Word of the Day!

gloaming[gloh-ming]

noun:
period between sunset and full night; dusk

Examples:

There were sourdough waffles to start the day and tuna sandwiches for lunch, a few hours of everyone reading novels in separate corners before a long solitary walk in the gloaming, accompanied by gloved waves across generally empty streets. (Sam Sifton, You Deserve a Good Lunch, New York Times, March 2020)

For a time, the cardinal intermittently pierced the dark silence of the gloaming with its calls, but then went silent.(Philip Chard, A cardinal's song, or a spiritual experience?, Milwaukee Sentinel Journal, July 2018)

At length, in the first gloaming of the night, we heard a trumpet sound, and looking back from among the heather, saw the troop beginning to collect. (Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped)

And that song elderly relatives used to sing so much...

Origin:

If 'gloaming' makes you think of tartans and bagpipes, well lads and lasses, you've got a good ear and a good eye; we picked up 'gloaming' from the Scottish dialects of English back in the Middle Ages. The roots of the word trace to the Old English word for twilight, glōm, which is akin to glōwan, an Old English verb meaning 'to glow.' In the early 1800s, English speakers looked to Scotland again and borrowed the now-archaic verb gloam, meaning 'to become twilight' or 'to grow dark.' (Merriam-Webster)

Old English glomung "twilight, the fall of evening," found but once (glossing Latin crepusculum), and formed (probably on model of æfning "evening") from glom "twilight," which is related to glowan "to glow" (hence "glow of sunrise or sunset"), from Proto-Germanic glo-. Fell from currency except in Yorkshire dialect, but preserved in Scotland and reintroduced by Burns and other Scottish writers after 1785. (Online Etymology Dictionary)

Oloroso - noun.

Oloroso, which means "scented" or "odorous" in Spanish, is also the name of a sherry which is produced in the Jerez and Montilla-Moriles regions of Span. It's known for a dark and nutty flavour in contrast with Amontillado sherry. Huh, all these years I didn't realize that it was a type of wine referred to in Edgar Allan Poe short story "The Cask of Amontillado". I always thought it was a place and it turns out it kinda sorta is--amontillado comes from the Montilla region of Spain.

Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021

Belated (adjective)
be·lat·ed [bih-ley-tid]

adjective
1. coming or being after the customary, useful, or expected time: belated birthday greetings.
2. late, delayed, or detained: We started the meeting without the belated representative.
3. Archaic. obsolete; old-fashioned; out-of-date: a belated view of world politics.
4. Archaic. overtaken by darkness or night.

OTHER WORDS FROM BELATED
be·lat·ed·ly, adverb
be·lat·ed·ness, noun

WORDS RELATED TO BELATED
overdue, tardy, delayed, remiss, behindhand, behind time, unpunctual

See synonyms for: belated / belatedly / belatedness on Thesaurus.com

Origin: 1610–20; belate to delay ( be- + late) + -ed

EXAMPLE SENTENCES FROM THE WEB FOR BELATED
Marrero—who only reached “The Show” as a belated 39-year-old rookie—always did possess an odd sense of timing.
HAVANA BIDS ADIOS TO CONRADO MARRERO, MLB’S OLDEST PLAYER|PETER C. BJARKMAN|APRIL 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST

But could this invoking of the words of the Godfather of Soul be a belated effort to inflate these flat polling numbers?
WHY MITT ROMNEY’S USE OF JAMES BROWN ANNOYS BLACK VOTERS|MANSFIELD FRAZIER|AUGUST 31, 2012|DAILY BEAST

But there is a belated wake-up among conservatives opposed to cannibalization.
WILL DICK LUGAR BE THE RINO-HUNTERS’ LATEST TROPHY?|JOHN AVLON|MAY 5, 2012|DAILY BEAST

Rick Santorum, the (belated) winner in Iowa, who had been battling Gingrich for that distinction, is the unambiguous loser.
NEWT GINGRICH SCORES MAJOR UPSET IN SOUTH CAROLINA PRIMARY|HOWARD KURTZ|JANUARY 22, 2012|DAILY BEAST

flummoxed[fluhm-uhks-d]

adjective:
completely unable to understand; utterly confused or perplexed

Examples:

As we move into 2021, investors are understandably flummoxed about the way forward. (Nehchal Sandhu, Investing In 2021 - Keep It Simple, Businessworld, January 2021)

The thrill of a cryptic clue is in how you are utterly flummoxed at first, and then after staring at it for a few minutes, you see the answer and realise how cunningly it was camouflaged the whole time and how cunning you were to have finally cracked it! (Mihir Balantrapu, Clued In #119 - Enter the charming world of cryptic clues, The Hindu, August 2020)

Germans are flummoxed by humor, the Swiss have no concept of fun, the Spanish think there is nothing at all ridiculous about eating dinner at midnight, and the Italians should never, ever have been let in on the invention of the motor car. (Bill Bryson, Neither Here, Nor There: Travels in Europe)

Werner was flummoxed. He might have a way with words, but understanding a woman was way beyond his capabilities. Shaking his head, he returned to his desk, wondering what he’d done wrong. (Marion Kummerow, From the Ashes)

Origin:

The word first appears in mainstream English in the middle of the nineteenth century. Charles Dickens is the first writer known to have used it, in his Pickwick Papers: “And my 'pinion is, Sammy, that if your governor don't prove a alleybi, he'll be what the Italians call reg'larly flummoxed, and that's all about it.”

