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ubiquitous

• ubiquity

[yoo-BIK-wih-tuh]
Existing or being everywhere, or in all places, at the same time.
Examples:
1) In spite of the ubiquitous beggars, gypsies and 'naked urchins', Skopje was an attractive town in the early part of the century. (Anne Sebba, "Mother Teresa: Beyond the Image")
2) Airborne gambling, shopping and videoconferencing may all be ubiquitous in the future. (Peter H. Lewis, "The Cybercompanion," New York Times, February 7, 1999)
3) Adding to my perplexity, this lack of clarity even appeared evident among the best and brightest sociologists, historians, literary scholars, art historians, those working in cultural studies, American Studies, and journalism; the problem looked to be ubiquitous. (Michael Kammen, "American Culture, American Tastes")
4) Before Tarzan, nobody understood just how big, how ubiquitous, how marketable a star could be. (John Taliaferro, "Tarzan Forever")
Etymology, related word:
"Ubiquitous" derives, via French, from Latin "ubique" ("everywhere"), from "ubi" ("where"). The noun form is ubiquity.


ukase
[yoo-KAYS; -KAYZ; YOO-kays; -kayz]
1. In imperial Russia, a published proclamation or order having the force of law.
2. Any order or decree issued by an authority.
Synonym: an edict.
Examples:
1) I took a playwriting course from the noted Prof. A. M. Drummond, a huge man on crutches who right off the bat delivered a ukase never to begin a play with the telephone ringing. (Arthur Laurents, "Original Story By")
2) This new ukase, however, ignited bureaucratic warfare and spawned rival and conflicting rules and concepts, frittering away time and effort. (Richard B. Frank, "Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire")
Etymology:
"Ukase" derives from Russian "ukaz" ("decree"), from Old Church Slavonic "ukazu" ("a showing, proof"), from "u-" ("at, to") + "kazati" ("to point out, to show").


ululate

• ululant
• ululation

[ULL-yuh-layt]
To howl, as a dog or a wolf; to wail; as, ululating jackals.
Examples:
1) People waved, ululated and punched the air with their fists, not bothered if those inside the motorcade were responding or even paying attention to the excitement outside. ("Africa News", November 2004)
2) He had often dreamed of his grieving family visiting his grave, ululating as only the relatives of martyrs may. (Edward Shirley, "Know Thine Enemy: A Spy's Journey into Revolutionary Iran")
3) She wanted to be on the tarmac, to ululate and raise her hands to the heavens. (Deborah Sontag, "Palestinian Airport Opens to Jubilation," New York Times, November 25, 1998)
4) She used harrowing, penetrating nasal tones and a rasp that approached Janis Joplin's double-stops; she made notes break and ululate. (Jon Pareles, "On the Third Day There Was Whooping and There Was Moshing," New York Times, August 18, 1998)
Etymology, related words:
"When other birds are still, the screech owls take up the strain, like mourning women their ancient u-lu-lu." When Henry David Thoreau used "u-lu-lu" to imitate the cry of screech owls and mourning women in that particular passage from his book "Walden", he was re-enacting the etymology of "ululate" (a word he likely knew). "Ululate" descends from the Latin verb "ululare." That Latin root carried the same meaning as the modern English word, and it likely originated in the echoes of the rhythmic wailing sound associated with it. Even today, "ululate" often refers to ritualistic or expressive wailing performed at times of mourning or celebration or to show approval. The noun form is "ululation"; the adjective form is "ululant".


umbrage

• give umbrage
• take umbrage

[UHM-brij]
1. Shade; shadow; hence, something that affords a shade, as a screen of trees or foliage.
2. A vague or indistinct indication or suggestion; a hint.
3. Reason for doubt; suspicion.
4. Suspicion of injury or wrong; offense; resentment.
Examples:
1) Burr finally took umbrage, and challenged him to a duel. (Richard A. Samuelson, "Alexander Hamilton: American," Commentary, June 1999)
2) In almost all the walks of his life, he appears to have been both astoundingly rude and genuinely astonished that anyone should take umbrage. (Robert Winder, "A dying game," New Statesman, June 19, 2000)
3) He had a devastating smile, which could wipe away the slightest umbrage. (Alec Guinness, "A Positively Final Appearance")
4) The river tumbling green and white, far below me; the dark high banks, the plentiful umbrage, many bronze cedars, in shadow; and tempering and arching all the immense materiality, a clear sky overhead, with a few white clouds, limpid, spiritual, silent. (Walt Whitman, "Specimen Days & Collect")
5) "He's not willing to pay for the A-list players we need to win a championship," said one player of the team's owner, who, not surprisingly, took umbrage at the statement.
History, more examples, related words and expressions:
"Deare amber lockes gave umbrage to her face." This line from a poem by William Drummond, published in 1616, uses "umbrage" in its original sense of "shade, shadow," a meaning shared by its Latin source, "umbra." ("Umbella," the diminutive form of "umbra," means "a sunshade or parasol" in Latin and is an ancestor of our word "umbrella.") Beginning in the early 17th century, "umbrage" was also used to mean "a shadowy suggestion or semblance of something," as when Shakespeare, in "Hamlet", wrote, "His semblable is his mirror, and who else would trace him, his umbrage, nothing more." In the same century, "umbrage" took on the pejorative senses "a shadow of suspicion cast on someone" and "displeasure, offense"; the latter is commonly used today in the phrases "give umbrage" or "take umbrage."


