Word of the Day
avow
verb (used with object)
to declare frankly or openly; own; acknowledge; confess; admit: He avowed himself an opponent of all alliances.
More about avow
Avow, 鈥渢o declare openly, acknowledge, admit,鈥� has always had a formal air, a solemnity about it. It comes from Middle English avouen, advouen, awouen, from Old French avo(u)er, a regular phonetic development of Latin 补诲惫辞肠腻谤别 鈥渢o call upon, summon (assistance), convoke鈥� (whose past participle 补诲惫辞肠腻迟耻蝉 is the source of the English verb and noun advocate). 础诲惫辞肠腻谤别 is composed of the overworked preposition and prefix ad, ad- 鈥渢o, toward鈥� and the verb 惫辞肠腻谤别 鈥渢o call,鈥� a derivative of the noun vox, stem 惫艒肠- 鈥渧oice, human voice.鈥� Avow entered English in the 13th century.
how is avow used?
Search for the cause, find the impetus that bids you write. Put it to this test: Does it stretch out its roots in the deepest place of your heart? Can you avow that you would die if you were forbidden to write?
Scott achieved fame (and a baronetcy) as a poet, but he did not avow authorship of his novels until relatively late in his career.
avow
More about illation
Illation, 鈥渄rawing an inference or conclusion,鈥� is one of the meanings of the Late Latin noun 颈濒濒腻迟颈艒 (inflectional stem 颈濒濒腻迟颈艒n-), literally, 鈥渁 carrying in, a bringing in鈥�; its other meanings include 鈥渂urial, interment鈥� and 鈥渋mpost or duty.鈥� 滨濒濒腻迟颈艒 is the noun that corresponds to the Latin verb inferre 鈥渢o bring, bring into, conclude, infer.鈥� Just as English uses better and best as the comparative and superlative of good, and went as the past tense of go (a process called suppletion), so Latin uses 濒腻迟耻蝉 as the past participle of ferre and its derivatives; thus the verbal noun of the verb inferre is 颈濒濒腻迟颈艒 (or 颈苍濒腻迟颈艒). Illation entered English in the 16th century.
how is illation used?
Such an illation seems to Croce without foundation and disastrous for the authentic history of that land.
For those that are not men of art, not knowing the true forms of syllogism, nor the reasons of them, cannot know whether they are made in right and conclusive modes and figures or no, and so are not at all helped by the forms they are put into; though by them the natural order, wherein the mind could judge of their respective connexion, being disturbed, renders the illation much more uncertain than without them.
illation
supernumerary
adjective
being in excess of the usual, proper, or prescribed number; additional; extra.
More about supernumerary
Supernumerary comes from the Latin adjective 蝉耻辫别谤苍耻尘别谤腻谤颈耻蝉 鈥�(of soldiers) appointed to a legion after its numbers have been completed,鈥� a compound of the preposition and prefix super, super– 鈥渁bove, higher, more than,鈥� the noun numerus 鈥渘umerical sum, number,鈥� and the adjective and noun suffix –腻谤颈耻蝉. In Late Latin (St. Augustine of Hippo), 蝉耻辫别谤苍耻尘别谤腻谤颈耻蝉 also meant 鈥渁dditional鈥� (adjective) and finally the noun 鈥渁n additional person.鈥� The English sense 鈥渆xtra person; employee, crew member, or officer鈥� dates from the 17th century; the English sense 鈥減erson appearing on stage in a nonspeaking role鈥� dates from the mid-18th century. Supernumerary entered English in the early 17th century.
how is supernumerary used?
But our century鈥檚 revelations of unthinkable largeness and unimaginable smallness, of abysmal stretches of geological time when we were nothing, of supernumerary galaxies and indeterminate subatomic behavior, of a kind of mad mathematical violence at the heart of matter have scorched us deeper than we know.
So the housekeeper (it鈥檚 usually a she) will stack up the dishes, put the cart in the hallway, clean up the toast crumbs, and then proceed to the rest of her work of stripping the beds, picking up the supernumerary pillows on the floor, wiping the butter stains off the remote, and leaving the bathroom, now with coffee spills, gleaming.
supernumerary