valetudinarian \val-uh-too-din-AIR-ee-un; -tyoo-\, noun:
1. A weak or sickly person, especially one morbidly concerned with his or her health.
adjective:
1. Sickly; weak; infirm.
2. Morbidly concerned with one's health.
He is the querulous bedridden valetudinarian complaining of his asthma or his hay fever, remarking with characteristic hyperbole that "every speck of dust suffocates me."
-- Oliver Conant, review of Marcel Proust, Selected Letters: Volume Two 1904-1909, edited by Philip Kolb, translated by Terrence Kilmartin, New York Times, December 17, 1989
All this from a wasted valetudinarian, who . . . once referred to "this long convalescence which is my life."
-- Michael Dirda, "Devil or Angel", Washington Post, March 31, 1996
Other than the Holy Scripture, he cared for no book as well as the book of decay, its truths written in the furrows scored on the brows of old men and women; in the sagging timbers of decrepit barns; in the lichenous masonry of derelict buildings; in the mangy fur of a valetudinarian lion.
-- Simon Schama, Rembrandt's Eyes
Valetudinarian derives from Latin valetudinarius, "sickly; an invalid," from valetudo, "state of health (good or ill)," from valere, "to be strong or well."
impecunious \im-pih-KYOO-nee-uhs\, adjective:
Not having money; habitually without money; poor.
Her father, Bronson, was a respected but impecunious New England transcendentalist who had 'no gift for money making', according to [Louisa May] Alcott's journal.'
-- "Blood and Thunder in Concord", New York Times, September 10, 1995
He had gotten to know Garibaldi during the impecunious soldier's last years and would send him woolen socks, underwear, and money.
-- Tag Gallagher, The Adventures of Roberto Rossellini
It may be urged that an impecunious defendant would be unable to bear the expense of an appeal and would have to let it go by default.
-- Charles C. Nott Jr., "Coddling the Criminal", The Atlantic, February 1911
Impecunious is derived from Latin im-, in-, "not" + pecuniosus, "rich," from pecunia, "property in cattle, hence money," from pecu, "livestock."
torpid \TOR-pid\, adjective:
1. Having lost motion or the power of exertion and feeling; numb; benumbed.
2. Dormant; hibernating or estivating.
3. Dull; sluggish; apathetic.
Canary Islanders are citizens of Spain, but geography asserts itself from time to time, as a reminder that this land will always be Africa's: the trade winds get interrupted by strong gusts from the east that bring hot dust and sometimes even torpid, wind-buffeted locusts.
-- Barbara Kingsolver, "Where the Map Stopped", New York Times, May 17, 1992
For more than twenty years--all my adult life--I have lived here: my great weight sunk, torpid in the heat, into this sagged chair on my rooftop patio.
-- Peggy Payne, Sister India
Some animals became torpid in winter, others were torpid in summer.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Conduct of Life
The debacle over signatures has roused the normally politically torpid Mayor, who dislikes pressing the flesh.
-- Jan Cienski, "Petition bungle robs Mayor of spot on ballot", National Post, July 30, 2002
It is a man's own fault . . . if his mind grows torpid in old age.
-- Samuel Johnson, quoted in James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, Life of Samuel Johnson
Torpid comes from Latin torpidus, "numb, sluggish," from torpere, "to be sluggish, inert, or numb."
grok \GRAWK\, transitive verb slang:
To understand, especially in a profound and intimate way. Slang.
If you want to grok the language, get your mitts on the new Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang."
-- San Jose Mercury News, July 22, 1994
For those who don't quite grok the Web, it can be an intimidating challenge.
-- New York Times, June 1, 1997
The slang word grok was coined by Robert A. Heinlein in the science fiction novel "Stranger in a Strange Land", where it is a Martian word meaning literally "to drink" and metaphorically "to be one with". It was adopted into the vocabulary of 1960's youth and hackish jargon, whence it has become a part of net culture.
comestible \kuh-MES-tuh-buhl\, adjective:
1. Suitable to be eaten; edible.
noun:
1. Something suitable to be eaten; food.
I came to Adria's lab expecting subtle combinations and rare ingredients, the real outer limit of the comestible.
