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Word of the day

transmundane

[ trans-muhn-deyn, tranz-; trans-muhn-deyn, tranz- ]

adjective

reaching beyond or existing outside the physical or visible world.

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More about transmundane

Transmundane was first recorded in 1770-80. It combines Latin trans- “beyond” and mundane, which finds its roots in the Latin word meaning “world.”

how is transmundane used?

Below me along the lifelines I was aware of many sailors joining in these observations, gazing dumbstruck at it as something transmundane.

William Brinkley, The Last Ship, 1988

… a common labourer and a travelling tinker had propounded and discussed one of the most ancient theories of transmundane dominion and influence on mundane affairs.

George Meredith, The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, 1859
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Word of the day

farouche

[ fa-roosh ]

adjective

French. sullenly unsociable or shy.

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More about farouche

The adjective farouche, accented on the second syllable, shows that it is still an unnaturalized borrowing from French. The Old French adjective faroche, forasche derives from the Late Latin forāsticus “belonging outside or out of doors” (i.e., not fit to be inside), a derivative of the adverb and preposition forās (also forīs) “(to the) outside, abroad.” A similar semantic development can be seen in savage, from Middle French salvage, sauvage, from Medieval Latin salvāticus (Latin silvāticus) “pertaining to the woods.” Farouche entered English in the 18th century.

how is farouche used?

He’s a bit farouche, but I like the way he enthuses about what interests him. It’s not put on.

Richard Aldington, Death of a Hero, 1929

Many of the women in these stories are farouche–they’re outsiders, they’re troubled, they lack polish, they dream too much.

Joy Williams, "Introducion" Fantastic Women: 18 tales of the surreal and the sublime from Tin House, 2011
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Word of the day

benedict

[ ben-i-dikt ]

noun

a newly married man, especially one who has been long a bachelor.

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More about benedict

Benedict is a familiar correction of Benedick (Benedicke), the former confirmed bachelor newly married in Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing (1600). Benedict as a common noun entered English in the 19th century.

how is benedict used?

It had, when I first went to town, just become the fashion for young men of fortune to keep house, and to give their bachelor establishments the importance hitherto reserved for the household of a Benedict.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Devereux, 1829

“Why are you so anxious for all England to be informed that you are a Benedict?” I enquired scornfully.

Alan Dale, A Marriage Below Zero, 1889
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