Etymology: Latin sublatus (past participle of tollere to take away, lift up), from sub- up + latus, past participle of ferre to carry — more at sub-, tolerate, bear
Date: 1838
1 : negate, deny
2 : to negate or eliminate (as an element in a dialectic process) but preserve as a partial element in a synthesis
v. to ameliorate (third-person singular simple present ameliorates, present participle ameliorating, simple past ameliorated, past participle ameliorated)
(intransitive) To make better, to improve; to heal or solve a problem.
They offered some compromises in an effort to ameliorate the disagreement.
An accomplished fact; an action which is completed before those affected by it are in a position to query or reverse it.
Origin
The literal translation into English of this French phrase is a fact realized or accomplished - what might these days be called a done deal. Strangely, it entered the English language via a travelogue of Spain rather than France. Richard Ford's A hand-book for travellers in Spain (1845) was, and still is, regarded as a classic of travel writing. In it Ford included the phrase "This is now a fait accompli.", in regard of some previously decided fact.
Inure (also enure) v. 1 trans. (usu. be inured to) accustom (someone) to something, esp. something unpleasant : these children have been inured to violence. 2 intrans. ( enure for/to) Law come into operation; take effect : a release given to one of two joint contractors inures to the benefit of both.
ORIGIN late Middle English inure, enure, from an Anglo-Norman French phrase meaning ‘in use or practice,’ from en ‘in’ + Old French euvre ‘work’ (from Latin opera).
Inured by the confirmation of his own inconsequence, he became resilient and truly indifferent. Nothing mattered much. Nothing much mattered. And the less it mattered, the less it mattered. It was never important enough. Because Worse Things had happened. In the country that she came from, poised forever between the terror of war and the horror of peace, Worse Things kept happening. (Roy 20)
Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.
Temerity n. excessive confidence or boldness; audacity.
Implies exposing oneself needlessly to danger while failing to estimate one's chances of success.
ORIGIN late Middle English : from Latin temeritas, from temere ‘rashly.’
He didn't know that in some places, like the country that Rahel came form, various kinds of despair competed for primacy. And that personal despair could never be desperate enough. That something happened when personal turmoil dropped by at the wayside shrine of the vast, violent, circling, driving, ridiculous, insane, unfeasible public turmoil of a nation. That Big God howled like a hot wind, and demanded obeisance. Then Small God (cozy and contained, private and limited) came away cauterized, laughing numbly at his own temerity" (Roy 20)
Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.
Occurs only in the New Testament in connection with the box of "ointment of spikenard very precious," with the contents of which a woman anointed the head of Jesus as he sat at supper in the house of Simon the leper (Matt. 26:7; Mark 14:3; Luke 7:37). These boxes were made from a stone found near Alabastron in Egypt, and from this circumstance the Greeks gave them the name of the city where they were made. The name was then given to the stone of which they were made; and finally to all perfume vessels, of whatever material they were formed. The woman "broke" the vessel; i.e., she broke off, as was usually done, the long and narrow neck so as to reach the contents. This stone resembles marble, but is softer in its texture, and hence very easily wrought into boxes. Mark says (14:5) that this box of ointment was worth more than 300 pence, i.e., denarii, each of the value of sevenpence halfpenny of our money, and therefore worth about 10 pounds. But if we take the denarius as the day''s wage of a labourer (Matt. 20:2), say two shillings of our money, then the whole would be worth about 30 pounds, so costly was Mary''s offering.
Matthew 26:7: There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.
Mark 14:3: And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.
Luke 7:37: And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment...
The fair girl went on her knees and bent over me, fairly gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive, and as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips like an animal... I could feel the soft, shivering touch of the lips on the supersensitive skin of my throat, and the hard dents of two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there."
Even as he obsessively asks himself why he is not loved, the amorous subject lives in the belief that the loved object does love him but does not tell him so.
An onomatopoeia that is supposed to stand for 70's guitar Porn-riff. Usually this is the music that came on when the action was just about to get started. It has been used in a subcultural context to denote any porn-like situation.
Being a sound, it could be spelled several different ways: Bow Chicka Bow Wow, Bow Chicka Wow Wow, Wakka Chikka Wakka Chikka, etc.
