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Kinder, Kirche, Küche KIN-duh KIR-chuh Kyoo-chuh noun German folk saying that suggests the three pillars of a woman's life should be children, church, and the kitchen; a motto adopted by 20th Century German Nazis; literally: children, church, kitchen 1962Ian FlemingThe Spy Who Loved MeShe was the daughter of a Heidelberg professor of philosophy, and the placid eyes that stared out of the snapshots he showed me, and the gleaming braided hair and trim dirndl, were a living advertisement for 'Kinder, Kirche, Küche.'1998 Susan E. LinvilleFeminism, Film, Fascism...they demonstrate in diverse ways how the triad of Kinder, Kirche, Küche is politically inflected and enmeshed with the process of understanding the Nazi pastLabels: Ian Fleming, Susan E. Linville
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eburnean E-burn-nee-uhn adjective like ivory; having the color of ivory 1888Victor HugoLove of the WoodlandPliny, soon his style mislaid, | Dogged Miletus' merry maid, | As she showed eburnean limbs | All-multiplied by brooklet brimsLabels: Victor Hugo
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paterfamilias PA-tur-fa-mi-lee-uhs noun a father; male head of a clan, tribe, or household; a patriarch 1869Fyodor DostoevskyThe IdiotEven the general, the paterfamilias, though astonished at first, suddenly declared that, 'upon his honour, he really believed he had fancied something of the kind, after all.1990Constance Ash The Stalking Horse And he, George Sert, artist of noble subjects, had been turned into a paterfamilias.2000Ethan Coen and Joel CoenO Brother, Where Art Thou?EVERETT: I'm the only damn daddy you got! I'm the damn paterfamilias!Labels: Constance Ash, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Fyodor Dostoevsky
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commination kaw-muh-NAY-shuhn noun a threat of punishment; a denunciation; a service of the Church of England dealing with God's wrath against sinners 1874Thomas HardyFar From the Maddening CrowdThe dog took no notice, for he had arrived at an age at which all superfluous barking was cynically avoided as a waste of breath—in fact, he never barked even at the sheep except to order, when it was done with an absolutely neutral countenance, as a sort of Commination-service, which, though offensive, had to be gone through once now and then to frighten the flock for their own good.1906E. NesbitThe Incomplete AmoristHe's cursed me forever—Put it all down in black and white—a regular commination service.1918G. A. HentyWulf the SaxonEven the bishops and abbots of Norman blood disregarded the commination, and remained staunch to Harold.Labels: E. Nesbit, G. A. Henty, Thomas Hardy
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fainéant fay-nay-AWNT noun, adjective a shiftless or idle person; a lazy or slothful person; a puppet ruler or ineffectual ruler 1888Mrs. Humphry WardRobert Elsmere...the old and fainéant rector of the parish church…1907Anne Douglas SedgwickA Fountain SealedPapa would rather have had Eddy work on the roads for his bread than turn him into a fainéant .'1938George Bernard ShawGeneva...Mr Winston Churchill, as a man of action, had to be substituted for the fainéants when the war was resumed…Labels: Anne Douglas Sedgwick, George Bernard Shaw, Mrs. Humphry Ward
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bricolage bri-kuh-LAWZH noun art or literature created from a wide-range of influences or items at hand; a bricolage creation 2004Lawrence Lessig Free Culture Digital technologies launch a kind of bricolage, or 'free collage,' as Brown calls it. Labels: Lawrence Lessig
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mission bottée MISH-uhn bo-TAY noun a booted mission; a military expedition intending to use force against civilians 1888Richard C. TrenchOn the Study of WordsThe atrocious attempt of Lewis XIV. to convert the Protestants in his dominions to the Roman Catholic faith by quartering dragoons upon them, with license to misuse to the uttermost those who refused to conform, this 'booted mission' (mission bottée), as it was facetiously called at the time, has bequeathed 'dragonnade' to the French language.Labels: Richard C. Trench
