51吃瓜 of the Day
gossamer
noun
a fine, filmy cobweb seen on grass or bushes or floating in the air in calm weather, especially in autumn.
More about gossamer
The etymology of English gossamer is a little clearer in the alternative Middle English spellings gossomer, gosesomer, gossummer 鈥済oose summer,鈥� that is, a late, mild fall when roast goose was a favorite dish (German has the noun 骋盲苍蝉别尘辞苍补迟 鈥淣ovember,鈥� literally 鈥済oose month鈥�). But the etymology of gossamer does not fit its meaning, 鈥渁 fine, filmy cobweb seen on grass or bushes or floating in the air in calm weather, especially in the fall.鈥� It may be that the cobwebs resembled goose down, or that the cobwebs appeared in 鈥済oose summer,鈥� and the name of the season was transferred to the spider webs. Gossamer entered English in the 14th century.
how is gossamer used?
Small, viewless aeronaut, that by the line / Of Gossamer suspended, in mid air / Float’st on a sun beam …
When the early聽morning sun glints off droplets of dew on the gossamer strands of a spider web, it creates a visual masterpiece.
Roscian
adjective
of, relating to, or involving acting.
More about Roscian
The English adjective Roscian comes straight from the Latin proper adjective 搁辞蝉肠颈腻苍耻蝉, coined by and used exclusively by Marcus Tullius Cicero (106鈥�43 b.c.) in honor of his older contemporary, mentor, friend, and client, the actor Quintus Roscius Gallus (ca. 126鈥�62 b.c.). Acting was not a respected profession in Rome, but Roscius dignified it and devoted himself to elocution, gesture, and characterization. The Roman general, reactionary politician, and dictator Sulla (138鈥�79 b.c.) even presented Roscius with a gold ring, a symbol of equestrian rank. Roscius instructed the young Cicero in elocution and delivery; Cicero successfully pleaded Roscius鈥� cause in a civil suit around 76 b.c. (Cicero鈥檚 speech Pro Quinto Roscio Comoedo survives); he and Roscius used to engage in friendly contests to see who could express emotion and character better, the actor or the orator. Roscian entered English in the early 17th century.
how is Roscian used?
Because you grace the roscian sphere, / As great in Chalkstone as in Lear ….
I … found it to be a crumpled play-bill of a small metropolitan theatre, announcing the first appearance, in that very week, of “the celebrated Provincial Amateur of Roscian renown, whose unique performance in the highest tragic walk of our National Bard has lately occasioned so great a sensation in local dramatic circles.”
辫谤茅惫别苍补苍肠别
noun
French.
special care in anticipating or catering to the needs and pleasures of others.
More about 辫谤茅惫别苍补苍肠别
Every breakroom in every restaurant in the U.S. should have prominently displayed a great big poster in bold sans serif caps: 鈥�辫谤茅惫别苍补苍肠别, special care in anticipating or catering to the needs and pleasures of others.鈥� 笔谤茅惫别苍补苍肠别 is a French noun meaning 鈥渢houghtfulness.” 笔谤茅惫别苍补苍肠别 is a derivative of the verb 辫谤茅惫别苍颈谤, one of whose meanings is 鈥渢o anticipate.鈥� 笔谤茅惫别苍颈谤 comes from Latin 辫谤补别惫别苍墨谤别 “to come before, anticipate,” a compound of the preposition and prefix prae, prae– 鈥渂efore, in advance鈥� and 惫别苍墨谤别 鈥渢o come.鈥� Prae惫别苍墨谤别 does mean 鈥渢o anticipate,鈥� but in the sense 鈥渢o forestall, prevent.鈥� 笔谤茅惫别苍补苍肠别 entered English in the 18th century.
how is 辫谤茅惫别苍补苍肠别 used?
A much older and far wiser woman would have been persuaded to believe, as she believed, that in all this delicate 辫谤茅惫别苍补苍肠别 for her pleasures and her preferences the tenderest love had spoken.
My father I fear, was not remarkable in general for his tenderness or his 辫谤茅惫别苍补苍肠别 for the poor girl whom fortune had given him to protect; but from time to time he would wake up to a downright sense of kinship and duty ….