Word of the Day

[Marduk]

Coquette.

[Giovanni Schwartz]

Xerophyte, probably.

Bah. Too slow.

[Katya]

Xerophyte, probably.

[Digit]

Masticate is always one of those words I have to remind myself the meaning of. It just means to chew! Why does it sound so dirty?

I can think of a word that has m-a-s-t-_-_-_-a-t-e that makes some people tug at their collar when spoken in polite company

[Portia]

doughty - Marked by stouthearted courage; brave. Hardy; resolute
[Old English dohtig; related to Old High German toht worth, Middle Dutch duchtich strong, Greek tukhē luck]

Guessed it meant "old-fashioned" or "stuffy." Sound link to "dowager," perhaps?

ersatz - Made or used as a substitute, typically an inferior one, for something else.
Not real or genuine.

[German, replacement, from ersetzen, to replace, from Old High German irsezzan : ir-, out; see ud- in Indo-European roots + sezzan, to set; see sed- in Indo-European roots.]

Guessed it meant "makeshift" - was apparent from context! Love the sound.

Apparently reading The Atlantic is good for expanding one's vocabulary.

[Giovanni Schwartz]

The Ersatz Elevator, anyone?

[Marduk]

No, you probably had it confused with the word dowdy.

[Portia]

No, you probably had it confused with the word dowdy.

Correct, now that I think about it. They look so different on paper!

[Katya]

flight, n. - The tail end of a dart (made of feathers, paper, etc.)

Source: A conversation with a coworker where we realized we didn't know the name for that part of a dart, so he looked it up and now we do!

(I realize that going from meaning to word is the reverse of most word of the day posts, but I think it still counts.)

[Katya]

a·nad·ro·mous, adj. - (of a fish, such as the salmon) Migrating up rivers from the sea to spawn. (Fish which migrate in the opposite direction for spawning are said to be catadromous.)

Source: Yet another thesis.

[S.A.M.]

Some day, I would love to see an actual smiley-faced isogloss.

Isogloss - The geographical boundary of a certain linguistic feature, such as the pronunciation of a vowel, the meaning of a word, or use of some syntactic feature.

[Katya]

Some day, I would love to see an actual smiley-faced isogloss.

Isogloss - The geographical boundary of a certain linguistic feature, such as the pronunciation of a vowel, the meaning of a word, or use of some syntactic feature.

Ha!

[Katya]

la·cus·trine, adj. (stress on second syllable) - Of, relating to, or associated with lakes: "fluvial and lacustrine deposits".

Source: Master's thesis in Earth Sciences

[Digit]

Eponyms are interesting to me because they have built-in stories.

com·stock·er·y
/ˈkämˌstäkərē/
Noun
Excessive opposition to supposed immorality in the arts.

After Anthony Comstock, a very zealous US postal inspector. From that article:

Comstock's ideas of what might be "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" were quite broad. During his time of greatest power, even some anatomy textbooks were prohibited from being sent to medical students by the United States Postal Service.

[Katya]

Eponyms are interesting to me because they have built-in stories.

I never really thought about that aspect of them before. Nice insight.

[Katya]

martinet, n. - A strict disciplinarian, esp. in the armed forces.

Etymology: from Jean Martinet, a French soldier who devised a system of strict military drills.

(It's an eponym, Digit!)

Source: An old episode of Bones.

[Digit]

martinet, n. - A strict disciplinarian, esp. in the armed forces.

Etymology: from Jean Martinet, a French soldier who devised a system of strict military drills.

(It's an eponym, Digit!)

Source: An old episode of Bones.

Nice Was Martinet draconian in his punishments?

[Giovanni Schwartz]

Source: An old episode of Bones.

+1

[Katya]

martinet, n. - A strict disciplinarian, esp. in the armed forces.

Etymology: from Jean Martinet, a French soldier who devised a system of strict military drills.

(It's an eponym, Digit!)

Source: An old episode of Bones.

Nice Was Martinet draconian in his punishments?

And Machiavellian in his motivations.

[Whistler]

instantiation: a representation of an idea in the form of an instance of it; "how many instantiations were found?".

reading an academic article on ecological simulations