Sunday, January 31, 2010

Redoubt

Redoubt: (Temporary) fortifications. Redoubt distantly shares its etymology with reduce.
Looks like a pretty secure redoubt to me.
A Book for Today: Terminal Freeze by Lincoln Child

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Vibrissae

Vibrissae: The formal word for whiskers. Its etymology reflects the function of these facial hairs or feathers and is shared with vibrate and vibrato.
The overhung upper jaw, fronted by an array of huge fangs and flanked by two tusks, behind which - horribly - hung hundreds of narrow, razor-sharp tendrils, like the vibrassae of a walrus.
A Book for Today: Terminal Freeze by Lincoln Child

Friday, January 29, 2010

Monody

Monody: A monody is a chant or dirge sung in one voice. The obvious etymology is shared with mononucleosis, monogram, monopoly, and monorail. The other etymology is shared with ode and melody.
He was holding his medicine bundle in both hands and chanting a low monody.
A Book for Today: Terminal Freeze by Lincoln Child

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Frag

Frag: When a solider is killed or injured by a fellow solider, it may be accidental (friendly fire) or on purpose (fragged).
"It was not a frag," the shaman said, opening his eyes.
Marshall looked at him in surprise. "Were you in the service?"
A Book for Today: Terminal Freeze by Lincoln Child

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Coruscate

Coruscate: Sparkle.
There was the truck, covered with tiny yellow lights like some immense holiday offering, its headlights lancing the coruscating snow.
A Book for Today: Terminal Freeze by Lincoln Child

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Fairing

Fairing: A fairing is a structure with the primary purpose of creating an aerodynamic shape and reducing drag.
Marshall had been there only once before, for a butterfly bandage and a tetanus booster after gashing his arm on a rusty fairing.
A Book for Today: Terminal Freeze by Lincoln Child

Monday, January 25, 2010

Kerf

Kerf: Kerf shares its etymology with carve and refers to cutting with a blade (knife, saw, sword, etc.).
The sudden thawing, the creature going missing, the kerf marks...
Those kerf marks ... I don't know. Under the scope they don't look like they were made by a saw.
A Book for Today: Terminal Freeze by Lincoln Child

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Duxelles

Duxelles: Chopped mushrooms, eponymously named for the Marquis d'Uxelles.
Waiters in white shirts and black ties offered bite-size hamburgers, miniature Ruebens, lamb chops, and little phyllo-dough bundles full of what the waiter said was mushroom duxelles.
A Book for Today: Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner

Friday, January 22, 2010

Palettes

Palettes: A palette, from the Latin for shovel, is either the board an artist uses to mix colors, or a set of colors, as in an autumn palette. Metamorphically, it might refer to other sets such a palette of textures or sounds. The examples below seem to be unique to the author.
Watching the palettes catch the light, hearing beads on the hem click against each other, I could imagine myself dancing in the dress.
The skirt brushed softly at the skin just below my knees, and the silver palettes shimmered, making it look as if the dress were actually made of light.
A Book for Today: Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Calumny

Calimny: A calumny is a slanderous statement. It shares its etymology with cavil.
.... in France we have no law to protect us against the calumnies of the press ...
Ceccadli's calumnies were interjected into the trial at Caillaux's request.
A Book for Today: The Crimes of Paris by Dorothy Hoobler

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Catafalque

Catafalque: A catafalque is a structure to display a coffin. This is a unique latinate word in the in that its etymology appears to be unshared with any other words. But, you might notice, the latinate prefix cata- is widely represented with cataracts, cathedral, cation, catalog, catheter, etc. I don't count this as the root cata (Latin meaning down) is so non-specific that it only provides a hint to the meaning in cataracts (waterfalls). The interesting root is fala meaning scaffold, wooden tower, or, even, seige engine. This root seems to be unique, though I'd be happy to be proven wrong here.
Dozens of wreaths were laid upon the catafalque, which was drawn by horses through the streets as a tribute to the brave man who had died to bring the dreaded Bonnot to justice.
A Book for Today: The Crimes of Paris by Dorothy Hoobler

The casket bearing Anne's remains was moved to the catafalque beside the grave.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Sibyl

Sibyl: A prophetess - from the Greek.
It was during the night; the rain poured down in torrents; thunder rumbled; as a result a relative, who combined the functions of midwife and sibyl, drew the conclusion that my career would be a stormy one.
A Book for Today: The Crimes of Paris by Dorothy Hoobler

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Recidivism

Recidivism: The tendency of criminal to repeat their criminal behavior.

