New (Old) Words
Listed here are forgotten and newly acquired words
discovered while reading Toni Morrison's novel,
The Bluest Eye.
discovered while reading Toni Morrison's novel,
The Bluest Eye.
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| FELS-NAPHTHA: an American brand of laundry soap used for pre-treating stains on clothing and formerly as an effective home remedy for exposure to poison ivy and other skin irritants. |
SLAG: stony waste matter separated from metals during the smelting or refining of ore.
ReplyDeleteSTULTIFYING: to render absurdly or wholly futile or ineffectual, especially by degrading or frustrating means
ReplyDeleteHARRIDAN: a nasty, bad-tempered woman, esp. an old one
ReplyDeleteAMELIORATE: make (something bad or unsatisfactory) better
ReplyDeleteGENUFLECT: to bend the knee or touch one knee to the floor in reverence or worship
ReplyDeleteINCORRIGIVAL: a youthful mispronunciation of "incorrigible," unable to be corrected, improved, or reformed
ReplyDeleteMAGINOT LINE: a zone of heavy defensive fortifications erected by France along its eastern border in the years preceding World War II, but outflanked in 1940 when the German army attacked through Belgium.
ReplyDeleteASAFETIDA BAG: Asafoetida plant resin is foul-smelling & is an old herbal remedy. Slaves in the early years of the United States wore asafoetida bags around their necks to ward off croup, whooping cough, diphtheria & measles.
ReplyDeleteDRAY: A low, heavy cart or wagon used for haulage.
ReplyDeleteDRAYMAN: a person who drives a dray.
ReplyDeleteTHRENODY: A poem or song of mourning or lamentation.
ReplyDeleteERG: a centimeter-gram-second unit of work equal to the work done by a force of one dyne acting through a distance of one centimeter and equivalent to 10−7 joule
ReplyDeleteASCETICISM: severe self-discipline and avoidance of all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons.
ReplyDeleteANGLOPHILIA: a strong admiration or enthusiasm for England, its people, and things English.
ReplyDeleteBEATRICE: was an Italian woman who has been commonly identified as the principal inspiration for Dante Alighieri's Vita Nuova, and is also commonly identified with the Beatrice who appears as one of his guides in the Divine Comedy (La Divina Commedia) in the last book, Paradiso, and in the last four cantos of Purgatorio. There she takes over as guide from the Latin poet Virgil because, as a pagan, Virgil cannot enter Paradise and because, being the incarnation of beatific love, as her name implies, it is Beatrice who leads into the beatific vision.
ReplyDeleteMOIRAI: In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Moirai or Moerae, often known in English as the Fates, were the white-robed incarnations of destiny;
ReplyDelete