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redound kulak ipsissima verba peccable defenestration ursine irrefragable quidnunc mufti efflorescence prima facie pharisaical pridian panoply Achates bon viveur alfresco parsimony Yom Kippur thermantidote ipse dixit neologism la belle dame sans merci pedagogic coeval demulcent quartan fever bottomry mawkish crèche MORE ARCHIVES redound ri-DOWND verb to result in something which may or may not be for the best; to overflow 1900The Knights of the CrossBut the Bohemian, Hlawa, now approached with two of Zbyszko's retainers in order to take it off from the deceased, therefore the curious surrounded Zbyszko, praising and extolling him to the skies, because they justly thought that his fame would redound to the credit of the whole Mazovian and Polish knighthood.1910Drake's Great ArmadaThe total value of that which was got in this voyage is esteemed at three score thousand pounds, whereof the companies which have travailed in the voyage were to have twenty thousand pounds, the adventurers the other forty. Of which twenty thousand pounds (as I can judge) will redound some six pounds to the single share.Labels: Henryk Sienkiewicz, Walter Biggs
kulak KYOO-lak noun a prosperous Russian farmer 1842Dead SoulsI wonder whether you were born a bear or whether you have come to it through your rustic life, with its tilling of crops and its trading with peasants? Yet no; I believe that, even if you had received a fashionable education, and had mixed with society, and had lived in St. Petersburg, you would still have been just the kulak that you are.1934On the Rocks...an attempt to exterminate the old Conservative professional class and the kulak or prosperous farmer class has been checked only by the discovery that they cannot as yet be done without.1986Red Storm RisingThey couldn't run the risk of State sponsorship for a whole new generation of kulaks.Labels: George Bernard Shaw, Larry Bond, Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, Tom Clancy
ipsissima verba ip-SI-si-maw VUR-buh noun the exact words of a quote 1889In the South SeasHere I think Kauwealoha's pantomime had confused me; I have no more of his ipsissima verba; and can but add, in my own less spirited manner, that the ship was reached, Mr. Whalon taken aboard, and Kekela returned to his charge among the cannibals.1936The Island of SheepClanroyden's letter, even if she didn't think it a forgery, couldn't prevail against the ipsissima verba of Haraldsen.1954The Doors of PerceptionA catalogue, a bibliography, a definitive edition of a third-rate versier's ipsissima verba, a stupendous index to end all indexes—any genuinely Alexandrian project is sure of approval and financial support…Labels: Aldous Huxley, John Buchan, Robert Louis Stevenson
peccable PEK-uh-buhl adjective a propensity to sin; likely to make mistakes; the capacity to do wrong 1892The Lesson of the MasterYet precisely this was part of the sentiment he himself had just expressed: he would make way completely for the poor peccable great man not because he didn't read him clear, but altogether because he did.1902The NabobDaudet thought Numa the 'least incomplete' of his works; it is certainly inclusive enough, since some critics are struck by the tragic relations subsisting between the virtuous discreet Northern wife and the peccable, expansive Southern husband, while others see in the latter the hero of a comedy of manners almost worthy of Moliere.2001Hotel HonoluluHow is our poor peccable friend?Labels: Alphonse Daudet, Henry James, Paul Theroux
defenestration dee-fe-na-STRAY-shuhn noun the act of throwing something or someone out of a window 1993Children of the Night'How?' said O'Rourke. 'If this man is still alive after this . . . savagery, how would you kill one?' | Lucian smiled. 'Decapitation. Immolation. Evisceration. Multiple amputation. Even simple defenestration . . . if they fell far enough onto something hard enough.' The smile wavered. 'Or just deny them blood after their injuries, and they'll die. Not easily, but eventually.'1996Cordelia's HonorAlthough I suppose it was a step up in subtlety from Yuri Vorbarra's Defenestration of the Privy Council.1998The Poisonwood BibleRachel is clearly the one with locks on every possible route to defenestration.2002Fear and TremblingI was right in the middle of a mental defenestration when a new drama eruptedLabels: Amélie Nothomb, Barbara Kingsolver, Dan Simmons, Lois McMaster Bujold
