博文
每日一词：eclectic（转自 韦氏词典）
原文链接 原文链接 Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for January 5, 2019 is: eclectic • \ih-KLEK-tik\ • adjective 1 : composed of elements drawn from various sources; also : heterogeneous 2 : selecting what appears to be best in various doctrines , methods, or styles Examples: The new downtown restaurant offers an eclectic menu of items at reasonable prices. “Since December 2016, including the most recent property deal, Google has now spent at least $237 million buying an eclectic array of industrial and retail sites, vacant lots, and even residential properties.” — George Avalos, The Mercury News (San Jose, California), 3 Dec. 2018 Did you know? Eclectic comes from the Greek eklektikos (meaning “selective”), from the verb eklegein , “to select.” Eclectic was originally applied to ancient philosophers who were not committed to any single system of philosophy but instead selected whichever doctrines pleased them from every school of thought. Later, the word’s use broad...
每日一词：abominable（转自 韦氏词典）
原文链接 原文链接 Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for January 4, 2019 is: abominable • \uh-BAH-muh-nuh-bul\ • adjective 1 formal : worthy of or causing disgust or hatred : detestable 2 : very bad or unpleasant Examples: The children were informed that they had lost all television and computer privileges for a week because of their abominable treatment of the babysitter. “In the original [movie “Overboard”], Goldie Hawn … stars as a spoiled, insufferable heiress who hires carpenter [Kurt] Russell to remodel a closet on her yacht. She’s abominable to him at every turn, refuses to pay him and eventually pushes him off the ship.” — Jeanne Jakle, The San Antonio Express News , 3 May 2018 Did you know? The tendency to hate evil omens is a vital part of the history of abominable . The word descends from the Latin verb abominari , which means “to deprecate as an ill omen” or “to detest”; abominari itself comes from ab – plus omin – (“from an omen”). When English s...
语文相关：趔趄
原文链接 趔 liè 趄 qie 解释： 身体摇晃，走路不稳。 例句： 他向前趔趄了两步，但没摔倒。 他趔趄着走了过来。 出处： 出自元· 郑廷玉 《后庭花》第二折：“不觉地身趔趄，不觉地醉 模糊 。” Lake桑 2019.1.3
每日一词：rapporteur（转自 韦氏词典）
原文链接 原文链接 Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for January 3, 2019 is: rapporteur • \ra-por-TER\ • noun : a person who gives reports (as at a meeting of a learned society) Examples: “The rapporteur was particularly scathing about bungled efforts to streamline the way welfare payments are made to individual recipients after delays in a shift to a new system … led thousands of people to fall into poverty.” — Patrick Kingsley, The New York Times , 16 Nov. 2018 “It’s appropriate that the U.N. special rapporteur devoted to adequate housing has visited encampments in Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Mumbai—and San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley.” — Rich Lowry, The National Review , 6 Nov. 2018 Did you know? Rapporteur was adopted into English in the 16th century and is a descendant of the Middle French verb rapporter , meaning “to bring back, report, or refer.” Other descendants of rapporter in English include rapportage (a rare synonym of reportage , in the sense of “writing i...
每日一词：campestral（转自 韦氏词典）
原文链接 原文链接 Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for January 2, 2019 is: campestral • \kam-PESS-trul\ • adjective : of or relating to fields or open country : rural Examples: “Just about any amateur naturalist who pays attention to the birds … in campestral Maine will find an eye-opener or two here.” — Dana Wilde, The Bangor (Maine) Daily News , 26 Oct. 2009 “When in Southeast England, depriving yourself of a chance to see Dover’s famous white cliffs would be a big mistake. And so the towering chalk cliffs … were on my agenda when I embarked on a brief driving tour of the coast. I was able to thoroughly enjoy the region’s rolling, campestral beauty in a three-town tour.” — Lucas Peterson, The New York Times , 26 Jul. 2017 Did you know? Scamper across an open field, and then, while catching your breath, ponder this: scamper and campestral both ultimately derive from the Latin noun campus , meaning “field” or “plain.” Latin campester is the adjective that means “pertain...
