d'oh
An exclamation that usually follows the sudden realization that you did something stupid.
Examples:
1) Two plus two is five. D'oh! I mean four! 2) Call 9-1-1! What's the number? D'oh!
Etymology: Homer Simpson, the notorious cartoon family man, is given credit for popularizing this expression. Feel free to use it any time you do something dumb.


da bomb

• da
• bomb
• phat
• cool
• fat

Excellent, the best.
Examples:
1) Michael Jordan was da bomb - he was the greatest basketball player ever! 2) The new Hudson Jazz CD is da bomb. I listen to it every day!
Etymology:
'Da bomb' is African-American slang that became popular in the 1990s. 'Da' is an informal way to say 'the', and 'bomb' refers to something very powerful and explosive. Synonym: phat; fat; cool


daedal
[DEE-duhl] 1. Complex or ingenious in form or function; intricate. 2. Skillful; artistic; ingenious.
Examples:
1) Most Web-site designers realize that large image maps and daedal layouts are to be avoided, and the leading World Wide Web designers have reacted to users' objections to highly graphical, slow sites by using uncluttered, easy-to-use layouts. ("Fixing Web-site usability", InfoWorld <http://www.infoworld.com/>, December 15, 1997)
2) He gathered toward the end of his life a very extensive collection of illustrated books and illuminated manuscripts, and took heightened pleasure in their daedal patterns as his own strength declined. (Florence S. Boos, preface to "The Collected Letters of William Morris")
3) I sang of the dancing stars, I sang of the daedal earth, And of heaven, and the giant wars, And love, and death, and birth. (Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Hymn Of Pan")
Etymology:
"Daedal" comes from Latin "daedalus" ("cunningly wrought"), from Greek "daidalos" ("skillful, cunningly created").



daisy cutter

• daisy
• cutter
• fragmentation bomb
• BLU-82B
• antipersonnel bomb
• anti-personnel bomb
• fragmentation
• antipersonnel
• anti-personnel
• bomb
• Big Blu
• BLU-82
• BLU82
• Big
• Blu
• BLU

1. A horse that hardly lifts its feet off the ground while running.
2. (sports slang) A batted or served ball that skims along near the ground (in cricket, football, tennis, etc.); a low shot that skids or takes a very low bounce, usually because of backspin.
Example:
Some days the daisy cutters are going to be bound outs and the line drives just long outs. The game is still the game and we should remember to treasure it. (Bob "Droopy Drawers" Sampson, "Everything I needed to know about vintage base ball I learned from the Grinders")
3. (mil. slang) A bomb with only 10 to 20 per cent explosive and the remainder consisting of casings designed to break into many small high-velocity fragments; most effective against troops and vehicles.
Also: Daisy Cutter, Daisy cutter.
Example:
The BLU-82B/C-130 weapon system, nicknamed Commando Vault in Vietnam and Daisy Cutter in Afghanistan, is a high altitude delivery of 15,000 pound conventional bomb, delivered from an MC-130 since it is far too heavy for the bomb racks on any bomber or attack aircraft.
(<http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/dumb/blu-82.htm>)
Synonyms:
fragmentation bomb, antipersonnel bomb, anti-personnel bomb, Big Blu, BLU-82, BLU82, BLU-82B.
History:
The "daisy cutter" is commonly reported to be a thermobaric bomb, but this is not the case. The BLU-82B is a conventional explosive device incorporating both agent and oxidizer (ammonium nitrate, aluminum powder, and polystyrene). It is fitted with a fuse extension to provide detonation 1 to 6 feet (0.3 to 2 m) above ground, minimizing the cratering effect and maximizing the blast effect. The daisy cutter was originally used to create an instant clearing in dense jungle for a helicopter landing zones. It can also be used to clear minefields of pressure sensitive mines or as an anti-personnel bomb relying on its extreme blast effects. The United States Air Force has a 15,000 lb (6.8 t) daisy cutter bomb, the BLU-82, which must be parachute launched from the back of a transport plane, typically a C-130, because of its large size. The Air Force was lobbying for the development of an even larger, 30,000 lb (13.6 t) weapon, which would be deployed from a traditional bomber (i.e. B-52, B-2, B1).
Daisy cutter bombs were first used by the United States during the Vietnam War. The concept for the bomb is attributed to an Air America employee who grasped the idea during a night of drinking. Shortly thereafter, his drinking buddy, a Royal Lao Air Force airman at Louang Phrabang, gathered the needed materials for the prototype and started welding used aircraft gun barrels directly into the nose fuse cavity of bombs.
When used gun barrels were in short supply, water pipes were requisitioned for the task. The welded pipe versions had several adverse effects, such as vibration, pipe weld separation / breakage while in flight and wind drag due to the barrels not being capable of being aligned perfectly, so that phase of development eventually gave way to threaded steel water pipes screwed into the nose cavity of the bombs, leaving only the tail fuse for detonation.
The Daisy Cutter became better known to the public when it was used in the 2001 U.S. Attack on Afghanistan.


dander

• ferment

[DAN-der]
1. Dandruff; specifically: minute scales from hair, feathers, or skin that may be allergenic.
2. Anger, temper.
Example:
Seeing his ex-girlfriend with another guy only a week after they broke up really got Stan's dander up.
Etymology:
How did "dander" acquire its "anger" sense? Etymologists have come up with a few possibilities, but nothing is known for sure. Some experts have proposed, tongue-in-cheek, that the meaning stems from the image of an angry person tearing up his or her hair by the fistful, scattering dandruff in the process. Some think it may come from a West Indian word "dander," which refers to a kind of ferment and suggests "rising" anger (in English, "ferment" can mean either "an agent capable of causing fermentation" or "a state of unrest or excitement"). Yet another proposed possibility is that the anger sense was imported to America by early Dutch colonists and is from their phrase "op donderen," meaning "to burst into a sudden rage."


dapple
[DAP-uhl]
noun
1. A small contrasting spot or blotch.
2. A mottled appearance, especially of the coat of an animal (as a horse).
transitive verb
3. To mark with patches of a color or shade; to spot.
intransitive verb
4. To become dappled.
adjective
5. Marked with contrasting patches or spots; dappled.
Examples:
1) Look at... his cows with their comic camouflage dapples .... (Arthur C. Danto, "Sometimes Red," ArtForum, January 2002)
2) 70 diamond- and hexagonal-shaped holes, 35 between the North End ramp and the northbound lanes, and 35 between the northbound and southbound lanes, allow light to filter through and dapple the river below. (Raphael Lewis, "A walk into the future," Boston Globe, May 9, 2002)
3) Gentle shafts of sunlight... dapple the grass. (Gail Sheehy, "Hillary's Choice")
Etymology:
"Dapple" derives from Old Norse "depill" ("a spot").


dark horse

• dark
• horse

[DARK-HORSS]
1. A usually little known contender (as a racehorse) that makes an unexpectedly good showing.
Example:
The small-budget independent film emerged as a dark horse, garnering more awards than any of the big-budget Hollywood favorites.
2. An entrant in a contest that is judged unlikely to succeed.
3. A political candidate unexpectedly nominated usually as a compromise between factions.
History:
Sometimes in a horse race a horse whose name and ability are not widely known puts on a surprisingly good show and defeats its more famous rivals. Such a horse is called "dark," not because of its color (which might be anything), but because of its obscurity. Since the 19th century, the term "dark horse" has been extended from racehorses to obscure competitors who do unexpectedly well in contests of other kinds. Now it is often applied to candidates for elected office whose chances appear to be poor.


dark-horse candidate

• dark horse
• candidate
• dark
• horse

A contestant about whom little is known and who wins unexpectedly.
Example:
Everyone was surprised when Pedro won the election because he was a dark-horse candidate.
Synonym: dark horse
Etymology:
There are at least three possible origins to this idiom and all come from horse racing in the early 1800s. The first is that a dark horse was a fast runner whose speed was kept secret ("dark") until the race started, and who, to everyone's surprise, won. The second is that an owner of a fast horse sometimes dyed its hair black as a disguise before a big race. The third is that a certain American horse trader fooled people by disguising his fast black stallion as an ordinary saddle horse. He rode the horse into town, arranged for a race, took bets on it, and always won. The term was introduced into American politics with the surprise win of President James Polk in 1844.

dauntless

• undaunted
• undauntable

[DAWNT-lus]
Fearless, undaunted.
Example:
Following a defeat by the French, dauntless George Washington wrote, "I luckily escap'd with't a wound tho' I had four Bullets through my Coat and two Horses shot under me." (Letter to Robert Dinwiddie, July 18, 1755)
History, related words:
The history of the world is peopled with dauntless men and women who refused to be subdued or "tamed" by fear. The word "dauntless" can be traced back to Latin "domare," meaning "to tame" or "to subdue." When the verb "daunt" (a "domare" descendant borrowed by way of Anglo-French) was first used in the 14th century, it shared these meanings. The now-obsolete "tame" sense referred to the taming or breaking of wild animals (particularly horses). An "undaunted" horse was an unbroken horse. Not until the late 16th century did we use "undaunted" with the meaning "undiscouraged and courageously resolute" to describe people. By then, such lionhearted souls could also be described as "undauntable," and finally, in "Henry VI", Part 3, Shakespeare gave us "dauntless."


de-policing

• depolicing
• selective disengagement
• selective
• disengagement
• tactical detachment
• tactical
• detachment
• selective enforcement
• enforcement

A law enforcement strategy in which police avoid accusations of racial profiling by ignoring traffic violations and other petty crimes committed by members of visible minorities. Also: depolicing.
Examples:
1) But as new leaders were promising action, rank-and-file officers were reacting bitterly, saying if they were faulted for doing their job, they'd stop all proactive policing. It's a practice known as "de-policing." During a February, 2001 riot in Seattle, when police were accused of taking a hands-off approach, one officer was quoted as saying: "Parking under a shady tree to work on a crossword puzzle is a great alternative to being labelled a racist and being dragged through an inquest, a review board, an FBI and U.S. attorney investigation and lawsuit." (Michelle Shephard, "Seattle offers insights into police profiling", Toronto Star, February 9, 2003)
2) Three out of four police departments in Massachusetts have engaged in racial profiling against nonwhite drivers, state Public Safety Secretary Edward A. Flynn is expected to report today. ... The attorney for the state's police chiefs association predicted that many police officers will respond to Flynn's ruling by "de-policing," doing fewer traffic stops lest they give more ammunition to their critics. (Bill Dedman, "Racial profiling is confirmed", The Boston Globe, May 4, 2004)
Etymology, synonyms, difference:
"De-policing" = "de" + "police" + suff. "-ing".
"De" - L. adv. and prep. meaning "down from, off, concerning; counter". Used as a prefix in Eng., meaning "counter; reduce; remove; reverse; derive".
"Police" - c.1530, from M.Fr. "police" (1477), from L. "politia" ("civil administration"), from Gk. "polis" ("city"). Still used in Eng. for "civil administration" until mid-19c.; application to "administration of public order" (1716) is from Fr., and originally referred to France or other foreign nations. The verb "to keep order by means of police" is from 1841.
"De-policing" is also sometimes called "selective disengagement" (2001) or "tactical detachment" (2001). A broader term is "selective enforcement" (1971), which means ignoring misdemeanors to concentrate on major crimes.


dead duck

• dead
• duck

1. A person who is ruined; person lacking good prospects; someone in a hopeless situation or condition.
Example:
He is a dead duck. When the police find him he will have to go to jail.
2. A person or project unlikely to continue or survive.
Example:
When Sam finds out that Laura spilled the goldfish bowl, she's a dead duck.
3. Something useless, or worthless, or utterly without promise.
Example:
The idea of another TV channel is now a dead duck.
4. Failure.
Example:
He finally admitted that the legislation was a dead duck.
History:
This expression dates from the mid- to late-1800s. "Dead" has often referred to an idea, plan, project, or person that is ruined, or hopeless. "Duck" added alliteration to help the saying become popular.

