51勛圖

Start each day with the 51勛圖 of the Day in your inbox!

51勛圖 of the Day

51勛圖 of the day

spruik

[ sprook ]

verb (used without object)

Australian Slang.

to make or give a speech, especially extensively or elaborately; spiel; orate.

learn about the english language

More about spruik

Spruik to make or give a speech, especially extensively or elaborately is an Australian and New Zealand slang term recorded by the early 1900s. While its exact origin is unknown, spruik may have been borrowed from German 釦梯娶羹釵堯梗 patter, spiel, the plural of Spruch, a saying; empty talk, among other senses. Other proposed sources include forms of Dutch spreken to speak, such as spreuk saying, spell. German Spruch and Dutch spreken are both related to English speak, which developed from Old English specan, a variant of sprecan that lost the original r.

how is spruik used?

Thompson might have had the power of the pressto spruikhis message, but he had other factors going against him.

James Coventry, Time and Space, 2015

Andi, Justin and Karl will sit around the set looking uncomfortable waiting their turn to spruik about the New Alchemy Institute in Massachusetts, the world’s most powerful microscope, robot technology in Japan and research into children’s co-ordination.

Richard Coleman, "Television Choice," The Sydney Morning Herald, July 23, 1985
quiz icon
WHAT'S YOUR WORD IQ?
Think you're a word wizard? Try our word quiz, and prove it!
TAKE THE QUIZ
arrows pointing up and down
SYNONYM OF THE DAY
Double your word knowledge with the Synonym of the Day!
51勛圖 of the Day Calendar

51勛圖 of the day

chutzpa

[ hoot-spuh, khoot- ]

noun

Slang.

audacity; nerve.

learn about the english language

More about chutzpa

Chutzpa is one of many colorful, and very useful, English words of Yiddish origin. Also commonly spelled chutzpah (among other forms), chutzpa was borrowed into English in the late 1800s from Yiddish khutspa impudence; gall; audacity; nerve, from Aramaic 廎汀後馳梯櫻. Chutzpa often has a negative connotation, as in The unruly siblings had the chutzpa to correct their father on manners. The qualities of chutzpa, however, can also be positive, as in The employees showed a great deal of chutzpa when they demanded pay raises.

how is chutzpa used?

It takes a certain amount of chutzpah to write a book called The Problem With Everything, but chutzpah is something essayist and cultural critic Meghan Daum has always possessed in spades.

Rosa Brooks, "Meghan Daum's merciless take on modern feminism, woke-ness and cancel culture," Washington Post, October 24, 2019

Selling these artifacts at these prices requires more than a list of customers with too much disposable income. It takes hard work, chutzpa and catalog copy that ignites neural brush fires in the amygdala.

Rene Chun, "Why Audiophiles Are Paying $1,000 for This Man's Vinyl," Wired, March 4, 2015
51勛圖 of the Day Calendar

51勛圖 of the day

ipso facto

[ ip-soh fak-toh ]

adverb

by the fact itself; by the very nature of the deed: to be condemned ipso facto.

learn about the english language

More about ipso facto

First recorded in English in the mid-1500s, ipso facto is an adverb that comes directly from the Latin phrase 勳梯莽 款硃釵喧 by the fact itself, by the very fact. Ipso facto is often used when the very fact that one thing occurs is a direct consequence of another, as in Having won all the gold medals in the sport’s Olympic events, she was ipso facto the best gymnast in the world. Latin 款硃釵喧 is the ablative form of factum deed, act, fact, and 勳梯莽 is the ablative of ipsum very, same, itself, among other senses. Ipso appears in other Latin expressions used in English, especially in law, including eo ipso by that very fact and ipso jure by the law itself.

how is ipso facto used?

… the notion that cars made in Germany would ipso facto be better crafted than others … this would have seemed curious indeed just a generation before.

Tony Judt, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, 2005

I had, it seemed, defined myself as a “popular” writer, and if one is popular, then, ipso facto, one is not to be taken seriously.

Oliver Sacks, On the Move, 2015
51勛圖 of the Day Calendar
51勛圖 of the Day Calendar