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word | 1 May 2005 06:59

saguaro

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The Word of the Day for May 1 is:

saguaro \suh-WAHR-uh\   noun 
     : a tall columnar usually sparsely-branched cactus (_Carnegiea gigantea_) of dry areas of the
southwestern United States and Mexico that bears white flowers and a scaly reddish edible fruit and that
may attain a height of up to 50 feet (16 meters) 

Example sentence: 
     "For a brief period in spring, ...the saguaro has a silly aspect, as white flowers bloom atop its columnar
trunk, like a frilly little Easter hat..."  (Christine Temin, _Boston Globe_, September 4, 1994) 

Did you know? 
     Venture into the Arizonan desert on a May or June morning and you may see the saguaro in bloom. For many of our
readers (such as those living in Arizona and southeastern California), this sight -- and the word
"saguaro" -- won't be anything new. Or perhaps you know this emblem of all things Southwestern simply as
the "giant cactus," another of its common names. The word "saguaro" originated in Opata, a language
spoken by peoples of the Sonoran Desert region of Mexico. It came into English by way of the Spanish spoken
by the Mexican settlers of our American West. The very saguaros we see today may well have been around when
the word was first noted, some 150 years ago --this amazing cactus can live for up to 200 years.
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word | 2 May 2005 06:59

troglodyte

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The Word of the Day for May 2 is:

troglodyte   \TRAHG-luh-dyte\   noun
     1 : a member of any of various peoples (as in antiquity) who lived or were reputed to live chiefly in caves
    *2 : a person characterized by reclusive habits or outmoded or reactionary attitudes

Example sentence:
     Eva regarded her parents as troglodytes because of their dislike for modern music.

Did you know?
     Peer into the etymological cave of "troglodyte" and you'll find a "trogle." But don't be afraid. "Trogle"
may sound like a scary cave-dwelling ogre, but it's actually just a perfectly unintimidating Greek root
that means "hole" or "cave." Is "troglodyte" the only English word to have descended from "trogle"? Not
exactly. "Troglodyte" and its related adjective "troglodytic" (meaning "of, related to, or being a
troglodyte") are the only "trogle" offspring that are widely used in general English contexts, but
another "trogle" progeny, the prefix "troglo-," meaning "cave-dwelling," is used in scientific
contexts to form words like "troglobiont" ("an animal living in or restricted to caves").

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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word | 3 May 2005 06:59

glower

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The Word of the Day for May 3 is: 

glower   \GLOW-er ("OW" as in "cow")\   verb
     : to look or stare with sullen annoyance or anger

Example sentence:
     Mariah crossed her arms and glowered at Jeff, making it perfectly clear that she'd had enough of his teasing.

Did you know?
     Do words of uncertain origin make you scowl? If so, "glower" may put a frown on your face, because only part of
its history can be validated. The well-established part of its story leads us to Scotland, where "glower"
(or "glowren," to use the older Scottish form of the word) has been used since the late Middle Ages.
Originally, the word meant simply "to look intently" or "to stare in amazement," but by the late 1700s,
glowering stares were being associated with anger instead of astonishment. Beyond that, however, the
history of the word is murky. The most we can say is that "glower" is a distant relative of Middle Low German
"gluren," which means "to be overcast," and of Middle Dutch "gloeren," meaning "to leer."
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word | 4 May 2005 06:59

parietal

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The Word of the Day for May 4 is:

parietal   \puh-RYE-uh-tul\   adjective 
     1 a : of or relating to the walls of a part or cavity  b : of, relating to, or forming the upper posterior wall of
the head
     2 : attached to the main wall rather than the axis or a cross wall of a plant ovary
    *3 : of or relating to college living or its regulation

Example sentence:
     The college's parietal rules allow for coed dormitories.

Did you know?
     Fifteenth-century scientists first used "parietal" (from Latin "paries," meaning "wall of a cavity or
hollow organ") to describe a pair of bones of the roof of the skull between the frontal and posterior bone.
Later, "parietal" was also applied to structures connected to or found in the same general area as these
bones; the parietal lobe, for example, is the middle division of each hemisphere of the brain. In the 19th
century, botanists adopted "parietal" as a word for ovules and placentas attached to the walls of plant
ovaries. It was also in the 19th century that "parietal" began to be heard on college campuses, outside of
the classroom; in 1837, Harvard College established the Parietal Committee to be in charge of "all
offences against good order and decorum within the walls." 