dear John letter

• "dear John" letter
• 'dear John' letter
• "dear John"
• 'dear John'
• dear John
• letter
• dear
• John

a letter written to end a romantic relationship.
Etymology:
The word must have come from the time of World War II when a GI would
receive a letter from his girl back home telling him he was no longer her first choice. Some people think that a song on the theme of receiving a "Dear John" letter was the origin of the phrase. However, online sources say it appeared only in 1953, several years after the phrase had become established. A more plausible source is supposed to be a pre-WW2 radio programme called "Dear John", starring Irene Rich, which was presented as a letter by a gossipy female character to her never-identified romantic interest and which opened with these words. It's conceivable this played a part in the genesis of the term.


dearth
[DERTH]
1. Scarcity that makes dear; specifically: famine.
2. An inadequate supply; lack.
Example:
Teri had forgotten to bring a book, and the dearth of reading material in her uncle's house had her visiting the town library the first morning of her stay.
Etymology:
The facts about the history of the word "dearth" are quite simple: the word derives from the Middle English form "derthe," which has the same meaning as our modern term. That Middle English form is assumed to have developed from an Old English form that was probably spelled "dierth" and was related to "deore," the Old English form that gave us the word "dear." ("Dear" also once meant "scarce," but that sense of the word is now obsolete.) Some form of "dearth" has been used to describe things that are in short supply since at least the 13th century, when it often referred to a shortage of food.


debilitate

• enfeeble

to impair the strength of.
Example:
After his wildly successful first novel, Alistair was so debilitated by a severe case of writer's block that he didn't produce another publishable work for ten years.
Etymology:
From the Latin word for "weak" - "debilis".
Synonyms: enfeeble;
undermine, sap, cripple, disable.
"Debilitate", "enfeeble", "undermine", "sap", "cripple", and "disable" all share in common the general sense "to weaken". But "debilitate" packs a potent punch (see Etymology). Often used of disease or something that strikes like a disease or illness, "debilitate" might suggest a temporary impairment, but a pervasive one. "Enfeeble", a very close synonym of "debilitate", connotes a pitiable, but often reversible, condition of weakness and helplessness. "Undermine" and "sap" suggest a weakening by something working surreptitiously and insidiously. "Cripple" implies causing a serious loss of functioning power through damaging or removing an essential part or element, while "disable" usually suggests a sudden crippling.


debouch

• emerge
• issue
• discharge
• buccal
• embouchure
• debouchment

1. To cause to emerge or issue.
Synonym: discharge.
2. To march out into open ground.
Synonyms: emerge, issue.
Examples:
1) When the mill hands hassled Pete at the Manchester Cafe, he took off his apron, debouched from behind the counter and beat them senseless. (Richard Rhodes, "Why They Kill")
2) Bangladesh, one of the most populous spots on earth, is virtually the delta of the Brahmaputra and Ganga river systems, where numerous streams and rivers debouch to the Bay of Bengal. ("Blood on the Border," Times of India", April 23, 2001)
3) . . . one of those ancient towns of central France where the streets wind upward from the railway track, through scowling walls of medievalism, until they debouch in the square outside the cathedral door, surveyed by huge stone animals from the cathedral tower and prowled around on Sunday mornings by cats and desultory tourists. (Jan Morris, "Fifty Years of Europe")
4) At their commander's signal, the soldiers debouched from the jungle into the dangerous open terrain.
Etymology:
"Debouch" first appeared in English in the 18th century. It derives from a French verb formed from the Latin prefix "de-" ("out of", "from") and the noun "bouche" ("mouth"), which itself derives ultimately from the Latin "bucca" ("cheek, mouth"). "Debouch" is often used in military contexts to refer to the action of troops proceeding from a closed space to an open one. It is also used frequently to refer to the emergence of anything from a mouth, such as water passing through the mouth of a river into an ocean. The word's ancestors have also given us the adjective "buccal" ("of or relating to the mouth") and the noun "embouchure" (the mouthpiece of a musical instrument or the position of the mouth when playing one). The noun form is "debouchment".

decal
a design prepared on special paper for transfer to another surface
Etymology:
From French "decalcomanie", which was created in the early 1860s to refer to the craze for decorating objects with transfers (it combines "decalquer", to transport a tracing, with "manie", a mania or craze).

decalcomania
the art or process of transferring pictures and designs to china, glass, marble, etc., and permanently fixing them thereto.
Etymology:
Fr. décalcomanie.

decry

• disparage
• depreciate
• belittle

[dih-KRYE]
1. To depreciate (as a coin) officially or publicly.
2. To express strong disapproval of.
Example sentence:
My grandmother decried the laziness and disobedience that she insisted was becoming the norm among young people today.
Etymology, synonyms, more examples:
"Decry," "depreciate," "disparage," and "belittle" all mean "to express a low opinion of something," but there are also some subtle differences in their use. "Decry," which is a descendant of the Old French verb "crier," meaning "to cry," implies open condemnation with intent to discredit ("He decried her defeatist attitude"). "Depreciate" implies that something is being represented as having less value than commonly believed ("Critics depreciated his plays for being unabashedly sentimental"). "Disparage" implies depreciation by indirect means, such as slighting or harmful comparison ("She disparaged polo as a game for the rich"). "Belittle" usually suggests a contemptuous or envious attitude ("He belittled the achievements of others").


defalcation

• falx

1. the act or an instance of embezzling
Example:
"'She made off with the money, an act of defalcation that disqualifies her from receiving a bankruptcy discharge,' the judge ruled." ("Orlando Sentinel", March 21, 2004)
2. a failure to meet a promise or an expectation
History:
"The tea table shall be set forth every morning with its customary bill of fare, and without any manner of defalcation." No reference to embezzlement there! This line, from a 1712 issue of "Spectator" magazine, is an example of the earliest, and now archaic, sense of "defalcation", which is simply defined as "curtailment". "Defalcation" is ultimately from the Latin word "falx", meaning "sickle" (a tool for cutting), and it has been a part of English since the 1400s. It was used early on of monetary cutbacks (as in "a defalcation in their wages"), and by the 1600s it was used of most any sort of financial reversal (as in "a defalcation of public revenues"). Not till the mid-1800s, however, did "defalcation" refer to breaches of trust that cause a financial loss, or, specifically, to embezzlement.

defenestrate

• defenestration

[dee-FEN-uh-strayt]
To throw out of a window.
Examples:
1) Some of his apparent chums . . . would still happily defenestrate him if they caught him near a window. (Andrew Marr, "No option bar the radical one," Independent, July 5, 1994)
2) I defenestrated a clock to see if time flies! (Lane Smith, "quoted in Who's News," Time for Kids, September 25, 1998)
3) A woman, driven to fury by the manner in which her lover prefers to lavish his attention on a match on the telly rather than her, starts to throw his possessions out of the window. He's finally moved to stop her when she tries to defenestrate his new Puma boots. (Jim White, "Budgets substantial enough to buy most of the clubs in the Endsleigh," Independent, April 6, 1996)
Etymology, related forms:
"Defenestrate" is derived from Latin "de-" ("out of") + "fenestra" ("window"). The noun form is "defenestration".


deflagrate

• detonate

[DEF-luh-grayt]
1. To burn rapidly with intense heat and sparks being given off.
2. To cause to burn in such a manner.
Example:
Certain materials, such as black powder, will deflagrate rather than cause a violent explosion when they are ignited.
History, related words:
"Deflagrate" combines the Latin verb "flagrare," meaning "to burn," with the Latin prefix "de-," meaning "down" or "away." "Flagrare" is also an ancestor of such words as "conflagration" and "flagrant" and is distantly related to "fulgent" and "flame." In the field of explosives, "deflagrate" is used to describe the burning of fuel accelerated by the expansion of gasses under the pressure of containment, which causes the containing vessel to break apart. In comparison, the term "detonate" (from the Latin "tonare," meaning "to thunder") refers to an instant, violent explosion that results when shock waves pass through molecules and displace them at supersonic speed. "Deflagrate" has been making sparks in English since about 1727, and "detonate" burst onto the scene a couple of years later.


deign
[DAYN]
To think worthy; to condescend (followed by an infinitive); to condescend to give or bestow; to stoop to furnish; to grant.
Examples:
1) Not until I pour vodka on his shirt does he deign to acknowledge my existence. (Jay McInerney, "Model Behavior")
2) Maybe the President does not deign to read op-ed pages, but his speechwriters surely do. (William Safire, "The Wrong Way", New York Times, June 14, 1999)
3) Like most healthy, normal people (if you deign to categorize yourself that way), you are probably fraught with worry so intense these days you are sleeping standing up with your eyes open. (Lisa Napoli, "Every Little Thing's Gonna Be All Right!", New York Times, December 14, 1996)
Etymology:
"Deign" comes from Old French "deignier" ("to regard as worthy"), from Latin "dignari", from "dignus" ("worthy"). It is related to "dignity" - "the quality or state of being worthy".


deipnosophist
[dyp-NOS-uh-fist]
Someone who is skilled in table talk.
Example:
At the age of six his future as a deipnosophist seemed certain. Guzzling filched apples he loved to prattle. Hogging the pie he invariably piped up and rattled on. (Ellis Sharp, "The Bloating of Nellcock")
Etymology:
"Deipnosophist" comes from the title of a work written by the Greek Athenaeus in about 228 AD, "Deipnosophistai", in which a number of wise men sit at a dinner table and discuss a wide range of topics. It is derived from "deipnon" ("dinner") + "sophistas" ("a clever or wise man").


delate

• defer

[dih-LAYT]
1. To accuse, denounce.
2. To report, relate.
Example:
In that year Archbishop Blackadder of Glasgow delated some thirty heretics to James IV who let the matter go with a jest. (J.D. Mackie, "A History of Scotland")
History, related words:
To "delate" someone is to "hand down" that person to a court of law. In Latin, "delatus" is the unlikely-looking past participle of "deferre," meaning "to bring down, report, or accuse," which in turn comes from "ferre," meaning "to carry." Not surprisingly, the word "defer," meaning "to yield to the opinion or wishes of another," can also be traced back to "deferre." At one time, in fact, "defer" and "delate" had parallel meanings (both could mean "to carry down or away" or "to offer for acceptance"), but those senses are now obsolete. Today, you are most likely to encounter "delate" or its relatives "delation" and "delator" in the context of medieval tribunals, although the words can also relate to modern ecclesiastical tribunals.


delectation
Great pleasure; delight, enjoyment.
Examples:
1) In the eighteenth century, the Qing emperor, Qianlong, created . . . a park for his own delectation, full of diminutive Chinese landmarks, so that he could canter round his whole kingdom without leaving home. (Kate Lowe and Eugene McLaughlin, "Dollars and dim sum," History Today, June 1995)
2) At other times she'll get so worked up by some pet poeticism that she forgets she's not writing just for her own delectation. (David Klinghoffer, "Black madonna," National Review, February 9, 1998)
3) Animals are not puppets, put on earth for our delectation. (Colin Tudge, "Why this scene is unnatural," New Statesman, February 18, 2002)
Etymology:
"Delectation" derives from Latin "delectatio", from the past participle of "delectare" - "to please."


