1word1day | Entries tagged with dutch

iceblink [ahys-blingk]

noun:
a bright reflection of sunlight, esp. in polar regions, on the bottom of a low cloud, caused by ice on a distant expanse of water or land

Examples:

"When other means of reconnaissance are not available, travelers in the polar seas can use water sky and iceblink to get a rough idea of ice conditions at a distance," according to the US Government National Snow and Ice Data Center. (Lauren Cahn, 20 Majestic Photos of the Real-Life North Pole, Reader's Digest, August 2021)

At II pm the fog lifted a little and they saw to the west the reflection of the land ice and of the land projected on the sky in two strata, the 'iceblink,' all white, and the 'land-blink,' a yellowish white; then the fog veil became still thinner, and very elevated land appeared in the distance (Adrien de Gerlache, 'The North-East Coast of Greenland, beyond 77 Degrees N. Lat.', Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, Vol 38, No 12 (1906), pp.721-729)

              These hours of brightness polishing snowfield so she learns
              iceblink binocular as I slowly can adjust burns
              retina to control perceptions until sight discerns
              under and over glare
                     (Collin Sims quoted in Robert Macfarlane, Hen Harrier Poems by Colin Simms review - a remarkable tribute to an endangered bird, The Guardian, August 2015)

(Ice Islands with ice blink, watercolour by Georg Forster, made 1773; click to enlarge)

Origin:

ice + blink, translation of Dutch ijsblink or Danish isblink (Collins Dictionary)

1765–75; ice + blink; compare Dutch ijsblink Dictionary.com)

sallymn

bedizen [bih-dahy-zuhn, -diz-uhn]

verb:
dress up or decorate gaudily

Examples:

Similarly, the indigenous flowers she wore in her hair and the native jewelry she used to bedizen herself with were also reflections of her love for Mexico and her nationalist stance. Kahlo "would take her inspiration from the different cultures within Mexico," Hayek says. (Joobin Bekhrad, London museum exhibition focuses on Frida Kahlo as a style icon, The Washington Post, July 2018)

It's the kind of setting where the high-flying, swanlike necks of glass wine decanters fit right in. Not to mention the absurd flecks of gold leaf that bedizen a carpaccio here, a cocktail there. (Alsion Cook, Review: Potente, Jim Crane's Italian fine-dining restaurant downtown, defies expectations, The Houston Chronicle, December 2017)

The comic touches that bedizen Wodehouse’s prose are one of its chief delights. (Joseph Epstein, Frivolous, Empty, and Perfectly Delightful, Claremont Review of Books, Spring 2018)

Mirrors being very rare, the women bedizen themselves with tinsel, the bizarre effect of which they have no means of appreciating. (W H Davenport Adams, Celebrated Women Travellers of the Nineteenth Century)

Man's Reason is in such deep insolvency to sense, that tho' she guide his highest flight heav'nward, and teach him dignity morals manners and human comfort, she can delicatly and dangerously bedizen the rioting joys that fringe the sad pathways of Hell. (Robert Bridges, he Testament of Beauty )

Origin:

1660s, from be- + dizen 'to dress' (1610s), especially, from late 18c, 'to dress finely, adorn,' originally 'to dress (a distaff) for spinning' (1520s), and evidently the verbal form of the first element in distaff. (Online Etymology Dictionary)

Bedizen doesn't have the flashy history you might expect - its roots lie in the rather quiet art of spinning thread. In times past, the spinning process began with the placement of fibers (such as flax) on an implement called a distaff; the fibers were then drawn out from the distaff and twisted into thread. Bedizen descends from the older, now obsolete, verb disen, which means 'to dress a distaff with flax' and which came to English by way of Middle Dutch. The spelling of disen eventually became dizen, and its meaning expanded to cover the 'dressing up' of things other than distaffs. In the mid-17th century, English speakers began using bedizen with the same meaning. (Merriam-Webster)

manicule

Animalcule [noun]
archaic term for microorganisms, derived from animalculum (little animal) in Latin

Today's word is inspired by the brave new world of 17th-century science. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch draper and self-taught scientist, is credited as the father of microbiology. Leeuwenhoek had an interest in lens making--he wanted to vet the quality of thread, and he made his own microscopes for that purpose, as those of the time were wanting.

