monomania...

Word of the Day for Friday, September 29, 2006

monomania \mon-uh-MAY-nee-uh; -nyuh\, noun:

1. Pathological obsession with a single subject or idea.

2. Excessive concentration of interest upon one particular subject or idea.

One of the themes in the book was the necessity for a leader to be passionate about the work. And sometimes in a corporate setting, passion becomes monomania. -- "Balancing the Personal and the Professional", New York Times, October 10, 1999

It is a monomania that approaches a frenzy in which girlfriends or wife, family and sleep, mean nothing. -- Newgate Callendar, "Crime", New York Times, January 4, 1987

He was . . . a rather impossible person -- self-absorbed to the point of monomania (when lesser beings presumed to take part in his monologues, he would say "Quite" and then continue along his solitary path). -- Thomas M. Disch, "Later Auden", Washington Post, July 4, 1999

After visiting American prisons Tocqueville and his traveling companion, Gustave de Beaumont, wrote that social reformers in the United States had been swept up in "the monomania of the penitentiary system," convinced that prisons were "a remedy for all the evils of society." -- Eric Schlosser, "The Prison-Industrial Complex", The Atlantic, December 1998

Monomania is derived from the Greek elements mono-, "one, single, alone" + mania, "madness, frenzy, enthusiasm."

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vertiginous...

Word of the Day for Sunday, September 24, 2006

vertiginous \vur-TIJ-uh-nuhs\, adjective:

1. Affected with vertigo; giddy; dizzy.

2. Causing or tending to cause dizziness.

3. Turning round; whirling; revolving.

4. Inclined to change quickly or frequently; inconstant.

But up close the building is impossibly steep, vertiginous, hostile. -- Neil Baldwln, Legends of the Plumed Serpent

He did us no good when, without permission, he entered Tibetan air space and flew up over central China, explaining that it was impossible to comply with the authorities' instructions to land because of the vertiginous mountain terrain. -- Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones, Around the World in 20 Days

. . .the bouldery ruins of vertiginous cliffs pounded and lashed by the fury of wind and water. -- Lena Lencek and Gideon Bosker, The Beach

Vertiginous derives from Latin vertigo, "a turning round, a whirling round; giddiness," from vertere, "to turn." Related words include reverse, "to turn back (re-) or around"; subvert, "to undermine" (from sub-, "under" + vertere -- at root "to turn from under, to overturn"); and versus, "against" (from versus, "turned towards," hence "facing, opposed," from the past participle of vertere).

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improvident...

Word of the Day for Tuesday, September 19, 2006
improvident \im-PROV-uh-duhnt; -dent\, adjective:

Lacking foresight or forethought; not foreseeing or providing for the future; negligent or thoughtless.

Elizabeth's husband . . . had been a reckless, improvident man, who left many debts behind him when he died suddenly of a consumption in September 1704. -- David Nokes, Jane Austen: A Life

Lily is spoiled, pleasure-loving, and has one of those society mothers who are as improvident as a tornado. -- Elizabeth Hardwick, Sight-Readings: American Fictions He called the decision "an exercise in raw judicial power" that was "improvident and extravagant." -- Linda Greenhouse, "White Announces He'll Step Down From High Court", New York Times, March 20, 1993

Improvident derives from Latin improvidens, improvident-, from im- (for in-), "not" + providens, provident-, present participle of providere, "to see beforehand, to provide for," from pro-, "before, forward" + videre, "to see."

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tetchy... good one...

Word of the Day for Tuesday, September 12, 2006

tetchy \TECH-ee\, adjective:

Peevish; testy; irritable.

Waugh's tetchy and combative personality made him a difficult companion at arms. -- Penelope Lively, "A Maverick Historian", The Atlantic, February 2001

Wright was in Tokyo, busy with the Imperial Hotel, firing off telegrams blaming his son, Lloyd, and Schindler for nagging cost overruns that Barnsdall, always tetchy about parting with money, was balking at. -- Greg Goldin, "Light Houses", Los Angeles Magazine, February 2001

His every word was pure gold then, and even the chairman, who is not known to hide his light under a bushel, got a little tetchy being asked to opine on every economic subject known to man. -- Jamie Dettmer, "Greenspan Doesn't Always Get It Right", Insight on the News, February 26, 2001

As prams trundle and toddlers bawl, bargain-hunters try to shove, grab and kick their way to consumerist nirvana, while their spouses, weighed down by bulging bags, get seriously tetchy. -- Kim Gilmour, "Hello, good buy", Internet Magazine, November 2001

Tetchy probably comes from Middle English tecche, "a bad habit," from Old French tache, teche, "a spot, stain, blemish, habit, vice."

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small beer (?)

Word of the Day for Friday, September 8, 2006

small beer \small beer\, noun:
1. Weak beer.
2. Insignificant matters; something of little importance.
3. Unimportant; trivial.