deliberative poll

• deliberative
• poll
• deliberative polling
• polling

An opinion poll conducted after respondents have been given information related to the poll's issues, as well as time to discuss and deliberate upon the information; deliberative opinion poll.
(pp.) deliberative polling
Examples:
1) After choosing a representative national sample of more than 700 people, political scientists conducted what is called a deliberative poll. They created a group of well-informed voters by giving them home computers and exposing them to the candidates' commercials and policy positions. These voters, using microphones with the computers, discussed the candidates and the issues in small groups that met online once a week, starting in January on the day of the Iowa caucuses. (John Tierney, "Edwards Wins: A Theory Tested," The New York Times, May 2, 2004)
2) Pittsburgh was one of 10 communities across the country that took part yesterday in an experiment in "deliberative polling", an effort to determine how much public opinion changes on issues when voters are provided information about those issues. Voters in Pittsburgh; Baton Rouge, La.; Green Bay, Wis.; Minneapolis; Sarasota Fla.; Rochester N.Y.; Seattle; Kansas City; San Diego; and Kearney, Neb. were asked their opinions on questions pertaining to national security and international trade policy before spending a day discussing these issues in a small group and asking questions of an expert panel. They were then polled again. Respondents nationwide were less likely to support the war in Iraq and less likely to support free trade at the end of the deliberations. At the beginning of the deliberative poll, 43 percent agreed that "the war in Iraq has gotten in the way of the war on terror," while 51 percent disagreed. In the final poll, 55 percent agreed and only 33 percent disagreed. (Jack Kelly, "Information changes minds," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania), January 25, 2004)
3) The PBS National Issues Convention is the first national attempt to create a "deliberative opinion poll", a concept originally advanced in 1988 by James Fishkin, professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin. "A deliberative opinion poll models what people would think if they had adequate information on the issues and the candidates", explained Fishkin. Corning at the start of the presidential selection season, "a deliberative opinion poll based on face-to-face interaction with the candidates offers a dramatic alternative to shrinking sound bites and voter inattention", Fishkin said. ("Austin, Texas Chosen As 'New Launching Pad' For 1992 Presidential Election," PR Newswire, July 11, 1991)


deliquesce
[del-ih-KWES]
1. To melt away or to disappear as if by melting.
2. (Chemistry) To dissolve gradually and become liquid by attracting and absorbing moisture from the air, as certain salts, acids, and alkalies.
3. To become fluid or soft with age, as certain fungi.
4. To form many small divisions or branches; used especially of the veins of a leaf.
Examples:
1) Now it's high summer, the very high point of the high season, and I've just struggled back from Santa Eulalia with the weekly shop, most of which has already deliquesced into an evil-smelling puddle in the back of the car. (Paul Richardson, "A postcard from Paul Richardson," Independent, August 19, 1996)
2) His entire countenance seems to deliquesce into a splotch of spreading goo. (John Simon, "The Underneath," National Review, May 29, 1995)
3) His indifference toward if not hatred for his mother deliquesced, through the writing of this book, into a recognition of his love for her. (Leslie Schenk, "Rouge Decante," World Literature Today, June 1, 1996)
4) The peaches, pears and grapes progressively spot, dimple, crease, wrinkle, acquire brown patches, green bloom, a fuzz of green-grey fungal filaments, deliquesce to a beige-grey Roquefort and finally compost to a browny-black goo flickering with insects. (Christopher Hirst, "The weasel," Independent, May 11, 2002)
Etymology, related words:
"Deliquesce" comes from Latin "deliquescere", from "de-" ("down, from, away") + "liquescere" ("to melt"), from "liquere" ("to be fluid"). It is related to "liquid" and "liquor".


demagogue
[DEM-uh-gog]
1. A leader who obtains power by means of impassioned appeals to the emotions and prejudices of the populace.
2. A leader of the common people in ancient times.
Examples:
1) This was to have held a sculpture of a Roman charioteer driving four horses, but the work was never completed, leaving behind what looks like a diving board or a futurist balcony, ideally suited for a demagogue exhorting a throng below. (Michael Z. Wise, "A Fascist Utopia Adapted for Today," New York Times, July 11, 1999)
2) A consummate demagogue, McCarthy played upon cold war emotions and made charges so fantastic that frightened people believed the worst. (Arthur Herman, "Joseph McCarthy")
3) Even when he showed his true colors as a demagogue and trickster, Stalin did so in such a crisp and weighty, confidence-inspiring manner that he bewitched not only his conversational partner but himself as well. (Milovan Djilas, "Fall of the New Class")
Etymology:
"Demagogue" derives from Greek "demagogos" ("a leader of the people"), from "demos" ("the people") + "agogos" ("leading, one who leads"), from "agein" ("to lead").


demarcate

• line of demarcation
• line
• demarcation

[dih-MAR-kayt]
1. To mark the limits of.
Synonym: delimit
2. To set apart.
Synonym: separate
Example:
The large map on the wall of campaign headquarters was marked with red lines demarcating all of the voting districts in the city.
Etymology, related words:
"Demarcate" is set apart by its unique history. Scholars think it may have descended from the Italian verb "marcare" ("to mark"), which is itself of Germanic origin (the Old High German word for boundary, "marha," is a relative). "Marcare" is the probable source of the Spanish "marcar" (also "to mark"), from which comes the Spanish "demarcar" ("to fix the boundary of"). In 1493, a Spanish noun, "demarcacion," was used to name the new meridian dividing New World territory between Spain and Portugal. Later (about 1730), English speakers began calling this boundary the "line of demarcation," and eventually we began applying that phrase to other dividing lines as well. "Demarcation" in turn gave rise to "demarcate" in the early 19th century.


demotic
1. of, relating to, or written in a simplified form of the ancient Egyptian hieratic writing
2. popular, common
Example:
The style of her art work is intentionally demotic, aimed at ordinary people rather than the elite of the art world.
3. of or relating to the form of Modern Greek that is based on everyday speech
Etymology:
You may recognize the root of "demotic" from words like "democracy" and "demography". The source of these words is the Greek word "demos", meaning "people". "Demotic" is often used of everyday forms of language (as opposed to literary or highbrow versions). It entered English in the early 1800s and originally designated a form of ancient Egyptian cursive script which by the 5th century BC had come into use everywhere in Egypt for business and literary purposes (in contrast to the more complex, hieratic script retained by the clergy). "Demotic" has a newer specialized sense as well, referring to a form of Modern Greek that is based on everyday speech and that since 1976 has been the official language of Greece.


demur
[dih-MUR]
1. To object; to take exception.
2. To delay.
3. The act of demurring.
4. Objection.
5. Delay.
Examples:
1) It had been Letitia's wish, not Thaddeus's, that there should be a child but, while wondering at the time what it was going to be like to have a baby about the place, he did not demur, and soon after Georgina's birth was surprised to find his feelings quite startlingly transformed. (William Trevor, "Death in Summer")
2) She would ask to see something I had written, and I would demur, saying that anything I had written was terrible, and she would persist until I gave in and said, "If you insist," and later she would proclaim that my work was not terrible, my work was terrific. (Rosemary Mahoney, "A Likely Story")
3) All the same, she succeeded in exacting from him the promise that ... he would depart Milan forthwith. Beyle accepted this condition without demur and left Milan. (W.G. Sebald, "Vertigo", translated by Michael Hulse)
4) One member of the staff who left his pass at home wrote on the temporary pass he was given the name 'Heinrich Himmler' and was admitted without demur. (Noel Annan, "Changing Enemies")
Etymology:
"Demur" comes from Old French "demorer" ("to linger, to stay"), from Latin "demorari", from "de-" + "morari" ("to delay, to loiter"), from "mora" ("a delay").


demure

• coy

[dih-MYOOR]
reserved, (affectedly) modest, or serious
Example:
Judith was such a demure girl that she found it hard to talk about her school accomplishments while she was being interviewed at colleges.
History:
"Demure" has essentially remained unchanged in meaning since at least the 14th century. Its first recorded use in our language dates from the Middle English period (1100 to 1500), a time when the native tongue of England was borrowing many new words from the French spoken by the Normans who gained control of the country after the Battle of Hastings. "Demure" might have been part of the French cultural exchange; etymologists think it may have derived from the Anglo-French verb "demurer," meaning "to linger." During Shakespeare's time, "demure" was briefly used in English as a verb meaning "to look demurely," but only the older adjective form has survived to the present day.
Synonym: coy

denizen
[DEN-uh-zun]
1. An inhabitant.
Example:
The denizens of the small town were excited about the news that a film crew would be shooting a movie right in their own backyard.
2. A person admitted to residence in a foreign country, esp. an alien admitted to rights of citizenship.
3. One that frequents a place.
History, relative words:
English speakers have used "denizen" in the sense "inhabitant" since the 15th century. The word comes from the Anglo-French "denzein," which means "inhabitant," "inner part," or "inner." If you trace the lineage back even further, you'll find that "denzein" itself derives from the Latin "intus," which means "within." Nowadays, "denizen" is sometimes used for naturalized citizens or for frequent visitors as well as inhabitants. Despite the similarity between "denizen" and "citizen," the two words do not share any etymological roots. However, one ancestor of "citizen" is the Anglo-French "citezein," whose spelling was altered from "citeien" (from "cite," meaning "city"). The presence of "denzein" in Anglo-French may have influenced this change in spelling, as the two words were often considered equivalent terms in that language.


denouement
[day-noo-MAWN]
1. The final resolution of the main complication of a literary or dramatic work.
2. The outcome of a complex sequence of events.
Examples:
1) And perhaps this helps to explain the frequency of the violent denouement in contemporary novels: in the country that embraced the slogan "Today is the first day of the rest of your life," how do you call it quits on a character who is still breathing? (Brad Leithauser, "You Haven't Heard the Last of This," New York Times, August 30, 1998)
2) Of course, the crusaders were losers in the short run, but Europe's storytellers have traditionally awarded them the righteous victory and not dwelt on the embarrassing denouement. (Todd Gitlin, "The Twilight of Common Dreams")
3) Though still only a prospect on the horizon, this, I think, could well be the next revolution. What a denouement if it is! (Julian Barbour, "The End of Time")
Etymology:
"Denouement" is from French, from Old French "denoer" ("to untie") from Latin "de-" + "nodare" ("to tie in a knot"), from "nodus" ("a knot").


denture venturer

• denture
• venturer
• gap year
• gap
• year
• grown-up gapper
• grown-up
• gapper
• career gapper
• career
• SKI-er
• SKI-ing
• SKI

Someone aged fifty or over who temporarily gives up their job in order to travel around the world.
Examples: 1) &Rising numbers of older people in the population of developed countries, together with the increased health and wealth of this age group, has helped to spawn pre-retirement gap travellers.& an ever increasing number of 50-55 year olds are 'SKI-ing' - spending the kids' inheritance - and becoming so-called "Denture Venturers". (The Scotsman, 16th September 2005)
2) If youve had a long working life and those last few years before retirement seem a depressing prospect, then why not join the ranks of the denture venturers?
History, related words and expressions:
The concept of a "gap year"  taking a year away from work or study in order to travel or work in another part of the world, has been established for some time now, and is almost standard practice among students and young people in the 21st century. However, recent research by consumer analysts suggests that the days when gap years were restricted to young folk are long gone. Enter the denture venturers - older people wanting to give themselves a pre-retirement present - who are rapidly turning the gap year market into a multimillion pound business.
Denture venturers are also commonly referred to as "grown-up gappers", an expression which formed the title of a recent "BBC TV series" <http://www.bbc.co.uk/holiday/tv_and_radio/grown_up_gappers/> featuring the lives of several middle-aged people who had left their familiar life and work in the UK for a gap-year experience.
Grown-up gappers who are not on the cusp of retirement but are twenty or more years younger are now also referred to as "career gappers", twenty- and thirty-somethings who want to take a career sabbatical but have the definite intention of returning to professional life. Research suggests that student travellers who are burdened by the prospect of substantial debt are increasingly being outnumbered by denture venturers and career gappers, who, with their greater spending power, can provide a significant boost to both the gap year industry and local economies abroad. Coined by marketing analysts, "denture venturer" is a catchy rhyming expression which is humorous due to its light-hearted use of the mildly insulting denture. The word "denture" simply refers to artificial teeth, but is often associated with jokes about the trappings of old age! "Venturer" is a formal word for someone who is prepared to take risks.
Another recent coinage in the same context is the countable noun "SKI-er". A SKI-er is an older person who spends their savings in order to enjoy their retirement to the full. "SKI" in the term is an acronym for "Spend Kids' Inheritance". As featured in the citation above, SKI-ing also occurs as an uncountable noun to refer to the activity.