uncanny

• weird
• eerie
• canny

1. ghostly, mysterious, eerie
2. suggesting superhuman or supernatural powers
Example:
Although Pam insists that she doesn't have ESP, she does have the uncanny ability to guess people's exact birth dates.
Synonyms: weird, eerie
History, peculiarities:
English also has a word "canny", but "canny" and "uncanny" should not be interpreted as opposites. "Canny", which first appeared in English in the 16th century, means "clever", "shrewd" or "prudent", as in "a canny lawyer" or "a canny investment". And there are subtle differences in the meanings of "uncanny" and its synonyms. "Weird" may be used to describe something that is generally strange or out of the ordinary. "Eerie" suggests an uneasy or fearful consciousness that some kind of mysterious and malign powers are at work, while "uncanny" implies disquieting strangeness or mysteriousness (1596 - "mischievous"; 1773 in the sense of "supernatural", originally Scottish and northern English).


unctuous
[UNK-chuh-wus, UNGK-choo-us]
1. Of the nature or quality of an unguent or ointment; fatty; oily; greasy.
2. Having a smooth, greasy feel, as certain minerals.
3. Plastic.
4. Insincerely or excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech; marked by a false or smug earnestness or agreeableness.
Examples:
1) A warmed, crusty French roll arrives split, lightly smeared with unctuous chopped liver. (John Kessler, "Meals To Go: Break from the routine with Hong," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 22, 1998)
2) She recalled being offended by the "phoniness" that stemmed from the contradiction between her mother's charming, even unctuous public manner and her anger in private. (Daniel Horowitz, "Betty Friedan And the Making of 'The Feminine Mystique' ")
3) He approached Sean wearing a smile so unctuous it seemed about to slide right off his face. (Naeem Murr, "The Boy")
4) The unctuous man in the bar tried every cheap pickup line in the book, but Angela was not impressed.
Etymology:
Nowadays, "unctuous" has a negative connotation, but it originated in a term describing a positive act, that of healing. The word comes from Medieval Latin "unctuosus", from Latin "unctus" ("anointed, besmeared, greasy"), past participle of "unguere" ("to anoint, to besmear"), or from the Latin verb "unguere," which means "to anoint," a root that also gave rise to the words "unguent" and "ointment." The oily nature of ointments may have led to the application of "unctuous" to describe things that are afflicted with an artificial gloss of sentimentality. An unctuous individual may mean well, but his or her insincere earnestness may leave an unwelcome residue with others, much like some ointments.


undecorating

• undecorate
• steer undecorating
• steer

Redecorating a home or room to give it a simpler, less cluttered look.
undecorate - v.
Examples:
1) Storytelling - long a factor in many forms of selling - appears to be gaining as a tactic for getting an edge in the crowded field of residential real estate sales. ... Forget "home staging," where firms swoop in, redecorate, and put some potpourri on the stove to boil. Forget "undecorating" to give prospective buyers a blank slate. (Clayton Collins, "Every house tells a story", Christian Science Monitor (Boston, MA), March 31, 2004)
2) You're probably ready for the really hot design trend of 2002: editing. As in: "This room needs editing. " Editing also is known as "paring down," or, as the new issue of Better Homes and Gardens calls it, "undecorating. " Undecorating is when you take a good, hard look at all of the decorating you've done during the last 10 years and ... well, undo it. (Bill Ervolino, "Un to the task at hand", The Record (Bergen County, NJ), January 17, 2002)
3) The Mazur home formerly was a sales model, ornately decorated with heavy window treatments, botanical wallpaper prints and a primarily green color scheme. Because of their streamlined taste in design, they have been "undecorating" since they moved in. (Pamela Dittmer McKuen, "Growing pains", Chicago Tribune, November 23, 1990)
Notes:
"Undecorating" also refers to removing the decorations from a Christmas tree or, more generally, removing decorations put up for a party or celebration. Rodeo fans will be familiar with the "steer undecorating" event, in which a horserider is timed on how quickly he or she can to catch up to a running steer and pull off a ribbon that has been attached to the beast's back.

