simplyn2deep: (Ocean's 11::Turk Malloy::laugh)
[personal profile] simplyn2deep
Tuesday, Mar. 29, 2022

Retire (verb, noun)
re·tire [ri-tahyuhr]


verb (used without object)
1. to withdraw, or go away or apart, to a place of privacy, shelter, or seclusion: He retired to his study.
2. to go to bed: He retired at midnight.
3. to withdraw from office, business, or active life, usually because of age: to retire at the age of sixty.
4. to fall back or retreat in an orderly fashion and according to plan, as from battle, an untenable position, danger, etc.
5. to withdraw or remove oneself: After announcing the guests, the butler retired.

verb (used with object)
6. to withdraw from circulation by taking up and paying, as bonds, bills, etc.; redeem.
7. to withdraw or lead back (troops, ships, etc.), as from battle or danger; retreat.
8. to remove from active service or the usual field of activity, as an army officer or business executive.
9. to withdraw (a machine, ship, etc.) permanently from its normal service, usually for scrapping; take out of use.
10. Sports. to put out (a batter, side, etc.).

noun Literary.
11. a place of withdrawal; retreat: a cool retire from summer's heat.
12. retirement or withdrawal, as from worldly matters or the company of others.

OTHER WORDS FROM RETIRE
re·tir·er, noun

WORDS RELATED TO RETIRE
depart, go, pull out, relinquish, remove, retreat, separate, surrender, withdraw, decamp, ebb, exit, part, recede, regress, repeal, rescind, resign, revoke, rusticate

See synonyms for: retire / retired / retiring on Thesaurus.com
OTHER WORDS FOR RETIRE

5. leave, withdraw.

SYNONYM STUDY FOR RETIRE
5. See depart.

Origin: 1525–35; < Middle French retirer to withdraw, equivalent to re- re- + tirer to draw

HOW TO USE RETIRE IN A SENTENCE
Expect the couple to find another mansion in a safe Democratic district where an aging representative is expected to retire.
THE RISE AND FALL OF CHRIS HUGHES AND SEAN ELDRIDGE, AMERICA’S WORST GAY POWER COUPLE|JAMES KIRCHICK|DECEMBER 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST

And when asked whether he worries about Studio Ghibli after he and Takahata retire, Miyazaki is frank.
ANIME KING HAYAO MIYAZAKI’S CURSED DREAMS|MELISSA LEON|DECEMBER 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Age is one of many factors, but it will play a larger role in the conversation as Baby Boomers retire and longevity is extended.
JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG’S RISKY HEART SURGERY|DR. ANAND VEERAVAGU, MD|NOVEMBER 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST

As Raimondo tells it, most public sector workers in the state were able to retire at age 55 with 80 percent of their pay.
MEET GINA RAIMONDO, THE ONLY DEMOCRATIC STAR OF 2014|DAVID FREEDLANDER|NOVEMBER 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
[identity profile] simplyn2deep.livejournal.com
Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022

Nurture (verb, noun)
nur·ture [nur-cher]


verb (used with object)
1. to feed and protect: to nurture one's offspring.
2. to support and encourage, as during the period of training or development; foster: to nurture promising musicians.
3. to bring up; train; educate.

noun
4. rearing, upbringing, training, education, or the like.
5. development: the nurture of young artists.
6. something that nourishes; nourishment; food.

OTHER WORDS FROM NURTURE
nur·tur·a·ble, adjective
nur·ture·less, adjective
nur·tur·er, noun
un·nur·tured, adjective

WORDS RELATED TO NURTURE
breeding, care, diet, discipline, edibles, education, feed, food, instruction, nutriment, provender, provisions, rearing, subsistence, sustenance, training, upbringing, viands, victuals, back

See synonyms for: nurture / nurtured / nurturing on Thesaurus.com
SYNONYM STUDY FOR NURTURE
1, 3. See nurse.