deperimeterisation
History, meaning:
With the growth of broadband networking, employees and suppliers now need to access a business's corporate network from outside, which raises huge security issues. Computer specialists can't any longer just erect an electronic stockade around a firm's system but have to construct intelligent gateways that allow authorised access while keeping out the baddies. This process of selectively breaking down the barriers is called "deperimeterisation".
Example:
1) For deperimeterisation to take off, every device needs to be treated as inherently insecure.
2) IT leaders from 10 organisations were working on approaches to IT security around the theme of boundaryless networking, or "deperimeterisation".


depredation
[dep-ruh-DAY-shun] 1. An act of plundering or despoiling; a raid. 2. (Plural) Destructive operations; ravages.
Examples:
1) . . .the depredations of pirates and privateers on the high seas. (Jacqueline Jones, "American Work")
2) Arguing for drastic measures, they cite the horrible depredations of drug addiction. (Jacob Sullum, "Voodoo social policy: exorcizing the twin demons, guns and drugs", Reason, October 1, 1994)
3) For the moment, Kioni remains a precious fragment of the old Mediterranean, the one that existed before the depredations of pollution and crass, exploitative development. (Andrew Powell, "Hellenic heaven", Harper's Bazaar, August 1, 1994)
Etymology:
"Depredation" comes from Late Latin "depraedari" ("to plunder"), from Latin "de-" + "praedari", from "praeda" ("plunder, prey").


deray

• array
• Pace
• Pasque
• Pasch
• dancing and deray
• dancing

1. Disorder, disturbance, tumult, confusion.
2. Merriment.
Etymology, related words, example:
It may not at once come to mind, but this archaic word is a close cousin of "array". The ending in both cases is a Germanic root that means "to prepare". "To array" originally meant "to place in readiness" or "to prepare" - troops arrayed for battle were ready with all their equipment; "to deray" is almost its opposite. The verb vanished from the language in the 14th c. The noun lasted a little longer but likewise disappeared, only to be dragged back into use in the early 19th c. as what the Oxford English Dictionary paradoxically describes as "a modern archaism". At once that makes one think of Sir Walter Scott: "The whole front of the house was lighted, and there were pipes and fiddles, and as much dancing and deray within as used to be at Sir Robert's house at Pace and Yule, and such high seasons" ("Redgauntlet", 1824). ["Pace" is an old Scottish and northern English dialect term for Easter, also at one time called "Pasque" or "Pasch", which is ultimately from the Hebrew word for Passover that also gave us "paschal".] The fixed phrase "dancing and deray" outlasted other appearances of the word, though it is now defunct as well; it meant disorderly mirth and revelry at a dance or some similar festivity.


deride

• Derision

[dih-RYD]
To laugh at with contempt; to subject to ridicule or make sport of; to mock; to scoff at.
Examples:
1) She was inclined to deride Mr. Hemingway's mania for firearms and thereby often hurt his feelings. ("Hemingway's Prize-Winning Works Reflected Preoccupation With Life and Death," New York Times, July 3, 1961)
2) I had no desire to endorse idiocy - but neither could I be seen to deride a colleague. (Michael Foley, "Getting Used to Not Being Remarkable")
3) It is in the nature of tyranny to deride the will of the people as the voice of the mob, and to denounce the cry for freedom as the roar of anarchy. (William Safire, "The Counter-Revolution," New York Times, May 22, 1989)
Etymology, related words:
"Deride" comes from Latin "deridere", from "de-" ("down from") + "ridere" ("to laugh"). It is related to ridiculous. Derision is the act of deriding, or the state of being derided.


derogate

• derogate from

[DER-uh-gayt] 1. To deviate from what is expected. 2. To take away; to detract; usually with 'from'. 3. To disparage or belittle; to denigrate.
Examples:
1) If someone wants to derogate from that and make a choice, then they are free to do it. (Ciaran Fitzgerald, "Food champion'srecipe for success", Irish Times, November 13, 1998)
2) Evidently, in Robbins's moral calculus, prostituting one's art in the name of the foremost mass murderer of modern times does not in the least derogate from one's idealism and courage. (Terry Teachout, "Cradle of Lies", Commentary Magazine, February 2000)
3) Likewise, there has been a blatant attempt to distort the impact of Ronald Reagan's leadership during this period and to derogate or deny his accomplishments. (Edwin Meese, "With Reagan")
4) And if the other is other than us, then that otherness is either something we would like to have, so we choose to romanticize the other; or it is something we would like to leave behind, so we choose to derogate the other; or it is something we would like to keep available, so we choose to celebrate the other. (Richard A. Shweder, "Storytelling Among the Anthropologists", New York Times, September 21, 1986)
Etymology:
"Derogate" comes from the past participle of Latin "derogare" ("to propose to repeal part of a law, to diminish"), from "de-" ("away from") + "rogare" ("to ask, to ask the people about a law").


des res

• desirable residence
• desirable
• residence
• des
• res

(Brit. informal) A very attractive house; a desirable residence; a superior house; a house or apartment that is considered, especially by a realtor, as highly desirable.
Example:
If you want to sell your house for a decent price, throw out the gnomes, give up the fags, shoot the dog and fill in the swimming pool. And chuck out that avocado bathroom suite which looked lovely in 1982 but could knock as much as £8,000 off the value of your deceptively spacious des res.
Etymology:
Late 20th century. Shortening of "desirable residence".

descant
Noun
[DES-kant]
1. (Music) (a) a melody or counterpoint sung above the plain song of the tenor; (b) the upper voice in part music.
2. A discourse or discussion on a theme.
Intransitive verb
[DES-kant; des-KANT; dis-]
1. (a) to sing or play a descant; (b) to sing.
2. To comment freely; to discourse at length.
Examples:
1) [T]hese to their nests,
Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale;
She all night long her amorous descant sung.
(John Milton, "Paradise Lost")
2) When they start on one of their polarised descants, whether on state education, water rates, crime, the BBC or whatever, they sound like a bumble bee and a wasp fighting in a jam jar. (Gillian Reynolds, "The biggest things to hit radio," Daily Telegraph, May 14, 1999)
3) Mr. Ackroyd's descant on "Great Expectations" is the work of a master. (Alison Lurie, "Hanging Out With Hogarth," New York Times, October 11, 1992)
4) In a custom associated with Athenian gatherings but almost certainly followed elsewhere as well, a myrtle branch was passed around the room, and each of the assembled would descant as the wine flowed. (David Barber, "Children of Orpheus," The Atlantic, June 10, 1998)
5) The police amusingly descant on these jottings: "I can't believe he'd ever write a sentence like 'I shall be compelled to take steps to silence you!'" (Christopher Buckley, "The Chekhov of Coldsands-on-Sea," New York Times, November 16, 1997)
Etymology:
"Descant" is derived from Medieval Latin "discantus" ("a refrain"), from Latin "dis-" + "cantus" ("song"), from the past participle of "canere" ("to sing").


desiccate

• despoil
• denude
• defoliate
• deice
• de-

[DESS-ih-kayt]
1. To dry up or become dried up.
2. To preserve (a food) by drying; dehydrate
3. To drain of emotional or intellectual vitality.
Example:
Weeks of blazing heat along with a prolonged lack of rain have desiccated many of the plants in our garden.
History, related words, meaningful prefix:
Raisins are desiccated grapes; they're also dehydrated grapes. And yet, a close look at the etymologies of "desiccate" and "dehydrate" raises a tangly question. In Latin "siccus" means "dry," whereas the Greek stem "hydr-" means "water." So how could it be that "desiccate" and "dehydrate" are synonyms? The answer is in the multiple identities of the prefix "de-." It may look like the same prefix, but the "de-" in "desiccate" means "completely, thoroughly," as in "despoil" ("to spoil utterly") or "denude" ("to strip completely bare"). The "de-" in "dehydrate," on the other hand, means "remove," the same as it does in "defoliate" ("to strip of leaves") or in "deice" ("to rid of ice").


desideratum

• desideration
• desiderate
• desiderata

[dih-sid-uh-RAY-tum; -RAH-]
plural: desiderata
Something desired or considered necessary.
Examples:
1) The other desideratum is a pitcher with good control - far rarer, even at the major-league level, than one might suppose. (Roger Angell, 'The New Yorker', March 12, 1984)
2) 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)
3) 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")
4) A technical dictionary ... is one of the desiderata in anatomy. (Alexander Monro, Essay on Comparative Anatomy)
Etymology:
"Desideratum" is from Latin "desideratum" ("a thing desired"), from "desiderare" ("to long for", "to desire"). So, the word is a close cousin of "desire". Although long eclipsed by "desire" and its offspring, the lesser-known cousins are of purer lineage. All trace their roots to the ancient Latin house of "sider-", a house whose origins are nothing if not stellar: "sider-" in Latin means "heavenly body". "Desiderare" was born when Latin "de-" was prefixed to "sider-". "Desiderare" was Frenchified as "desirer" in an Anglo- French branch of the family, which brought forth English "desire", "desirous", and "desirable" in the 13th and 14th centuries. But many years later, in the 17th century, English acquired "desideration" (longing), "desiderate" (to wish for), and finally "desideratum", all of which can lay claim to a pure Latin ancestry from "desiderare".


despot
[DESS-putt]
1. A Byzantine emperor or prince.
2. A bishop or patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
3. An Italian hereditary prince or military leader during the Renaissance.
4. A ruler with absolute power and authority.
5. A person exercising power tyrannically.
Example:
Her spoilt younger sister, Phoebe, is a lip-glossed despot, able to command ... attention with a flick of her pretty head. (Lisa Allardice, "The Daily Telegraph" [London], March 22, 2003)
Etymology:
1562, "absolute ruler," from M.L. "despota", from Gk. "despotes" ("master of a household, lord, absolute ruler").
In his 1755 dictionary, Samuel Johnson said of "despot," "the word is not in use, except as applied to some Dacian prince; as the despot of Servia". Indeed at that time, the word was mainly used to identify some very specific rulers or religious officials, and the title was an honorable one (originally it was applied to deities). That situation changed toward the end of the century, perhaps because French Revolutionists, who were said to have been "very liberal in conferring this title," considered all sovereigns to be tyrannical. When democracy became all the rage, "despot" came to be used most often for any ruler who wielded absolute and often contemptuous and oppressive power.


