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[QUOTE=Basil]July 10
NOUN: Slang foolish talk; nonsense[/font]
I could scarcely bring myself to read his posts, finding them full of so much flapdoodle.
[QUOTE]
Colloquialism: designating or of the words, phrases, et., characteristic of informal speech and writing; conversational.
: often/commonly regional in particular useage
Roman holiday n.
1. Enjoyment or satisfaction derived from observing the suffering of others.
2. A violent public spectacle or disturbance in which shame, degradation, or physical harm is intentionally inflicted on one person or group by another.
(From the bloody gladiatorial contests staged as entertainment for the ancient Romans.)
"There were his young barbarians all at play;
There was their Dacian mother: he, their sire,
Butcher'd to make a Roman holiday!"
Lord Byron; Childe Harold's Pilgrimage; Canto iv. Stanza 141.
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hoi polloi \hoi-puh-LOI\, noun:
The common people generally; the masses.
Lizzie insisted that her children distinguish themselves from the hoi polloi by scrupulous honesty.
--Kate Buford, Burt Lancaster: An American Life
The exchange of roles in "The Prince and the Pauper" suggests that a man of the people can be a benevolent ruler because of his humble roots, that a prince can become a better ruler through exposure to hoi polloi.
--Michiko Kakutani "In Classic Children's Books, Is a Witch Ever Just a Witch?" New York Times, December 22, 1992
America's cereal queen [Marjorie Merriweather Post, heir to the Post Cereal fortune] had the same problems that the hoi polloi have -- philandering husbands, messy divorces, soggy Grape-Nuts.
--Maureen Dowd, "Rich Little Rich Girl," New York Times, February 12, 1995
Hoi polloi is Greek for "the many."
http://dictionary.reference.com/word...001/05/30.html
Usage Note: Hoi polloi is a borrowing of the Greek phrase hoi polloi, consisting of hoi, meaning “the” and used before a plural, and polloi, the plural of polus, “many.” In Greek hoi polloi had a special sense, “the greater number, the people, the commonalty, the masses.” This phrase has generally expressed this meaning in English since its first recorded instance, in an 1837 work by James Fenimore Cooper. Hoi polloi is sometimes incorrectly used to mean “the elite,” possibly because it is reminiscent of high and mighty or because it sounds like hoity-toity. ·Since the Greek phrase includes an article, some critics have argued that the phrase the hoi polloi is redundant. But phrases borrowed from other languages are often reanalyzed in English as single words. For example, a number of Arabic noun phrases were borrowed into English as simple nouns. The Arabic element al- means “the,” and appears in English nouns such as alcohol and alchemy. Thus, since no one would consider a phrase such as “the alcohol” to be redundant, criticizing the hoi polloi on similar grounds seems pedantic.
http://dictionary.reference.com/sear...q=hoi%20polloi
August 2
bummel: stroll; leisurely journey
pontificate V [I] DISAPPROVING
to speak or write and give your opinion about something as if you knew everything about it and as if only your opinion was correct:
I think it should be illegal for non-parents to pontificate on/about parenting.
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pon·tif·i·cate n.
The office or term of office of a pontiff.
pon·tif·i·cat·ed, pon·tif·i·cat·ing, pon·tif·i·cates intr.v.
1.To express opinions or judgments in a dogmatic way.
2.To administer the office of a pontiff.
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cy·no·sure n.
An object that serves as a focal point of attention and admiration.
Something that serves to guide.
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cynosure N [C] LITERARY
a person or thing having a quality of excellence or great beauty which attracts a lot of attention.
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Quote:
"We attracted a good deal of attention at the Alhambra. On our presenting ourselves at the paybox we were gruffly directed to go round to Castle Street, and were informed that we were half-an-hour behind our time. We convinced the man, with some difficulty, that we were not "the world-renowned contortionists from the Himalaya Mountains," and he took our money and let us pass. Inside we were a still greater success. Our fine bronzed countenances and picturesque clothes were followed round the place with admiring gaze. We were the cynosure of every eye.
It was a proud moment for us all. "
From Three Men in a Boat
quid pro quo noun [C usually singular]
plural quid pro quos FORMAL
something that is given to a person in return for something they have done:
The government has promised food aid as a quid pro quo for the stopping of violence.
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The new quizes based on 'Word of the Day' thread have been added to the site:
http://www.online-literature.com/for....php?quizid=22
http://www.online-literature.com/for....php?quizid=32
sounding board
Oxford English Dictionary: a person or group whose reactions to ideas or opinons are used as a test of their validity or likely success.
facetious adj DISAPPROVING
not serious about a serious subject, in an attempt to be amusing or to appear clever:
facetious remarks
He's just being facetious.
facetiously adv DISAPPROVING
facetiousness n [U] DISAPPROVING
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graveyard shift
period of work after midnight: a shift of work running through the early hours of the morning, especially one running from midnight till eight o'clock the following morning, or the workers on such a shift
clever Dick/clogs (UK informal disapproving)
somebody too sure of own cleverness: somebody regarded as arrogant or ostentatiously clever
clever Dick/clogs (UK informal disapproving)
someone who shows that they are clever, in a way which annoys other people:
If you're such a clever dick, you finish the crossword puzzle.
speakeasy n. pl. speak·eas·ies
A place for the illegal sale and consumption of alcoholic drinks, as during Prohibition in the United States.
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Brillig Four o'clock in the afternoon: the time when you begin broiling things for dinner. (According to Mischmasch, it is derived from the verb to bryl or broil.)
We know that it probably doesn't count, but it is a very nice word, isn't it?
sententious adj FORMAL DISAPPROVING
trying to appear wise, clever and important:
The document was sententious and pompous.
