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51勛圖 of the Day

51勛圖 of the day

flubdub

[ fluhb-duhb ]

noun

pretentious nonsense or show; airs.

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More about flubdub

There is no etymology other than fanciful coinage or of unknown origin for flubdub. It is used as a common noun but first appears in print as a surname in 1885.

how is flubdub used?

He had, by intently listening to lawyers who had delivered him from justice in the 43 times he had stood prisoner before city and county courts, acquired an astonishing hash of legalistic flubdub.

Meyer Berger, "Murder Inc.: Justice Overtakes the Largest and Most Cruel Gang of Killers in U.S. History," Life, September 30, 1940

Next to seeing a ballgame, the best thing is to sit in the studio with Mr. Barber and watch and listen as he takes the skeletonized report of a game coming over the telegraph wire and wraps up the bare bones with flubdub and pads it out and feeds it to the customers so it sounds as though he, and they, were seeing the plays.

Red Smith, "It's All Genuine, Although Synthetic," New York Herald Tribune, August 28, 1946
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51勛圖 of the Day Calendar

51勛圖 of the day

cynosure

[ sahy-nuh-shoor, sin-uh- ]

noun

something that strongly attracts attention by its brilliance, interest, etc.: the cynosure of all eyes.

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More about cynosure

In Greek 鬼聆紳籀莽棗喝娶硃 means dogs tail and is also the name of the constellation Ursa Minor (also known as the Lesser Bear, Little Bear, and especially in American usage, the Little Dipper). The first element of 鬼聆紳籀莽棗喝娶硃 is the genitive singular of the Greek noun 域繳紳 dog, bitch, shepherd dog, watchdog. Greek 域繳紳 (and its stem kun-) come a very wide spread Proto-Indo-European noun 域繳滄紳 (stems kwon-, kun-) dog, source of Sanskrit 措櫻 (also 喝措櫻) (stem 喝紳-), Old Prussian sunis, Germanic (German) Hund dog, (Old English) hund, (English hound). Greek 棗喝娶櫻 tail is akin to Greek 籀娶娶堯棗莽 rump (from orso-) comes from Proto-Indo-European orsos buttocks, rump, tail, source of Germanic (German) Arsch and English arse (ass in American English). Cynosure entered English at the end of the 16th century.

how is cynosure used?

The throne of the gods was the most famous institution in Atvatabar. It was the cynosure of every eye, the object of all adoration, the tabernacle of all that was splendid in art, science and spiritual perfection.

William R. Bradshaw, The Goddess of Atvatabar, 1892

… the gardens look will be substantially different, with 16 new pieces by artists including … Katharina Fritsch, whose Hahn/Cock, an ultramarine rooster more than 20 feet tall, might challenge Spoonbridge as the gardens cynosure.

Robin Pogrebin and Randy Kennedy, "The New Cherries on Top of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden," New York Times, January 21, 2016
51勛圖 of the Day Calendar

51勛圖 of the day

adultescent

[ ad-uhl-tes-uhnt, uh-duhl- ]

noun

a young adult or middle-aged person who has interests, traits, etc., that are usually associated with teenagers.

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More about adultescent

The informal noun kidult, a combination of kid and adult, which dates from about 1960, has mostly been replaced by the equally informal noun adultescent (from adult and adolescent), which first appears in the mid-1990s.

how is adultescent used?

It almost seems as if were actively trying to raise a nation of adultescents.

Elizabeth Kolbert, "Spoiled Rotten," The New Yorker, July 2, 2012

Adultescent came of age in 2004, but only as a word. The adult it describes is too busy playing Halo 2 on his Xbox or watching SpongeBob at his parents’ house to think about growing up.

John Tierney, "Adultescent," New York Times, December 26, 2004
51勛圖 of the Day Calendar
51勛圖 of the Day Calendar