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zaftig ZAWF-tig adjective full-figured 1990John UpdikeRabbit at RestWebb does like them zaftig.1995Eric Van LustbaderSecond SkinOne year the zaftig look was in among models, the next year the waif was all the rage.2000Robert J. SawyerCalculating GodI think Marilyn is lovely, but, well, she's quite curvy-zaftig, even.2000James MorrowAuspicious Eggs (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October 2000)Valerie Gallogher, his nephews' zaftig kindergarten teacher, seems on the verge of tears.Labels: Eric Van Lustbader, James Morrow, John Updike, Robert J. Sawyer
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scarificator skar-if-IK-ay-tor noun an instrument for making shallow cuts in skin 1748Samuel RichardsonClarissa HarloweI thought thou hadst been more of a man; that thou art not afraid of an acute death, a sword's point, to be so plaugily hip'd at the consequences of a chronical one!—What though the scarificators work upon him day by day?2001Diana GabaldonThe Fiery Cross'A scarificator,' the little man explained to Ulysses, with some pride, displaying his object. 'A great improvement over such crudities as lancets and fleams….'Labels: Diana Gabaldon, Samuel Richardson
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wouldest WOOH-duhst verb second person singular past tense for the word "will" 1889William MorrisThe Roots of the Mountains'Sweet kinswoman,' said he, 'tell me what it is that thou wouldest have of me.' And he was ill-at-ease as he waited for her answer.1896William MorrisOld French RomancesThen the Maiden, the daughter of the Emperor, took oath of her according to the paynim law; and thereafter she told her what the letter said; and the damsel answered her: 'Lady, and what wouldest thou do?'1898Mary E. BamfordOut of the TriangleIf the men of this ship were not so drunk, thou wouldest have little time to talk!Labels: Mary E. Bamford, William Morris
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inviolable in-VAI-uh-la-buhl adjective safe from violation 1919John ReedTen Days That Shook the WorldCitizens, soldiers, valorous Cossacks of the Don, of the Kuban, of the Transbaikal, of the Amur, of the Yenissei, to all you who have remained faithful to your oath I appeal; to you who have sworn to guard inviolable your oath of Cossack-I call upon you to save Petrograd from anarchy, from famine, from tyranny, and to save Russia from the indelible shame to which a handful of ignorant men, bought by the gold of Wilhelm, are trying to submit her.1922T. S. EliotThe Waste Land...yet there the nightingale Filled all the desert with inviolable voice…1996William GibsonIdoruEchoes woke from the tiled floor, from the high beams surviving from an age that must once have seen the advent of Laney's kind or predecessors, their ecology of celebrity and the terrible and inviolable order of that food chain.Labels: John Reed, T. S. Eliot, William Gibson
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stridulate STRI-juh-layt verb the production of sound by the rubbing together of body parts as done by the cricket or cicada 1863Walter BatesThe Naturalist on the River AmazonThey are the call-notes of the males. In the common field-cricket of Europe the male has been observed to place itself, in the evening, at the entrance of its burrow, and stridulate until a female approaches, when the louder notes are succeeded by a more subdued tone, while the successful musician caresses with his antennae the mate he has won.1871Charles DarwinThe Descent of ManAccording to Westring, Reduvius Personatus also stridulates.1947Frederick Philip GroveConsider Her Ways...all the rest of us would meanwhile move to a point half-way between our army and the hill; there, having halted, we should all stridulate so as at once to alarm the enemy…Labels: Charles Darwin, Frederick Philip Grove, Walter Bates
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tempora mutantur tem-po-ra moo-TAWN-tyoor phrase the times are changing 1869Emma Jane WorboiseOverdaleHe was; but tempora mutantur, you know.1920Mary Roberts RinehartA Poor Wise ManSome young whipper snapper who employed a handful of men had undertaken to show him where he, Anthony Cardew, was a clog in the wheel of progress. Not in so many words, but he had said: 'Tempora mutantur, Mr. Cardew. And the wise employer meets those changes half-way.Labels: Emma Jane Worboise, Mary Roberts Rinehart