The most annoying and misused word in the English language; used intentionally by stupid people to sound smart or by smart people to sound unintentionally stupid.
Regardless of what you have heard, “irregardless�? is a redundancy. The suffix “-less�? on the end of the word already makes the word negative. It doesn’t need the negative prefix “ir-�? to make it even more negative.
Comments by jaymediane
jaymediane commented on the word moot
Joey: All right, Rach, the big question is, does he like you? All right? Because if he doesn't like you, this is all a moo-point.
Rachel: Huh. A moo-point?
Joey: Yeah, it's like a cow's opinion. It just doesn't matter. It's moo.
Rachel: (to Monica and Phoebe) Have I been living with him for too long, or did that all just make sense?
May 23, 2008
jaymediane commented on the word sublation
sub·la·tion
Inflected Form(s): sub·lat·ed; sub·lat·ing
Etymology: Latin sublatus (past participle of tollere to take away, lift up), from sub- up + latus, past participle of ferre to carry — more at sub-, tolerate, bear
Date: 1838
1 : negate, deny
2 : to negate or eliminate (as an element in a dialectic process) but preserve as a partial element in a synthesis
May 18, 2008
jaymediane commented on the word omnipotent
PHOEBE: Okay, okay. If I were omnipotent for a day, I would want, um, world peace, no more hunger, good things for the rain-forest...And bigger boobs!
ROSS: Yeah, see.. you took mine. Chandler, what about you?
CHANDLER: Uh, if I were omnipotent for a day, I'd.. make myself omnipotent forever.
RACHEL: See, there's always one guy. "If I had a wish, I'd wish for three more wishes."
ALL: Hey Joey. Hi. Hey, buddy.
MONICA: Hey, Joey, what would you do if you were omnipotent?
JOEY: Probably kill myself!
MONICA: ..Excuse me?
JOEY: Hey, if Little Joey's dead, then I got no reason to live!
ROSS: Joey, uh- OMnipotent.
JOEY: You are? Ross, I'm sorry..
March 28, 2008
jaymediane commented on the word ameliorate
v. to ameliorate (third-person singular simple present ameliorates, present participle ameliorating, simple past ameliorated, past participle ameliorated)
(intransitive) To make better, to improve; to heal or solve a problem.
They offered some compromises in an effort to ameliorate the disagreement.
March 11, 2008
jaymediane commented on the word fait accompli
Meaning
An accomplished fact; an action which is completed before those affected by it are in a position to query or reverse it.
Origin
The literal translation into English of this French phrase is a fact realized or accomplished - what might these days be called a done deal. Strangely, it entered the English language via a travelogue of Spain rather than France. Richard Ford's A hand-book for travellers in Spain (1845) was, and still is, regarded as a classic of travel writing. In it Ford included the phrase "This is now a fait accompli.", in regard of some previously decided fact.
March 9, 2008
jaymediane commented on the word inure
Inure (also enure) v. 1 trans. (usu. be inured to) accustom (someone) to something, esp. something unpleasant : these children have been inured to violence. 2 intrans. ( enure for/to) Law come into operation; take effect : a release given to one of two joint contractors inures to the benefit of both.
ORIGIN late Middle English inure, enure, from an Anglo-Norman French phrase meaning ‘in use or practice,’ from en ‘in’ + Old French euvre ‘work’ (from Latin opera).
Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.
February 26, 2008
jaymediane commented on the word temerity
Temerity n. excessive confidence or boldness; audacity.
Implies exposing oneself needlessly to danger while failing to estimate one's chances of success.
ORIGIN late Middle English : from Latin temeritas, from temere ‘rashly.’
Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.
February 26, 2008
jaymediane commented on the word alabaster
Alabaster in the Bible
Occurs only in the New Testament in connection with the box of "ointment of spikenard very precious," with the contents of which a woman anointed the head of Jesus as he sat at supper in the house of Simon the leper (Matt. 26:7; Mark 14:3; Luke 7:37). These boxes were made from a stone found near Alabastron in Egypt, and from this circumstance the Greeks gave them the name of the city where they were made. The name was then given to the stone of which they were made; and finally to all perfume vessels, of whatever material they were formed. The woman "broke" the vessel; i.e., she broke off, as was usually done, the long and narrow neck so as to reach the contents. This stone resembles marble, but is softer in its texture, and hence very easily wrought into boxes. Mark says (14:5) that this box of ointment was worth more than 300 pence, i.e., denarii, each of the value of sevenpence halfpenny of our money, and therefore worth about 10 pounds. But if we take the denarius as the day''s wage of a labourer (Matt. 20:2), say two shillings of our money, then the whole would be worth about 30 pounds, so costly was Mary''s offering.
