chivalry - Word of the Day - 30/04/18

chivalry

noun

Pronunciation

SHIV-ul-ree
 

Definition

1 : mounted men-at-arms

2 : gallant or distinguished gentlemen

3 : the system, spirit, or customs of medieval knighthood

4 : the qualities of the ideal knight : chivalrous conduct

Did You Know?

In days of old when knights were bold, Anglo-French speakers used the word chevaler (an ancestor of our word chevalier) for a knight or horseman. By the 14th century, English speakers had adopted the slightly modified spelling chivalry to describe their own well-armored, mounted warriors. Nowadays, when we say that chivalry is not dead, we are alluding to the high standard of character and conduct typically associated with gallant knights. If you trace chevaler back to Late Latin, you'll find that it derives from caballarius, which is also the ancestor of another term for a daring medieval gentleman-at-arms: cavalier.

Examples

"Coutts was founded in 1692. Queen Anne, who reigned from 1702 to 1714, commissioned it to make ornate ceremonial chains and badges for the knights of the Thistle, an order of chivalry." — Simon Clark and Phillipa Leighton-Jones, The Wall Street Journal, 15 Mar. 2018

"At the centre of the opera is Quixote's quest to retrieve the beautiful Dulcinea's stolen necklace from a gang of thieves. Quixote believes that if he can complete this act of chivalry, he will win her heart and hand in marriage." — Ben Neutze, Time Out Sydney (Australia), 21 Mar. 2018

Test Your Vocabulary

Unscramble the letters to create the name for the ceremony or salute conferring knighthood: LCDAEOCA.

Merriam-Webster

http://writingthestorypruthpunton.blogspot.com.au/

redolent - Word of the Day - 29/04/18

redolent

adjective

Pronunciation

RED-uh-lunt 

Definition

1 : exuding fragrance : aromatic

2 a : full of a specified fragrance : scented

   b : evocative, suggestive

Did You Know?

Redolent traces back to the Latin verb olēre ("to smell") and is a relative of olfactory ("of, relating to, or connected with the sense of smell"). In its earliest English uses in the 15th century, redolent simply meant "having an aroma." Today, it usually applies to a place or thing impregnated with odors. It can also be used of something that reminds us of something else or evokes a certain emotional response, as in "a city redolent of antiquity."

Examples

"Middle Eastern food, redolent with spices, is one of the world's most popular cuisines, yet home cooks are often intimidated by the sheer number of ingredients many dishes call for." — Publisher's Weekly Review, 2 Feb. 2015

"Art Deco objects from furniture to cocktail shakers, redolent of speed and mechanical efficiency, celebrate the modern with an optimism that seems divorced entirely from the economic realities of the 1930s, when they were all the rage." — Charles Desmarais, The San Francisco Chronicle, 24 Mar. 2018

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of redolent meaning "suggestive": _ e _ in _ s _ e _ t.

Merriam-Webster

http://plotsandtension.blogspot.com.au/

anathema- Word of the Day - 28/04/18

anathema

noun

Pronunciation

uh-NATH-uh-muh
 

Definition

1 a : one that is cursed by ecclesiastical authority

   b : someone or something intensely.

2 a : a curse solemnly pronounced by ecclesiastical authority

   b : the denunciation of something as accursed

   c : a vigorous denunciation : curse

Did You Know?

From a historical perspective, anathema can be considered a one-word oxymoron. When it first appeared in English in the 1500s, it was used to refer to something accursed. Shortly thereafter, however, people also began to use it to refer to something consecrated to divine use—generally a good thing. Why the contradiction? Anathema comes from Greek, where it initially meant "anything devoted" and later "anything devoted to evil." The "consecrated to divine use" sense of anathema comes from that earlier Greek use but is not widely used today. Modern English speakers are most likely to encounter anathema used as a predicate nominative in the sense of "someone or something that is intensely disliked," as in the example sentences below.

Examples

"Diets were anathema to Julia because they implied that food was harmful." — Cook's Illustrated, November & December 2004

"Preordaining a peaceful future, especially an apparently zombie-free one, should be anathema to a show that clings to week-by-week anticipation." — Charles Bramesco, The New York Times, 5 Mar. 2018

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of anathema: e _ _ c _ a _ _ on.

Merriam-Webster

http://creatingcharactersforfictionwriters.blogspot.com.au/

querulous - Word of the Day - 27/04/18

querulous

adjective

Pronunciation

 KWAIR-yuh-lus
 

Definition

1 : habitually complaining

2 : fretful, whining

Did You Know?