destrier

• palfrey

A knight's warhorse.
Example:
His horse, formerly a destrier of statuesque proportions, had become a spindly nag beneath him, undernourished, and in need of corn. ("Sign for the sacred". Storm, Constantine. London: Headline Book Publishing plc, 1993)
History:
You may still on occasion encounter this word, though these days it's most often employed by writers of historical novels. A recent work which is a science-fictional variation on the theme is "Timeline" by Michael Crichton (1999). The hero is sent back by time machine to medieval France but misses the last bus home. As a result he finds himself stranded in the middle of a civil war, having to cope with the armour and equipment of the well-dressed knight: "This horse was gigantic, and covered in more metal than he was. There was a decorated plate over the head, and more plates on the chest and sides. Even in armor, the animal was jumpy and high-spirited, snorting and jerking at the reins the page held. This was a true warhorse, a destrier, and it was far more spirited than any horse he had ever ridden before." The presence of the page is actually the clue to the name, since the person who led the horse, often the knight's squire, always stood on the left side of the horse's head and so held the horse with his right hand (Latin "dexter", on the right). Off-duty, knights preferred a less spirited and more comfortable mount. This was the "palfrey", a short-legged, long-bodied horse which proceeded at a gentle amble. A palfrey was also often ridden by women. Its name comes from Latin "paraveredus", a bilingual concoction of Greek "para", besides or extra, plus the Latin "veredus", a light horse. It was the animal you kept as a secondary mount.


desuetude
[DES-wih-tood, -tyood]
The cessation of use; discontinuance of practice or custom; disuse.
Examples:
1) Nuns and priests abandoned the identifying attire of the religious vocation and frequently also the vocation itself, experimental liturgies celebrated more the possibility of cultural advancement than that of eternal life, and popular Marian devotions fell into desuetude. (Michael W. Cuneo, The Smoke of Satan: Conservative and Traditionalist Dissent in Contemporary American Catholicism)
2) Probably only one in a hundred girls who give birth clandestinely even knows that an edict of King Henry II, now fallen into desuetude, once made their action punishable by death. (Nina Rattner Gelbart, The King's Midwife)
3) Where specific restrictions on personal freedom and on communal activity had not explicitly been lifted they were allowed to fall into desuetude by default. (David Vital, A People Apart: The Jews in Europe, 1789-1939)
4) The exercise of rights which had practically passed into desuetude. (John Richard Green, Short History of the English People)
Etymology:
"Desuetude" comes from Latin "desuetudo" ("disuse"), from "desuescere" ("to become unaccustomed"), from "de-" + "suescere" ("to become used or accustomed").


desultory

• desultor

[DEH-sul-tor-ee]
1. Marked by lack of definite plan, regularity, or purpose.
Example:
His studies are very desultory and eccentric, but he has amassed a lot of out-of-the-way knowledge which would astonish his professors. (Arthur Conan Doyle, "A Study in Scarlet")
2. Not connected with the main subject.
3. Disappointing in progress, performance, or quality.
History, related words, more explanations:
The Latin adjective "desultorius," the parent of "desultory," was used by the ancients to refer to a circus performer (called a "desultor") whose trick was to leap from horse to horse without stopping. It makes sense, therefore, that someone or something "desultory" jumps from one thing to another. ("Desultor" and "desultorius" are derived from the Latin verb "salire," which means "to leap.") A desultory conversation leaps from one topic to another, and doesn't have a distinct point or direction. A desultory student skips from one subject to another without applying serious effort to any one. A desultory comment is a digressive one that jumps away from the topic at hand. And a desultory performance is one resulting from an implied lack of steady, focused effort.


detention center

• detention centre
• detention
• center
• centre

A jail, which houses prisoners waiting for trial Detention facility - a detention center, work camp, or honor farm. Detention in a reformatory - the detainment of a juvenile, either as punishment or as a measure of prevention, in an institution designed for juveniles. Pretrial detention - confinement in jail without bond or bail during the time between arrest and trial proceedings. Preventive detention - the confinement of a defendant awaiting trial without bail because there is a high probability that he will commit another crime which will endanger the community shelter - a detention center used to house underage offenders while their cases are under consideration. JDC - Juvenile Detention Center.
Example:
"Is this the jail? Mark asked, cutting his eyes in all direction. We call it a detention center," she said. This is sort of a holding area until the kids are processed and either sent back home or to a training school." ("The Client", John Grisham)

detritus

• detriment
• debris
• odds and ends
• odds
• ends
• odd

[dih-TRY-tuhs]
(plural: detritus)
1. Loose material that is worn away from rocks.
2. Hence, any fragments separated from the body to which they belonged; any product of disintegration, destruction, or wearing away; debris.
3. Miscellaneous remnants.
Synonyms: debris; odds and ends
Examples:
1) The water was smooth and brown, with detritus swirling in the eddies from the increasing current. (Gordon Chaplin, "Dark Wind: A Survivor's Tale of Love and Loss")
2) If they [flying cars] were easy to produce, we'd be walking around wearing helmets to protect us from the detritus of flying car crashes. (Gail Collins, "Grounded for 2000," New York Times, December 7, 1999)
3) The loose detritus of thought, washed down to us through long ages. (H. Rogers, "Essays")
4) The blog originated ... as a catch basin for mental detritus, for the kind of stuff not good enough for print, but too good to waste on casual conversation. (Joel Achenbach, "The Washington Post", August 21, 2005)
Etymology, related words:
"Detritus" derives from the past participle of Latin "deterere" ("to rub away, to wear out"), from "de-" ("from") + "terere" ("to rub"). It is related to "detriment", at root "a rubbing away, a wearing away," hence "damage, harm."
In the late 18th century, Scottish geologist James Hutton borrowed the Latin word "detritus" (meaning "rubbing away") for the process of wearing away or wearing down rock. His use of the word, however, was short-lived: one of the last appearances of this usage is in an 1802 book on his geologic theory. In that book, "detritus" was also used to describe the loose material that results from disintegration. It is that use, unlike Hutton's original, which has withstood the test of time and is firmly established in geology. Not surprisingly, "detritus," with its erudite sound and figurative possibility, was also taken up by non-geologists, from other scientists to nonscientists.


deus ex machina

• deus
• ex
• machina

[DAY-uhs-eks-MAH-kuh-nuh; -nah; -MAK-uh-nuh]
1. In ancient Greek and Roman drama, a god introduced by means of a crane to unravel and resolve the plot.
2. Any active agent who appears unexpectedly to solve an apparently insoluble difficulty.
Examples:
1) In times of affluence and peace, with technology that always seems to arrive like a deus ex machina to solve any problem, it becomes easy to believe that life is perfectible. (Stephanie Gutmann, "The Kinder, Gentler Military")
2) But we also need the possibility of cataclysm, so that, when situations seem hopeless, and beyond the power of any natural force to amend, we may still anticipate salvation from a messiah, a conquering hero, a deus ex machina, or some other agent with power to fracture the unsupportable and institute the unobtainable. (Stephen Jay Gould, "Questioning the Millennium")
Etymology:
"Deus ex machina" is New Latin for "god from the machine"; it is a translation of the Greek theos ek mekhanes. The dramatic device dates from the 5th century BC and is especially associated with Euripides, one of the greatest classical tragedians.


deuteragonist

• protagonistes
• agonistes
• Deuteronomy

[doo-tuh-RAG-uh-nist]
1. The actor taking the part of second importance in a classical Greek drama.
2. A person who serves as a foil to another.
Example:
She cut such an extraordinary figure that it was easy to overlook the fact that she was ... a deuteragonist rather than a main player. (Jonathan Meades, "The [London] Times", September 2, 2000)
History, related words:
In the early days of Greek drama the idea of having a dialogue between two characters was conceived, and the players were designated "protagonistes" and "deuteragonistes" - first actor and second actor. The deuteragonist's role was to highlight or emphasize, by contrast, opposing traits in the protagonist's character. The word "agonistes" itself, though in this context meaning "actor," originated as a word for a person competing at games. The combining form "deutero-," meaning "second," also shows up in "Deuteronomy," the name of the fifth book of the Old Testament. Consisting of a farewell address by Moses to the Israelites in which he reiterates laws he had communicated to them previously, it is thus his "second stating" of the law.


deuteranopia
red-green color blindness


devious
[DEE-vee-us]
1. Deviating from a straight line; roundabout.
2. Behaving wrongly; errant.
3. Tricky, cunning; also: deceptive.
Example:
In "The Discoverers", Daniel J. Boorstin describes the Strait of Magellan as "the narrowest, most devious, most circuitous of all the straits connecting two great bodies of water."
History, related expressions:
The word derives from the Latin adjective "devius," itself formed by a combination of the prefix "de-" ("from, away") and the noun "via," meaning "way." When "devious" was first used in the late 16th century, it referred to a literal wandering off the "way," describing something that meandered or had no fixed course ("a devious route" or "devious breezes"). Relatively quickly, however, the word came to describe someone or something that has metaphorically rather than literally left the "right path," and then to apply to deceitful or otherwise behavior that is not "straight"-forward.


devise
[dih-VYZE]
1. To form in the mind by new combinations or applications of ideas or principles. Synonym: invent
Example:
As a young scientist, Constance devised ingenious ways of collecting and interpreting data.
2. To plan to obtain or bring about.
Synonym: plot
3. To give (real estate) by will.
Etymology, more meanings:
There's something inventive about "devise," a word that stems from Latin "dividere," meaning "to divide." By the time "devise" appeared in English in the 1200s, its Anglo-French forebear "deviser" had accumulated an array of senses, including "to divide," "distribute," "arrange," "array," "digest," "order," "plan," "invent," "contrive," and "assign by will." English adopted most of these and added some new senses over the course of time: "to imagine," "guess," "pretend," and "describe." In modern use, we've disposed of a lot of the old meanings, but we kept the one that applies to wills. "Devise" traditionally referred to the transfer of real property (land), and "bequeath" to personal property; these days, however, "devise" is often recognized as applying generally to all the property in a person's estate.


devoir
1. duty, responsibility
Example:
"Goaded by filial devoir (barely ahead of an insatiability for musty pubs), I went to Europe for a few days." (Paul Dean, "Los Angeles Times", January 24, 1987)
2. a usually formal act of civility or respect
Etymology:
"Devoir" was borrowed twice, in a manner of speaking. We first borrowed it in its Anglo-French form, "dever", back in the days of Middle English. As is so often the case when an adopted word becomes established in English, its pronunciation shifted to conform to English pronunciation standards. The French put the stress on the last syllable (\deh-VEHR\), but English speakers stressed the first (\DEH-ver\). One hundred or so years later, some writers changed the English spelling to "devoir" to match the modern French. That French borrowing was actually pronounced like French (as well as English speakers could, anyway) - just as it is today.


dewy
[DOO-ee]
1. Moist with, affected by, or suggestive of dew.
2. Innocent, unsophisticated.
Example:
She was cute. She had that dewy look. Ryan was unable to remain angry with pretty women... (Tom Clancy, "Patriot Games")
Explanation, more examples:
"And her faire deawy eies with kisses deare Shee ofte did bathe" (Edmund Spenser, "The Faerie Queene"). "I would these dewy teares were from the ground" (William Shakespeare, "Richard III"). "Till dewie sleep Oppress'd them" (John Milton, "Paradise Lost"). "Strengthen me, enlighten me ... Thou dewy dawn of memory" (Alfred Tennyson, "Ode to Memory"). Such lines exemplify how the greats have poetically extended the characteristics of dewy grass to misty or crying eyes, as well as to things, like sleep, that affect people gently like forming dew, or to things, like memory, that gradually vanish like a morning's dew. Not until the 20th century, however, did people begin to connect newly formed, undisturbed dew with freshness or purity and, in turn, with innocence and naivete.


