Protuberant

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Protuberant

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sun Jun 19, 2016 8:05 pm

• protuberant •


Pronunciation: prê-tu-bêr-ênt • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: Swelling or bulging out, protruding.

Notes: Today's Good Word, like fissiparous, is an adjective from a verb that is used less often than the adjective. Protuberant comes from the verb protuberate "to bulge out", which we rarely encounter. The noun from protuberant is protuberance "a bulge, swelling". This noun means the same thing as the noun from the verb, protuberation, also rarely used.

In Play: Protuberant things protrude from the surface around them: "After dinner the other guests were serenaded by a concert of borborygms from Hardy Mehl's protuberant stomach." If something normally protrudes, today's adjective implies a protuberance greater than normal: "His colleagues joked that Breton Wood's protuberant eyebrows provided shade for them when they ate lunch outside on sunny days".

Word History: Today's Good Word comes from protuberan(t)s, the present participle of Latin protuberare "to bulge, stick out", based on pro "forth, forward" + tuber "a swelling". I see you have already figured out for yourself that English also borrowed tuber to refer to a swelling on a root vegetable. But did you know that tubercles are small tubers or nodules that are symptoms of tuberculosis when they appear in the lungs? In English, the tub- root came to refer to the swollen finger, the thumb. In Greek it turned up as tumbos "tomb", which we also borrowed. (Kathleen McCune of Sweden sticks out among our contributors not only because of her name but because of the many excellent Good Words like today's that she sends us.)
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Slava
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Re: Protuberant

Postby Slava » Sun Apr 04, 2021 7:45 am

I've forgotten for the moment just which author it is, but one of those I read frequently loves to describe people as exophthalmic, having protuberant or prominent eyeballs. Like this :shock: :shock: .
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Re: Protuberant

Postby damoge » Sun Apr 04, 2021 11:18 am

Well, of course, "fissiparous" immediately springs to mind as a more common word than "protuberant" to use as clarification and analogy!
I immediately looked to see if the original posting of this was on April 1.


LOL!!!!
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Re: Protuberant

Postby Slava » Sun Apr 04, 2021 11:53 am

Fissiparous was a Word of the Day once upon a time: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8328
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Re: Protuberant

Postby Philip Hudson » Tue Apr 06, 2021 5:35 pm

I had a childhood friend nicknamed Bugs. It stuck so firmly that I don't remember real first name. His eyes were normal. I have known only one person with exophthalmic or protuberant eyes. She was a woman work associate and we didn't call her Bugs. The problem does lend itself to surgical correction. She was British and I would hope she could get corrective surgery. Living with a highly visible physical "defect" may be difficult. My only physical defect was that I was the original 98 pound weakling exhibited in the Charles Atlas body building ad back in the day. In my dotage I am a 210 pound weakling. A good dose of kindness on everyone's part is in order.
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Re: Protuberant

Postby Slava » Tue Apr 06, 2021 5:44 pm

Protuberant could be reworked as an April Fool's word, too. Doesn't it really mean "in favor of potatoes and such root vegetables"?
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Re: Protuberant

Postby damoge » Tue Apr 06, 2021 9:22 pm

I was sick for a while when in my 20s. A friend came to visit. He gasped when he saw me. He said my eyes were bulging out.
The next time my doctor came to see me, I asked him if I were exophthalmic.
"I don't know. I never saw you before you were sick."
Very helpful, no?
At any rate, I assumed it meant it couldn't be outrageously obvious. Didn't matter any to me. Couldn't see me.
Some things just not worth worrying about.
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Re: Protuberant

Postby Philip Hudson » Thu Apr 15, 2021 2:31 am

Very recently I tripped on the threshold of my workshop and fell headlong on my face -- to a concrete floor. My left eye is the opposite of protuberant, it being surrounded with swollen and blackened flesh. I discussed this on Facebook and got 56 comments. Some were even kind and sympathetic.
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Re: Protuberant

Postby damoge » Thu Apr 15, 2021 10:08 am

Philip, and how could they not be??
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Re: Protuberant

Postby Philip Hudson » Thu Apr 15, 2021 1:26 pm

damoge: I try to project a sense of modesty and humility. It usually doesn't work.
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Re: Protuberant

Postby David Myer » Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:42 am

Philip, I have just translated your claimed weights into kilograms so that it means something to me. 98 pounds is seriously small. And 210 is seriously large unless you have a large frame to carry it. If you do then 98 is seriously seriously small. I have always enjoyed languages where, for emphasis, the adjective is duplicated. Much better than adding a 'very' - which presumably means truly as in veritably. I will check the Agora.

I suspect you are enjoying yourself too much for your own good. But good luck to you anyway, even if your modesty and humility have coloured the numbers.

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Re: Protuberant

Postby Philip Hudson » Fri Apr 16, 2021 3:22 am

David, I was writing in humor. I guess I am mega-old. The 98 pound weakling was a part of an advertisement for a body builder. See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Atlas
I have never weighed 98 pounds as an adult. I am or was 6' 2". I have shrunk some in my dotage. My weight has been up to 230 pounds which is approaching portly. That was when I was employed as a systems engineer and working too hard for anyone's good. My present weight is 200 pounds. My doctors say it is a good weight for a person my age. I am ancient.
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