Rachel's Daily Diary

 

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Friday
5 January 2001

9 47 pm pst   [ why we have earthquakes ]

 

One of Matthew's roommates is leaving the house for Colorado, so we are going out for drinks at some bar on San Pablo called The Albatross.

albatross     (noun)     date: 1672
    1 : any of a family (Diomedeidae) of large web-footed seabirds that have long slender wings, are excellent gliders, and include the largest seabirds

    2 : something that causes persistent deep concern or anxiety; something that greatly hinders accomplishment : ENCUMBRANCE

I couldn't be bothered to photograph the sunset tonight; it was stunning again. It's odd how quickly we become adapted to paradise. That's why we have earthquakes here in California -- to shake things up and remind us what is real and what is important.

Did you want more new words? I've collected a bunch lately...

bêtise     (noun)     date: 1827
    1 : an act of foolishness or stupidity
    2 : lack of good sense : STUPIDITY

cleave     (verb)

    1 : to split asunder or into two pieces
    2 : to cling or adhere firmly to

sui generis

    : constituting a class alone : unique, peculiar

quorum

    1 : a select group
    2 : the number (as a majority) of officers or members of a body that when duly assembled is legally competent to transact business

cormorant

    1 : any species of Phalacrocorax, a genus of sea birds having a sac under the beak; the shag. Cormorants devour fish voraciously, and have become the emblem of gluttony. They are generally black, and hence are called sea ravens, and coalgeese
    2 : a gluttonous, greedy, or rapacious person

dissemble

    1 : to hide under or put on a false appearance : conceal facts, intentions, or feelings under some pretense
    2 : simulate

wassail

    1 : an expression of good wishes on a festive occasion, especially in drinking to someone
    2 : an occasion on which such good wishes are expressed in drinking; a drinking bout; a carouse
    3 : the liquor used for a wassail; especially, a beverage formerly much used in England at Christmas and other festivals, made of ale (or wine) flavored with spices, sugar, toast, roasted apples, etc.

kibosh

    : something that serves as a check or stop

gloaming

    : twilight; dusk; the fall of the evening

manse

    1 : a large and imposing house
    2 : the residence of a clergyman (especially a Presbyterian clergyman)

quidnunc

    : one who is curious to know everything that passes; one who knows, or pretends to know, all that is going on; a gossip; a busybody

scumble

    1 : to make (as color or a painting) less brilliant by covering with a thin coat of opaque or semiopaque color; to apply (a color) in this manner
    2 : to soften the lines or colors of (a drawing) by rubbing lightly

invious

    : impassable, inaccessible, without paths or roads

argy-bargy

    : a lively discussion : argument, dispute

edacious

    1 : having a huge appetite : ravenous
    2 : excessively eager : insatiable

imbroglio

    : a confused tangle or mess; an intricately woven plot or set of circumstances; an embroilment

gybe

    : to swing a fore-and-aft sail or its boom from one side of the vessel to the other or (intransitive) the action itself

gibe

    : to taunt or jeer someone

jibe

    : to agree, or fit; to correlate or be in alignment with

 

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