12Feb Thursday, February 12, 2009 – Froward
Froward \FROH-werd\, adjective:
not easily managed; contrary
The mule is a froward animal.
c. 1300, Old English fromweard “turned from or away,” from from + -weard. The opposite of toward, it was Latin pervertus in early translations of the Psalms, and also meant “about to depart, departing,” and “doomed to die.”
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for froward
By now, you [...]
01Feb Sunday, February 1, 2009 – Victuals
Looks like Dictionary.com aborted their alphabetical Word of the Day pattern mid-stream. Weird.
Victuals \VIT-uhlz\, noun:
food or provisions, esp. for humans
Before the hurricane hit, we went to the store for victuals.
c 1303, vitaylle (singular), from Anglo-French and Old French vitaille, from Late Latin victualia “provisions,” noun use of plural of victualis “of nourishment,” from victus “livelihood, [...]
31Jan Saturday, January 31, 2009 – Canine
canine \KEY-nahyn\, adjective:
1. of or like a dog or member of the dog family
2. any animal belonging to a group of meat-eaters including dogs, foxes, and wolves
3. pertaining to a canine tooth
4. one of the four teeth next to the incisors; cuspid
Several police departments with canine squads similar in size to the Prince George’s unit [...]
31Jan Friday, January 30, 2009 – Bemoan
Here’s the word, but there was just no fun to be had on YouTube for this word, and I’m too ill to go look for something random. So I’m bemoaning the lack of funny and my poor health. Better luck tomorrow.
Bemoan \bi-MOHN\, verb:
to moan about or weep for; mourn
The tower’s approval came despite opposition from [...]
29Jan Thursday, January 29, 2009 – Acclaim
“What’s this?” you ask! “A Tube of the Day where the post date ACTUALLY coincides with the email date?!” you utter in astonished disbelief. “And where are all of my intervening words? I’m missing all of November and December and most of January!”
It’s true. I noticed that Dictionary.com has started choosing their words of the [...]
30Dec Friday, October 31, 2008 – Gloaming
Gloaming \GLOH-ming\, noun:
Twilight; dusk.
The children squealed and waved and smiled, their teeth flashing white in the gloaming.
– Evan Thomas, Robert Kennedy: His Life
It was the gloaming, when a man cannot make out if the nebulous figure he glimpses in the shadows is angel or demon, when the face of evening is stained by red clouds [...]
30Dec Thursday, October 30, 2008 – Hubris
Hubris \HYOO-bruhs\, noun:
Overbearing pride or presumption.
During his long tenure in the financial world, Friedman has watched dozens of his competitors’ businesses killed by hubris born of success rather than by unsound business decisions or adverse market conditions.
– Lisa Endlich, Goldman Sachs: The Culture of Success
This is the actor’s hubris, to imagine the world possessed of [...]
30Dec Wednesday, October 29, 2008 – Bivouac
Bivouac \BIV-wak, BIV-uh-wak\, noun:
1. An encampment for the night, usually under little or no shelter.
2. To encamp for the night, usually under little or no shelter.
Rob had made his emergency bivouac just below the South Summit.
– David Breashears, “Death on the mountain”, The Observer, March 30, 2003
They were stopped by savage winds and forced to [...]
30Dec Tuesday, October 28, 2008 – Execrable
There was apparently some kind of mix-up that caused there not to be a word for yesterday.
Execrable \EK-sih-kruh-buhl\, adjective:
1. Deserving to be execrated; detestable; abominable.
2. Extremely bad; of very poor quality; very inferior.
His human-rights record was abysmal. His relations with Washington were adversarial. He rivaled Zimbabwe’s execrable Robert Mugabe for the title “Africa’s Saddam.”
– James [...]
22Nov Sunday, October 26, 2008 – Genuflect
Genuflect \JEN-yuh-flekt\, intransitive verb:
1. To bend the knee or touch one knee to the ground, as in worship.
2. To be servilely respectful or obedient; to grovel.
After graduation I talked my way into a job at Ionic Development Corporation, a legendary place in Cambridge on the Charles River, a huge brick building with a lobby the [...]

