51吃瓜 of the Day
alembic
noun
anything that transforms, purifies, or refines.
More about alembic
Alembic 鈥渁 vessel with a beaked cap or head, formerly used in distilling,鈥� covers quite a bit of Western civilization. It comes from Middle English alambik, alembec, lambic, lembic, from Middle French alembic, alambic and from Medieval Latin alembicus, alembicum. The English, French, and Latin forms come from Arabic 补濒-补苍产墨辩, composed of al– 鈥渢he鈥� and 补苍产墨辩 鈥渁 vessel for distilling, a distilling flask, a still.鈥� 础苍产墨辩 comes via Persian from Greek 谩尘产颈虫 (stem 谩尘产墨办-) 鈥渁 vessel with a spout, an alembic.鈥� Alembic entered English in the late 14th century.
how is alembic used?
What caused this hasty decision? Or had change formed slowly in the alembic of his discontent?
But the more he read the more he was astonished to find how the facts had passed through the alembic of Carlyle’s brain and had come out and fitted themselves, each as a part of one great whole, making a compact result, indestructible and unrivalled …
alembic
torrential
adjective
falling in rushing, violent, or abundant and unceasing streams.
More about torrential
Torrential 鈥渇alling in rushing, violent, or abundant and unceasing streams鈥� is a derivative of the noun torrent. Torrent comes from the Latin noun torrens (inflectional stem torrent-) 鈥渁 rushing stream, torrent.鈥� Torrens is also a present participle meaning 鈥渟corching, burning hot,鈥� but also, curiously, 鈥渇lowing headlong, rushing, torrential,鈥� which Latinists confess is not easily explained. Torrens comes from the verb 迟辞谤谤脓谤别 鈥渢o heat, scorch, dry up,鈥� from the root ters-, source also of Latin terra 鈥渓and, dry land.鈥� Torrential entered English in the first half of the 19th century.
how is torrential used?
The torrential downpour that drenched the city this week clogged drains and traffic.
After they had spent several nights on the street in Bogot谩, her old boss had given them a room to sleep in, allowing them to escape the torrential rain that had taken over the city that week.
torrential
shibboleth
noun
a common saying or belief with little current meaning or truth.
More about shibboleth
Shibboleth 鈥渁 peculiarity of pronunciation distinguishing one group of people from another鈥� comes from Biblical Hebrew 蝉丑颈产产艒濒别迟丑, which occurs in Judges 12:4-6. The Gileadites used the word 蝉丑颈产产艒濒别迟丑 as a linguistic test to distinguish themselves from the fleeing Ephraimites, who pronounced 蝉丑颈产产艒濒别迟丑 as 蝉颈产产艒濒别迟丑. 厂丑颈产产艒濒别迟丑 is translated in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, and in the Vulgate, the Latin translation of the Hebrew and Greek scriptures, as 鈥渆ar of grain.鈥� But modern scholars think that 蝉丑颈产产艒濒别迟丑 means 鈥渇reshet, a sudden rise in the level of a stream or river, as by heavy rainfall,鈥� because the slaughter of the Ephraimites by the Gileadites took place at the fords of the river Jordan. Shibboleth entered English in the second half of the 14th century in John Wycliffe鈥檚 translation of the Bible (Wycliffe used the spellings Sebolech and Shebolech).
how is shibboleth used?
The shibboleth persists in politics that government can and should be run “like a business.” … It’s pretty clear that governments do not actually operate like business for a vast number of reasons …
Life is easy to chronicle, but bewildering to practice, and we welcome 鈥渘erves鈥� or any other shibboleth that will cloak our personal desire.
shibboleth