1word1day | Entries tagged with j

Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025

Jolly (adjective, verb, noun, adverb)
jol·ly [jol-ee]

adjective
1. in good spirits; gay; merry: In a moment he was as jolly as ever.
2. cheerfully festive or convivial: a jolly party.
3. joyous; happy: Christmas is a jolly season.
4. Chiefly British Informal. delightful; charming.
5. British.
a. Informal. great; thorough: a jolly blunderer.
b. Slang. slightly drunk; tipsy.

verb (used with object)
6. Informal. to talk or act agreeably to (a person) in order to keep that person in good humor, especially in the hope of gaining something (usually followed by along ): They jollied him along until the job was done.

verb (used without object)
7. Informal. to jolly a person; josh; kid.

noun
8. Informal. the practice or an instance of jollying a person.
9. Usually, jollies. Informal. pleasurable excitement, especially from or as if from something forbidden or improper; thrills; kicks: He gets his jollies from watching horror movies.

adverb
10. British Informal. extremely; very: He'll jolly well do as he's told.

Other Words From
jol·li·ly adverb
jol·li·ness noun
un·jol·ly adjective

Related Words
carefree, cheerful, chipper, convivial, enjoyable, festive, jovial, joyous, lighthearted, merry, playful, pleasant

See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
Synonyms
1–3. glad, spirited, jovial, sportive, playful. See gay.

Antonyms
1–3. gloomy, melancholy.

Origin: 1275–1325; Middle English joli, jolif < Old French, equivalent to jol- (probably < Old Norse jol Yule ) + -if -ive

Recent Examples on the Web
The same jolly collection also returns to the Top Streaming Albums chart for another year.
—Hugh McIntyre, Forbes, 4 Jan. 2025

Winter break is a jolly time of the year for many children.
—Holly Garcia, Parents, 31 Dec. 2024

Demi Moore is having a jolly good time with her family this holiday season!
—Angel Saunders, People.com, 27 Dec. 2024

That Hilty and Simard make it so jolly is a big relief and a big surprise.
—Rachel Sherman, New York Times, 27 Dec. 2024

The 4Chan programmers got their viral sensation and their jollies.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 6 Apr. 2024

Sunday was a tough day for those, like me, who get their entertainment jollies by watching losers try to redeem themselves.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 22 Jan. 2024

As to the political will needed to jolly the process along, and arrange payment for those parts of the programme that will not pay for themselves, this can push both ways.
—The Economist, 21 Sep. 2019

So Watt sets out to convince them that the real killer is Peter Manuel by — wait for it! — taking him out on a bender and jollying him into a confession.
—Marilyn Stasio, New York Times, 19 May 2017

stonepicnicking_okapi

Jólabókaflóðið

Icelandic. Noun.

[yoh-luh-boh-kuh-flawd,joh-]

1. an Icelandic tradition in which books are given as Christmas presents and opened on December 24, after which the evening is spent reading the books.

Origin
from Icelandic Jólabókaflóðið; literally, “(the) Christmas book flood,” a tradition in Iceland dating from 1944; from Jól “Christmas” + bók “book” + flóð “flood” + -ið, suffixed neuter article; Yule ( def ), book ( def ), flood ( def )

Examples
1. So many books are released in the run-up to Christmas that they call it the Jolabokaflod, the Christmas Book Flood. The Washington Post, 7 Jun 2017

2. "In December I organized a Jolabokaflod book exchange on Twitter," Cornett said.
"Five Ways to Recycle your Unwanted Books." 18 Jan 2020. Salon.com

xmas books

calzephyr

I've been a little MIA, so here's a Friday bonus post.

JOMO

In the past few years people became acquainted with abbreviations like FOMO (fear of missing out) or YOLO (you only live once) but perhaps less frequently used is JOMO - joy of missing out.

JOMO first originated in a 2012 blog post by Anil Dash. 2012 seems like forever ago--but it's a thoughtful phrase to remember now and then to get offline and touch grass :-)

calzephyr

Jouska - noun.

I hemmed and hawed over creating an entry for this word. I first found it on a list of words circulating around Facebook. As we all know, many non-English languages have words for the intangible, like weltschmerz. Author John Koenig made up his own dictionary of words for intangible feelings. It's The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows.

From jouska's entry:

a hypothetical conversation that you compulsively play out in your head—a crisp analysis, a devastating comeback, a cathartic heart-to-heart—which serves as a kind of psychological batting cage that feels far more satisfying than the small-ball strategies of everyday life.