We dined early upon stale bread and old mutton with small beer. -- Ferdinand Mount,, Jem (and Sam)

I was not born for this kind of small beer, says Joan the wife of the colonial governor, who imagines leading armies or "droves of inflamed poets." -- Nancy Willard, "The Nameless Women of the World", New York Times, December 18, 1988

Call me a geek, but for biologists, marvels like the parasitic flatworm are on tap every day, making the reveries of Hollywood seem like small beer. -- Jerry A. Coyne, "The Truth Is Way Out There", New York Times, October 10, 1999

Small beer is beer of only slight alcoholic strength; the other senses are derivative.

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verisimilitude

Word of the Day for Wednesday, September 6, 2006

verisimilitude \ver-uh-suh-MIL-uh-tood; -tyood\, noun:

1. The appearance of truth; the quality of seeming to be true.

2. Something that has the appearance of being true or real.

In an attempt to create verisimilitude, in addition to the usual vulgarities, the dialogue is full of street slang. -- Wilborn Hampton, "Sugar Down Billie Hoak': An Unexpected Spot to Find a Father", New York Times, August 1, 1997

For those plays, Ms. Smith interviewed hundreds of people of different races and ages, somehow managing to internalize their expressions, anger and quirks enough to be able to portray them with astonishing verisimilitude. -- Sarah Boxer, "An Experiment in Artistic Democracy", New York Times, August 7, 2000

The old man's massive forehead, penetrating eyes and enormous beard lent verisimilitude to this unappealing portrait. -- "Charm itself", Economist, October 16, 1999

Verisimilitude comes from Latin verisimilitudo, from verisimilis, from verus, "true" + similis, "like, resembling, similar." The adjective form is verisimilar.

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brocamole

(Another) Word of the day for Friday, September 1, 2006

brocamole \brock-a-MOL-ee\ noun;

That green stuff, made from avocados, onions and jalapenos, that you put on your fajitas... usually along with cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, beans and meat.

"Mom, I only want a little brokamolee on mine, please." -- Chloe Renee Bailey, while enjoying homemade fajitas, September 1, 2006

wwww.thebaileysblog.blogspot.com Chloe's Word of the Day!

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acquiesce

Word of the Day for Friday, September 1, 2006
acquiesce \ak-wee-ES\, intransitive verb:
To accept or consent passively or without objection -- usually used with 'in' or 'to'.
At the same time, sellers might acquiesce to mafia involvement in their business as a way of ensuring payment for goods: if the buyer defaults, the mafioso will collect. -- Louis S. Warren, The Hunter's Game
The British were not prepared to acquiesce to the return of the Chinese to Tibet, and determined to counter the reassertion of Chinese influence. -- Tsering Shakya, The Dragon in the Land of Snows
France would probably express regret that a military strike had become necessary, but would acquiesce in it. -- Craig R. Whitney, "France Pushes for Last-Ditch Diplomatic Solution.", New York Times, February 20, 1998
Acquiesce comes from Latin acquiescere, "to give oneself to rest, hence to find one's rest or peace (in something)," from ad, "to" + quiescere, "to rest, to be or keep quiet."

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requisite...

Word of the Day for Wednesday, August 30, 2006

requisite \REK-wuh-zit\, adjective: 1. Required by the nature of things or by circumstances; indispensable. 2. That which is required or necessary; something indispensable.
Those with the requisite talents made drawings and watercolors of the birds, the flowers, the untouched landscapes that unfolded before them. -- Barbara Crossette, The Great Hill Stations of Asia

In this way, 2,156 buildings were laboriously hoisted, a quarter of an inch at a turn, until they reached the requisite height and new foundations could be built beneath them. -- Cornelia Dean, Against the Tide

Rather than seeing mindfulness as a kind of talent, like artistic flair or musicality, he believes that everyone willing to make the requisite effort can attain it. -- Winifred Gallagher, Working on God

Patience and an enquiring mind are absolute requisites for tracing family histories. -- Mike Anderiesz, "Working the web: Genealogy", The Guardian, January 17, 2002

Requisite derives from Latin requisitus, past participle of requirere, "to require."

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habitue...

Word of the Day for Sunday, August 27, 2006

habitue \huh-BICH-oo-ay; huh-bich-oo-AY\, noun:

One who habitually frequents a place. Here you will meet Disco Bean . . . , a 70s dance-clubhabitue who spends his days in an empty warehouse polishing his Latin hustle moves and pretending it's still 1978 and he's the next John Travolta. -- Stephen Holden, "The Search for One-Eye Jimmy", New York Times, June 21, 1996

Or as one jaded habitue of El Casbah observes when an unfamiliar face appears in the club: "She's new to cafe society." -- Stephen Holden, "Cafe Society", New York Times, July 18, 1997

In the public house kept by Jesper Darkes, "zealous partizans in the cause of Liberty," as one habitue called them, met day and night, laying plans, discussing whether this man or that could be trusted or whether he was spying for the government, speculating on what could be done when the British military arrived, as it surely would. -- Richard M. Ketchum, Saratoga: Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War

Habitue is from the past participle of French habituer,

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