51吃瓜 of the Day
bel-esprit
noun
a person of great wit or intellect.
More about bel-esprit
Bel-esprit 鈥渁 person of great wit or intellect鈥� is a French term. It means literally 鈥渂eautiful mind, fine mind, wit,鈥� and by extension 鈥減erson of wit and intelligence.鈥� Bel is the regular French development of Latin bellus 鈥渘ice, pretty, handsome, charming,鈥� a diminutive adjective formed from bonus 鈥済ood, good at (something), morally good.鈥� The French noun esprit 鈥渟pirit, mind鈥� comes from Latin spiritus 鈥渂reath, breathing, vital principle, soul.鈥� Bel-esprit entered English in the first half of the 17th century.
how is bel-esprit used?
She was a bel esprit, and a dreadful Radical for those days.
Though I would prefer to be dubbed an aristophren, someone of superior intelligence, or a bel-esprit, a person of refined intellect and graceful wit, the proper term for me is lexiphanes (lek-SIF-uh-neez), a showoff with words.
bel-esprit
prolixity
noun
a tendency to speak or write at great or tedious length.
More about prolixity
Prolixity 鈥渁 tendency to speak or write at great or tedious length, long-windedness鈥� ultimately comes from Latin 辫谤艒濒颈虫颈迟腻蝉 (inflectional stem 辫谤艒濒颈虫颈迟腻迟-) 鈥渆xtension in space or time,鈥� a derivative of the adjective 辫谤艒濒颈虫耻蝉 鈥渉aving extensive growth, luxuriant; tall, big; (of time) extended; (of people) generous, warm-hearted, liberal; (of writing) lengthy, detailed.鈥� In classical Latin none of the terms mean long-windedness, which is a meaning that first appears in Late Latin. Old French 辫谤辞濒颈虫颈迟茅 kept and passed along the negative meaning 鈥渧erbosity, long-windedness鈥� (in addition to the original Latin meanings) to Middle English. Prolixity first appears in English in Geoffrey Chaucer鈥檚 The Canterbury Tales (ca. 1395): For fulsomnesse of his prolixitee 鈥淏ecause of the excess of its long-windedness.鈥�
how is prolixity used?
First Barack Obama gave a very long opening answer; then when the consecutive interpreter started in, Obama acted surprised, apologized for his prolixity, and said he would have broken the answer into shorter chunks if he had understood that the interpreter was going to wait until he was done.
Because of its customers鈥� social-media prolixity, the brand has gathered a wealth of data about their preferences and, Brett hopes, their brand loyalty will extend to staying in West Elm Hotels.
prolixity
More about procellous
The rare English adjective procellous 鈥渢urbulent, stormy (as the sea)鈥� comes via Middle French procelleux from Latin 辫谤辞肠别濒濒艒蝉耻蝉 鈥渟tormy, squally,鈥� a derivative of the noun procella 鈥渧iolent wind, gale.鈥� Procella is related to or is a derivative of the verb procellere 鈥渢o throw forward with violence,鈥� a compound of the preposition and prefix pro, pro-, here meaning 鈥渇orward, outward,鈥� and the verb –cellere (occurring only in compounds) 鈥渢o rush, drive, set in rapid motion.鈥� Procellous entered English in the first half of the 17th century.
how is procellous used?
I likened myself to a sailor navigating shoals and … besought her to anoint me with her glance and so hearten me to brave the dangers of that procellous sea.
A cloud of adversity so gloomy and procellous, has rarely overshadowed a military leader.
procellous