Word of the Day
copse
noun
a thicket of small trees or bushes; a small wood.
More about copse
The noun copse, 鈥渢hicket of small trees grown for periodic felling,鈥� is a shortening of coppice (with the same meaning). Coppice comes from Old French 肠辞濒辫别茂锄, 肠辞辫别茂颈锄, 肠辞耻辫别茂锄 “woodland cleared of trees, a cutover,” a derivative from an assumed Vulgar Latin verb 肠辞濒辫腻谤别 “to cut, chop,” ultimately from Latin colaphus “a punch (with the fist),” from Greek 办贸濒补辫丑辞蝉 “a slap, blow.” Copse entered English in the 16th century.
how is copse used?
In the tops of the dark pines at the corner of the copse, could the glance sustain itself to see them, there are finches warming themselves in the sunbeams.
Between moonrise and sunset I was stumbling through the braken of the little copse that was like a tuft of hair on the brow of the great white quarry.
sudoriferous
adjective
bearing or secreting sweat.
More about sudoriferous
The English adjective sudoriferous comes from Late Latin 蝉奴诲艒谤颈蹿别谤, literally 鈥渟weat-bearing.鈥� The Latin suffix -fer 鈥渃arrying, bearing,鈥� very familiar in English, comes from the verb ferre 鈥渢o carry, bring, bear,鈥� from the common Proto-Indo-European root bher- 鈥渢o carry, bear,鈥� source of Sanskrit 产丑谩谤补迟颈, Greek 辫丑茅谤别颈苍, Celtic (Old Irish) biru, Germanic (English) bear, and Slavic (Polish) 产颈别谤补膰, all meaning 鈥渃arry.鈥� The Latin noun 蝉奴诲辞谤 is a derivative of the verb 蝉奴诲腻谤别, from the Proto-Indo-European root sweid-, swoid- 鈥渢o sweat鈥� (swoid- becomes 蝉奴诲- in Latin). The Germanic derivative of the Proto-Indo-European noun swoidos is swaitaz, which becomes 蝉飞腻迟 in Old English (English sweat). Sudoriferous entered English in the late 16th century.
how is sudoriferous used?
Jermaine’s nerves got the better of him and resulted in a rather sudoriferous audition.
Although it may sound somewhat ridiculous to be mentioning football these sudoriferous days, the news is that Glenn Davis and Felix (Doc) Blanchard should be around again some time next month–on the screen, that is.
pathos
noun
the quality or power in an actual life experience or in literature, music, speech, or other forms of expression, of evoking a feeling of pity, or of sympathetic and kindly sorrow or compassion.
More about pathos
The English noun pathos comes directly from Greek 辫谩迟丑辞蝉 鈥渟uffering, sensation, experience,鈥� related to the verb p谩schein 鈥渢o suffer, be affected, feel.鈥� Both the noun and the verb come from the Greek root penth-, ponth, path-. The root path- also forms the noun 辫谩迟丑别颈补 鈥渟uffering, feeling鈥� and is the second element of a辫谩迟丑别颈补, em辫谩迟丑别颈补, and sym辫谩迟丑别颈补, source of English apathy, empathy, and sympathy. From the root penth- Greek forms the word 苍脓辫别苍迟丑岣梥 鈥渂anishing suffering,鈥� (literally 鈥渦nsuffering鈥�), source of the English noun nepenthe, the name of a drug or plant that brings forgetfulness of pain and suffering. Pathos entered English in the 16th century.
how is pathos used?
Like all other music, it breathed passion and pathos, and emotions high or tender, in a tongue native to the human heart, wherever educated.
Burnham says his overall aim was to use a middle school student to tell a story rooted in the same pathos that drives any good movie about a person’s deepest battles.