ursine UR-sain adjective bear-like; like a bear 1987SideswipeSneider was a hairy, ursine man, who had grown a bushy black beard…1989Forests of the NightThe other was a dark brown, nearly black ursine that couldn't quite stand upright even with the relatively high ceiling.Labels: Charles Willeford, S. Andrew Swann
irrefragable i-REF-ruh-guh-buhl adjective beyond dispute or contention 1876Among My Books He has nothing but pity for mankind when it has become a many-headed beast, 'despising the higher intellect irrefragable in reason, the lower which hath the face of experience.' 1911My Tropic Isle Yet that Nature under certain circumstances blandly puts her thumb unto her nose and spreads her fingers out even at that irrefragable postulate, let this plain statement of fact stand proof. Labels: E. J. Banfield, James Russell Lowell
quidnunc KWID-nuhngk noun a person who pretends to know something; a gossip; a busybody 1871A Terrible TemptationSoon after this a gaping quidnunc came to Sir Charles and told him Lady Bassett was felling trees in North Wood.1899The TatlerThe insignificancy of my manners to the rest of the world makes the laughers call me a quidnunc, a phrase I shall never inquire what they mean by it.1903Such is Life'I neither know him nor do I feel any aching void in consequence,' I replied, pointedly interpolating, in two places, the quidnunc's flowers of speech.Labels: Charles Reade, George A. Aitken, Joseph Furphy
mufti MUHF-tee 0 street clothing worn by usually uniformed people, e.g. soldiers 1951A Question of Upbringing...chances were, on the whole, that assignations would be made, and kept, 'in mufti'.1984Beirut PaybackThe four men across a table from General Masudi were in mufti but wore Disciples of Allah armbands.Labels: Anthony Powell, Stephen Mertz
efflorescence e-fluh-RES-ens noun a state of flowering; a time of social renaissance; the result of development 1913DomneiIt is upon this darker and rebellious side of domnei, of a religion pathetically dragged dustward by the luxuriance and efflorescence of over-passionate service, that Nicolas has touched in depicting Demetrios.1919The Shadow of the CathedralGabriel looked at the garden surrounded by its arcades of white stone, with its rough buttresses of dark granite, in the chinks of which the rain had left an efflorescence of fungus, like little tufts of black velvet.1954Lord of the Flies...the water. It was clear to the bottom and bright with the efflorescence of tropical weed and coral.Labels: James Branch Cabell, Vicente Blasco Ibanez, William Golding
prima facie PRAI-muh FAY-shee adjective valid; self-evident; a legally valid fact 1850Notes & Queries (7 September 1850)...I have prima facie proof that Sir Miles left no son. 1968A Small Town In Germany'A prima facie case,' Bradfield remarked, examining his notes once more. 'Grounds for reinvestigation, I grant you. At best, a public prosecutor might be persuaded to make an initial examination.'1971Fear and Loathing In Las VegasThe idea that two heroin pushers in a white Cadillac convertible would be dragging up and down the Strip, abusing total strangers at stoplights, was prima facie absurd.1996Notes from a Small Island...there is a prima facie case to presume that they perform unnatural acts…Labels: Bill Bryson, Hunter S. Thompson, John Le Carre, Various
pharisaical far-uh-SAY-uh-kuhl adjective holier-than-thou; hypocritical sanctimony; disgustingly hypocritical 1854Ten Nights In A Bar-Room, and What I Saw There'I don't see that they have done him much harm. He sowed his wild oats—then got married, and settled down into a good, substantial citizen. A little too religious and pharisaical, I always thought; but upright in his dealings. He had his pleasures in early life, as was befitting the season of youth—why not let his son taste of the same agreeable fruit?1886Books and BookmenThere is or used to be a poem for infant minds of a rather Pharisaical character, which was popular in the nursery when I was a youngster.1903Riddle of the SandsI was forced to continue turning her assumed character to account; but it would be pharisaical in me to say that I rose to any moral heights in her regard—wine and excitement had deadened my better nature to that extent.1909The Necromancers Little scenes rose before her—all passed almost in a flash of time—as she stood with her hand on the medieval-looking latch of the gate, and she saw herself in them all as a proud, unmaidenly, pharisaical prig, in love with a man who was not in love with her. Labels: Andrew Lang, Erskine Childers, Robert Hugh Benson, T. S. Arthur
