expostulate, audacity, stairwell, well hold

Mrs Sheppard expostulating with her son



Audacity of Jack Sheppard



Jonathan Wild throwing Sir Rowland Trenchard down the well hole



Jonathan Wild throwing Sir Rowland Trenchard down the well hole

well hole

NOUN

• 1An opening through a floor or series of floors, especially one into which a staircase, chimney stack, etc., may be installed, or one which admits light.
• 2A central open space forming the vertical core around which the stairs of a winding or spiral staircase may be set. Also more generally: the whole shaft in which such a staircase is set; a stairwell.
• 3A vertical shaft in a building for a lift or for lifting equipment.
• 4A vertical hole or shaft in the ground; specifically the shaft or borehole of a well.

audacity

ɔːˈdasɪti/

noun

1. 1.

   a willingness to take bold risks.

   
   

   "he whistled at the sheer audacity of the plan"
2. 
   

   "she had the audacity to suggest I'd been carrying on with him"

expostulate

ɪkˈspɒstjʊleɪt,ɛkˈspɒstjʊleɪt/

verb

1. express strong disapproval or disagreement.

   
   

   "he found Fox expostulating with a young man"

expostulate (ik-SPOS-chuh-layt)

verb intr.: To reason earnestly with someone in order to dissuade.

Etymology
From Latin expostulare (to require), from ex- (intensive prefix) + postulare (to demand). Ultimately from the Indo-European root prek- (to ask), which is also the source of words such as pray, precarious, deprecate, postulate, and precatory. Earliest documented use: 1548.

Usage
"'Oh come on,' I expostulated, a shade too loudly. 'That's not fair.'" — Sarabjit Jagirdar; Amar's Little Secret; Hindustan Times (New Delhi, India); Feb 7, 2010.


expostulate
(ĭk-spŏs'chə-lāt') 
intr.v., -lat·ed, -lat·ing, -lates.
To reason earnestly with someone in an effort to dissuade or correct; remonstrate. See synonyms at object.

[Latin expostulāre, expostulāt- : ex-, intensive pref.; see ex- + postulāre, to demand.]

expostulation ex·pos'tu·la'tion n.
expostulator ex·pos'tu·la'tor n.
expostulatory ex·pos'tu·la·to'ry (-lə-tôr'ē, -tōr'ē) or ex·pos'tu·la'tive adj.

postulate

Line breaks: pos¦tu|late

verb

Pronunciation: /ˈpɒstjʊleɪt

/

[with object]

• 1suggest or assume the existence, fact, or truth of (something) as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or belief: his theory postulated a rotatory movement for hurricanes [with clause]: she postulated that the environmentalists might have a case
  

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• 2(in ecclesiastical law) nominate or elect (someone) to an ecclesiastical office subject to the sanction of a higher authority: the chapter was then allowed to postulate the bishop of Bath

noun

Pronunciation: /ˈpɒstjʊlət

/

• formal Back to top  

• 1a thing suggested or assumed as true as the basis for reasoning, discussion, or belief: perhaps the postulate of Babylonian influence on Greek astronomy is incorrect
  

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• 1.1 Mathematics an assumption used as a basis for mathematical reasoning.
  

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Derivatives

postulation

Pronunciation: /pɒstjʊˈleɪʃ(ə)n/

noun

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postulational

adjective

Origin

late Middle English (in sense 2 of the verb): from Latin postulat- 'asked', from the verb postulare.