-- Adrian Searle, "Spray-on sauces, caviar for astronauts and aerosols of wine. . .", The Guardian, April 6, 2001
No matter how many flip-flops the nutrition gurus may make in deciding whether a particular comestible will kill or cure, most Americans seem to trust their instincts and eat what they please.
-- Richard Martin, "Dollars to doughnuts", Nation's Restaurant News, May 29, 2000
This rare comestible calls for specially designed platters, holders, and forks, but how well worth their acquisition!
-- Samuel Chamberlain, Clémentine in the Kitchen
Both men are descended from the fourth Earl of Sandwich, who is credited with inventing the namesake comestible in the mid-l8th century.
-- Amanda Mosle Friedman, "Noble heir to sandwich inventor starts namesake delivery outfit", Nation's Restaurant News, April 23, 2001
Comestible comes from Late Latin comestibilis, from comestus, from comesus, past participle of comedere, "to eat up, to consume," from com-, intensive prefix + edere, "to eat."
sobriquet \SO-brih-kay; -ket; so-brih-KAY; -KET\, noun:
A nickname; an assumed name; an epithet.
In addition to his notorious amours, he became distinguished for a turbulent naval career, particularly for the storms he weathered, thus bringing him the sobriquet "Foulweather Jack".
-- Phyllis Grosskurth, Byron: The Flawed Angel
At a small reception on the occasion of my twenty-fifth anniversary in this position, my good friend Izzy Landes raised a glass and dubbed me the Curator of the Curators, a sobriquet I have worn with pride ever since.
-- Alfred Alcorn, Murder in the Museum of Man
There was an omnivorous intellect that won him the family sobriquet of Walking Encyclopedia.
-- Eric Liu, The Accidental Asian
Sobriquet is from the French, from Old French soubriquet, "a chuck under the chin, hence, an affront, a nickname."
numismatics \noo-miz-MAT-iks; -mis-; nyoo-\, noun:
the collection and study of money (and coins in particular).
If [the modern counterfeiter] is satisfied with a so-so product, perhaps hoping to pass it in a crowded fast-food restaurant or in a saloon's dim light, he can download images of genuine bills from the Internet, simply by getting access to the Web site of a numismatics club, then run off his own bills.
-- "Officials Wary of Wave of Computer Counterfeiters", New York Times, March 12, 1998
Numismatics...is, in the main, an auxiliary to the knowledge of the trade and mutual intercourse of the ancients.
-- J. Leitch
Numismatics ultimately derives from the Greek nomos, a custom or convention, which has the derivative nomisma, anything sanctioned by custom, especially the current State coin. It can also refer to the study and collection of medals.
genial \JEEN-yuhl; JEE-nee-uhl\, adjective:
1. [Obsolete] Pertaining to generation or marriage.
2. Friendly, warm; kindly; sympathetically cheerful and cheering.
3. Mild, pleasant; comfortable; favorable to life or growth.
The day before the operation, despite his paralysis, he had been his usual genial self, laughing and joking.
-- Ruth Brandon, Surreal Lives
Though the tattoo is rather forbidding, belying Giambi's genial nature, his teammates are all in favor of it.
-- "Body Art Inspires Giambi in Art of Hitting", San Francisco Chronicle, July 27, 1999
With its soothing pace and genial feel, Donegal . . . always has served as a convenient respite and outdoor playground for the Republic and much of Europe.
-- "Tourists look past 'troubles'", Chicago Sun-Times, February 22, 1998
She, like he, like all beings in this happy valley with its genial clime, goes always naked, stark staring, as someone's said, wearing nothing daylong but the shells and beads braided into her black hair.
-- Robert Coover, Ghost Town
Genial comes from Latin genialis, "relating to enjoyment; joyful," from genius, "guardian spirit; spirit of enjoyment."
raucous \RAWK-uhs\, adjective:
1. Unpleasantly loud and harsh; strident.
2. Disturbing the public peace; loud and rough.
Where yon wedged line the Nestor leads, Steering north with raucous cry.
-- "Poems", Ralph Waldo Emerson
Our culture may be degraded by the instant availability in new media of the raucous, the vulgar and the sensationalist.
-- "The Prize and the Price: The Social, Political and Cultural Consequences of the Digital Age", The New Statesman Media Lecture, July 6, 1999
Bill Haley may have made the first massive rock hit, and people such as Chuck Berry and Little Richard may have had an equally important creative impact on this raucous new American art form. But it was Elvis who defined the style and gave it an indelible image.