under one's wing

• under his wing
• under the wing
• under
• wing

To be protected and guided by an older, more experienced person; to be cared for.
Examples:
1) Eric took Martha under his wing and paid for her education. 2) When my folks died, grandma took me under her wing.
Etymology: The metaphor comes from the image of an adult bird sheltering newborn chicks under its wings.

under the table

• under
• table
• shady

Hidden or secret, with the implication that the law is being broken.
Example: My boss pays me under the table, so I don't have to pay income taxes.
Etymology: Something that is 'under the table' is hidden from sight - and usually illegal.
Synonym: shady.


under the weather

• feel under the weather
• feel
• under
• weather

1. feel ill (but not be seriously ill).
Example:
He is feeling under the weather so he is going to bed early tonight.
2. Unwell; ill.
Examples:
1) John has not been looking very well these days. He's under the weather.
2) The children and I have had so many colds this winter. The whole family has been under the weather for weeks.
Antonym: in the pink.
N.B. Whereas in the pink can be applied to people or machines, under the weather is applied only to people.

undertaker
[UN-der-tay-ker]
1. One that undertakes; one that takes the risk and management of business; entrepreneur.
2. One whose business is to prepare the dead for burial and to arrange and manage funerals.
3. An Englishman taking over forfeited lands in Ireland in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Example:
The undertaker offered the family several choices of coffin for the burial service.
History:
You may wonder how the word "undertaker" made the transition from "one who undertakes" to "one who makes a living in the funeral business." The latter meaning descends from the use of the word to mean "one who takes on business responsibilities." In the 18th century, a funeral-undertaker was someone who undertook, or managed, a funeral business. There were many undertakers in those days, undertaking all sorts of businesses, but as time went on "undertaker" became specifically identified with the profession of arranging burial. Today, "funeral director" is more commonly used, but "undertaker" still appears.


undulant
[UN-juh-lunt; UN-dyuh-]
Resembling waves in form, motion, or occurrence.
Examples:
1) Finally he stood and moved to the side of the craft that had edged up to the freighter, his feet planted wide against the undulant rocking and swaying of the current. (Tom Clancy and Martin Greenberg, "Ruthless.com")
2) The undulant landscape looks serene in every direction. (Frances Mayes, "Under The Tuscan Sun")
Etymology:
"Undulant" is from Late Latin "undula" - "a small wave," diminutive of Latin "unda" - "wave."


undulate

• inundate

[UN-juh-layt]
1. To form or move in waves; fluctuate.
2. To rise and fall in volume, pitch, or cadence.
3. To present a wavy appearance.
Example:
The opera singer's voice undulated as she expressed the grief and despair of the song.
History, related words:
"Undulate" and "inundate" are word cousins, sharing "unda," the Latin word for "wave," as their common ancestor. No surprise there. But would you have guessed that "abound," "surround," and "redound" are also "unda" offspring? The connection between "unda" and these words is easier to see when you learn that at some point in their early histories each of them essentially had the meaning of "to overflow," just as "inundate" (which can mean either "to flood, to overflow" or "to overwhelm") does. Today that connection is obscured, since the "overflow" senses of the words are, well, down the drain.


unfledged

• unfledge
• fledge

[uhn-FLEJD]
1. Lacking the feathers necessary for flight.
2. Not fully developed; immature.
Examples:
1) It is most likely that this parrot was caught when very young, even possibly unfledged, and was totally nurtured by humans. (D'vora Ben Shaul, "A parrot in a man's world," Jerusalem Post, June 15, 1997)
2) Some also charge the leaders with sheltering unfledged youth from the real world or, as one public education official quoted in the Washington Post put it, "prolonging a cocoon existence." (Helen Mondloch, "Homegrown Virtue on Campus," World and I, November 1, 2001)
3) He is not naive, unfledged, but he is always in some way a "Johnny come lately." (Robert Creeley, "Austerities," Review of Contemporary Fiction, March 22, 1994)
Etymology:
"Unfledged" is from obsolete "fledge" - "capable of flying; feathered," from Middle English "flegge", from Old English "flycge".


unobtainium

• unobtanium

Something that is unobtainable, often because it doesn't exist. It is a term founded in a classic excuse  that if only some exotic material were available, the job could be done easily.
Example:
If only he had some unobtanium, he always says apologetically, creating the required result would be easy-peasy; without it, its impossible.
Etymology:
The name  often also spelled as unobtainium  combines unobtainable with the -ium suffix that marks the names of chemical elements. The term is known from the motor racing world in the 1970s, as a humorous way of explaining why specialist spare parts were so expensivethey were made from unobtanium.


