Lost! - Definitions

Voluptuary

ken@rustbelt.com (Keng) — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 15:14:14 -0700

Another tasty word! Hmmm....yum!

voluptuary \vuh-LUHP-choo-er-ee\, noun:
A person devoted to luxury and the gratification of sensual appetites; a sensualist.

adjective: Voluptuous; luxurious.

Colette used to begin her day's writing by first picking fleas from her cat, and it's not hard to imagine how the methodical stroking and probing into fur might have focused such a voluptuary's mind.
--Diane Ackerman, "O Muse! You Do Make Things Difficult!"
New York Times, November 12, 1989

Though depicted as a decadent voluptuary, she remained celibate for more than half of her adult life.
--Michiko Kakutani, "Cleopatra Behind Her Magic Mirror,"
New York Times, June 5, 1990

Voluptuary derives from Latin voluptarius, "devoted to pleasure," from voluptas, "pleasure."

Word of the Day

Gaucherie

ken@rustbelt.com (Keng) — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 09:20:26 -0700

Tasty word...like obstreperous, I wonder how I can sneak this one into everyday conversation...

gaucherie \goh-shuh-REE\, noun:
1. A socially awkward or tactless act.
2. Lack of tact; boorishness; awkwardness.

If you find yourself sitting next to an obviously
prosperous guest at a dinner party and your host introduces
him (it will be a him) as a "successful barrister", you
will be guilty of a gaucherie of the crassest kind if you
exclaim: "How fascinating! If I promise not to call you
Rumpole, will you tell me about your goriest murder
trials?"
--Nick Cohen, "Don't leave justice to the judges," [1]New
Statesman, December 13, 1999

Here we see the insecure, unattractive woman who at long
last has found someone even more insecure and unattractive
than herself, calling attention to her companion's
gaucherie in order to feel, for once in her life, like the
belle of the ball.
--Florence King, "Out and About," [2]National Review,
November 9, 1998
_______________________________________________________

Gaucherie comes from the French, from gauche, "lefthanded;
awkward," from Old French, from gauchir, "to turn aside, to
swerve, to walk clumsily."

Synonyms: blunder, faux pas, gaffe. [3]Find more at
Thesaurus.com.

From Word of the Way.

Diaphanous

ken@rustbelt.com (Keng) — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 08:28:30 -0700

From White Teeth by Zadie Smith.

Dictionary
diaphanous |d??af?n?s| adjective (esp. of fabric) light, delicate, and translucent : a diaphanous dress of pale gold. ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from medieval Latin diaphanus, from Greek diaphan?s, from dia through + phainein to show.

Thesaurus
diaphanous adjective: a diaphanous dress sheer, fine, delicate, light, thin, insubstantial, floaty, flimsy, filmy, silken, chiffony, gossamer, gossamer-thin, gauzy; translucent, transparent, see-through.

antonym: thick, opaque.

Billet-doux

ken@rustbelt.com (Keng) — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 01:06:20 -0700

billet-doux \bil-ay-DOO\, noun;
plural billets-doux \bil-ay-DOO(Z)\:
A love letter or note.

Perhaps she just looked first into the bouquet, to see
whether there was a billet-doux hidden among the flowers;
but there was no letter.
--William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair

Young lovers in Victorian England, forbidden to express
their affection in public and fearful that strict parents
would intercept their billets-doux, sent coded messages
through the personal columns in newspapers.
--Susan Adams, "I've got a secret,"[1]Forbes, September 20,
1999

From Word of the Day.