51吃瓜 of the Day
terpsichorean
adjective
pertaining to dancing.
More about terpsichorean
The adjective terpsichorean 鈥減ertaining to dancing鈥� is a derivative of the proper name Terpsichore, the muse of dancing and song, especially of dramatic choruses. Terpsichore comes from Greek 罢别谤辫蝉颈肠丑贸谤脓, a noun use of the feminine adjective 迟别谤辫蝉铆肠丑辞谤辞蝉 鈥渄elighting in dancing.鈥� The element terpsi– comes from the verb 迟茅谤辫别颈苍 (also 迟茅谤辫别蝉迟丑补颈) 鈥渢o delight, gladden, cheer鈥�; the second element, –choros, is a combining form of the noun 肠丑辞谤贸蝉 鈥渁 round dance, dancing floor, band of dancers, choir.鈥� The etymology of 肠丑辞谤贸蝉 is uncertain: it may come from a Proto-Indo-European root gher-, ghor– 鈥渢o enclose鈥�; if so, the original meaning of 肠丑辞谤贸蝉 would be 鈥渁n enclosed space (for dancing).鈥� The root gher-, ghor– is also the source of Greek 肠丑贸谤迟辞蝉 鈥渆nclosure, court,鈥� Latin hortus 鈥済arden鈥� (English horticulture), Sanskrit 驳峁沨谩– 鈥渉ouse, dwelling place,鈥� Proto-Slavic 驳辞谤诲怒 鈥渃astle, fortress, town,鈥� source of Russian 驳贸谤辞诲 鈥渃ity, town鈥� (cf. 狈贸惫驳辞谤辞诲 鈥淣ew Town鈥�), Old Church Slavonic and South Slavic grad, as in Russian Stalingrad, Serbo-Croatian Beograd 鈥淏elgrade, White City.鈥� Terpsichorean entered English in the first half of the 19th century.
how is terpsichorean used?
Never has a dance been so much discussed, defended and denounced as has the tango, the extraordinary terpsichorean craze which has swept over the whole of Europe and the United States.
They’re quiet enough in the morning hours, / They’re quiet enough in the afternoon, / Reserving their terpsichorean powers / To dance by the light of the Jellicle Moon.
terpsichorean
billow
verb
to swell out, puff up, etc., as by the action of wind.
More about billow
The noun billow, 鈥渁 great wave or surge of the sea,鈥� appears nearly 45 years before its derivative verb billow 鈥渢o swell out, puff up, as by wind.鈥� Billow appears in print pretty late in English, just after the middle of the 16th century, but it most likely comes from Old Norse bylgja 鈥渁 billow,鈥� from the Proto-Germanic root balg-, bulg– 鈥渢o swell.鈥� The root variant bulg– is the source of the Proto-Germanic noun bulgjan, the source of Old Norse bylgja. The root variant balg– forms the Proto-Germanic noun balgiz, source of Old English belg 鈥渂补驳.鈥� Belg becomes beli in Middle English, and belly in modern English. Belgas, the plural of Old English belg, becomes belowes in Middle English, and bellows in modern English.
how is billow used?
Managed by two men, the flag billows within their grasp as though it could unfurl any moment.
Say she stooped breathlessly in her corset to lift up a sodden sheet by its hems, and say that when she had pinned three corners to the lines it began to billow and leap in her hands, to flutter and tremble, and to glare with the light, and that the throes of the thing were as gleeful and strong as if a spirit were dancing in its cerements. That wind!
billow
fiddlesticks
interjection
(used to express impatience, dismissal, etc.)
More about fiddlesticks
Fiddlesticks originally was the plural of fiddlestick, 鈥渢he bow used to play a violin or fiddle,鈥� which dates to the first half of the 15th century. By the second half of the 18th century, the phrase 蹿颈诲诲濒别蝉迟颈肠办鈥檚 end meant 鈥渘othing鈥� (a fiddlestick ends in a point); 蹿颈诲诲濒别蝉迟颈肠办鈥檚 end, reduced also to fiddlestick and fiddlesticks, was used as an expression of mild annoyance or dismissal.
how is fiddlesticks used?
Otho would have been Bilbo’s heir, but for the adoption of Frodo. He read the will carefully and snorted. It was, unfortunately, very clear and correct (according to the legal customs of hobbits, which demand among other things seven signatures of witnesses in red ink). 鈥淔oiled again!鈥� he said to his wife. 鈥淎nd after waiting sixty years. Spoons? Fiddlesticks!鈥澛�
In her nineties, flying into Washington on the president’s private airplane on Mother’s Day, she took in the crowd of well-wishers at the airport and announced, “Oh, fiddlesticks, if I’d known there was going to be all this fuss, I wouldn’t have come.”
fiddlesticks