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Grundyism GRUHN-dee-iz-uhm noun moronic adherence to conventionality 1836Catharine Parr TraillThe Backwoods of CanadaNow, we bush-settlers are more independent: we do what we like; we dress as we find most suitable and most convenient; we are totally without the fear of any Mr. or Mrs. Grundy; and having shaken off the trammels of Grundyism, we laugh at the absurdity of those who voluntarily forge afresh and hug their chains.1926John GalsworthyThe Silver SpoonI hate Grundyism.Labels: Catharine Parr Traill, John Galsworthy
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volte-face volt-FAWS noun an about face; a turnabout; a reversal of point-of-view 1917William John LockeThe Red PlanetHe was alive, he professed robust health, and in reply to Mrs. Holmes's frantically expressed hope that he was adopting no course that might discredit his father's name, he twitted her with intellectual volte-face to the views of Philistia, but at the same time assured her that he was doing nothing which the most self-righteous bourgeois would consider discreditable.1920John GalsworthyThe FoundationsPOULDER. [Making a volte face towards the table] Miss?1951Henry KuttnerThe Ego Machine'Mad or sane, I am Nicholas Martin,' Martin announced, with an abrupt volte face.Labels: Henry Kuttner, John Galsworthy, William John Locke
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obiter dictum o-buh-tur DIK-tuhm noun an offhand comment; a non-binding judgment 1876Asa GrayDarwinianaThe writer presumes, moreover (but this is an obiter dictum), that the peculiarity originated long after flounders had fixed the habit of swimming on one side (and in this particular case it is rather difficult to see how the two may have gone on pari passu), and so he cuts away all obvious occasion for the alteration through the summation of slight variations in one direction, each bringing some advantage.1919John GalsworthyThe Burning SpearDon't take that down,' he added quickly, 'we are all subject to moments of weakness. It was just an 'obiter dictum'.'1965James A. MichenerThe SourceHe was about to offer an obiter dictum but apparently thought better of it…Labels: Asa Gray, James A. Michener, John Galsworthy
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traduce truh-DOOS verb to subject someone to humiliation or blame through lies; to seduce 1826Mary Wollstonecraft ShelleyThe Last ManMy productions however were sufficiently unpretending; they were confined to the biography of favourite historical characters, especially those whom I believed to have been traduced, or about whom clung obscurity and doubt.1908Arnold BennettHow to Live on Twenty Four Hours a DayI know that I shall be accused by angry readers of traducing the city worker; but I am pretty thoroughly acquainted with the City, and I stick to what I say.1914John GalsworthyThe MobFor God's sake, Stephen, stop before it's gone past mending. Don't ruin your life with Katherine. Hubert was her favourite brother; you are backing those who killed him. Think what that means to her! Drop this—mad Quixotism—idealism—whatever you call it. Take Katherine away. Leave the country till the thing's over—this country of yours that you're opposing, and—and—traducing. Take her away! Come! What good are you doing? What earthly good? Come, my boy! Before you're utterly undone.Labels: Arnold Bennett, John Galsworthy, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
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peccadillo pek-uh-DIL-o noun a minor infraction or offense 1913Knut HamsunShallow SoilThe fact that she was conspiring with him to hide this peccadillo, that from now on they would have a sort of secret together, filled him with a warm pleasure.1924John GalsworthyThe White MonkeyDEAR MR. FORSYTE.—Perhaps you will be good enough to tell the Board at the meeting on Tuesday that I am on my way to immunity from the consequences of any peccadillo I may have been guilty of.1986Vernor VingeMarooned In RealtimeBut Derek Lindemann's crime was a peccadillo, laughable, hardly worth Wil's attention.Labels: John Galsworthy, Knut Hamsun, Vernor Vinge
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windlestraw WIN-del-straw noun something light; something or someone of no significance 1899H. G. WellsLove and Mr LewishamAnd as for you—you who have hardly learned to think for more than five or six short years, there you sit, assured, coherent, there you sit in all your inherited original sin—Hallucinatory Windlestraw!—judging and condemning.1909John GalsworthyStudies and Essays, Concerning LettersWhat then is the reason of my existence? Am I but a windlestraw?'1911Romain RollandJean Christophe In ParisBut the insensate current of the passing throng carried her along like a windlestraw, while the horse of an omnibus, falling on the slippery asphalt, made a sort of dyke in front of Christophe, by which the opposing streams of carriages were dammed, so that for a few moments there was an impassable barrier.Labels: H. G. Wells, John Galsworthy, Romain Rolland
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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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