pridian PRID-ee-an adjective pertaining to yesterday 1882Atlantis: The Antediluvian WorldThere was a general belief among the ancient nations that the art of writing was known to the antediluvians. The Druids believed in books more ancient than the Flood. They styled them 'the books of Pheryllt,' and 'the writings of Pridian or Hu.'Labels: Ignatius Donnelly
panoply PAN-uh-plee noun the display of fanfare; pageantry; an array of weapons 1881The Seven Against ThebesAnd seven high chieftains of war, with spear and with panoply bold, | Are set, by the law of the lot, to storm the seven gates of our hold!1943The Witch...there under the night sky with its shifting panoply of clouds.1997Island in the Sea of TimeThe elaborate panoplies of the warriors burned like tinder, tall plumes of flame replacing the feathers of their headdresses.Labels: A. E. Van Vogt, Aeschylus, S. M. Stirling
Achates a-KAY-teez noun From Greek mythology: In Virgil's Aeneid, Achates is the faithful companion; a true and loyal companion 17??The Female GamesterIf Homer, in his Epic poem, found a Patroclus necessary to his Achilles, and Virgil an Achates to Aeneas, such examples may well justify the Dramatic Poets in calling in the assistance of associates, who generally appear of more use than ornament to the piece.1876Selected PoetryThou wast a faithful and a fit Achates, | Once, to a great Aeneas, Percy Shelley—| A vast, though erring spirit, whose sad fate is | A thing which I deplore—but let me tell ye, | You made yourself a monstrous ninny gratis | With that same funeral pile—he might as well lie | Methinks, beneath the turf o'ergrown with flowers, | As dance among the winds and thunder-showers. 1887Our Hundred Days in EuropeBut the glory of its interior made up for this shortcoming. Among the monuments, one to Rear Admiral Charles Holmes, a descendant, perhaps, of another namesake, immortalized by Dryden in the 'Annus Mirabilis' as the Achates of the general's fight. He accompanied Wolfe in his expedition which resulted in the capture of Quebec.1905The Second Violin 'Good for you, you faithful Achates!' said Lanse. Labels: Gorges Edmond Howard, Grace S. Richmond, John Moultrie, Oliver Wendell Holmes
bon viveur bawn vee-VI-Vyoor noun an elegant and refined person, especially when it comes to fine dining and social events; bon vivant 1913The Judgment House How had he died? Who killed him? Or did he die by his own hand? Had Adrian Fellowes, the rank materialist, the bon viveur, the man-luxury, the courage to kill himself by his own hand? If not, who killed him? She shuddered. They might say that she killed him. Labels: Gilbert Parker
alfresco al-fres-KO adjective, adverb outdoors 1996TicktockThe aft portion of the open-air top deck contained a built-in table for alfresco dining…2001Flesh and BloodThe boutique was on Robertson just south of Beverly, five doors north of a restaurant-of-the-moment where valets shuffled Ferraris and alfresco diners laughed too loudly as they sucked bottled water and smog.Labels: Dean Koontz, Jonathan Kellerman
parsimony PAR-suh-mo-nee noun overly economical; thrifty; the state of being a cheapskate 1897The Invisible Man...he has a reputation for wisdom and for a respectable parsimony in the village…1915The Sea HawkThrough parsimony this treasure-galley was to be afforded no escort, but was under orders to hug the coast of Europe, where she should be safe from all piratical surprise.1916The Lost ContinentEven when I took command, she was fit only for the junk pile; but the world-old parsimony of government retained her in active service, and sent two hundred men to sea in her, with myself, a mere boy, in command of her, to patrol thirty from Iceland to the Azores.Labels: Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. G. Wells, Rafael Sabatini
Yom Kippur yom ki-poor noun the Jewish Day of Atonement; a Jewish holiday 1917Fanny HerselfMrs. Brandeis regarded her small daughter with a thoughtful gaze. 'But that isn't the object in fasting, Fanny—just to see if you can. If you're going to think of food all through the Yom Kippur services——'1989VespersAnd on Easter Sunday, as happened on every Sunday, rain or shine, Christmas, Yom Kippur or Ramadan, Nathan Hooper goes up town to Eleventh Street not to sell crack to the young wops gathered on their front stoops and freezing their asses off in their Easter finery, but instead to buy crack from his supplier, young Bobby Corrente... 'Are you making this up?' Carella asked.2001Death of the WestFrom the Arab standpoint, war works. The Yom Kippur War of 1973 led to Israel's surrender of Sinai.Labels: Ed McBain, Edna Ferber, Pat Buchanan