Don't be misled by that reference to Italians, that's just a fancy of old Mr Weller. But there's evidence that the word is older in Scots and English dialects, in the same sense that we use it now, to be bewildered, perplexed, or puzzled, or to defeat or overcome somebody in argument (“That fair flummoxed 'im!”). At one time, Americans sometimes used it in the sense of failing or being defeated and so being exhausted or beaten, but that sense seems to have died out.

There's also the English dialect flummock, at one time known from Yorkshire down to Gloucestershire, to go about in a slovenly or untidy manner, or to make things untidy, or to confuse, which may be a slightly older version of the same word. It might also be linked to lommock or lummox, a clumsy or stupid person, known from the same area.

That's where the trail runs cold. The suggestion is that all these words are in some degree imitative of the noise of throwing things down noisily or untidily, so it may be associated with another dialect word flump, a heavy or noisy fall. (World Wide Words)

from flummox; 1837, cant word, also flummux, of uncertain origin, probably risen out of a British dialect (OED finds candidate words in Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, southern Cheshire, and Sheffield). 'The formation seems to be onomatopœic, expressive of the notion of throwing down roughly and untidily.' [OED]. (Online Etymology Dictionary)

Timberdoodle - noun.

You can be forgiven for thinking that a timberdoodle is the latest trendy dog, but its actually a name for Scolopax minor or American woodcock. I'm not sure what the American woodcock did to deserve such a name, but it's also known as a bogsucker or hokumpoke. Who comes up with this stuff??

Anyway, the American woodcock is found in the Eastern half of the United States and it's dull colour gives it excellent camouflage. They thrive in areas with moist soil where they use their long beaks to forage for food.




By guizmo_68 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/7958548@N03/472551926/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.p

Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021

Plastic (noun, adjective)
plas·tic [plas-tik]

noun
1. Often, plastics. any of a group of synthetic or natural organic materials that may be shaped when soft and then hardened, including many types of resins, resinoids, polymers, cellulose derivatives, casein materials, and proteins: used in place of other materials, as glass, wood, and metals, in construction and decoration, for making many articles, as coatings, and, drawn into filaments, for weaving. They are often known by trademark names, as Bakelite, Vinylite, or Lucite.
2. a credit card, or credit cards collectively, usually made of plastic: He had a whole pocketful of plastic.
3. money, payment, or credit represented by the use of a credit card or cards.
4. something, or a group of things, made of or resembling plastic: The entire meal was served on plastic.
( Collapse )

lief [leef]

adjective:
1 (archaic) dear; beloved; treasured.
2 (archaic) willing, glad

adverb:
soon, gladly (commonly in the phrase 'as lief')

Examples:

Depend upon it, sir, many a rich man dining tonight upon roast swan would as lief exchange his vittles for a plate of this cooked cheese! (Marcel Theroux, Strange Bodies)

He wants no boisterous notes of artificial passion: he would as lief the town-crier spoke his lines. (Michael Phelan, The Young Priest's Keepsake)

Lief should I rouse at mornings. And lief lie down of nights. (A E Houseman, Last Poems)

Origin:

Lief began as 'lēof' in Old English and has since appeared in many literary classics, first as an adjective and then as an adverb. It got its big break in the epic poem 'Beowulf' as an adjective meaning 'dear' or 'beloved.' The adverb first appeared in the 13th century, and in 1390, it was used in John Gower’s collection of love stories, 'Confessio Amantis.' Since that time, it has graced the pages of works by William Makepeace Thackeray, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and D.H. Lawrence, among others. Today, the adjective is considered to be archaic and the adverb is used much less frequently than in days of yore. It still pops up now and then, however, in the phrases 'had as lief,' 'would as lief,' 'had liefer,' and 'would liefer.' (Merriam-Webster)

'dearly, gladly, willingly' (obsolete or archaic), c. 1250, from Middle English adjective lief 'esteemed, beloved, dear,' from Old English leof 'dear, valued, beloved, pleasant' (also as a noun, 'a beloved person, friend'), from Proto-Germanic leuba- (source also of Old Norse ljutr, Old Frisian liaf, Dutch lief, Old High German liob, German lieb, Gothic liufs 'dear, beloved'), from PIE root leubh- 'to care, desire, love.' Often with the dative and in personal constructions with have or would in expressions of choice or preference ("and yet, to say the truth, I had as lief have the foppery of freedom, as the morality of imprisonment", 'Measure for Measure'). I want and I'd love to are overworked and misused to fill the hole left in the language when I would lief faded in 17c. (Online Etymology Dictionary)

Jentacular - adjective.

