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word | 1 Dec 2004 06:59

fidelity

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The Word of the Day for December 1 is: 

fidelity   \fih-DEL-ih-tee\   noun 
    *1: the quality or state of being faithful 
     2: accuracy in details : exactness
     3 : the degree to which an electronic device (as a record 
player, radio, or television) accurately reproduces its effect 
(as sound or picture)

Example sentence:
     Jake's fidelity to his job was severely tested when he 
received a tempting offer from another company.

Did you know?
     You can have faith in "fidelity," which has existed in 
English since the 15th century; its etymological path winds back 
through Middle English and Middle French, eventually arriving at 
the Latin verb "fidere," meaning "to trust." "Fidere" is also an 
ancestor of other English words associated with trust or faith, 
such as "fiduciary" (which means "of, relating to, or involving 
a confidence or trust" and is often used in the context of a 
monetary trust) and "confide" (meaning "to trust" or "to show 
trust by imparting secrets"). Nowadays "fidelity" is often used 
in reference to recording and broadcast devices, conveying the
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word | 2 Dec 2004 06:59

absinthe

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The Word of the Day for December 2 is:

absinthe   \AB-sinth\   noun
     1 : wormwood; especially : a common European wormwood 
(_Artemisia absinthium_)
    *2 : a green liqueur which is flavored with wormwood, anise, 
and other aromatic herbs and commercial production of which is 
banned in many countries for health concerns

Example sentence:
     "I draw the line at absinthe, a bottle of which is still 
sitting in my liquor cabinet five years after it was received, 
gleaming ominously." (Alexandra Jacobs, _The New York Times_, 
November 7, 2004)

Did you know?
     In 1797, the Swiss Henri-Louis Pernod was the first to 
commercially produce an alcoholic drink from the bitter herb 
_Artemisia absinthium_, known commonly as wormwood. By the mid-
to-late 1800s this bright green distillation, by then known in 
both French and English as "absinthe," had become wildly 
popular, especially among artists and writers, but it also had a 
tendency to make people a little wild. In fact, it was linked to 
several nasty disorders, including convulsions and foaming at
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word | 3 Dec 2004 06:59

donnybrook

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The Word of the Day for December 3 is: 

donnybrook   \DAH-nee-brook\   noun
     *1 : free-for-all, brawl 
     2 : a usually public quarrel or dispute 

Example sentence:
     Out on the ice a donnybrook had broken out, and it took 
quite some time for the referees to separate the brawling hockey 
players and restore order.

Did you know?
     The Donnybrook Fair was an annual event held in Donnybrook -
- then a suburb of Dublin, Ireland -- from the 13th to the 19th 
centuries. The fair was legendary for the vast quantities of 
liquor consumed there, for the number of hasty marriages 
performed during the week following it, and, most of all, for 
the frequent brawls that erupted throughout it. Eventually, the 
fair's reputation for tumult was its undoing. From the 1790s on 
there were campaigns against the drunken brawl the fair had 
become. The event was abolished in 1855, but not before its name 
had become a generic term for a free-for-all.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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word | 4 Dec 2004 06:59

uncouth

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The Word of the Day for December 4 is:

uncouth   \un-KOOTH\   adjective 
     1 : strange or clumsy in shape or appearance : outlandish  
     2 : lacking in polish and grace : rugged  
    *3 : awkward and uncultivated in appearance, manner, or 
behavior : rude

Example sentence: 
     Jill liked Chad because he was rebellious and 
unconventional, but in her parents' minds he was rude and 
uncouth.

Did you know? 
     "Uncouth" comes from the Old English "uncuth," which joins 
the prefix "un-" with "cuth," meaning "familiar, known." How did 
a word that meant "unfamiliar" come to 
mean "outlandish," "rugged," or "rude"? Some examples from 
literature illustrate that the transition happened quite 
naturally. In _Captain Singleton_, Daniel Defoe refers to "a 
strange noise more uncouth than any they had ever heard." In 
William Shakespeare's _As You Like It_, Orlando tells Adam, "If 
this uncouth forest yield anything savage, I will either be food 
for it or bring it for food to thee." In Washington Irving's
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word | 5 Dec 2004 06:59

hermitage

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The Word of the Day for December 5 is:

hermitage   \HER-mih-tij\   noun
     1: the habitation of a hermit 
    *2: a secluded residence or private retreat; also: monastery 
     3: the life or condition of a hermit 

Example sentence: 
     Tired of city life, Dan decided to quit his job and retire to a country hermitage. 

Did you know? 
     "Hermitage" is of course related to "hermit," a word for one who retreats from society to live in solitude,
often for religious reasons. The origins of "hermitage" and "hermit" are found in Greek. "Eremos"
(meaning "desolate") gave rise to "eremia" (meaning "desert") and eventually to the noun "eremites,"
which was used for a person living in the desert, or, more broadly, for a recluse. The word journeyed from
Greek to Latin to Anglo-French to Middle English, where it eventually transformed into "hermit." The
related "hermitage" was borrowed into English from Anglo-French in the 14th century. A hermitage can be
the dwelling of a hermit (e.g., a mountain shack or a monastery) or simply a secluded home.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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word | 6 Dec 2004 06:59

circumvent

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The Word of the Day for December 6 is: 

circumvent   \ser-kum-VENT\   verb
     1 : to hem in 
     2 : to make a circuit around 
    *3 : to manage to get around especially by ingenuity or 
stratagem 

Example sentence:
     The corporation was always trying to circumvent tax laws by 
exploiting the loopholes.