thermantidote thur-man-TEE-dot noun a device for circulating air in a room, usually a fan mounted in a window 1856Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & MeccahThe houses being unusually strong and well-built, might by some art of thermantidote be rendered cool enough in the hottest weather: they are now ovens.1888In the House of SuddhooI felt the hair lift at the back of my head, and my heart thump like a thermantidote paddle.1916King of the Khyber RiflesKing settled down on his side of the compartment, after a struggle with the thermantidote that refused to work. There was heat enough below the roof to have roasted meat, so that the physical atmosphere became as turgid as the mental after a little while.Labels: Rudyard Kipling, Sir Richard Francis Burton, Talbot Mundy
ipse dixit IP-see DIK-suht noun an unproved assertion; a dictum 1864Frank's Campaign'I move that the meeting adjourn ipse dixit,' said Sam Davis, bringing out the latter phrase with considerable emphasis.1949Red Planet'There's the key to your charm, Jim,' the doctor said dryly. 'He likes your blood temperature. But ipse dixit keep him with you. I don't think it will hurt him. He may live fifty years instead of a hundred, but he'll have twice as much fun.'1991Strange Highways...although millions of acts of courage and gratuitous kindness go unreported every day, one of these crusaders nevertheless fills astounding amounts of newspaper space with claims, ipse dixit, that I am the literary Antichrist.Labels: Dean Koontz, Horatio Alger Jr., Robert A. Heinlein
neologism nee-AW-luh-ji-zuhm noun a new word; a new meaning for a word; a new expression; the nonsense word of a psychotic person 1950Silence, Please!'I do not. I doubt if such a word exists, and if it does, it shouldn't,' retorted Purvis, with the aplomb of Sir Alan Herbert dropping a particularly revolting neologism into his killing-bottle.1993Star Trek: From the DepthsThe compulsive uttering of numbers, to which I presume your unwieldy neologism refers, is not a syndrome recognized by the Federation Psychiatric Union, Doctor.2000Look To WindwardWe are actually considerably less boreable, if I may create a neologism, than the average human.Labels: Arthur C. Clarke, Iain M. Banks, Victor Milan
la belle dame sans merci la bel daym sawn MAER-see phrase the beautiful woman without mercy 1912The Unbearable Bassington'La belle dame sans merci scoring a verbal trick or two as usual,' said a player at another table in a discreet undertone.1936Murder In MesopotamiaSuch women naturally revolt from the idea of marriage. They may be attracted by men, but they prefer to belong to themselves. They are truly La Belle Dame sans Merci of the legend.1978Rumpole of the BaileyShe had floated before my eyes from my early days with the old Oxford Book of English Verse, as Herrick's Julia, or Lovelace's Lucasta, or 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci', or the 'Lady of Shallot'.1987The Kinsman SagaLa belle dame sans merci. The beautiful lady who never says thank you.Labels: Agatha Christie, Ben Bova, John Mortimer, Saki
pedagogic pe-duh-GAW-jik adjective related to the profession of teaching or education 1915The Good SoldierWith her little, pedagogic sectarianism she remembered that Catholics do not do this thing.1919Deadham HardDons, head-masters, the pedagogic and professorial tribe generally, he had long taken in his stride quite unabashed. Church dignitaries, too, left him saucily cool.2002The Janson Directive'There's always time for recriminations,' said Charlotte Ainsley with a severe, over-the-glasses pedagogic look.Labels: Ford Madox Ford, Lucas Malet, Robert Ludlum
coeval ko-EE-vuhl noun, adjective of the same era 1845The Voyage of the BeagleThe chief part of the range was composed of grand, solid, abrupt masses of granite, which appeared as if they had been coeval with the beginning of the world.1912The Unbearable BassingtonEven in tourist-trampled Versailles the desolation of a tragedy that cannot die haunts the terraces and fountains like a bloodstain that will not wash out; in the Saxon Garden at Warsaw there broods the memory of long-dead things, coeval with the stately trees that shade its walks, and with the carp that swim to-day in its ponds as they doubtless swam there when 'Lieber Augustin' was a living person and not as yet an immortal couplet.1977The SilmarillonGreat might was given to him by Ilúvatar, and he was coeval with Manwë.Labels: Charles Darwin, J. R. R. Tolkien, Saki