每日一词：handsel（转自 韦氏词典）
原文链接 原文链接 Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for January 1, 2019 is: handsel • \HAN-sul\ • noun 1 : a gift made as a token of good wishes or luck especially at the beginning of a new year 2 : something received first (as in a day of trading) and taken to be a token of good luck 3 a : a first installment b : a token or sample of what is to come : earnest , foretaste Examples: Celebrating the New Year in the Scottish tradition, Jessica gave out a handsel of one silver dollar coin to each of her nieces and nephews. “The lads, dressed like their fathers, seemed uncomfortable in their new clothes (many that day had received the handsel of their first pair of boots); and beside them, speaking not a word, wearing the white gown of their first communion lengthened for the occasion, were some … girls of fourteen or sixteen….” — Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary , 1856 Did you know? According to an old custom in the British Isles, the first Monday of the New Year...
每日一词：hark back（转自 韦氏词典）
原文链接 原文链接 Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for December 31, 2018 is: hark back • \HAHRK-BAK\ • verb 1 : to turn back to an earlier topic or circumstance 2 : to go back to something as an origin or source Examples: “In Tea With The Dames , [Maggie Smith is] joined by fellow dames Judi Dench, Joan Plowright, and Eileen Atkins; the women hark back on their early roles on stage and screen, talk about their ex-husbands and marriages….” — Hunter Harris, The New York Magazine , 26 Sept. 2018 “To stay connected with senior executives, she made heavy use of WhatsApp’s group-chat function and called her group Table Talk, an effort to hark back to those early days at her kitchen table.” — Sarah Ellison, Vanity Fair , March 2018 Did you know? Hark , a very old word meaning “to listen,” was used as a cry in hunting. The master of the hunt might cry “Hark! Forward!” or “Hark! Back!” The cries became set phrases, both as nouns and verbs. Thus, a “hark back” was a retracing...
每日一词：obdurate（转自 韦氏词典）
原文链接 原文链接 Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for December 30, 2018 is: obdurate • \AHB-duh-rut\ • adjective 1 a : stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing b : hardened in feelings 2 : resistant to persuasion or softening influences Examples: Obdurate lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have made it difficult for the state legislature to get anything done this term. “The emigrants were strong-willed and obdurate . Their dreams were based as much on imagination as on the writings and maps of land speculators and entrepreneurs.” — Edward Cuddihy, The Buffalo (New York) News , 1 Oct. 2017 Did you know? When you are confronted with someone obdurate, you may end up feeling dour . During the encounter, you may find that you need to be durable to keep your sanity intact. Maybe you will find such situations less stressful in the future if you can face them knowing that the words obdurate , dour , and durable are etymological kissing cousins. All of those words trace back to t...
每日一词：fulcrum（转自 韦氏词典）
原文链接 原文链接 Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for December 29, 2018 is: fulcrum • \FULL-krum\ • noun 1 a : prop ; specifically : the support about which a lever turns b : one that supplies capability for action 2 : a part of an animal that serves as a hinge or support Examples: “Normally, bending involves using the hip as a fulcrum , and erector spinae muscles to support our trunk. When Jackson leaned over, he transferred the fulcrum to the ankle, with the calf and Achilles tendon under strain.” — Jake Rossen, Mental Floss , 22 May 2018 “In 2014, then-Attorney General Greg Abbott issued a nonbinding opinion advising that bag bans are legal if they are not aimed at ‘solid waste management.’ That murky phrase, which appears in the Texas Health and Safety Code, has become the fulcrum for debate on the issue.” — Emma Platoff, The Texas Tribune , 22 June 2018 Did you know? Fulcrum , a word that means “bedpost” in Latin, derives from the verb fulcire , which means “to ...
每日一词：canorous（转自 韦氏词典）
原文链接 原文链接 Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for December 28, 2018 is: canorous • \kuh-NOR-us\ • adjective : pleasant sounding : melodious Examples: “His artistry, technical proficiency, and canorous melodies have an introspective yet uplifting feeling by virtue of the beauty and honesty that so naturally accompany the acoustic guitar.” — Kevin Gillies, Noozhawk (Santa Barbara, California), 26 Nov. 2018 “There is an element of truth to that, but Zephyr—such a canorous hippie-child name—sang a populist tune not found in any Beltway progressive songbook.” — Bill Kauffman, American Conservative , 1 Nov. 2014 Did you know? In Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821), the author Thomas de Quincey describes a manservant who, after accidentally letting a loaded trunk fall down a flight of stairs, “sang out a long, loud, and canorous peal of laughter.” Canorous typically describes things, such as church choirs or birds in the spring, that are a pleasure to li...