Word of the Day-fenestration0 评论
Fenestration (noun)
Pronunciation: [fe-nê-'strey-shên] Definition: (1) The arrangement and design of windows and doors in a building; (2) any opening in a surface such as a wall or membrane. Usage: This is usually an architectural term referring to the disposition or addition of windows in a building or building design. Suggested Usage: The term may be used to refer to making any sort of opening in any surface: The wall had been (re)fenestrated by the night's shelling." Like all other words, it is susceptible to metaphor: "It was a dense presentation fenestrated only by quips from the audience." Word of the Day-abstinent0 评论
abstinent \AB-stuh-nuhnt\, adjective:
abstaining, especially from self-indulgence The main reason I am abstinent is I don't want to become pregnant. That would be the worst thing. I wouldn't be able to finish school. -- Tia Whipple, Time, 2006-09-15 It's not enough to just talk about abstinence. You have to be willing to talk to them about protection if they choose not to be abstinent. -- Denver Post, 2007-10-15 衍生 abstinence Word of the Day-abstemious0 评论
noun.
Pronunciation: [æb-'ste-mi-ês] Definition: Temperate in consumption of food and drink; sparse or sparing in general（节俭的）. Usage: This word answers the question, "Can you name an English word that contains all the vowels in their correct order?" (abstemious, I guess) What about "y"? The adverb is "abstemiously." There are several others such as "aerious," "facetious," and "parecious". The noun is "abstemiousness." Suggested Usage: First and foremost this word is used in reference to temperance in food and drink, "Kirsten dines abstemiously throughout the week in order to gorge on the weekends." Another near synonym of today's word is "spartan": "Felix's apartment is modern and abstemious in its furnishings." Extending the metaphor, we might get, "Raymond leads a puritanically abstemious life resistant to most earthly pleasures." abstinent abstinence Word of the day-beseech0 评论
beseech \bi-SEECH\, verb; （beseech, besought or beseeched, beseeching: ）
to ask earnestly; implore In this purgatory, the narrator feels threatened by more recent emigres who beseech him for help and force him to face the hard fact of his own displacement. -- Laura Winters, Moscow on the Thames, New York Times, January 5, 1997 "Spare your poor children these vulgarities, I beseech you," his wife might protest, to hone her point that he was not a gentleman. -- Peter Matthiessen, Bone by Bone Word of the Day-eminent0 评论
eminent \EM-uh-nuhnt\, adjective:
1. high in station, rank, or repute; prominent, distinguished 2. conspicuous; noteworthy 3. high; lofty 4. standing out above other things; prominent Several others of the most eminent artists of our country had urgently requested Mr. Dickens to sit to them for his picture and bust, but, having consented to do so to Alexander and Dexter, he was obliged to refuse all others for want of time. -- G.W. Putnam, The Atlantic, October 1, 1870 Children who are to become eminent do not like schools or schoolteachers. Many famed men found their own homes more stimulating, preferred to skip school and read books omnivorously. Today's "regimented schools" would not consider them college material. -- Victor Goertzel, The Gifted Child Quarterly, December 1, 1960 Word of the Day-eminence grise0 评论
eminence grise \ay-mee-nahn(t)s-GREEZ\, noun:
a person who wields power or exerts influence behind the scenes Some might hypothesize that Mr. Kissinger's（基辛格） perpetual re-emergence as eminence grise reflects the tendency of presidents to change their views after taking office and gradually move in Mr. Kissinger's direction. -- James Mann, The Ghost of the Oval Office, New York Times, October 4, 2002 Considerably less known in the West than his comrades, he prefers the role of eminence grise. -- They Made a Revolution, Time, November 5, 1968 As his detractors tell it, Bolland is an eminence grise--a postmodern Richelieu or Rasputin, conniving behind the throne. -- Ginanne Brownell, By What Mysterious Alchemy Do You Turn The 'Harry Pothead' Scandal Into A Public-Relations Master Coup?, Newsweek, January 27, 1998 by 1838, French for "gray eminence"; originally used in French for Pere Joseph, a monk who was Cardinal Richelieu's confidential agent, for the gray habit he wore, in contrast to the Cardinal's red habit 神经发育一地理标志：外侧节隆起(Lateral ganglionic eminences,LGE) Word of the Day-prelude0 评论
Definition: (noun) Something that serves as a preceding event or introduces what follows.
