Author Archives: Richard

Pronounced: SHAWN-brare, verb Notes: Ran across this in a Rex Stout book, and didn’t know it, so it showed up here Yesterday’s word The word defile means “to march off in a line” Background This word comes from French word défiler, a combination of dé- with filer (to move in a column). This French wordContinue reading “chambrer”

Pronounced: dih-FILE (or dih-FIE-uhl), verb Notes: If you’re thinking that I posted an easy word, this is not the word that means “to contaminate”. Although that word is spelled and pronounced the same, it has a different meaning and a different origin that today’s word. Do you know it? Yesterday’s word The word velutinous meansContinue reading “defile”

Pronounced: vuh-LOO-tuh-nuhs, adj Notes: A word I could have known (had I studied the language from which it comes), but since I didn’t, I don’t! Yesterday’s word The word zaibatsu is “a powerful and industrial conglomerate of Japan” Background The word is Japanese; it is a compound word of zai (wealth or money) and batsuContinue reading “velutinous”

Pronounced: zigh-BAHT-soo, noun Notes: I would think that many people can probably guess where this comes from, even if they don’t know the definition Yesterday’s word The word impignorate means “to pledge, pawn, or mortgage” Background The word comes from Latin impignorare (to pledge) from pignus (pledge, pawn, mortgage) First usage The word showed upContinue reading “zaibatsu”

Pronounced: im-PIG-nuh-rate, verb Notes: Well, my guess was to impersonate a pig (wrong!) Yesterday’s word The word maffick means “to celebrate with boisterous rejoicing and hilarious behavior” Background The word maffick is an alteration of Mafeking Night, the British celebration of the lifting of the siege of a British military outpost during the South AfricanContinue reading “impignorate”

Pronounced: MA-fick, verb Notes: I don’t want to give away too much of the origin until tomorrow, but I have run across, in British literature, the term from which this word comes (“Mafeking Night”). In the context of reading, I assumed it was some British holiday that I was unaware of; moreover, I had notContinue reading “maffick”

Pronounced: PAR-lee, verb or noun Notes: This is another word I thought I knew until I read the definition Yesterday’s word The word coeval means “of the same age, antiquity, or duration” Background This word comes from Latin coaevus (of the same age), which is itself made up of co- (in or to the sameContinue reading “parley”

Pronounced: koh-EE-vuhl, adj Notes: With the pronunciation, it sounds as if it were somehow evil, but it isn’t. Yesterday’s word The word trombenik means “a lazy or a boastful person” Background The word comes from Yiddish tromba (trumpet, horn) [see, I was close with my guess of trombone-RL] combined with -nik, a suffix that denotesContinue reading “coeval”

Pronounced: TROM-buh-nick, noun Notes: The word is also spelled trombenick. I see ‘trombone’ in this word, and that’s not quite right Yesterday’s word The word Antaean means mammoth having superhuman strength Background The word Antaean comes from Greek mythology. Antaeus was the gigantic and powerful son of Gaea (the earth goddess) and Poseidon (the seaContinue reading “trombenik”

Pronounced: an-TEE-uhn, adj Notes: This is a word I both knew and didn’t know. I explain this comment tomorrow. Yesterday’s word The word fiddlesticks (plural) is pretty well known as an interjection meaning “nonsense”. The singular, fiddlestick, also has a meaning you’d expect: “the bow with which the fiddle is played”. However, there is anotherContinue reading “Antaean”