Definition (Adjective) Of little value; paltry, petty, trifling; unimportant, trivial; mean; contemptible. In Context "Although Wardall recovered well over $4,000,000 in his campaign for restitution, the sum was a picayune contribution to the company's solvency." Charles Keats, Magnificent Masquerade: The Strange Case of Dr. Coster and Mr. Musica, 1964. This word was suggested by Jeff Bergman in the Office of Human Resources.
Definition (Adjective) Of or relating to the open sea, as distinguished from the shallow water near the coast; dwelling on or near the surface of the open sea or ocean; oceanic. In Context "The tiny red pelagic crabs came ashore with the high tide this week, scampering across the sands, bobbing in the shallow waters and adding a splash of color to the beachfront." Hannah Fry, "Thousands of Fiery Red Crabs Wash Ashore in Newport Beach," Los Angeles Times, January 22, 2015.
On a sunny afternoon in June, in the gracious setting of Maclean House, Princeton Writes honored the contestants in its inaugural staff essay contest, which attracted submissions from across our campus. While four employees, Marianna Bogucki, Ruth McGuire, Jamie Saxon, and Dana Sheridan, received special recognition, program director John S. Weeren paid tribute to all who exercised their creativity, thanking them for embracing the "challenge that every word presents – to be as true as possible to what we see and hear and touch and taste and smell and feel; to capture, in this case, the character of our remarkable University." [...]
Definition (Verb) To win the attention or interest of (any one) by wiling means; to charm, divert, amuse; to wile (one) on, or into any course. In Context "Even though Washington and Beijing want Mr. Hu's visit to be 'successful,' no positive words can disguise the fact that China is unlikely ever to beguile the U.S. quite as she did from the 1970s through to the '90s." Arthur Waldron, "Guess Hu's Coming to the White House," The Jerusalem Post, May 2, 2002.
Ammon Shea on Books Reading any dictionary from cover to cover, let alone the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary, is not for the faint of heart, but, as Ammon Shea attests in Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages, the feat can be accomplished, and not without delight. In addition to sharing some of his discoveries – from abluvion to zyxt – he reflects on his experience and the love of words and books that underpins it. Here is an excerpt: "One of the questions I hear most often regarding my plan to read the OED from cover to cover [...]
Definition (Noun) A confused group; a medley, mixture, hotchpotch. In Context "Between these two dates an obscure man of letters, Edouard Drumont, had published La France Juive (1886), a farrago of nonsense that purported to demonstrate the Jewish hold on France and its destructive effects." Eugen Weber, France: Fin de Siècle, 1986.
Critical Assessment "This novel is a searing and exalted record of a Negro's journey through contemporary America in search of success, companionship, and, finally, himself; like all our fictions devoted to the idea of experience, it moves from province to city, from naive faith to disenchantment; and despite its structural incoherence and occasional pretentiousness of manner, it is one of the few remarkable first novels we have had in some years. . . . "For Ellison has an abundance of that primary talent without which neither craft nor intelligence can save a novelist; he is richly, wildly inventive; his scenes rise [...]
Definition (Noun) Amazement and terror such as to prostrate one's faculties; dismay. In Context "Four days out of Macassar we first saw the volcano, with its distinctive tufts of white steam, a sight which brought both excitement and consternation." Nicholas Drayson, Confessing a Murder, 2002.
