Word of the Day!

catafalque [kat-uh-fawk, -fawlk, -falk]

noun

a raised structure on which the body of a deceased person lies or is carried in state.

examples
1. The casket was placed in the middle of the room on the catafalque built in 1865 to hold assassinated President Abraham Lincoln’s casket in the same place. Bill Barrow, The Denver Post, 7 Jan. 2025
2. A cardinal dispersed incense around the body, and then — before the basilica doors opened to the public — workers roped off the catafalque, such that the body of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI would stand apart. The Washington Post, 2 Jan 2023

origin

Italian catafalco, from Vulgar Latin catafalicum scaffold, from cata- + Latin fala
siege tower

Lincoln catafalque in the US Capitol

ogival [ō-ˈjī-vəl]

adjective

1. having the shape of a pointed arch

examples

1. The 43mm watch features a dark gray zirconium case, a 12 o’clock crown, ogival lugs at its base, and a burgundy dial engraved with the DBD’s classic Côtes de Genève pattern. —Louisa Ballhaus, Robb Report, 20 Mar. 2023
2. The exuberant phoenix motifs are enclosed within an ogival cartouche, so called because its outlines echo those of a pointed Gothic arch. Bright and Shiny Things, Lee Lawrence, 2010

origin
Middle English ogif and French ogive, diagonal rib of a vault, both from Old French augive, probably from Vulgar Latin obviātīva, from Late Latin obviāta, feminine past participle of obviāre, to resist.

inveigle [in-vey-guhl]

verb

1. to win over by wiles: entice
2. to acquire by ingenuity or flattery

examples
1. On hand for the séance is a thoroughly skeptical Poirot, inveigled to attend by a mystery-novelist friend, Ariadne Oliver. Mark Feeney, BostonGlobe.com, 11 Sep. 2023
2. Norman Mailer tried to inveigle his dinner guests into an orgy, and not long after wrote a cruel letter to Styron, breaking off their friendship. —Marion Winik, Washington Post, 15 June 2023
3. Before dessert, both Leonard and Ambrose had inveigled invitations. Cabaret Macabre by Tom Mead

origins
Anglo-French enveegler, aveogler, avogler to blind, hoodwink, from avogle, enveugle blind, from Medieval Latin ab oculis, literally, lacking eyes

sottish

[sot-ish]

adjective
1. stupefied with or as if with drink; drunken.
2. given to excessive drinking.

examples
1. If you would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend of yours, I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with you. "The Man with the Twisted Lip," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
2. Just as before, he took his "pleasure" coming and going to town, and living the life of sottish ease, as became a man of fashion and a court soldier. The Life of Thomas Wanless, Peasant, A. J. Wilson

origins
Late Old English sott ‘foolish person’, from medieval Latin sottus, reinforced by Old French sot ‘foolish’. The current sense of the noun dates from the late 16th century.

bister

[ˈbistər]

noun & adjective:
1. a yellowish-brown to dark-brown pigment made from the soot of burned wood
2. a shade of brownish-yellow color

examples:
1. Try this vintage make-up recipe using walnut leaves for stunning bister tint on lids. Erin Parsons on Youtube
2. Then he observed the frightful irritation of the breasts and mouth, discovered spots of bister and copper on the skin of her body, and recoiled bewildered. Against the Grain by J.-K. Huysmans
3. She was gloriously beautiful, too; even her brief experience in the west had brought back the missing roses to her cheek, and had banished the bister circles from beneath her eyes. The Chalice of Courage: A Romance of Colorado by Cyrus Townsend Brady

origin:
French bistre

ophidian [oh-fid-ee-uhn ]

adjective:
1. belonging or pertaining to the suborder Ophidia (Serpentes), comprising the snakes.

examples:
It is her treatment by others — mostly lustful and vengeful gods — that brings about her ophidian transformation, and even still she tries to protect the world she loves from the harm of her destructive gaze. Washington Post Feb 1, 2023

The jeweler’s earliest snake-inspired pieces tended toward abstraction, referencing ophidian sinuousness by way of a corrugated gold bracelet — based on the articulated flex of gas piping — that slithered up the wrist. New York Times Mar 4, 2022

An obnoxious ophidian invaded a soccer pitch in Guatemala, delaying a game between Nueva Concepcion and Municipal. Seattle Times Feb 25, 2022

origin:
First recorded in 1820–30; from New Latin Ophidi(a) (neuter plural) name of the suborder (from Greek ophídion (neuter singular), equivalent to óph(is) “serpent” + -idion diminutive suffix) + -an

This week is the Lunar New Year, welcoming in the Year of the Snake!

niveous [nivēəs]

adjective
1. snowy or resembling snow

origin
Latin niveus, from niv-, nix snow

examples
1. They drove up and down the niveous and tortuous hills in and out of the town. Tokyo to Tijuana: Gabriele Departing America, Steven David Justin Stills
2. "Yes, my dear daughter," said her venerable son-in-law, running his fingers through his niveous thatch, "he was the first of the time-wasting Van Winkles." Her Weight in Gold, George Barr McCutcheon, 1897
3. Observations of the niveous and glacial features met with on the sledging journeys from both Antarctic bases. The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 Douglas Mawson, 1920

tautology [tau·​tol;​o·​gy; tȯ-tä-lə-jē]

noun:
1. needless repetition of an idea, statement, or word
2. logic: a statement that is true by virtue of its logical form alone (e.g. "It will snow tomorrow, or it will not snow tomorrow.")

Examples:
1. Yes, a win is a win, but tautologies aside, for the Niners, a win with Purdy playing like one of the finest quarterbacks in the NFL on Sunday would speak volumes.
Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 25 Oct. 2024
2. In this tautology, the act of spending is proof that the spending is justified.
Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 17 Oct. 2024

Origin:
First recorded in 1570–80; from Late Latin tautologia, from Greek tautología “repetition of something already said” (a term in rhetoric); tauto-, -logy

brumal [broo-muhl ]

adjective

1. related to winter

Examples:
1. Her brother wintered at Welland; but whether because his experience of tropic climes had unfitted him for the brumal rigours of Britain, or for some other reason, he seldom showed himself out of doors, and Swithin caught but passing glimpses of him. Two on a Tower, Thomas Hardy, 1884
2. During the previous night, however, the sky had cleared, and now the air was filled with those familiar brumal sounds, the scraping of shovels and the ringing of sleighbells, that usually make such a pleasant appeal to those within-doors; but the bishop was merely moved to impatient longing for the spring. The Mayor of Warwick Herbert M. Hopkins, 1890

Origin:
Latin brūmālis, from brūma, winter, from *brevima (diēs), the shortest (day) or winter solstice.

xenium ['zēnēəm]

(plural: xenia)

1. a present given among the ancient Greeks and Romans to a guest or stranger and especially to a foreign ambassador

2. gift sometimes given compulsorily to medieval rulers and churches

origin
Latin, from Greek xenion, from neuter of xenios of hospitality, xenial

examples
1. Though it falls into a fairly common category of images of food called “xenia” — offerings for guests — it is not like most of the roughly 300 examples that have been found in Vesuvian cities. NYT 6/27/23

2. Unless you are one of those unbalanced individuals who actually enjoys having company, I would recommend giving a xenium, such as a pair of used socks, something that says ‘Here is a gift – please go away.’
January Magazine

Jupiter_and_Mercury_at_Philemon_and_Baucis by Rubens workshop (Zeus and Hermes are testing a village's hospitality)