ASF Word of the Day

[Garpal Gumnut]

Satrap​

A satrap was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median and Persian Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires. A satrapy is the territory governed by a satrap. A satrap served as a viceroy to the king, though with considerable autonomy. The word came to suggest tyranny or ostentatious splendour, and its modern usage is a pejorative and refers to any subordinate or local ruler, usually with unfavourable connotations of corruption.


Mrs Allan, the Victorian satrap, behaves like a mini despot in attempting to foist The Voice and a Ring Road without beginning nor end on Melburnians.

gg

 

[Dona Ferentes]

Satrap​

late Middle English:
from Old French satrape or Latin satrapa, based on Old Persian kšathra-pāvan ‘country-protector’.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

the difference between guile and wile.

wile
noun

1. devious or cunning  strategems employed in manipulating or pwrsuading someone to do what one wants

wile
verb

1. 1.
   archaic lure, entice
2. another way of saying while something away

Origin


Middle English: perhaps from an Old Norse word related to vél ‘craft’.


wile
informal•Northern Irish
adjective

1. very bad; terrible.
   "he was wile when he was young"
   • used to emphasise the extent of something, especially something negative.

adverb
adverb: wile

1. very; extremely.

Origin


late 19th century: representing a pronunciation of wild, probably influenced by earlier Scots use of wile as an alteration of vile.

.....
guile
noun:

1. sly or cunning intelligence.

Origin


Middle English: from Old French, probably from Old Norse; compare with wile
....

 

[Dona Ferentes]

and that brings us to

beguile
verb

1. 1.
   charm or enchant (someone), often in a deceptive way
   • trick (someone) into doing something.
2. 2.
   literary
   help (time) pass pleasantly

Origin


Middle English (in the sense ‘deceive, deprive of by fraud’): from be- ‘thoroughly’ + obsolete guile ‘to deceive’ (see guile ).

 

[Dona Ferentes]

baton
noun

1. a thin stick used by a conductor
   to direct an orchestra or choir.
   
   • a short stick or tube passed from runner to runner in a relay race.
   • a long stick carried and twirled by a drum major or drum majorette.
   • a police officer's truncheon.
   • a staff of office or authority, especially one carried by a field marshal.
   • a rectangular piece of a vegetable or other food.
   • Heraldry
     a narrow bend truncated at each end.
   • a short bar replacing some figures on the dial of a clock or watch.
   • one of the suits in some tarot packs, corresponding to wands in others.

Origin


early 16th century (denoting a staff or cudgel): from French bâton, earlier baston, from late Latin bastum ‘stick'

 

[Dona Ferentes]

batten
noun

1. a long flat strip of squared timber or metal used to hold something in place or as a fastening against a wall.
   • a strip of wood or metal for securing a tarpaulin securing a cover a ship's  hatchway.
   • a strip of wood or plastic used to stiffen and hold the leech of a sail out from the mast.

batten
verb

1. strengthen or fasten (something) with battens.

Origin


late 15th century: from Old French batant, present participle (used as a noun) of batre ‘to beat’, from Latin battuere

 

[Dona Ferentes]

"midwit" is an internet meme word.

In essence, a midwit opinion is one that has a veneer of sophistication, because it goes against popular tastes, but is itself just another kind of herd behaviour.

Urban Dictionary describes a midwit as “someone who is around average intelligence but is so opinionated and full of themselves that they think they are some kind of genius"

 

[Dona Ferentes]

oligeanous
adjective

1. 1.
   rich in, covered with, or producing oil; oily
   
   
2. 2.
   exaggeratedly and distastefully complimentary; obsequious.

Origin



late Middle English: from French oléagineux, from Latin oleaginus ‘of the olive tree’, from oleum ‘oil'

 

[Dona Ferentes]

myriad
noun

1. 1
   a countless or extremely great number of people or things.
   
   
2. 2.
   (in classical history) a unit of ten thousand.

adjective

1. countless or extremely great in number.
   • having countless or very many elements or aspects.

Origin


mid 16th century (in sense 2 of the noun): via late Latin from Greek murias, muriad-, from murioi ‘10,000’.


