English Learning Online: Vocabulary: Word of The Day 14 June 2012
For this post, in Vocabulary section, I would like to continue sharing with you latest words of the day as following...
fugitive \FYOO-ji-tiv\, adjective:
1. Fleeting, transitory, elusive.
2. Having taken flight, or run away.
3. Changing color as a result of exposure to light and chemical substances present in the atmosphere, in other pigments, or in the medium.
4. Dealing with subjects of passing interest, as writings; ephemeral.
5. Wandering, roving, or vagabond.
boon \boon\, noun:
1. Something to be thankful for; blessing; benefit.
2. Something that is asked; a favor sought.
pyknic \PIK-nik\, adjective:
1. Having a rounded build or body structure.
noun:
1. A person of the pyknic type.
grouse \grous\, verb:
1. To grumble; complain.
noun:
1. A complaint.
zeitgeber \TSAHYT-gey-ber\, noun:
An environmental cue, as the length of daylight, that helps to regulate the cycles of an organism's biological clock.
sylph \silf\, noun:
1. A slender, graceful woman or girl.
2. (In folklore) one of a race of supernatural beings supposed to inhabit the air.
ephebe \ih-FEEB\, noun:
A young man.
agley \uh-GLEE\, adjective:
Off the right line; awry; wrong.
tony \TOH-nee\, adjective:
High-toned; stylish.
caparison \kuh-PAR-uh-suhn\, verb:
1. To dress richly; deck.
2. To cover with a caparison.
noun:
1. A decorative covering for a horse or for the tack or harness of a horse; trappings.
2. Rich and sumptuous clothing or equipment.
cumshaw \KUHM-shaw\, noun:
A present; gratuity; tip.
apotropaic \ap-uh-truh-PEY-ik\, adjective:
Intended to ward off evil.
macaronic \mak-uh-RON-ik\, adjective:
1. Composed of a mixture of languages.
2. Composed of or characterized by Latin words mixed with vernacular words or non-Latin words given Latin endings.
3. Mixed; jumbled.
noun:
1. Macaronics, macaronic language.
2. A macaronic verse or other piece of writing.
approbate \AP-ruh-beyt\, verb:
To approve officially.
irriguous \ih-RIG-yoo-uhs\, adjective:
Well-watered, as land.
aperçu \a-per-SY\, noun:
1. A hasty glance; a glimpse.
2. An immediate estimate or judgment; understanding; insight.
3. An outline or summary.
xenophilia \zen-uh-FIL-ee-uh\, noun:
An attraction to foreign peoples, cultures, or customs.
reconnoiter \ree-kuh-NOI-ter\, verb:
1. To make an inspection or observation.
2. To inspect, observe, or survey (the enemy, the enemy's strength or position, a region, etc.) in order to gain information for military purposes.
3. To examine or survey a region or area for engineering, geological, or other purposes.
bona fides \BOH-nah FEE-des\, noun:
1. Good faith; the state of being exactly as claims or appearances indicate.
2. (Sometimes italics) (used with a plural verb) the official papers, documents, or other items that prove authenticity, legitimacy, etc., as of a person or enterprise; credentials.
agnomen \ag-NOH-muhn\, noun:
1. A nickname.
2. An additional, fourth name given to a person by the ancient Romans in allusion to some achievement or other circumstance, as “Africanus” in “Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus.”
hsien \shyuhn\, noun:
1. One of a group of benevolent spirits promoting good in the world.
2. In China, a county or district.
obtuse \uhb-TOOS\, adjective:
1. Not quick or alert in perception, feeling, or intellect.
2. Not sharp, acute, or pointed; blunt in form.
3. (Of a leaf, petal, etc.) rounded at the extremity.
4. Indistinctly felt or perceived, as pain or sound.
germinal \JUR-muh-nl\, adjective:
1. Being in the earliest stage of development.
2. Of or pertaining to a germ or germs.
3. Of the nature of a germ or germ cell.
fard \fahrd\, verb:
1. To apply cosmetics.
noun:
1. Facial cosmetics.
barnburner \BAHRN-bur-ner\, noun:
1. Something that is highly exciting or impressive.
2. Chiefly Pennsylvania. A wooden friction match.
3. (Initial capital letter) A member of the progressive faction in the Democratic party in New York State 1845–52.
nosh \nosh\, verb:
1. To snack or eat between meals.
2. To snack on.
noun:
1. A snack.
adenoidal \ad-n-OID-l\, adjective:
1. Being characteristically pinched and nasal in tone quality.
2. Of or pertaining to the adenoids; adenoid.
3. Having the adenoids enlarged, especially to a degree that interferes with normal breathing.
littoral \LIT-er-uhl\, adjective:
1. Pertaining to the shore of a lake, sea, or ocean.
2. (On ocean shores) of or pertaining to the biogeographic region between the sublittoral zone and the high-water line and sometimes including the supralittoral zone above the high-water line.