diablerie
[dee-OB-luh-ree; -AB-]
1. Sorcery; black magic; witchcraft.
2. Representation of devils or demons in words or pictures.
3. Mischievous conduct; deviltry.
Examples:
1) She invariably had every child in the establishment at her heels, open-mouthed with admiration and wonder, - not excepting Miss Eva, who appeared to be fascinated by her wild diablerie, as a dove is sometimes charmed by a glittering serpent. (Harriet Beecher Stowe, "Uncle Tom's Cabin")
2) His worst excesses of unfeeling diablerie belong to his early days. (Robertson Davies, "The Making of a 'Dublin Smartie,' " New York Times, October 30, 1988)
Etymology:
"Diablerie" comes from the French, from "diable" ("devil"), from Latin "diabolus", from Greek "diabolos" ("slanderer"), from "diaballein" ("to slander," literally "to throw across"), from "dia-" ("across") + "ballein" ("to throw").


diadem
[DY-uh-dem]
1. A crown.
2. An ornamental headband worn (as by Eastern monarchs) as a badge of royalty.
3. Regal power; sovereignty; empire (considered as symbolized by the crown).
4. To adorn with a diadem; to crown.
Examples:
1) On the far side of the cloister in the long, chapel-like room called the Treasure, she sits on her throne - a small stiff gold figure robed in gold and covered with jewels and crowned with a golden diadem. (Hannah Green, "Little Saint")
2) The sky above is blue; the many clouds - sun-drenched, gilded, lively - have moved down, settled like a great diadem on the broad ring of the encircling mountains. (Milan Kundera, "Love's labour's lost," The Guardian, November 2, 2002)
3) Dead and gone is the British Raj in India, that most glittering jewel in the diadem of Queen Victoria. (Jan Morris, "The Power Behind The Empire," Time Asia, August 12, 2002)
4) The queens of ancient Greece preferred simple elegance, opting for a single diadem of gold or even leaves rather than more ornate crowns.
Etymology:
The ancient rulers of Persia wore headbands of linen, silk, or wool tied at the back as a mark of royalty. Alexander the Great and other Greek rulers took a fancy to the headgear and adopted it as a symbol of their royal authority, naming the narrow band "diadema" ("a band"), which comes from the Greek "dia-," meaning "through, across," and "dein," meaning "to bind." Over time, diadems became more elaborate, shifting from cloth to precious metals, adding gems and ornaments, and finally expanding from a mere headband into the flashier crowns of medieval times.


diapason
[dye-uh-PAY-zun]
1. A burst of sound.
2. The principal foundation stop in the organ extending through the complete range of the instrument.
3. The entire compass of musical tones.
4. A range, a scope.
5. A tuning fork.
6. A standard of pitch.
Example:
Diapasons of laughter echoed through the auditorium as the comedian wrapped up his act.
History, related words:
"Diapason" covers a wide range of meanings in English, almost all pertaining to music or sound. The word derives from the Greek roots "dia-," which means "through" and occurs in such words as "diameter" and "diagonal," and "pason", the genitive feminine plural of "pas," meaning "all." "Pas" is related to the prefix "pan-," which is used in such words as "pantheism" and "pandemic." In Greek, the phrase "he dia pason chordon symphonia" translates literally to "the concord through all the notes," with the word "concord" here referring to a combination of tones that are heard simultaneously and produce an agreeable impression on the listener.


diapause
[DYE-uh-pawz]
A period of physiologically enforced dormancy between periods of activity.
Example:
The research team was thrilled when they successfully hatched some 300-year-old crustacean eggs found in a state of diapause at the bottom of a local pond.
Etymology, more examples:
"Diapause," from the Greek word "diapausis," meaning "pause," may have been coined by the entomologist William Wheeler in 1893. Wheeler's focus was insects, but diapause, a spontaneous period of suspended animation that seems to happen in response to adverse environmental conditions, also occurs in the development of crustaceans, snails, and other animals. Novelist Joyce Carol Oates exercised poetic license and gave the word a human application in her short story "Visitation Rights" (1988): "Her life, seemingly in shambles, ... was not ruined; ... injured perhaps, and surely stunted, but only temporarily. There had been a diapause, and that was all...."


diatribe
[DYE-uh-trybe]
1. A bitter and abusive speech or writing.
2. Ironical or satirical criticism.
Example:
The columnist wrote a ruthless diatribe condemning people who talk on cell phones while driving.
History:
Ancient Greek philosophers liked to while away the hours in rational contemplation and intellectual discussion. Their fondness for waxing philosophical is reflected in the Greek noun "diatribe," meaning either "pastime" or "discourse." That noun passed into Latin as "diatriba," which was in turn adapted to "diatribe" by 16th-century English speakers. In its earliest English use, "diatribe" meant simply "a prolonged discourse," but that sense has become obsolete. "Diatribe" has also seen use as the name of a specific type of philosophical discourse - satirical sermons directed against an object of disapproval - that was introduced in the 3rd century B.C. by Greek philosopher Bion of Borysthenes. Today, however, the term is usually applied broadly to any biting or abusive denunciation.


dicey
Risky, dangerous.
Example: Getting into a fight with Tim is very dicey - he is a black belt in karate.

dictum
1. An authoritative statement; a formal pronouncement.
2. (law) A judicial opinion expressed by judges on points that do not necessarily arise in the case, and are not involved in it.
Examples:
1) I have taken to heart Francis Bacon's dictum that "truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion". (Donald B. Calne, "Within Reason: Rationality and Human Behavior")
2) As an editor, Rahv took seriously Trotsky's dictum that "Art can become a strong ally of revolution only in so far as it remains faithful to itself". (David Laskin, "Partisans")
3) What happened to Horace's dictum that literature should entertain and instruct? (Scott Stossel, "Right, Here Goes", The Atlantic, April 1996)
Etymiligy:
"Dictum" is literally "a thing said", from the past participle of Latin "dicere" ("to say").


didactic
[dy-DAK-tik; duh-]
1. Fitted or intended to teach; conveying instruction; instructive; teaching some moral lesson; as, "didactic essays."
2. Inclined to teach or moralize excessively; moralistic.
Examples:
1) The show trial may be defined as a public theatrical performance in the form of a trial, didactic in purpose, intended not to establish the guilt of the accused but rather to demonstrate the heinousness of the person's crimes. (Sheila Fitzpatrick, "Everyday Stalinism")
2) In class, embarrassed girlish laughter joined the "hee-haws" of our male classmates when centerfolds appeared in the middle of medical lectures, ostensibly to add a wake-up jolt to otherwise uninspired didactic presentations. (Frances K. Conley, M.D., "Walking Out on the Boys")
3) While Cooper offers a nice message about the demands of friendship and the need to share and be flexible, her writing is not the least bit didactic or dogmatic. (Stephen Del Vecchio, review of Pumpkin Soup, by Helen Cooper, "Teacher Magazine", May 2000)
Etymology:
"Didactic" comes from Greek "didaktikos" - "skillful in teaching," from "didaktos" - "taught," from "didaskein" - "to teach, to educate."


diddler

• fryer
• layer
• setter
• boiler
• diddle

1. (coll.) a cheat; a confidence man; any needy, tricky, constant borrower.
Etymology:
19th cent: Jeremy Diddler, a character in a play by James Kenney, entitled ``Raising the wind": an artful swindler; a clever, seedy vagabond, who borrows money or obtains credit by his songs, witticisms, or other expedients.
2. A baby chick or a duckling (chiefly known from the south Appalachians). It's also a call to such animals, e.g. uckling-pigs.
Example:
I always heard the older folks call baby chicks "diddlers". As the chicks grew they became "fryers" and then "layers" and then "setters". When they became too old for frying, they became "boilers".
Etymology:
It certainly came into the United States by ship, quite a long time ago. It could easily have evolved from "diddle". The English Dialect Dictionary gives the clue to where it comes from. It found recorded "diddle" in various counties, including Somerset. So it looks very much as though emigrants took the word to America. The origin is murky, but an earlier sense was to walk unsteadily like a child, which might easily have been transferred to the young of various farmyard animals. ("To diddle" is "to totter, as a child in walking", obs.)It seems to be connected with several other words, including "dither", "dawdle" and possibly "toddle", and to a set of lesser known terms that include "daddle" and "dadder". There are several other senses of "diddle" known, the best-known being "to cheat or swindle", but these aren't connected.

diffident

• confident
• shy
• timid
• modest
• coy
• bashful
• demure
• diffidence

[DIF-uh-dunt, -dent]
1. Lacking self-confidence; distrustful of one's own powers; hesitant in acting or speaking through lack of self-confidence.
2. Reserved, unassertive.
Synonyms: shy, timid, modest, coy, bashful, demure.
Examples:
1) Always diffident and soft-spoken, Tony did not raise any objection when the cashier overcharged him for his purchase.
2) He lived naturally in a condition that many greater poets never had, or if they had it, were embarrassed or diffident about it: a total commitment to his own powers of invention, a complete loss of himself in his materials. (James Dickey, "The Geek of Poetry," New York Times, December 23, 1979)
3) This schism is embodied in Clarence's two sons: cheerful, pushy, book-ignorant Jared, a semicriminal entrepreneur who has caught "the rhythm of America to come" and for whom life is explained in brash epigrams from the trenches, versus slow, diffident Teddy, the town postman, uncomfortable with given notions of manhood, uncompetitive ("yet this seemed the only way to be an American") and disturbed that others misstate "the delicate nature of reality as he needed to grasp it for himself." (Julian Barnes, "Grand Illusion," New York Times, January 28, 1996)
4) Minny was too delicate and diffident to ask her cousin outright to take her to Europe. (Brooke Allen, "Borrowed Lives," New York Times, May 16, 1999) Etymology, related words:
"Diffident" and "confident" are antonyms, but both have a lot to do with how much trust you have in yourself. Etymology reveals the role that that underlying trust plays in the two terms. "Confident" and "diffident" both trace to the Latin verb "fidere," which means "to trust." "Diffident" arose from a combination of "fidere" and the prefix "dis-," meaning "the absence of," and it has been used to refer to individuals lacking in self-trust since the 15th century. The noun form is diffidence. "Confident" arose from "confidere," a term created by combining "fidere" with the intensifying prefix "con-". That term has been used for self-trusting souls since at least the late 16th century. By the way, "fidere" puts the trust in several other English words too, including "fidelity" and "fiduciary."

digamy

• deuterogamy

A second marriage (after the death or divorce of the first spouse).
Synonym: deuterogamy.
Example:
In the case of trigamy and polygamy they laid down the same rule, in proportion, as in the case of digamy; namely one year for digamy (some authorities say two years); for trigamy men are separated for three and often for four years; but this is no longer described as marriage at all, but as polygamy; nay rather as limited fornication.
Etymology:
"Digamy" is not a very common word: it does appear on rare occasions in academic works. The word comes directly from Latin "digamia", with the same sense, which in turn derives from Greek; its first recorded appearance was in 1635.


digerati

• literati

[dij-uh-RAH-tee]
(Plural noun) Persons knowledgeable about computers and technology.
Examples:
1) As high tech spreads outward from Silicon Valley to American society at large and people spend more and more time in cyberspace, the journalist Paulina Borsook steps back to look at the digerati and their view of the world. (Michiko Kakutani, "Silicon Valley Views the Economy as a Rain Forest," New York Times, July 25, 2000)
2) [T]his week, over 3,000 digerati will converge at a swank theater where chef Julia Child and pundit Arianna Huffington, among others, will judge 135 Web sites. (David Whitman, "The calm before the storms," U.S.News & World Report, May 15, 2000)
Etymology:
"Digerati" was formed by analogy with "literati" - "persons knowledgeable about literature."


digs

• dig
• diggings
• digging
• domiciliation
• lodgings
• lodging
• pad
• apartment
• house
• be in digs
• live in digs
• in digs

