Monday, December 10, 2007

more AHD WAD fun!

:-)

AHD WAD 2007 calendar


macerate (MASS-uh-RATE) v. -ated, -ating, -ates tr. 1. To make soft by soaking or steeping in a liquid. 2. To separate into constituents by soaking. 3. To cause to become lean, usually by starvation; emaciate. v. intr. To become soft or separated into constituents by soaking. n. (-It) A substance prepared or produced by macerating. maceration, macerator, macerater.
"I'll wash the casserole dish just as soon as it gets done macerating in the sink."


off-piste (OFF-PEEST or AHF-PEEST) adj Existing or taking place on snow that has not been compacted into tracks: off-piste skiing.
Wikipedia: "'Off-piste' skiing can refer to any skiing a few metres away from marked trails and slopes, whereas 'backcountry' skiing refers to skiing which is not near marked slopes at all, or cannot be accessed by ski-lifts." But we can infer from the AHD definition that this could extend beyond just skiing. "Not wanting to slide in the slushy path the other students created along the sidewalk, John trekked off-piste to class."


feculent (FEK-ya-lint) adj. Full of foul or impure matter; fecal.
"My feculent undershorts were not succulent enough for me." Feculence would be the noun: "His feculence won me over." So what's crepuscular?

crepuscular (kri-PUS-kya-ler) adj 1. Of or like twilight; dim: “the period's crepuscular charm and a waning of the intense francophilia that used to shape the art market” (Wall Street Journal). 2. Zoology Becoming active at twilight or before sunrise, as do bats and certain insects and birds.
So your post-prandial conversation may lead to clandestine vespertine activities.
somnolent (SAHM-nuh-lent) adj. 1. Drowsy; sleepy 2. Inducing or tending to induce sleep; soporific.
So if a somnolent (2nd definition) professor can make you somnolent (1st definition). So what's soporific?
soporific (SOP-a-RIF-ic) adj. 1. Inducing or tending to induce sleep. 2. Drowsy. n. A drug or other substance that induces sleep; a hypnotic.
So I'm thinking that, though the words can sometimes be used interchangeably, soporific induces the somnolent drowsiness.
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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. --Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance"