Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Knowing that many of you use this forum for its, ahem, 'educational' value I thought I might share the word of the day from the Oxford Dictionary of English, which is circulated by the O.U.P.

This one's from yesterday (our nautical friends in the West might already know it, though):

pelorus

• noun (pl. peloruses) a sighting device on a ship for taking the relative bearings of a distant object.
— origin mid 19th cent.: perhaps from Pelorus, said to be the name of Hannibal's pilot.

Here's today's new word :

malversation

• noun [mass noun] formal corrupt behaviour in a position of trust, especially in public office: a charge of malversation.
— origin mid 16th cent.: from French, from malverser, from Latin male ‘badly’ + versari ‘behave’.

Fantastic, must we use these in everyday conversation today?

Great Plum wrote:Fantastic, must we use these in everyday conversation today?

Well, if you can manage it...

Malversation would be easily dropped into a discussion about politics.

I suppose pelorus could be used metaphorically, though, as in 'the school cat has its pelorus set on the mouse which lives in the bird sanctuary........'

Richard Ruck wrote: (our nautical friends in the West might already know it, though):

pelorus

• noun (pl. peloruses) a sighting device on a ship for taking the relative bearings of a distant object.
— origin mid 19th cent.: perhaps from Pelorus, said to be the name of Hannibal's pilot.

Just out of interest I have sitting in front of me a "baculus" or "arbalista" dated 1707.

A nautical instrument for measuring distances between two stars or the angular elevation of a star or the sun above the horizon (known as shooting the sun due to the instument's similarity to a crossbow.)

I wonder from the description of a peloruse if they are a similar instrument.

[This should keep the salty dogs from the west country going for a while.]

Richard Ruck wrote:Knowing that many of you use this forum for its, ahem, 'educational' value I thought I might share the word of the day from the Oxford Dictionary of English, which is circulated by the O.U.P.

This one's from yesterday (our nautical friends in the West might already know it, though):

pelorus

• noun (pl. peloruses) a sighting device on a ship for taking the relative bearings of a distant object.
— origin mid 19th cent.: perhaps from Pelorus, said to be the name of Hannibal's pilot.

Absolutely correct Richard. I believe he was a personal friend of Pontius - His aircraft having an exterior toilet !

Thwow him to the floor, centuwion!

The only word I ever knew on 'Call My Bluff' was

Veliger

the larva of a snail.

Here's today's :

intendment

• noun [mass noun] Law the sense in which the law understands or interprets something, such as the true intention of an Act.

— origin late Middle English (denoting an intended meaning): from Old French entendement, from entendre ‘intend’.

A word for tomorrow.

Effervesce.

Give off bubbles of gas and make a very loud noise made by souble tablets in a glass of water when you have a hangover.

See also

whisper

englishangel wrote:A word for tomorrow.

Effervesce.

Give off bubbles of gas and make a very loud noise made by souble tablets in a glass of water when you have a hangover.

See also

whisper

souble tablets, Mary ?

Looks like you'll be sampling them yourself today !

Missed this one yesterday.....

daimyo

• noun (pl. daimyos) historical (in feudal Japan) one of the great lords who were vassals of the shogun.
— origin Japanese, from dai ‘great’ + myo ‘name’.

Today's word :

Tupamaro

• noun (pl. Tupamaros) a member of a Marxist urban guerrilla organization in Uruguay that was active mainly in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
— origin 1960s: from Tupac Amarú, the name of an 18th-cent. Inca leader.

englishangel wrote:A word for tomorrow.

Effervesce.

Give off bubbles of gas and make a very loud noise made by souble tablets in a glass of water when you have a hangover.

See also

whisper

Hope you had a good one!

I finally crawled into bed at 05.30. A few restorative lunchtime pints helped to ensure that the festivities continued yesterday.....

Richard Ruck wrote:Today's word :

Tupamaro

• noun (pl. Tupamaros) a member of a Marxist urban guerrilla organization in Uruguay that was active mainly in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
— origin 1960s: from Tupac Amarú, the name of an 18th-cent. Inca leader.

Showing my age, I remember this one.

Yes, thank you I had a good one, not too much booze, no hangover.