Origin: First recorded in 1300–50; (noun) Middle English norture, from Middle French, variant of nourriture, from Late Latin nutritura “a nourishing,” equivalent to Latin nutrit(us) (past participle of nutrire “to feed”) + -ura noun suffix; see nourish, -ure; (verb) derivative of the noun

HOW TO USE NURTURE IN A SENTENCE
Part of what makes individuals unique are the combinations of genes and environmental influences that shape them — nature and nurture.
THE YEAR IN BIOLOGY|JOHN RENNIE|DECEMBER 23, 2020|QUANTA MAGAZINE

I suggest dropping these folks into an email nurture campaign so that they are being engaged in an automated way until their behavior indicates that they are ready to be contacted by sales.
SMX OVERTIME: ETERNAL TESTING, THE KEY TO FACEBOOK ADS SUCCESS|AMY BISHOP|DECEMBER 21, 2020|SEARCH ENGINE LAND

Leading athletes benefit from a complex, and interrelated, mixture of nature and nurture.
DISSECTING ATHLETIC GREATNESS: NATURE, NURTURE, LUCKY BREAKS AND A ‘QUIET EYE’|LIZ ROBBINS|DECEMBER 11, 2020|WASHINGTON POST

As for the second question on nature versus nurture, this study can’t answer it.
WHY ENDURANCE ATHLETES FEEL LESS PAIN|ALEX HUTCHINSON|OCTOBER 7, 2020|OUTSIDE ONLINE
[identity profile] calzephyr77.livejournal.com
Sleying - verb

Here's another artsy word from the world of weaving. I was reminded of it while re-reading some old LJ entries. Sleying is the term for pulling warp threads through the reed on a weaving loom during the dressing processing. Warp threads are the vertical threads on a loom while weft refers to the horizontal ones. Sleying means you are close to beginning to weave. Warp threads are hooked with a tool and pulled through holes on the reed. A reed is a long horizontal bar with many vertical bars across it, creating slots. It's a very onesie twosie process, as you can watch here:



[identity profile] calzephyr77.livejournal.com
Dissemble - verb

I learned about dissemble in the most technological way possible--I meant disassemble, but a fat finger made a typo without spell check catching it. Or maybe spell check was just trying to be automagically helpful!

Dissemble is an obsolete word first recorded in the Middle Ages. It means to feign truth or give false or misleading appearances or information. For example, a corrupt politician might dissemble their financial incompetence.
[identity profile] calzephyr77.livejournal.com
Ramracketting - verb

Ramracketting is a forgotten word for Christmas gambols, although it may mean to somersault in some places.

My source for this word, other than Internet trivia lists, is Joseph Wright’s English Dialect Dictionary, which you can access online.

May your holidays be ramracketting and fun!



[identity profile] sallymn.livejournal.com

bloviate [bloh-vee-eyt]

verb:
speak or write verbosely and windily

Examples:

Judging by its enthusiasm, the local baseball media, and anyone else paid to bloviate about sports, is urging the Mets to hire Buck Showalter. (Bob Raissman, Bob Raissman: Joe Judge isn't fooling anyone with delusional press conferences, New York Daily News, December 2021)

Politicians excel at it to the point where I think the first thing they teach you in first-time politician classes is how to bloviate for an hour without ever saying anything of substance. (Curtis Honeycutt, Grammar Guy: When you say nothing at all, The Berkshire Eagle, June 2021)

"The many characters at Pelican Roost sing and dance, revel and kvetch, celebrate and bloviate their way through Christmas and Hanukkah," they said. ('Assisted Living the Musical' sequel is selling out, Venice Gondolier, November 2021)

Origin:

1857, American English, a Midwestern word for 'to talk aimlessly and boastingly; to indulge in 'high falutin',' according to Farmer (1890), who seems to have been the only British lexicographer to notice it. He says it was based on blow (v.1) on the model of deviate, etc.

It seems to have been felt as outdated slang already by late 19c. ('It was a pleasure for him to hear the Doctor talk, or, as it was inelegantly expressed in the phrase of the period, 'bloviate' ....' ['Overland Monthly,' San Francisco, 1872, describing a scene from 1860]), but it enjoyed a revival early 1920s during the presidency of Warren G Harding, who wrote a notoriously ornate and incomprehensible prose (e e cummings eulogized him as 'The only man, woman or child who wrote a simple declarative sentence with seven grammatical errors') at which time the word took on its connection with political speech; it faded again thereafter, but, with its derivative, bloviation, it enjoyed a revival in the 2000 U.S. election season that continued through the era of blogging. (Online Etymology Dictionary)

