Word of the Day for Saturday, August 10, 2013helter-skelter \HEL-ter-SKEL-ter\, adverb:1. in headlong and disorderly haste: The children ran helter-skelter all over the house. 2. in a haphazard manner; without regard for order: Clothes were scattered helter-skelter about the room. adjective: 1. carelessly hurried; confused: They ran in a mad, helter-skelter fashion for the exits. 2. disorderly; haphazard: Books and papers were scattered on the desk in a helter-skelter manner. noun: 1. tumultuous disorder; confusion. The same obstacle appeared in a minor degree to cling about his verbal exposition, and accounted perhaps for his rather helter-skelter choice of remarks bearing on the number of unaddressed letters sent to the post-office… His enormous bellow of rage was the signal for Mrs. Hook to run helter-skelter down the alley to take up station in their traditional battleground at its entrance.The origin of helter-skelter is unknown, though it is perhaps onomatopoetic. It entered English in the late 1500s and employs a reduplicated rhyme similar to the words hurry-scurry and harum-scarum. | |
Word of the Day for Sunday, August 11, 2013kloof \kloof\, noun:(in South Africa) a deep glen; ravine. There are the sheer kloofs cut in the hills by the rushing rains of centuries, down which the rivers sparkle... Take any poor Tommy, out at his picket on the bare hillside or rocky kloof, either blistering in 104-degree heat or shivering under his waterproof sheet, and he could easily believe it so.Kloof came to English in the 1700s from the Dutch word meaning "cleft." | |
Word of the Day for Monday, August 12, 2013matador \MAT-uh-dawr\, noun:1. the principal bullfighter in a bullfight who passes the bull with a muleta and then, in many countries, kills it with a sword thrust; a torero. 2. one of the principal cards in skat and certain other games. 3. (initial capital letter) a jet-powered U.S. surface-to-surface missile. He watched with disgust as the matador called to the bull. With a flamboyant flourish, the matador took over. The matador who was ill was careful never to show it and was meticulous about eating a little of all the dishes that were presented at the table. ...the matador moved closer and now the animal bunched tired legs to run but one leg slipped throwing up a cloud of dust.Matador entered English in 1600s directly from the Spanish matar meaning "to kill or wound." | |