longueur /lɒ̃(ŋ)ˈɡəː/ noun plural noun: longueurs a tedious passage in a book, piece of music, etc. "its brilliant comedy passages do not cancel out the occasional longueurs" a tedious period of time. "frustrated by the longueurs, many rail-users take to the roads instead"
That reminds me of the word satyriasis--excessive sexual desire. It's from Greek Satyrs who were all horn dogs.
^^ You got me riffing off of that now: Shiver me timbers The phrase is based on real nautical slang and is a reference to the timbers, which are the wooden support frames of a sailing ship. In heavy seas, ships would be lifted up and pounded down so hard as to "shiver" the timbers, startling the sailors. Stove As in the great white whale stove in the entire side of the ship. It means to break, or bust, or smash something in. It's generally followed by the word in.
I guess I'll share one of my little word explorations here, one that resulted in learning a few things. I sometimes wonder why it seems like there are multiple meanings for the same word, and if maybe in some sense they're not really as different as they seem. The word for today is Medium The various meanings I came up with, which seemed irreconcilable at first: The clothing or drink size the mass media (plural of medium) A spiritual medium a painting medium, that you blend with your paint to help it stick to the canvas better I like to try to solve these little puzzles without checking first, it exercises the mind and helps you figure out how language works. And after struggling with it for a while I realized what they all share in common: They're all something that goes between 2 other things and provides a flow-though or a connection between them The size medium goes between large and small The mass media goes between advertisers and the public and allows commercials to flow one way and revenue the other A spiritual medium straddles between the worlds of the living and the dead and passes messages between A painting medium goes in between the paint and the canvas and helps them adhere to each other better Another use is a slightly different form of the word, to mediate in an argument or conversation. Of course it means to serve as a go-between. And it just now occurred to me, the word Middle is probably a variant of it. Here's another one: Draw Seemingly different meanings: To make a picture with a pencil or pen To unholster a pistol or a sword To 'draw a bath' To 'draw the curtains' To 'draw someone out', or to draw out a conclusion too long To draw breath or sustenance And finally, why do we keep our socks in a drawer? And what is a drawing room? I eventually realized they all mean to pull. You pull a pencil or a pen across a piece of paper, you pull a gun or a sword out, you pull the curtains, you pull out a drawer, and you pull up water from the well for a bath (or from the pipes). I'm not quite sure what a drawing room is, possibly a room with a lot of curtains? I ought to look that one up. Here's what I found for Drawing Room: The name is derived from the 16th-century terms withdrawing room and withdrawing chamber, which remained in use through the 17th century, and made their first written appearance in 1642 And of course to withdraw must mean to pull away, as from society or company. I wish I had written these down or could remember more. I did a lot of them but have forgotten most.
Concomitant FORMAL adjective naturally accompanying or associated. "she loved travel, with all its concomitant worries"
Cacklefest: a drag racing event featuring restored racing cars from the '50s, '60s, and '70s, mainly front-engine dragsters and altereds.
An eider wind feathered Paul's cheeks, ruffled the folds of his burnoose. When I searched 'eider' all that turned up was a species of sea-duck, which I'm fairly certain isn't being referenced here. If someone would post a definition I'd appreciate it.
I've heard it in relation to Eider down—the down from the young ducklings. Very light and fluffy! It must be what's insulating his clothes. Wait... an eider wind doesn't make sense though...
I found one discussion referencing wind as soft as eiderdown. Short of that, all I can think is wind from Eider (Germany)
That seems like a really odd reference, so I hope not. While looking up 'eider' I found the following on https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eider History and etymology for eider: Dutch, German, or Swedish, from Icelandic æthur, from Old Norse æthr And then this popped up when I searched for aether: personification of the sky or upper air breathed by the Olympians Could that be the connection?
I think that’s the obvious meaning, especially considering the reference to Paul’s cheeks being feathered (is this from Dune? I think I’ve read this sentence before). It’s a light, feathery wind.
moiety /ˈmɔɪɪti/ noun FORMAL•TECHNICAL each of two parts into which a thing is or can be divided. "the tax was to be delivered in two moieties"
gravamen /ɡrəˈveɪmɛn/ noun LAW the essence or most serious part of a complaint or accusation. "a constitutional violation may comprise the gravamen of a plaintiff's complaint" a grievance.
Fixity noun the state of being unchanging or permanent. "the fixity of his stare" Muzzy adjective unable to think clearly; confused. "she was shivering and her head felt muzzy from sleep"
esculent /ˈɛskjʊlənt/ FORMAL adjective fit to be eaten; edible. noun a thing, especially a vegetable, which is fit to be eaten.
