Monday, November 22, 2004

Words the H and I found in the Sunday Chronicle last night. All definitions paraphrased from the Oxford English Dictionary (what else?)

I am delighted that the Chron hasn't sold itself to the lowest-common-denominator-reader. I enjoy being forced to look up words.

Febrile = feverish

"...the angry tone of the narrator and the febrile quality..."

Coruscating = sparkly

"...the ill-resolved election in hour history and that its enormous and coruscating success..."

I actually now recall seeing this word in Mark Twain's "Roughing It" but I'd never seen it refer to a "success." He used it in describing molten lava in Hawaii.

encomia = a flattering or or formal expression of praise

"As the many encomia on the recent death of..."

avatar = incarnation of a hindu deity.

Hmm, can't find the quote. I have seen this word on a storefront in down town flip flop.

peripatetic = itinerant or travelling

[caption] "Paripatetic designer Karl Lagerfeld"

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