51吃瓜 of the Day
lucubrate
verb (used without object)
to work, write, or study laboriously, especially at night.
More about lucubrate
Lucubrate derives from the Latin verb 濒奴肠耻产谤腻谤别 鈥渢o work at night鈥� or, more specifically, 鈥渢o work by candlelight/lamplight,鈥� from the Proto-Indo-European root lewk- 鈥渓ight,鈥� which is the source of many Latin-derived words related to light, clarity, and brightness. From the verb 濒奴肠脓谤别 鈥渢o shine,鈥� we inherit lucid and translucent; from the verb 濒奴蝉迟谤腻谤别 鈥渢o make bright,鈥� we have adapted luster and illustrate; and from the noun 濒奴尘别苍 鈥渓ight,鈥� we have luminous and illuminate. This Proto-Indo-European root is also found in the English terms light and lea, another word for 鈥渕eadow鈥�; Latin 濒奴苍补 鈥渕oon鈥�; and Ancient Greek 濒别耻办贸蝉 鈥渨hite,鈥� as in leukocyte, the technical term for a white blood cell. Lucubrate entered English in the early 1600s.
how is lucubrate used?
While I was confident in my education to this point鈥攁fter a full course of study at Tokyo Imperial University, I came first to Harvard and then M.I.T. for advanced work because I wanted a modern outlook on architecture, a Western outlook, and I was willing to work all day and lucubrate till dawn to get it鈥擨 was coming to Taliesin on impulse.
Some gorge on other poetry and ruminate productively: some interrogate the canon. Some regurgitate. Some over-lucubrate with dictionaries. Some wax Latinate.
lucubrate
indefatigable
adjective
incapable of being tired out; not yielding to fatigue; untiring.
More about indefatigable
Indefatigable 鈥渋ncapable of being tired out鈥� has changed little in spelling and meaning since its origin as the Latin adjective 颈苍诲脓蹿补迟墨驳腻产颈濒颈蝉 鈥渦ntiring鈥� or, more literally, 鈥渘ot-tire out-able.鈥� This adjective derives from the verb 蹿补迟墨驳腻谤别 鈥渢o tire,鈥� the source of English fatigue (via French), but its ultimate origin is unknown. The most compelling theory is that 蹿补迟墨驳腻谤别 comes from a hypothesized adjective, fatis 鈥済aping open鈥� or 鈥測awning,鈥� found also in the verb 蹿补迟墨蝉肠别谤别 鈥渢o grow weak鈥� or 鈥渢o crack open.鈥� Indefatigable entered English in the late 1500s.
how is indefatigable used?
At the age of sixty-eight, Tolstoy was given a tennis racket and taught the rules of the game. He became an instant tennis addict….All summer long, Tolstoy played tennis for three hours every day. No opponent could rival Tolstoy鈥檚 indefatigable thirst for the game of tennis…
indefatigable
vicinage
noun
a particular neighborhood or district, or the people belonging to it.
More about vicinage
Vicinage 鈥渁 particular neighborhood or district鈥� is a fusion of the Latin adjective 惫墨肠墨苍耻蝉 鈥渘earby鈥� and the English suffix -age, which forms nouns from other parts of speech. 痴墨肠墨苍耻蝉 derives from the noun 惫墨肠耻蝉 鈥渧illage, hamlet,鈥� which is the source of the suffixes -wich and -wick in English placenames, such as Greenwich and Brunswick, and comes from the Indo-European root weik- 鈥渃lan鈥� or 鈥渟ettlement.鈥� This same root is the source of villa, from the Latin word for 鈥渃ountry house,鈥� and the Ancient Greek noun oikos 鈥渉ome,鈥� which gives English ecology, economy, parochial, and parish.
how is vicinage used?
I drove out to Tara Estates, among the latter-day manors that lined the circling drives and culs-de-sac and stood like arrogant bastions against the ripe green earth. There were no sidewalks here, no signs of age, no mystery, as if the whole vicinage had risen up en masse at an hour in time so designated and precise that history itself had been obliterated.
The Island of Mackinac has a circumference of about nine miles, and its shores and vicinage are picturesque and romantic in the highest degree.
vicinage