51吃瓜 of the Day
antepenultimate
adjective
third from the end.
More about antepenultimate
In its most general sense, antepenultimate means “third from the end.” In discussions of grammar and prosody, antepenultimate more often describes the third from last syllable in a word, as聽te听颈苍听antepenult. Working backward on antepenultimate, ultimate means聽鈥渢he last, final鈥� (as in ultimatum 鈥渢he final, last-chance demand)鈥�; pen– is from Latin paene 鈥渁lmost鈥� (as in English peninsula 鈥渁n almost island)鈥�; ante– is the familiar English prefix meaning 鈥渂efore鈥� (from the Latin preposition, adverb, and prefix ante, ante-). Antepenultimate entered English in the second half of the 17th century.
how is antepenultimate used?
Theresa May, in her antepenultimate day as the Conservative Party leader, had read an emotional passage from a letter …
this antepenultimate episode takes a softer tack, suggesting that cruel and horrible people can change if they really want to.
antepenultimate
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