demulcent di-MUHL-suhnt noun a soothing balm or medicine; something that relieves irritation 1852The DogMild and demulcent liquids were his only food.1970Master & Commander...drink nothing but demulcent barley-water…1986The Starfollowers of CoramonderHealers were seeing to Ferrian's temple and Reacher's leg, applying demulcents to the burns they'd gotten when the Orb had opened against them.Labels: Brian Daley, Patrick O'Brian, William Youatt
quartan fever KWAR-tan FEE-vur adjective a fever occurring in 72 hour cycles 1822Travels in Syria and the Holy LandHence intermittent fevers, especially those of the quartan form, are very common in the town in that season.1900The Green Flag'Sir Charles is in weak health just now, only clear of a quartan ague, and it is likely he will keep his cabin most of the voyage.1981Funeral GamesIollas had died soon after he got home from Asia, of a quartan fever picked up in the Babylonian swamps…Labels: Arthur Conan Doyle, John Lewis Burckhardt, Mary Renault
bottomry BAW-tuhm-ree noun, adjective a sea voyage financed using the ship undertaking the sea voyage as collateral 1665The English RogueThis man was an earnest suiter to borrow an hundred pounds upon Bottomry, or any ways, to victual and fit his Ship; I finding him ingenious, after some conference with him, and he being willing for any Undertaking, we concluded to go half snips in the Profit of his Voyage, and I would furnish him with moneys to his content: I soon perswaded an easie Friend of mine who had more money than wit, to lend our Captain a hundred pounds, promising him great profit, and indeed he was to have fifty in the hundred for that Voyage, which was to be finished in two moneths, and I told him that he might ensure his money at the Ensurance Office, which he did accordingly.1904A History of RomeAgain there was no prohibition against loans on bottomry, and Cato had increased his wealth by becoming through his freedman a member of a maritime company, each partner in which had but a limited liability and the prospect of enormous gains. 1999The ReformerThe two Islander merchants winced; that was the rate for a bottomry loan, with no premium for risk.Labels: A. H. J. Greenidge, Richard Head, S. M. Stirling and David Drake
mawkish MAW-kish adjective overly sentimental; disgusting sense of style or taste 1866Crime and PunishmentHe wore his hair cut short and had a large round head, particularly prominent at the back. His soft, round, rather snub-nosed face was of a sickly yellowish colour, but had a vigorous and rather ironical expression. It would have been good-natured except for a look in the eyes, which shone with a watery, mawkish light under almost white, blinking eyelashes. The expression of those eyes was strangely out of keeping with his somewhat womanish figure, and gave it something far more serious than could be guessed at first sight.1908The RivermanYou owe nothing to Heinzman; but something to what you would probably call repentance, but which is in reality a mawkish sentimentality of weakness.1913An AutobiographyNow I suppose some good people will gather from this that I favor men who commit crimes. I certainly do not favor them. I have not a particle of sympathy with the sentimentality—as I deem it, the mawkishness—which overflows with foolish pity for the criminal and cares not at all for the victim of the criminal. I am glad to see wrong-doers punished. The punishment is an absolute necessity from the standpoint of society; and I put the reformation of the criminal second to the welfare of society.1991Elephant SongI take it that no mawkish sentiments complicate this relationship? That is, not on your side at least?Labels: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Stewart Edward White, Theodore Roosevelt, Wilbur Smith
crèche kraysh noun a collective group in which children are raised; a hospital for orphans 1913The Catholic EncyclopediaThese grants, however, would rarely be sufficient for the support of such houses, hospitals, hospices, homes, crèches, and shelters, were it not for previous endowments or the ingenuity and labour of the religious in charge.1973Time Enough for LoveJustin, these kids were self-aware and aware of other people-their mothers at least-at an age when a crèche baby is just a doughy blob which says something about why crèches have never worked well. 1995The Lion of FarsideI'm assigning you to duties in the crèche; this will go well with your pregnancy….Labels: A. Fournet, John Dalmas, Robert A. Heinlein
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