Warren G Harding is often linked to bloviate, but to him the word wasn't insulting; it simply meant 'to spend time idly.' Harding used the word often in that 'hanging around' sense, but during his tenure as the 29th US President (1921-23), he became associated with the 'verbose' sense of bloviate, perhaps because his speeches tended to the long-winded side. Although he is sometimes credited with having coined the word, it's more likely that Harding picked it up from local slang while hanging around with his boyhood buddies in Ohio in the late 1800s. The term probably derives from a combination of the word blow plus the suffix -ate. (Merriam-Webster)

Bloviate is not, however, a recent creation. It was apparently coined in the mid-nineteenth century and was found in slang dictionaries by the end of the nineteenth century. Some of the early examples still strike the modern ear as contemporary sounding; the Literary Digest in 1909 derided a proposal to create a state of Los Angeles, "which would rid California of a maximum of bluster and bloviation and a minimum of territory." Hmm, still sounds viable. But bloviate was chiefly popularized by President Warren G. Harding in the early 1920s, and current examples often mention him as the inspiration for the word.

The word bloviate is, of course, an Americanism. It is a pseudo-Latin alteration of blow, in its slang sense 'to boast', also the inspiration for the early-nineteenth-century blowhard. This type of word-formation - adding Latinate affixes to English words - was popular at the time; some of the words that still have some currency is [Sic] absquatulate [1] 'to run away; flee' from abscond and squat, and obfusticated, for 'confused; obfuscated.' (Words Worth)


med_cat: (Default)
[personal profile] med_cat
forfend (fawr-FEND) - v., to defend, ward, protect; avert, prevent; (arch.) forbid.


In current use, this is confined to set expressions such as "heaven forfend." The forbid meaning is the original, back when the word was Middle English forfenden, with the -fend part being also the root of to fend off (which goes back via Anglo-Norman to Latin fendō, to thrust) and defend (which goes back also via Anglo-Norman to Latin dēfendō, to ward off). The for- part is typically away/off, but serving here as an intensifier.

---L.
Crossposts: https://prettygoodword.dreamwidth.org/862535.html
You can comment here or there.
[identity profile] simplyn2deep.livejournal.com
Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021

Monger (noun, verb)
mon·ger [muhng-ger, mong-]


noun
1. a person who is involved with something in a petty or contemptible way (usually used in combination): a gossipmonger.
2. Chiefly British. a dealer in or trader of a commodity (usually used in combination): fishmonger.

verb (used with object)
3. to sell; hawk.

OTHER WORDS FROM MONGER
mon·ger·ing, noun, adjective

WORDS RELATED TO MONGER
dealer, hawker, merchant, peddler, trader

See synonyms for: monger / mongered / mongering on Thesaurus.com

Origin: First recorded before 1000; Middle English (noun); Old English mangere, equivalent to mang(ian) “to trade, act as a monger” (ultimately from Latin mango “salesman”) + -ere -er1; cognate with Old Norse, Old High German mangari

HOW TO USE MONGER IN A SENTENCE
I didn’t know until I went into Bedford Cheese Shop that you could have the monger pick out some cheeses for you based on what you tell them, and they will serve it to you on a plate in a beautiful presentation with a bunch of fixings.
ARTISANAL AMERICAN CHEESE WAS FINALLY ON TOP OF THE WORLD, AND THEN THE WORLD FELL APART|JAYA SAXENA|OCTOBER 5, 2020|EATER

“Anyone who takes up this struggle against the regime is labeled a neo-con and a war monger,” he said.
WHITE HOUSE DEBUNKS IRAN NUCLEAR EXPLOSION, BUT IRAN DENIES PLANTING STORY|DAN EPHRON|JANUARY 29, 2013|DAILY BEAST

This is standard fare for Levin, who is truly a hate monger.
OBAMA'S GEORGE BUSH PROBLEM|MARK MCKINNON|OCTOBER 4, 2009|DAILY BEAST

Today salted cod—baccalà—is available in many supermarkets and your fish monger should carry it.
SALT COD, SCAMPI, FILET OF GROUPER|THE DAILY BEAST|DECEMBER 23, 2008|DAILY BEAST
[identity profile] simplyn2deep.livejournal.com
Drawl (verb, noun)
drawl [drawl]


verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
1. to say or speak in a slow manner, usually prolonging the vowels.

noun
2. an act or utterance of a person who drawls.