Leeuwenhoek examined more than cloth under his microscopes, everything from pond water to his own ejaculate. He is credited as the first to see unicellular organisms, which he called dierken/diertgens/diertjes. In Dutch dier means animal; -ken, -gen, and -je are diminutives. When Henry Oldenburg translated Leeuwenhoek's work into English for the Royal Society, he used the term animalcule. To think of spermatozoa and bacteria as little animals makes sense, as they are mobile.

calzephyr77.livejournal.com

Woonerf - noun

Your city may have a woonerf--except you may know it as a "home zone" or a "complete street" concept. Meaning "living yard" or "residential grounds" in Dutch, woonerfs are a way of playing with or altering urban spaces. They may focus on pedestrians, be car-free, use traffic calming methods or a combination of all three. Woonerfs can encourage community-building or take back public streets from cars. Some woonerfs may be regulated or others, like one in my hometown, a more casual affair to curb car traffic between a community hall and baseball diamond.

sallymn.livejournal.com

caterwaul [kat-er-wawl]

verb:
1 make a harsh cry, make a very loud and unpleasant sound
2 protest or complain noisily
3 utter long wailing cries, as cats in rutting time.
noun:
a shrill, discordant sound, an utter shrieking as of cats

Examples:

But their critics and coaches continue to caterwaul like spoiled Little League brats. (Sally Jenkins, If colleges prioritize football during this pandemic, their true sickness will be revealed, The Washington Post, August 2020)

There are, of course, those who find Dylan's singing something of a caterwaul. Bell is rather kinder about the “voice of a generation” but he can’t deny that decades of touring have taken their toll on Dylan’s untutored pipes. (Christopher Bray, Now I'm in my sixties, this is what I wish I'd known when I was 50 , Financial Times, July 2013)

Jellicle Cats are merry and bright
And pleasant to hear when they caterwaul. (T S Eliot, 'The Song of the Jellicles')

Origin:

'disagreeable howling or screeching,' like that of a cat in heat, late 14c, caterwrawen, perhaps from Low German katerwaulen 'cry like a cat,' or formed in English from cater, from Middle Dutch cater 'tomcat' + Middle English waul 'to yowl,' apparently from Old English wrag, wrah 'angry,' of uncertain origin but somehow imitative. As a noun from 1708. (Online Etymology Dictionary)

IAn angry (or amorous) cat can make a lot of noise. As long ago as the mid-1300s, English speakers were using caterwaul for the act of voicing feline passions. The cater part is, of course, connected to the cat, but scholars disagree about whether it traces to Middle Dutch cāter, meaning 'tomcat,' or if it is really just cat with an '-er' added. The waul is probably imitative in origin; it represents the feline howl itself. English's first caterwaul was a verb focused on feline vocalizations, but by the 1600s it was also being used for noisy people or things. By the 1700s it had become a noun naming any sound as loud and grating as a tomcat's yowl. (Merriam-Webster)

sallymn.livejournal.com

dunderhead [duhn-der-hed]

noun:
a stupid or slow-witted person; blockhead; numbskull.

