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xanthous ZAN-thos adjective yellowish; yellow-brown; yellow-red 1856Sir Richard Francis BurtonPersonal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & MeccahThe xanthous complexion is rare, though not unknown in cities, but the leucous does not exist.1890Ignatius DonnellyCaesar's ColumnShe evidently belonged to the great race of Nilsson and Lind. Her hair, a mass of rebellious, short curls, was of the peculiar shade of light yellow common among that people; it looked as if the xanthous locks of the old Gauls, as described by Cæsar, had been faded out, in the long nights and the ice and snow of the Northland, to this paler hue.1927S. S. Van DineThe Canary Murder CaseTherefore, when I saw this photograph of the xanthous Alys half hidden under the litter of papers on the escritoire…1995Greg CostikyanOne Quest, Hold the DragonsI suppose you're all pining for that xanthous beauty yourselves…Labels: Greg Costikyan, Ignatius Donnelly, S. S. Van Dine, Sir Richard Francis Burton
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succedaneum suhk-suh-DAY-nee-uhm adjective a substitute for something 1831Sir John Barrow The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of HMS BountyIf, instead of fish, he has flesh, he must have some succedaneum for a knife to divide it; and for this purpose a piece of bamboo is tossed to him, of which he makes the necessary implement by splitting it transversely with his nail. 1876Sir Richard Francis BurtonTwo Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the CongoThe comb is unknown, its succedaneum being a huge bodkin, like that which the Trasteverina has so often used as a stiletto. Labels: Sir John Barrow, Sir Richard Francis Burton
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darraign DAR-ayn verb to ready for battle 1591William ShakespeareKing Henry VIMESSENGER: Royal commanders, be in readiness; | For with a band of thirty thousand men | Comes Warwick, backing of the Duke of York, | And in the towns, as they do march along, | Proclaims him king, and many fly to him. | Darraign your battle, for they are at hand. 1885Sir Richard Francis BurtonThe Book of the Thousand Nights and a NightThen Luka went out from the presence and the accursed one mounted a sorrel horse; he was clad in a red robe and a hauberk of gold set with jewels, and he bore a trident spear, as he were Iblis the damned on the day of drewing out his hosts war to darraign.Labels: Sir Richard Francis Burton, William Shakespeare
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fillip FIL-uhp noun a blow or flick resulting from the sudden release of a finger curled against the thumb; something trivial; something of no consequence 1832Captain Frederick MarryatNewton Forster This was quite an event, and gave a fillip to the inertness of Madame de Fontanges, whose curiosity was excited. 1880Sir Richard Francis BurtonThe Kasidah of Haji Abdu El-YezdiEat, drink, and sport; the rest of life's not worth a fillip, quoth the King; Methinks the saying saith too much: the swine would say the selfsame thing!1902Harold MacGrathThe Puppet CrownMaurice contemplated him serenely. 'Impossible,' with a fillip at the end of his cigar.1968Ngaio MarshClutch of ConstablesA handful of nice little facts and a fillip to the imagination.Labels: Captain Frederick Marryat, Harold MacGrath, Ngaio Marsh, Sir Richard Francis Burton
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zarzuela zar-ZOO-uh-la noun Spanish musical theatre; Spanish opera 1883Sir Richard Francis BurtonTo the Gold Coast For GoldI sighed for the Iberian 'Zarzuela,' that most charming opera buffa which takes its name from a 'pleasaunce' in the Pardo Palace near Madrid.1896Benito Perez GaldosDona PerfectaSuddenly he heard a gay voice humming the refrain of a song from a zarzuela. 1922Pio BarojaThe QuestDoña Violante used to sing songs from Spanish zarzuelas and from French operettas, which produced in Manuel a terrible sadness. Labels: Benito Perez Galdos, Pio Baroja, Sir Richard Francis Burton
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thermantidote thur-man-TEE-dot noun a device for circulating air in a room, usually a fan mounted in a window 1856Sir Richard Francis BurtonPersonal 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.1888Rudyard KiplingIn the House of SuddhooI felt the hair lift at the back of my head, and my heart thump like a thermantidote paddle.1916Talbot MundyKing 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
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tautology to-TAW-law-jee noun the unnecessary repetition of an idea, word, or phrase; redundancy 1885Sir Richard Francis BurtonThe Book of the Thousand Nights and a NightI have been careful to preserve the balanced sentences with which the tales open; the tautology and the prose—rhyme serving to attract attention, e. g., 'In days of yore and in times long gone before there was a King,' etc.; in England where we strive not to waste words this becomes 'Once upon a time.'1910Gustavus Myers Great Fortunes from RailroadsEach period to itself, however. Cornelius Vanderbilt was the golden luminary of his time, a magnate of such combined, far-reaching wealth and power as the United States had never known. Indeed, one overruns the line of tautology in distinguishing between wealth and power. The two were then identical not less than now. Wealth was the real power. None knew or boasted of this more than old Vanderbilt when, with advancing age, he became more arrogant and choleric and less and less inclined to smooth down the storms he provoked by his contemptuous flings at the great pliable public. 1982Milan Kundera The Unbearable Lightness of Being For it was this idiotic tautology ( Long live life! ) which attracted people indifferent to the theses of Communism to the Communist parade.2005James SurowieckiTechnology and Happieness (Technology Review, January 2005)For classical economists, it was almost tautological to say that the wealthier people are, the happier they are, too.Labels: Gustavus Myers, James Surowiecki, Milan Kundera, Sir Richard Francis Burton
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patulous PA-chuh-luhs adjective gaping; expanding; spreading; open or exposed 1858Oliver Wendell HolmesThe Autocrat of the Breakfast Table...sweet visions, sweetest in those Sunday walks which carried them by the peaceful common, through the solemn village lying in cataleptic stillness under the shadow of the rod of Moses, to the terminus of their harmless stroll—the patulous fage, in the Professor's classic dialect—the spreading beech, in more familiar phrase…1876Sir Richard Francis BurtonTwo Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the CongoForteune is black, short, and...bunches of muscle stand out from his frame like the statues of Crotonian Milo; his legs are bandy; his hands and feet are large and patulous, and he wants only a hunch to make an admirable Quasimodo.Labels: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sir Richard Francis Burton
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salver SAL-vur noun a food or beverage tray 1883Sir Richard Francis BurtonTo the Gold Coast for GoldAfter the manner of Spanish churches, which love to concentrate dazzling colour at the upper end, the high altar is hung with crimson velvet curtains; and its massive silver lamps (one Italian, presented by Cardinal Ximenes), salvers, altar-facings, and other fixings are said to have cost over 24,000 francs.1905E. W. HornungA Thief in the NightAnd I could only think that he was inspired by the same impulse toward the bronzed salvers and the tarnished teapots with which I found him surrounded, until my eyes lit upon the enormous silver-chest into which he was fitting them one by one.1947Cornell WoolrichWaltz Into DarknessThere was no trace of the remnants of one, on the usual salvers she used.1985Jim AikinWalk the Moons RoadAnd only after messengers had come and gone bearing notes sealed with wax on silver salvers did Zhe-nuvnili find herself for the first time sitting demurely across from Qob Qobba and Ranga Strell as Li Ranii set out her position.Labels: Cornell Woolrich, E. W. Hornung, Jim Aikin, Sir Richard Francis Burton
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