French jusqu’à, until. In baseball, “small ball” is a cautious offensive strategy devoted to getting on base via walks, bunts, and steals, forgoing the big home run moments that fans tend to enjoy. Pronounced “zhoos-ka.”

sallymn

jiggery-pokery [ jig-uh-ree-poh-kuh-ree]

noun:
(Cheifly British)
1 trickery, hocus-pocus; fraud; humbug
2 sly, underhanded action
3 manipulation

Examples:

For all the corrugated iron sheep, dogs, cows, parrots, cockatoos and chooks that populate Michael Scott-Mitchell's witty, fully corrugated set, for all the jiggery-pokery and quackery-knackery, Donizetti's glorious score emerges with clarity and humour. (Michael Shmith, Opera Review: The Elixir of Love, The Sydney Morning Herald, November 2015)

Is Emera really funding all this excess executive compensation out of its own 'unrelated' revenues and/or out of the goodness of its generous corporate heart? Or is this just more corporate obfuscation, jiggery-pokery, and sleight of hand? (Stephen Kimber, Nova Scotia Power rate increase: just more corporate obfuscation, jiggery-pokery and sleight of hand, Halifax Examiner, June 2022)

But I fear that any plan to run a single anti-Brexit candidate in a constituency would be met with a plan to run a single pro-Brexit candidate. Jiggery-pokery would be fought with jiggery-pokery. (Euan McColm, Electoral pacts can't stop no-deal juggernaut, The Scotsman, August 2019)

You don't think any jiggery-pokery of this sort is going to snatch Clayton into the world of shades. Not it! (H G Wells, Twelve Stories and a Dream)

Didn't I go into the room? Wasn't he there with the deceased? Wasn't his revolver found? Hadn't there been some jiggery-pokery with his books in London? (Edgar Wallace, The Man Who Knew)

Origin:

The charm of jiggery-pokery lies partly in its bouncing rhythm, a classic example of what's called a double dactyl, a dactyl being a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables; dactyl is named after the Greek word for finger, whose joints represent the three syllables. Other examples of double dactyls are higgledy-piggledy and idiosyncrasy.

The word appears at the end of the nineteenth century and is first recorded in Wiltshire and Oxfordshire dialect. The English Dialect Dictionary quotes an Oxford example, "I was fair took in with that fellow's jiggery-pokery over that pony." The experts are sure that it actually comes from a Scots phrase of the seventeenth century, joukery-pawkery.

The first bit of it means underhand dealing, from a verb of obscure origin, jouk, that means to dodge or skulk; this might be linked to jink and to the American football term juke, to make a move that's intended to deceive an opponent (the other juke, as in jukebox, has a different origin). The second bit is from pawky, a Scottish and Northern English word that can mean artful, sly, or shrewd, though it often turns up in the sense of a sardonic sense of humour. (World Wide Words)

med_cat

Some uncommon words with their meanings:

1. Cagamosis (noun): an unhappy marriage

2. Agerasia (noun): the state of looking younger than one actually is

3. Hadeharia (noun): the practice of frequently using the word "hell" in speech

4. Estrapade (noun) : the attempt of the horse to remove its rider. (estrange: alienate or remove)

5. Auto-tonsorialist (noun): a person who cuts his own hair. (tonsorial= of or related to haircut or barbering)

6. Dactylonomy (noun): act of counting using one's fingers (dactyl: tip of the finger)

7. Jument (noun): An animal used to carry loads like horse or donkey (beast of burden)

8. Gargalesthesia (noun): the sensation caused by tickling

9. Bombilate (verb): make humming or buzzing sound loudly. "a student was bombilating in the class while the teacher was delivering lecture"

10. Maledicent (noun): a person who does frequent abusive speech

(Today's words are brought to you by FB memories; this list is from a group titled "Improve English Vocabulary", which has, sadly, gone inactive several years ago. This post was from 2012.)

calzephyr

Jannock - adjective.

Jannock is a British word meaning honest, fair and straightforward. It was first recorded in the 1820s.

sallymn

jackanapes [jak-uh-neyps]

noun:
1a an impertinent, presumptuous person, especially a young man; whippersnapper.
1b an impudent, mischievous child.
2 (archaic) an ape or monkey.