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cataleptic KA-tu-lep-tik adjective a medical state where the affected body cannot move its limbs 1844Edgar Allan PoeThe Premature BurialMethought I was immersed in a cataleptic trance of more than usual duration and profundity.1908Algernon BlackwoodThe Camp of the DogHis sleep is very deep,' he whispered, seating himself by the door again. 'He's in a cataleptic condition, and the Double may be released any minute now.1970Joanna RussThe Second Inquisition'I've told you, baby,' she said, 'and you'll never know more, God willing,' and pulling into our driveway with a screech that would have wakened the dead, she vaulted out of the car and through the back door into the kitchen, just as if my mother and father had both been asleep or in a cataleptic trance, like those in the works of E. A. Poe.Labels: Algernon Blackwood, Edgar Allan Poe, Joanna Russ
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pluvial PLOO-vee-uhl adjective related to rain; characterized by an abundance of rain; an effect caused by rain 1868George MacDonaldThe Seaboard ParishBut as I have now seen how matters are with the elements, and have had a good pluvial bath as well, I think I will go home and change my clothes.1999Dave FreerThe ForlornThe surveyors hadn't been aware that the planet had millennia-long alternating pluvial and dry cycles.Labels: Dave Freer, George MacDonald
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hortatory HORT-uh-tor-ee adjective inciting or strong urging; characterized by exhortation; very strong encouragement 1969Hermann HesseMagister Ludi, The Glass Bead GameHe admired the man's passion and fighting spirit, his wit, his hortatory style, his good looks and fine speech.1996Harry HarrisonThe Stainless Steel Rat Goes To HellAll mouths mute as I raised the bottle and drank in dramatic silence. Then raised a hortatory finger.2001Stephen KingDreamcatcherHe didn't sing this but declaimed it in a loud, hortatory voice he hadn't realized was in his repertoire.Labels: Harry Harrison, Hermann Hesse, Stephen King
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verdure VUR-jur noun lush, green vegetation; the state of flourishing 1901Lew WallaceBen HurThe birds took to wing joyously; beasts great and small went about, each in its way; the trees shook their verdurous branches, nodding to the enamoured winds; the rivers ran to the seas, and the seas tossed in their beds and rolled in crested waves, and with surging and ebbing painted the shores with glistening foam; and over all the clouds floated like sailed ships unanchored.1901Maxim GorkyThe Man Who Was AfraidThe beautiful and mighty 'Yermak,' Gordyeeff's steam tow-boat, was rapidly floating down the current, and on each side the shores of the powerful and beautiful Volga were slowly moving past him—the left side, all bathed in sunshine, stretching itself to the very end of the sky like a pompous carpet of verdure; the right shore, its high banks overgrown with woods, swung skyward, sinking in stern repose.1916James R. McConnellFlying for FranceThe ravishing beauty of the Val d'Ajol, the steep mountain sides bristling with a solid mass of giant pines, the myriads of glittering cascades tumbling downward through fairylike avenues of verdure, the roaring, tossing torrent at the foot of the slope—all this loveliness, seen from an airplane at 12,000 feet, fades into flat splotches of green traced with a tiny ribbon of silver.Labels: James R. McConnell, Lew Wallace, Maxim Gorky
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protoplast PRO-tuh-plast noun a prototype; the first made of something 1781Samuel JohnsonLives of the PoetsFootnote 172: Newspapers appear to have had an earlier date than here assigned. Cleiveland, in his Character of a London Diurnal, says, 'the original sinner of this kind was Dutch; Gallo-belgicus the Protoplast, and the Modern Mercuries but Hans en kelders.' Some intelligence given by Mercurius Gallo-belgicus is mentioned in Carew's Survey of Cornwall, p. 126, originally published in 1602. These vehicles of information are often mentioned in the plays of James and Charles the first. R. See Idler, Nº. 7, and note; and Idler, Nº. 40, and note. Ed.1886Hiram CorsonAn Introduction to the Study of Browning's PoetryThose forms, unalterable first as last, proved him her copier, not the protoplast of nature: what could come of being free by action to exhibit tree for tree, bird, beast, for beast and bird, or prove earth bore one veritable man or woman more?2001Jack DannDa Vinci RisingAnd nature, the protoplast of all man's creation, had not invented rotary motion.Labels: Hiram Corson, Jack Dann, Samuel Johnson