OTHER WORDS FROM DRAWL
drawler, noun
drawl·ing·ly, adverb
drawl·ing·ness, noun
drawly, adjective

WORDS RELATED TO DRAWL
chant, drone, extend, intone, nasalize, prolong, protract, utter, drag out

See synonyms for: drawl / drawling on Thesaurus.com

Origin: 1590–1600;
[identity profile] calzephyr77.livejournal.com
Smeek - noun or verb

I felt very proud of myself the other day smashing down smeeking on Words With Friends.

But, I didn't know the definition.

There's nothing sneaky about smeek--it's a Scottish word for smoke or fumes created by something burning or on fire. The fumes themselves are the noun and then the action of is an intransitive verb.
[identity profile] sallymn.livejournal.com

scarper [skahr-per]

verb:
1 (British ) run away, flee
2 to flee or depart suddenly, especially without having paid one's bills

Examples:

Amongst the smaller and fluffier of the corvid family, Siberian jays are quite fascinating birds. They mate for life and tend to live in small flocks of fewer than 10 members, with one dominant breeding pair. Within this group, they have been found to exhibit nepotistic alarm calling: when danger is nearby in the form of a predator, they sound a cry that will alert family members, telling them to scarper. (Michelle Starr, These Birds Shamelessly Lie to Their Neighbors, But Can Tell They Are Being Deceived, Sciencealert, June 2021)

Most online gambling firms scarper offshore but her firm Bet365 is mainly domiciled here. (Janice Turner, Betting queen’s empire is founded on misery, Entertainment.ie, April 2021)

Translated, that means the successful payment for petrol is a felony. Fill up your car and scarper – no questions asked. Of course, deliberate failure to pay is an offence, but the sign doesn’t say that. (David Astle, The no-nos of double negatives, South Florida SunSentinel, January 2021)

Origin:

C19: probably an adaptation of Italian scappare to escape; perhaps influenced by folk etymology Scapa Flow Cockney rhyming slang for go (Dictionary.com)


[identity profile] simplyn2deep.livejournal.com
Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021

Exacerbate (verb)
ex·ac·er·bate [ig-zas-er-beyt, ek-sas-]


verb (used with object)
1. to increase the severity, bitterness, or violence of (disease, ill feeling, etc.); aggravate.
2. to embitter the feelings of (a person); irritate; exasperate.

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH EXACERBATE
exasperate

OTHER WORDS FROM EXACERBATE
ex·ac·er·bat·ing·ly, adverb
ex·ac·er·ba·tion [ig-zas-er-bey-shuhn, ek-sas-], noun
un·ex·ac·er·bat·ing, adjective

WORDS RELATED TO EXACERBATE
annoy, aggravate, worsen, heighten, irritate, inflame, provoke, intensify, increase, embitter, exasperate, envenom, excite, madden, vex, enrage, add insult to injury, egg on, fan the flames, heat up

See synonyms for: exacerbate / exacerbated / exacerbates / exacerbating on Thesaurus.com
OTHER WORDS FOR EXACERBATE
1. intensify, inflame, worsen.

OPPOSITES FOR EXACERBATE
1. relieve, soothe, alleviate.

Origin: First recorded in 1650–60; from Latin exacerbatus (past participle of exacerbare “to exasperate, provoke”), equivalent to ex- ex- + acerbatus acerbate

HOW TO USE EXACERBATE IN A SENTENCE
Gelfond is a procrastinator, a tendency that virtual school has exacerbated.
THE LONELINESS OF AN INTERRUPTED ADOLESCENCE|ELLEN MCCARTHY|FEBRUARY 11, 2021|WASHINGTON POST

Air pollution, warned a group of top cardiological health organizations, also was exacerbating the risk of covid deaths.
THE VIRUS CAUSED MORE THAN A PANDEMIC. IT SET US ALL ABLAZE.|PHILIP KENNICOTT|FEBRUARY 5, 2021|WASHINGTON POST

