Dictionary Highlights: Day 17

avoirdrupois - Informal. bodily weight: He carries around a lot of excess avoirdupois.

I wonder why this word isn't in common usage

avunulate - a close social relationship between a maternal uncle and his nephew.

axilla -

1.	Anatomy. the armpit.

2.	Ornithology. the corresponding region under the wing of a bird.

3.	Botany. an axil

As in "the axilla fart"

axion - a hypothetical particle having no charge, zero spin, and small mass: postulated in some forms of quantum chromodynamics.

azan - (in Islamic countries) the call to prayer proclaimed five times a day by the muezzin

azimuthal quantum number - the quantum number that designates the orbital angular momentum of a particular quantum state of an electron in an atom and that assumes integral values from zero to one less than the value of the principal quantum number.

Sometimes you need more than a definition in order to understand a word

Azrael - (in Jewish and Islamic angelology) the angel who separates the soul from the body at the moment of death.

Played by Chris Katan

ba - in Egyptian religion, an aspect of the soul, represented as a human-headed bird.

Baal Shem Tov - (Israel ben Eliezer; “Besht”), c1700–60, Ukrainian teacher and religious leader: founder of the Hasidic movement of Judaism.

A group so old-fashioned, that even the ultra-Orthodox black hatters make fun of how they dress

babu -

1.	a Hindu title of address equivalent to Sir, Mr., or Esquire.

2.	a Hindu gentleman.

3.	a native Indian clerk who writes English.

4.	Usually Disparaging. any native Indian having only a limited knowledge of English.

bach - "bach it", (as in bachelor) to live alone or share living quarters with someone of the same sex, usually doing one's own housework, cooking, laundry, etc.

Dictionary Highlights: Day 16

Auge - a daughter of King Aleus who became a priestess of Athena. After being raped by Hercules she bore a son, Telephus.

I didn't realize Hercules could be such an unsavory character. I mean, he's played by Kevin Sorbo!

aught - anything whatever; any part: for aught I know

Not to be confused with ought

Aunt Jemima - Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. a black woman considered by other blacks to be subservient to or to curry favor with whites.


Not as offensive as Aunt Jo'Moma

aurify -

1.	to cause to appear golden; gild: Dawn came, and sunlight aurified the lead-gray ocean.

2.	to transmute into gold.

Another word we should all add to our daily vocabulary

austral - Of, relating to, or coming from the south.

Now we know how they named Australia

autarchy -

1.	absolute sovereignty.

2.	an autocratic government.

3.

autarky.

autarky -

1.	the condition of self-sufficiency, esp. economic, as applied to a nation.

2.	a national policy of economic independence.

Two words that sound the same, have completely different definitions, yet the first can also mean the second. The English language is confusing!

autodidact - a person who has learned a subject without the benefit of a teacher or formal education; a self-taught person.

Autolycus - Classical Mythology. a thief, the son of Hermes and Chione, and the grandfather of Odysseus. He possessed the power of changing the shape of whatever he stole and of making it and himself invisible.

aver -

1.	to assert or affirm with confidence; declare in a positive or peremptory manner.

2.	Law. to allege as a fact.

Dictionary Highlights: Day 15

astringer - a person who trains and flies short-winged hawks, as the goshawk.

astrobiology - (not in technical use) exobiology.

Really, really presumptuous to assume that we will ever encounter extraterrestrial life. The probability of any given planet being able to support any sort of life is around 10^280. Cosmologists estimate that there are 10^90 atoms in the observable universe. In addition to that is the travel problem. All planets within a 157 light year radius of us have been shown uninhabitable. No space vessel, no matter how heavily armored, will be able to accelerate to more than 10% of the speed of light without being destroyed by space dust, and wormholes are too narrow to allow anything larger than an electron to pass through them.

asymptotic freedom - a property of the force between quarks, according to quantum chromodynamics, such that they behave almost like free particles when they are close together within a hadron.

ataraxia - a state of freedom from emotional disturbance and anxiety; tranquillity.

athirst -

1.	having a keen desire; eager (often fol. by for): She has long been athirst for European travel.

2.	Archaic for thirsty

Atlantis - a legendary island, first mentioned by Plato, said to have existed in the Atlantic Ocean west of Gibraltar and to have sunk beneath the sea, but linked by some modern archaeologists with the island of Thera, the surviving remnant of a much larger island destroyed by a volcanic eruption c1500 b.c.

Never knew modern archaeology investigated this

Attic - of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Greece or of Athens.

I wonder if the ancient Greeks had attics.

audion - an early type of triode.

Dictionary Highlights: Day 14

Aruru - the Akkadian goddess personifying earth, who assisted Marduk in the creation of human beings: the counterpart of the Sumerian Ki.

Asarah Betevet - a Jewish fast day observed on the 10th day of the month of Tevet in memory of the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem in 586 b.c. by the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar.

Asat - (in Vedic mythology) the realm of nonexistence, populated by demons.

How is there a realm of nonexistance?

ascender -

1.	a person or thing that ascends or causes ascension.

2.	Printing. a. the part of a lowercase letter, as b, d, f, h, that rises above x-height. b. a letter rising above x-height, as b, d, f, h, etc.

Aschheim-Zondek test - a test used to detect whether a woman is pregnant by noting the effect on the ovaries of an immature mouse or rabbit injected with her urine.

Did a frat house come up with this test?

ashcake - cornbread baked in hot ashes.

Two more words I didn't expect to see together

Assidean - a member of a sect, characterized by its religious zeal and piety, that flourished in the 2nd century b.c. during the time of the Maccabees and vigorously resisted the Hellenization of Jewish culture and religion.

Dictionary Highlights: Day 13

argy bargy - (British) a vigorous discussion or dispute.

I wonder if this word can be used as an adjective as well

aria -

1.	an air or melody.

2.	an elaborate melody sung solo with accompaniment, as in an opera or oratorio.

aria de mezzo carattere

Arkansas toothpick - a bowie knife or similar sharp knifelike implement.

I'm going to ask for an Arkansas toothpick the next time I visit a restaurant

armamentarium -

1.	the aggregate of equipment, methods, and techniques available to one for carrying out one's duties: The stethoscope is still an essential part of the physician's armamentarium.

2.	a fruitful source of devices or materials available or used for an undertaking: The new arts center is an armamentarium for creative activity.

Armenian - a native of Armenia.

Arminian - Of or relating to the theology of Jacobus Arminius and his followers, who rejected the Calvinist doctrines of predestination and election and who believed that human free will is compatible with God's sovereignty.

Let's not confuse the two

arrack - any of various spirituous liquors distilled in the East Indies and other parts of the East and Middle East from the fermented sap of toddy palms, or from fermented molasses, rice, or other materials.

arrah - (Irish interjection, used as an expression of surprise or excitement.)

arrogance of power - presumption on the part of a nation that its power gives it the right to intervene in the affairs of less powerful nations.

Umm...let's just move on to the next word

Articles of War - the body of laws and legal procedures of the U.S. Army and Air Force, replaced in 1951 by the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Euphemizing in full swing

art rock - a type of rock music, often with poetic lyrics, characterized by sophisticated harmonic, dynamic, and technical complexity based on forms derived from classical music and requiring performers of considerable training and skill.

Two more words I never thought I would see together

Dictionary Highlights: Day 12

aqueous humor - the limpid watery fluid that fills the space between the cornea and the crystalline lens in the eye.

I thought Spongebob Squarepants would fit this term well.

Aragon -
1. Louis, French novelist, poet, and journalist
2. a region in NE Spain: formerly a kingdom; later a province.

It may not have been a ripoff of the name of Aragorn after all

arba kanfoth - a rectangular piece of cloth with fringes at the four corners and a hole in the center for the head, worn under the clothes by Orthodox Jewish males, also called tallith katan.

Arba kanfoth means four corners

Arcadia -

1.	a mountainous region of ancient Greece, traditionally known for the contented pastoral innocence of its people.

2.	any real or imaginary place offering peace and simplicity.

3.	a city in SW California, E of Los Angeles. 45,994.

I wonder if we'll find Rozarria in the dictionary as well

archon - a higher magistrate in ancient Athens.

For Aiur...

Arcturus - a first-magnitude star in the constellation Boötes.

And its planet, Korhal.

argal - therefore: used facetiously to indicate that the reasoning that had gone before or the conclusion that follows is specious or absurd.

No one knows what this word means. Argal, it won't work to well in mocking someone.

argentine - pertaining to or resembling silver.

So that's how Argentina got its name

Dictionary Highlights: Day 11

anyon - an elementary particle or particle-like excitation having properties intermediate between those of bosons and fermions.

And I thought it was a catch-all phrase referring to any particle ending with -on

aperitive - an appetite stimulant.

APC - Pharmacology. aspirin, phenacetin, and caffeine: a compound formerly used in headache and cold remedies.

The all-purpose cure, as is its secondary definition.

apophasis - denial of one's intention to speak of a subject that is at the same time named or insinuated, as “I shall not mention Caesar's avarice, nor his cunning, nor his morality.”

I won't mention how much it annoys me when people use this

apiary - a place in which a colony or colonies of bees are kept, as a stand or shed for beehives or a bee house containing a number of beehives.

appel - In fencing,
1. a tap or stamp of the foot, formerly serving as a warning of one's intent to attack, but now also used as a feint.
2. a sharp stroke with the blade used for the purpose of procuring an opening.

apple bee - a social gathering at which apples are prepared for drying.

I wish the restaurant chain would take notice and fulfill its namesake!

apples - in Australian slang, well or fine; under control.

An expression we all should use more often