Examples:

Meanwhile two jackanapes gathered this morning on the basketball court, the first public court downtown, to settle a score. Matt Goodman and I have been jawing at each other for a couple of years now about who would win a game of one on one. (Tim Rogers, Carpenter Park Hosted Its First Official Basketball Game Today, D Magazine, May 2022 )

But after four cocktails the Coney Island jackanapes started to mislay its manners. It demanded yet more booze. When its benefactor refused, it seized a whisky bottle and knocked him senseless to the floor. (Johnathan L Wright, Victorian Strangeness: The drunken monkey that smashed up a bar, BBC News, August 2014)

But do you realize that I would be looked upon as the most foolish jackanapes in the South Seas if I took a young girl like you in with me here on Berande? (Jack London, Adventure)

You pestilent young jackanapes, do you suppose I haven't noticed your idleness? (Compton Mackenzie, Sinister Street)

Origin:

mid-15c, 'a monkey,' also 'an impertinent, conceited fellow, an absurd fop,' a general term of reproach (in mid-15c especially a contemptuous nickname for William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk), of unknown origin. Apparently from Jack of Naples, but whether this is some specific personification of Jack (which is attested from 16c as 'saucy or impertinent fellow') or folk etymology of jack + ape is unknown. Century Dictionary suggests 'origin, it is supposed, a man who exhibited performing apes.' (Online Etymology Dictionary)

The most widespread story connects the origins of this word with William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk. He was steward of the Royal Household under Henry VI, but was accused of treason and banished in 1450, only to be murdered at sea off Dover. His emblem was an ape’s clog and chain (a clog here being not a type of shoe but a heavy block of wood to stop the animal escaping). This led to his being described in a scurrilous poem the year before his death as ape-clog and posthumously as Jack Napes.

Though Jack Napes might therefore seem to derive from the ill-fated duke, something that has often been assumed, the experts are sure that it came from another source and was applied to the Duke because of his odd emblem. The real origin probably lay in a playful name for a tame ape, in which the second part was a case of metanalysis (in which an ape has been turned into a nape), with an s on the end to make it match other surnames of the period, like Jacques or Hobbes.

It went through various forms until it settled down to its modern spelling. The idea behind it moved from a pet name for an ape to a man acting in some way like an ape. The OED gives the sense in one of its wonderful definitions as 'One who is like an ape in tricks, airs, or behaviour; a ridiculous upstart; a pert, impertinent fellow, who assumes ridiculous airs; a coxcomb.' (World Wide Words)

calzephyr

Jactitation - noun.

Jactitation has a couple of definitions.

First, it can refer to bragging or boastfulness, such as "Greg's speech was one of his familiar jactations of imperfection."

Second, it can describe a restless body tossing and turning, such as "Great restlessness and jactitation set in with the renewal of the circulation in the extremities."

Jactitation stems from the Latin verb jactare, meaning "to throw".

simplyn2deep

Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023

Jovial (adjective)
jo·vi·al [joh-vee-uhl]

adjective
1. endowed with or characterized by a hearty, joyous humor or a spirit of good-fellowship: a wonderfully jovial host.
2. (initial capital letter) of or pertaining to the god Jove, or Jupiter.

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH JOVIAL
jocose, jocular, jocund

WORDS RELATED TO JOVIAL
affable, amiable, buoyant, cheery, chipper, convivial, cordial, festive, good-natured, jolly, lighthearted, pleasant, sociable, airy, animated, bantering, blithe, blithesome, bouncy, chaffing

See synonyms for jovial on Thesaurus.com
OTHER WORDS FOR JOVIAL
1. merry, jolly, convivial, gay, joyful, mirthful

SYNONYM STUDY FOR JOVIAL
1. Jovial, jocose, jocular, jocund agree in referring to someone who is in a good humor. Jovial suggests a hearty, joyous humor: a jovial person. Jocose refers to that which causes laughter; it suggests someone who is playful and given to jesting: with jocose and comical airs. Jocular means humorous, facetious, mirthful, and waggish: jocular enough to keep up the spirits of all around him. Jocund, now a literary word, suggests a cheerful, light-hearted, and sprightly gaiety: glad and jocund company.

OPPOSITES FOR JOVIAL
1. gloomy

ORIGIN: First recorded in 1580–90; from Medieval Latin jovialis “of Jupiter” (the planet, supposed to exert a happy influence), equivalent to Latin jovi- (see Jovian) + -alis -al

HOW TO USE JOVIAL IN A SENTENCE
Even though we were running late, Scott was jovial and candid in his conversation.
REMEMBERING ESPN’S SLY, COCKY, AND COOL ANCHOR STUART SCOTT | STEREO WILLIAMS | JANUARY 4, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST

With that, he took a huff off a morning joint and moved into the throng of jovial patrons.
A REPORT FROM THE MISUNDERSTOOD GATHERING OF THE JUGGALOS | STEVE MILLER | JULY 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST

Of course, it shouldn't be surprising, as Fallon and Timberlake may be the two most jovial, joyous people in show business.
JIMMY FALLON AND JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE’S PERFECT, CAMEO-FILLED 'SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE' | KEVIN FALLON | DECEMBER 22, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST

[Kevin] had the idea that my character would be more jovial, and I thought he was tragic.
JIM CARREY’S RANT AGAINST ‘KICK-ASS 2’ AND 13 OTHER STARS WHO HATE THEIR OWN FILMS | MARLOW STERN | JUNE 25, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST

In typical Biden fashion, the ever-jovial VP teased the crowd for being subdued.
'BUY A SHOTGUN!' & MORE OF JOE BIDEN'S NEVER-ENDING GAFFES | CAITLIN DICKSON | FEBRUARY 20, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST

calzephyr

Jerid - noun.

Also spelled jereed and jerreed, a jerid is a wooden javelin. The staff is a component of a horseback game of the same name popular during the time of the Ottoman empire. Players score points by throwing the javelin at an opponent.

By anonymous Greek artist, ca. 1809 - https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O916907/two-men-playing-the-game-watercolour-anonymous-greek-artist/, Public Domain, Link

calzephyr

Janissary - noun.

A member of an elite fighting corp organized by the Ottoman empire. The janissaries were the first standing army in Europe, active from about 1363–1826 and known as fierce fighters devoted to the sultan.

Public Domain, Link

calzephyr

Jabuticaba - noun.

The glossy, round, thick-skinned jabuticaba is the fruit of the jabuticabeira (Plinia cauliflora), aka the Brazilian grapetree. The fruit grows directly on the trunk as opposed to branches.

By Adamantiaf - Own work (Original text: I created this work entirely by myself.), Public Domain, Link

simplyn2deep

Tuesday, Mar. 28, 2023

Junta (noun)
jun·ta [hoon-tuh, juhn-, huhn-]

Pronunciation note (go to the site to list to how it is pronounced)
When the word junta was borrowed into English from Spanish in the early 17th century, its pronunciation was thoroughly Anglicized to [juhn-tuh]. The 20th century has seen the emergence and, especially in North America, the gradual predominance of the pronunciation [hoon-tuh] derived from Spanish [hoon-tah] through re-association with the word's Spanish origins. A hybrid form [huhn-tuh] is also heard.

noun
1. a small group ruling a country, especially immediately after a coup d'état and before a legally constituted government has been instituted.
2. a council.
3. a deliberative or administrative council, especially in Spain and Latin America.
4. junto.

WORDS RELATED TO JUNTA
faction, government, assembly, cabal, committee, convention, coterie, tribunal

See synonyms for junta on Thesaurus.com

ORIGIN: 1615–25; < Spanish: a meeting, noun use of feminine of Latin junctus, past participle of jungere to join; see junction

HOW TO USE JUNTA IN A SENTENCE
Sixty percent of the people involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement, a peaceful protest designed to shut down the country, are women, and they continue to face sexual violence, harassment, abuse, and threats from the junta.
MYANMAR'S WOMEN ARE FIGHTING FOR A NEW FUTURE AFTER A LONG HISTORY OF MILITARY OPPRESSION|MIMI AYE|JUNE 1, 2021|TIME

Before they left, the junta forced them to sign a bond saying that they and their children would never speak out against them, to guarantee the safety of their family that remained in the country and the privilege of being allowed to return.
REVOLUTIONS ARE BUILT ON HOPE. THAT'S WHY I BELIEVE MYANMAR'S PROTESTERS WILL SUCCEED|MIMI AYE|APRIL 8, 2021|TIME

Once, when I was staying with a cousin in Yangon, I had to hide in her wardrobe as junta inspectors came to the door because I wasn’t listed as a resident.
REVOLUTIONS ARE BUILT ON HOPE. THAT'S WHY I BELIEVE MYANMAR'S PROTESTERS WILL SUCCEED|MIMI AYE|APRIL 8, 2021|TIME

Under the previous junta, which ruled from 1962 to 2011, there was little access to information outside of military propaganda.
AS MYANMAR'S JUNTA INTENSIFIES ITS CRACKDOWN, PRO-DEMOCRACY PROTESTERS PREPARE FOR CIVIL WAR|KYAW HSAN HLAING / YANGON|APRIL 7, 2021|TIME

calzephyr

Jentacular - adjective.

