Citrine's Word of the Day

ruminate

2008-01-03T12:13:00.000-08:00

verb - 1. to think intently or for a prolonged period. 2. to chew regurgitated matter; to chew for a prolonged period.

Example:
After ruminating for some time on the subject, I have decided to discontinue this blog.

Sorry, folks. It takes a while to put together a decent entry, and given my readership levels and the clickthrough rates, it just isn't paying off. I enjoyed keeping this blog, but I also enjoy design work, and I actually earn a bit from that. Thanks for reading, and if you voted in the poll, thanks for your vote. It's nice to be appreciated.

Here are links to some other word-of-the-day blogs, gadgets, and web pages:

Dictionary.com's gadget

WordSmith.org - A.Word.A.Day - email service and web page

Wiktionary project (English)

Answers.com's Word Overheard blog (RSS available)

Urban Dictionary (RSS available)

hiatus

2007-12-18T08:05:00.000-08:00

noun - interruption, break, pause, gap.

Example:
This blog is currently on hiatus due to the holidays; I will resume posting in early January.

Link:
Answers.com: hiatus

What's your favorite word? Feel free to suggest words by submitting a comment on any post.

I'm currently working on an entry for the word 'polynose'. If you have access to a textile glossary or dictionary, please look up 'polynose' and let me know what it says.

Have a great holiday and best wishes for 2008!

gnomon

2007-12-16T16:40:00.000-08:00

noun - 1. the upright part of a sundial that casts a shadow which indicates the time of day. 2. the part of a parallelogram left after a similar, smaller parallelogram had been removed from a corner of it.

Example:
In the center of the circular garden was a sundial having a marble base and a bronze gnomon.

Links:
Answers.com: gnomon
Wikipedia: gnomon, gnomon (figure)
Wolfram Math World: gnomon
Amazon.com: Gnomon: from Pharaos to Fractals by Midhat Gazale

semelparous

2007-12-15T23:43:00.000-08:00

adjective - having a single reproductive phase during the lifespan. [Compare with iteroparous.]

Example:
"Most anadromous salmon die after their first spawning season and thus spawn only once in their lifetime—they are semelparous." - Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest, p. 29.

Links:
Merriam-Webster: semelparous
Nature: Reproductive Biology: Out with a Bang

samara

2007-12-14T23:04:00.000-08:00

noun - a dry, winged fruit, such as the fruit of maple and ash trees.
Example:
The path was strewn with the samaras of the maple trees that arched over it.

Link:
Wikipedia: Samara (fruit)

besmirch

2007-12-13T12:59:00.000-08:00

verb - to make dirty; stain.

Example:
"Perhaps Abbott himself thought it did not, for he published Flatland pseudonymously, as if afraid that it might besmirch the dignity of his more formal writings, of which he betrayed no reluctance to acknowledge his authorship." - Banesh Hoffman, Introduction, in Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, 1992.

Links:
Answers.com: besmirch
Wikipedia: Edwin Abbott Abbott

imbroglio

2007-12-12T11:35:00.000-08:00

noun - 1. a difficult, confusing situation. 2. a confused misunderstanding or altercation. 3. a mess.

Example:
"I’ve been diligently searching for every shortcut I can find to circumvent the whole shopping, wrapping and cooking Christmas dinner imbroglio." Sonya Fladun, Outsourcing is the answer, City News, December 12, 2007.

Link:
Answers.com: imbroglio

fatuous

2007-12-11T14:13:00.000-08:00

adjective - 1. complacently foolish or silly. 2. unreal, delusive.

Example:
"August Rush: To describe this film as a piece of shameless hokum doesn’t quite do justice to the potentially shock-inducing sugar content of this fatuous contemporary fairy tale about a homeless, musically gifted miracle child." - Stephen Holden, Movie Guide and Film Series, The New York Times, December 7, 2007.

Links:
Answers.com: fatuous
Rotten Tomatoes: August Rush

excoriate

2007-12-10T08:16:00.000-08:00

verb - 1. to peel, tear, abrade or scrape off the skin of. 2. to denounce or criticize sharply.

Example:
'Headlined "The Merchant of Death Is Dead," the obit went on to excoriate Nobel for inventing dynamite, saying he became wealthy by "finding ways to kill more people faster than ever."' - Tony Long, 'Nov. 27, 1895: Nobel's Final Will Not Prized by Everyone', Wired, November 27, 2007.

Links:
Answers.com: excoriate
Wikipedia: Alfred Nobel

hiatus

2007-12-03T22:54:00.000-08:00

noun - interruption, break, pause, gap.

Example:
This blog is currently on hiatus because I am sick; I hope to resume posting in a few days.*

Link:
Answers.com: hiatus

*In the meantime, try my other blog, Diary of a POD Person.

morass

2007-12-02T11:54:00.001-08:00

noun - a low-lying wet area, bog, marsh, quagmire; something overwhelmingly complicated or difficult.

Example:
Most companies in the industry found it was not worth the effort to work through the morass of regulations required in order to operate; they chose to move offshore instead.

Link:
Answers.com: morass

abattoir

2007-12-01T23:36:00.000-08:00

noun - a place where animals are killed for food; a slaughterhouse.

Example:
"I wonder how many people, reading that ordinary sentence about 'the cabinet' and 'the Parliament,' as reported also in independent Iraqi media, have any idea what it means when compared with the insane proceedings of the totalitarian abattoir state that was Iraq until 2003." Christopher Hitchens, 'Good news from Iraq', Slate, Nov. 18, 2007.

Link:
Answers.com: abattoir

massif

2007-11-30T14:26:00.001-08:00

noun - 1. the dominant, central mass of a mountain ridge. 2. a section of the earth's crust that is bounded by faults or flexures.