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jejune ji-JOON adjective uninteresting; insipid; dull 1703William DampierA Voyage to New HollandIt has been Objected against me by some that my Accounts and Descriptions of Things are dry and jejune, not filled with variety of pleasant Matter to divert and gratify the Curious Reader. How far this is true, I must leave to the World to judge.1830Edward Bulwer-LyttonPaul CliffordTo the former decent alternative she knew Paul's great and jejune aversion; and she consequently had little fear for his morals or his safety, in thus abandoning him for a while to chance.1842Nikolai Vasilievich GogolDead SoulsInstantly it became plain that he at least was of an age of discretion, and not one of your jejune chatterboxes and harum-scarums; for, although his hair was still thick and black, he had long ago passed his fortieth year.1880Mark TwainA Tramp AbroadContrasted with the inconceivable antiquity of this modest fossil, those other things were flippantly modern—jejune—mere matters of day-before-yesterday.1922Samuel Hopkins AdamsFrom a Bench in Our SquareJust as decidedly she was quaint and piquant and quite new to his jejune but also somewhat bored experience.1980Alan Dean FosterCachalotHow jejune!Labels: Alan Dean Foster, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Mark Twain, Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, Samuel Hopkins Adams, William Dampier
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eudemonistic yoo-DEE-muh-nis-tik adjective having the characteristics of an ethical system that evaluates action in terms of the action's capacity to produce happiness 1908Inazo NitobBushido: The Soul of JapanI admit Bushido had its esoteric and exoteric teachings; these were eudemonistic, looking after the welfare and happiness of the commonalty, while those were aretaic, emphasizing the practice of virtues for their own sake.1914Durant DrakeProblems of ConductIf any eudemonistic moralists have lived loosely, it was because they did not realize what really makes for happiness or had not strength of will to cleave to it, not because they saw happiness as the criterion.Labels: Durant Drake, Inazo Nitob
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patois PA-twaw noun a group's jargon; a group's slang; a dialect considered inferior 1898Richard Harding DavisThe King's Jackal'It was good to see the clouds following each other across the old mountains and throwing black shadows on the campagna, and to hear the people's patois and to taste Messinian wine again and to know it was from your own hillside.1995Scott FrankGet ShortyMARTIN: Yeah. Kinda. Anyway, once I have the authentic sounds of speech, the rhythms, man, the patois…1999Jonathan KellermanMonsterI used a library pay phone, called, and participated in a confused ninety-second conversation with a man who sounded very old, very gentle, and, from his patois, probably black.2003Wilbur SmithBlue HorizonXhia switched into the patois of the colony, a mixture of all the languages.Labels: Jonathan Kellerman, Richard Harding Davis, Scott Frank, Wilbur Smith
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John Bull jawn BUHL noun the personification of the English nation; an average Englishman 1896John A. HobsonProblems of PovertyWho is the person responsible for this state of things? John Bull is concrete, materialistic in his feeling and his reasoning.1969George MacDonald FraserFlashman...my usual heartiness and general bluffness had earned me the name of being some-thing of a John Bull.1992David Webb PeoplesUnforgivenCROCKER: Pretty damn good shootin'...for a John Bull.Labels: David Webb Peoples, George MacDonald Fraser, John A. Hobson
