MW April 20, 2021 It is not that I adulate the people:Without me, there are demagogues enough,And infidels, to pull down every steeple,And set up in their stead some proper stuff.Whether they may sow scepticism to reap hell,As is the…
Month: April 2021
Chlamys
MW April 19, 2021 After my father had debated the affair of the breeches with my mother, –he consulted Albertus Rubenius upon it; and Albertus Rubenius used my father ten times worse in the consultation (if possible) than even myfather…
Forfend, Forefend
MW Then gently said the Goddesse: Sirs, why doe you me forfendThe water? Nature doth to all in common water send.For neither Sunne, nor Ayre, nor yet the Water private bee,I seeke but that which natures gift hath made to…
Fons et origo
…Were all i’ the way o’ the brute who never onceCeases, amid all provocation more,To bear in mind the first tormentor, firstGiver o’ the wound that goaded him to fight:And, though a dozen follow and reinforceThe aggressor, wound in front…
Purloin
MW ‘Mine enemy was strong, my poor self weak,And far the weaker with so strong a fear:My bloody judge forbade my tongue to speak;No rightful plea might plead for justice there:His scarlet lust came evidence to swearThat my poor beauty…
See, old; Love, life; Day, long; Soul, earth
The most frequently used words and their frequencies in Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass: 0.348 see0.224 old0.222 love0.216 life0.214 day0.204 long0.200 soul0.198 earth0.196 man0.182 night0.160 men0.155 sea0.153 death0.141 know0.139 time0.138 come0.131 great0.123 world0.114 good0.110 hear To explore the content word…
Words of the day: April 13 – April 16, 2021 Foolery, Nab, Minatory, Discomfit, Obstreperous, Lodestone
I count religion but a childish toy,And hold there is no sin but ignorance.Birds of the air will tell of murders past!I am asham’d to hear such fooleries.Many will talk of title to a crown:What right had Caesar to the…
Gallant
MW Gallant in Shakespeare. But there the glorious LORD will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. Bible Looking far foorth into the ocean…
Nincompoop, Nincompoopiana
Etymology: < nincompoop n. + -iana suffix. “nincompoopiana, n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2021. Web. 12 April 2021. Nincompoop A simpleton, a foolish person. Etymology: Origin uncertain “nincompoop, n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2021. Web. 12…
Drub, drubbed, drubbing
MW ‘He was of opinion, that the English nation cultivated both their soil and their reason better than any other people: but admitted that the French, though not the highest, perhaps, in any department of literature, yet in every department…