51吃瓜 of the Day
agora
noun
the place where a popular political assembly met in Ancient Greece, originally a marketplace or public square.
More about agora
In Greek 补驳辞谤谩 originally meant 鈥渁ssembly,鈥� especially of the common people, not of the ruling class. 础驳辞谤谩 gradually developed the meanings 鈥渕arketplace, the business that goes on in the marketplace, public speaking.鈥� The Greek noun is a derivative of the verb 补驳别铆谤别颈苍 鈥渢o gather,鈥� from the Proto-Indo-European root ger-, gere- 鈥渢o gather, collect,鈥� source also of Latin grex 鈥渇lock, herd,鈥� with its English derivatives aggregate, egregious, and gregarious. Agora entered English in the late 16th century.
how is agora used?
In the fall of 1964, left-wing students at U.C. Berkeley demanded the right to hand out antiwar literature on Sproul Plaza, the red brick agora at the center of the campus.
… it has become a commonplace among ancient historians to single out the agora as the political centre of the polis where the people met to make all important decisions or, in oligarchies and tyrannies, to rubber stamp the decisions made by the rulers.
littoral
adjective
of or relating to the shore of a lake, sea, or ocean.
More about littoral
English littoral comes from the Latin adjective 濒颈迟迟辞谤腻濒颈蝉 (濒墨迟辞谤腻濒颈蝉 is more correct), a derivative of littor- (濒墨迟辞谤-), the inflectional stem of 濒墨迟耻蝉 (littus) 鈥渟hore, shoreline.鈥� In general littoral is used for technical subjects, e.g., geography, biology. The one exception is the common noun lido meaning 鈥渇ashionable beach resort,鈥� and the somewhat less fashionable 鈥減ublic open-air swimming pool.鈥� Lido comes directly from Venetian Italian Lido (di Venezia) (from Latin 濒墨迟耻蝉), the name of a sandbar or chain of sandy islands between the Lagoon of Venice and the Adriatic, the site of the annual Venice Film Festival. Littoral entered English in the 17th century.
how is littoral used?
The Center for Advanced Studies would be built–perhaps there was still some virgin littoral stretch and the building he envisaged could be nestled somewhere along this lake or the other–but there would be modifications in the plan.
In another hour the horns of motors began to blow down from the winding road along the low range of the Maures, which separates the littoral from true Proven莽al France.
calescent
adjective
growing warm; increasing in heat.
More about calescent
The English adjective calescent comes directly from Latin calescent-, the inflectional stem of 肠补濒别蝉肠脓苍蝉, the present participle of the verb calescere 鈥渢o become warm or hot,鈥� a verb derivative of 肠补濒脓谤别 鈥渢o be warm or hot.鈥� In Latin the element -sc- in the present tense has inceptive force (i.e., 鈥淚 am beginning to x鈥�); thus the present tense of noscere (also gnoscere) means 鈥淚 get to know, I find out鈥� and is the source of English recognize, cognition, and other words. Calescent entered English in the early 19th century.
how is calescent used?
I’ve tested the misting fan鈥檚 potency in several clammy places, from subway stations to the congested, calescent queues at Disney World (where, on a stinking-hot day, I鈥檇 unwisely worn a boiler suit).
Otis’ earlier statements had been calm, but calescent anger foamed in him and was soon to explode.