Example sentence:
"He had sat smoking cigarettes to keep himself quiet while,
caged and leonine, his fellow traveller paced and turned before
him." (Henry James, _The Ambassadors_)
Did you know?
"Leonine" derives from Latin "leo," meaning "lion," which
in turn comes from Greek "leon." "Leon" gave us an interesting
range of words: "leopard" (which is "leon" combined
with "pardos," a Greek word for a panther-like
animal); "dandelion" (which came by way of the Anglo-French
phrase "dent de lion" -- literally, "lion's tooth");
and "chameleon" (which uses the combining form from Greek that
means "close to the ground"); as well as the names "Leon"
and "Leonard." But the dancer's and gymnast's leotard is not
named for its wearer's cat-like movements. Rather, it was simply
named after its inventor, Jules Leotard, a 19th-century French
aerial gymnast.
waitron \WAY-trahn\ noun
: a person who waits tables (as in a restaurant) :
waitperson
Example sentence:
"You waitrons better start picking up these orders before
they get cold!" yelled the head chef across the busy restaurant
kitchen.
Did you know?
Gender-neutral language has become an increasingly common
phenomenon in English over the past several decades. Nowadays,
it seems natural to hear conversations laced with terms
like "mail carrier," "firefighter," "police officer,"
and "waitron." It's easy to see how the first three terms came
about, but the origin of "waitron," which first appeared in
print in 1980, is less straightforward. "Waitron" is probably a
blend of "waiter/waitress" and "-tron," a suffix that seems to
allude to the machinelike impersonality of waiting tables.
Despite this hint of disparagement, "waitron" quickly gained
popularity. Its gender-neutrality makes it a convenient
substitute for "waiter" or "waitress."
chasten \CHAY-sun\ verb
1 : to correct by punishment or suffering : discipline
*2 : to cause to be more humble or restrained : subdue
Example sentence:
The humiliation of having to ask his parents for help
chastened Jim, but made him wiser about spending his money.
Did you know?
If you say you would _castigate_ or _chastise_ someone in
order to _chasten_ them, you demonstrate a good knowledge of the
origin of "chasten" -- all three verbs derive from the Latin
verb "castigare," meaning "to punish." The verb trio share an
initial sense of "to subject to severe and often physical
punishment," but all three are now as likely to refer to a
verbal dressing-down as a physical lesson. "Chasten" (which
arrived in English via the Anglo-French "chastier") can also be
used to mean "to prune (as a work of art) of excess, pretense,
or falsity." This led to the more general sense of "to make more
subdued," although the humility can be imposed by a humiliating
situation as easily as by a strict taskmaster.
rutilant \ROO-tuh-lunt\ adjective
: having a reddish glow
Example sentence:
Embarrassed by the surprise party we sprung on her, Joyce
held up her hands in an effort to hide her rutilant face.
Did you know?
"Rutilant," which first appeared in English late in the
15th century, is used in English today to describe anything with
a reddish or fiery glow, such as a sunset or flushed skin. It
derives from the Latin "rutilus," meaning "ruddy," which is
probably related to the Latin "ruber," meaning "red." "Ruber"
itself is a direct ancestor of our word "rubella" (a disease
named for the reddish color one's skin turns when afflicted with
the condition) and "rubric" (which, among other things, can
refer to a book or manuscript heading that is done or underlined
in red). "Ruber" is also a distant relative of several English
words for things that bear a reddish tone
(including "russet," "rust," and "ruby") and even of the
word "red" itself.
38- suffrage \SUH-frij\ noun
1 : a vote given in deciding a disputed question or in
electing a person to office
*2 : the right of voting : franchise; also : the exercise of
such right
Example sentence:
The ratification of the 19th Amendment on August 26, 1920,
ended a vigorous campaign for women's suffrage.
Did you know?
Why would a 17th-century writer warn people that a chapel
was only for "private or secret suffrages"? Because since the
14th century, "suffrage" has been used to mean "prayer"
(especially a prayer requesting divine help or intercession). So
how did "suffrage" come to mean "a vote" or "the right to vote"?
To answer that, we must look to the word's Latin
ancestor, "suffragium," which can be translated
as "vote," "support," or "prayer." That term produced
descendants in a number of languages, and English picked up its
senses of "suffrage" from two different places. We took
the "prayer" sense from a Middle French "suffragium" offspring
that emphasized the word's spiritual aspects, and we elected to
adopt the "voting" senses directly from the original Latin.
ostracize \AHSS-truh-syze\ verb
: to exclude from a group by common consent
Example sentence:
As a result of her penchant for gossip and lying, Jane has
been ostracized by her coworkers and now sits alone in the
company lunchroom.
Did you know?
In ancient Greece, prominent citizens whose power or
influence threatened the stability of the state could be exiled
by a practice called ostracism. Voters would elect to banish
another citizen by writing that citizen's name down on a
potsherd (a fragment of earthenware or tile). Those receiving
enough votes would then be subject to temporary exile from the
state (usually for ten years). The English verb "ostracize" can
mean "to exile by the ancient method of ostracism," but these
days it usually refers to the general exclusion of one person
from a group at the agreement of its members. "Ostracism"
and "ostracize" derive from the Greek "ostrakizein" ("to banish
by voting with potsherds"). Its ancestor, the Greek "ostrakon"
("shell, potsherd"), also helped to give us the word "oyster."
