Definition:
a deserter of any type, (historically, in terms of religion)
Description:
The English borrowed and modified this word from the Spanish ‘renegado,‘ who formed it from a Latin term meaning “to deny.”
When a Christian deserted and joined the Muslim army, Spanish churchmen labeled a man who denounced his faith a “renegado.” English took this and modified it to ‘renegade’ and was used to designate “the occasional turncoat who denied his religion for profit.”
Source:
What's In a Word? by Webb Garrison,
Mar 07
daveEveryday, Life, Literary american, australian, british, english
Definition:
a fanatically puritanical person
Description:
‘Wowser’ is a delightful word with an interesting background, though its ultimate origin is unknown.
The word first appeared in print in 1899, in the Australian journal Truth, and was instantly popular in Australia. It rapidly spread to New Zealand, where it remains in use, and then eventually arrived in England, possibly brought by the Australian troops who served there during World War I.
The American writer and editor H. L. Mencken liked “wowser” and attempted to introduce it to the United States. He used the word frequently in American Mercury, the literary magazine he edited.
Despite Mencken’s efforts, however, the term never became particularly popular in American English; it is used occasionally, but it never truly caught on.
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Mar 07
daveEveryday, Life slang
Definition:
A rhetorical response to a statement.
Description:
The original phrase is: Word is Bond
it was intended to be used to affirm ones promise.
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Mar 07
daveEveryday, Life english
Definition:
to influence or entice by soft words or flattery
Description:
‘Wheedle’ has been a part of the English lexicon since the mid-17th century, though no one is quite sure how the term made its way into English. (It has been suggested that the term may have derived from an Old English word that meant ‘to beg,’ but this is far from certain.)
Once established in the language, however, ‘wheedle’ became a favorite of some of the language’s most illustrious writers. ‘Wheedle’ and related forms appear in the writings of Wordsworth, Dickens, Kipling, Dryden, Swift, Scott, Tennyson, and Pope, among others.
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Mar 07
daveEveryday, Life currency, english, spanish
Definition:
cheap or trivial of its kind : petty, small-time
Description:
The first definition of ‘two-bit’ makes its etymology obvious: it is derived from the noun ‘two bits.’ However, ‘two bits’ is an interesting phrase because it actually means ‘the value of a quarter of a dollar.’
There is no such thing as a single bit, at least not anymore. The now obsolete Spanish dollar was composed of eight reals, or eight bits, so a quarter of the dollar equaled two bits.
The phrase ‘two bits’ carried over into U.S. usage, though there’s no bit coin in U.S. currency.
‘Two bits’ first appeared in print in English in 1730 (and later developed the figurative sense of ‘something of small worth or importance’), followed in 1802 by its adjectival relative. These days, though, the adjective has far surpassed the noun in popularity.
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Mar 07
daveEveryday, Life greek
Definition:
conceited and overconfident of knowledge but poorly informed and immature
Description:
Sophomores get a bad rap. A lot of people seem to think they’re foolish (no matter what they do), when they know they’re pretty wise. The history of the words ‘sophomore’ and ‘sophomoric’ (which developed from ‘sophomore’) proves that it has always been tough to be a sophomore.
Those words probably come from a combination of the Greek terms ‘sophos’ (which means ‘wise’) and ‘moros’ (which means ‘foolish’). But sophomores can take comfort in the fact that some very impressive words, including ‘philosopher’ and ‘sophisticated,’ are also related to ‘sophos.’
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