51吃瓜 of the Day
lugubrious
adjective
mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially in an affected, exaggerated, or unrelieved manner: lugubrious songs of lost love.
More about lugubrious
The source of English lugubrious is the Latin adjective 濒奴驳耻产谤颈蝉 鈥渕ournful, sorrowful,鈥� a derivative of the verb 濒奴驳脓谤别 鈥渢o mourn, grieve.鈥� The meaning of 濒奴驳脓谤别 is closely akin to the Greek adjective 濒测驳谤贸蝉 鈥渟ad, sorrowful,鈥� and both the Latin and the Greek words derive from the Proto-Indo-European root leug-, loug-, lug– 鈥渢o break,鈥� source of Sanskrit 谤耻驳苍谩– (from 濒耻驳苍谩-) 鈥渟hattered鈥� and 谤耻箩谩迟颈 鈥�(he) breaks to pieces, shatters,鈥� Old Irish lucht and Welsh llwyth, both meaning 鈥渓oad, burden,鈥� Lithuanian 濒奴虂啪迟颈 鈥渢o break鈥� (intransitive), and Old English 迟艒-濒奴肠补苍 鈥渢o tear to pieces, tear asunder.鈥� Lugubrious entered English in the early 17th century.
how is lugubrious used?
The radio slid from mournful to downright lugubrious. Ridiculously lugubrious. There was even sobbing in the background. Talk about melodramatic.
颁辞丑别苍鈥檚 lugubrious tones always divided opinion; for some they were intrinsic to his melancholic charms, to others a turn-off that blindsided them to the genius of his songcraft, which was always gilded, its cadences measured, its images polished.
lugubrious
mondegreen
noun
a word or phrase resulting from a mishearing of another word or phrase, especially in a song or poem.
More about mondegreen
The trouble with mondegreens is that they are usually so hysterically funny that you cannot stop citing examples of them instead of describing their 鈥渢axonomy鈥� and history. Mondegreen was coined by the U.S. writer and humorist Sylvia Wright (1917-81), who wrote in an article in Harper鈥檚 Magazine: 鈥淲hen I was a child, my mother used to read aloud to me from Percy’s Reliques, and one of my favorite poems began, as I remember: 鈥榊e Highlands and ye Lowlands, / Oh, where hae ye been? / They hae slain the Earl Amurray, / And Lady Mondegreen,鈥欌�� the last line being a child鈥檚 mishearing and consequent misunderstanding of 鈥渓aid him on the green.鈥� Ms. Wright persisted in her idiosyncratic version because the real words were less romantic than her own (mis)interpretation in which she always imagined the Bonnie Earl o鈥� Moray dying beside his faithful lover Lady Mondegreen.
how is mondegreen used?
We鈥檝e been misunderstanding song lyrics for decades, Elton John鈥檚 鈥渉old me closer, Tony Danza鈥濃�攅r, 鈥渢iny dancer鈥濃�斅璱ncluded. These funky musical mishearings even have their own name:听尘辞苍诲别驳谤别别苍蝉.
We still have mondegreen moments. Even though I know Creedence Clearwater Revival is singing, 鈥淭here鈥檚 a bad moon on the rise,鈥� lately it sounds suspiciously like 鈥淭here鈥檚 a bathroom on the right.鈥�
mondegreen
withershins
adverb
Chiefly Scot.
in a direction contrary to the natural one, especially contrary to the apparent course of the sun or counterclockwise: considered as unlucky or causing disaster.
More about withershins
All you have to remember is that withershins (or widdershins) is the exact opposite of deasil, and you鈥檒l get back home all safe and sound. Withershins is an adverb meaning 鈥済oing contrary to the natural direction, contrary to the course of the sun, counterclockwise (and therefore unlucky).鈥� Deasil, from Scots Gaelic and Irish Gaelic deiseal 鈥渢o the right, clockwise, following the sun,鈥� is restricted to Scots. Withershins comes from Middle Low German weddersins, weddersinnes 鈥渁gainst the way, in the opposite direction,鈥� formed from wider 鈥渂ack, again鈥� (cognate with the prefix with– in withstand) and sinnes, the genitive case (used as an adverb) of sin 鈥渨ay, course, direction.鈥� Withershins entered English in the first half of the 16th century.
how is withershins used?
The fishermen, when about to proceed to the fishing, think they would have bad luck, if they were to row the boat 鈥�withershins鈥� about.
Abel had walked slowly around the outside of the building, first clockwise and then withershins, but there was still no sign of his quarry, and the rest of the lower hollow was just as empty.聽
withershins