Did you know?
     If you've ever felt as if someone were circling around the 
rules, you have an idea of the origins of "circumvent" -- it 
derives from the Latin "circum," meaning "circle," and "ventus," 
the past participle of the Latin verb "venire," meaning "to 
come." The earliest uses of "circumvent" referred to a tactic of 
hunting or warfare in which the quarry or enemy was encircled 
and captured. Today, however, "circumvent" more often suggests 
avoidance than entrapment; it typically means to "get around" 
someone or something, as in our example sentence.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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word | 7 Dec 2004 06:59

epenthesis

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The Word of the Day for December 7 is: 

epenthesis   \ih-PEN-thuh-siss\   noun
     : the insertion or development of a sound or letter in the 
body of a word

Example sentence: 
     Professor Seeles explained that epenthesis is the process 
of adding an extra sound or syllable to a word, as when a child 
adds a "b" to "family" and says "FAM-blee."

Did you know? 
     If you say "athlete" as "ath-a-lete," you've committed 
epenthesis. Some people consider the pronunciation to be 
unacceptable, but there's a perfectly good reason why it occurs; 
epenthesis is simply a natural way to break up an awkward 
cluster of consonants. It's easier for some people to 
say "athlete" as three syllables instead of two, just as it's 
easier for some to insert a "b" sound into "cummerbund," 
pronouncing that word as "cum-ber-bund." Epenthesis has even 
contributed to the evolution of recognized spelling variants, 
giving us such options as "cumberbund" and "sherbert" 
(for "sherbet"). The word "epenthesis" came to us by way of Late 
Latin from the Greek verb "epentithenai," which means "to insert
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word | 8 Dec 2004 06:59

ludic

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The Word of the Day for December 8 is: 

ludic   \LOO-dik\   adjective
     : of, relating to, or characterized by play : playful 

Example sentence:
     Three-year-old Rachel was delighted with her present, a 
ludic and lively pop-up book about the celebration of Hanukkah.

Did you know? 
     Here's a serious word, just for fun. That is to say, it 
means "fun," but it was created in all seriousness around 1940 
by psychologists. They wanted a term to describe what children 
do, and they came up with "ludic activity." That may seem 
ludicrous -- why not just call it "playing"? -- but the 
word "ludic" caught on, and it's not all child's play anymore. 
It can refer to architecture that is playful, narrative that is 
humorous and even satirical, and literature that is 
light. "Ludic" is ultimately from the Latin noun "ludus," which 
refers to a whole range of fun things -- stage shows, games, 
sports, even jokes. The more familiar word "ludicrous" also 
traces back to the same source.
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word | 9 Dec 2004 06:59

stringent

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The Word of the Day for December 9 is:

stringent   \STRIN-junt\   adjective
      1 : tight, constricted 
    *2 : marked by rigor, strictness, or severity especially 
with regard to rule or standard 
      3 : marked by money scarcity and credit strictness 

Example sentence: 
     The school's stringent policies required students to wear 
uniforms and forbade sneakers except for sports.

Did you know?
     Words that are synonymous with "stringent" include "rigid," 
which implies uncompromising inflexibility ("rigid rules of 
conduct"), and "rigorous," which suggests hardship and 
difficulty ("the rigorous training of firefighters"). Also 
closely related is "strict," which emphasizes undeviating 
conformity to rules, standards, or requirements ("strict 
enforcement of the law"). "Stringent" usually involves severe, 
tight restrictions or limitations ("the college has stringent 
admissions rules"). That's logical. After all, "rigorous" 
and "rigid" are both derived from "rigere," the Latin word 
meaning "to be stiff," and "stringent" and "strict" developed
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word | 10 Dec 2004 06:59

whirligig

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The Word of the Day for December 10 is:

whirligig   \WER-lih-ghig\   noun
   *1 : a child's toy having a whirling motion 
     2 : merry-go-round 
     3 a : one that continuously whirls, moves, or changes b : a 
whirling or circling course (as of events) 

Example sentence:
     The more he earned the more he spent, and Sam felt like he 
was trapped in a never-ending whirligig of debt.

Did you know? 
     English speakers, and particularly children, began spinning 
whirligigs as early as the 15th century. Since then, "whirligig" 
has acquired several meanings beyond its initial toy sense. It 
even has a place in the name of the whirligig beetle, a member 
of the family Gyrinidae that swiftly swims in circles on the 
surface of still water. The word "whirligig" comes to us from 
Middle English "whirlegigg" ("whirling top"), which is itself 
from "whirlen," meaning "to whirl," and "gigg," meaning "(toy) 
top."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Gmane