Word Of The Day

• fantod
• 
• \FAN-tahd\

• DEFINITION

noun

1

a : a state of irritability and tensionb : fidgets

2

: an emotional outburst : fit

• EXAMPLES

"The idea of such a sum—$140,000!—dropping into the lap of a 19-year-old gave me the fantods." — From an article by Lucy Ferriss in The New York Times, June 28, 2009

"When you listen to the podcast, you'll also hear … the glaring statistics that should give any sensible parent the howlingfantods. For instance, he mentions that there's a 1-in-2 chance that a newborn will, at some point, be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes." — From an article by Christopher Heimerman in theDaily Gazette (Sterling, Illinois), January 18, 2014

• DID YOU KNOW?

"You have got strong symptoms of the fantods; your skin is so tight you can't shut your eyes without opening your mouth." Thus, American author Charles Frederick Briggs provides us with the oldest recorded use of "fantods" in 1839. Mark Twain used the word to refer to uneasiness or restlessness as shown by nervous movements—also known as the "fidgets"—inHuckleberry Finn: "They was all nice pictures, I reckon, but I didn't somehow seem to take to them, because … they always give me the fantods." The exact origin of "fantod" remains a mystery, but it may have arisen from English dialectal "fantigue"—a word (once used by Dickens) that refers to a state of great tension or excitement and may be a blend of "fantastic" and "fatigue."

Word Of The Day

• artless
• 
• \AHRT-lus\

• DEFINITION

adjective

1

: lacking art, knowledge, or skill : uncultured

2

a : made without skill : crudeb : free from artificiality : natural

3

: free from guile or craft : sincerely simple

• EXAMPLES

The senator's folksy demeanor and seemingly artless candor belie the man's shrewd and calculating political sensibilities.

"'Pat and Dick' is in many ways a rather artless book, and its prose offers precious few pleasures, but it does open a crack wider the window into a marriage that has interested and puzzled this country for a long time and doubtless will continue to do so far longer." — From a review by Jonathan Yardley in The Washington Post, January 26, 2014

• DID YOU KNOW?

"Artless," "ingenuous," and "naive" all refer to freedom from pretension or calculation, but there are subtle differences in their uses. "Ingenuous" implies an inability to disguise or conceal one's feelings, while "naive" suggests a credulous lack of worldly wisdom. "Artless" generally indicates an appearance of utter naturalness, one in which a person is (or seems to be) innocent of the effect of his or her speech or behavior on others.

Word Of The Day

• jingoism
• 
• \JING-goh-iz-im\

• DEFINITION

noun

: extreme chauvinism or nationalism marked especially by a belligerent foreign policy

• EXAMPLES

When the war began many people were caught up in a wave ofjingoism.

"Putting First World War icon Lord Kitchener on the £2 coin was attacked as 'jingoism' by Labour last night. The famous soldier and former Secretary of State for War will appear on the coin as part of 100th anniversary commemorations of the outbreak of the conflict." — From an article by James Lyons at mirror.co.uk, January 14, 2014

• DID YOU KNOW?

"Jingoism" originated during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, when many British citizens were hostile toward Russia and felt Britain should intervene in the conflict. Supporters of the cause expressed their sentiments in a music-hall ditty with this refrain:

"We don't want to fight, yet by jingo if we do,
We've got the ships, we've got the men,
We've got the money, too!"

Someone holding the attitude implied in the song became known as a "jingo" or "jingoist," and the attitude itself was dubbed "jingoism." The "jingo" in the tune is probably a euphemism for "Jesus."

Word Of The Day

• gritty
• 
• \GRIT-ee\

• DEFINITION

adjective

1

: containing or resembling grit

2

: courageously persistent : plucky

3

: having strong qualities of tough uncompromising realism

• EXAMPLES

I admire her gritty determination to succeed.

"The first child of Johnny, Rosanne may not have her father'sgritty charisma but she shares his sense of truth in music, with a sensuous, poised style all her own." — From an article by Neil McCormick in the Daily Telegraph (London), February 8, 2014

• DID YOU KNOW?

