2009年1月31日 星期六

sitter, model

1. on Page 31:
" ... sitter comes to think he looks like his portrait. Remember Picasso's reply to Gertrude Stein's friends when they told him that ... "


sitter Show phonetics
noun [C]
1 someone who is having their portrait (= picture of their face or body) painted

2 a babysitter
See at babysit.

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model

One that serves as the subject for an artist, especially a person employed to pose for a painter, sculptor, or photographer.

model (PERSON) Show phonetics
noun [C]
a person who wears clothes so that they can be photographed or shown to possible buyers, or a person who is employed to be photographed or painted:
a fashion/nude model
She's going out with a male model.
I worked as an artist's model when I was a student.
See also supermodel.

model Show phonetics
verb [I or T] -ll- or US USUALLY -l-
to wear fashionable clothes, jewellery, etc. in order to advertise them:
Tatjana is modelling a Versace design.
I used to model when I was younger.

sit・ter

━━ n. 着席者; (写真・肖像画の)モデル; 〔話〕 楽な仕事; =baby-sitter; 〔話〕 (サッカーでの)易しいシュート.
sitter-in n.pl. sitters-in) 〔英〕 =baby-sitter; 座り込みに参加する人.
sit


clout, clod, driving force

The Wall Street Journal says there have been more than 70,000 layoffs this week alone, something President Obama called "a continuing disaster for America's working families." He urged passage of his stimulus bill, issued executive orders to increase the clout of unions, and appointed Joe Biden to head a task force on rescuing the middle class.



The New York Times leads locally with the news that nearly $5 billion worth of development projects in the city have been put on hold or cancelled due to the recession. Development projects have been a driving force in New York City's economy, and their loss signifies unemployment for many of the city's thousands of unionized workers.



driving
adjective [before noun]
1 strong and powerful and therefore causing things to happen:
Driving ambition is what most great leaders have in common.
She was always the driving force behind the scheme.

2 driving rain/snow rain/snow that is falling fast and being blown by the wind:
Driving snow brought more problems on the roads last night.

clout

(klout) pronunciation
n.
  1. A blow, especially with the fist.
    1. Baseball. A long powerful hit.
    2. Sports. An archery target.
  2. Informal.
    1. Influence; pull: “Women in dual-earner households are gaining in job status and earnings … giving them more clout at work and at home” (Sue Shellenbarger).
    2. Power; muscle.
  3. Chiefly Midland U.S. A piece of cloth, especially a baby's diaper.
tr.v., clout·ed, clout·ing, clouts.
To hit, especially with the fist.
[Middle English, probably from Old English clūt, cloth patch.]


Ne'er cast a clout till May be out
With most phrases and sayings the meaning is well understood but the origin is uncertain. With this one the main interest is the doubt about the meaning. So, this time, we'll have the origin first.
Origin
'Ne'er cast a clout till May be out' is an English proverb. The earliest citation is this version of the rhyme from Dr. Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732, although it probably existed in word-of-mouth form well before that:
"Leave not off a Clout Till May be out.
Meaning
Let's look first at the 'cast a clout' part. The word 'clout', although archaic, is straightforward. Since at least the early 15th century 'clout' has been used variously to mean 'a blow to the head', 'a clod of earth or (clotted) cream' or 'a fragment of cloth, or clothing'. It is the last of these that is meant in 'cast a clout'. This was spelled variously spelled as clowt, clowte, cloot, clute. Here's an early example, from the Early English Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, circa 1485:
"He had not left an holle clowt, Wherwith to hyde hys body abowte."
So, 'ne'er cast a clout...' simply means 'never discard your [warm winter] clothing...'.
hawthornThe 'till May be out' part is where the doubt lies. On the face of it this means 'until the month of May is ended'.
There is another interpretation. In England, in May, you can't miss the Hawthorn. It is an extremely common tree in the English countryside, especially in hedges. Hawthorns are virtually synonymous with hedges. As many as 200,000 miles of hawthorn hedge were planted in the Parliamentary Enclosure period, between 1750 and 1850. The name 'Haw' derives from 'hage', the Old English for 'hedge'.
The tree gives its beautiful display of flowers in late April/early May. It is known as the May Tree and the blossom itself is called May. Using that allusion, 'till May is out' could mean, 'until the hawthorn is out [in bloom]'.

clod

(klŏd)
n.
  1. A lump or chunk, especially of earth or clay.
  2. Earth or soil.
  3. A dull, stupid person; a dolt.
[Middle English, variant of clot, lump. See clot.]
The Great Clod 大塊(噫氣) - Gary Snyder --待hc討論



prize-winning, award-winning

Justin Timberlake (28): Grammy-winning pop singer;

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prize-winning Show phonetics
adjective [before noun]
having won a prize:
a prize-winning film/novel
a Nobel-prize-winning novelist
Kenzaburo Oe (74): Nobel Prize-winning author.


award-winning adjective [before noun]
having won a prize or prizes for being of high quality or very skilled:
an award-winning author/TV series/design

flat (water), healing waters

By SAM SIFTON Follow the bonefish with your fly rod on Acklins Island, only five hours of flight time from New York, but a whole world away.


Go fishing in the healing waters around Acklins Island.



flat
━━ n. 平面; 平たい部分; 平たい物; (普通pl.) 平地; (川辺の)低地; 浅瀬; 【劇】張り物; かかとの低い靴; 【楽】変音記号 ((♭)); 〔話〕 空気の抜けたタイヤ.

2009年1月30日 星期五

medina, gem, tour de force, luxe, lux

By ERIC LIPT

ON From a seventh-century medina to luxe hotels by the beach, the ancient capital of Tunis is a many-faceted gem.

Motto
Lux in Tenebris Lucet—“The light that shines in the darkness”



"This book is a gem. Bénassy has managed the tour de force of presenting concisely the current debate on monetary policy, and of taking it into the little-explored territory of non-Ricardian models. He writes with his usual crispness and sharpness, and the reader comes out of the book's ten chapters wanting to learn more."



gem


━━ n., vt. (-mm-) 宝石(をちりばめる); 大切な[美しい]もの[人,珠玉,逸品] ((of)).
Gem State (the ~) 米国アイダホ州の俗称.


tour de force


[F.] 力わざ, 離れわざ, 妙技; 力作.

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tour de force noun [S]
an achievement or performance which shows great skill and attracts admiration:
a technical/musical/political tour de force
The painting/book/film is a tour de force.
n., pl. tours de force (tūr').


A feat requiring great virtuosity or strength, often deliberately undertaken for its difficulty: “In an extraordinary structural tour de force the novel maintains a dual focus” (Julian Moynahan).

[French : tour, turn, feat + de, of + force, strength.]


medina

(mĭ-dē') pronunciation
n.n. - 麥地那

The old section of an Arab city in North Africa.

[Arabic madīna, city, from Aramaic mədintā, mədinā, jurisdiction, district, from dān, to judge, administer.]


Wikipedia article "Medina (disambiguation)"


deluxe, de luxe PhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhonetic Hide phonetics
adjective [usually before noun]
luxurious and of very high quality:
a deluxe hotel in Paris



lux PhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhonetic Hide phonetics
noun [C] plural lux SPECIALIZED
a measure of the amount of light produced by something