malinger: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Sunday, February 20, 2011 malinger \muh-LING-guhr\, intransitive verb: To feign or exaggerate illness or inability in order to avoid duty or work. Because he twice slapped battle-stressed soldiers in Sicily who, he thought, were merely malingering, he was denied a major command in the Normandy landings. -- Bernard Knox, "Scorched Earth", New York Times, November 14, 1999 It is impossible to determine exactly what inspired Mary's various symptoms, but her own and other family members' letters suggest that her suffering may have been a combination of hypochondria, conscious histrionics and malingering, and unconscious rebellion against her father. -- Caroline Fraser, God's Perfect Child My specialty is subjecting the data I obtain to successive mathematical corrective formulas to filter the truly psychotic from those who are malingering. -- Barbara Kirwin Ph.D, The Mad, the Bad, and the Innocent Malinger derives from French malingre, "sickly," perhaps from Old French mal, "badly" + heingre, "lean, thin." 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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Michigander or Michiganian? Learn what these local names are known as Just like the old "tu'mey-tow" vs. "tu'maa-tow" debate, Michiganders, or Michiganians�(depending on which side you're on), have long found themselves in a state of disconnect. It seems that the great divide facing residents of the Great Lake State these days centers around the demonym - the name of a resident of a specific locality -... Read more ››
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lucubration: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Saturday, February 19, 2011 lucubration \loo-kyoo-BRAY-shun; loo-kuh-\, noun: 1. The act of studying by candlelight; nocturnal study; meditation. 2. That which is composed by night; that which is produced by meditation in retirement; hence (loosely) any literary composition. A point of information for those with time on their hands: if you were to read 135 books a day, every day, for a year, you wouldn't finish all the books published annually in the United States. Now add to this figure, which is upward of 50,000, the 100 or so literary magazines; the scholarly, political and scientific journals (there are 142 devoted to sociology alone), as well as the glossy magazines, of which bigger and shinier versions are now spawning, and you'll appreciate the amount of lucubration that finds its way into print. -- Arthur Krystal, "On Writing: Let There Be Less", New York Times, March 26, 1989 One of his characters is given to lucubration. "Things die on us," he reflects as he lies in bed, "we die on each other, we die of ourselves." -- "Books of The Times", New York Times, February 7, 1981 Naturally, these fictions ran the risk of tumbling down the formalist hill and ending up at the bottom without readers -- except the heroic students of Roland Barthes or Umberto Eco, professors whose lucubrations were much more interesting than the books about which they theorized. -- Mario Vargas Llosa, "Thugs Who Know Their Greek", New York Times, September 7, 1986 Lucubration comes from Latin lucubratus, past participle of lucubrare, "to work by night, composed at night (as by candlelight)," ultimately connected with lux, "light." Hence it is related to lucent, "shining, bright," and lucid, "clear." The verb form is lucubrate. 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's the grossest sounding word in English? Let us know A few months ago, we asked readers to share their choices for the most beautiful sounding word in English. Nearly 500 of you shared your favorites, which included the lyrical, delightful and uplifting. Read some of the highlights, here.  Some of you not only shared your favorite but also least favorite words. "I would like to... Read more ››
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libation: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Friday, February 18, 2011 libation \ly-BAY-shun\, noun: 1. The act of pouring a liquid (usually wine) either on the ground or on a victim in sacrifice to some deity; also, the wine or liquid thus poured out. 2. A beverage, especially an alcoholic beverage. 3. An act or instance of drinking. Hearing that the train had lost one of its engines and that the remainder of the trip would be very slow, I headed for the bar car for a libation and a snack or two to soothe my growing hunger pangs. -- Lawrence Van Gelder, "Tales of Flying Cars and Trees", New York Times, May 28, 2000 Giving careful packing instructions to his Sherpas who would befreighting the spirits to his Base Camp, Todd more than half-anticipated some nights when the libation might serve to take off the edge. -- Anatoli Boukreev and G. Weston DeWalt, The Climb Libation is from Latin libatio, from libare, "to take a little from anything, to taste, to pour out as an offering." 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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The truth behind one of the most disliked phrases in English Admit it, whether you regard yourself as a scholar of linguistics or a self proclaimed language snob - you've, at least once, crossed over to the dark side and used the word "like" in a sentence where it, like, doesn't belong. Narrowly escaping the grammar police, you catch yourself, cringe and promise never again! This... Read more ››