"I see how you are. Getting all euphuistic and sententious on me. Meanie."
sententiously adv
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denizen noun [C] LITERARY
an animal, plant or person that lives in or is often in a particular place:
Deer, foxes and squirrels are among the denizens of the forest.
from The Great GatsbyQuote:
“He becomes very sentimental sometimes,” explained Gatsby. “This is one of his sentimental days. He’s quite a character around New York—a denizen of Broadway.”
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shamus (noun): a detective
what the...? who stole my bike--again? that's it, i'm hiring a shamus now.
histrionic adj DISAPPROVING
very emotional and energetic, but lacking sincerity or real meaning:
a histrionic outburst
She put on a histrionic display of grief at her ex-husband's funeral.
histrionically adv DISAPPROVING
histrionics plural N DISAPPROVING
very emotional and energetic behaviour that lacks sincerity and real meaning:
I'd had enough of Lydia's histrionics.
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un·gu·late adj.
1. Having hooves.
2. Resembling hooves; hooflike.
3. Of or belonging to the former order Ungulata, now divided into the orders Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla and composed of the hoofed mammals such as horses, cattle, deer, swine, and elephants.
n.
An ungulate mammal.
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ah, its a very nice thread, helps in vocabulary.
crestfallen - adjective
1: dispirited
2: dejected
3: disappointed
prolific: adj
1. highly productive: producing ideas or works frequently and in large quantities
2. fruitful: producing a lot of fruit or many offspring
3. abundant or abounding: present in large numbers, or containing large numbers of quantities of something, especially animal life
so in other words... babbly :D
gadfly n.
1. A persistent irritating critic; a nuisance.
2. One that acts as a provocative stimulus; a goad.
3. Any of various flies, especially of the family Tabanidae, that bite or annoy livestock and other animals.
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from the Hours by Michael CunninghamQuote:
...Clarissa wishes, suddlenly and with surprising urgency, that Richard were here beside her, right now - not Richard as he's become but the Richard of ten years ago; Richard the fearless, ceaseless talker; Richard the gadfly.
Where Would I Find The Word Sesquipadalian?
www.Dictionary.com
Sesquipedalian
1. (n.) a long word
2. (adj.) given to the use of long words
or here
*too short... or not*
ubiquitous, adj.
existing everywhere: present everywhere at once, or seeming to be
bardolatry n.
Idolization of William Shakespeare.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=bardolatry
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BardolatryQuote:
Before the Romantics, Shakespeare was simply the most admired of all dramatic poets, especially for his insight into human nature and his realism, but Romantic critics such as S. T. Coleridge refactored him into an object of almost religious adoration or "bardolatry" (from bard + idolatry, a word coined by George Bernard Shaw) who towered above mere mortal writers, and whose plays were to be worshipped as not "merely great works of art" but as "phenomena of nature, like the sun and the sea, the stars and the flowers" and "with entire submission of our own faculties" (Thomas de Quincey, 1823).
flummoxverb [T] INFORMAL
to confuse someone so much that they do not know what to do:
I have to say that last question flummoxed me.
flummoxed adj INFORMAL
He looked completely flummoxed.
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fug (noun, slang)
A state of extreme ugliness.
fugly (adjective)
Frightfully ugly; pertaining to something beyond the boundaries of normal unattractiveness.
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to egg on (verb)
encourage somebody: to encourage somebody to do something, especially something wrong, foolish, or dangerous
She never would have done it herself, but the girls were egging her on.
arable adjective
describes farming and farm land that is used for, or is suitable for, growing crops:
arable farming/farmers/farms/land
A new Word of the Day Quiz has been added to the Forum.
yay! thank you for making it Scher :D
chimera noun [C] FORMAL
a hope or dream that is extremely unlikely ever to come true:
Is the ideal of banishing hunger throughout the world just a chimera?
chimerical adjective FORMALfrom Love in the Time of CholeraQuote:
It was a forbidden word: 'before'. She felt the chimerical angel of the past flying overhead and she tried to elude to it.
November 29
paronomastic, adj
a play on words: pun
draconian adj FORMAL
describes laws, government actions, etc. which are unreasonably severe; going beyond what is right or necessary:
draconian laws/methods
He criticized the draconian measures taken by the police in controlling the demonstrators.from The French Lieutenant's WomanQuote:
Some said that after midnight more reeling than dancing took place; and more draconian claimed that there was very little of either, but a great deal of something else.
recalcitrant
adjective
1. resisting authority: stubbornly resisting the authority of another person or group
2. hard to do or handle: difficult to deal with or operate
struggling in front of the mirror with a recalcitrant necktie
noun
stubborn opponent: somebody who stubbornly resists authority or control
few recalcitrants refused to submit
from The French Lieutenant's Woman
lampoon noun [C]
a piece of writing, a drawing, etc. which criticizes in an amusing way a famous person or a public organization, allowing their bad qualities to be seen and making them seem stupid:
The magazine is famed for its merciless political lampoons.
lampoon verb [T]from SparknotesQuote:
In some of this literature, it is difficult to distinguish between behavior that is being parodied and behavior that is presented as an ideal. This ambiguity may also be found in The Taming of the Shrew, which manages to lampoon chauvinistic behavior while simultaneously reaffirming its social validity. The play celebrates the quick wit and fiery spirit of its heroine even while reveling in her humiliation.
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sully V [T] FORMAL
1 to spoil something or someone's perfect reputation or purity:
His reputation, he said, had been unfairly sullied by allegations, half-truths and innuendos.
2 to make something dirty:
No speck of dirt had ever sullied his hands.from SparkNotes.Quote:
An alternative argument holds that Romeo’s love for Rosaline shows him to be desirous of love with anyone who is beautiful and willing to share his feelings, thereby sullying our understanding of Romeo’s love with Juliet.
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