51吃瓜 of the Day
Augean
adjective
difficult and unpleasant: an Augean chore.
More about Augean
The English adjective Augean comes via Latin 础耻驳脓耻蝉 鈥渙f Augeas鈥� (an adjective used only of King Augeas鈥� stables), from the proper name Aug膿膩s (mentioned in Latin only for the dung in his stables), from Greek Auge铆膩s. Auge铆膩s, whose name may be related to the adjective 补耻驳岣梕颈蝉 鈥渂right-eyed, clear-sighted,鈥� a derivative of 补耻驳岣� 鈥渓ight of the sun, ray, beam,鈥� was the king of Elis (in the western Peloponnesus); his stables, filled with 3,000 immortal cattle, had not been cleaned for over 30 years. The cattle, moreover, were not only immortal but also divinely robust and healthy and therefore produced a prodigious amount of dung. Hercules鈥� fifth task was to clean the dung in Augeas’ stables, a task that was deliberately meant to be humiliating and impossible. Hercules cleansed the stables by diverting the river Alpheus through them. Augean entered English at the end of the 16th century.
how is Augean used?
Now, after an accumulation of filth for three months, the Spring thaw comes and an聽Augean聽task聽presents itself.
Augean jobs were deliberately assigned to him, tasks of almost unhearable tedium鈥攊mmense bales of spinach to trim alone鈥攊n the expectation that he would muster a chef鈥檚 endurance or quit.
Augean
dilly
noun
Informal.
something or someone regarded as remarkable, unusual, etc.: a dilly of a movie.
More about dilly
The noun and adjective dilly, like many slang terms, has an obscure etymology. One etymology is that dilly is an alteration of delightful or delicious; the suffix –y is either the native English adjective suffix –y (as in juicy), or the originally Scottish noun suffix –y (as in granny). Dilly was originally an Americanism, first appearing in print in the early 20th century.
how is dilly used?
It would be a dilly of a painting.
The two big numbers, and they were dillies, were 鈥淟a Toilette de la Cour鈥� by Anthony Philip Heinrich, and Albert Gehring’s 鈥淭he Soul of Chopin.鈥�
dilly
Samaritan
noun
one who is compassionate and helpful to a person in distress.
More about Samaritan
Samaritan as an adjective means 鈥減ertaining to Samaria or the Samaritans鈥�; as a noun, it means 鈥渁 native or inhabitant of Samaria.鈥� Most commonly, however, Samaritan is short for Good Samaritan, after Jesus鈥� parable in Luke 10:30-37.听厂补尘补谤颈迟补苍 comes from the Late Latin adjective 厂补尘补谤墨迟腻苍耻蝉 鈥淪amaritan鈥� (used as a noun in the masculine plural), from the Greek noun 厂补尘补谤墨虂迟脓蝉 鈥渁 Samaritan,鈥� a derivative of 厂补尘补谤别铆补, the name of a city and region in Palestine. Greek 厂补尘补谤别铆补 comes from Aramaic Shamerayin, from Hebrew 厂丑艒尘蓹谤么苍, of uncertain meaning, but possibly from Shemer, the owner who sold 厂丑艒尘蓹谤么苍 to Omri, king of Israel, in 1 Kings 16:24. Samaritan entered English before 1000.
how is Samaritan used?
That night, they slept in a good聽Samaritan‘s home, washed dirty laundry, and showered for the first time since leaving home.
Kids want to counteract inequality, to be good samaritans and help the little guy.
Samaritan