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ululate: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Thursday, February 17, 2011 ululate \UL-yuh-layt; YOOL-\, intransitive verb: To howl, as a dog or a wolf; to wail; as, ululating jackals. He had often dreamed of his grieving family visiting his grave, ululating as only the relatives of martyrs may. -- Edward Shirley, Know Thine Enemy: A Spy's Journey into Revolutionary Iran She wanted to be on the tarmac, to ululate and raise her hands to the heavens. -- Deborah Sontag, "Palestinian Airport Opens to Jubilation", New York Times, November 25, 1998 She used harrowing, penetrating nasal tones and a rasp that approached Janis Joplin's double-stops; she made notes break and ululate. -- Jon Pareles, "On the Third Day There Was Whooping and There Was Moshing", New York Times, August 18, 1998 Ululate derives from Latin ululare, to howl, to yell, ultimately of imitative origin. The noun form is ululation; the adjective form is ululant. 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 are they called "Terriers," "Pekingese," and "Bluetick Coonhounds?" Many people approach the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show with a combination of fascination and trepidation. Awfully cute canines appear in some odd situations. Here's some information about the fascinating names of the breeds considered the top contenders for Best in Show this year, as well as the poetic and eccentric name of one of... Read more ››
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factotum: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Wednesday, February 16, 2011 factotum \fak-TOH-tuhm\, noun: A person employed to do all kinds of work or business. Mr. Hersey thus became Mr. Lewis's summertime factotum, copying pages of a play that Lewis was writing about Communism. -- Richard Severo, "John Hersey, Author of 'Hiroshima,' Is Dead at 78", New York Times, March 25, 1993 She is a blind, paraplegic forensic hypnotist, and he is her brother and general factotum. -- Newgate Callendar, "Spies & Thrillers", New York Times, July 31, 1994 Factotum is from Medieval Latin, from Latin fac totum, "do everything," from facere, "to do" + totus, "all." 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 are they called "Terriers," "Pekingese," and "Bluetick Coonhounds?" Many people approach the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show with a combination of fascination and trepidation. Awfully cute canines appear in some odd situations. Here's some information about the fascinating names of the breeds considered the top contenders for Best in Show this year, as well as the poetic and eccentric name of one of... Read more ››
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uxorious: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Tuesday, February 15, 2011 uxorious \uk-SOR-ee-us; ug-ZOR-\, adjective: Excessively fond of or submissive to a wife. It is batty to suppose that the most uxorious of husbands will stop his wife's excessive shopping if an excessive shopper she has always been. -- Angela Huth, "All you need is love", Daily Telegraph, April 24, 1998 Flagler seems to have been an uxorious, domestic man, who liked the comfort and companionship of a wife at his side. -- Michael Browning, "Whitehall at 100", Palm Beach Post, February 22, 2002 Fuller is as uxorious a poet as they come: hiatuses in the couple's mutual understanding are overcome with such rapidity as to be hardly worth mentioning in the first place ("How easy, this ability / To lose whatever we possess / By ceasing to believe that we / Deserve such brilliant success"). -- David Wheatley, "Round and round we go", The Guardian, October 5, 2002 Uxorious is from Latin uxorius, from uxor, wife. 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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The book no one can read: Why can't anyone decipher this mysterious manuscript? Inside the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University is the Voynich manuscript: a book that has come to be known as "the world's most mysterious manuscript." Since a team of scientists has recently determined the age of  the Voynich (pronounced Voy-nitch) manuscript, we relish the opportunity to discuss this enigma as well... Read more ››
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inveigle: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Monday, February 14, 2011 inveigle \in-VAY-guhl; -VEE-\, transitive verb: 1. To persuade by ingenuity or flattery; to entice. 2. To obtain by ingenuity or flattery. Deep Blue had tried to inveigle Kasparov into grabbing several pawn offers, but the champion was not fooled. -- Robert Byrne, "Kasparov and Computer Play to a Draw", New York Times, February 14, 1996 He used to tell one about Kevin Moran ringing him up pretending to be a French radio journalist and inveigling Cas, new in France, into parlaying his three words of French into an interview. -- Tom Humphries, "Big Cas cameos will be missed", Irish Times, May 4, 2000 Once a soft touch for these ragged moralists who inveigled her into sparing them her change, Agnes began to cross the road, begging for some change in her circumstances. -- Rachel Cusk, Saving Agnes In fact, he spent the entire time in the car park, waiting for eye witnesses from whom to inveigle quotes he could use as his own. -- Matthew Norman, "Diary", The Guardian, January 1, 2003 Inveigle comes from Anglo-French enveogler, from Old French aveugler, "to blind, to lead astray as if blind," from aveugle, "blind," from Medieval Latin ab oculis, "without eyes." 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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When you ask someone to be your "Valentine," what exactly does it mean? One would think that such a popular occasion as Valentine's Day would have a clear history of the word that defines it. Since Valentine is a name, the question is not what it means, but to whom does it refer, and what did Mr. Valentine do to deserve for you to ask your beloved to... Read more ››
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