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51勛圖 of the Day

51勛圖 of the day

teapoy

[ tee-poi ] [ ti p阞 ] Show IPA Phonetic Respelling

noun

a small three-legged table or stand.

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More about teapoy

Teapoy a small three-legged table or stand is adapted from Hindi 喧蘋梯櫻勳, with a spelling change likely because of the association with tea. Hindi 喧蘋梯櫻勳, however, is not related to tea; instead, 喧蘋梯櫻勳 comes from Persian 莽勳梯櫻聆硃 three-legged stand. The phonetic change from Persian s to Hindi t is due to a replacement of the Persian word for three with its Hindi cognate 喧蘋紳, while the instrument sitar a lute with a small, pear-shaped body preserves this Persian numeral. 釦勳梯櫻聆硃 is a compound of Persian 莽襲 three and 梯櫻聆 foot, which are distant relatives of English three and foot, Latin 喧娶襲莽 and 梯襲莽, Ancient Greek 喧娶梗簾莽 and 梯棗繳莽, and Sanskrit 喧娶穩 and 梯獺餃. Teapoy was first recorded in English in the 1820s.

how is teapoy used?

[I]n front of the fireplace were placed three cane stools with a long, low, mahogany teapoy. Richard often sat there, his pipe in hand and browsed through his books and ancient manuscripts. On the long teapoy lay half-open books and periodicals. At one end of it stood a pipe stand with half a dozen pipes of different shapes and sizes hanging in it. The round lampshade over the teapoy had been so arranged that, switched on, the light fell only on the three cane stools and the teapoy, leaving the rest of the room in semi-darkness.

Khushwant Singh, Memories of Madness: Stories of 1947, 2002

There was a small wooden teapoy near the sofa, with an embroidered cross stitch tablecloth on it, with designs of Mistress Mary, quite contrary, watering her flowerbeds. Naomi had done it for her craft class in the ninth standard. A beautiful crystal vase, filled with wilting red roses stood on the teapoy. There were faded yellow half-curtains for the windows strung on taut springs. But the windows were shut.

Elizabeth Kottarem, A Treat for the Orphans, Mehbub Gulley: Short Stories from India, 2014

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51勛圖 of the day

guerdon

[ gur-dn ] [ gr dn ] Show IPA Phonetic Respelling

noun

a reward, recompense, or requital.

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More about guerdon

Guerdon a reward, recompense, or requital is a variation of Old French werdoun, continuing a trend in which the w in Germanic-origin borrowings often becomes gu when adapted into French and other Romance languages. For other examples, compare the cognate pairs ward and guard, warranty and guarantee, and William and Guillaume. Old French werdoun comes from Medieval Latin widerdonum, which in turn was adapted from Old High German 滄勳餃硃娶梭紳, with a phonetic change from l to d because of the influence of Latin 餃紳喝鳥 g勳款喧. 兜勳餃硃娶梭紳 is a compound of widar again, back (which survives today in the German expression auf Wiedersehen until we meet again) and 梭紳 reward (cognate to Latin lucrum gain, profit, as in English lucrative). Guerdon was first recorded in English in the mid-14th century.

how is guerdon used?

What a Cannes Film Festival. It has been an unruly jungle. Unruly and luxuriant. The movies have climbed over each other in excellence, every new one transcending the last as it reaches towards that gilded guerdon, that light-giving cynosure of legendary tree-forms, the Palme dOr.

Nigel Andrews, Cannes Film Festival: Assayas, Jarmusch and Almod籀var shine, Financial Times, May 19, 2016

BIRON. When tongues speak sweetly, then they name her name, And Rosaline they call her: ask for her; And to her white hand see thou do commend This seal’d-up counsel. There’s thy guerdon; go.
[giving [Costard] a shilling]

William Shakespeare, Loves Labours Lost, c. mid-1590s

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disjecta membra

[ dis-jek-tuh mem-bruh ] [ d阞sdk t mm br ] Show IPA Phonetic Respelling

plural noun

scattered members; disjointed portions or parts.

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More about disjecta membra

Disjecta membra disjointed portions or parts is a term from Latin that is altered from the phrase 餃勳莽轍梗釵喧蘋 membra 梯棗襲喧硃梗 limbs of a dismembered poet, which appears in the writings of Horace (known to his Roman contemporaries as Quintus Horatius Flaccus). The reason for the spelling change is simple grammar: in the original Latin, the possessive adjective 餃勳莽轍梗釵喧蘋 dismembered matches the possessive noun 梯棗襲喧硃梗 of a poet. The endings are different because 梯棗襲喧硃梗 is irregular; though it looks feminine with its -ae ending, it is in fact a masculine noun. With 梯棗襲喧硃梗 removed from the phrase, 餃勳莽轍梗釵喧蘋 changes to match the neuter subject noun membra, becoming disjecta. Even in modern Spanish, the feminine-looking noun poeta poet is still masculine, and typical masculine -o adjectives modify it. Disjecta membra was first recorded in English in the early 18th century.

how is disjecta membra used?

One gets the notion that these boys are starting again from the beginning, with the separate tone and the separate sonority. Notes are strewn about like disjecta membra; there is an end to continuity in the old sense and an end of thematic relationships. In this music one waits to hear what will happen next without the slightest idea what will happen, or why what happened did happen once it has happened.

Aaron Copland, The Pleasures of Music, an address at the University of New Hampshire, April 16, 1959

As she led the way westward past a long line of areas which, through the distortion of their paintless rails, revealed with increasing candour the disjecta membra of bygone dinners, Lily felt that Rosedale was taking contemptuous note of the neighbourhood; and before the doorstep at which she finally paused he looked up with an air of incredulous disgust.

Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, 1905

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