2012年5月10日 星期四

wan, lignify, ossify, unbowed



He still tells the story about the call he got at 2 a.m. from the woman in Chandler who was upset about changes in her garbage pick up, and the ossified joke concerning two Irish brothers (“The only ethnic group in America you can still joke about”) boozed up at a bar.


Spain Unbowed on Cajas
Despite complaints from Spain's ailing savings banks that reform efforts are moving too swiftly, the Spanish government is standing firm in its push to quickly convert the local institutions into traditional banks.


unbowed

(ŭn-boud') pronunciation
adj.
  1. Not bowed; unbent.
  2. Not subdued; unyielding: "My head is bloody but unbowed" (W.E. Henley).


os·si·fy (ŏs'ə-fī') pronunciation
v., -fied, -fy·ing, -fies. v.intr.
  1. To change into bone; become bony.
  2. To become set in a rigidly conventional pattern: "The central ideas of liberalism have ossified" (Jeffrey Hart).
v.tr.
  1. To convert (a membrane or cartilage, for example) into bone.
  2. To mold into a rigidly conventional pattern.
[Latin os, oss-, bone + -FY.]
ossific os·sif'ic (ŏ-sĭf'ĭk) adj.
lignify (LIG-nuh-fy)

verb tr.: To convert into wood.
verb intr.: To become wood or woody.

Etymology
From Latin lignum (wood). Ultimately from the Indo-European root leg- (to collect), which is also the source of lexicon, legal, dialogue, lecture, logic, legend, logarithm, intelligent, diligent, sacrilege, elect, and loyal. Earliest documented use: 1828.

Usage
"Many leguminous plants offer edible products in addition to their seeds. Many of their immature pods are edible two or three weeks before the fibres lignify to render them inedible." — Lam Peng Sam; Make Your Landscape Edible; The New Straits Times (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia); Dec 2, 2000.


wan


adjective wanner, wannest LITERARY
(of a person's face) paler than usual and tired-looking

wanly

adverb LITERARY


(wŏn) pronunciation
adj., wan·ner, wan·nest.
  1. Unnaturally pale, as from physical or emotional distress.
  2. Suggestive or indicative of weariness, illness, or unhappiness; melancholy: a wan expression.
intr.v., wanned, wan·ning, wans.
To become pale.

[Middle English, pale, gloomy, from Old English wann, gloomy, dark.]
wanly wan'ly adv.
wanness wan'ness n.

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