• sacrilegious • Pronunciation: sæ-krê- li -jês Part of Speech: Adjective Meaning: Profaning or desecrating that which is held to be sacred. Notes: This word is especially good at trapping even the best of spellers. Despite the obvious semantic relation, today's Word History shows that this word is...

• heuristic • Pronunciation: hyur- is -tik Part of Speech: Adjective, Noun Meaning: 1. Serving as a speculative formulation (educated guess) that is a temporary stop-gap for a missing piece of evidence in a scientific proof of a larger problem. 2. Having the characteristics of a hands-on educationa...

I can't get the Poll function to work for me. I think it must be my home setup. I'll get instructions and try it on the office computer tomorrow.

It is true that we have created more shops in this Agora than one person can keep up with. However, I've dropped by at last and, among the various meandering threads, have spotted at least one that has a sympathetic string in our e-mails: some people don't like the Century Gothic or Arial fonts that...

I can actually make the connection but I have to stretch so far I fear I might not snap back. Certainly meanings have traveled farther than this over a shorter span.

• feist • Pronunciation: fayst Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: A small, scrappy dog with a snippy attitude. Notes: Feisty people are often admired for their feistiness: they are a bit touchy and quarrelsome, with a quick temper but show pluck in the face of daunting odds. Often they are considered of...

• consort • Pronunciation: kahn -sort Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: 1. A husband or wife, a spouse; used in conjunction with some titles, such as Queen Consort, the wife of a king, King Consort, the husband of a queen. Prince Albert, the consort of Queen Victoria, was known as the Prince Consort. 2...

Alpha Dictionary now has an RSS feed for both the Agora and the Good Words. You may have a link or an active feed on your webpage or calendars like Apple iCal or Mozilla Sunbird. If you have a blog, it would be an interesting feature to add. We are preparing to launch a blog. Anyone interested in h...

In English, the metaphoric sense of blue-eyed is "favored, preferred"--He's the teacher's blue-eyd boy, implies he is her pet. Although pejorative (used sarcastically), the thrust is quite different from the Swedish correlate.

• flagitious • Pronunciation: flê- ji -shês Part of Speech : Adjective Meaning: 1. Brutal, vicious, atrocious, inclined toward heinous crimes. 2. Nasty, mean, irresponsibly wicked. Notes: Remember, {g} tends to be pronounces soft before front vowels (vowels pronounced in the front of the mouth), {i...

• leprechaun • Pronunciation: le -prê-kahn Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: A mythical Irish elfin, one of the mischievous Little People of Irish folklore with secrets to hidden treasure they share with those who catch them. Notes: TThere are several spelling traps in this word, beginning with the sec...

• blarney • Pronunciation: blah(r)- nee • Hear it! Part of Speech: Mass noun Meaning: 1. The ability to cajole, to flatter eloquently, with a silver tongue. 2. Nonsense, poppy-cock. Notes: Today's word is a lexical orphan, albeit an unusual one. It is unusual for a noun to refer to an activity; act...

• lease • Pronunciation: lees Part of Speech: Noun, Transitive verb Meaning: 1. [Noun] A contract for the use of property for a specified period of time in exchange for a specified amount of money. 2. [Verb] To allow someone the use of a property under a lease agreement (as in 1.) 3. To gain the us...

• blue-sky • Pronunciation: blu-skai Part of Speech: Adjective, Transitive verb Meaning: 1. [Adjective] Unrealistically optimistic, pie-in-the-sky, as blue-sky estimates of profits. 2. [Adjective] Worthless, of no value, unprofitable, as blue-sky property or stock. 3. [Verb] To subject a stock to t...

As you can see from my last post, I'm keeping a closer eye on the suggestions from this Agora than I did at YDC. We have more people helping out, now, so I have more time to do that. Flam, you happened to pick a long-time favorite of mine. I actually did it years ago at YDC but was never satisfied w...