My New Favorite Word

vet

2011-07-13T18:44:00.000-07:00

Another word with multiple meanings, but I'll skip the obvious one and jump to the more interesting one :)

Pronunciation: vet (listen to it on dictionary.com)

Verb: to verify the accuracy, authenticity, validity of something. Brit: to investigate someone thoroughly to make sure they are suitable for a job requiring trustworthiness and loyalty.

Etymology: 19th century

Usage: The doc fully vetted the new royal dog and declared him free of bugs, both literally and figuratively.

pitch

2011-07-11T21:07:00.000-07:00

Pitch. I love a word with so many different meanings but the one I love the most because it appeals to my gothic youth: black as tar. (For a fuller definition, see pitch defined on dictionary.com)

Pronunciation: pich (listen to it on dictionary.com)

Noun: a sticky resinous substance of a dark black or brown color obtained from the boiling or distillation of tar.

Etymology: 8th century, from the Old English pic, Latin pix

Usage: proverbially: black or dark as pitch (e.g pitch black)

excoriate

2011-03-15T00:10:00.000-07:00

I have indeed been dilatory in updating this blog :) But instead of excoriating myself, I offer you this new word.

Pronunciation: ek skȯr ee eyt (listen to it on dictionary.com)

Verb: literally means to flay or strip off the skin of a person. 2. flay verbally: denounce or berate scathingly.

Etymology: 15th century, Middle English, from the Late Latin excoriatus (past participle of excoriāre to strip, skin)

Usage: From The Decameron:

The sun was now in the zenith, and smote with extreme fervour full and unmitigated upon her tender and delicate frame, and upon her bare head, insomuch that his rays did not only scorch but bit by bit excoriate every part of her flesh that was exposed to them, and so shrewdly burn her that, albeit she was in a deep sleep, the pain awoke her.

dilatory

2010-04-16T16:58:00.000-07:00

Pronunciation: dil-uh-tohr-ee (listen to it on m-w.com)

Adjective: tending to or intending to cause delay; slow, tardy.

Etymology: 13th century in legal terms (a dilatory plea), more common usage dates from the 16th century. Middle English (Anglo-French) dilatorie, Latin dilatus (past participle of differre, to delay).

Usage: Google book search results are incredibly boring and consist mostly of a) law related texts, b) books on boys' behavior, c) dictionaries, and d) medical or scientific research texts so here's an example of usage I made up: Due to my dilatory nature, this blog entry sat around for over a month before I finally posted it.

esculent

2010-01-21T01:28:00.000-08:00

Pronunciation: es-kyuh-luhnt (listen to it on m-w.com)

Adjective: edible; Noun: something that is edible

Etymology: 17th century. From the Latin esculentus (edible)

Usage: For example, esculent roots or mushrooms.

Taste, defined by the early-nineteenth-century French gastronome Brillat-Savarin as that sense "by means of which we approve the sapidity [tastiness] and esculence [edibility] of things," is in fact physiologically bound up with smell and with touch.

From The hungry soul: eating and the perfecting of our nature.

defenestration

2010-01-19T11:20:00.000-08:00

Pronunciation: dee-fen-uh-strey-shuhn (listen to it on m-w.com)

Noun The act of throwing a person or thing out of a window; immediate dismissal or expulson (as from a public office).

Etymology: 17th century. From the Latin de (away from; off), fenestra (window). This word has a funny little tale of origin. It was invented for the "Defenestration of Prague," three men were thrown out of a castle window into the moat by Protestant radicals, marking the start of the Thirty Years War (read more about its origins on dictionary.com).

Usage: Here is a poem that makes good and frequent use of the word defenestration called Transcendental Sonnet #519 Defenestration Then and Now.

hubris

2010-01-16T20:54:00.000-08:00

Pronunciation: hyoo-bris (listen to it on m-w.com)

Noun: excessive pride or extreme self confidence; arrogance

Etymology: Late 19th century; From Greek hybris (insolence). In Greek mythology, Hybris was the goddess of insolence, violence, wantonness, reckless pride, arrogance and outrageous behavior in general.

