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Word of the day

solace

[ sol-is ]

noun

something that gives comfort, consolation, or relief.

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More about solace

Solace, both noun and verb, comes from Old French noun solas, solaz and the Old French verb solacier, solasier from the Latin noun sōlācium (also spelled sōlātium) “relief in sorrow or misfortune, comfort,” a derivative of the verb sōlārī “to give comfort, console.” One of the meanings of sōlācium is “compensation, indemnification,” found in the writings of the Imperial Roman jurist Ulpian. This legal sense of sōlātium (spelled solatium) has existed in English since the 19th century. The noun and verb solace entered English around the same time, in the late 13th century.

how is solace used?

Here it shows the attributes that have enabled medicine as a science steadily to push the frontier of knowledge farther into the area once marked unknown, and have kept medicine as an art of human relations a constant solace to men in pain, fear, and sorrow.

Bernard DeVoto, "Doctors Along the Boardwalk," Harper's Magazine, Vol. 195, 1947

The only solace of the day was to make food—the basic things, soups, simple pastas and bread.

Chang-Rae Lee, "Eat, Memory," New York Times, October 10, 2004

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Word of the day

peregrinate

[ per-i-gruh-neyt ]

verb (used without object)

to travel or journey, especially to walk on foot.

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More about peregrinate

The verb peregrinate, “to go on a journey on foot,” comes from Latin peregrīnātus, the past participle of peregrīnārī “to travel abroad,” a derivative of the adjective and noun peregrīnus “alien, foreign; an alien, a foreigner,” formed from the adverb peregrī “away from home, abroad.” In Roman republican and imperial law, a peregrīnus was a free person or a free community that did not have Roman citizenship (the vast majority of the inhabitants of the Empire). Late Latin peregrīnus became pelegrīnus by a common dissimilation (compare the spelling colonel with its pronunciation). Pelegrīnus has its own history, becoming the source of pilgrim. Peregrinate entered English in the late 16th century.

how is peregrinate used?

Regardless of how they get there, they seem to peregrinate in a fog, for which they can hardly be blamed …

Yelena Akhtiorskaya,

I had peregrinated further to the little hamlet of Bürglen, and peeped into the frescoed chapel which commemorates the hero’s natal scene.

Henry James, “At Isella,” The Galaxy, August 1871

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Word of the day

Jedi

[ jed-ahy ]

noun

a person who has an unexplainable power over people or things, or who seems to enjoy unusual luck and positive outcomes, as if able to exert the power of the Force to mystically influence the universe: The defense lawyer was a jedi—two minutes into his closing argument the jury forgot all of the incriminating evidence that had been presented.

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More about Jedi

If you are from a galaxy far, far away, you will know what a Jedi is (a member of an order of warrior monks). The order and word were formed a long, long time ago in another galaxy, but in this one the word dates only to 1973.

how is Jedi used?

In the Senate, the outspoken Paul and McConnell, the methodical Jedi of the upper chamber, would sometimes disagree on tactics.

Peter Hamby, "How Mitch McConnell crushed the tea party," CNN, May 20, 2014

In December 2010, McGuire made a pilgrimage to Black Sheep Bikes in Fort Collins, Colo., to learn at the hands of an acknowledged Jedi of bike frame fabrication, James Bleakley.

Kyle Munson, "These Iowa bicycles lovingly built by hand travel all around the world," Des Moines Register, March 3, 2017

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