Author Archives: Richard

Pronounced: IN-scape, noun Notes: I know escape, but not this word Yesterday’s word The word envisage means to view or regard in a certain way to have a mental picture of (especially in advance of realization) First usage The word first showed up in the 1600s Background / Comments This word comes from French envisager.Continue reading “inscape”

Pronounced: in-VIH-zihj, verb Notes: I actually did know this word, but it has an interesting history, so check it out tomorrow Yesterday’s word The word kinesics is “the study of body movements, such as gestures or facial expressions, as a form of communication. Background / Comments This word was created by Ray Birdwhistell. It comesContinue reading “envisage”

Pronounced: kuh-NEE-sicks, noun (alternate pronunciations: “ky” instead of “kuh” in the first syllable, and “zicks” instead of “sicks” for the last syllable) Notes: I was kind of close to the meaning of this word Yesterday’s word The word reticulate means resembling a net being or involving evolutionary change dependent on genetic recombination involving diverse interbreedingContinue reading “kinesics”

Pronounced: rih-TIH-kyoo-luht, adj Notes: This word has a general meaning, and pretty scientific one Yesterday’s word The word wale means, as a noun a streak mark raised on the skin, as by a whip one of the series of ribs in a fabric such as corduroy a plank along the side of a wooden shipContinue reading “reticulate”

Pronounced: this word is pronounced like “whale”, noun/verb Notes: A nice, short word that I didn’t know Yesterday’s word The word Byzantine, when capitalized means “of, relating to, or typical of ancient Byzantium or the Eastern Roman Empire”. Another meaning, usually not capitalized, means “intricately involved and often devious”. Background / Comments It is namedContinue reading “wale”

Pronounced: BIH-zuhn-teen, adj (the vowel in “zuhn” is almost not pronounced) Notes: This word can also be lowercase (byzantine); I almost didn’t include this word Yesterday’s word The word dree means (as a verb) “to endure or suffer”. As an adjective, it means “tedious or dreary” Background / Comments The word comes from Old EnglishContinue reading “Byzantine”

Pronounced: dree, verb/adj Notes: I have run across this word in the phrase “to dree one’s weird”, but I didn’t know the meaning of the phrase, and thus didn’t know the word Yesterday’s word The word dernier cri means “the newest fashion” (given the example, I would have used “fad” or “popular thing” instead ofContinue reading “dree”

Pronounced: dern-yay-KREE, noun Notes: a fancy word for something… do you know it? Yesterday’s word The word slue means, as a verb, “to turn, swing, or slide in a particular direction”. As a noun, it means such a turn, swing, or slide. Background / Comments It turns out that the origin of this word isContinue reading “dernier cri”

Pronounced: sloo, verb/noun Notes: I didn’t know this word Yesterday’s word The word confabulate means to talk informally; chat to hold a discussion; confer to fill in gaps in memory by fabrication Background / Comments My guess at the meaning of the word was pretty close to the first two definitions; however, the third meaningContinue reading “slue”