until cows come home

• until the cows come home
• till the cows come home
• till cows come home
• until
• till
• cows
• come home
• cow
• come
• home

at the end of something; when things take
a long time they are said to last until the cows come home.
Etymology:
The cows come home at the end of day.

untoward
[uhn-TORD]
1. Not favorable or fortunate; adverse.
2. Improper; unseemly.
3. Hard to guide, work with, or control; unruly.
Examples:
1) If a candidate drug outperforms a placebo in two independent studies, and if it does so without untoward side effects, the FDA will approve it for use. (Gary Greenberg, "Is it prozac? Or placebo?" Mother Jones, November/December 2003)
2) During the trip, I was virtually alone with my unarmed driver for long stretches in places where officials in the capital of Sana'a had told me abductions were likely. Yet nothing untoward happened. (Robert D Kaplan, "'Get me to Vukovar,"' Columbia Journalism Review, September/October 2004)
3) For the vast majority of untoward behaviors labeled as mental illness, Szasz contends that they are freely chosen behaviors for which the agent must take responsibility; psychiatry tends to ascribe responsibility for only socially-approved actions. (Richard E. Vatz, "The quandary over mental illness," USA Today, November 1, 2004)
4) And despite your indignant protestations to the contrary, there was nothing unethical, unsafe or otherwise untoward about Gordon's pass. (Lee Spencer, "No reason to see red over pass on yellow," Sporting News, July 7, 2003)
Etymology:
"Untoward" comes from "un-" + Middle English "toward", from Old English "toweard" ("facing, imminent"), from "to" + "-weard" ("-ward").


up for grabs

• up for
• grabs
• up
• grab

Freely available; ready to be taken.
Examples:
1) After Mr. Mortimer passed away, no one could find his will, so his estate is up for grabs. 2) I don't want my sandwich - it's up for grabs, if anyone wants it.
Etymology:
When you 'grab' something, you reach for it very quickly. When something is up for grabs, it is out in the open, waiting to be grabbed by whoever wants it.

up one's sleeve

• up your sleeve
• up
• sleeve

A hidden advantage; some form of trickery lying in wait.
Example:
Be careful doing business with Tom - he's always got something up his sleeve.
Etymology:
This is one of many slang phrases derived from gambling. When a card player has 'an ace up his sleeve' he is hiding an extra card (usually a powerful one like an ace) in his shirt sleeve, waiting to use it to win a hand. Now the phrase refers to any kind of hidden strength or advantage.


up to one's ears

• up to ears
• up to one's ear
• up to
• ears
• ear

Deeply involved or occupied fully
Example:
I'm up to my ears in work.


uphill
1. Upwards.
2. Difficult, not easy.
Examples:
1) We were on the uphill road all the way.
2) It was an uphill examination.
Etymology:
1613, from up + hill.


urbane

• urbanity

[ur-BAYN, er-BAYN]
Polished and smooth in manner; polite, refined, and elegant.
1) Taylor comes across as an intelligent man, suave and urbane, articulate and smooth as butter. (Bill Berkeley, "The Graves Are Not Yet Full")
2) It was conceded that he was... "the kind of person," one friend-turned-opponent says, "the Founding Fathers would have wanted in the Senate: urbane, witty, scholarly, wise, eloquent." (Godfrey Hodgson, "The Gentleman From New York")
3) The son of a famous father, . . . Harvard-educated, handsome, charming, urbane, a northeastern aristocrat with all the advantages, JFK appeared to be everything LBJ was not. (Robert Dallek, "Flawed Giant")
Etymology:
"Urbane" comes from Latin "urbanus" ("of a city", hence "refined, polished"), from "urbs" ("city"). The noun form is "urbanity" [ur-BAN-ih-tee].
City slickers and country folk have long debated whether life is better on the town or in the wide open spaces, and "urbane" is a term that springs from the throes of that debate. The word traces back to the Latin "urbs," meaning "city," and in its earliest English uses in the 17th century "urbane" was synonymous with its close relative "urban" (which was first recorded in English only a few years earlier). "Urbane" developed its modern sense of savoir faire from the belief (no doubt fostered by city dwellers) that life in the city was much more suave and polished than life in the country.


use one's head

• use your head
• use the head
• use
• head

To think something through; to be rational and calm.
Examples:
1) Use your head, Jim. You have to pass physics if you want to get your degree.
2) Tim never uses his head - it's no wonder that he keeps getting into so much trouble.
Etymology:
Your "head" is where your brain is, so when you use your head, you use your brain to think.


