Wednesday word: dissemble

[trellia-chan.livejournal.com]

dissemble: [dih-sem-buh l]

Verb: (Used with object)

1. To conceal the truth of. "She dissembled her ability to sing to avoid being put on the spot."

2. To feign or put on the appearance of. "The child dissembled innocence in order to avoiid punishment."

3. (Now obsolete) To allow to pass unoticed. To ignore.

Verb: (Used without object)

1. To conceal one's true thoughts or motives through pretense, or by behaving or speaking hypocritically


Etymology: First known use 1450-1500.  Middle English dissimulen from Latin dissimulāre.

Thursday word: colubrine

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

colubrine (KOL-uh-brin) - adj., of or resembling a snake.


Snakelike! Sometimes, specifically, of or related to the snake subfamily Colubrinae, which includes king snakes and rat snakes, or even just the genus Coluber. Sometimes, more generally and metaphorically, meaning cunning or crafty -- though this is a literary and almost obsolete sense, and is odd given most of the colubrine snakes are entirely harmless, unless you happen to stumble upon a cobra. Adopted around 1520 from Latin colubrīnus, from coluber, snake + an adjectival ending.

It is immune to viper poison but it is not immune to colubrine poison.

---L.