Word of the Day
effervescent
adjective
vivacious; merry; lively; sparkling.
More about effervescent
Effervescent is a buoyant adjective meaning 鈥渧ivacious; merry; lively; sparkling,鈥� as in 鈥淭he choir delivered an effervescent performance of favorite Christmas carols.鈥� Effervescent derives from Latin 别蹿蹿别谤惫脓蝉肠别谤别 鈥渢o boil (over); burst forth; seethe; rage.鈥� 贰蹿蹿别谤惫脓蝉肠别谤别 is composed of ef-, a variant of the prefix ex– 鈥渙ut of,鈥� and 蹿别谤惫脓蝉肠别谤别 “to start boiling,” from 蹿别谤惫脓谤别 鈥渢o be hot,鈥� ultimate source of English fervent 鈥渆nthusiastic, ardent.鈥� True to its Latin root, fervent originally meant 鈥渉ot, glowing鈥� in English, just as effervescent first meant 鈥済iving off bubbles of gas鈥� before evolving to its variously 鈥渂ubbly鈥� metaphorical senses. Effervescent entered English in the late 1600s.
how is effervescent used?
Yet his spirits are so聽effervescent聽that, with only a candle for fuel and only raw turnips for supper, he is able to lose himself in illusions of grandeur.
The book combines effervescent comedy and stinging critique, but its most arresting quality is the lively humanity of its characters.
More about 蹿濒芒苍别耻谤
贵濒芒苍别耻谤 鈥渋dler; dawdler; loafer鈥� is borrowed directly from French 蹿濒芒苍别耻谤, an agent noun of the verb 蹿濒芒苍别谤 鈥渢o stroll, saunter aimlessly; lounge.鈥� The ultimate origin of French 蹿濒芒苍别谤 is obscure. In 19th-century France, the 蹿濒芒苍别耻谤 was a figure for a type of wealthy, foppish man-about-town who leisurely wandered the boulevards of Paris and lounged at its caf茅s. In the early 1900s, German literary critic Walter Benjamin, inspired in great part by the writing of Charles Baudelaire, helped develop the 蹿濒芒苍别耻谤 into a symbol of the modern artist and writer, at once immersed in and alienated by the hustle and bustle of urban life. English borrowed another noun from French to describe the disposition of the 蹿濒芒苍别耻谤: 蹿濒芒苍别谤ie 鈥渋dleness, dawdling.鈥� 贵濒芒苍别耻谤 entered English in the mid-1800s.
how is 蹿濒芒苍别耻谤 used?
It was, after all, the age of the flaneur: a foppish, solvent young man who would roam the colonnades of Paris from dawn to dusk, idly though publicly observing the quotidian pathos of the working men around him.
Oscar Wilde is a flaneur, but not William Wordsworth. It happens in crowds, in great capital cities, in man-made environments.
deipnosophist
noun
a person who is an adept conversationalist at a meal.
More about deipnosophist
No dinner party is complete without a deipnosophist 鈥渁 person who is an adept conversationalist at a meal.鈥� This is the type of person who, at least as dictionary editors hope, regales fellow feasters with the origin of such an intriguing word as deipnosophist. Deipnosophist is based on 顿别颈辫苍辞蝉辞辫丑颈蝉迟补铆, the title of a literary work by Athenaeus, a Greek philosopher and rhetorician writing in Naucratis, Egypt, in the late 200s a.d. 顿别颈辫苍辞蝉辞辫丑颈蝉迟补铆 is the plural of 诲别颈辫苍辞蝉辞辫丑颈蝉迟岣梥, literally 鈥渁n expert in the affairs of the kitchen,鈥� and the work features a banquet where learned men discuss food and a wide range of other topics. 顿别颈辫苍辞蝉辞辫丑颈蝉迟岣梥 is formed on Greek 诲别卯辫苍辞苍 鈥渕eal, dinner鈥� and 蝉辞辫丑颈蝉迟岣梥 鈥渆xpert, wise person.鈥� 厂辞辫丑颈蝉迟岣梥 is the source of English sophist, which historically refers to a type of professional teacher in ancient Greece and later, a person who argues cleverly but speciously. 厂辞辫丑颈蝉迟岣梥 is related to Greek 蝉辞辫丑铆补 鈥渟kill, wisdom,鈥� source of the –sophy in philosophy. Deipnosophist is recorded in English by the 1600s.
how is deipnosophist used?
Mr. MacPherson, a self-described 鈥�deipnosophist鈥� (a fancy word for an adept dinner conversationalist), said the hearth is a good place to start for putting guests at ease.
Its author, one Upton Uxbridge Underwood (1881鈥�1937), was a deipnosophist, clubman, and literary miscellanist with a special interest in tonsorial subjects.