51吃瓜 of the Day
lackadaisical
adjective
without interest, vigor, or determination; listless; lethargic.
More about lackadaisical
The adjective lackadaisical, 鈥渓acking interest or determination; listless; lazy; indolent,鈥� comes from the interjection, adjective, and noun lackadaisy. Lackadaisy as an interjection expresses dismay, sorrow or disapproval; as an adjective it means 鈥済iven to crying lackadaisy; and as a noun, 鈥渁 person given to crying lackadaisy.鈥� Lackadaisy is a variant of the archaic interjection lackaday, a shortened variant of alack the day. Middle English has the interjection alacke (also alagge), possibly related to the noun lak, lack(e) 鈥渁 lack, fault, shortcoming,鈥� and alack the day may have originally meant 鈥渟hame on the day (for turning out like this),鈥� like alas the day. Lackadaisical weakened in meaning from a person who cried lackadaisy to someone who complained about trivialities, then still further to someone who was sentimental, and finally to someone who was just lazy. Lackadaisical entered English in the second half of the 18th century.
how is lackadaisical used?
So while you may have every right to resent your colleagues鈥� sloth and your boss鈥檚 lackadaisical attitude about it, merely venting is more likely to make you seem petty than it is to result in change.
Our government鈥檚聽lackadaisical approach聽to genomic surveillance leaves us blind to precisely how prevalent these mutants are 鈥� and yet, even as other nations have responded to the emergence of such strains with lockdowns, our cities聽are reopening indoor dining聽just in time to accelerate their spread.
lackadaisical
machinate
verb (used with or without object)
to contrive or plot, especially artfully or with evil purpose.
More about machinate
The English verb machinate comes from Latin 尘腻肠丑颈苍腻迟耻蝉, the past participle of the verb 尘腻肠丑颈苍腻谤墨 鈥渢o invent, contrive, devise artfully, plot.鈥� 惭腻肠丑颈苍腻谤墨 has both neutral and pejorative senses, but English machinate has mostly pejorative or hostile senses. 惭腻肠丑颈苍腻谤墨 is a derivative of the noun 尘腻肠丑颈苍补 鈥渁pparatus, mechanism, machine,鈥� a borrowing from Doric Greek 尘腻肠丑补苍腻虂 鈥渃ontrivance, machine, crane.鈥� Machinate entered English in the first half of the 16th century.
how is machinate used?
His is a character which is typical in the heroic poetry of the Tuetons … the malicious counselor of the old king who machinates against the young hero.
And while Ford’s Theater has become a secular shrine in Washington, only a true trivialist knows that the house where John Wilkes Booth machinated, at 604 H Street N.W., is now a Chinese restaurant.
machinate
hardscrabble
adjective
providing or yielding meagerly in return for much effort; demanding or unrewarding.
More about hardscrabble
Hardscrabble, 鈥測ielding a meager return for much effort,鈥� is an Americanism that originally began as two separate words: the adjective hard 鈥渄ifficult, arduous鈥� and the noun scrabble 鈥渟cratching, clawing, scramble鈥�; the phrase meant 鈥減ainful effort under hard conditions,鈥� later applied particularly to farmland that required much work for little reward. By the first half of the 19th century, Hard-Scrabble (variously spelled) was used as a placename for a remote town or region where life was difficult. The current sense 鈥測ielding meager results鈥� dates from the second half of the 19th century. Hardscrabble entered English in the second half of the 18th century.
how is hardscrabble used?
The oil and gas business is full of guys like T. Boone Pickens, self-made men who rose from a hardscrabble life on the prairie to become titans of the industry.
Maybe you caught tinges of her vivid, hardscrabble love letter crackling through tinny speakers at a CVS, and paid attention because it鈥檚 one of the few songs in the commercially programmed soundtrack of our mundane errands that no one should have objections to.
hardscrabble