Sunday, May 31, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

Halafian
adjective Archaeology relating to or denoting a prehistoric culture extending from Syria to the Mediterranean coast and eastern Turkey (late 6th and early 5th millennium bc). This culture is identified primarily by the use of polychrome pottery (Halaf ware).
• [as noun] (the Halafian) the Halafian culture or period.
origin 1930s: from the place name Tell Halaf (in NE Syria, where the pottery was first discovered) + -ian.

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Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
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Saturday, May 30, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

phosgene
noun [mass noun] Chemistry a colourless poisonous gas made by the reaction of chlorine and carbon dioxide. It was used as a poison gas, notably in the First World War.
Alternative name: carbonyl chloride; chem. formula: COCl2.
origin early 19th cent.: from Greek phos ‘light’ + -gen, with reference to its original production by the action of sunlight on chlorine and carbon monoxide.

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Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
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Friday, May 29, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

xebec
noun historical a small three-masted Mediterranean sailing ship with lateen and square sails.
origin mid 18th cent.: alteration (influenced by Spanish xabeque) of French chebec, via Italian from Arabic sabbak.

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Thursday, May 28, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

Oka
noun [mass noun] a variety of cured Canadian cheese, made by Trappist monks.
origin named after a town in southern Quebec, where the cheese is made.

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Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

craton
noun Geology a large stable block of the earth's crust forming the nucleus of a continent.
derivatives
cratonic adjective.
origin 1930s: alteration of kratogen in the same sense, from Greek kratos ‘strength’.

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Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

miniver
noun [mass noun] plain white fur used for lining or trimming clothes.
origin Middle English: from Old French menu vair ‘little vair’, from menu ‘little’ + vair ‘squirrel fur’ (see vair).

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Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
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Monday, May 25, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

stylolite
noun Geology an irregular surface or seam within a limestone or other sedimentary rock, characterized by irregular interlocking pegs and sockets around 1 cm in depth and a concentration of insoluble minerals.
a grooved peg forming part of such a seam.
origin mid 19th cent.: from Greek stulos ‘column’ + -lite.

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

moulvi
noun (pl. moulvis) (especially in the Indian subcontinent) a Muslim doctor of the law.
origin from Urdu maulvi, from Arabic mawlawi ‘judicial’ (adjective used as a noun), from mawla ‘mullah’.

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Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

nivation
noun [mass noun] Geography erosion of the ground beneath and at the sides of a snow bank, mainly as a result of alternate freezing and thawing.
origin early 20th cent.: from Latin nix, niv- ‘snow’ + -ation.

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Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
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Friday, May 22, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

Jomon
noun [usu. as modifier] Archaeology an early Mesolithic-type culture in Japan (c.10,000–300 bc), preceding the Yayoi period. It is characterized by pottery decorated with a distinctive cord pattern.
origin from Japanese jomon ‘cord pattern’.

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Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
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Thursday, May 21, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

halloumi
noun [mass noun] a mild, firm, white Cypriot cheese made from goats' or ewes' milk, used especially in cooked dishes.
origin from Egyptian Arabic halum, probably from Arabic haluma ‘to be mild’.

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Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

radiosonde
noun dated an instrument carried by balloon or other means to various levels of the atmosphere and transmitting measurements by radio.
origin 1930s: from radio- (relating to broadcasting) + German Sonde ‘probe’.

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Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

Sezession
noun (the Sezession) a radical movement involving groups of avant-garde German and Austrian artists who, from 1892, organized exhibitions independently of the traditional academies. The Vienna Secession founded by Gustav Klimt in 1897 helped to launch the Jugendstil.
origin German, literally ‘secession’.

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Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
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Monday, May 18, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

parallelepiped
noun Geometry a solid body of which each face is a parallelogram.
origin late 16th cent.: from Greek parallelepipedon, from parallelos ‘beside another’ + epipedon ‘plane surface’.

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Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
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Sunday, May 17, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

advertorial
noun a newspaper or magazine advertisement giving information about a product in the style of an editorial or objective journalistic article.
origin 1960s (originally US): blend of advertisement and editorial.

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Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
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Saturday, May 16, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

croning
noun (especially among feminists in the US and Australasia) a celebration or ceremony to honour older women.
origin 1990s: blend of crone + crowning from crown.

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Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
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Friday, May 15, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

caponier
noun a covered passage across a ditch round a fort.
origin late 17th cent.: from Spanish caponera, literally ‘capon enclosure’.

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Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
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Thursday, May 14, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

complacent
adjective showing smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one's achievements: you can't afford to be complacent about security.
derivatives
complacently adverb.
origin mid 17th cent. (in the sense ‘pleasant’): from Latin complacent- ‘pleasing’, from the verb complacere.
usage Complacent and complaisant are two words which are similar in pronunciation and which both come from the Latin verb complacere ‘to please’, but which in Eng! lish do not mean the same thing. Complacent is the commoner word and means ‘smug and self-satisfied’. Complaisant, on the other hand, means ‘willing to please’, as in the local people proved complaisant and cordial. Writers often use complaisant when they mean complacent: just under half of the citations for complaisant in the Oxford English Corpus exhibit this confusion.

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Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
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Wednesday, May 13, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

scungille
noun (pl. scungilli) a mollusc (especially with reference to its meat eaten as a delicacy).
origin from Italian dialect scunciglio, probably an alteration of Italian conchiglia ‘seashell’.

Pronunciation available online: www.askoxford.com

Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

misprision
noun Law, chiefly historical the deliberate concealment of one's knowledge of a treasonable act or a felony.
origin late Middle English: from Old French mesprision ‘error’, from mesprendre, from mes- ‘wrongly’ + prendre ‘to take’.

Pronunciation available online: www.askoxford.com

Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
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Monday, May 11, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

havan
noun Hinduism a ritual burning of offerings such as grains and ghee, which is held to mark births, marriages, and other special occasions.
origin Hindi.

Pronunciation available online: www.askoxford.com

Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
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Sunday, May 10, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

intinction
noun [mass noun] the action of dipping the bread in the wine at a Eucharist so that a communicant receives both together.
origin mid 16th cent.: from late Latin intinctio(n-), from Latin intingere, from in- ‘into’ + tingere ‘dip’. The word originally denoted the general action of dipping, especially into something coloured; compare with tinge. The current sense dates from the late 19th cent.

Pronunciation available online: www.askoxford.com

Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
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Saturday, May 9, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

torchon
noun [mass noun] coarse bobbin lace with geometrical designs.
origin mid 19th cent.: from French, literally ‘duster, dishcloth’, from torcher ‘to wipe’.

Pronunciation available online: www.askoxford.com

Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780198610571


Useful links from around OUP

Do you have a question about the English that you would like answered by language expert Susie Dent in her new book? Send in your question by March 15th and some lucky contributors will see their question answered in print.
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