1. Temporary living quarters.
Example:
I'm having a party so everybody can see my new digs.
Synonyms:
diggings, domiciliation, lodgings, pad, apartment, house.
2. In British usage, to be in digs is to live in a room in a house with shared facilities, frequently with meals supplied by the landlady. It's typically a lodging for students or young unmarried men and women.
History:
It's short for "diggings", which is the older word for the same idea. That derives from a place where one digs. Many books argue that the original diggings were the gold fields of California and Australia. We do know that the Australian nickname "digger" is from this area of life and so it's sometimes assumed that the word is likewise Australian, though all the early evidence is American and the term predates both these gold rushes anyway. But there is a gold fields connection. It's often said that the word comes from the idea of a person who "digs in", who makes a bolthole or burrow in which to live. No doubt there's something of that lurking in the background. However, it's possible to trace a chain of shifts in meaning that links the mine workings sense of "diggings" with the accommodation one. The first was that "diggings" transferred to the whole locality, which it did in the 1830s. The first writer to use the word in this sense was William Gilmore Simms, who included it in a book of 1834 called "Guy Rivers" about the gold rush of the 1820s in the wilds of what was then frontier north Georgia. The word moved from the locality to the towns that mushroomed up to service the mines and provide accommodation for the miners, and then to the accommodation itself. The first instance of "diggings" for lodgings is in a humorous book by Joseph Clay Neal of 1838 with the title "Charcoal Sketches": "Look here, Ned, I reckon it's about time we should go to our diggings; I am dead beat." The Oxford English Dictionary quotes an example taken from Charles Dickens' book "Martin Chuzzlewit" of 1844, which might suggest that it was widely known in Britain at this time. But it appears during a railway journey in the American part of the story, among other vocabulary that Dickens presumably picked up during his US trip of 1842, and the speaker might mean "place", not "lodgings". However, by the latter part of the century, "diggings" is most certainly in wide use in Britain - to take just one example, it's in Jerome K Jerome's "Three Men in a Boat" of 1889: "We were tired and hungry, we same three, and when we got to Datchet we took out the hamper, the two bags, and the rugs and coats, and such like things, and started off to look for diggings." The abbreviation "digs" came along about that time; most definitely that's a British invention. Because it turns up first in an issue of "The Stage" in 1893, it is thought to have been created by actors (who, frequently being itinerant, had more need of them than most people), though later examples suggest that if it was originally theatrical slang it quickly moved out into the population at large.


diktat
[dik-TAHT]
1. A harsh settlement unilaterally imposed on a defeated party.
2. An authoritative decree or order.
Examples:
1) Whether with the rapid reaction force or with the Bosnian government, the United States should vigorously support efforts to lift the siege of Sarajevo and help to piece back together a contiguous territory so that the Bosnian government can come to the bargaining table free of a Serbian diktat. ("Why Bosnia matters," Commonweal, July 14, 1995)
2) And it would begin to encroach on another, more treasured, freedom: the right of the networks to broadcast what they choose independent of government diktat. ("Back to the smoke-filled room?" The Economist, February 25, 1995)
3) Other important figures in the game said the problems would be better dealt with voluntarily than by diktat. (Denis Campbell, "Fifa back Vieira," The Guardian, September 22, 2002)
4) Employers weary of the dictatorial Aubry rejoiced on hearing Guigou describe her preference for debate over diktat and for "listening to people before speaking myself." (Bruce Crumley, "Sitting Pretty," Time, November 13, 2000)
5) His most cherished aim is to serve the Islamic government by giving people the right to choose it - a concept that is dangerously revolutionary to hard-liners who believe in imposing it by diktat. (Scott MacLeod and Azadeh Moaveni, "Iran's New Revolutionary," Time, June 12, 2000)
Etymology, related word:
"Diktat" comes from German, from Latin "dictatum", neuter past participle of "dictare" ("to dictate"). It is related to dictator.


dilatory
[DIL-uh-tor-ee]
1. Tending to put off what ought to be done at once; given to procrastination.
2. Marked by procrastination or delay; intended to cause delay (said of actions or measures).
Examples:
1) Maura has been dilatory in paying her bills, and she now owes late fees in addition to the original amounts due.
2) I am inclined to be dilatory, and if I had not enjoyed extraordinary luck in life and love I might have been living with my mother at that very moment, doing nothing. (Carroll O'Connor, "I Think I'm Outta Here")
3) And what is a slumlord? He is not a man who own expensive property in fashionable neighborhoods, but one who owns only rundown property in the slums, where the rents are lowest and the where the payment is most dilatory, erratic and undependable. (Henry Hazlitt, "Economics in One Lesson")
Etymology:
"Dilatory" is from Latin "dilatorius", from "dilator" ("a dilatory person, a loiterer"), from "dilatus", past participle of "differre" ("to delay, to put off"), from "dis-" ("apart, in different directions") + "ferre" ("to carry"). That term has been used in English to describe things that cause delay since at least the 15th century, and its ancestors were hanging around with similar meanings long before that. That verb is also an ancestor of the words "different" and "defer."


dilettante
[DIL-uh-tont; dil-uh-TONT; dil-uh-TON-tee; -TANT; -TAN-tee]
(Noun)
1. An amateur or dabbler; a person having a superficial interest in an art or a branch of knowledge; especially, one who follows an art or a branch of knowledge sporadically, superficially, or for amusement only.
2. An admirer or lover of the fine arts.
(Adjective)
3. Of or characteristic of a dilettante; amateurish.
Examples:
1) As he had put it, it was a matter of principle, not money: Mistler family trusts, over which he exercised discretionary powers, had not been established to support dilettantes or would-be litterateurs waiting for inspiration. (Louis Begley, "Mistler's Exit")
2) His writings, which began as a schoolboy's jottings for the amusement of classmates, continued into adulthood, although he describes his youthful work as the musings of a dilettante. (David Gonzalez, "Eye on the Universe: A Poet Views It All From the Bronx," New York Times, December 25, 1991)
3) At first his colleagues tended to dismiss this witty young dilettante poet as a scientific lightweight, even if he was an agreeable addition to their dinner table. ("Dr Alex Comfort," Times (London), March 28, 2000)
4) She was, in the parlance of the time, a 'sermon taster', going to any church where the preaching was supposed to be good; for a dilettante churchgoer Brighton was then an exciting place to be. (Matthew Sturgis, "Aubrey Beardsley: A Biography")
5) He continued a dilettante, never quite abandoning his art, but working at it fitfully, and talking more about it than working at it. (William Dean Howells, "The Rise of Silas Lapham")
Etymology:
"Dilettante" comes from the present participle of Italian "delittare" ("to delight"), from Latin "delectare" ("to delight"), frequentative of "delicere" ("to allure"), from "de-" + "lacere" ("to entice").
If someone calls you a dilettante, they're probably not too impressed with your devotion to your art. But "dilettante" didn't always have the disparaging tone that it has today. In the 18th century, a dilettante was simply a person who delighted in the arts. Later, the term came to refer to someone who cultivates an art as a pastime without pursuing it professionally - that is, an amateur. From this meaning developed the somewhat negative meaning that the word carries today, indicating a person who dabbles in an art or subject but is not truly devoted to it.

dillydally

• procrastinate
• stall
• drag one's feet
• drag
• feet
• shillyshally
• shilly-shally
• dilly-dally
• shilly
• shally
• dilly
• dally

To waste time, dawdle; to postpone doing what one should be doing; to go very slowly, pause too much.
Synonyms: procrastinate, stall, drag one's feet , shillyshally, shilly-shally, dilly-dally
Examples:
1) Sarah, you come straight home from school. Don't dillydally.
2) He did not want to write the letter and procrastinated for days. Etymology:
"Dilly-dally" is from 1741, a reduplication of "dally" - c.1300, possibly from Anglo-Fr. "dalier" ("to amuse oneself"), of uncertain origin.



dinosaur
Very old; out of date; obsolete.
Examples:
1) That cell phone you're using is a real dinosaur. When did you get it, 1983? 2) He loves the Rolling Stones and all of those other dinosaur rock bands.
Etymology: A 'dinosaur' is an ancient animal that no longer exists. Informally, it refers to anything that is outdated and no longer desirable.
Etymology: A 'dinosaur' is an ancient animal that no longer exists. Informally, it refers to anything that is outdated and no longer desirable.

diplopia

• double vision
• double
• vision

a disorder of vision in which two images of a single object are seen because of unequal action of the eye muscles.
Synonym: double vision.
Example:
Nate had temporary diplopia from the impact of the crash, and saw two policewomen approaching to help instead of just one.
Etymology:
The word is the sum of the combining forms "dipl-" (meaning "double") and "-opia" (meaning "vision"). Visionarily speaking, the linguistic relatives of "diplopia" include "hyperopia" ("farsightedness"), "myopia" ("nearsightedness"), "deuteranopia" ("red-green color blindness"), and "presbyopia" ("loss of elasticity in the eye's lens").


dirger

• Lyke Wake walk
• Lyke Wake
• wake
• walk
• Lyke Waker
• Lyke
• Waker

a person who dirges - who sings a mournful song
Example:
From that first crossing to today, anyone completing the challenge is entitled to become a member of the Lyke Wake Club. Funereal in its intent, membership and spirit, on completing the Walk club members are sent a Card Of Condolence by the Chief Dirger and are eligible to call themselves "Dirgers".
History:
The word has come to public notice through an attempt to resurrect a famous Yorkshire rambling club associated with the Lyke Wake walk, a 42-mile footpath along the Cleveland Hills. The name of the walk was almost certainly taken from the poem "A Lyke-Wake Dirge", an anonymous seventeenth-century work. The path was named in 1955 by Bill Cowley, a local farmer, after "wake", a watch on the dead, plus "lyke", a local name for a corpse. The name echoed the frequent need in medieval times to carry coffins many miles across country on the shoulders of the mourners to reach consecrated ground (though the walk itself, from Osmotherly to Ravenscar via such evocative placenames as Scugdale, Chop Yat, Botton Head, Flat Howe, Tom Cross Rigg, Snod Hill, Fat Betty and the Blue Man-i'-th'-Moss, was never a coffin road of this sort). The Club's officers had names like Cheerless Chaplain, Melancholy Macebearer and Doctor of Dolefulness. Those who try the walk are Lyke Wakers and anyone who completes the walk within one period of 24 hours may call himself a dirger and wear a coffin- shaped badge.


dirty
1. Corrupt, dishonest, immoral.
Example: He's a dirty cop and I don't trust him at all.
2. Lewd, obscene; sexually explicit.
Example: The corner store sells a lot of dirty magazines.


disc jockey

• disc
• disk jockey
• disk
• jockey
• DJ

1. An announcer of a music radio station, one responsible for music at a dance party.
Example:
My cousin worked in the summer as a disc jockey while he was going to university.
Synonyms: disk jockey, DJ.
2. To comment on music to be played.
Example:
He has a job diskjockeying on the weekend.
Synonyms: disk-jockey, disc-jockey, DJ.