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Weltanschauung VEL-tawn-SHA-uhng noun a world view; a global perspective; a view of the universe and man's place in it 1915R.W. Seton-Watson and J. Dover Wilson and Alfred E. Zimmern and and Arthur GreenwoodThe War and DemocracyThis is not the place in which to analyse in detail the outlook upon life (Weltanschauung) of the man in the street in modern Germany.1972Philip Jose FarmerTime's Last Gift...the man had a somewhat non-Homo sapiens Weltanschauung.1980John Kennedy TooleA Confederacy of DuncesYou must realize the fear and hatred which my Weltanschauung instills in people.Labels: Alfred E. Zimmern, J. Dover Wilson, R.W. Seton-Watson
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infrangible in-FRAN-juh-buhl adjective unbreakable; hard to divide; inviolable 1899Algernon Charles SwinburneRosamund: Queen of the LombardsWhat if some oath constrain me, sworn in haste, Infrangible for shame's sake, sealed in heaven Inevitable? Ask now no more of me.1906William Dean HowellsLondon FilmsIt moves you more than any of those uniformed or cloaked images of warriors and statesmen, and it speaks more eloquently of the infrangible continuity, the unbroken greatness of England.1926Gilbert ParkerThe Power and the GloryShe hesitated, then conquered by his infrangible mind and the danger of deception, she said: 'It is as you say, and for good reason.'Labels: Algernon Charles Swinburne, Gilbert Parker, William Dean Howells
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garde du corps GARD-dyoo-kor noun a bodyguard or bodyguards 1792Thomas PaineThe Rights of ManDuring this state of suspense, the Garde du Corps, which was composed as such regiments generally are, of persons much connected with the Court, gave an entertainment at Versailles (October 1) to some foreign regiments then arrived; and when the entertainment was at the height, on a signal given, the Garde du Corps tore the national cockade from their hats, trampled it under foot, and replaced it with a counter-cockade prepared for the purpose.1903Arthur Conan DoyleThe Adventures of GerardNow and then, if we were lucky, we managed to pick a quarrel with one of the Garde du Corps, and if we left him on his back in the Bois we felt that we had struck a blow for Napoleon once again.Labels: Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Paine
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indurate IN-dyoor-uht verb to harden; to make callous or unfeeling; to establish 1826James Fenimore CooperThe Last of the MohicansThe frame of the white man, judging by such parts as were not concealed by his clothes, was like that of one who had known hardships and exertion from his earliest youth. His person, though muscular, was rather attenuated than full; but every nerve and muscle appeared strung and indurated by unremitted exposure and toil.1904Henry JamesThe Golden BowlIt had its effect for her: quite apart from its light on the familiar phenomenon of her husband's indurated conscience, it gave her, full in her face, the particular evocation of which she had made him guilty.1915Anna Katharine GreenThe Golden SlipperThe peculiar attitude of Miss Postlethwaite towards her indurate tormentor awakened in my agitated mind something much deeper than curiosity, but when I strove to speak her name with the intent of inquiring more particularly into her condition, such a look confronted me from the steady eye immovably fixed upon my own, that my courage—or was it my natural precaution—bade me subdue the impulse and risk no attempt which might betray the depth of my interest in one so completely outside the scope of the present moment's business.1933Kenneth RobesonDoc Savage: The Phantom CityHis metallic hands, sensitive for all of their indurate strength, encountered cloth.Labels: Anna Katharine Green, Henry James, James Fenimore Cooper, Kenneth Robeson
