Author Archives: Richard

Pronounced: KRAP-yuh-luhs, adj Notes: Not what one might think Yesterday’s word The word alembic means an apparatus formerly used in distilling something that refines, purifies, or transforms First usage This word came into English in the early7 1400s Background / Comments I cannot recall ever hearing or reading of a still called an alembic, butContinue reading “crapulous”

Pronounced: uh-LEM-bick, noun Notes: I don’t think I’ve run across this word Yesterday’s word The word gloze means “to explain away something; to extenuate or make seem less serious; to gloss over” First usage This word goes way back to the mid- to late 1200s Background / Comments The word came from Middle English, andContinue reading “alembic”

Pronounced: glowz (like it sounds), verb Notes: I don’t know this word, but I know a close phrase Yesterday’s word The word sybaritic means “devoted to or related to luxury and pleasure” First usage This word came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments This word comes from an ancient Greek city calledContinue reading “gloze”

Pronounced: sib-uh-RIT-ick, adj Notes: I have run across this word in reading (but I don’t remember where), but I didn’t know the meaning Yesterday’s word The word imprest means “a loan or advance of money” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1500s Background / Comments It is thought that our word, aContinue reading “sybaritic”

Pronounced: IHM-prest, noun Notes: A useful word, but I don’t think I’ve ever run across this word before Yesterday’s word The word cramoisy means, as an adjective, “of a crimson color”. As a noun, it is “crimson cloth” First usage This is an old word, going back to the early 1400s Background / Comments OurContinue reading “imprest”

Pronounced: KRAM-oy-zee (alt: kruh-MOY-zee), adj/noun Notes: I don’t think I’ve run across this word Yesterday’s word The word chuffed is British slang for “pleased or delighted”; oddly enough, it can also mean the opposite: “annoyed or displeased” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1800s Background / Comments I’ve only heard this usedContinue reading “cramoisy”

Pronounced: [like it sounds] Notes: You may know this word; I’ve run across it quite a bit in recent months Yesterday’s word The word orphic means melodious; entrancing mystical; occult First usage This word came into English in the mid-1600s Background / Comments I have taken a course in Western music, and one part ofContinue reading “chuffed”

Pronounced: OR-fick, adj Notes: I am happy that I knew the origin, but even with that, I didn’t know the meaning Yesterday’s word The word cornice means a mass of snow or ice built up along a mountain ridge the uppermost horizontal edge of a wall and its decorative treatment First usage Our word cameContinue reading “orphic”

Pronounced: CORE-niss, noun Notes: I knew one of the definitions, but not the other – do you know either definition? Yesterday’s word The word oxymoron means “a figure of speech in which the two contradictory term appear together for emphasis” – here’s a good one: accurate estimate First usage This word came into English inContinue reading “cornice”

Pronounced: ok-see-MORE-on, noun Notes: I think everyone knows this word, but I find the plural form interesting, as well as the background Yesterday’s word The word quoin is “one of the keystones forming a wall; a cornerstone” First usage This word came into English in the mid-1500s Background / Comments I didn’t recognize this wordContinue reading “oxymoron”