Synonyms: overture, preliminary Usage: Cornelius was very uneasy about it, but it was after all only a prelude to greater anxieties. Word of the Day-emolument0 评论
Emolument (Noun)
Pronunciation: [ê-'mah-lyê-mênt or ee-'mah-lyê-mênt] Definition: Compensation or perquisites received for employment. Usage: The Irish philosopher Edmund Burke (1729-1797) once wrote "Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never can willingly abandon it." The adjective, "emolumental," is rarely used. Suggested Usage: This is a rather flighty term that might be used to refer to any type of compensation, for example, "I could accept the offer if the emoluments were attractive", especially if unorthodox: "The chiropracter next door is an additional emolument for the job." Word of the Day-eschew0 评论
Eschew (verb)
Pronunciation: [e-'shu] Definition: Shun, avoid, shy away from. Usage: We were reminded of this word when "obfuscation" was our Word of the Day. Several readers mentioned having seen "Eschew obfuscation(avoid confusion)" at various intervals in their lives. While the sign is intended as a self-contradiction, no one at any point misunderstood it. Neither "eschew" nor "obfuscation" is an obfuscating vocabulary item; rather, both enrich any sensitive vocabulary. "Eschewal" is the noun and the one who eschews something is an eschewer. Suggested Usage: This is a word with hundreds of uses around the house, for example, "No, actually I'm not ready. I eschew association with men who pick up their dates with a six-pack in each hand." It also is handy around the workplace: "I would ask Pinkerton to do it but he eschews work of any kind when the sun is shining." Word of the Day-ramble0 评论
ramble \RAM-buhl\, verb, noun:
1. to wander about 2. a walk for pleasure without predetermined destination 3. to talk or write about one thing and then another without useful connection As you ramble along them, it is difficult not to feel something of a peeping-tom; this is Surrey at its most intimate, with arches over garden gates framing views of tile-hanging and leaded lights. -- Clive Aslet, Telegraph.co.uk, 11/17/2008 Pierce and Carmen were on a northward walk markedly better organized than our own: having rambled throughout Europe, they had entrusted a local company to plan their trip. -- Gregory Dicum, New York Times, 2/3/2008 Word of the Day-meander0 评论
Meander (noun, verb)
Pronunciation: [mee-'æn-dê(r)] Definition: A loop in a river or stream or a series of such loops; a winding, convolute course or path. v. 蜿蜒而流; 漫步 Usage: The interesting aspect of today's lovely word is that the verb "to meander" is derived from the noun. That may surprise many, since the verb is used far more frequently today than the noun, e.g. a meandering brook or the boy meandered aimlessly through the woods. The adjective is meandrous "full of meanders," as a meandrous path leading to the river. Suggested Usage: The shortest distance between two points is a straight line but the most interesting route must include meanders: "What she called a 'road' was a string of meanders strewn carelessly down the mountainside." Fortunately, we live in a wondrously meandrous world: "The rain had left her hair a tangle of disconnected meanders leading nowhere." Etymology: Today's word comes from Latin "maeander," borrowed from Greek Maiandros, the name of the river that flowed a winding course between Lydia and Caria, through Ionia and Phrygia, now western Turkey, and emptied into the Aegean Sea near Miletus. It is now known as the Menderes. Verb 1. (of a river, road, etc.) to follow a winding course 2. to wander without definite aim or direction (Synonyms: wander) Noun 1. a curve or bend, as in a river [Greek Maiandros the River Maeander] 2. an aimless amble on a winding course (Synonyms: ramble)
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