useful idiot

• useful
• idiot

a human shield for the enemy
Example:
This useful idiot wanted to impeach President Reagan over the invasion of Grenada. ("Useful Idiots: How Liberals Got It Wrong in the Cold War and Still Blame America First" by Mona Charen)



utile

• useful

[YOO-til]
Useful.
Example:
Shaker crafts are simple, meticulously constructed, pleasing to the eye, and eminently utile, all at the same time.
History, related words, synonyms:
For over a hundred years before "useful" entered our language, "utile" served us well on its own. We borrowed "utile" from Middle French in the 15th century. The French derived it from Latin "utilis," meaning "useful," which in turn comes from "uti," meaning "to use." "Uti" (the past participle of which is "usus") is also the source of our "use" and "useful." We've been using "use" since at least the 13th century, but we didn't acquire "useful" until the late 16th century, when William Shakespeare inserted it into "King John". Needless to say, we've come to prefer "useful" over "utile" since then, though "utile" functions as a very usable synonym. Other handy terms derived from "uti" include "utilize," "usury," "abuse," and "utensil."


utopia
[yoo-TOH-pee-uh]
1. An imaginary and indefinitely remote place.
2. (Often capitalized) A place of ideal perfection especially in laws, government, and social conditions.
3. An impractical scheme for social improvement.
Example:
To some folks, gated communities are visions of Utopia -- safe, quiet, and out of the way.
History:
In 1516, English humanist Sir Thomas More published a book titled "Utopia". It compared social and economic conditions in Europe with those of an ideal society on an imaginary island located off the coast of the Americas. More wanted to imply that the perfect conditions on his fictional island could never really exist, so he called it "Utopia", a name he created by combining the Greek words "ou" (meaning "no, not") and "topos" (meaning "place," a root used in the English word "topography"). The modern generic use of "utopia," referring to an ideal place or society, was inspired by the book and the author's description of Utopia's perfection.


uxorial
of, relating to, or characteristic of a wife
Example:
Joe's idea of uxorial duties - cooking, cleaning, planning parties, and balancing his checkbook - didn't sit well with his coworkers.
Etymology:
With help from "-ial," "-ious," and "-icide," the Latin word "uxor," meaning "wife," has given us the English words "uxorial," "uxorious" (meaning "excessively fond of or submissive to a wife"), and "uxoricide" ("murder of a wife by her husband" or "a wife murderer"). Do we have equivalent "husband" words? Well, sort of. "Maritus" means "husband" in Latin, so "marital" can mean "of or relating to a husband and his role in marriage" (although "maritus" also means "married," and the "of or relating to marriage or the married state" sense of "marital" is far more common). And while "mariticide" is "spouse killing," it can also be specifically "husband-killing."


uxoricide
murder of a wife by her husband; a wife murderer
Example:
Yea, he is on death row for uxoricide.
Etymology:
Lat. "uxor" (wife) + "caedere" (to kill)

uxorious

• uxorial
• uxorious
• uxoricide
• marital
• mariticide

[uk-SOR-ee-us; ug-ZOR-]
Excessively, foolishly fond of or submissive to a wife; being a dependent husband.
Examples:
1) How wouldst thou insult, when I must live uxorious to thy will in perfect thraldom! (Milton)
2) It is batty to suppose that the most uxorious of husbands will stop his wife's excessive shopping if an excessive shopper she has always been. (Angela Huth, "All you need is love," Daily Telegraph, April 24, 1998)
3) Flagler seems to have been an uxorious, domestic man, who liked the comfort and companionship of a wife at his side. (Michael Browning, "Whitehall at 100," Palm Beach Post, February 22, 2002)
4) Fuller is as uxorious a poet as they come: hiatuses in the couple's mutual understanding are overcome with such rapidity as to be hardly worth mentioning in the first place ("How easy, this ability / To lose whatever we possess / By ceasing to believe that we / Deserve such brilliant success"). (David Wheatley, "Round and round we go," The Guardian, October 5, 2002)
Etymology, related words:
With help from "-ial," "-ious," and "-icide," the Latin word "uxor," meaning "wife," has given us the English words "uxorial," "uxorious" (meaning "excessively fond of or submissive to a wife"), and "uxoricide" ("murder of a wife by her husband" or "a wife murderer"). Do we have equivalent "husband" words? Well, sort of. "Maritus" means "husband" in Latin, so "marital" can mean "of or relating to a husband and his role in marriage" (although "maritus" also means "married," and the "of or relating to marriage or the married state" sense of "marital" is far more common). And while "mariticide" is "spouse killing," it can also be specifically "husband-killing."