51吃瓜 of the Day
plaudit
noun
Usually plaudits.
an enthusiastic expression of approval: Her portrayal of Juliet won the plaudits of the critics.
More about plaudit
The noun plaudit, 鈥渁 round of applause; an enthusiastic expression of approval,鈥� first appears in print in English in 1600. It comes from the slightly earlier noun plaudite (pronounced as three syllables and probably pronounced plawditee), which appears in 1567. Plaudite comes straight from Latin plaudite 鈥渁pplaud!鈥�, the second person plural imperative of the verb plaudere 鈥渢o clap, clap (in approval), pat (on the back), beat (wings).鈥� Roman comic actors would cry plaudite to the audience at the end of a play. Plaudere, which has no reliable etymology, has an alternative form 辫濒艒诲别谤别, as in ex辫濒艒诲别谤别, 鈥渢o drive off the stage (by clapping, hissing, hooting), reject, eject鈥� (the modern sense “to burst violently; blow up” does not exist in Latin).
how is plaudit used?
On Tuesday, Dustin Hoffman and Mila Kunis became the latest A-listers to get plaudits for their recent acts of decency.
The ideologically divided [Supreme] court zigs left or right and earns cheers from the winning partisans. Then it zags in the other direction, and the plaudits turn to brickbats.
plaudit
tome
noun
a book, especially a very heavy, large, or learned book.
More about tome
The noun tome comes from Middle French tome, from Latin tomus 鈥渁 cut, slice, or bit; a piece or length of papyrus; a book (in general).鈥� Tomus is a borrowing of Greek 迟贸尘辞蝉 鈥渁 slice鈥� (e.g., of ham, cheese), (in geometry) 鈥渢he frustum鈥� (e.g., of a cylinder), 鈥渁 beam鈥� (of wood). By the 3rd century b.c. and in the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures, dating between the 3rd and 1st centuries b.c.), 迟贸尘辞蝉 had also come to mean 鈥�(papyrus) roll,鈥� and by the 1st century a.d. 鈥渢ome, volume鈥� (in the modern sense). T贸mos is a derivative of the verb 迟茅尘苍别颈苍 鈥渢o cut,鈥� from the Proto-Indo-European root tem-, tom– (with its extensions tend-, tond-) 鈥渢o cut.鈥� From the variant tem-, Latin derives templum 鈥渟hrine, temple鈥� (because the property has been cut out from, set apart from profane use). The variant tond- forms Latin 迟辞苍诲脓谤别 鈥渢o cut or clip (hair), shear (a sheep)鈥� and the agent noun tonsor (stem 迟辞苍蝉艒谤-) 鈥渂arber,鈥� with its derivative adjective 迟辞苍蝉艒谤颈耻蝉, from which English derives the not very serious adjective tonsorial “of or relating to a barber or barbering.” Tome entered English in the first half of the 16th century.
how is tome used?
That eight-hundred-page tome (with an additional three hundred pages of downloadable essays to accompany it) includes the whole Caesarian corpus, as well as hundreds of maps and illustrations.
The 240-page tome is less of a tourist guide than it is a primer for a future Washington “Jeopardy” category.
tome
diphthong
noun
an unsegmentable, gliding speech sound varying continuously in phonetic quality but held to be a single sound or phoneme, as the oi-sound of toy or boil.
More about diphthong
Diphthong is hard enough to spell and pronounce, let alone define. Diphthong ultimately comes from Greek 诲铆辫丑迟丑辞苍驳辞蝉, literally 鈥渨ith or having two sounds,鈥� a compound of the Greek prefix di- 鈥渢wo, twice, double鈥� and the noun 辫丑迟丑贸苍驳辞蝉 鈥渧oice, sound,鈥� a derivative of the euphonious verb 辫丑迟丑茅苍驳别蝉迟丑补颈 鈥渢o utter a sound, raise one鈥檚 voice, call, talk.鈥� 笔丑迟丑茅苍驳别蝉迟丑补颈 is also the root of the Greek verb apo辫丑迟丑茅苍驳别蝉迟丑补颈 鈥渢o speak one鈥檚 opinion plainly,鈥� whose derivative noun 补辫贸辫丑迟丑别驳尘补 鈥渁 brief, pointed saying鈥� comes into English as apothegm or apophthegm, even harder to spell and pronounce than diphthong. 笔丑迟丑茅苍驳别蝉迟丑补颈 has no convincing etymology, but some scholars point to 鈥減honetically convincing鈥� Lithuanian 啪惫茅苍驳迟颈 鈥渢o neigh鈥� and 蝉辫别帽驳迟颈 鈥�(in the ears) to resound, hum, drone.鈥� (The Lithuanian and Greek words derive from the Proto-Indo-European root ghwen-, ghwon- 鈥渢o sound.鈥�) Diphthong entered English in the second half of the 15th century.
how is diphthong used?
The best word ever鈥攁ccording to deep lexicographical research, science, taste, and common sense鈥攊s this: diphthong.
It [Atlas of North American English] is vast enough to include 139 color-coded maps and software that lets users click around the country to hear native speakers drop their r’s and overextend their diphthongs with abandon.
diphthong