Word of the Day

[Cindy]

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.

Was this in reference to Mr. Thorpe?

[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.

Was this in reference to Mr. Thorpe?

No, although that would be appropriate. The full quote is "She [Austen] could appreciate the vast gesture, the vague scene, the rhodomontade, which were the stage properties of the novels that enriched the booksellers of the early nineteenth century."

[Katya]

dimity - A lightweight, sheer cotton fabric having at least two warp threads thrown into relief to form fine cords.


Mr. H---- was so vain and self-absorbed that even his simple dimity bedspread inspired a rodomontade.

[Portia]

Palimpsest - a manuscript or piece of writing material on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for later writing but of which traces remain.

"An Onion of a Novel, Demanding to Be Peeled." NYTimes 11/26/14

The ancient palimpsest had the sheer ephemeral nature of old dimity.

[Marduk]

I'd been wondering how long it would take us to have a repeat.

[Yarjka]

oast: a building designed for kilning (drying) hops as part of the brewing process.

Visible on the palimpsest were depictions of oasts.

[Katya]

abseil - to rappel

source: An article about Benedict Cumberbatch (who sadly, was simply using the term and not abseiling, himself).

Suddenly, the kiln inspector abseiled from a helicopter to conduct a surprise inspection of the oasts.

[Cindy]

embarrassment: difficulty in functioning as a result of disease

Source: "We think, when viewed together with the expert medical testimony, that her testimony reasonably tends to exclude an embarrassment of the blood circulation as a probable cause of her injury." Robertson v. LaCroix, 534 P.2d 17, 21 (Okla. App. 1975).


Darth Vader wanted to abseil down one of the Death Star's towers, but his physician told him he should avoid abseilling due to his respiratory embarrassment.

[Yarjka]

bruit: to voice abroad; rumor

The presidential candidate's chances of success were limited now that his recent cardiac embarrassment had been bruited about.

[Yarjka]

ravelin: a triangular fortification or detached outwork, located in front of the innerworks of a fortress

Although the strength of the enemy's ravelins had been bruited about for years, the commander opted to attack the fortress to the detriment of his brigade.

[Yarjka]

sudorific: causing sweat

The exposure to the sun produced a sudorific effect on the enemy as they attacked the ravelin.

[Katya]

tessitura: the range within which most notes of a vocal part fall

Source: aria-database.com

The soprano's aria was sudorific, but she she sang the notes within the tessitura well and even managed to hit her high note.

[Katya]

smirr: a mist-like precipitation (Scots English)

The Glaswegian opera singer stepped inside from the smirr and prepared to warm up his vocal range within the tessitura.

[Shrinky Dink]

Fun story, I had a friend who is now an english/editing major who had a word-a-day calendar in high school and she would actually use the words on her calendar. One day it was "pandiculation" the act of yawning and stretching and I happened to do this in her presence on that day so I learned the word. A few months later, I had a teacher say "pandiculate" in class in relation to another student yawning and stretching and I was the only one who knew what the teacher was saying and they were really surprised and I was kind of proud of myself.

[Katya]

skerrick - (US & Austral, NZ) a small fragment or amount (esp in the phrase "not a skerrick")

The smirr made the landscape completely gray, with only a skerrick of green moss for color.

[Katya]

ill-starred - Born under, or having one's fortunes governed by, an evil star (according to astrological belief); unfortunate, unlucky, ill-fated.


There's not a skerrick of bread left to eat in this ill-starred house!

[Katya]

actinic - (of light or lighting) able to cause photochemical reactions, as in photography, through having a significant short wavelength or ultraviolet component.

Source: Mort, by Terry Pratchett

The actinic light completely ruined the film—just another bit of bad luck on this ill-starred day.

[Yarjka]

socle: a low, plain part forming a base for a column, pedestal, or the like

The socle was investigated using an actinic process, but the results were inconclusive.

[Cindy]

lavalier: (1) a small, portable microphone that is commonly clipped to a performer or speaker's clothing; (2) jewelry consisting of a pendant suspended from a necklace.

The word was first used for the style of jewelry popularized by the Duchesse de la Vallière, a mistress of King Louis XIV of France. When early types of personal microphones began to be developed, they were commonly hung around the neck like a pendant, and they picked up the name from the jewelry. Other terms for this type of microphone include lav, lapel mic, clip mic, and personal mic.


When the lecturer tripped over the socle, her lavalier fell off with a loud feedback noise.

[Katya]

barley child - A word used in and around Shropshire to denote a child who was born in wedlock, but who arrived in the first six months of marriage. The phrase may have as its root the time between the sowing and reaping of barley.

source: Precious Bane, by Mary Webb

The anchor whispered that he suspected the minister's daughter was a barley child, not realizing that his lavalier was still live.