A jaunty word that refers to an early morning breakfast upon awaking. For example, I'm writing this post in a pre-jentacular state :-)

Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021

Remorse (noun)
re·morse [ri-mawrs]

noun
1. deep and painful regret for wrongdoing; compunction.
2. Obsolete. pity; compassion.

OTHER WORDS FROM REMORSE
pre·re·morse, noun

WORDS RELATED TO REMORSE
pity, penance, regret, compassion, sorrow, repentance, contrition, grief, shame, guilt, anguish, compunction, penitence, rue, contriteness, attrition, ruefulness, self-reproach, remorsefulness

SYNONYMS FOR REMORSE
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
1. contrition.

SYNONYM STUDY FOR REMORSE
1. See regret.

Origin: 1325–75; Middle English < Middle French remors < Medieval Latin remorsus, equivalent to Latin remord ( ere ) to bite again, vex, nag ( re- re- + mordere to bite) + -tus suffix of v. action, with dt > s; see mordant

EXAMPLE SENTENCES FROM THE WEB FOR REMORSE
Studies have also shown that when women choose to plead guilty or show remorse, they are more likely to see reduced charges and sentences, especially if their behavior contrasts with defiant male defendants.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO SEE WOMEN AS CAPABLE … OF TERRIBLE ATROCITIES|LGBTQ-EDITOR|NOVEMBER 21, 2020|NO STRAIGHT NEWS

I used to assume that drivers in bike crashes lacked remorse and were likely people who might have made jokes about “scoring points” for hitting someone on a bike.
I HIT A CYCLIST WITH MY CAR|BROOKE WARREN|OCTOBER 28, 2020|OUTSIDE ONLINE

In the first display of remorse either of them have made publicly over the fraud, Giannulli told the judge earlier Friday that he “deeply” regrets the harm that his actions have caused his daughters, wife and others.
LORI LOUGHLIN GETS TWO MONTHS IN PRISON AFTER JUDGE ACCEPTS PLEA DEAL IN COLLEGE BRIBERY SCANDAL|RADMARYA|AUGUST 21, 2020|FORTUNE

The time for remorse was when my husband was yelling to breathe!
‘I CAN’T BREATHE!’ ‘I CAN’T BREATHE!’ A MORAL INDICTMENT OF COP CULTURE|MICHAEL DALY|DECEMBER 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST

evanescent [ev-uh-nes-uhnt]

adjective:
1 soon passing out of sight, memory, or existence; quickly fading or disappearingl tending to vanish like vapor
2 (physics) denoting a field or wave that extends into a region where it cannot propagate and whose amplitude therefore decreases with distance

Examples:

Built over two years by engineer Thomas Cargill, it reached over 1,000 feet into the sea and featured an impressive castellated entrance. Visitors paid a penny a head to perambulate over the beach, the waves and way out across the sea. (Nehchal Sandhu, Leh to Keylong & back, 1982, The Tribune, December 2020)

The soufflé is as ephemeral and evanescent as the Blur Building by Diller Scofidio, and as difficult to carry off. (Gabriella Gershenson, The Structural Soundness of Your Favorite Desserts, According to Architects, Saveur, January 2017)

In times of strong emotion mankind disdain all base considerations; but such times are evanescent. The permanent constitutional condition of the manufactured man, thought Ahab, is sordidness (Herman Melville, Moby Dick)

Origin:

Early 18th century (in the sense 'almost imperceptible'): from Latin evanescent - 'disappearing', from the verb evanescere. (Oxford English Dictionary)

The fragile, airy quality of things evanescent reflects the etymology of the word evanescent itself. It derives from a form of the Latin verb evanescere, which means 'to evaporate' or 'to vanish'. Given the similarity in spelling between the two words, you might expect evaporate to come from the same Latin root, but it actually grew out of another steamy Latin root, evaporare. Evanescere did give us vanish, however, by way of Anglo-French and Vulgar Latin. (Merriam-Webster)

1717, 'on the point of becoming imperceptible,' from French évanescent, from Latin evanescentem (nominative evanescens), present participle of evanescere 'disappear, vanish, pass away,' figuratively 'be forgotten, be wasted,' from assimilated form of ex 'out' + vanescere 'vanish,' inchoative verb from vanus 'empty, void' (from PIE wano-, suffixed form of root eue- 'to leave, abandon, give out'). Sense of 'quickly vanishing, having no permanence' is by 1738. (Online Etymology Dictionary)