3. Of or pertaining to the region of freshwater lake beds from the sublittoral zone up to and including damp areas on shore.
noun:
1. A littoral region.
ensconce \en-SKONS\, verb:
1. To settle securely or snugly.
2. To cover or shelter; hide securely.
aphotic \ey-FOH-tik\, adjective:
Lightless; dark.
ort \awrt\, noun:
A scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
kowtow \KOU-TOU\, verb:
1. To act in an obsequious manner; show servile deference.
2. To touch the forehead to the ground while kneeling, as an act of worship, reverence, apology, etc., especially in former Chinese custom.
noun:
1. The act of kowtowing.
numen \NOO-min\, noun:
Divine power, especially one who inhabits a particular object.
fulcrum \FOOL-kruhm\, noun:
1. The support, or point of rest, on which a lever turns.
2. Any prop or support.
3. Zoology. Any of various structures in an animal serving as a hinge or support.
verb:
1. To fit with a fulcrum; put a fulcrum on.
besot \bih-SOT\, verb:
1. To infatuate; obsess.
2. To intoxicate or stupefy with drink.
3. To make stupid or foolish: a mind besotted with fear and superstition.
mensch \mench\, noun:
A decent, upright, mature, and responsible person.
sudorific \soo-duh-RIF-ik\, adjective:
1. Causing sweat.
2. Sudoriparous.
noun:
1. A sudorific agent.
pother \POTH-er\, noun:
1. A heated discussion, debate, or argument; fuss; to-do.
2. Commotion; uproar.
3. A choking or suffocating cloud, as of smoke or dust.
verb:
1. To worry; bother.
cicatrix \SIK-uh-triks\, noun:
1. New tissue that forms over a wound.
2. Botany. A scar left by a fallen leaf, seed, etc.
obtest \ob-TEST\, verb:
1. To supplicate earnestly; beseech.
2. To invoke as witness.
3. To protest.
4. To make supplication; beseech.
prorogue \proh-ROHG\, verb:
1. To defer; postpone.
2. To discontinue a session of (the British Parliament or a similar body).
sibilant \SIB-uh-luhnt\, adjective:
1. Hissing.
2. Phonetics. Characterized by a hissing sound; noting sounds like those spelled with s in this.
noun:
1. Phonetics. A sibilant consonant.
matrilineal \ma-truh-LIN-ee-uhl\, adjective:
Inheriting or determining descent through the female line.
intromit \in-truh-MIT\, verb:
To introduce; to send, put, or let in.
altiloquent \awl-TIL-uh-kwuhnt\, noun:
High-flown or pretentious language.
spruik \sprook\, verb:
To make or give a speech, especially extensively; spiel.
pip \pip\, verb:
1. To peep or chirp.
2. (Of a young bird) to break out from the shell.
3. To crack or chip a hole through (the shell), as a young bird.
omphalos \OM-fuh-luhs\, noun:
1. The central point.
2. The navel; umbilicus.
3. Greek Antiquity. A stone in the temple of Apollo at Delphi, thought to mark the center of the earth.
gambit \GAM-bit\, noun:
1. A remark made to open or redirect a conversation.
2. Chess. An opening in which a player seeks to obtain some advantage by sacrificing a pawn or piece.
3. Any maneuver by which one seeks to gain an advantage.
phatic \FAT-ik\, adjective:
Denoting speech used to create an atmosphere of goodwill.
belabor \bih-LEY-ber\, verb:
1. To explain, worry about, or work more than is necessary.
2. To assail persistently, as with scorn or ridicule.
3. To beat vigorously; ply with heavy blows.
4. Obsolete. To labor at.
cumulus \KYOO-myuh-luhs\, noun:
1. A heap; pile.
2. A cloud of a class characterized by dense individual elements in the form of puffs, mounds, or towers, with flat bases and tops that often resemble cauliflower.
chrestomathy \kres-TOM-uh-thee\, noun:
A collection of selected literary passages.
demiurge \DEM-ee-urj\, noun:
1. Philosophy. A. Platonism. The artificer of the world. B. (In the Gnostic and certain other systems) a supernatural being imagined as creating or fashioning the world in subordination to the Supreme Being, and sometimes regarded as the originator of evil.
2. (In many states of ancient Greece) a public official or magistrate.
ingeminate \in-JEM-uh-neyt\, verb:
To repeat; reiterate.
betide \bih-TAHYD\, verb:
1. To happen to; come to; befall.
2. To happen; come to pass.
skirr \skur\, verb:
1. To go rapidly; fly; scurry.
2. To go rapidly over.
noun:
1. A grating or whirring sound.
varlet \VAHR-lit\, noun:
1. A knavish person; rascal.
2. A. An attendant or servant. B. A page who serves a knight.
haimish \HEY-mish\, adjective:
Homey; cozy and unpretentious.
bosh \bosh\, noun:
Absurd or foolish talk; nonsense.
armamentarium \ahr-muh-muhn-TAIR-ee-uhm\, noun:
1. A fruitful source of devices or materials available or used for an undertaking.
2. The aggregate of equipment, methods, and techniques available to one for carrying out one's duties.
histrionics \his-tree-ON-iks\, noun:
1. Behavior or speech for effect, as insincere or exaggerated expression of an emotion.
2. Dramatic representation; theatricals; acting.
levigate \LEV-i-geyt\, verb:
1. To rub, grind, or reduce to a fine powder.
2. Chemistry. To make a homogeneous mixture of, as gels.
adjective:
1. Botany. Having a smooth, glossy surface; glabrous.
apoplectic \ap-uh-plek-tik\, adjective:
1. Intense enough to threaten or cause a stroke.
2. Of or pertaining to apoplexy.
3. Having or inclined to apoplexy.
noun:
1. A person having or predisposed to apoplexy.
larrup \LAR-uhp\, verb:
To beat or thrash.
natch \nach\, adverb:
Of course; naturally.
divulse \dahy-VUHLS\, verb:
To tear away or apart.
pochismo \poh-CHEEZ-moh\, noun:
1. An English word or expression borrowed into Spanish.
2. A form of speech employing many such words.
3. An adopted U.S. custom, attitude, etc.
mignon \min-YON\, adjective:
Small and pretty; delicately pretty.
ravelment \RAV-uhl-muhnt\, noun:
Entanglement; confusion.
fantast \FAN-tast\, noun:
A visionary or dreamer.
mewl \myool\, verb:
To cry, as a baby, young child, or the like; whimper.
For Example:
- mewl
Eg: He is 40 years old, but when his dog goes away, he mewls like a baby.
