ASF Word of the Day

[Knobby22]

stratagem
noun

1. a plan or scheme, especially one used to outwit an opponent or achieve an end.
   • archaic
     skill in devising plans or schemes; cunning.

Origin
View attachment 201129

Frenchified version of a "cunning plan".
Aka Baldrick

 

[Dona Ferentes]

paladin
noun
historical

1. any of the twelve peers of Charlemagne's court, of whom the Count Palatine was the chief.
   • a knight renowned for heroism and chivalry.

Origin

 

[Knobby22]

paladin
noun
historical

1. any of the twelve peers of Charlemagne's court, of whom the Count Palatine was the chief.
   • a knight renowned for heroism and chivalry.

Origin
View attachment 201532

Also a Lawful Good choice in the Dungeons and Dragons Game.

I remember well, my friend's Paladin Nimloth. Not that smart but terribly good. Anyone in the party who did the wrong thing would have him to answer to.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

pabulum

noun
literary

1. bland or insipid intellectual matter, entertainment, etc.

Origin

mid 17th century (in the sense ‘food’): from Latin, from the stem of pascere ‘to feed’

 

[Dona Ferentes]

glabrous
adjective

1. (chiefly of the skin or a leaf) free from hair or down; smooth.

Origin

 

[Dona Ferentes]

glabrous
adjective

1. (chiefly of the skin or a leaf) free from hair or down; smooth.

and that takes us to...

glabella
noun
Anatomy

1. the smooth part of the forehead above and between the eyebrows.
   

Origin : early 19th century: modern Latin, from Latin glabellus (adjective), diminutive of glaber ‘smooth’.

Your glabella is part of your face’s frontal bone. It’s between your two superciliary arches, the bony ridges above your eye sockets from whose lower borders your eyebrows sprout.

However, the glabella reveals much more about you; it’s at the epicentre of our emotional expressiveness.

Our face communicates the gamut of emotions: sadness, fear, anger, elation, surprise, lust, perhaps a curious combination of these, and beyond. And when people judge how we’re feeling from our face, they look most at our eyebrows, followed by mouth and eyes.

Our glabellar skin is a powerful communicator. Muscle contractions make skin patterns here usually associated with negative feelings, like anxiety, irritation, tiredness, anger, and frustration. And this is often where the first wrinkles appear on our forehead. These vertical lines, sometimes called “elevens” , can make us seem older than we might like.

Research shows that when people are asked to guess someone’s age from a picture of their face, they look more at the glabella in those they rate as old versus those they think are younger.

The glabella also reveals clues about our brain’s health. Get a friend to gently tap, tap, tap their finger on your glabella, and your eyes will blink, blink, blink. This reflex is designed to protect newborns’ eyes, it’s believed. After a few taps, you get used to it, and stop blinking.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

and that takes us to ..

Synophrys, from the ancient Greek for “with meeting eyebrows” (referring to what can colloquially be called a monobrow).

Usually, eyebrows don’t meet because they’re separated by the relatively smooth, hairless glabellar skin.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

and also to..

supercilious
adjective

1. behaving or looking as though one thinks one is superior to others.

Origin

 

[Dona Ferentes]

captious
adjective

1. tending to find fault or raise petty objections.
   

Origin
late Middle English (also in the sense ‘intended to deceive someone’): from Old French captieux or Latin captiosus, from captio(n- ) ‘seizing’, (figuratively) ‘deceiving

 

[StockyGuy]

Spinach: there's fair chance you have it mixed up with silver beet (AKA chard)

 

[Dona Ferentes]

immanent
adjective

1. existing or operating within; inherent.
   
   • (of God) permanently pervading and sustaining the universe.

Origin

 

[Dona Ferentes]

a bit late, with 4th of July featuring on the wires.... like it's suddenly everywhere, man

A semiquincentennial refers to a 250th anniversary. It is a term sometimes used to mark the 250th anniversary of an event or a nation's founding. For example, the United States will observe its semiquincentennial (250th anniversary) in 2026, marking 250 years since the Declaration of Independence. The term is also sometimes written as "bisesquicentennial" or "sestercentennial".

and, one for the calendar, it's important to catch a future event
The Wealth of Nations ›
- Originally published 09 March 1776

 

[Dona Ferentes]

cognate
adjective

1. 1.
   Linguistics
   (of a word) having the same linguistic designation as another (e.g. English father, German Vater, Latin pater ).
   
   
2. 2.
   formal
   related; connected.
   • related to or descended from a common ancestor.

cognate
noun

1. 1.
   Linguistics
   a cognate word.
   
   
2. 2.
   Law
   a blood relative, especially on the mother's side.

Origin

 

[Dona Ferentes]

caprice
noun

1. 1.
   a sudden and unaccountable change of mood or behaviour.
   
   
2. 2.Music
   another term for capriccio.

Origin

mid 17th century

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

Pyx

A small box, a compass, a container to carry the Christian Holy Eucharist.

gg

 

[Dona Ferentes]

deuteragonist
noun

1. the person second in importance to the protagonist in a drama.

Origin

 

[Dona Ferentes]

pennon
noun

1. a long triangular swallow-tailed flag, especially one of a kind formerly attached to a lance or helmet; a pennant.
   • a tapering flag on a ship.

Origin

 

[Dona Ferentes]

pennant
noun

1. 1.
   a tapering flag on a ship, especially onw flown at the masthead of a vessel in commission.
   • a long triangular or swallow-tailed flag, especially as a military ensign.
2. 2.
   North American
   a flag denoting a sports championship or other achievement.
   
   
3. 3.
   Nautical
   a short rope hanging from the head of a ship's mast; a pendant.

Origin


late 15th century: variant of pendant, influenced by pennon.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

hang on in , there

pendant
noun

1. 1.
   a piece of jewellery that hangs from a chain worn round the neck.
   • a necklace with a pendant.
2. 2.
   a light designed to hang from the ceiling.
   
   
3. 3.
   the part of a pocket watch by which it is suspended.
   • a short rope hanging from the head of a ship's mast, yardarm or clew of a sail, used for attaching tackles.
4. 4.
   an artistic, literary, or musical composition intended to match or complement another.
   
   
5. 5.
   Nautical
   a a tapering flag.

adjective

1. hanging downwards, pendent .

Origin


Middle English (denoting an architectural decoration projecting downwards): from Old French, literally ‘hanging’, present participle of the verb pendre, from Latin pendere

 

[Dona Ferentes]

peon
noun

1. 1.
   a Spanish American day labourer or unskilled farm worker.
   • North American
     a person who does menial work.
     "racing drivers aren't exactly nine-to-five peons"
   • historical
     a debtor held in servitude by a creditor, especially in the southern US and Mexico.
2. 2.
   (in South and SE Asia)
   a low ranking worker such as an attendant , orderly, or assistant.
   
   
3. 3.
   a bullfighter who uses banderillas (darts thrust into a bull's neck or shoulders); a banderillero.

Origin