Author Archives: Richard

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 a graceful or magnanimous gesture an ingratiating conciliatory gesture First usage Our phrase came into English in the early 1900s Background / Comments I knew there was a book called Beau Geste, andContinue reading “tribology”

Pronounced: boh-ZHEST, noun Notes: I know something of this word, but not the definition Yesterday’s word The word limpid means clear; transparent easily comprehensible; clear calm; serene 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”, soContinue 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 to extinguish the guilt incurred by to make amends for First usage Our word came into English in the late 1500s Background / Comments I was reaching back to the roots; I wasContinue 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 a strong cotton and linen fabric high-flown or affected writing or speech, or even anything high-flown of affected in style First usage Our word came into English in two phases: the first definition arrived around 1200,Continue 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”

Pronounced: lih-VIE-uh-thuhn, noun Notes: I thought I knew the word, but my definition was a bit off Yesterday’s word The word stanch means to check or stop the flowing of (such as blood from a wound) to stop or check in its course to make watertight; stop up First usage Our word came into EnglishContinue reading “leviathan”

Pronounced: stawnch, verb Notes: I have to confess that I confuse this word with “staunch”, but they are separate words Yesterday’s word The word tohobohu is “chaos; confusion” First usage Our word came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments What a great word to use for chaos! Our word came from HebrewContinue reading “stanch”