discomfit

• comfit
• discomfort

[dis-KUHM-fit; dis-kuhm-FIT]
1. To make uneasy or perplexed, or to put into a state of embarrassment; to disconcert; to upset.
2. To thwart; to frustrate the plans of.
3. (archaic) To defeat in battle.
Examples:
1) A few of Dr. Baden's anecdotes ramble pointlessly, and his gusto in describing the anatomical characteristics of exhumed bodies may discomfit the squeamish. (Teresa Carpenter, "Death Is Just the Beginning," New York Times, June 25, 1989)
2) But the business of paradox is to discomfit the mind and force truths into connections that cannot be thought. (Lore Segal, "A Passion for Polishness," New York Times, February 18, 1990)
3) "Starr Bright" was used to the attention of strangers and would have been discomfited if no one noticed her, so leggy and glamorous. (Joyce Carol Oates, "Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon")
4) Why were the men so discomfited, and why, in a group renowned for its openness, was there so much difficulty in speaking frankly? (Hermione Lee, "Virginia Woolf")
5) The governor appeared to be discomfited by the reporter's question, and he struggled for a way to change the subject.
History, related words:
"Discomfit" comes from Old French "desconfit", past participle of "desconfire", from Latin "dis-" + "conficere" ("to make ready, to prepare, to bring about"), from "com-" + "facere" ("to make"). By the way, "comfit" (pronounced [KUHM-fit] or [KOM-fit]) is not the opposite of "discomfit", but rather a candy containing a fruit or nut.
Here's a little usage history that might help not to be disconcerted by "discomfit" and "discomfort". Several usage commentators have, in the past, tried to convince their readers that "discomfit" means "to rout" or "to completely defeat" and not "to discomfort, embarrass, or make uneasy." In its earliest uses "discomfit" did in fact mean "to defeat in battle," but that sense is now rare, and the extended sense, "to thwart," is also uncommon. Most of the recent commentaries agree that the sense "to discomfort or disconcert" has become thoroughly established and is the most prevalent meaning of the word. There is one major difference between "discomfit" and "discomfort," though - "discomfit" is used almost exclusively as a verb, while "discomfort" is much more commonly used as a noun ("lack of comfort, uneasiness; something which causes unease or hardship") than a verb ("to cause a lack of comfort, cause unease").


disconsolate

• downcast
• forlorn
• melancholy
• sorrowful
• woeful

[dis-KON-suh-lut]
1. Being beyond consolation; deeply dejected and dispirited; hopelessly sad; filled with grief; as, "a bereaved and disconsolate parent".
2. Inspiring dejection; saddening; cheerless; as, "the disconsolate darkness of the winter nights".
Examples:
1) Midway through the course he came to the table with the disconsolate expression of a basketball coach whose team had just been trounced. (Bryan Miller, "Odd Couples Can Make Magic," New York Times, March 2, 1994)
2) An eighteenth-century Fairfax, Thomas, lost the last of the land in the South Sea Bubble and the Fairfaxes were all but forgotten - except for Lady Mary who was occasionally sighted, dressed all in green, disconsolate and gloomy, and occasionally with her head under her arm for good effect. (Kate Atkinson, "Human Croquet")
3) . . . King Midas, whose lips turn all they touch to cold, unnourishing riches, and who perishes alone and disconsolate, cut off by his wealth from the simplest necessities of life - for bread, water, as well as his wife, his child and his little dog, all turn as he stretches towards them into the gold he thought he desired more than anything else. (Jane Shilling, "A golden ambivalence," Times (London), June 2, 2000)
Etymology:
"Disconsolate" comes from Medieval Latin "disconsolatus", from Latin "dis-" + "consolatus", past participle of "consolari" ("to console"), from "com-" (intensive prefix) + "solari" ("to comfort, to soothe, to relieve").
Synonyms: downcast, forlorn, melancholy, sorrowful, woeful.

discrete
1. Constituting a separate thing; distinct.
2. Consisting of distinct or unconnected parts.
3. (Mathematics) Defined for a finite or countable set of values; not continuous.
Examples:
1) Niels Bohr, working with Rutherford in 1912, was intensely aware... of the need for a radically new approach. This he found in quantum theory, which postulated that electromagnetic energy - light, radiation - was not continuous but emitted or absorbed in discrete packets, or "quanta". (Oliver Sacks, "Everything in Its Place," 'New York Times Magazine', April 18, 1999)
2) Llinas compared these studies to phrenology, the eighteenth-century pseudoscience that divided the brain into discrete chunks dedicated to specific functions. (John Horgan, "The Undiscovered Mind")
3) In contemporary usage, continents are understood to be large, continuous, discrete masses of land, ideally separated by expanses of water. (Martin W. Lewis and Karen E. Wigen, "The Myth of Continents")
4) High culture is less a set of discrete works of art than a phenomenon shaped by circles of conversation and criticism formed by its creators, distributors and consumers. (John Brewer, "The Pleasures of the Imagination")
Etymology:
"Discrete" is from Latin "discretus", past participle of "discernere" - "to separate; to set apart", from dis- ("apart") + "cernere" - "to distinguish; to sift". It is not to be confused with "discreet".


discursive
[dis-KUR-siv]
1. Passing from one topic to another; ranging over a wide field; digressive; rambling.
2. Utilizing, marked by, or based on analytical reasoning - contrasted with intuitive.
Examples:
1) The style is highly discursive, leap-frogging forwards and backwards across the decades, without ever sacrificing thrust or clarity. (Nicholas Blincoe, "Spirit that speaks," The Guardian, August 21, 1999)
2) Rather than being a limiting influence, the time restrictions seem often to have compelled ensembles and soloists to condense and distill arrangements and to edit potentially discursive solo performances. (Richard M. Sudhalter, "Lost Chords")
3) He is in general a discursive politician: Start him talking and you cannot get him to stop. (Dan Balz, "President Endures Embarrassing Week," Washington Post, March 15, 1998)
4) He is an intuitive being who can pierce to the heart of a matter without taking the circuitous route of deeper and more discursive minds. ("1962 Man of the Year: Pope John XXIII," Time, January 4, 1963)
Etymology:
"Discursive" comes from Latin "discurrere" ("to run in different directions, to run about, to run to and fro"), from "dis-" ("apart, in different directions") + "currere" ("to run").


disgustingness

• distastefulness
• nauseatingness
• sickeningness
• unsavoriness

repulsiveness, horridness, awfulness, quality of arousing disgust, extreme unpalatability
Synonyms:
distastefulness, nauseatingness, sickeningness, unsavoriness
Example:
One day a chef will create a menu of such unutterable awfulness, such unspeakable disgustingness, that it will justify the use of a word like 'disgustingness' that does not actually exist. (Jay Rayner, "Observer", April 18, 2004)
Etymology:
"Disgust" + "-ing" + "-ness".
"Disgust" - 1598, from M.Fr. "desgoust" ("strong dislike, repugnance," lit. "distaste"), from "desgouster" ("have a distaste for"), from "des-" ("opposite of") + "gouster) ("taste"). Sense has strengthened over time, and subject and object have been reversed: cf. "It is not very palatable, which makes some disgust it" (1669), while the reverse sense of "to excite nausea" is attested from 1650. The OED records "disgustingness" from 1851.


dishabille
[dis-uh-BEEL]
1. The state of being carelessly or partially dressed.
2. Casual or lounging attire.
3. An intentionally careless or casual manner.
Examples:
1) People meant to be fully clothed lounge around in dishabille. (John Simon, "Tangled Up in Blue," New York Magazine, March 26, 2001)
2) But, unlike the Black Knights, Princeton ... was in varying states of dishabille - some players in warmups, some in uniform, some halfway between. ("Daily Princetonian", December 13, 2000)
3) She was dressed, that is to say, in dishabille, wrapped in a long, warm dressing-gown. (Alexandre Dumas, "Twenty Years After")
4) She imagines the shocked faces of Josiah or her father or her mother were any of them to come around the corner and catch her in her dishabille. (Anita Shreve, "Fortune's Rocks")
Etymology:
"Dishabille" comes from French "d?shabiller" ("to undress"), from "d?s-" ("dis-") + "habiller" ("to clothe, to dress").


disingenuous

• calculating
• insincere
• dishonest
• untruthful
• hypocritical
• ingenuous
• guileful
• deceitful

[dis-in-JEN-yuh-wuss]
lacking in candor; giving a false appearance of simple frankness
Synonyms:
calculating, insincere, dishonest, untruthful, hypocritical, guileful, deceitful
Example:
"I swear I'll be back with the money," the customer assured the cashier with a disingenuous expression.
History:
Today's word has its roots in the slave-holding society of ancient Rome. Its ancestor "ingenuus" is a Latin adjective meaning "native" or "freeborn" (itself from "gignere", meaning "to beget"). "Ingenuus" begot English "ingenuous". That adjective originally meant "freeborn" (as in "ingenuous Roman subjects") or "noble and honorable", but it eventually came to mean "showing childlike innocence" or "lacking guile". In the mid 17th-century, English speakers combined the negative prefix "dis-" with "ingenuous" to create "disingenuous".

disinterested

• uninterested

1. a) not having the mind or feelings engaged
Synonym: not interested
b) no longer interested
2. free from selfish motive or interest
Synonym: unbiased
Example:
To avoid any conflicts of interest, the company hired disinterested consultants to determine how to reorganize the company most efficiently.
Etymology:
"Disinterested" and "uninterested" have a tangled history. "Uninterested" originally meant "impartial", but this sense fell into disuse during the 18th century. About the same time the sense of "disinterested" describing someone not having the mind or feelings engaged also disappeared, only to have "uninterested" take its place. The original sense of "uninterested" is still out of use, but the original ("uninterested") sense of "disinterested" revived in the early 20th century. The revival has come under frequent attack as an illiteracy and a blurring or loss of a useful distinction. However, actual usage shows otherwise. For instance, a writer may choose "disinterested" in preference to "uninterested" for emphasis, as in "a supremely disinterested child". Further, "disinterested" has developed a sense meaning "no longer interested", which is clearly distinguishable from "uninterested".


disparage

• degrade
• belittle

1. to lower in rank or reputation
Synonym: degrade
2. to speak slightingly about
Synonym: belittle
Example:
Several respected scientists have disparaged the authors of the study for using sloppy methods.
History:
In Middle English, to "disparage" someone meant causing that person to marry someone of inferior rank. "Disparage" derives from the Anglo-French "desparager," meaning "to marry below one's class." "Desparager," in turn, combines the negative prefix "des-" with "parage"("equality" or "lineage"), which itself comes from "per," meaning "peer." The original "marriage" sense of "disparage" is now obsolete, but a closely-related sense ("to lower in rank or reputation") survives in modern English. By the 16th century, English speakers (including Shakespeare) were also using "disparage" to mean simply "to belittle."


disparate

• different
• dissimilar
• divergent
• diverse
• unlike
• vituperate
• disparates

[DIS-puh-rit; dis-PAIR-it]
1. Fundamentally different or distinct in quality or kind.
2. Composed of or including markedly dissimilar elements.
Synonyms: different, dissimilar, divergent, diverse, unlike.
Examples:
1) Science at its best isolates a common element underlying many seemingly disparate phenomena. (John Horgan, "The Undiscovered Mind ")
2) "A Region Not Home," though it encompasses topics as seemingly disparate as Shakespeare, football, suicide, racism and Disneyland, actually has considerable thematic coherence. (Phillip Lopate, "Dreaming of Elsewhere," New York Times, February 27, 2000)
3) When a poet's mind is perfectly equipped for its work, it is constantly amalgamating disparate experience; the ordinary man's experience is chaotic, irregular, fragmentary. (T.S. Eliot, "The Metaphysical Poets")
4) James often complained about the disparate expectations for himself and his younger sister, who was required to do far fewer chores than he was.
Etymology. related words, more meanings:
"Disparate" comes from "disparatus," the past participle of Latin "disparare" ("to separate"), from "dis-" ("apart") + "parare" ("to prepare").
The word first appeared in English in the 15th century. Other descendants of "parare" in English include both "separate" and "prepare," as well as "repair," "apparatus," and even "vituperate" ("to berate or scold severely"). Incidentally, "disparate" can also be a noun meaning "one of two or more things so unequal or unlike that they cannot be compared with each other" (it's usually used in the plural).