Word of the Day

[Dead Cat]

I learned about frass from the 15th Nancy Drew game, where you examine the contents of frass jars under a microscope...then you find out what it is you've been touching.

[Yarjka]

caducity
the infirmity or weakness of old age; frailty

Due to the patient's caducity, it would be wise to eliminate his exposure to significant amounts of frass.

[Katya]

sally port - a secure, controlled entryway, as of a fortification or a prison

Between the fortifications of the sally port and the prisoner's caducity, there was no way he was going to be able to escape.

[Portia]

sally port - a secure, controlled entryway, as of a fortification or a prison

Between the fortifications of the sally port and the prisoner's caducity, there was no way he was going to be able to escape.

That's exactly what L'Abbé Faria wants you to think.

[Marduk]

I'm assuming that's also related to the military term "sally forth."

[Katya]

I'm assuming that's also related to the military term "sally forth."

Right. A "sally" is "a sudden charge out of a besieged place against the enemy; a sortie."

[Portia]

I've been having fun looking up these terms in Italian. Studying various Romance languages is an eccellente way to improve one's English vocab.

[Portia]

Just parsed neonicotinoid wrong. As neon-i-cotinoid. Looking it up in another language (add an "e") and seeing the English definition underneath made me see the "nicotine" in there. TIL

[Portia]

apiarist = apicoltore, caducity = caducità, sally = sortita (as guessable from Katya's def up there), and then just to show we can use Germanic words, frass = escrementi (a verrry fancy word for excrement. Also didn't realize at first. Ha.)

[Yarjka]

Sockdolager
something that settles a matter; a decisive blow or answer

Apparently, it was one of the last words Abraham Lincoln heard before he was shot:

In Tom Taylor’s play Our American Cousin, there occurs the line “Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, you sockdologising old man-trap”, and as the audience laughed, John Wilkes Booth fired the fatal shot.

Our attack from the sally port will be the sockdolager that will finish this battle.

[Emiliana]

Probity: the quality of having strong moral principles; honesty and decency.

Discovered in Harry Potter -- "Probity Probes" are used to detect magical concealment.

The discovery of his tax evasion was the sockdolager against his probity.

[Digit]

fissiparous

Tending to break into parts.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin fissi- (cleft) + -parous (bearing, producing).

Despite John's exemplary probity, his fissiparous financial situation prevented him from making the rent on time.

[Katya]

bugbear - a cause of obsessive fear, irritation, or loathing; archaic, an imaginary being invoked to frighten children, typically a sort of hobgoblin supposed to devour them

The bugbear's fissiparous nature—it could break into parts, each of which would chase a different child—made it even more terrifying.

[Dead Cat]

Demisexual: a person that is only sexually attracted to someone they have formed a deep emotional relationship with

The demisexual was in love with someone who she used to consider a bugbear until she got to know him better.

[Yarjka]

yonic
In the shape of a vulva or a vagina

(someone mentioned this as the opposite of 'phallic' -- perhaps it is.)

Demisexuals don't seek out pornography of either a phallic or yonic nature.

[Katya]

Yarjka, you killed the word of the day because no one else wants to use the word "yonic"!

groyne - a low wall or sturdy timber barrier built out into the sea from a beach to check erosion and drifting

The groyne was not yonic. (Also, no pun intended.)

[Portia]

(Also, no pun intended.)

Good madam, I call foul. That pun is sublime.

[Katya]

bird colonel - A full colonel (as opposed to a lieutenant colonel), so called because of the eagle on their insignia

Source - An episode of M*A*S*H


The bird colonel inspected the groyne.

[Katya]

tortuous - full of twists and turns; excessively lengthy and complex

torturous - characterized by, involving, or causing excruciating pain or suffering

Source: Portia using the latter, causing me to realize they are different words. (I thought "tortuous" covered both meanings.)


The bird colonel led his unit through the tortuous mountain pass.

[Katya]

rhodomontade, rodomontade - Vain boasting; a rant; pretentious behaviour

Source: The preface of the 1975 Folio Society edition of Northanger Abbey.


I soon tired of his tortuous and torturous rhodomontade.