Word of the Day for Monday, November 30, 2009

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couture \koo-TOOR\, noun:

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1. The business of designing, making, and selling highly fashionable, usually custom-made clothing for women.

2. Dressmakers and fashion designers considered as a group.

3. The high-fashion clothing created by designers.

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adjective:

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1. Created or produced by a fashion designer.

2. Being, having, or suggesting the style, quality, etc., of a fashion designer; very fashionable.

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The workwear couture of the masses and Mrs. B.O's couture of the elite, complete with her $500 soup-kitchen shoes, are definitely polar opposites!

--Spy Maker, JSA's Blog

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Couture is from French meaning sewing, from Old French cousture, from Vulgar Latin cōnsūtūra, from Latin cōnsuere, cōnsūt-, to sew together.

Word of the Day for Tuesday, November 24, 2009

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martinet \mar-t'n-ET\, noun:

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1. A strict disciplinarian.

2. One who lays stress on a rigid adherence to the details of forms and methods.

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Does the B.O. fancy himself as the Martinet-in-Chief of the American masses, telling them exactly how to run their lives because he and the rest of his politburo know better than they do?

--Spy Maker, JSA's Blog

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A martinet is so called after an officer of that name in the French army under Louis XIV.

Word of the Day for Monday, November 23, 2009

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benison \BEN-uh-suhn; -zuhn\, noun:

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Blessing; benediction.

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The B.O. will happily bestow his benison on any bill that advances his socialist-Marxist agenda!

--Spy Maker, JSA's Blog

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Benison comes from Old French beneison, from Latin benedictio, from benedicere, "to bless," from bene, "well" + dicere, "to say."

Word of the Day for Friday, November 20, 2009

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billingsgate \BIL-ingz-gayt; -git\, noun:
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Coarsely abusive, foul, or profane language.

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Upon learning that he was resoundingly and utterly defeated at the polls in 2012, the B.O. cut loose (to no one in particular as no one much cared what he said anymore) with a diatribe of billingsgate!

--Spy Maker, JSA's Blog

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Billingsgate is so called after Billingsgate, a former market in London celebrated for fish and foul language.

Word of the Day for Thursday, November 19, 2009

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obfuscate \OB-fuh-skayt\, transitive verb:

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1. To darken or render indistinct or dim.

2. To make obscure or difficult to understand or make sense of.

3. To confuse or bewilder.

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The B.O. and his politburo continue to obfuscate the real cost of the health care bill!

--Spy Maker, JSA's Blog

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Obfuscate comes from Late Latin obfuscatus, past participle of obfuscare, "to darken," from Latin ob- + fuscare, "to darken," from fuscus, "dark." The noun form is obfuscation.

Word of the Day for Wednesday, November 18, 2009

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exegesis \ek-suh-JEE-sis\, noun;

plural exegeses \-seez\:

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Exposition; explanation; especially, a critical explanation of a text.

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We will never get a coherent exegesis from the B.O. about any of his agendas!

--Spy Maker, JSA's Blog

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Exegesis comes from Greek, from exegeisthai, "to explain, to interpret," from ex-, "out of" + hegeisthai, "to lead, to guide." Thus an exegesis is, at root, "a leading or guiding out of" a complexity.

Word of the Day for Tuesday, November 17, 2009

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perseverate \per-SEV-uh-reyt\, intransitive verb:

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1. To involuntarily repeat a particular response, such as a word, phrase, or gesture, despite the absence or cessation of a stimulus, usually caused by brain injury or other organic disorder.

2. To repeat something insistently or redundantly.

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When the B.O. gets off of the teleprompter, he typically perseverates with "Uh, Uh, Uh"!

--Spy Maker, JSA's Blog

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Perseverate is a back formation of perseveration from Middle French perseveration from Old French and classical Latin persevertiōn-, singular of persevērātiō.

Word of the Day for Thursday, November 12, 2009

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asseverate \uh-SEV-uh-rayt\, transitive verb:

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To affirm or declare positively or earnestly.

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The B.O. asservates that he is going to make a decision on his Afghanistan strategy - someday!

--Spy Maker, JSA's Blog

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Asseverate comes from Latin asseverare, "to assert seriously or earnestly," from ad- + severus, "severe, serious."