-- "Presley Gave Rock Its Style", New York Times, August 17, 1977
Shaking hands on the street in Newport, population 6,500, he drew raucous laughter from one group of women. What had he said that was so funny? I told him he had a great tan," one of them said. "And he said, 'You do, too."'
-- "Gore's N.H. canoe trip becomes political misadventure", San Jose Mercury News, July 23, 1999
Raucous comes from the Latin raucus, meaning hoarse; harsh sounding.
insouciant \in-SOO-see-uhnt\, adjective:
Marked by lighthearted unconcern or indifference; carefree; nonchalant.
The insouciant gingerbread man skips through the pages with glee, until he meets his . . . demise at the end.
-- Judith Constantinides, "The Gingerbread Man", School Library Journal, April 2002
They don't seem to care whether they become stars or not, and their irony . . . has a scoffing, insouciant feel.
-- Thomas Frank, "Pop music in the shadow of irony", Harper's Magazine, March 1998
The British right is not so rich in ideas and projects that it can afford to be insouciant about a new one.
-- John Lloyd, "The Anglosphere Project", New Statesman, March 13, 2000
Insouciant is from the French, from in-, "not" + souciant, "caring," present participle of soucier, "to trouble," from Latin sollicitare, "to disturb," from sollicitus, "anxious." The noun form is insouciance.
salubrious \suh-LOO-bree-us\, adjective:
Favorable to health; promoting health; healthful.
A physician warned him his health was precarious, so Montague returned to the United States, shelved his legal ambitions and searched for a salubrious climate where he might try farming.
-- "Teeing Off Into the Past At Oakhurst", New York Times, May 2, 1999
For years, her mother has maintained that the sea air has a salubrious effect on both her spirits and her vocal cords.
-- Anita Shreve, Fortune's Rocks
Uptown, however, the tanners' less salubrious quarter is notorious for its stench.
-- "Byzantium", Toronto Star, February 7, 1999
Salubrious is from Latin salubris, "healthful," from salus, "health."
jovial \JOH-vee-uhl\, adjective:
Merry; joyous; jolly; characterized by mirth or jollity.
One pupil of the sixteen-year-old Custer remembered him as "socially inclined," jovial, and full of life.
-- Louise Barnett, Touched by Fire
The Puritans took a dim view of the jovial, amiable cleric who liked to have a pot of ale at one of Purleigh's pubs.
-- Willard Sterne Randall, George Washington: A Life
He smiled, joked and at times seemed downright jovial.
-- "Piazza Booed Again (Till He Homers)", New York Times, August 22, 1998
Jovial ultimately derives from the Latin jovialis, "of or pertaining to Jupiter." (The planet Jupiter was thought to make those born under it joyful or jovial.)
desideratum \dih-sid-uh-RAY-tum; -RAH-\, noun;
plural desiderata:
Something desired or considered necessary.
No one in Berkeley -- at least, no one I consorted with -- thought art was for sissies, or that a pensionable job was the highest desideratum.
-- John Banville, "Just a dream some of us had", Irish Times, August 24, 1998
Immense wealth, and its lavish expenditure, fill the great house with all that can please the eye, or tempt the taste. Here, appetite, not food, is the great desideratum.
-- Frederick Douglass, My Bondage, My Freedom
A technical dictionary . . . is one of the desiderata in anatomy.
-- Alexander Monro, Essay on Comparative Anatomy
Desideratum is from Latin desideratum, "a thing desired," from desiderare, "to desire."
ersatz \AIR-sahts; UR-sats\, adjective:
Being a substitute or imitation, usually an inferior one.
Meanwhile, a poor copy was erected in the courtyard; many an unsuspecting traveler paid homage to that ersatz masterpiece.
-- Edith Pearlman, "Girl and Marble Boy", The Atlantic, December 29, 1999
All we can create in that way is an ersatz culture, the synthetic product of those factories we call variously universities, colleges or museums.
-- Sir Herbert Read, The Philosophy of Modern Art
Then there was the sheaf of hostile letters larded with ersatz sympathy, strained sarcasm or pure spite.
-- "Time for GAA to become a persuader", Irish Times, April 13, 1998
Ersatz derives from German Ersatz, "a substitute."
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