Use over time for: myriad

 

[farmerge]

"midwit" is an internet meme word.

In essence, a midwit opinion is one that has a veneer of sophistication, because it goes against popular tastes, but is itself just another kind of herd behaviour.

Urban Dictionary describes a midwit as “someone who is around average intelligence but is so opinionated and full of themselves that they think they are some kind of genius"

I have come across plenty of "midwits" in my time.
No shortage of them.
Generally they are deeming themselves to be the ultimate expert when in fact they have no idea.
How I love these "midwits/experts" when it comes to contracting.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

lubricious
adjective

1. 1.
   offensively displaying or intended to arouse sexual desire.
2. 2.
   smooth and slippery with oil or a similar substance.
   

Origin

late 16th century: from Latin lubricus ‘slippery' + ious

 

[Dona Ferentes]

terpsichorean
formal•humorous

adjective

1. relating to dancing.

noun

1. a dancer.

Origin




early 19th century: from Terpsichore (used in the 18th century to denote a female dancer or the art of dance) + an

 

[Dona Ferentes]

foment
verb

1. 1.
   instigate or stir up (an undesirable or violent sentiment or course of action).
   
   
2. 2.
   archaic
    bathe (a part of the body) with warm or medicated lotions..

Origin


late Middle English (in foment (sense 2)): from French fomenter, from late Latin fomentare, from Latin fomentum ‘poultice, lotion’, from fovere ‘to heat, cherish’.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

labile
adjective
technical

1. liable to change; easily altered.
   • of or characterized by emotions which are easily aroused, freely expressed, and tend to alter quickly and spontaneously
   • Chemistry
     easily broken down or displaced
     

Origin


late Middle English (in the sense ‘liable to err or sin’): from late Latin labilis, from labi ‘to fall'.

Lability refers to the state or quality of being easily changed or unstable, particularly in the context of emotions or chemical compounds. In psychiatry, it describes a tendency for rapid and exaggerated changes in mood, often disproportionate to the situation. Chemically, lability refers to the ease with which a substance can undergo chemical change or breakdown.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

scion
noun

1. 1.
   a young shoot or twig of a plant, especially one cut for grafting or rooting
   
   
2. 2.
   a descendant of a notable family.
   

Origin

Middle English: from Old French ciun ‘shoot, twig’, of unknown origin.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

factious
adjective

1. relating or inclined to dissention

Origin


mid 16th century: from French factieux or Latin factiosus, from factio (see faction )

Use over time for: factious

 

[Dona Ferentes]

faction
noun

1. a small organized dissenting group within a larger one, especially in politics.

Origin
late 15th century (denoting the action of doing or making something): via French from Latin factio(n- ), from facere ‘do, make'

 

[Dona Ferentes]

fractious
adjective

1. (typically of children) irritable and quarrelsome
2. (of a group or organization) difficult to control; unruly

Origin


late 17th century: from fraction, probably on the pattern of the pair faction, factious

.
.
and of course an early sense of
fraction

1. in the Christian Church) the breaking of the Eucharistic bread.

Origin.

late Middle English: via Old French from ecclesiastical Latin fractio(n-) ‘breaking (bread)’, from Latin frangere ‘to break’.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

 

[Dona Ferentes]

plaque
noun

1. 1.
   an ornamental tablet, typically of metal, porcelain, or wood, that is fixed to a wall or other surface commemoration of a person or event.
   
   
2. 2.
   a sticky deposit on teeth in which bacteria proliferate
   
   
3. 3.
   Medicine
   a small, distinct, typically raised patch or region on or within the body resulting from local damage or deposition of material, such as a fatty deposit on an artery wall in atherosclerosis or a site of localized damage of brain tissue in Alzheimer's disease.
   • Microbiology
     a clear area in a cell culture caused by the inhibition of growth or destruction of cells by an agent such as a virus.
4. 4.
   a flat counter used in gambling.

Origin


mid 19th century: from French, from Dutch plak ‘tablet’, from plakken ‘to stick’.