51吃瓜 of the Day
moonshot
noun
a very challenging and innovative project or undertaking.
More about moonshot
Moonshot, 鈥渁 launching of a spacecraft to the moon,鈥� a transparent compound of moon and shot, entered English in 1949, near the beginning of large-scale rocket development in the U.S. Moonshot in its extended sense 鈥渁 challenging and innovative project鈥� first appears in 1967.
how is moonshot used?
Jennifer Granholm, the energy secretary, called the U.S. plan to tackle climate change 鈥渙ur generation鈥檚 moonshot.鈥�
Moonshots don鈥檛 begin with brainstorming clever answers. They start with the hard work of finding the right questions.
moonshot
judder
verb (used without object)
to vibrate violently.
More about judder
Judder as a verb means 鈥渢o vibrate or shake violently,鈥� and as a noun, 鈥渧iolent shaking.鈥� It is first recorded in 1926 and refers to the shaking of automobiles (or their parts); it was later applied to aircraft. Judder has no precise etymology: it may be a combination of jolt or jerk and shudder, or it may be a variant pronunciation of shudder.
how is judder used?
Huw stalks through both sets of automatic doors, which judder and groan.
Other times, the vehicle鈥檚 robotic brain appeared confused, lingering at an all-way stop and juddering when a group of pedestrians crossed in front.
judder
pecuniary
adjective
of or relating to money.
More about pecuniary
Pecuniary, 鈥渞elating to money,鈥� comes from the Latin adjective 辫别肠奴苍颈腻谤颈耻蝉, a derivative of 辫别肠奴苍颈补 鈥減roperty, possessions, wealth, money,鈥� itself a derivative of 辫别肠奴 鈥渇lock, herd, farm animals,鈥� livestock being a very important source of wealth in early farming societies. 笔别肠奴 and its related nouns are derivatives of the Proto-Indo-European noun peku– 鈥渟heep,鈥� from the root pek-, pok- 鈥渢o pluck, fleece, card (wool, flax).鈥� Peku- is the source of Umbrian pequo 鈥渃attle鈥� (Umbrian was an Italic language spoken in Umbria, north of Rome), Greek 辫贸办辞蝉 and 辫茅办辞蝉 鈥渟heep鈥檚 wool, fleece,鈥� and Lithuanian pekus 鈥渃attle.鈥� By regular phonetic change peku- becomes fehu– in Proto-Germanic, becoming Gothic faihu 鈥減ossessions, property,鈥� German Vieh 鈥渃attle, beast, brute,鈥� Old English feoh, fioh, feh 鈥渃attle, property (in cattle),鈥� Middle English fe, feo, feh 鈥渓ivestock, herd of livestock, movable property, wealth, money.鈥� Modern English fee 鈥渃harge, payment, sum paid, 鈥� but also 鈥渓anded estate, inherited estate,鈥� comes partly from the Middle English and Old English nouns, but fee in the sense 鈥渋nherited estate, feudal estate鈥� also comes from Old French fieu, fief 鈥渆state in land鈥� and Anglo-French fe, fee, fie, from Germanic fehu. Pecuniary entered English in the early 16th century.
how is pecuniary used?
Whatever Mr. Penson鈥檚 civic convictions, he also has a pecuniary interest in the outcome.
As of last year, nearly half of America鈥檚 middle-aged adults found themselves members, willing or not, of聽what鈥檚 been called 鈥渢he sandwich generation,鈥� so named because these people have a child below them and an aging parent above them. … Given the pecuniary strain involved, it’s surprising that, about 150 years ago, parents might have gone out of their way to set up a situation like this.
pecuniary