Word of the Day

[Jay]

or here
*too short... or not*

[Jay]

ubiquitous, adj.
existing everywhere: present everywhere at once, or seeming to be

[Scheherazade]

bardolatry n.

Idolization of William Shakespeare.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=bardolatry

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).

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardolatry

[Scheherazade]

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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[starrwriter]

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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[Jay]

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.

[Scheherazade]

arable adjective

describes farming and farm land that is used for, or is suitable for, growing crops:

arable farming/farmers/farms/land

[Scheherazade]

A new Word of the Day Quiz has been added to the Forum.

[Logos]

yay! thank you for making it Scher

[Scheherazade]

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 FORMAL

It was a forbidden word: 'before'. She felt the chimerical angel of the past flying overhead and she tried to elude to it.

from Love in the Time of Cholera

[Jay]

November 29

paronomastic, adj
a play on words: pun

[Scheherazade]

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.

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.

from The French Lieutenant's Woman

[Jay]

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

[Scheherazade]

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]

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.

from Sparknotes

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[Scheherazade]

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.

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.

from SparkNotes.

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