51吃瓜 of the Day
refractory
adjective
hard or impossible to manage; stubbornly disobedient.
More about refractory
Refractory, 鈥渟tubborn, obstinate,鈥� is a respelling (or even a misspelling) of earlier refractary, which comes straight from Latin 谤别蹿谤补肠迟腻谤颈耻蝉, with the same senses. 搁别蹿谤补肠迟腻谤颈耻蝉 is a derivative of refractus, the past participle of the verb refringere 鈥渢o break, break back, break open,鈥� a compound of the prefix re– 鈥渁gain, back again, back鈥� and the simple verb frangere 鈥渢o break, shatter, smash.鈥� Refractary entered English in the second half of the 16th century; the spelling refractory first occurs in Shakespeare鈥檚 Troilus and Cressida (1602).
how is refractory used?
He knew the game, and could conquer the most refractory lion with a broom handle鈥攏ot outside the cage, but inside and locked in.
鈥淪he can鈥檛 seem to get from A to B, and she always listens to my advice and doesn鈥檛 do it,鈥� Ms. Stanger continued about the refractory client …
refractory
mammock
verb
to break, tear, or cut into fragments; shred.
More about mammock
Mammock, a noun and verb meaning 鈥渁 fragment; to break,鈥� has several spellings, including mommick, mommock, mammick. Unfortunately, the word has no reliable etymology: the only thing scholars agree on is the suffix –ock, used to form diminutive nouns such as hillock (鈥渁 small hill鈥�). The noun sense of mammock entered English in the first half of the 16th century; the verb sense first appears in Shakespeare鈥檚 Coriolanus (1623).
how is mammock used?
whether his fall enraged him, or how ’twas, he did so set his teeth and tear it; O, I warrant it, how he mammocked it!
he paced along the avenues, taking great strides, a stick in his hand, breaking the branches of the shrubs, mammocking the flower-beds, decapitating the flowers with lashing blows, leaving petals flying in his wake.
mammock
exonumia
plural noun
items, as tokens or medals, that resemble money but are not intended to circulate as money.
More about exonumia
Exonumia, a relatively new noun meaning 鈥渋tems such as subway tokens or bus tokens that resemble money but do not circulate as money,鈥� is formed from the originally Greek adverb and combining form 茅虫艒 鈥渙ut, outside, without鈥� and the first syllable of numismatics 鈥渢he study or collecting of coins, medals, or paper money.鈥� Numismatics in turn is a derivative of the Late Latin noun numisma (stem numismat-) from Latin nomisma 鈥渃oin, medal, token,鈥� from Greek 苍贸尘颈蝉尘补 鈥渆stablished usage, custom, current coin.鈥� The final element –ia is the noun suffix (-ia in Latin, –铆补 in Greek), familiar in learned English words like agoraphobia and anesthesia. Exonumia entered English in the early 1960s.
how is exonumia used?
In addition to the display of the Roman Emperor set, the conventions will also host auctions of U.S. and foreign coins, ancient coins, medals and exonumia鈥搕he weird beasts of numismatics.
A hobby organization that celebrates taxes, or at least exonumia connected to taxes, celebrates a milestone anniversary this year. In 1971, the American Tax Token Society was created by numismatists who share an interest in collecting Depression-era tokens.
exonumia