bailiwick \BAY-luh-wik\, noun:
1. A person's specific area of knowledge, authority, interest, skill, or work.
2. The office or district of a bailiff.
I'll give it a try, but this is not my bailiwick.-- Sue Grafton, 'L' Is for Lawless
He "professed ignorance, as of something outside my bailiwick."-- Marc Aronson, "Wharton and the House of Scribner: The Novelist as a Pain in the Neck", New York Times, January 2, 1994
Fund-raising was Cliff's bailiwick, anyway, and he seemed to have it in hand.-- Curt Sampson, The Masters
Bailiwick comes from Middle English baillifwik, from baillif, "bailiff" (ultimately from Latin bajulus, "porter, carrier") + wik, "town," from Old English wic, from Latin vicus, "village."
from: word of the day
Showing posts with label vocabulary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vocabulary. Show all posts
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Word of the Day
otiose \OH-shee-ohs; OH-tee-\, adjective:
1. Ineffective; futile.
2. Being at leisure; lazy; indolent; idle.
3. Of no use.
Mr. Federspiel's surreal flourishes and commentaries straddle the line between interesting and otiose. Most of the surrealism is pretty but pointless.-- D. F. Wallace, "The Million-Dollar Tattoo", New York Times, May 5, 1991
Although the wild outer movements and the angular Minuet can take such clockwork precision, the Andante, with its obsessive, claustrophobic dialogues between strings and bassoons, seemed sluggish and otiose.-- Tim Ashley, "VPO/Maazel", The Guardian, April 16, 2002
The umlaut he affected, which made no difference to the pronunciation of his name, was as otiose as a pair of strategically positioned beauty spots.-- Peter Conrad, "Hidden shallows", New Statesman, October 14, 2002
One hazard for religions in which all professional intermediaries are dispensed with, and in which the individual is enjoined to 'work out your own salvation' and is regarded as fully capable of doing so, is that belief and practice become independent of formal organized structures which may in such a context come to be perceived as otiose.-- Lorne L. Dawson, "The Cultural Significance of New Religious Movements: The Case of Soka Gakkai", Sociology of Religion, Fall 2001
Otiose is from Latin otiosus, "idle, at leisure," from otium, "leisure."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for otiose
from: word of the day
1. Ineffective; futile.
2. Being at leisure; lazy; indolent; idle.
3. Of no use.
Mr. Federspiel's surreal flourishes and commentaries straddle the line between interesting and otiose. Most of the surrealism is pretty but pointless.-- D. F. Wallace, "The Million-Dollar Tattoo", New York Times, May 5, 1991
Although the wild outer movements and the angular Minuet can take such clockwork precision, the Andante, with its obsessive, claustrophobic dialogues between strings and bassoons, seemed sluggish and otiose.-- Tim Ashley, "VPO/Maazel", The Guardian, April 16, 2002
The umlaut he affected, which made no difference to the pronunciation of his name, was as otiose as a pair of strategically positioned beauty spots.-- Peter Conrad, "Hidden shallows", New Statesman, October 14, 2002
One hazard for religions in which all professional intermediaries are dispensed with, and in which the individual is enjoined to 'work out your own salvation' and is regarded as fully capable of doing so, is that belief and practice become independent of formal organized structures which may in such a context come to be perceived as otiose.-- Lorne L. Dawson, "The Cultural Significance of New Religious Movements: The Case of Soka Gakkai", Sociology of Religion, Fall 2001
Otiose is from Latin otiosus, "idle, at leisure," from otium, "leisure."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for otiose
from: word of the day
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Word for the day
from: Dictionary
donnybrook \DON-ee-brook\, noun:1. A brawl; a free-for-all.2. A heated quarrel or dispute.
But this was the beginning of Tommy's years of fighting back, a period that ended in a donnybrook conducted all over the O'Connor house.-- Tracy Kidder, Home Town
Wine and talk flow freely, so much so that the meal ends with a Rooney family donnybrook over, typically enough, religion and politics.-- Howard Frank Mosher, "24 Hours in Due East, S.C.", New York Times, April 7, 1991
The author finds few villains in "West Virginia's Battle of the Books," which describes a donnybrook over the content of public school textbooks during the mid-70's in the "seemingly placid community" of Charleston, W.Va.-- Kaye Northcott, "Round Up the Usual Enigmas", New York Times, February 23, 1992
A donnybrook is so called after Donnybrook, Ireland, a suburb of Dublin that once held an annual fair known for its brawls.
donnybrook \DON-ee-brook\, noun:1. A brawl; a free-for-all.2. A heated quarrel or dispute.
But this was the beginning of Tommy's years of fighting back, a period that ended in a donnybrook conducted all over the O'Connor house.-- Tracy Kidder, Home Town
Wine and talk flow freely, so much so that the meal ends with a Rooney family donnybrook over, typically enough, religion and politics.-- Howard Frank Mosher, "24 Hours in Due East, S.C.", New York Times, April 7, 1991
The author finds few villains in "West Virginia's Battle of the Books," which describes a donnybrook over the content of public school textbooks during the mid-70's in the "seemingly placid community" of Charleston, W.Va.-- Kaye Northcott, "Round Up the Usual Enigmas", New York Times, February 23, 1992
A donnybrook is so called after Donnybrook, Ireland, a suburb of Dublin that once held an annual fair known for its brawls.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Word for the day
fettle \FET-l\, noun:A state or condition of fitness or order; state of mind; spirits --
often used in the phrase "in fine fettle."
Aside from the problems with her voice . . . Miss Garland was in fine fettle last night.-- Vincent Canby, "Judy Garland Sets the Palace Alight", New York Times, August 1, 1967
Back in 1987, the Conservatives won a thumping majority in a June general election, primarily because the economy was seen by grateful voters to be in fine fettle.-- Larry Elliott, "Danger of a recurring nightmare", The Guardian, June 18, 2001
Many of the nuns were in fine fettle, even into their 80s and 90s.-- John McCrone, "Sisters of mercy", The Guardian, August 18, 2001
He seems in fine fettle when we meet, and happy to discuss the film that gave him his break.-- Charlotte O'Sullivan, "Naked ambition", The Guardian, February 7, 1999
Fettle is from Middle English fetlen, "to set in order," originally "to gird up," from Old English fetel, "a girdle."
from: word for the day
often used in the phrase "in fine fettle."
Aside from the problems with her voice . . . Miss Garland was in fine fettle last night.-- Vincent Canby, "Judy Garland Sets the Palace Alight", New York Times, August 1, 1967
Back in 1987, the Conservatives won a thumping majority in a June general election, primarily because the economy was seen by grateful voters to be in fine fettle.-- Larry Elliott, "Danger of a recurring nightmare", The Guardian, June 18, 2001
Many of the nuns were in fine fettle, even into their 80s and 90s.-- John McCrone, "Sisters of mercy", The Guardian, August 18, 2001
He seems in fine fettle when we meet, and happy to discuss the film that gave him his break.-- Charlotte O'Sullivan, "Naked ambition", The Guardian, February 7, 1999
Fettle is from Middle English fetlen, "to set in order," originally "to gird up," from Old English fetel, "a girdle."
from: word for the day
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