51吃瓜 of the Day
atavism
noun
reversion to an earlier type; throwback.
More about atavism
The Latin noun behind the English noun atavism is atavus 鈥済reat-great-great grandfather; ancestor.鈥� Atavus is formed from atta 鈥渄addy,鈥� a nursery word widespread in Indo-European languages, e.g., Greek 谩迟迟补 鈥渄addy,鈥� and the possibly Gothic proper name Attila 鈥渓ittle father, daddy.鈥� The second element, avus 鈥�(maternal) grandfather,鈥� also has cognates in other Indo-European languages, e.g., Old Prussian (an extinct Baltic language related to Latvian and Lithuanian) awis 鈥渦ncle,鈥� and, very familiar in English, those Scottish and Irish surnames beginning with 鈥�翱鈥�,鈥� e.g., 翱鈥機onnor 鈥渄escended from Connor鈥�). The Celtic 鈥�翱鈥�鈥� comes from Irish 贸 鈥済randson,鈥� from early Irish aue, and appearing as avi 鈥渄escendant of鈥� in ogham (an alphabet used in archaic Irish inscriptions from about the 5th century). Atavism entered English in the 19th century.
how is atavism used?
So much of their business was done via e-mail that the phone was almost unnecessary–a sort of quaint atavism that nobody thought to use first–but this morning the ringing had been ceaseless.
Because the United States has proved successful in absorbing people from so many different backgrounds, the American political elite has, since the mid-20th century at least, tended to look on group identity as a kind of irrational atavism.
doss
verb
Chiefly British. to sleep or lie down in any convenient place.
More about doss
The origin of the English verb doss is obscure. It is most likely derived from the Latin noun dossum, a variant of dorsum 鈥渢he back (of the body),鈥� a noun of unclear origin. The verb endorse comes from Medieval Latin 颈苍诲辞谤蝉腻谤别 鈥渢o write on or sign the back of a document鈥�; the adjective dorsal 鈥渉aving a back or located on the back鈥� is most likely familiar as an anatomical term, especially referring to the fin of a shark or a dolphin. Doss entered English in the late 18th century.
how is doss used?
… he was too old to doss on furniture night after night.
I didn’t want a place to doss down.
brontide
noun
a rumbling noise heard occasionally in some parts of the world, probably caused by seismic activity.
More about brontide
Brontide is an uncommon word, probably formed from the Greek noun 产谤辞苍迟岣� 鈥渢hunder鈥� and the suffix -ide, a variant of -id (鈥渙ffspring of鈥�) occurring originally in loanwords from Greek, and productive in English especially in names of dynasties (e.g., Attalid) and in names of periodic meteor showers, with the base noun usually denoting the constellation in which the shower appears (e.g., Perseid). 叠谤辞苍迟岣� appears in brontosaurus 鈥渢hunder lizard鈥� and is from the same Proto-Indo-European root bhrem- (with a variant brem-) 鈥渢o growl鈥� as Latin fremitus 鈥渄ull roar,鈥� Old High German breman and Old English bremman, both meaning 鈥渢o roar,鈥� and Slavic (Polish) 产谤锄尘颈别膰 鈥渢o make a sound.鈥� Brontide entered English about 2000.
how is brontide used?
鈥淲hat’s a brontide?鈥� she said, keeping him from bolting. … “They’re like thunder on a clear day. They’re like the unexplained sounds of artillery when there’s no battle.”
… he urges that brontides predominate in countries which are subject to earthquakes, that they are often heard as heralds of earthquakes, and are specifically frequent during seismic series, and that brontides are sometimes accompanied by very feeble tremors.