In his State of the City address last month, Gloria said the pandemic had “exacerbated longstanding city budget problems the last administration did too little to address” and that the city faced structural budget deficits.
MORNING REPORT: ABOUT THAT STRUCTURAL BUDGET DEFICIT|VOICE OF SAN DIEGO|FEBRUARY 4, 2021|VOICE OF SAN DIEGO

“The pandemic has exacerbated all of the city’s budget problems,” Gloria said.
GLORIA EAGERLY FLAGGED BUDGET ISSUES BUT IS LESS EAGER TO ID SOLUTIONS|LISA HALVERSTADT|FEBRUARY 4, 2021|VOICE OF SAN DIEGO
[identity profile] sallymn.livejournal.com

caterwaul [kat-er-wawl]

verb:
1 make a harsh cry, make a very loud and unpleasant sound
2 protest or complain noisily
3 utter long wailing cries, as cats in rutting time.
noun:
a shrill, discordant sound, an utter shrieking as of cats

Examples:

But their critics and coaches continue to caterwaul like spoiled Little League brats. (Sally Jenkins, If colleges prioritize football during this pandemic, their true sickness will be revealed, The Washington Post, August 2020)

There are, of course, those who find Dylan's singing something of a caterwaul. Bell is rather kinder about the “voice of a generation” but he can’t deny that decades of touring have taken their toll on Dylan’s untutored pipes. (Christopher Bray, Now I'm in my sixties, this is what I wish I'd known when I was 50 , Financial Times, July 2013)

Jellicle Cats are merry and bright
And pleasant to hear when they caterwaul. (T S Eliot, 'The Song of the Jellicles')

Origin:

'disagreeable howling or screeching,' like that of a cat in heat, late 14c, caterwrawen, perhaps from Low German katerwaulen 'cry like a cat,' or formed in English from cater, from Middle Dutch cater 'tomcat' + Middle English waul 'to yowl,' apparently from Old English wrag, wrah 'angry,' of uncertain origin but somehow imitative. As a noun from 1708. (Online Etymology Dictionary)

IAn angry (or amorous) cat can make a lot of noise. As long ago as the mid-1300s, English speakers were using caterwaul for the act of voicing feline passions. The cater part is, of course, connected to the cat, but scholars disagree about whether it traces to Middle Dutch cāter, meaning 'tomcat,' or if it is really just cat with an '-er' added. The waul is probably imitative in origin; it represents the feline howl itself. English's first caterwaul was a verb focused on feline vocalizations, but by the 1600s it was also being used for noisy people or things. By the 1700s it had become a noun naming any sound as loud and grating as a tomcat's yowl. (Merriam-Webster)


[identity profile] calzephyr77.livejournal.com
Twangle - verb

Twangle, and it's kin twangles, twangler, twangled and twangling as you might have guessed, are related to twang, but I wasn't thinking that when a Words With Friends bot surprised me with it!

A twang can describe someone's accent or the action of plucking an instrument string, such as a guitar. Twangle can also describe playing an instrument. For example, "The piano teacher played the piece once, then again, demonstrating how twangling can add zest to the music".
[identity profile] calzephyr77.livejournal.com
Hirple - noun or verb

Hirple is a chiefly Scottish word which means to limp (verb) or to describe a limping motion (noun).

Some example sentences:

‘At the moment of his ultimate triumph, Stein left the bench in Lisbon, and he can be seen hirpling away to the dressing room.’

‘After returning to the UK he more or less hopped and hirpled his way home from the south of England to Lewis.’
[identity profile] simplyn2deep.livejournal.com
Tuesday, Jul. 27, 2021

Solace (noun, verb)
sol·ace [sol-is]


noun Also called sol·ace·ment.
1. comfort in sorrow, misfortune, or trouble; alleviation of distress or discomfort.
2. something that gives comfort, consolation, or relief: The minister's visit was the dying man's only solace.

verb (used with object)
3. to comfort, console, or cheer (a person, oneself, the heart, etc.).
4. to alleviate or relieve (sorrow, distress, etc.).