Usage: Funnily, there are a lot of a) political, b) self help, c) religious, and d) financial books in Google Book search results.

lint licker

2010-01-14T23:56:00.000-08:00

This commercial makes hilarious use of words:

lugubrious

2010-01-14T23:52:00.000-08:00

Pronunciation: loo-goo-bree-uhs (listen to it on m-w.com)

Adjective: mournful, gloomy, especially affected in an exaggerated manner; dismal.

Etymology: Late 16th century. From the Latin lugere (mourn; lament)

Usage: Lots of results for it in Google Books search, including this lovely example from The Alhambra by Washington Irving.

hincty

2010-01-13T22:50:00.000-08:00

Pronunciation: hingk-tee (listen to it on dictionary.com)

Adjective: conceited, stuck-up.

Etymology: early 1920s; of unknown origin.

Usage: Slang term. Here's a great example of usage from a book of poems from Harlem.

abstemious

2010-01-12T22:43:00.000-08:00

Pronunciation: \ab-ˈstē-mē-əs\ (listen to it on m-w.com)

Adjective: Marked by restraint; abstinence. Sparing. Especially in regards to food and alcohol consumption.

Etymology: Early 17th century. From Latin abstemius; temetum (strong wine; intoxicating liquor)

Usage: Lots of great usage examples in Google Books search results.

pusillanimous

2010-01-08T17:06:00.000-08:00

Pronunciation: pyoo-suh-lan-uh-muhs (listen on m-w.com)

Adjective: lacking courage or resolution; cowardly, faint-hearted; marked by contemptible timidity

Etymology: 16th century. From Latin pusillus very small + animus spirit

Usage: Common GRE study word. Couple of good quotes from Devils by Dostoyevsky and Dante's Inferno.

priapus

2010-01-07T23:08:00.000-08:00

Pronunciation: \prī-ˈā-pəs\ (listen to it on m-w.com)

Noun: a Greek and Roman god of gardens and male generative power; phallus; phallic in shape; something lewd or obscene (definition on dictionary.com)

Etymology: 14th century; Latin, Greek.

Usage: Lots of Google books results. Here's a quote from On the Road (Penguin 20th Century Classics):

He wrote of Dean as a "child of the rainbow" who bore his torment in his agonized priapus. (pp 47-48)

taciturn

2010-01-06T13:54:00.000-08:00

Pronunciation: \ˈta-sə-ˌtərn\ (listen to it on m-w.com)

Adjective: temperamentally disinclined to speak; silent in expression and manner. (definition at dictionary.com)

Etymology: 18th century; French or Latin. French taciturne (close, taciturn) Latin tacitus (silent, secret).

Usage: Seems to be more often used in descriptions of men, but is not gender specific. Here's a typical usage example of "taciturn" in a snippet from the New Yorker, Volume 79.

jakes

2010-01-04T18:43:00.000-08:00

Pronunciation: \ˈjāks\ (listen to it on m-w.com)

Noun plural (but singular or plural in construction): toilet; outhouse (see definition at dictionary.com)

Etymology: mid 1500s; possibly from the French name Jacques

Usage: It's generally considered a slang term. You could say: I lost my lunch in the jakes. Or She messed herself before she could get to a jakes. Hard to find any Google Book references since doing a search on "jakes" results mostly in books authored by Jakes or with Jakes as a character's name, but here's an interesting one: Google Books: Dictionary of obsolete and provincial English‎ (use the "next" link to see highlighted terms).

Note: Not to be confused with jake which means something else.

concupiscence

2010-01-04T00:30:00.000-08:00

Pronounciation: kän-ˈkyü-pə-sən(t)s (listen to it on m-w.com)

Noun: strong desire, esp. sexual desire. (see definition at m-w.com)

Etymology: 14th century, from the latin: com (together; with) + cupere (wish/long for; desire/want/covet)

Here's a great quote from Wolf Hall: A Novel:

"A glance at Alice frees me from stain of concupiscence."

Ahh...conjugal bliss and husbandly fealty.

In other books: Thomas Aquinas seemed to like to use this word, and there are lots of other interesting religious texts in Google Books results for concupiscence.