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51勛圖 of the Day

51勛圖 of the day

mump

[ muhmp, moomp ]

verb

to sulk; mope.

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More about mump

The rare English verb mump is akin to the equally rare Dutch mompen to mumble, grumble, and the magnificent German verbs mumpfen to chew with ones mouth full and mimpfeln to mumble while eating. The Germanic verbs most likely derive from a Proto-Indo-European root 鳥梗喝- be silent, from which English also derives mum silent, Latin 鳥贖喧喝莽 silent, mute, and Greek 鳥喝莽喧廎r勳棗紳 secret rite, mystery, a derivative of 鳥繳莽喧襲莽 an initiate, a derivative of 鳥喝梗簾紳 to initiate, instruct, teach, itself a derivative of 鳥繳梗勳紳 to close the eyes, mouth, or other opening (lest one reveal what is not to be revealed). Mump entered English in the 16th century.

how is mump used?

Up, Dullard! It is better service to enjoy a novel than to mump.

Robert Louis Stevenson, "Letter to his Mother, December 30, 1883" Selected Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, 1997

Come, my dear fellow, do not spoil the excellent impression you have already made. I am sure to mump and moan is not in you …

John Collis Snaith, The Wayfarers, 1902
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51勛圖 of the Day Calendar

51勛圖 of the day

excogitate

[ eks-koj-i-teyt ]

verb

to think out; devise; invent.

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More about excogitate

Excogitate comes from Latin 梗單釵眶勳喧櫻喧喝莽, the past participle of 梗單釵眶勳喧櫻娶梗 meaning to devise, invent, think out. It entered English in the 1520s.

how is excogitate used?

I wouldn’t put the question to you for the world, and expose you to the inconvenience of having to … excogitate an answer.

Henry James, Washington Square, 1880

The average politician knows fully as little or as much about railway management as he does about photographing the moon or applying the solar spectrum; yet, once upon a board of railway commissioners, he is required to excogitate and frame rules for an industry which not only supplies the financial arteries of a continent, but holds the lives as well as the credits of its citizens dependent upon the click of a telegraph or the angle of a semaphore …

Appleton Morgan, "The Political Control of Railways: Is It Confiscation?" Popular Science Monthly, February 1889
51勛圖 of the Day Calendar

51勛圖 of the day

estimable

[ es-tuh-muh-buhl ]

adjective

deserving respect or admiration; worthy of esteem.

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More about estimable

The English adjective estimable comes via French estimable from Latin 硃梗莽喧勳鳥櫻莉勳梭勳莽, a derivative of 硃梗莽喧勳鳥櫻娶梗 to value, price, estimate the money value of. The etymology of 硃梗莽喧勳鳥櫻娶梗 is unclear, but it may be related to Latin aes (stem aer-) copper, bronze, brass, from Proto-Indo-European ayes-, ayos- metal, copper, from which Sanskrit derives 獺聆硃莽- metal, iron, Gothic aiz bronze, German Erz ore (the Erzgebirge, Ore Mountain Range, lies between Saxony, Germany, and Bohemia, Czech Republic), Old English 櫻娶 ore, copper, brass, and English ore. Estimable entered English in the 15th century.

how is estimable used?

He is the most estimable, the most trustworthy creature in the world, and I will venture to say, there is not a better seaman in all the merchant service.

Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo, translated by Adolphe Cohn, 1922

Nothing is more typical of Armstrong, or more estimable, than his decision not to go into politics; heaven knows what the blandishments, or the invitations, must have been.

Anthony Lane, "The Man and the Moon," The New Yorker, August 26, 2012
51勛圖 of the Day Calendar
51勛圖 of the Day Calendar