51吃瓜 of the Day
marplot
noun
a person who mars or defeats a plot, design, or project by meddling.
More about marplot
The noun marplot is a combination of the verb mar 鈥渢o damage, spoil鈥� and its direct object, the noun plot, formed like the noun pickpocket. Marplot is a character in a farce, The Busie Body, written by Susanna Centlivre, c1667-1723, an English actress, poet, and playwright, and produced in 1709. In the play Marplot is a well-meaning busybody who meddles in and ruins the romantic affairs of his friends.
how is marplot used?
… Time is unalterable; he swings his merry bomb through centuries, nor feels a jot the mental agony of us sublunary mortals; therefore is he, to our thinking, a Marplot.
Humpty is Puss鈥� childhood frenemy: pal, rival and seemingly inept marplot to our hero鈥檚 suave efficiency in a crisis.
More about riant
The rare adjective riant is a direct borrowing from the French present participle riant 鈥渓aughing,鈥� from the verb rire, ultimately from Latin 谤墨诲脓谤别 鈥渢o laugh,鈥� which comes from a very complicated Proto-Indo-European root wer- 鈥渢o twist, bend鈥� (谤墨诲脓谤别 would mean 鈥渢wist the face or mouth鈥�). Wer- has many suffixes and extensions that form some startling words. The meaning of the root extended with the suffix -t is clearly seen in Latin vertere 鈥渢o turn,鈥� with its many English derivatives, e.g., revert, convert, invert. The Germanic form of wert- is werth-, source of the English suffix -ward(s), as in homeward(s), toward(s). A variant form of wer- with the suffix -m forms Latin vermis 鈥渨orm鈥� (from its twisting) and Germanic wurmiz (Old English wyrm 鈥渄ragon, serpent鈥�; English worm). Finally, somewhat related to 谤墨诲脓谤别 is the Latin noun rictus 鈥渨ide open mouth, gaping jaws鈥� (English rictus). Riant entered English in the 16th century.
how is riant used?
Mistress Marjory bent her head with a murmured assurance of “giving him small trouble,” but again the riant eyes belied the lips …
At the head of that open and legal agitation, was a man of giant proportions in body and mind; … a humor broad, bacchant, riant, genial and jovial …
laeotropic
adjective
oriented or coiled in a leftward direction, as a left-spiraling snail shell.
More about laeotropic
The adjective laeotropic 鈥渢urning leftward鈥� is restricted to describing snail shells. The second element, -tropic 鈥渢urning (to),鈥� is common enough in the physical sciences, e.g., geography, meteorology, chemistry. The first element laeo- is rare. It comes from the Greek adjective 濒补颈贸蝉 鈥渓eft, on the left鈥� (there is one ancient lexicographical reference implying the form 濒补颈飞贸蝉). 尝补颈飞贸蝉 is all but identical to Latin laevus and pretty close to Slavic (Polish) lewy. Outside these three branches of the Indo-European languages (and possibly also Lithuanian, among the Baltic languages), laiwo- does not occur. Laeotropic entered English in the 19th century.
how is laeotropic used?
The arms of the cross are slightly oblique; and it is worthy of note that the direction of their inclination is laeotropic, while in Crepidula and Ischnochiton the arms show a slight dexiotropic twist.
… the direction of corresponding cleavages is the same, i.e., the second cleavage is laeotropic and the third dexiotropic, and so on …. Why should this constancy occur?