"Gritty" comes from "grit" ("small hard granules"), which in turn derives (via Middle English) from the Old English word for "sand" or "gravel." "Grit" has been around since before the 12th century, but the first appearance of "gritty" in print in English was near the end of the 16th century, when it was used in the sense of "resembling or containing small hard granules." "Grit" entered American slang in the early 19th century with the meaning "courage or persistence," and, within about 20 years, "gritty" followed suit with a corresponding "plucky" sense. By the 19th century's end, "gritty" was also being used to describe a literary style that was rough and coarse.

Word Of The Day

• billingsgate
• 
• \BIL-ingz-gayt\

• DEFINITION

noun

: coarsely abusive language

• EXAMPLES

A steady stream of billingsgate could be heard coming from the basement after my father hit his thumb with his hammer.

"Today, billingsgate rules the waves; the airwaves, that is, thanks to George Carlin and the other First Amendment activists who have followed him on stage." — From an article by David Rossie in the Press & Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, New York), March 11, 2012

• DID YOU KNOW?

From the time of the Roman occupation until the early 1980s, Billingsgate was a fish market in London, England, notorious for the crude language that resounded through its stalls. In fact, the fish merchants of Billingsgate were so famous for their swearing that their feats of vulgar language were recorded in British chronicler Raphael Holinshed's 1577 account of King Leir(which was probably Shakespeare's source for King Lear). In Holinshed's volume, a messenger's language is said to be "as bad a tongue … as any oyster-wife at Billingsgate hath." By the middle of the 17th century, "billingsgate" had become a byword for foul language.

Word Of The Day

• cleave
• 
• \KLEEV\

• DEFINITION

verb

1

: to divide by or as if by a cutting blow : split

2

: to separate into distinct parts and especially into groups having divergent views

3

: to penetrate or pass through something by or as if by cutting

• EXAMPLES

The ship's bow cleaved through the water.

"Of course, single-item restaurants are nothing new. .... But they don't usually serve something so divisive as polenta. You see, the slow-cooked dish of maize cleaves opinion like a Justin Bieber concert. You either love it or loathe it—and ever has it been so." — From an article by Samuel Muston in The Independent(London), January 31, 2014

• DID YOU KNOW?

"Cleave" has two homographs. There is "cleave" meaning "to adhere firmly and closely or loyally and unwaveringly," as in "The family cleaves to tradition." That "cleave" comes from Old English "clifian" ("to adhere"). The second "cleave" (our featured word today) derives from Old English "cleōfan," meaning "to split." It inflects similarly to the verb "speak": "cleaved," "clove," "cloven," and "cleaving" (with the occasional past tense "cleft"). The other "cleave" inflects regularly, with the exception of "clove" or "clave" as options to denote the past.

Word Of The Day

• froward
• 
• \FROH-erd\

• DEFINITION

adjective

: habitually disposed to disobedience and opposition

• EXAMPLES

The nanny informed the parents that she would seek employment elsewhere if the froward child could not be compelled to be more obedient.

"I first saw [the great-tailed grackles] during that amazing week in Texas three years ago and looked forward to renewing our acquaintance. By the end of the trip I was happy to be rid of them—pushy, froward little party-crashing beasts that make rude, high-pitched squeals and constantly invite themselves to dinner, filching from unattended plates." — From an article in theLewiston Morning Tribune (Idaho), September 30, 2010

• DID YOU KNOW?

Once upon a time, in the days of Middle English, "froward" and "toward" were opposites. "Froward" meant "moving or facing away from something or someone"; "toward" meant "moving or facing in the direction of something or someone." (The suffix "-ward" is from Old English "-weard," meaning "moving, tending, facing.") "Froward" also meant "difficult to deal with, perverse"; "toward" meant "willing, compliant, obliging." Each went its own way in the end: "froward" lost its "away from" sense as long ago as the 16th century and the "willing" sense of "toward" disappeared in the 18th century. A third relative, "untoward," developed in the 15th century as a synonym for "froward" in its "unruly or intractable” sense, and later developed other meanings, including "improper or indecorous."