Word of the Day
More about mump
The rare English verb mump is akin to the equally rare Dutch mompen 鈥渢o mumble, grumble,鈥� and the magnificent German verbs mumpfen 鈥渢o chew with one鈥檚 mouth full鈥� and mimpfeln 鈥渢o mumble while eating.鈥� The Germanic verbs most likely derive from a Proto-Indo-European root 尘别耻菨- 鈥渂e silent,鈥� from which English also derives mum 鈥渟ilent,鈥� Latin 尘奴迟耻蝉 鈥渟ilent, mute,鈥� and Greek 尘耻蝉迟岣梤颈辞苍 鈥渟ecret rite, mystery,鈥� a derivative of 尘煤蝉迟脓蝉 鈥渁n initiate,鈥� a derivative of 尘耻别卯苍 鈥渢o initiate, instruct, teach,鈥� itself a derivative of 尘煤别颈苍 鈥渢o close the eyes, mouth, or other opening鈥� (lest one reveal what is not to be revealed). Mump entered English in the 16th century.
how is mump used?
Up, Dullard! It is better service to enjoy a novel than to mump.
Come, my dear fellow, do not spoil the excellent impression you have already made. I am sure to mump and moan is not in you …
More about excogitate
Excogitate comes from Latin 别虫肠艒驳颈迟腻迟耻蝉, the past participle of 别虫肠艒驳颈迟腻谤别 meaning 鈥渢o devise, invent, think out.鈥� It entered English in the 1520s.
how is excogitate used?
I wouldn’t put the question to you for the world, and expose you to the inconvenience of having to … excogitate an answer.
The average politician knows fully as little or as much about railway management as he does about photographing the moon or applying the solar spectrum; yet, once upon a board of railway commissioners, he is required to excogitate and frame rules for an industry which not only supplies the financial arteries of a continent, but holds the lives as well as the credits of its citizens dependent upon the click of a telegraph or the angle of a semaphore …
estimable
adjective
deserving respect or admiration; worthy of esteem.
More about estimable
The English adjective estimable comes via French estimable from Latin 补别蝉迟颈尘腻产颈濒颈蝉, a derivative of 补别蝉迟颈尘腻谤别 鈥渢o value, price, estimate the money value of.鈥� The etymology of 补别蝉迟颈尘腻谤别 is unclear, but it may be related to Latin aes (stem aer-) 鈥渃opper, bronze, brass,鈥� from Proto-Indo-European ayes-, ayos- 鈥渕etal, copper,鈥� from which Sanskrit derives 谩测补蝉- 鈥渕etal, iron,鈥� Gothic aiz 鈥渂ronze,鈥� German Erz 鈥渙re鈥� (the Erzgebirge, 鈥淥re Mountain Range,鈥� lies between Saxony, Germany, and Bohemia, Czech Republic), Old English 腻谤 鈥渙re, copper, brass,鈥� and English ore. Estimable entered English in the 15th century.
how is estimable used?
He is the most estimable, the most trustworthy creature in the world, and I will venture to say, there is not a better seaman in all the merchant service.
Nothing is more typical of Armstrong, or more estimable, than his decision not to go into politics; heaven knows what the blandishments, or the invitations, must have been.