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hoc opus, hic labor est hok O-puhs heek LAW-bor est phrase there is trouble, there is toil; there is hard work, there is toil 1825Samuel JohnsonThe Works of Samuel Johnson, Volume 4I have presumed to address the adventurere from the dreary mansions of wretchedness and despair, of which the gates are so wonderfully constructed, as to fly open for the reception of strangers, though they are impervious as a rock of adamant to such as are within them:——Facilis descensus Averni: Noctes atque dies patet atri janua Ditis. Sed revocare gradum, superasque evadere ad auras, Hoc opus, hic labor est.—VIRG. AEn. vi. 126.1855Thomas BulfinchThe Age of FableFacilis descensus Averni; Noctes atque dies patet atri janua Ditis; Sed revocare gradum, superasque evadere ad auras, Hoc opus, hic labor est.—Virgil. The descent to Avernus is easy; the gate of Pluto stands open night and day; but to retrace one's steps and return to the upper air, that is the toil, that the difficulty.—Virgil. 1874A. D. CrakeEdwy the FairAlas, poor boy! his wish was not thus easily to be gratified: he had sinned very deeply—his penance had yet to be accomplished; well has the poet written: 'Facilis descensus Averno . . . . Sed retrograre gradum, superasque evadere ad auras, Hoc opus—hic labor est.'Labels: A. D. Crake, Samuel Johnson, Thomas Bulfinch
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halcyon HAL-see-uhn adjective peaceful; prosperous 1900Theodore DreiserSister CarrieIn the view of a certain stratum of society, Carrie was comfortably established—in the eyes of the starveling, beaten by every wind and gusty sheet of rain, she was safe in a halcyon harbour.1988J. G. BallardRunning Wild..a sycophantic newspaper editor nostalgic for the halcyon days of the l980s…1999James PattersonPop! Goes the Weasel...I had once confronted a homicidal twelve-year-old during the halcyon days of the Jack and Jill killers…Labels: J. G. Ballard, James Patterson, Theodore Dreiser
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rara avis RAER-uh AY-vis noun a rare thing; a rare person 1917John GalsworthyBeyondThe soft air, the mellowness of this gay place, much music, a sense of being a rara avis among people who, by their heavier type, enhanced her own, had produced in her a kind of intoxication, making her what the baroness called 'un peu folle.'1983E. E. Doc SmithSubspace EncounterBun the Barmaid, and a truly rara avis of the ilk.' Deston laughed and led a round of applause.1999Alan Dean FosterPhylogenesisConfronted by the rara avis of actual, genuine emotion, he had no idea how to respond, did not know what to say.Labels: Alan Dean Foster, E. E. Doc Smith, John Galsworthy
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mea culpa may-uh KOOL-pa noun an acknowledgment of error, guilt, or fault 1870Bret Harte The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales The master lifted her gently, and waited for the paroxysm to pass. When, with face still averted, she was repeating between her sobs the mea culpa of childish penitence—that 'she'd be good, she didn't mean to,' etc., it came to him to ask her why she had left Sabbath-school. 1922Mary Johnston1492And, O my Lord, never more will I forget that that tomb in which thou didst rest, still, still is held by the infidel!' He beat his breast. ' Mea culpa! mea culpa! '1987S. T. HaymonDeath of a GodWho did he think he was kidding? That must be the kind of guff all faithless lovers fed into their personal computers to get themselves in the clear. Mea culpa. Metaphorically, over his cornflakes and cup of instant, he beat his breast, calling himself all the right names—a lecher, a swine, a dirty old man.1992Connie WillisThe Doomsday Book'Mea culpa,' she whispered, 'mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.' Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault, but that wasn't right, that was only in the Confiteor Deo.2003Clive Cussler and Paul KemprecosWhite DeathMea culpa. It didn't seem like a bad idea at the time.Labels: Bret Harte, Clive Cussler, Connie Willis, Mary Johnston, Paul Kemprecos, S. T. Haymon
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yellow press YE-lo pres noun a group of newspapers that engage in yellow journalism 1922Francesco Saverio NittiPeaceless EuropeIt is true that there were a certain number of unbalanced people in the metal industry who talked complacently of French iron and stirred up the yellow press…1974Robert TowneChinatownIn the style of the Hearst yellow press, there is a heart-shaped drawing around one of the photos that Gittes had taken.Labels: Francesco Saverio Nitti, Robert Towne
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