Author Archives: Richard

Pronounced: LONG-hair (duh), noun Notes: I knew one of the definition; some of the others are obvious Yesterday’s word The word eristic means “characterized by disputatious and often subtle and specious reasoning” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1600s Background / Comments Our word can also take the form “eristical”, although thisContinue reading “longhair”

Pronounced: ih-RIH-stick, adj Notes: Good word, but I don’t think I know it Yesterday’s word The word tribology is “the study of interacting surfaces in relative motion and associated issues, such as friction, lubrication, and wear”. First usage Our word came into English in the 1960s Background / Comments Your misunderstanding of this word dependsContinue reading “eristic”

Pronounced: try-BOL-uh-jee (alt: trih-BOL-uh-jee), noun Notes: Not the study of tribbles, nor even of tribes Yesterday’s phrase The phrase beau geste is First usage Our phrase came into English in the early 1900s Background / Comments I knew there was a book called Beau Geste, and I knew the general plot, but I didn’t knowContinue reading “tribology”

Pronounced: boh-ZHEST, noun Notes: I know something of this word, but not the definition Yesterday’s word The word limpid means First usage Our word came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments I have read a phrase something like “she gave him a limpid look”, so I had the idea that the wordContinue reading “beau geste”

Pronounced: LIM-pid, adj Notes: I knew some of the meanings, but not all of them Yesterday’s word The word adust means “scorched; burned” First usage Our word came into English in the early 1400s Background / Comments Well, I thought our word meant “dusty” or “full of dust”. Our word comes from the Latin wordContinue reading “limpid”

Pronounced: uh-DUST, adj Notes: The meaning is not at all what I thought it was Yesterday’s word The word manna is “an unexpected help, benefit, or advantage” First usage Our word came into English in the 400s Background / Comments Our word comes, as you will no doubt have guessed, from the Hebrew word manContinue reading “adust”

Pronounced: MAN-uh, noun Notes: I know what this is (originally), but I don’t know the meaning Yesterday’s word The word expiate means First usage Our word came into English in the late 1500s Background / Comments I was reaching back to the roots; I was thinking that our word means “to atone for”, and itContinue reading “manna”

Pronounced: ECK-spee-ate, verb Notes: My guess was close to the correct meaning Yesterday’s word The word exungulate means “to pare nails, claws, etc” First usage Our word came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments Great word! How much more fun to say I was exungulating this morning instead of the rather prosaicContinue reading “expiate”

Pronounced: ek-SUNG-uh-late, verb Notes: Great word! (but not at all what I thought) Yesterday’s word The word fustian is First usage Our word came into English in two phases: the first definition arrived around 1200, but the second one didn’t come about until the 1500s. Background / Comments An early documented usage of the secondContinue reading “exungulate”

Pronounced: FUSS-chun, noun Notes: I think of “fussy” when I see this word, but that’s not the meaning Yesterday’s word The word leviathan is “something large and powerful” First usage Our word came into English in the late 1300s Background / Comments I thought that our word referred to some kind of sea creature; mainlyContinue reading “fustian”