medically at the zero point, and lacking in discipline, military skill and temperance." -- The military surgeon: Journal of the Association of Military, Volume 34, 1914 Ambisinister is a combination of the Latin roots Ambi-, "both," and sinister, "to the left side." 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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How are groundhogs connected to a dying, 3,000 year-old language? February 2 marks the annual Groundhog's Day. This year's winter has been particularly harsh on the East Coast, so we'll keep our fingers crossed that Punxsutawney Phil does not see his shadow. While the frost is still thick on the ground, we want to explore the unusual origin of the common name for the herbivorous... Read more ››
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thimblerig: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Monday, January 31, 2011 thimblerig \THIM-buhl-rig\, verb: 1. To cheat or swindle, as in the traditional shell game known as thimblerig. noun: 1. A game in which the operator rapidly moves about three inverted thimbles, often with sleight of hand, one of which conceals a token, the other player betting on which thimble the token is under. Vending wonder, big diversions with little fibs, my father loved to play the game, cog the die, and thimblerig the ear, offering up the pleasure of an afternoon s deception. -- Lee Siegel, Love and Other Games of Chance "I do not permit any man to thimblerig his debts to me into my debts to him." Burbank seemed deeply moved. -- Roger Rosenblatt, Beet: A Novel Thimblerig as a verb derives from the con artist's game of the same name. The word is a combination of thimble, the small metal cap used in sewing, and rig, in the archaic sense of "to trick or scheme." 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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vulpine: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Sunday, January 30, 2011 vulpine \VUHL-pahyn\, adjective: 1. Cunning or crafty. 2. Of or resembling a fox. His olive complexion surrounded a vulpine smile whenever he looked in the direction of the defendant. -- Jeffrey R. Ryan, A Volcano Heard Afar McCone was aware of what was happening, and his leaning posture became more and more vulpine. -- Stephen King, Richard Bachman, The Running Man Vulpine derives from the Latin word for "fox," vulpinus. 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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cacoethes: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Saturday, January 29, 2011 cacoethes \kak-oh-EE-theez\, noun: An irresistible urge; mania. We must talk, think, and live up to the spirit of the times, and write up to it too, if that cacoethes be upon us, or else we are nought. -- Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers A cacoethes for travel seemed suddenly to have possessed the old gentleman, and an airy allusion to Damascus had struck her dumb. -- Leonard Merrick, The worldlings Cacoethes stems from the Greek kakoethes, a combination of the roots kakos, "bad," and ethes, "character." The word occurs famously in Juvenal's Latin phrase insanabile scribendi cacoethes, "incurable passion for writing." 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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