OTHER WORDS FROM SOLACE
sol·ac·er, noun
un·sol·aced, adjective
un·sol·ac·ing, adjective

WORDS RELATED TO SOLACE
pity, condolence, consolation, assuagement, relief, alleviation, mitigate, console, comfort, upraise, soften, soothe, cheer, alleviate, allay, buck up, condole with

See synonyms for: solace / solacer on Thesaurus.com

Origin: 1250–1300; Middle English solas < Old French < Latin solacium, equivalent to sol ( ari ) to comfort + -ac- adj. suffix + -ium -ium

HOW TO USE SOLACE IN A SENTENCE
As 2020 continues to be unrelenting, I try my best to find the rare crumb of solace where I can.
HOMEMADE, SEASONED BREADCRUMBS ADD CRUNCH AND FLAVOR TO PASTAS, VEGETABLES AND MORE|JESSE SZEWCZYK|OCTOBER 30, 2020|WASHINGTON POST

Perhaps more than therapy, writing also offered a kind of solace.
DANIEL MENAKER, AUTHOR AND CELEBRATED EDITOR AT THE NEW YORKER AND RANDOM HOUSE, DIES AT 79|HARRISON SMITH|OCTOBER 29, 2020|WASHINGTON POST

Understanding that we’re one form of a molecular configuration among a sea of molecules that’s reforming and disambiguating, and reforming constantly, gives solace when I consider death.
HOW PSILOCYBIN CAN SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT - ISSUE 90: SOMETHING GREEN|MARK MACNAMARA|SEPTEMBER 30, 2020|NAUTILUS

We are incredibly grateful that our plants offer that little bit of solace and joy via nature into the home.
ONLINE GARDEN SHOP BLOOMSCAPE RAISES $15M SERIES B, ACQUIRES PLANT CARE APP VERA|SARAH PEREZ|SEPTEMBER 30, 2020|TECHCRUNCH
[identity profile] simplyn2deep.livejournal.com
Tuesday, Jun. 8, 2021

Diverge (verb)
di·verge [dih-vurj, dahy-]


verb (used without object)
1. to move, lie, or extend in different directions from a common point; branch off.
2. to differ in opinion, character, form, etc.; deviate.
3. Mathematics. (of a sequence, series, etc.) to have no unique limit; to have infinity as a limit.
4. to turn aside or deviate, as from a path, practice, or plan.

verb (used with object)
5. to deflect or turn aside.

OTHER WORDS FROM DIVERGE
non·di·verg·ing, adjective
un·di·verg·ing, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH DIVERGE
1. digress
2. diverse

WORDS RELATED TO DIVERGE
veer, deviate, stray, radiate, differ, dissent, disagree, vary, fork, swerve, depart, divide, separate, bifurcate, divagate, spread, digress, part, split, branch

See synonyms for: diverge / diverging on Thesaurus.com
1. separate, deviate, fork.
4. See deviate.

Origin: 1655–65; < Medieval Latin divergere, equivalent to Latin di- di- + vergere to incline

EXAMPLE SENTENCES FROM THE WEB FOR DIVERGE
Earnings reports in recent days have shown how retailers’ fortunes have diverged in the pandemic.
RETAIL JINGLE BELLS TO RING LONGER THAN EVER BEFORE|CHARU KASTURI|SEPTEMBER 9, 2020|OZY

“All of the models start to diverge around the middle of the century, depending on what path we set ourselves on,” Barnard said.
NOBODY’S TALKING ABOUT THE SPORTS ARENA FLOOD ZONE|MACKENZIE ELMER|AUGUST 19, 2020|VOICE OF SAN DIEGO

The two approaches diverged substantially in philosophy and implementation.
INSIDE CHINA’S UNEXPECTED QUEST TO PROTECT DATA PRIVACY|TATE RYAN-MOSLEY|AUGUST 19, 2020|MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

The researchers estimate that the tuatara and their ancestors diverged from snakes and lizards about 250 million years ago, meaning the group predates even the oldest dinosaurs.
HOW TUATARA LIVE SO LONG AND CAN WITHSTAND COOL WEATHER|JAKE BUEHLER|AUGUST 5, 2020|SCIENCE NEWS
[identity profile] sallymn.livejournal.com

palaver [puh-lav-er, ‐lah-ver ]

noun:
1  a  a long parley usually between persons of different cultures or levels of sophistication
    b  conference, discussion
2  a  idle talk
    b  misleading or beguiling speech
verb:
1  talk profusely and idly
2  parley or confer

