51吃瓜 of the Day
xebec
noun
a small, three-masted vessel of the Mediterranean, formerly much used by corsairs, now employed to some extent in commerce.
More about xebec
Xebec 鈥渁 small, three-masted vessel鈥� is an alteration of chebec, which comes by way of French from either Catalan xabec or obsolete Spanish xabeque, from Arabic 蝉丑补产产腻办, a small type of ship. In modern Spanish, the older form xabeque is now spelled jabeque; the version with an initial x reflects the earlier use of x to make the 鈥渟h鈥� sound, which eventually shifted to the 鈥渉鈥� sound. While many Spanish terms that once contained the 鈥渟h鈥�-sounding x have since shifted to the modern Spanish 鈥渉鈥�-sounding j (such as Don Quixote, which is spelled Don Quijote in modern Spanish), this x鈥攚ith the modern 鈥渉鈥� pronunciation鈥攕till exists today in place names such as 惭茅虫颈肠辞, Oaxaca, and even in Bexar, the county in Texas where San Antonio is located. Xebec was first recorded in English in the 1750s.
how is xebec used?
With the nor鈥�-nor鈥�-westerly breeze freshening as the night fell, the ship advanced rapidly on the starboard tack ….
鈥淪he is a xebec!鈥� said one of the sailors. 鈥淚 see the square sails on her mizen.鈥�
鈥淣o,鈥� answered another, 鈥渟he is a pink! see how high in the stern and broad in the bow she is.鈥�
鈥�Xebec or pink, who can tell one from the other at this distance?鈥�
鈥淚sn鈥檛 she a polacca with square sails?鈥� remarked another sailor, making a telescope of his hands.
鈥淗eaven help us anyhow!鈥� said old Gozzo. 鈥淧olacca, pink, or xebec, they are all three-masters, and three masts are worth more than two when they come ashore with a good cargo of wine from Crete, or stuffs from Smyrna!鈥�
Returning from a visit to the city in his gig one night Captain Bainbridge was grossly insulted by the commander of a Spanish xebec which was anchored in the harbor as a guard boat. In vulgar and abusive language the Spaniard ordered the gig to come alongside, and, as no attention was paid to the insult, several musket shots were fired. Supposing that some mistake had been made, Captain Bainbridge ran alongside the xebec and explained who he was, but, not satisfied with this, the commander of the guard boat insisted on his coming aboard. Captain Bainbridge replied that, as the commander of an American frigate, he considered it beneath his dignity to comply with such an impudent request, and ordering his men to shove off, he pulled for the聽Essex in spite of the Spaniard’s repeated threats of firing on him.
xebec
蝉铆诲丑
noun
a mound or hill in which fairies live.
More about 蝉铆诲丑
厂铆诲丑 鈥渁 mound or hill in which fairies live鈥� is a borrowing from Irish Gaelic, from Old Irish 蝉铆诲, of the same meaning. The ultimate source of 蝉铆诲丑 is the Proto-Indo-European root sed- 鈥渢o sit,鈥� with derivations including English sit, set, and saddle as well as Latin 蝉别诲脓谤别 鈥渢o sit鈥� (compare sedentary and sediment). Though 蝉铆诲丑 literally refers to fairy mounds, it also frequently appears in reference to fairies themselves. This process is called metonymy (from meta- 鈥渂eyond鈥� and -onym 鈥渘ame鈥�), in which a word for one thing is used figuratively to refer to a related concept or entity. Just as 蝉铆诲丑 can refer figuratively to fairies as well as literally to their home, 鈥渢he White House鈥� can refer figuratively to the president of the United States as well as literally to the building located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. 厂铆诲丑 was first recorded in English in the 1790s.
how is 蝉铆诲丑 used?
While divine beings could be associated with either [hills or bodies of water] in both Ireland and Wales, the Irish tended to prefer the sidh mounds in their tales while the Welsh stories usually placed the dwellings of deities on islands or even under water. It is possible that the Lady of the Lake was the Welsh equivalent of the Lady of the Sidh.
Newgrange is Ireland’s most famous prehistoric site. As with most of the passage tombs in Ireland, archeologists believe that it was built around 3200 B.C., which means that Newgrange predates the construction of Stonehenge in England and the Pyramids of Egypt …. The Celtic myth says that Newgrange is a fairy mound or a sidh. A group of ancient people, the Tuatha D茅 Danann, or 鈥減eople of the goddess Danu,鈥� dwelled there.
蝉铆诲丑
pruinose
adjective
covered with a frostlike bloom or powdery secretion, as a plant surface.
More about pruinose
Pruinose 鈥渃overed with a frostlike bloom or powdery secretion鈥� comes from Latin 辫谤耻墨苍艒蝉耻蝉 鈥渇rosty,鈥� from 辫谤耻墨苍补 鈥渇rost鈥� and the adjectival suffix -艒蝉耻蝉 鈥渇ull of, consisting of.鈥� 笔谤耻墨苍补 and frost are in fact distantly related; just as we learned from the recent 51吃瓜 of the Day corvine that Latin c often corresponds to English h (compare cor/heart and caput/head), Latin p often corresponds to English f. This pattern can also be seen in pairs such as Latin pater and English father, Latin paucus and English few, Latin 辫脓蝉 and English foot, and English farrow 鈥渓itter of pigs鈥� and Latin porcus 鈥减颈驳.鈥� Pruinose was first recorded in English in the 1820s.
how is pruinose used?
Native to Mexico, ghost plant (Graptopetalum paraguayense) are evergreen plants with light blue to gray, pink foliage that give it a “ghostly” appearance due to a powdery coating known as pruinose that covers the plant’s leaves.
The guidebooks are full of other gorgeous words to describe these creatures with the biplane wings. Teneral bugs are those that recently emerged from their shed skins, known as exuviae, and must rest undisturbed while their shells harden. Pruinose describes the blue or white powder that covers the insects as they age.
pruinose