Word Of The Day

phthisis (THAHY-sis), noun:
1. A wasting away.
2. Pulmonary tuberculosis; consumption.

At last Sister Hyacinthe began to speak of the immediate and complete cures of phthisis, and this was the triumph, the healing of that terrible disease which ravages humanity…
-- Robert Hugh Benson, Lourdes

Apoplexy is no longer to be feared, but phthisis is there. Social phthisis is called misery.
-- Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

Phthisis comes from the Greek root phthí which meant "to decay."

Fallaciloquence n.
- deceitful speech

Your fallaciloquence, though charming, will not convince the jury to acquit.

pre·sump·tu·ous
adj
\pri-ˈzəm(p)-chə-wəs, -chəs, -shəs\
Definition of PRESUMPTUOUS
: overstepping due bounds (as of propriety or courtesy) : taking liberties
— pre·sump·tu·ous·ly adverb
— pre·sump·tu·ous·ness noun

Examples of PRESUMPTUOUS

<it's a little presumptuous of you to assume that I'm your new best friend just because I invited you along>

my brother-in law is a presumptuous man.

Fallow  

fal·low [fal-oh]
adjective
1.(of land) plowed and left unseeded for a season or more; uncultivated.
2.not in use; inactive: My creative energies have lain fallow this year.
noun
3.land that has undergone plowing and harrowing and has been left unseeded for one or more growing seasons.
4.to make (land) fallow for agricultural purposes.

Origin:
1275–1325; Middle English falwe; compare Old English fealga, plural of *fealh, as gloss of Medieval Latin occas harrows

lodestar (LOHD-stahr), noun:
1. Something that serves as a guide or on which the attention is fixed.
2. A star that shows the way.
3. Polaris.

Hilola Bigtree was the lodestar that pulled our visored, sweaty visitors across the water.
-- Karen Russell, Swamplandia

It boasts a transportation system second to none amongst the great cities of the world, and it is, most significantly, the lodestar of Japanese culture in modern times.
-- Lawrence William Rogers, Tokyo Stories

Lodestar comes from the Old English word lode which meant "way, course." The word has been used in navigation since the 1400s.

Aretaloger, n.

braggart; one who boasts about his own accomplishments.

- While he seemed nice at first, he turned out to be a loudmouthed aretaloger.

Stupid... undefined...
Music artist, refined...

velleity (vuh-LEE-i-tee), noun:
1. Volition in its weakest form.
2. A mere wish, unaccompanied by an effort to obtain it.

Fortunately it did no more than stress, the better to mock if you like, an innate velleity.
-- Samuel Beckett, Molloy

My guess is that instead of being men of decision we are in reality men of velleity.
-- Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander


Have you come across the word velleity? A nice Thomistic ring to it. Volition at its lowest ebb. A small thing, a wish, a tendency. If you're low-willed, you see, you end up living in the shallowest turns and bends of your own preoccupations.
-- Don DeLillo, Underworld

Velleity stems from the Latin word velle which meant "to be willing." The suffix -ity is used for abstract nouns.

Sevidical, adj.

speaking cruel and harsh words; threatening.

- I will not tolerate your sevidical tone and manner, you filthy peasant!

Symbiosis  
sym·bi·o·sis   [sim-bee-oh-sis, -bahy-]
noun, plural sym·bi·o·ses  [-seez]
1.Biology .
a.the living together of two dissimilar organisms, as in mutualism, commensalism, amensalism, or parasitism.
b.(formerly) mutualism ( def. 1 ) .
2.Psychiatry . a relationship between two people in which each person is dependent upon and receives reinforcement, whether beneficial or detrimental, from the other.
3.Psychoanalysis . the relationship between an infant and its mother in which the infant is dependent on the mother both physically and emotionally.
4.any interdependent or mutually beneficial relationship between two persons, groups, etc.

Origin:
1615–25; < Greek symbíōsis, equivalent to sym- sym- + biō (variant stem of bioûn to live) + -sis -sis

Related forms
sym·bi·ot·ic  [sim-bee-ot-ik, -bahy-] sym·bi·ot·i·cal, adjective

proscenium

pro·sce·ni·um (pr-sn-m, pr-)
n. pl. pro·sce·ni·ums or pro·sce·ni·a (-n-)
1. The area of a modern theater that is located between the curtain and the orchestra.
2. The stage of an ancient theater, located between the background and the orchestra.
3. A proscenium arch.
[Latin proscnium, from Greek prosknion : pro-, before; see pro-2 + skn, buildings at the back of the stage.]

vigorish (VIG-er-ish), noun:
1. Interest paid to a moneylender, especially a usurer.
2. A charge paid on a bet, as to a bookie.

