Category Archives: word

Pronounced: NUD-nik, noun Notes: A useful word to know Yesterday’s word The word palouser is a strong, dangerous wind an improvised lantern a country bumpkin First usage Our word came into English in the 1900s (1900-1909) Background / Comments Frustratingly, there is little information about how the three apparently unrelated definitions came about. It isContinue reading “nudnik”

Pronounced: puh-LOO-zuhr, noun Notes: Interesting word Yesterday’s word The word poikilotherm is “an organism with a variable body temperature usually slightly higher than that of its environment”. First usage Our word came into English in the 1920s Background / Comments You may know the word “ectotherm” (it is vaguely familiar to me), which came aboutContinue reading “palouser”

Pronounced: poy-KEE-luh-thuhrm, noun Notes: I didn’t know this word at all, but it is a fancy term for a word I do know. Looking at the word, “kilo” and “therm” look familiar, but that doesn’t help me to the meaning. Yesterday’s word The word Derwenter is “an ex-convict” First usage Our word came into EnglishContinue reading “poikilotherm”

Pronounced: DUHR-wuhnt-uhr, noun Notes: Not a word that I remember running across Yesterday’s word The word frieze means the part of an entablature between the architrave and the cornice a sculptured or richly ornamental band (as on a building or piece of furniture) a band, line, or series suggesting a frieze First usage Our wordContinue reading “Derwenter”

Pronounced: freez, noun Notes: When I read the first definition, I didn’t understand it at all; it used three key words that I did not understand Yesterday’s phrase The phrase trouser role is used in opera, drama, film, etc and is a role in which a female character pretends to be a male a maleContinue reading “frieze”

Pronounced: TROW-zurh roll, noun Notes: You can probably guess the meaning of this phrase Yesterday’s word The word gyre is “a circular or spiral motion or form; especially a giant circular oceanic surface current.” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1500s Background / Comments It is odd how one hears something, andContinue reading “trouser role”

Pronounced: jire (alt: jigh-uhr), noun Notes: I’ve come across this word (but it is a little specialized) Yesterday’s word The word shirtsleeve means relating to pleasant warm weather informal; direct hardworking; having a can-do attitude First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1500s Background / Comments All of our definitions derive from theContinue reading “gyre”

Pronounced: SHIRT-sleeve, adj Notes: I know the noun (what a shirtsleeve is), but not the meaning of the adjective Yesterday’s word The word colligate means to bind, unite, or group together to subsume (isolated facts) under a general concept to be or become a member of a group or unit First usage Our word cameContinue reading “shirtsleeve”

Pronounced: KAH-luh-gate, verb Notes: I thought of “collegiate”, but this word is not that one Yesterday’s word The word supercargo is an officer on a merchant ship who is in charge of the cargo a superintendent or an agent First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1600s Background / Comments I would notContinue reading “colligate”

Pronounced: soo-purr-CAR-go, noun Notes: I thought perhaps “important cargo”, but that’s not right Yesterday’s word The word fossick means to search for gold or gemstones typically by picking over abandoned workings to search about; rummage First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1800s Background / Comments As I noted yesterday, I don’t feelContinue reading “supercargo”