Rhyming with spectacular, jentacular (jen-TAK-yuh-luhr) is an archaic word with Latin roots to describe a very early breakfast-time. Some of you may enjoy a variety of jenctular activities!

Here are a couple examples:

"A fashionable vice which leads only to squandering of money and misspending the morning in jentacular confabulations."

"But, my dear Miss Flora, leaving Mac to his paper and his post-jentacular pipe, pray do me the favour to fill up the gaps of my knowledge in reference to the early history of your Celtic Scotland."

med_cat

Today's words are brought to you by

spikesgirl58 :))
~~~

Argle-bargle — (adj) copious but meaningless talk or writing

Deipnophobia — (n) a morbid fear of dinner parties

Finifugal — (adj) afraid of finishing anything

Jentacular — (adj) pertaining to breakfast

Quomodocunquizing — (v) making money in any way that you can

From: https://parade.com/1252641/marynliles/weird-words/

calzephyr77.livejournal.com

Jocose - adjective

Sometimes I come across a face-palm kind of word in Words With Friends. Jocose? What does that mean, other than the bot teasing me by making jocoseness on the next turn. Try to outsmart me, huh? LOL!

Most of us are probably familiar with jocose's cousin, jocular--both words mean joking, humorous or playful actions and attributes.

sallymn.livejournal.com

jardinière, jardiniere [jahr-dn-eer, zhahr-dn-yair]

noun:
1  a: an ornamental stand for plants or flowers
    b: a large usually ceramic flowerpot holder
2  a garnish for meat consisting of several cooked vegetables cut into pieces

Examples:

Then there's the Japanese gilt and patinated bronze jardinière by Miyao. 'One great thing about being married to an ex-florist is that our house is always full of flowers,' he says. 'This jardinière would be the most perfect vessel for orchids.' (Lucy Scovell, The tastemaker: Peter Copping, Christie's, April 2021)

A rare Ewenny jardinière with trailing flowers and a sculptural pair of dragons to the rim sold at Rogers Jones in Cardiff. (Roland Arkell, Hammer highlights: five lots that caught bidders’ eyes including a rare example of automobilia, Antiques Trade Gazette, October 2018)

(click to enlarge)

The markets in France are overflowing with beautiful young veggies. And what better idea for a chef that to combine them in the bright and lovely dish known as a jardinière - literally, a garden box - of vegetables. (Sam Adeoye, Jardinière de légumes printaniers, The Everyday French Chef, April 2014)

Origin:

ornamental flower stand, 1841, from French jardinière 'flower pot' (also 'female gardener, gardener's wife'), noun use of fem. of adjective jardinier 'of the garden,' from jardin 'garden; orchard; palace grounds,' from Vulgar Latin hortus gardinus 'enclosed garden,' via Frankish gardo or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic gardaz, from PIE root gher- 'to grasp, enclose.' (Online Etymology Dictionary)

The seeds of jardiniere were planted back in ancient Germanic languages whose words for 'garden' eventually grew into Old French jardin, a term that produced several offshoots, including the French word jardinier, meaning 'gardener', and its feminine form jardinière (literally, 'female gardener'). It was that jardinière that blossomed into the French (and later the English) word for a large ornamental flowerpot or plant stand. By the way, the Germanic forerunners of the French terms are also distantly linked to another word important to English-speakers: garden. (Merriam-Webster)

calzephyr77.livejournal.com

Jezails - noun.

Here's a perfectly cromulent word to zoom ahead on Scrabble or Words With Friends. A jezail or jezzail is a Pashtun word and name for a handmade, long-barrelled gun once popular with Pashtun tribes.

By Lieutenant James Rattray - The British Library, Public Domain, Link

calzephyr77.livejournal.com

Jentacular - adjective.

A jaunty word that refers to an early morning breakfast upon awaking. For example, I'm writing this post in a pre-jentacular state :-)

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Word of the Day!

Entries tagged with j

Tuesday word: Jolly

Monday Word: Jólabókaflóðið

Friday Phrase: JOMO

Wednesday Word: Jouska

Sunday Word: Jiggery-pokery

Friday Words: Cagamosis, and others

Wednesday Word: Jannock

Sunday Word: Jackanapes

Thursday Word: Jactitation

Tuesday word: Jovial

Friday Word: Jerid

Wednesday Word: Janissary

Wednesday Word: Jabuticaba

Tuesday word: Junta

Wednesday Word: Jentacular

Friday words: An Assortment

Wednesday Word: Jocose

Sunday Word: Jardinière

Wednesday Word: Jezail

Wednesday Word: Jentacular

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