Word of the Day for Wednesday, November 11, 2009

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forfend \for-FEND\, transitive verb;

also forefend:

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1. a. (Archaic) To prohibit; to forbid.

b. To ward off; to prevent; to avert.

2. To defend; to protect; to preserve.

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We must, as a nation, forfend the Constitution from those in the B.O.'s politburo that would have it summarily dismissed as an archaic and non-viable document!

--Spy Maker, JSA's Blogf

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Forfend is from Middle English forfenden, from for-, "for-" + fenden, "to ward off."

Word of the Day for Tuesday, November 10, 2009

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soporific \sop-uh-RIF-ik; soh-puh-\, adjective:

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1. Causing sleep; tending to cause sleep.

2. Of, relating to, or characterized by sleepiness or lethargy.

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noun:

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1. A medicine, drug, plant, or other agent that has the quality of inducing sleep; a narcotic.

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As the B.O. droned on with his incessant chants of "Yes We Can" and "Change You Can Believe In", the press became soporific and ultimately ceased being actual reporters and instead became the zombie actors in the remake of "Night of the Living Dead"!

--Spy Maker, JSA's Blog

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Soporific is from French soporifique, from Latin sopor, "a heavy sleep" + -ficus, "-fic," from facere, "to make."

Word of the Day for Monday, November 9, 2009

fungible \FUHN-juh-buhl\, adjective:

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1. (Law) Freely exchangeable for or replaceable by another of like nature or kind in the satisfaction of an obligation.

2. Interchangeable.

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noun:

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1. Something that is exchangeable or substitutable. Usually used in the plural.

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The B.O. seems to think that the U.S. Constitution is a fungible document that should easily be exchanged with his own socialist-Marxist agenda!

--Spy Maker, JSA's Blog

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Fungible comes from Medieval Latin fungibilis, from Latin fungi (vice), "to perform (in place of)."

Word of the Day for Thursday, November 5, 2009

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maunder \MON-duhr\, intransitive verb:

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1. To talk incoherently; to speak in a rambling manner.

2. To wander aimlessly or confusedly.

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The B.O. tends to maunder when he gets off the teleprompter!

--Spy Maker, JSA's Blog

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Maunder is perhaps a dialectal variant of meander (possibly influenced by wander).

Word of the Day for Wednesday, November 4, 2009

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skulduggery \skul-DUG-uh-ree\, noun;

also skullduggery:

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Devious, dishonest, or unscrupulous behavior or activity; also: an instance thereof.

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The B.O. and his politburo paid a price at the election polls yesterday for their skulduggery in trying to ram their socialist-Marxist agenda through Congress and down Americans' throats!

--Spy Maker, JSA's Blog

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The origin of skulduggery is unknown.

Word of the Day for Tuesday, November 3, 2009

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sommelier \suhm-uhl-YEY; Fr. saw-muh-LYEY\, noun:

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A waiter, as in a club or restaurant, who is in charge of wines.

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After a recent stay at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., I came away with the sad conclusion that the sommelier of that fine establishment is eminently more qualified to run this country than the B.O.!

--Spy Maker, JSA's Blog

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Sommelier derives from French, from Old French, "officer in charge of provisions, pack-animal driver," alteration of sommerier, from sommier," beast of burden," from Vulgar Latin saumārius.

Word of the Day for Monday, November 2, 2009
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truculent \TRUCK-yuh-luhnt\, adjective:
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1. Fierce; savage; ferocious; barbarous.
2. Cruel; destructive; ruthless.
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The B.O., his politburo, and his minions are as truculent a group of politicians as Washington has ever seen!
--Spy Maker, JSA's Blog
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Truculent derives from Latin truculentus, from trux, truc-, rough, savage, fierce.

Word of the Day for Friday, October 30, 2009

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tenebrous \TEN-uh-bruhs\, adjective:

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Dark; gloomy.

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The tenebrous underside of the B.O.'s health care scheme is that there will, indeed, be rationing administered by "death panels"!

--Spy Maker, JSA's Blog

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Tenebrous derives from Latin tenebrosus, from tenebrae, "darkness."