Example:
"This mighty massif, which tops 4,000 metres, drops away on its northern side in one of the most breathtaking scenes the Alps have to offer." - Sean Newsom, '10 guaranteed snow resorts', The Sunday Times, Nov. 18, 2007.

Links:
Answers.com: massif
Wikipedia: massif

Geologists Really Know Their Schist
Fun t-shirts, mugs, and bumper stickers for your favorite rock hound.

coruscation

2007-11-29T11:14:00.000-08:00

noun - 1. a flash of light; sparkle; scintillation. 2. a display of wit, intellectual brilliance, or virtuosity.

Example:
"For any demonstration that can be given to the contrary effect, the 'collection of perceptions' which makes up our consciousness may be an orderly phantasmagoria generated by the Ego, unfolding its successive scenes on the background of the abyss of nothingness; as a firework, which is but cunningly arranged combustibles, grows from a spark into a coruscation, and from a coruscation into figures, and words, and cascades of devouring fire, and then vanishes into the darkness of the night." - Thomas Huxley, Hume (English Men of Letters Series), 1879.

Links:
Answers.com: coruscation
Wikipedia: Thomas Henry Huxley
Wikipedia: David Hume

colophon

2007-11-28T23:57:00.000-08:00

noun - 1. production information placed typically on the imprint page or at the end of a book. 2. a final paragraph in some manuscripts and many early printed books, giving particulars as to authorship, date and place of production.

Example:
The colophon indicated that the manuscript was completed in 1338.

Links:
Wikipedia: colophon (publishing)
LovetoKnow 1911: colophon
Rhodes University Library: example of modern title and imprint pages.

Bibliophilia:
T-shirts and more for medievalists, special collections librarians, bibliophiles and cataloguers.

gallinipper

2007-11-27T07:31:00.000-08:00

noun - any insect that can inflict a painful bite or sting; a large, biting mosquito.

Example:
One true gallinipper is the bullet ant, so named because its sting is often compared to the pain of a gunshot wound.

Links:
Answers.com: gallinipper
Wikipedia: Paraponera

What Entomologists Really Know...

lugubrious

2007-11-26T18:17:00.000-08:00

adj. - excessively mournful, dismal or sad.

Example:
The cashier was a lugubrious teen with short black fingernails and a silver nose ring.

Link:
Answers.com: lugubrious

schist

2007-11-25T23:17:00.000-08:00

noun - a type of metamorphic rock that has a layered structure.

Example:
The students saw plenty of schist on their field trip to the Alps.

Links:
Answers.com: schist
Wikipedia: schist
RTPgifts.com: Geologists Really Know...

cerumen

2007-11-24T17:45:00.000-08:00

noun - earwax.

Example:
Don't eat cerumen; it tastes yucky.

Link:
Answers.com:cerumen
RTPgifts.com: Don't Eat Earwax... t-shirts and more!

Blog Note: Due to the Thanksgiving holidays, today's word is from the archives.

gobsmacked

2007-11-23T23:53:00.000-08:00

adj. - British slang term meaning amazed, astonished, dumbfounded, surprised.

Example:
The new doctor was gobsmacked by the hospital staff's general lack of concern for the patients' well-being.

Links:
UrbanDictionary.com:gobsmacked
RTPgifts.com: gobsmacked t-shirts and more

note
Related term - 'gobstruck', as used in the animated film Barbie in the Nutcracker by Major Mint.

Blog Note: Due to the Thanksgiving holidays, today's word is from the archives.

coprolite

2007-11-22T17:14:00.000-08:00

noun - fossilized dung.

Example:
Because of the coprolite's enormous size, the paleontologist concluded that it must have been produced by a member of one of the larger dinosaur species.

Links:
Wikipedia:coprolite
RTPgifts.com: Paleontologists Really Know...

Blog Note: Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, today's word is from the archives.

murine

2007-11-21T17:26:00.000-08:00

adj. - 1. of, or relating to, rats or mice (sensu strictu, the family Muridae). 2. (of a disease) transmitted by, or affecting, rats or mice.

Example:
"Examination also showed that the human neurons had moved into other areas of the murine brains and made up more than 1% of the neurons in some regions." - Henry T. Greely, Mildred K. Cho, Linda F. Hogle, Debra M. Satz, "Thinking About the Human Neuron Mouse", The American Journal of Bioethics(2007) 7(5):27.

Links:
Answers.com: murine
Slate.com: "Animal Farm: the Recombination of Man and Beast" by William Saletan

assuage

2007-11-20T07:34:00.000-08:00

verb - 1. to lessen (pain, fear, discomfort, etc.); mitigate. 2. to relieve hunger or thirst. 3. to calm.

Example:
"In the troubled pre-handover negotiations between the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China (PRC), Beijing was able to assuage London's concerns over preservation of Hong Kong's autonomy and freedom by putting forward a 'one country, two systems' model for unification with China." - Chen Shui-bian, "Beijing's 'one China'", The Washington Times, July 3, 2007.

Links:
Answers.com: assuage
Wikipedia: Taiwan

diatribe

2007-11-19T08:28:00.000-08:00

noun - pointed criticism or denunciation.

Example:
"Dawkins' explanation of religiosity in its various forms -- from the "cargo cults" among South Pacific islanders who attach divine significance to the content of cargo ships to evangelical Christians awaiting the Rapture -- is far more interesting than his diatribes." - Alexandra Alter, 'Delusion sees religion as no longer a necessity', Chicago Tribune, November 24, 2006.

Link:
Answers.com: diatribe

specious

2007-11-18T13:37:00.001-08:00

adj. - misleading or erroneous, while having the appearance of truth or plausibility; usually used to describe an argument or statement.

Example:
Many specious arguments rest on the assumption that people are inherently rational.

Link:
Answers.com: specious