Definition (Adjective) Of persons or their dispositions: Disposed to joking or jesting; speaking or acting in jest or merriment; mirthful, merry. In Context "Perdue exhibited a light-hearted personality but contemporaries often criticized his jocular behavior on the diamond." John A. Simpson, Hub Perdue: Clown Prince of the Mound, 2014.
Definition (Verb) To alternate or waver between different opinions or courses of action. In Context "Humanitarians continue to vacillate between 'needs-based' and 'rights-based' approaches, still prioritizing interventions deemed to be 'life saving' over those considered nonessential, such as education." Dana Burde, Schools for Conflict or for Peace in Afghanistan, 2014.
Definition (Noun) A professional penman; a scribe, copyist; a clerk, secretary, amanuensis. In Context "Soon after their return that fall, Eli Fly, a law student with neat handwriting, secured a position as a scrivener in a New York law office, a job that involved 'incessant writing from morning to evening.'" Nick Yablon, Untimely Ruins: An Archaeology of American Urban Modernity, 1819-1919, 2009.
Definition (Noun) An armchair. In Context "I must have been dozing in the fauteuil, for suddenly I found myself sitting up, listening to an unwonted noise." Winston Churchill, The Crossing, 1904.
Definition (Adjective) Having white or grey hair, grey-haired. In Context "A very old man now took his place on the stand, whose hoary head and stooping gait proclaimed that time with him would soon cease to be." C. R. Williams, Fall River: An Authentic Narrative, 1834.
Definition (Verb) To swindle (a person); to defraud, cheat (of property, money, etc.). In Context "As con artists and confidence 'men' they can fool, mulct, and even destroy the lives of many, many people." Martin Kantor, The Psychopathy of Everyday Life: How Antisocial Personality Disorder Affects All of Us, 2006.
Definition (Noun) The spirit or genius which marks the thought or feeling of a period or age. In Context "Nevertheless, it is my belief that from time to time specific topics in social psychology just happen to become the target of dramatic surges of interest, and that this happens almost unaccountably as the Zeitgeist, or spirit of the times, dictates – rather like popular music and the fashions of different generations." Steve Duck, Relating to Others, Second Edition, 1999.
Definition (Adjective) Alluring by false show; showily or superficially attractive but having in reality no value or integrity. In Context "I had disembarked too recently yet to distinguish how much of nationality, fundamental realness, and primitive beauty still remained in this conquered race beneath the artificial and meretricious veneer of our importations." Paul Gaugin, Noa Noa, 1919.
Definition (Noun) A place where bees are kept; a bee-house. In Context "This nearly 3,000-year-old apiary contains between 75 and 200 hives, and it is estimated that it could have held more than a million bees, with an annual yield of 1,100 pounds of honey and 155 pounds of beeswax." Daniel Marlos, The Curious World of Bugs: The Bugman's Guide to the Mysterious and Remarkable Lives of Things That Crawl, 2010.
Definition (Verb) To stay or live in the countryside; to live a quiet country life. In Context "The area south of Chapel Hill is still fairly rural and is a popular living area for university people with an itch to rusticate." Sara Pitzer, Off the Beaten Path North Carolina: A Guide to Unique Places, 2012.
