ingenue \AN-zhuh-noo\ (noun) - 1 : A naive girl or young woman. 2 : An actress playing such a person; also: the stage role of an ingenue.

"She complained about always being cast as the ingenue. She tried to act cynical, but she really was the ingenue type." -- Robin Hemley, 'The Big Ear

Ingenue comes from the French, from Latin ingenuus, "...Read more

winsome \WIN-suhm\ (adjective) - 1 : Cheerful; merry; gay; light-hearted. 2 : Causing joy or pleasure; agreeable; pleasant.

"Colton had trouble curtailing a grin as he witnessed this innocuous confrontation, but when he found himself the recipient of an icy glance from the winsome brunette, he grew a bit perplexed until it suddenly dawned on ...Read more

swan song \SWAHN-SONG\ (noun) - 1 : A beautiful legendary song said to be sung by a dying swan. 2 : A final or farewell appearance, action, or pronouncement.

"This state dinner, perhaps the most important one we would ever experience, was Henry's swan song, his crowning glory..." -- Julie Hyzy, 'State of the Onion'

Swan song is from the belief...Read more

bloviate \BLOH-vee-ayt\ (intransitive verb) - To speak or write at length in a pompous or boastful manner.

"It was one of the reasons that they had remained friends, despite Mather's inclinations to bloviate and exasperate." -- William Martin, 'Harvard Yard'

Bloviate is from blow + a mock-Latinate suffix -viate. Compare blowhard, "a boaster or...Read more

tutelary \TOO-tuh-lair-ee; TYOO-\ (adjective) - Having the guardianship or charge of protecting a person or a thing; guardian; protecting; as, "tutelary goddesses."

"Thereupon, forty stripes were ordered for each of us, that the tutelary genius of the ship might be propitiated." -- Petronius, 'The Satyricon'

Tutelary derives from Latin ...Read more

concinnity \kuhn-SIN-uh-tee\ (noun) - 1 : Internal harmony or fitness in the adaptation of parts to a whole or to each other. 2 : Studied elegance of design or arrangement -- used chiefly of literary style. 3 : An instance of concinnity.

"His theme, culled from a Latin hymn, is, ' Take away the perfidious people from the territory of the ...Read more

contemporaneous \kuhn-tem-puh-RAY-nee-uhs\ (adjective) - Originating, existing, or occurring at the same time.

"As we have reason to believe that large areas are affected by the same movement, it is probable that strictly contemporaneous formations have often been accumularted over very wide spaces in the same quarter of the world; but we are ...Read more

exemplar \ig-ZEM-plar; -pluhr\ (noun) - 1 : A model or pattern to be copied or imitated. 2 : A typical or standard specimen. 3 : An ideal model or type. 4 : A copy of a book or text.

"The first step in dirt analysis is to check known soil from the scene -- an exemplar -- against the sample the criminalist believes came from the perp." -- ...Read more

palimpsest \PAL-imp-sest\ (noun) - 1 : A manuscript, usually of papyrus or parchment, on which more than one text has been written with the earlier writing incompletely erased and still visible. 2 : An object or place whose older layers or aspects are apparent beneath its surface.

"A palimpsest obscures what lies beneath. To build Pakistan it ...Read more

multifarious \muhl-tuh-FAIR-ee-uhs\ (adjective) - Having great diversity or variety; of various kinds; diversified.

"Others will follow, others will outstrip me on the same lines; and I hazard the guess that man will be ultimately known for a mere polity of multifarious, incongruous and independent denizens." -- Robert Louis Stevenson, 'The ...Read more

variegated \VAIR-ee-uh-gay-tid\ (adjective) - 1 : Having marks or patches of different colors; as, "variegated leaves or flowers." 2 : Varied; distinguished or characterized by variety; diversified.

"They also attempt to appraise its color, which can vary from a bluish-gray variegated with black and white to a tawny cream variegated with brown....Read more

Why is a clam happy? Why is someone who stops drinking alcohol said to be "on the wagon"? Why do people "go to pot"?

We use "old saws" like this every day, but rarely do we "pull out all the stops" to uncover their origins.

The key to "happy as a clam" can be found in the original form of this expression -- "happy as a clam at high tide." ...Read more

incontrovertible \in-kon-truh-VUR-tuh-buhl\ (adjective) - Too clear or certain to admit of dispute; indisputable; unquestionable.

"In bread, You were offered an incontrovertible banner: give man bread and he will worship You, for nothing is more incontrovertible than bread..." -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 'The Karamazov Brothers'

ncontrovertible is...Read more

equable \EK-wuh-buhl; EE-kwuh-\ (adjective) - 1 : Equal and uniform; not varying. 2 : Not easily disturbed; not variable or changing -- said of the feelings, temper, etc.

"Jean, as fair as his brother was dark, as calm as his brother was hasty, as equable as his brother was irritable, had serenely read law and passed his diploma at the same ...Read more

appurtenance \uh-PUR-tn-un(t)s\, noun) - 1 : An adjunct; an accessory; something added to another, more important thing. 2 : [Plural]. Accessory objects; gear; apparatus. 3 : [Law]. An incidental right attached to a principal property right for purposes such as passage of title, conveyance, or inheritance.

"Close against the white blind hung a...Read more

malleable \MAL-ee-uh-buhl\ (adjective) - 1 : Capable of being extended or shaped by beating with a hammer, or by the pressure of rollers; -- applied to metals. 2 : Capable of being altered or controlled by outside forces; easily influenced. 3 : Capable of adjusting to changing circumstances; adaptable.

"If the heart were always malleable and ...Read more

disparate \DIS-puh-rit; dis-PAIR-it\ (adjective) - 1 : Fundamentally different or distinct in quality or kind. 2 : Composed of or including markedly dissimilar elements.

"Twelve of us, disparate artists with disparate work, had the museum to ourselves except for the docent who hovered around us, guarding permanent works from contagion." -- ...Read more

visage \VIZ-ij\ (noun) - 1 : The face, countenance, or look of a person or an animal; -- chiefly applied to the human face. 2 : Look; appearance; aspect.

"And then he put off his helm, and she saw his visage, she said, 'O sweet Jesu, thee I must love, and never other.' Then show me your visage,' said he." -- Thomas Malory, 'Le Morte D'Arthur'

...Read more

excoriate \ek-SKOR-ee-ayt\ (transitive verb) - 1 : To express strong disapproval of; to denounce. 2 : To tear or wear off the skin of.

"Most women would excoriate me for risking my baby's life this way. In another situation, I might do the same. But I'm not in another situation." -- Greg Iles, 'Blood Memory'

Excoriate comes from Late Latin ...Read more

With the help of Tom Dalzell's deliciously wicked book "The Slang of Sin" (Merriam Webster, $20), let's smoke out the origins of slang terms for marijuana.

"Reefer" first appeared in the popular song "Reefer Man," recorded by Don Redman in 1931. Some say "reefer" is an Anglicized version of the Spanish "grifa," a Mexican slang word for ...Read more