Examples:

What a palaver that would create: the women’s champion not coming to talk about the joys of lifting one of the sport’s biggest prizes. (Paul Myers, French Open returns with usual suspects, coronavirus restrictions and ructions, rfi, May 2021)

Brown and anonymous in plumage they may be, but the birds are also invariably invisible at the hedge bottom, where they maintain a perpetual, self-absorbed palaver. The amusing process usually goes something like this: the mere sound of the door sparks a lull in proceedings and my appearance imposes instant silence, the noise of food scraping arouses a slight renewal of conversation, and the click of the closing door turns that palaver back on as if it were a switch. (Mark Cocker, Country diary: the shy side of our cheeky sparrows, The Guardian, December 2020)

Here they were attacked by the bow-and-arrow men, whom they could not persuade to palaver with them. (Edgar Rice Burroughs, Out of Time's Abyss)

Poyser might sit down if he liked, she thought; she wasn't going to sit down, as if she'd give in to any such smooth-tongued palaver. (George Eliot, Adam Bede)

Origin:

1733 (implied in palavering), 'a long talk, a conference, a tedious discussion,' sailors' slang, from Portuguese palavra 'word, speech, talk,' from a metathesis of Late Latin parabola 'speech, discourse,' from Latin parabola 'comparison'.

In West Africa the Portuguese word became a traders' term for 'negotiating with the natives,' and apparently English picked up the word there. (The Spanish cognate, palabra, appears 16c.-17c. in Spanish phrases used in English.) The meaning 'idle profuse talk' is recorded by 1748. The verb, 'indulge in palaver,' is by 1733, from the noun. (Online Etymology Dictionary)

During the 18th century, Portuguese and English sailors often met during trading trips along the West African coast. This contact prompted the English to borrow the Portuguese palavra, which usually means 'speech' or 'word' but was used by Portuguese traders with the specific meaning 'discussions with natives.' The Portuguese word traces back to the Late Latin parabola, a noun meaning 'speech' or 'parable,' which in turn comes from the Greek parabolē, meaning 'juxtaposition' or 'comparison.' (Merriam-Webster)

[identity profile] simplyn2deep.livejournal.com
Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Scupper (noun)
scup·per [skuhp-er]


noun
1. Nautical. a drain at the edge of a deck exposed to the weather, for allowing accumulated water to drain away into the sea or into the bilges. Compare freeing port.
2. a drain, closed by one or two flaps, for allowing water from the sprinkler system of a factory or the like to run off a floor of the building to the exterior.
3. any opening in the side of a building, as in a parapet, for draining off rain water.

Origin: First recorded in 1475–85; Middle English skopor, scopper; further origin uncertain

+=+

Scupper (verb)
scup·per [skuhp-er]


verb (used with object) British.
1. Military. to overwhelm; surprise and destroy, disable, or massacre.
2. Informal. to prevent from happening or succeeding; ruin; wreck.

Origin: First recorded in 1880–85; originally British military slang “to massacre, slaughter”; further origin uncertain

EXAMPLE SENTENCES FROM THE WEB FOR SCUPPER
As the equality movement found a renewed focus and determination, so its opponents ratcheted up their efforts to scupper it.
HOW ROBIN WILLIAMS’ MRS. DOUBTFIRE WON THE CULTURE WARS|TIM TEEMAN|AUGUST 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST

The minister fears that now even lesser frictions could scupper the new agreement.
TALIBAN SLAMS LOYA JIRGA BILATERAL SECURITY AGREEMENT|RON MOREAU & SAMI YOUSAFZAI|NOVEMBER 26, 2013|DAILY BEAST

The combers were crashing over the weather rail in solid cascades, and the scupper-ports were not large enough to carry it off.
THE VIKING BLOOD|FREDERICK WILLIAM WALLACE

Down from the forecastle roof tumbled Jack Cockrell and went sliding across the deck, heels over head, to fetch up in the scupper.
BLACKBEARD: BUCCANEER|RALPH D. PAINE
[identity profile] calzephyr77.livejournal.com
Ambuscade - noun.

An ambuscade is an ambush. However, it can become a verb such as ambuscaded and amubscading.

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