You explain to them that the recidivism rate for pedophiles is less than five percent, and then you ask them if they think the piece of human refuse should have his balls cut off.


A Book for Today: Extreme Measures by Vince Flynn

Monday, January 11, 2010

Ley Lines

Ley Lines: I'm guessing someone saw a great demonstration of magnetic field lines using iron filings and imagined there must be many different, more powerful, invisible, mystical lines of force. These ley lines were posited as the reason for the alignment of Stonehenge (now know to be astronomical) and the Nasca Lines. These various lines of force are called ley lines and they are used in various mystical, new age practices, fantasy and SF writings, and even World of Warcraft.
The circle would be a good fifteen feet across, a rather large enclosure which generally took at least three witches to make and hold, but I was good enough the channel that much ley line force alone.
Another slow breath, and I touched my will to the tiny ley line running through the churches grave yard.
A Book for Today: Every Which Way But Dead by Kim Harrison

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Brook

Brook: Brook has meant to use or enjoy, but in contemporary usage, the meaning is closest to the more somber: tolerate. Brook shares it circuitous etymology with broker, fruit, and frugal.
I protested, right along with Keasley, but the young woman batted our hands away, the suddenly sharp look in her green eyes brooking no interference.
A Book for Today: Every Which Way But Dead by Kim Harrison

Friday, January 8, 2010

Mien

Mien: Mien is a person's air or bearing or demeanor; in fact, it shares its etymology with demeanor.
He had a bookish mien instead of the hint of danger that I usually liked in my men.
A Book for Today: Every Which Way But Dead by Kim Harrison

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Auto-de-fe

Auto-de-fe: (Spanish for act of faith) Auto-de-fe was the religious ceremony following a trial during the Spanish Inquisition, often culminating with the heretic's confession and burning at the stake.

The auto-de-fe continued. The famous Count of Monte Cristo, who had escaped from the dungeon of a castle on an island in the sea, was likewise fed to the flames of Luo's madness.

A Book for Today: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Execrate

Execrate: Execrate means to curse and is the antonym of its etymological relative consecrate, both etymologically related to sacred.
We were sorry we didn't know any Latin, and that we were unable to deliver a funerary oration in the language that he had employed on his deathbed (either to recite a prayer to his god or to execrate his life as a street sweeper, it was impossible to say which).
A Book for Today: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Hod

Hod: A hod is a three-sided box with a long handle. Hods most often appear in connection with brick laying where the hod might carry bricks or mortar.
My hod slipped from my grasp and rolled over the ground, spilling the contents; the two eggs I had wrapped in a cabbage had broken and were leaking onto the cover of Cousin Pons.
A Book for Today: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

Monday, January 4, 2010

Recondite

Recondite: Recondite means hidden, obscure or hard to understand. It shares its etymology with incondite (badly put together) and abscond (hide away).
Although illiterate, my tormentors, or rather the Little Seamstress's swarm of disappointed suitors, we flabbergasted by the sight of this recondite object: a book.
A Book for Today: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Pannier

Pannier: Pannier is a bread basket; these days it refers to saddle bags - a pair of baskets carried by people, pack animals or bicycles. Pannier shares its etymology with panatela, pantry, companion, and panini.
I noted a small band of coolies making their way down this path, laden like beasts of burden with great panniers of copper tied to their backs.
A Book for Today: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Limpid

Limpid: Limpid variously means clear, lucid, transparent, simple, and serene. This broad range of tranquil connotations is supported by its shared etymology with the rhyming lymph and nymph - lymph referring to water and nymph referring to water sprites. All this peaceful water is from long ago before pollution and tsunamis.
The peasants' faces, so grim a moment before, softened under the influence of Mozart's limpid music like parched earth under a shower.
A Book for Today: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie