Search Results for: in a word

In a Word

vatic
adj. relating to a prophet

futurition
n. future existence

natalitial
adj. of or relating to a person’s birth

aporetic
adj. inclined to raise objections

In 2000, three sisters from Inverness bought a £1 million insurance policy to cover the cost of bringing up the infant Jesus Christ if one of them had a virgin birth.

Simon Burgess, managing director of britishinsurance.com, told the BBC, “The people were concerned about having sufficient funds if they immaculately conceived. It was for caring and bringing up the Christ. We sometimes get weird requests and this is the weirdest we have had.”

The company withdrew the policy in 2006 after objections by the Catholic Church. “The burden of proof that it was Christ had rested with the women and any premium on the insurance was donated to charity, said Mr Burgess.”

| Language · Oddities · Religion

In a Word

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Gaddis_1975.jpg

scribacious
adj. fond of writing

moiler
n. a toiler; a drudge

demiss
adj. downcast; humble; abject

guerdon
n. a reward, recompense, or requital

By the end of the 1960s, William Gaddis had secured an advance and an NEA grant that allowed him to work full-time on the novel J R.

“Even then, however, Gaddis would be so in need of money that he would ghostwrite articles for a dentist in exchange for root canals. His son recalls one day happening to find his checkbook, and noting the balance, meticulously calculated, of twelve cents. This was at the time when Gaddis had just won the 1976 National Book Award.”

From Joseph Tabbi’s introduction to Gaddis’ “Treatment for a Motion Picture on ‘Software'” in The Rush for Second Place: Essays and Occasional Writings, 2002.

| Language · Literature · Society

In a Word

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:President_Franklin_D._Roosevelt_(left)_confers_with_Secretary_of_State_Cordell_Hull,_who_served_as_Secretary_from_1933_to_1944._(30629079207).jpg

renitence
n. unwillingness, resistance to persuasion

subdolous
adj. cunning, crafty, sly

autoschediasm
n. something done on the spur of the moment or without preparation

legerity
n. physical or mental quickness

FDR’s secretary of state, Cordell Hull, was famously unforthcoming, concealing his plans and emotions with the skill of a poker player.

When Hull was a legislator in Tennessee, one of his friends bet that he could get a direct answer out of him. He stopped him in the capitol and asked him the time.

Hull took out his timepiece, looked at it, and said, “What does your watch say?”

| History · Language

In a Word

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scheepvaart,_scheepsrampen,_SFA001013280.jpg

crastin
n. the day after, the morrow

festinate
adj. hurried

hammajang
adj. in a disorderly or chaotic state

disceptation
n. disputation, debate, discussion

What time did various incidents happen? Everyone agrees that the Titanic hit the iceberg at 11:40 p.m. and sank at 2:20 a.m. — but there’s disagreement on nearly everything that happened in between. … There was simply too much pressure. Mrs. Louis M. Ogden, passenger on the Carpathia, offers a good example. At one point, while helping some survivors get settled, she paused long enough to ask her husband the time. Mr. Ogden’s watch had stopped, but he guessed it was 4:30 p.m. Actually, it was only 9:30 in the morning. They were both so engrossed, they had lost all track of time.

— Walter Lord, A Night to Remember, 1955

| History · Language

In a Word

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hands_calligraphy.jpg
Image: Wikimedia Commons

chirurgic
adj. manual; relating to work done by the hand

armillary
adj. consisting of hoops or rings

operosity
n. laboriousness, painstaking endeavour; elaborateness

idoneous
adj. appropriate; fit; suitable; apt

From Hungarian typographer Peter Virágvölgyi, a beautiful instance of “meta-calligraphy.”

| Art · Language

In a Word

hippomaniacally
adv. in a manner reminiscent of a mad horse

frample
v. of a horse: to paw the ground

accoy
v. to quiet or soothe

tournure
n. graceful manner or bearing

In an 1884 letter, Augustus Hare noted that the Bishop of Lichfield drove horses named Pride and Prejudice. “He says people may consider it a terrible thing for a bishop to be drawn hither and thither by these passions, but then it is assuredly a fine thing to have them well under control.”

| Language · Literature

In a Word

condisciple
n. a fellow student

precariat
n. people whose living standards are insecure

scripturiency
n. passion for writing

refocillation
n. imparting of new vigor

This brass plate is displayed at the corner of Drummond Street and South Bridge, near Rutherford’s Bar, in Edinburgh:

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1517098
Image: kim traynor

(Thanks, Nick.)

| Language · Literature

In a Word

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cube_teapot.jpg
Image: Wikimedia Commons

heuretic
adj. of or relating to discovery or invention

Sea travel is not kind to teapots, which tend to drip when pouring, tip over on tables, and chip in storage. Entrepreneur Robert Crawford Johnson solved all these problems by designing a pot in the shape of a cube, with the spout tucked into a corner. His invention, patented in 1917, was quickly adopted by Cunard, and it was still in use on the Queen Elizabeth 2 as late as 1968.

| Technology

In a Word

nimiety
n. superfluity

brachylogy
n. a condensed expression

scrimption
n. a very small amount or degree

perficient
adj. that accomplishes something; effectual

Leonard Bernstein conducts the Vienna Philharmonic without using his hands, 1984:

| Art · Language