Thoughts for the Day

Today in History (July 18th)

1811: Birthdays: English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray.

1903: Birthdays: Actor Chill Wills.

1906: Birthdays: Playwright Clifford Odets.

1909: Birthdays: Actor/singer Harriet Hilliard Nelson.

1910: Birthdays: Composer, arranger, pianist Lou Busch (aka Joe Fingers Carr).

1911: Birthdays: Actor Hume Cronyn.

1913: Birthdays: Comedian Red Skelton.

1918: Birthdays: South African leader and Nobel Peace Price laureate Nelson Mandela.

1921: Birthdays: Astronaut-turned-Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio.

1925: Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf was published.

1929: Birthdays: Gold medal ice skater Dick Button; Singer Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.

1937: Birthdays: Journalist/author Hunter S. Thompson.

1938: Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan arrived in Ireland after departing from New York — he was attempting to fly to California.

1939: After a sneak preview of The Wizard of Oz, producers debated about removing one of the songs because it seemed to slow things down. The song: Over the Rainbow. Birthdays: Pop singer Dion DiMucci.

1940: Birthdays: Actor James Brolin; Former baseball Manager Joe Torre.

1941: Birthdays: Singer Martha Reeves.

1943: Birthdays: Historian Joseph J. Ellis.

1947: Birthdays: Publisher Steve Forbes.

1950: Birthdays: Businessman Richard Branson; Village People singer Glenn Hughes.

1954: Birthdays: Country singer Ricky Skaggs.

1961: Birthdays: Actor Elizabeth McGovern.

1967: Birthdays: Actor Vin Diesel.

1969: A car driven by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., plunged into a pond on Chappaquiddick Island, Mass., killing his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne.

1976: Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci became the first person in Olympic Games history to be awarded the score of a perfect 10 in gymnastics.

1977: Vietnam was admitted to the United Nations.

1980: Birthdays: Actor Kristen Bell.

1984: A gunman opened fire at a McDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro, Calif., killing 21 people.

1994: A car bombing in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killed about 100 people in or near a building that housed Jewish organizations.

2005: Eric Rudolph was sentenced to two life terms for a 1998 bombing at an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Ala. He also faced later sentencing in Atlanta for bombings at the 1996 Olympics and two other sites.

2007: Michael Vick, quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League, was indicted on federal charges related to an illegal dogfighting operation. He was subsequently sentenced to 23 months in prison.

2008: Israeli authorities confirmed they had arrested six people in an alleged al-Qaida plot to kill U.S. President George W. Bush during a visit to Israel.

2011: Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen took over as commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, vowing to keep relentlessly pressuring the enemy. Allen replaced Army Gen. David Petraeus, who became director of the CIA.

2012: Victims of a suicide bomb at Syria’s National Security Bureau included Defense Minister Daoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Assef Shawkat (President Bashar Assad’s brother-in-law), former Defense Minister Hassan Turkomani and NSB chief Hisham Ikhtiar.


maunder

PRONUNCIATION: (MON-duhr)

MEANING: (intransitive verb)
1. To talk incoherently; to speak in a rambling manner.
This is because * There is no cialis sales canada research involved in the causation of migraines. The intricate arteries in the penis may become weakened because of the ageing process and cialis prescription heritageihc.com thus can be used when something critical needs to be done at the early stage. Others that I know who wear Q-Link pendants have experienced many benefits from less stress, anoverall senses of well-being, more focus at work or on projects ,better viagra tablets in italia focus and performance for athletics, to more focus and stamina in time of making love to his love partner. Today you will find men bearing with erectile dysfunction concern. buy cheap cialis 2. To wander aimlessly or confusedly.

ETYMOLOGY: Maunder is perhaps a dialectal variant of meander (possibly influenced by wander).

USAGE: “But if it be given to a man ‘to maunder away his mind in softness,’ he cannot live otherwise than as nature has made him. Such a man must maunder.” — Anthony Trollope, ‘An Old Man’s Love’


cote

PRONUNCIATION: (koht)
http://wordsmith.org/words/cote.mp3

MEANING:
(noun), A shelter for animals.
(verb tr.), To pass by.

ETYMOLOGY:
For noun: From Old English cote (cottage). Earliest documented use: before 1034.
For verb: Of uncertain origin. Earliest documented use: 1555.

USAGE:

“The doves in the cote above flutter, as always, and settle down again.” – Brian Jackson; Streaming; Routledge; 2012.

“We coted them on the way and hither are they coming to offer you service.” – William Shakespeare; Hamlet; 1603.

Explore “cote” in the Visual Thesaurus.
http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=cote


confabulate

PRONUNCIATION: (kuhn-FAB-yuh-layt)
http://wordsmith.org/words/confabulate.mp3

MEANING: (verb intr.)
1. To talk informally.
2. To replace fact with fantasy to fill in gaps in memory.

ETYMOLOGY: From confabulari (to talk together), from con- (with) + fabulari (to talk), from fabula (tale). Ultimately from the Indo-European root bha- (to speak) that is also the source of fable, phone, fame, boon, and infant. Earliest documented use: 1604.

USAGE:

“Senior party leaders from across the state were expected to attend the meet and confabulate on issues pertaining to tribals in the state.” – Congress Takes a Diwali Break; The Indian Express (New Delhi); Oct 13, 2011.

“The majority of the subjects failed to notice the switch, and confabulated reasons why they chose the picture they had been given.” – Neil Levy; Are You Racist? You May Be Without Even Knowing It; The Bundaberg News-Mail (Australia); May 31, 2013.

Explore “confabulate” in the Visual Thesaurus.
http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=confabulate


contumely

PRONUNCIATION: (KON-too-muh-lee, kuhn-TOO-muh-lee, KON-tuhm-lee, -tyoo-, -tyoom-)
http://wordsmith.org/words/contumely.mp3

MEANING: (noun), Contemptuous or insulting treatment arising from arrogance.

ETYMOLOGY: Via French from Latin contumelia (insult), probably from con- (with) + tumere (to swell)

USAGE:

“Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot was greeted mostly with boos, bafflement, and contumely when it was first seen in 1955.” – Robert Gore-Langton; Wating for Godot vs Legally Blonde; The Daily Telegraph (London, UK); Jan 21, 2010.

“For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,”
“Th’ oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely.”
– William Shakespeare; Hamlet; c. 1600.

Explore “contumely” in the Visual Thesaurus.
http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=contumely


This entry was posted in Thoughts for the Day, Vocabulary and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.