Verses
Matthew 26:7: There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.
Mark 14:3: And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.
Luke 7:37: And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment...
October 22, 2007
jaymediane commented on the word voluptuous
The fair girl went on her knees and bent over me, fairly gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive, and as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips like an animal... I could feel the soft, shivering touch of the lips on the supersensitive skin of my throat, and the hard dents of two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there."
--Bram Stoker, (ch. 3, pg. 42)
October 22, 2007
jaymediane commented on the word concupiscent
Concupiscence and force are the source of all our actions; concupiscence causes voluntary actions, force involuntary ones.
October 22, 2007
jaymediane commented on the word beloved
And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.
-- Raymond Carver
October 22, 2007
jaymediane commented on the word beloved
I am tired, Beloved, of chafing my heart against
The want of you;
Of squeezing it into little inkdrops,
And posting it.
-- Amy Lowell
October 22, 2007
jaymediane commented on the word amorous
Even as he obsessively asks himself why he is not loved, the amorous subject lives in the belief that the loved object does love him but does not tell him so.
-- Roland Barthes
October 22, 2007
jaymediane commented on the word eh
The Canadian word that can change any sentence into a question (no matter what).
October 22, 2007
jaymediane commented on the word bom chicka wah wah
An onomatopoeia that is supposed to stand for 70's guitar Porn-riff. Usually this is the music that came on when the action was just about to get started. It has been used in a subcultural context to denote any porn-like situation.
Being a sound, it could be spelled several different ways: Bow Chicka Bow Wow, Bow Chicka Wow Wow, Wakka Chikka Wakka Chikka, etc.
October 22, 2007
jaymediane commented on the word bom chicka wah wah
October 22, 2007
jaymediane commented on the word bom chicka wah wah
October 22, 2007
jaymediane commented on the word paradigm
The most annoying and misused word in the English language; used intentionally by stupid people to sound smart or by smart people to sound unintentionally stupid.
October 22, 2007
jaymediane commented on the word irregardless
Regardless of what you have heard, “irregardless�? is a redundancy. The suffix “-less�? on the end of the word already makes the word negative. It doesn’t need the negative prefix “ir-�? to make it even more negative.
October 22, 2007
jaymediane commented on the word like
Shaggy: "Like, let's get outta here, Scoob!"
October 22, 2007
jaymediane commented on the word like
Valley Speak
As an adverb: I, like, died!
As a quotative: She was, like, no way!
Like can also be used to communicate a pantomime, or to paraphrase an explicitly unspoken idea or sentiment: I was like (speaker rolls eyes).
As a hedge: I have, like, no money.
As a discourse particle or interjection: I, like, don't know what to do.
It is also becoming more often used at the end of a sentence, as an alternative to you know: I didn't say, like, anything.
October 22, 2007
jaymediane commented on the word like
October 22, 2007
jaymediane commented on the word chrysanthemum
Video Scene (seconds 3:41-3:48) // Transcript
SCENE: The schoolhouse.
MR. PHILLIPS: Alright, let's begin the spelling bee. Miss Andrews, can you give us the spelling of the word chrysanthemum?
PRISSY ANDREWS: Chrysanthemum. C-h-i, no r-i -s -a -n-s-m -u-m.
MR. PHILLIPS: Perhaps we'll turn our attention to your spelling now that you mathematics is well in hand. Gilbert, chrysanthemum.
GILBERT: Chrysanthemum. C-h-r-y-s-a-n-t-h-a-m-u-m.
MR. PHILLIPS: Hmm. Anne?
ANNE: Chrysanthemum. C-h-r-y-s-a-n-t-h-e-m-u-m.
MR. PHILLIPS: Correct.
October 22, 2007