But a washed and polished white bread car driven by a single white man in this neighborhood could mean a cop, or worse yet, a Wise Guy hit man looking for somebody who was behind in their vigorish.
-- Alan Souter, Enclave

We are speaking in a range of one thousand dollars a week vigorish.
-- Don DeLillo, Libra

Vigorish is an Americanism that arose in the 1910s. It is most likely an adaptation of the Yiddish slang výigrysh from the Russian word meaning "profit."

ramose (REY-mohs), adjective:
1. Having many branches.
2. Branching.

The exquisite naivete with which, in this passage, the Greek and Anglican Churches are represented as springing into vigorous ramose existence at the precise moment of abscission was too much even for my Protestant simplicity.
-- James Kent Stone, The Invitation Heeded

The ramose or branched root is more frequent than any other.
-- James Lawson Drummond, First Steps to Botany

Ramose is derived from the Latin word rāmōsus which meant "full of boughs."

vilipend, verb

1 :to hold or treat as of little worth or account

2 :to express a low opinion of : disparage


... haven't yet worked that into a conversation, but a word with which I was unfamiliar.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones / But names will never hurt me"

- Ossifragant, adj.

Bone-breaking.

The ossifragant wrestler earned a reputation for brutality, so no one would fight him.

Prosopography

pros·o·pog·ra·phy noun \ˌprä-sə-ˈpä-grə-fē\

Definition of PROSOPOGRAPHY

: a study that identifies and relates a group of persons or characters within a particular historical or literary context
— pros·o·po·graph·i·cal adjective


New Latin prosopographia, from Greek prosōpon person + -graphia -graphy
First Known Use: 1929

piceous (PIS-ee-uhs), adjective:
1. Inflammable; combustible.
2. Of, pertaining to, or resembling pitch.
3. Zoology. Black or nearly black as pitch.

In the silent and piceous hour just before dawn, they advanced at a slow trot, fanning out through the slave quarters and into the yard that divided the gin house, the mill, and the buildings where Canning and I slept unaware.
-- Geraldine Brooks, March

Dark pink for the brick buildings, dark green for the doorjambs and the benches, dark iron for the hinges, dark stone for Nathaniel's Tomb; darkness in the piceous roots of trees that broke through the earth like bones through skin.
-- Roger Rosenblatt, Beet

Piceous stems from the Latin word piceus meaning "made of pitch."

Cerebral
ce·re·bral adj \sə-ˈrē-brəl, ˈser-ə-, ˈse-rə-\

Definition of CEREBRAL

1
a : of or relating to the brain or the intellect
b : of, relating to, affecting, or being the cerebrum
2
a : appealing to intellectual appreciation <cerebral drama>
b : primarily intellectual in nature <a cerebral society>
— ce·re·bral·ly adverb

He's a very cerebral comedian.
<a very cerebral jurist who has given much thought to what makes our nation's constitution work>

Origin of CEREBRAL
French cérébral, from Latin cerebrum brain; akin to Old High German hirni brain, Greek kara head, keras horn, Sanskrit śiras head — more at horn
First Known Use: 1816

Hocus Pocus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hocus_Pocus_(magic)

Tartuffery (tahr-TOOF-uh-ree), noun:
Behavior or character of a Tartuffe, especially hypocritical piety.

When Terry had finished showing his contempt and had left the office in disgust at the head's Tartuffery, Jan had calmly got up from her seat and looked hard at the shell-shocked, speechless woman before addressing her.
-- Derryl Flynn, The Albion

Not the sophistry, the malevolence, the restless apathy of the masses, the arrogance and insensitivity of the ruling class, the vulgarity, the bigotry, the intemperance, the maniacal piety and the ungodly Tartuffery.
-- W.E. Gutman, Nocturnes

Tartuffery comes from the comedy by French playwright Molière. The central character of the eponymous play Tartuffe was a hypocritical pretender.