English speakers have tagged fearful whiners querulous since late medieval times. The Middle English form of the word, querelose, was an adaptation of the Latin adjective, querulus, which in turn evolved from the Latin verb queri, meaning "to complain." Queri is also an ancestor of the English words quarrel and quarrelsome, but it isn't an ancestor of the noun query (meaning "question"). No need to complain that we're being coy; we're happy to let you know that query descends from the Latin verb quaerere, meaning "to ask."

Examples

"… the punch of her performance lies in its sheer nerve; even though her character has our sympathy from the start, she keeps asking for more, tugging at us like a querulous child until our patience cracks." — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 24 July 2017

"And while ordinarily, he was not one who was inclined to be querulous, still now on occasion, he could be. He began by asking questions concerning his wife's appearance—irritating little whys which are so trivial and yet so exasperating and discouraging to a woman." — Theodore Dreiser, The Financier, 1912

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of querulous: p _ e _ is _.

Merriam-Webster

http://writinghaikup.blogspot.com.au

mollycoddle - Word of the Day - 26/04/18

mollycoddle

verb

Pronunciation

MOH-lee-kah-dul
 

Definition

: to treat with an excessive or absurd degree of indulgence or attention

Did You Know?

Coddling eggs is delicate business. You need to cook them slowly and gently, keeping the water just below boiling. Given how carefully you need to treat the eggs, it's not surprising that coddle, the name for the cooking process, developed the figurative sense "to pamper." Mollycoddle was formed by combining coddle with molly, a nickname for Mary. In its earliest known uses in the 1840s, mollycoddle was a noun, a synonym of our modern wimp, but in short time, it was being used as the verb you're likely to encounter now.

Examples

The newborn cub at the wildlife park is enjoying being mollycoddled by its mother.

"You work longer hours than most of your friends, you never know where your next paycheck is coming from and there's no HR team to mollycoddle you when times get tough… it's safe to say that the life of a self-employed worker is one plagued by instabilities." — Olivia Petter, The Independent (London), 16 Mar. 2018

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete a verb that can mean "to pamper" or "to move (as a baby) up and down in one's arms or on one's knee in affectionate play": da _ _ le.

Merriam-Webster

http://writingforchildrenstage.blogspot.com.au/

slew - Word of the Day - 25/04/18

slew

noun

Pronunciation

SLOO
 

Definition

: a large number

Did You Know?

Slew appeared as an American colloquialism in the early 19th century. Its origins are unclear, but it is perhaps taken from the Irish slua, a descendant of Old Irish slúag, meaning "army," "host," or "throng." Slew has several homographs (words that are spelled alike but different in meaning, derivation, or pronunciation) in English. These include: slew as the past tense of the verb slay; slew as a spelling variant of slough, a word which is also commonly pronounced \SLOO\ and which means "swamp," "an inlet on a river," or "a creek in a marsh or tide flat"; and the verb slew, meaning "to turn, veer, or skid."

Examples

Daniel regularly receives a slew of clothing catalogs as part of his junk mail.

"We had two weeks off and wanted to take a fun mother-daughter trip to Europe but didn't want to grapple with the slew of flights we'd have to take to visit multiple cities or the constant unpacking and packing involved on such a trip." — Shivani Vora, The New York Times, 11 Mar. 2018

Name That Antonym

Unscramble the letters to create an antonym of slew: UTIAPYC.

Merriam-Webster

http://grammarandpunctuationmodule4.blogspot.com.au/

loath - Word of the Day - 24/04/18

loath

adjective

Pronunciation

LOHTH

 Definition

: unwilling to do something contrary to one's ways of thinking : reluctant

Did You Know?

Many usage commentators point out that the spelling of loath, the adjective, is distinct from loathe, the verb that means "to dislike greatly." Merriam-Webster dictionaries do record loathe (along with loth) as a variant spelling for the adjective, but at the same time indicate that the loath spelling is the most common one. The adjective and the verb both hark back to Old English, and the "e" ending in each has come and gone over the centuries—but if you want to avoid the ire of those who like to keep the language tidy, stick with loath for the adjective and loathe for the verb.

Examples

My grandfather was naturally very proud of the company he had built, so he was loath to admit that it was time to think about selling it and retiring.

"It seems like a lot of film directors are loath to embrace VR for the same reason that Roger Ebert famously dismissed video games as a form of art: They think it's a gimmick that punishes artistry in the name of the medium's requirements." — Alex McLevy, The A.V. Club, 15 Mar. 2018

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of loath: d _ _ _ nc _ ine _.

Merriam-Webster

http://writingthestorypruthpunton.blogspot.com.au/