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
(Continue reading)

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word | 5 May 2005 06:59

tamale

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The Word of the Day for May 5 is: 

tamale   \tuh-MAH-lee\   noun
     : cornmeal dough rolled with ground meat or beans seasoned usually with chili, wrapped usually in corn
husks, and steamed

Example sentence:
     "As... the Swedish winter grew bitter and dark, I desperately needed comfort food. Enchiladas and tamales
would have done just fine." (Edward Barrios Acevedo, Scripps Howard News Service, March 31, 2005)

Did you know?
     How many English food words can you name that derive from Nahuatl, a group of languages spoken by native
peoples of Mexico and Central America? You've probably guessed that "tamale" gives you one; it came to us
(by way of Mexican Spanish) from the Nahuatl "tamalli," a word for steamed cornmeal dough. Add to the menu
"chili" (from "chilli," identifying all those fiery peppers); "chocolate" (from "chocolatl," first
used for a beverage made from chocolate and water); "guacamole" (from "ahuacatl," meaning "avocado,"
plus "molli," meaning "sauce"); and "tomato" (from "tomatl"). Top it all off with a word that's new to our
dictionary: "chipotle" (a smoked and dried pepper), from "chilli" and "poctli" (meaning "something smoked").
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word | 6 May 2005 06:59

moxie

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The Word of the Day for May 6 is:

moxie   \MAHK-see\   noun
     1 : energy, pep 
    *2 : courage, determination 
     3 : know-how, expertise 

Example sentence: 
      It took a lot of moxie for Brandon to go back to school to follow his dream of becoming a lawyer.

Did you know? 
     "Hot roasted peanuts! Fresh popcorn! Ice-cold Moxie!" You might have heard such a vendor's cry at a
baseball game -- if you attended one in 1924. That was the heyday of the soft drink called "Moxie," which
some claim outsold Coca-Cola at the height of its popularity. The beverage was a favorite of American
writer E.B. White, who wrote, "Moxie contains gentian root, which is the path to the good life. This was
known in the second century before Christ and is a boon to me today." By 1930, "moxie" had become a slang term
for nerve and verve, perhaps because some people thought the drink was a tonic that could cure virtually
any ill and bring vim back to even the most lethargic individual.

* Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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word | 7 May 2005 06:59

chautauqua

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The Word of the Day for May 7 is:

chautauqua   \shuh-TAW-kwuh\   noun
      : any of various traveling shows and local assemblies that flourished in the United States in the late 19th
and early 20th centuries, that provided popular education combined with entertainment in the form of
lectures, concerts, and plays, and that were modeled after activities at the Chautauqua Institution of
western New York

Example sentence:
      As a boy, Grandpa attended a lecture given by famed humorist Will Rogers during a summer chautauqua.

Did you know?
      The chautauqua has been aptly described as "a cross between a folk-life festival and a community college."
The original Chautauqua was started just after the Civil War at Chautauqua Lake in New York state as an
assembly for training church workers. Before long the program was broadened to include lectures on a wide
variety of subjects, as well as entertainment. The event proved so successful that it spawned other
chautauquas throughout the United States, each offering a mix of education, entertainment, and on
occasion, even religion. The chautauquas are now largely a colorful fragment of American history, but
the original institution at Chautauqua continues to offer an annual program of performances and lectures.
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word | 8 May 2005 06:59

millefleur

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The Word of the Day for May 8 is:

millefleur   \meel-FLUR\   adjective
     : having an allover pattern of small flowers and plants 

Example sentence:
     "Among the works to be exhibited are a 15th-century Flemish millefleur tapestry...." (Devorah L. Knaff,
_Press Enterprise_ [Riverside, CA], April 27, 2003)

Did you know?
     "Millefleur" came into French from the Latin "mille florae" and from French directly into English.
Although the literal meaning of "mille florae" is "a thousand flowers," it is easy to see how "millefleur"
came to be applied to a style of artistic expression featuring a pattern or background of many tiny flowers
or plants. A similarly colorful extension of "a thousand flowers" can be seen in the word "millefiori."
That term, which refers to ornamental glass characterized by multicolored flower-like designs, comes
from "mille fiori," the Italian phrase meaning "a thousand flowers."
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word | 9 May 2005 06:59

resile

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The Word of the Day for May 9 is: 

resile   \rih-ZYLE\   verb
     : recoil, retract; especially : to return to a prior position 

Example sentence:
     The politician said he was sorry that his comments had caused offense, but he stopped short of resiling from
his position.

Did you know?
     "Resile" is a resilient word; it's been around in English since at least 1529. It's also a cousin of
"resilient" -- both words derive from the Latin verb "resilire," which means to "jump back" or "recoil."
("Resilire" in turn comes from "salire," meaning "to jump.") "Resilient" focuses on the ability of
something to "bounce back" from damage, whereas "resile" generally applies to someone or something that
withdraws from an agreement or "jumps back" from a stated position. "Resile" is a word that shows up only
occasionally in U.S. sources; it is more common in British and especially Australian English.
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word | 10 May 2005 06:59

campanologist

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The Word of the Day for May 10 is: 

campanologist   \kam-puh-NAH-luh-jist\   noun
     : one that practices or is skilled in the art of bell ringing 

Example sentence:
     The fast pace of modern life has taken its toll among practicing campanologists, and the art has lost some of
its appeal.

Did you know?
     The first bells were rung some 4,000 years ago during the Bronze Age, when those instruments were forged and
riveted from metal plates. By the 17th century, bells were ringing around the world and in Britain
campanology had become a "gentleman's recreation." But although the first campanologists'
organization, The Society of College Youths, was founded in 1637, the words "campanology" and
"campanologist" (from "campana," Late Latin for "bell") did not debut in English publications until
around 1823 and 1857 respectively.
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Gmane