January 4, 2018: moira \ MOI-ruh \ noun; 1. (among ancient Greeks) A person’s fate or destiny. 2. Classical Mythology. ( initial capital letter) a. The personification of fate. b. Moirai, the Fates. Stewart arrived at the bar early, which according to all the articles he had read and all of his friends, was […]
January 3, 2018: patrician \ puh-TRISH-uh n \ noun; 1. A person of noble or high rank; aristocrat. 2. A person of very good background, education, and refinement. Iris shifted awkwardly in her seat, wishing she had chosen something a little less fashionable and a little more comfortable to wear. But then, a meeting […]
May 4, 2011: bushwhack \ BOOSH-hwak \ verb; 1. To defeat, especially by surprise or in an underhanded way. 2. To make one’s way through woods by cutting at undergrowth, branches, etc. It happened, she supposed, when she was bushwhacking through the woods. Her father, incidentally, would have called it a stroll, but […]
May 3, 2011: purlieu \ PUR-loo \ noun; 4. A piece of land on the edge of a forest, originally land that, after having been included in a royal forest, was restored to private ownership, though still subject, in some respects, to the operation of the forest laws. When the king gifted Gemma’s […]
May 2, 2011: dandle \ DAN-dl \ verb; 1. To move (a baby, child, etc.) lightly up and down, as on one’s knee or in one’s arms. All she had wanted was a babe to dandle on her knee, someone to bundle up in blankets and coo at, and love. That was all she […]
In an effort to stretch my writerly muscle and increase my writerly output (not that two small sections of a short story in six months isn’t outstanding) – I am taking on a project. Dictionary.com has a Word of the Day feature, which I have decided to leverage to my own nefarious ends. I’m going […]
