tutelary

tutelary - adj - having the guardianship or charge of protecting a person or thing; guardian; protecting

I always thought it would be cool to be in the SecretService and protect the President or other foreign dignitaries. I just never had that particular opportunity arise. However, during Operation Iraqi Freedom, I did serve on a protective service detail for the admiral in charge of the port the rest of my unit was protecting. It was, from my perspective, quite an enjoyable experience.

comity

comity - n - An atmosphere of social harmony.

I'm a man of few words today.

doleful

doleful - adj. - causing grief or affliction; full of grief, cheerless; expressing grief, sad

arcane

arcane - adj - understood or known by only a few

I was sure this word had already been used. However, since it's not, I'll use it.

impinge

My apologies for being late on yesterday's word. I went ahead and posted it with yesterday's date to keep our archiving straight.

And now for today's word:

impinge - v. - to strike or dash especially with a sharp collision

BTW...we decided to put just the word in the subject line, right?

albeit

albeit - conj - Although; even though; notwithstanding.

This one may be slightly old-fashioned.

And now I hope you will indulge me as I wander off on a tangent. Spoiler Warning: If you haven't read Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, I'm about to give away an early incident in the novel.

Shortly after Count Dracula moves to London, Lucy Westenra starts losing blood at an alarming rate. Dr. Seward calls Dr. Abraham Van Helsing in as a consultant, and he draws the same conclusion as the reader will, i.e., that Lucy has fallen victim to a vampire. Unfortunately, Lucy is too far gone and dies shortly after Van Helsing's arrival. After Lucy's funeral, there are reports in the papers of children having seen a bloofer lady. I have been plagued for decades wondering what exactly is a "bloofer" lady? Clearly, the lady in question is Lucy, who is now a vampire preying on little children, but what makes her a "bloofer" lady? I finally found the answer after consulting an annotated edition of the novel. "Bloofer" is the way English children pronounced "beautiful," much the same way American children call injuries "booboos." Now I know, and so do you.

perpetrate

perpetrate - v. - to bring about or carry out; to produce, perform, or execute

contretemps - noun - an inopportune situation or event; a hitch

My first entry here. I guess I'll get on the bandwagon. Don't forget to keep your spreadsheets up-to-date so you don't submit duplicates, or todays word will apply to you.

rebarbative

rebarbative - adj - Tending to irritate; repellant.

I ran across this one while browsing through some back issues of The New Criterion. The reference was to Humanities as taught in the modern American university.

http://www.newcriterion.com/

tinnitus

tinnitus - n. - a sensation of noise (as a ringing or roaring) that is caused by a bodily condition (as a disturbance of the auditory nerve or wax in the ear) and typically is of the subjective form which can only be heard by the one affected

Phew! That was a long one. It's interesting that they added on the last part of the definition like tinnitus is some sort of theory or proposed condition that no one can be sure of. If it's so questionable, then why does it have its own definition?

Check out how far up in the ear the auditory nerve is (click to see bigger):

toilet

toilet - n - The act or process of dressing or grooming oneself.

This one has fallen out of favor for obvious reasons. I almost hate to use it.

You'll also see 'toilette' (pronounced twa-let). I'll bet even money that you've both run across the word used in this context, most likely when reading an 18th or 19th century novel. You might even come across it browsing through an art gallery or a book of reproductions. Below we have the fourth in William Hogarth's series Marriage A La Mode; the title of this piece is The Toilette. As you can see, the newly minted Lady Squanderfield enjoys a little company while she gets herself spruced up for the day.

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/largeImage?workNumber=NG116&collectionPublisherSection=work

unimpeachable

unimpeachable - adj - Difficult or impossible to impeach; beyond reproach; beyond doubt; unquestionable.

din

din - v. - to assail with loud continued noise; to impress by insistent repetition

I know there are a ton of words I've never heard before, but this one is so small and so simple that it seems like we'd use it all the time. I intend to din (someone/something) today just so I can say that I did. I voluntarily give up my "din"ginity.

catalepsy

catalepsy - n - A trancelike state with loss of voluntary motion and failure to react to stimuli.

If I can believe Poe, cataleptics were sometimes mistaken for dead, with unfortunate consequences.

Check out his Premature Burial and Fall of the House of Usher.

Speaking of FOTHOU, it has a great opening line:

"DURING the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. "

skinny

skinny - n. - inside information; dope