Wiktionary:Word of the day/Archive/2016/January

1

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maladroit adj

Not adroit; awkward, clumsy, inept. The pilot episode of the British sitcom Mr. Bean was broadcast on this day in 1990.

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Twelfth Night n

A Christian festival marking the coming of Epiphany and concluding the Twelve Days of Christmas, traditionally falling on the evening of January 5 (i.e., on the eve of Twelfth Day, January 6), but also sometimes defined as falling on the evening of January 6 (i.e., on the evening of Twelfth Day itself).

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myrrhic adj

Of, related to, or derived from myrrh. In Western Christianity, today is Epiphany, which commemorates the visit of the Magi to the Christ child.

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spade v

To turn over soil with a spade to loosen the ground for planting. (videogaming) To collect and statistically analyze data, for the purpose of determining the underlying random number generator structure or numeric formula.

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constraint n

Something that constrains; a restriction. (mathematics) A condition that a solution to an optimization problem must satisfy. Lord Action (John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton), the English historian, politician and writer whose famous statement "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" justifies constraints on government, was born on this day in 1834.

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11

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adder n

(obsolete) A snake. A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling the viper; a viper. (chiefly British) A small venomous serpent of the genus Vipera. The common European adder is the Vipera berus. The puff adders of Africa are species of the genus Bitis. (US, Canada) Any of several small nonvenomous snakes resembling the adder, such as the milk snake. The sea stickleback or adder fish.

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peel v

(transitive) To remove the skin or outer covering of. (transitive) To remove something from the outer or top layer of. (intransitive) To become detached, come away, especially in flakes or strips; to shed skin in such a way. (intransitive) To remove one's clothing. (intransitive) To move, separate (off or away). […]

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14

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scale n

Part of an overlapping arrangement of many small, flat and hard pieces of keratin covering the skin of an animal, particularly a fish or reptile. A small piece of pigmented chitin, many of which coat the wings of a butterfly or moth to give them their color. A flake of skin of an animal afflicted with dermatitis. A pine nut of a pinecone. The flaky material sloughed off heated metal. Scale mail (as opposed to chain mail). Limescale. A scale insect. The thin metallic side plate of the handle of a pocketknife. […]

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hearsay n

Information that was heard by one person about another. (law) Evidence based on the reports of others rather than on personal knowledge, which is normally inadmissible because it was not made under oath. (law) An out-of-court statement offered in court for the truth of the matter asserted, which is normally inadmissible because it is not subject to cross-examination unless the hearsay statement falls under one of a number of exceptions.

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17

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slug n

Any of many terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks, having no (or only a rudimentary) shell. […] (journalism) A title, name or header, a catchline, a short phrase or title to indicate the content of a newspaper or magazine story for editing use. […] (web design) The last part of a clean URL, the displayed resource name, similar to a filename. (obsolete) A hindrance, an obstruction. […]

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slingshot v

To move in a manner resembling a slingshot. (especially) To use the gravity of a moving planet to add momentum to a spacecraft.

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19

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bust v

(slang) To arrest for a crime. (slang) To catch someone in the act of doing something wrong, socially and morally inappropriate, or illegal, especially when being done in a sneaky or secretive state. […] (US, informal) To reduce in rank. […]

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20

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rove v

(intransitive) To roam, or wander about at random, especially over a wide area. (transitive) To roam or wander through. […] To practice robbery on the seas; to voyage about on the seas as a pirate.

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21

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scanno n

A typographical error introduced by optical character recognition (OCR) software, which may mistake a letter or set of letters for a letter or set of letters of similar shape, as *tum for turn, or *Dosition for Position.

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Birds' Wedding n

A custom among the Sorbs (Wends) of Lusatia in Germany, whereby on the evening of 24 January children put empty plates outside, and on the morning of 25 January they find pastries, meringues and candy in the form of birds, which are said to have been left for them by birds celebrating their wedding.

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26

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beyond the black stump prepositional phrase

(Australia, informal, idiomatic) In an extremely isolated place, remote from populated areas; in the middle of nowhere. Typically used to refer to outback areas. Today is Australia Day.

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bathyscaphe n

A self-propelled deep-sea diving submersible for exploring the ocean depths, consisting of a crew cabin similar to a bathysphere suspended below a float filled with a buoyant liquid such as petrol. Auguste Piccard, the inventor of the bathyscaphe, was born on this day in 1884.

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29

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predestination n

(theology) The doctrine that everything has been foreordained by a God, especially that certain people have been elected for salvation, and sometimes also that others are destined for reprobation. Destiny or fate.

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30

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wash-ball n

(archaic) A ball or cake of substance used for bathing or personal cleansing, or to produce a lather for shaving; a ball of soap.

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