Word of the Day
More about écossaise
Écossaise is a form of French écossais, meaning “Scottish.” Both French Écosse and English Scotland come from Late Latin Scotus, a name for Gaelic-speaking people in the British Isles. The origin of Scotus may be connected to Irish Gaelic scoith, “to cut off,” or Scottish Gaelic sgaothrach, “crowd.” Écossaise was first recorded in English in the early 1860s.
EXAMPLE OF ÉCOSSAISE USED IN A SENTENCE
The couples prepared to dance the écossaise by forming two parallel lines.
alley-oop
interjection
used as a shout of encouragement, exhortation, or the like, especially when coordinating efforts to lift a heavy object.
More about alley-oop
Alley-oop comes from French allez-hop, which generally means “off you go” or “go on up.” Allez, “go,” is a form of aller, “to go,” as in the Word of the Day laisser-aller. Hop is an expressive word with a variety of meanings and is also the source of hoopla. Alley-oop was first recorded in English in the late 1910s.
EXAMPLE OF ALLEY-OOP USED IN A SENTENCE
“Alley-oop,” cried the vaudeville performer, and his co-stars struggled to lift the piano he was sitting on.
girasol
noun
a sunflower, having edible, tuberous, underground stems or rootstocks.
More about girasol
Girasol, from Italian girasole, is an abbreviation of girare, meaning “to turn,” and sole, “sun.” While girare is related to English gyrate, sole shares an origin with English solar. Girasol was first recorded in English in the 1580s.
EXAMPLE OF GIRASOL USED IN A SENTENCE
The girasols were uprooted so they could be cooked for lunch.