Category: Word of the Day – A

ETYMOLOGY
from French accusant (n. person who accuses), (adj. that accuses)

PRONUNCIATION
uh-KYOO-zuhnt

EXAMPLE
“…The whole Councell beeing afterward called together, they gaue them-selues to the vnderstanding of the matter. As for the crime and the punishment, was of the accusant called vpon in these wordes: The Iudgement of death is due to this man, because hee hath done this or that. But the Defendant repelled it, with these wordes. The Iudgement of death is not due this man, because hee hath not done it, or because hee hath doone it righteously …”

From: A Defence of the Government Established in the Church of Englande
By John Bridges, 1587

ETYMOLOGY
from Anglo-Norman and Middle French acoler, acoller, Middle French accoler (to throw the arms round the neck of, to embrace),
from a (a-) + col (neck)

EXAMPLE
“…Þen acoles he þe knyȝt and kysses hym þryes,
As sauerly and sadly as he hem sette couþe…”

From: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
By Anonymous, c1400

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin ardelio, from ardere (to burn, be eager or zealous)

EXAMPLE
“…we run, ride, take indefatigable pains, all up early, down late, striving to get that which we had better be without, (Ardelion’s busybodies as we are) it were much fitter for us to be quiet, sit still, and take our ease…”

From: The Anatomy of Melancholy
By Robert Burton, 1624

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin arguit- ppl. stem of arguere + -ive, as if from Latin arguitivus (attacking or accusing)

EXAMPLE
“…But, as it is, the only knowledge of God to which the mind of man can naturally attain, is arguitive, being deduced from his cognitions of the creature; and therefore in the enunciation of the Thesis, the direct measure of the human intellect is restricted to finite Being…”

From: The Metaphysics of the School
By Thomas Harper, 1879

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin ante before + ambulat- ppl. stem of ambulare (to walk);
suggested by ante-ambulo (one whose business is to walk in front, an usher)

EXAMPLE
Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead.
Don’t anteambulate me, I may not follow.
Just walk beside me and be my friend.

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin ambifarius two-sided, of double meaning + -ous

EXAMPLE
“…The Bridegroom, with his Bride is brought,
To Bed with various Turn of Thought;
By Ruth, with ambifarious Jest:
To please them both, she thinks it best…”

From: Poems on Various Subjects,
By Thomas Sadler, 1766
The Unfortunate Batchelor, Or Wife’s Resentment

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin aqua (water) + bibere (to drink)

EXAMPLE
“…To call a man a total abstainer would imply that he abstained from everything; to call him a temperance man is absurd, because from time immemorial men have drunk, as they still drink, wine temperately. Aquabib and hydropot may mean one who drinks water, but most men do that. I drink it always to quench thirst, but then I drink also a moderate quantity of wine…”

From: The Medical Times and Gazette,
A Journal of Medical Science, Literature, Criticism, and News
Volume I for 1883
“Temperance Appellations”

ETYMOLOGY
rom Latin aversationem, noun of action from aversat-

EXAMPLE
“…He can bear glory to their fleet, or shut up all their toils In his one suff’rance on thy lance.” With this deceit she led, And, both come near, thus Hector spake: “Thrice have I compassed This great town, Peleus’ son, in flight, with aversation That out of fate put off my steps; but now all flight is flown, The short course set up, death or life. Our resolutions yet Must shun all rudeness, and the Gods before our valour set For use of victory;…”

From: The Whole Works of Homer in his Iliads and Odysses
Translated by George Chapman, 1616

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin appropinquāre (to approach),
from ad (to), and propinquus, from prope (near)

EXAMPLE
“…The knotted bloud within my hose,
That from my wounded body flows,
With mortal Crisis doth portend
My dayes to appropinque an end.
I am for action now unfit,
Either of fortitude or wit…”

From: Hudibras, Written in the Time of the Late Wars
By Samuel Butler, 1663
Canto III. The Argument

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin amnicola (growing beside a river)
(from amnis (river) + -cola (inhabitant, worshipper)) + -ist

EXAMPLE
“…society without seleection, constitutional bumpers, and stale anecdotes, I determined to explore the banks of the Liffey, and to search among the amnicolists for that entertainment which eluded my pursuit in the urbanity of the capital…”

From: Hibernian Magazine
By Robert Jephson, 1782