élan - Word of the Day - 30/04/16

élan

noun

Pronunciation

 \ā-ˈläⁿ\

 Definition

 - vigorous spirit or enthusiasm

Examples

The dancer performed with great élan.

Did You Know?

Once upon a time, English speakers did not have "élan" (the word, that is; that's not to say we haven't always had potential for vigorous spirit). We had, however, "elance," a verb meaning "to hurl" that was used specifically for throwing lances and darts. "Elance" derived down the line from Middle French (s')eslancer ("to rush or dash"), itself from lancer, meaning "to hurl." With the decline of lance-throwing, we tossed out "elance" a century and half ago. Just about that time we found "élan," a noun that traces to "(s')eslancer." We copied "élan" in form from the French, but we dispensed with the French sense of a literal "rush" or "dash," retaining the sense of enthusiastic animation that we sometimes characterize as "dash."

Origin of élan

French, from Middle French eslan rush, from (s')eslancer to rush, from ex- + lancer to hurl — more at lance

First Known Use: 1864

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mulct - Word of the Day - 26/04/16

mulct

verb

Pronunciation

MULKT

Definition

1 - to punish by a fine
2 a - to defraud especially of money : swindle
   b - to obtain by fraud, duress, or theft

Examples

Francis was finally barred from the securities industry when it was discovered he'd been mulcting investors for years.

"Attacking these firms is a crowd-pleasing sport for lawmakers, in part because every constituent has a story about being mulcted by a card issuer." — Michael Hiltzik, The Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2009

Did You Know?

A fine assessed as a penalty for an infraction is generally considered justifiable. Fraud, on the other hand, is wrong—it's just the sort of thing that deserves a fine. So in mulct we have a unique word, one that means both "to fine" and "to defraud." The "fine" sense came first. Mulct was borrowed from the Latin word for a fine, which is multa or mulcta. The "fine" sense is still in use, mostly in legal contexts ("the court mulcted the defendant for punitive damages"), but these days mulct is more often used for an illegal act. It has been speculated that the use may have come about by association with the verb milk, in its sense "to exploit, to coerce profit from" (as in "she was milked by the lawyers for everything she had"), but that speculation has never been proven.

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invincible - Word of the Day - 28/04/16

invincible 

adjective

Pronunciation

in-VIN-suh-bul

Definition

 - incapable of being conquered, overcome, or subdued

Examples

"He calls the mixture Bulletproof coffee. Drink it, the name implies, and you'll feel invincible." — Gordy Megroz, Bloomberg Businessweek, 4 May 2015

"Eventually he stops terrorizing poor Holly Hunter and retires to Superman's spaceship … where he uses the Krypton Siri to create the invincible supervillain whom Batman and Superman will have to fight after they're done throwing each other through various walls…." — Rob Havilla, Deadspin, 23 Mar. 2016

Did You Know?

The origins of invincible are easily subdued. The word derives, via Middle French, from Late Latin invincibilis—a combination of the negative prefix in- with vincibilis, an adjective meaning "conquerable," from the Latin verb vincere, "to conquer." Other descendants of vincere in English include convince, evince, vanquish, and even victor. Vincere also gave English vincible, meaning (unsurprisingly) "capable of being overcome or subdued," though it is significantly less common than invincible.

Name That Antonym

Unscramble the letters to create an antonym of invincible: RUEBELSPA.


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belvedere - Word of the Day - 27/04/16

belvedere

noun

Pronunciation

BEL-vuh-deer

Definition

 -  a structure (such as a cupola or summerhouse) designed to command a view

Examples

The couple wandered down to the belvedere at the edge of the bluff to take in the vivid colors of the sunset.

"… he chiefly talked of the view from the little belvedere on the roof of the casino, and how it looked like the prospect from a castle turret in a fairy tale." — Henry James, Roderick Hudson, 1875

Did You Know?

It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder—and someone with a belvedere will likely have a great deal of beauty to behold. Given the origins of the word, belvedere is the ideal term for a building (or part of a building) with a view; it derives from two Italian words, bel, which means "beautiful," and vedere, which means "view." The term has been used in English since the 1570s.
Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to create a synonym of belvedere: ga _ e _ _.

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inveterate - Word of the Day - 26/04/16

inveterate

adjective

Pronunciation

in-VET-uh-rut

 Definition

 -  firmly established by long persistence
 -  confirmed in a habit : habitual

Examples

Since Ernie is an inveterate liar, we naturally didn't believe him when he told us he'd met the movie star.

"As an inveterate letter writer, I started sending email as soon as I could sign on with dial-up, and became impatient to connect via DSL." — Deborah Lee Luskin, The Rutland (Vermont) Herald, 25 Feb. 2016

Did You Know?

Like veteran, inveterate ultimately comes from Latin vetus, which means "old," and which led to the Latin verb inveterare ("to age"). That verb in turn gave rise eventually to the adjective inveteratus, the direct source of our adjective inveterate (in use since the 14th century). In the past, inveterate has meant "long-standing" or simply "old." For example, one 16th-century writer warned of "Those great Flyes which in the springe time of the yeare creepe out of inveterate walls." Today, inveterate most often applies to a habit, attitude, or feeling of such long existence that it is practically ineradicable or unalterable.

Test Your Memory

Fill in the blank in this sentence from our March 25th Word of the Day: "The narrow greens, pesky hazards, and _______fairways make the golf course one of the most challenging places to play in the area."

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juxtapose - Word of the Day - 25/04/16

juxtapose

verb

Pronunciation

JUK-stuh-pohz

Definition

- to place side by side (as to compare or contrast)

Examples

Darlene has a keen eye for fashion, and she likes to juxtapose vintage pieces with contemporary styles to create new looks.

"ESPN posted an image of poverty outside Havana's sports stadium last week, to juxtapose the well-kept stadium with the shabby neighborhood around it." — Carolina Miranda, The Los Angeles Times (latimes.com), 28 Mar. 2016

Did You Know?

A back-formation is a word that has come about through the removal of a prefix or a suffix from a longer word. Etymologists think juxtapose is a back-formation that was created when people trimmed down the noun juxtaposition. Historical evidence supports the idea: juxtaposition was showing up in English documents as early as 1654, but juxtapose didn't appear until 1851. Juxtaposition is itself thought to be a combination of Latin juxta, meaning "near," and English position.

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to create the word that refers to the juxtaposition of similar sounds and especially those of vowels: a _ _ o _ an _ e.

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tintinnabulation - Word of the Day - 24/04/16

tintinnabulation

noun

Pronunciation

tin·tin·nab·u·la·tion \ˌtin-tə-ˌna-byə-ˈlā-shən\

 Definition

 -  the ringing or sounding of bells
 -  a jingling or tinkling sound as if of bells

Examples

The merry tintinnabulation of church bells called the people to worship.

Did You Know?

If the sound of tintinnabulation rings a bell, that may be because it traces to a Latin interpretation of the sound a ringing bell makes. Our English word derives from tintinnabulum, the Latin word for "bell." That Latin word, in turn, comes from the verb tintinnare, which means "to ring, clang, or jingle." Like the English terms "ting" and "tinkle," tintinnare originated with a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it-that is, it is onomatopoeic. Edgar Allan Poe celebrates the sonic overtones of tintinnabulation in his poem "The Bells," which includes lines about "the tintinnabulation that so musically wells / From the bells, bells, bells, bells, / Bells, bells, bells-/ From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells."

Origin of tintinnabulation

Latin tintinnabulum bell, from tintinnare to ring, jingle, from tinnire

First Known Use: 1831


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