Watching The Pied Piper with John Hurt, I knew the story (at least in general lines) but I had never seen its title in English. Two new words:
- pied [paɪd]: decorated or colored in blotches.
- blotch: uneven patch of color; irregularly shaped spot.
Category Archives: English
Britannium
Just found there is a metal (or rather an alloy) called britannium. According to wikipedia: “typically 92% tin, 6% antimony, and 2% copper.” Optional name: britannia metal.
Chicken feed
English – 2014-05-19
A few words that came to my attention this last week.
- miscarriage: natural death of an embryo or fetus while still in the womb.
- buckle down: to focus; become serious; apply oneself (to work, study &c.); to put forth the needed effort.
- flop: to fall heavily, because lacking energy. fail completely; pretend to be fouled (in sports).
English – 2014-05-05
A few verbs with the prefixes out- and over-:
- outdo: to surpass, excel, go beyond in performance.
- outlast: to live, last or remain longer than something else.
- outmaneuver: to perform movements more adroitly or successfully.
- outsize: to exceed in size.
- outcast: to banish. Obs.: /ˈaʊtkɑːst/ (noun, adjective); /aʊtˈkɑːst/ (verb).
- outnumber: to be more in number, to exceed in number.
- outdraw: to extract; remove a gun from its holster & fire it faster than an opponent; to attract a larger crowd than.
- overcharge: to charge more money than what would be fair; to put an excessive load; to exaggerate.
- overdress: to wear too many clothes or too elaborate or formal clothes for a particular occasion.
- overcome: to surmount, win, surcharge.
- overflow: to flow over the brim or edge of a container; to superabound. Obs.: /ˌəʊvəˈfləʊ/ (verb), /ˈəʊvəˌfləʊ/ (noun).
- overhear: to hear something that wasn’t meant for one’s ears.
- overkill: to destroy something with more force than is required.
- overrate: to esteem too highly or with greater praise than due.
- overtake: to pass a more slowly moving object.
- overheat, overuse, overcook, overcomplicate, overburn &c.: most of these compounds are self-explanatory, just adding the idea of “excessively” to the original verb.
English – 2014-04-16
Just a few words today:
- streak: continuous series of similar events; an irregular line left from smearing or motion.
- go-to: reliable, desirable, likely to perform well in difficult circumstances.
- to impair: to weaken, deteriorate, affect negatively.
- curve ball: an unexpected turn of events, something unexpected.
English – 2014-03-26
English – 2014-03-19
A few words for today:
- to skimp on: to be lazy about something, not giving it enough attention or using low quality or inadequate material.
- to mince: to cut (food, meat) into very small pieces.
- to mince about: to walk in a silly or unnatural manner.
- to yield /jiːld/: to produce, to result.
- broth /brɒθ/: a type of soup.
English – 2014-03-10
A few words related to clothes:
- bucket bag: a type of bag (really?); I couldn’t find a definition, but I think the expression is almost tautological.
- lace: cord (of a shoe); spirits added to a non-alcoholic beverage; a type of light fabric.
- tee: another word for T-shirt (?)
- faux: fake, artificial (from French, meaning “false”)
- tank top: a piece of clothing like a sweater (British) or a T-shirt (American), but with no sleeves.
English – 2014-02-26
A few words & expressions collected in the last week or so:
- commute: to regularly travel from home to work/school; to exchange; a few technical, very specific meanings.
- dressed up: wearing very formal clothes; wearing a costume.
- a chip off the old block: womeone who takes after one of his or her parents.
