51吃瓜 of the Day
pother
noun
a heated discussion, debate, or argument; fuss; to-do.
More about pother
All the authorities agree that pother 鈥渃ommotion, uproar; heated argument鈥� has no reliable etymology; indeed, even the words that pother may be related to, like bother, have no trustworthy etymology. (The fact that an early citation of pother is spelled bother just makes things worse.) Pother originally rhymed with other and brother; it acquired its current pronunciation by the beginning of the 19th century.
how is pother used?
Yet what a pother is there of pismires over a grain of sand. But that grain of sand is their whole world.
“I don’t know what’s so very extraordinary about it, or why there should be such a pother,” he began; and he knew that he was insolently ignoring abundant reasons for pother, if there had been any pother. “Yes, I’m engaged.”
pother
ingenious
adjective
cleverly inventive or resourceful.
More about ingenious
Ingenious comes from late Middle English ingenious 鈥渋ntelligent, resourceful, quick-witted,鈥� from Old French 颈苍驳别苍茂辞蝉, engeignos, from Latin 颈苍驳别苍颈艒蝉耻蝉 鈥渃lever, talented, gifted.” 滨苍驳别苍颈艒蝉耻蝉 is a derivative of the noun ingenium 鈥渘atural disposition, temperament, mood; natural ability, cleverness,鈥� and the adjectival suffix –艒蝉耻蝉, the source via Old French and Anglo-French of the English suffix –ous. Ingenious entered English in the second half of the 15th century.
how is ingenious used?
She was an ingenious inventor who聽planted聽a seed that would blossom into some of today鈥檚 most ubiquitous technology, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, cordless phones and cell phones.
Yet as ingenious as this inventor was, their toy did not spark a societal revolution.
ingenious
regale
verb (used with object)
to entertain lavishly or agreeably; delight.
More about regale
Regale 鈥渢o entertain lavishly; delight鈥� comes from the French verb 谤茅驳补濒别谤 鈥渢o feast, entertain,鈥� from the Old French noun regale, rigal(l)e, a derivative of gale 鈥渇estivity, feast, lavish meal.鈥� The prefix re– or ri– is borrowed from the verb (se) rigoler 鈥渢o amuse (oneself)鈥�; (se) rigoler in its turn is a derivative of galer 鈥渢o make merry.鈥� The French present participle of galer is galant, which in Middle English becomes galaunt, galant 鈥渕erry, gay, gaily dressed,鈥� English gallant. Regale entered English in the second half of the 17th century.
how is regale used?
It used to be that road-weary travelers would regale their nightly hosts with tales of rivers forded, vistas taken in, injuries sustained, and possibly even enemies vanquished.
One dinnertime, he regaled me with the story of how Lord Byron鈥檚 challenge to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley to write a ghostly tale led to the creation of Frankenstein.
regale