51吃瓜 of the Day
stultify
verb (used with object)
to render absurdly or wholly futile or ineffectual, especially by degrading or frustrating means.
More about stultify
Stultify comes straight from Late Latin 蝉迟耻濒迟颈蹿颈肠腻谤别, 鈥渢o turn into foolishness,鈥� a compound verb formed from the adjective stultus 鈥渟tupid, dense, foolish鈥� and the combining form –蹿颈肠腻谤别 鈥渢o make, make become鈥� (source via Old French –fier of the English verb suffix –fy), formed from facere 鈥渢o do, make.鈥� Stultus and stolidus 鈥渄ull, brutish, stupid鈥� come from the root stel-, stol– 鈥渢o (make) stand, put.鈥� One odd thing about stultify is that its original meaning in English was as a legal term 鈥渢o allege or prove (oneself or another) to be of unsound mind,鈥� that is, if one stultified oneself, one could evade responsibility for one鈥檚 actions. Stultify entered English in the second half of the 18th century.
how is stultify used?
Up to recently we have proceeded from a premise that poverty is a consequence of multiple evils: lack of education restricting job opportunities; poor housing which stultified home life and suppressed initiative; fragile family relationships which distorted personality development.
Such critics stultify themselves by the coarseness of view (and sometimes of expression) with which they meet the grossness they condemn.
stultify
hebdomadal
adjective
taking place, coming together, or published once every seven days; weekly.
More about hebdomadal
Hebdomadal, 鈥渙ccurring or published every seven days; a weekly publication,鈥� comes via the Late Latin adjective 丑别产诲辞尘补诲腻濒颈蝉 鈥渨eekly,鈥� from Greek 丑别产诲辞尘谩蝉 (inflectional stem 丑别产诲辞尘谩诲-) 鈥渁 group of seven, a seven-day cycle, a week, a fever recurring every seven days.鈥� 贬别产诲辞尘谩蝉 is a derivative of the adjective 丑茅产诲辞尘辞蝉 (also 丑茅产诲别尘辞蝉) 鈥渟eventh,鈥� a complicated but regular derivative of the cardinal number 丑别辫迟谩 鈥渟even.鈥� Original Proto-Indo-European s is lost before a vowel in Greek, becoming h; 丑别辫迟谩 is the Greek result of Proto-Indo-European 蝉别辫迟峁�, which becomes septem in Latin, sapta in Sanskrit, secht in Old Irish, sibun in Gothic, seofon in Old English, seven in English, 蝉别辫迟测苍矛 in Lithuanian, sedm in Czech, sedem in Slovak, and siedem in Polish. Hebdomadal entered English in the first half of the 17th century.
how is hebdomadal used?
A little solace came at tea-time, in the shape of a double ration of bread鈥攁 whole, instead of a half, slice鈥攚ith the delicious addition of a thin scrape of butter: it was the hebdomadal treat to which we all looked forward from Sabbath to Sabbath.
Thirty-six years had passed since. And still he remembered the Sunday evening, the hebdomadal get-together of his parents’ circle of friends.
hebdomadal
interlard
verb (used with object)
to diversify by adding or interjecting something unique, striking, or contrasting.
More about interlard
The verb interlard, 鈥渢o diversify by adding something striking or contrasting,鈥� comes from the Middle English verb interlarden, enterlard(e) 鈥渢o mix fat into,鈥� from Old French entrelarder. The Old French verb is a compound of the preposition entre 鈥渂etween鈥� and the verb larder 鈥渢o cook with lard or bacon fat.鈥� Entre, which appears in English entre nous 鈥渂etween ourselves, confidentially,鈥� is a regular development from Latin inter 鈥渂etween,鈥� which (unlike entre) is thoroughly naturalized in English, as in international, interstate, intercity. The verb larder 鈥渢o cook with lard or bacon fat,鈥� comes from the Latin noun 濒腻谤颈诲耻尘, lardum 鈥渂acon, salted meat.鈥� The Greek adjective 濒补谤颈苍贸蝉 鈥渇attened, fat鈥� is related to 濒腻谤颈诲耻尘, lardum; Greek also borrowed lardum as 濒谩谤诲辞蝉 鈥渟alted meat.鈥� Interlard entered English in the mid-15th century.
how is interlard used?
More than by the tone was Andre-Louise startled by the obscenities with which the Colossus did not hesitate to interlard his first speech to a total stranger. He laughed outright. There was nothing else to do.
The modern Old Farmer鈥檚 Almanac, though it contains a lot of hooey interlarded with its tables of sun declination and length of day, is much less a remnant of our degraded information ecosystem than a harbinger of it.
interlard