Examples:

The Neat FM presenter also said that Prince Tsegah is a dunderhead, who does not deserve a minute of his time. (Ola Michael replies The Don, says he does not think with his head, The Guardian, February 2021)

Later, she called the cops on her boyfriend again; this time the dunderhead copped an aggravating attitude with the officers. (Larry Hobbs, CrimeScene, 7.03, The Brunswick News, July 2021)

I never saw such a dunderhead; can't you understand anything at all? (Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court)

I’d like to say that this coat can only be appreciated by someone with a sharpened aesthetic sense - not a dunderhead like you! (Doctor Who, 'The One Doctor' [audio drama] 2001)

Origin:

1620s, from head; the first element is obscure, perhaps from Middle Dutch doner, donder 'to thunder' (compare blunderbuss). Dunder also was a native dialectal variant of thunder. In the same sense were dunder-whelp (1620s); dunderpate (1754); dunderpoll (1801). (Online Etymology Dictionary)

sallymn.livejournal.com

balderdash [bawl-der-dash ]
noun:
1. Senseless, stupid, or exaggerated talk or writing; nonsense.
2. (obsolete) A muddled mixture of liquors.

Examples:

Such unscientific balderdash," added the doctor, flushing suddenly purple, "would have estranged Damon and Pythias." (Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde)

Then there’s Donald Glover, king of all media, who takes on the role of Lando, Han’s old frenemy, and offers a take on the character that suggests so much of his effortless cool is bluster and balderdash. 5 things to know about Solo: A Star Wars Story, Vix, May 2018)

And I think this is just the most unadulterated balderdash, the most mindless drivel. (Are Sci-Fi Movies Getting Too Pretentious?, Wired, Sep 2019)

Origin:

1590s, of obscure origin despite much 19c. conjecture; in early use 'a jumbled mix of liquors' (milk and beer, beer and wine, etc); by 1670s as 'senseless jumble of words.' Perhaps from dash and the first element perhaps cognate with Danish balder 'noise, clatter' (see boulder). But the word may be merely one of the numerous popular formations of no definite elements, so freely made in the Elizabethan period. (Online Etymological Dictionary)

It's a pity that such a fine word should come of unknown stock, but we really don't have a clear idea where it comes from. Some argue its origin lies in the Welsh baldorddus, idle noisy talk or chatter (though that is pronounced very differently), while others point to related words in Dutch, Icelandic and Norwegian, such as the Dutch balderen, to roar or thunder. It appears around the time of Shakespeare with the meaning of froth or frothy liquid, or a jumbled mixture of liquids, such as milk and beer, or beer and wine. Only in the latter part of the seventeenth century did it move towards its modern meaning, through the idea of speech or writing that is a senseless jumble, hence nonsense or trash.

It has also been used as a verb, meaning to make a jumbled mixture of ingredients or, in plain English, to adulterate. Tobias Smollett used it in his Travels through France and Italy in 1766 to refer to French wine: "That which is made by the peasants, both red and white, is generally genuine: but the wine-merchants of Nice brew and balderdash, and even mix it with pigeons' dung and quick-lime." (World Wide Words)

med_cat

Another word from the category, "There's a word for that?!"

All credit is due to the amazing and magnificent Grandiloquent Word of the Day FB page!
~~

Lunting
(LUNT-ing)
Noun:
-The activity of walking about whilst smoking a pipe.

From 1540-50; Dutch "lont" match, fuse; akin to Middle Low German "lunte" match, wick.
The word "lunt" means a match; the flame used to light a fire. It also means smoke or steam, especially smoke from a tobacco pipe.

Used in a sentence:
“If it weren’t for lunting, I’m afraid I’d get little to no exercise at all.”

The Grandiloquent Word of the Day Calendars are now available for pre-orders! https://gwotd-2019-calendars.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

prettygoodword.livejournal.com

Time for one of those four-letter words, if you know what I mean:

lunt (LUNT) - (Scot.) n., a slow-burning match or fuse; smoke esp. from a tobacco pipe. v., to produce or emit smoke.

This dates back to at least the 1540s, and comes from Dutch lont, match/fuse, and is akin to Middle Low German lunte, match/wick, but where it comes from before that I can't find.

See? A four-letter word.

---L.

med_cat

gherkin, n. gher·kin \ˈgər-kən\

1a : a small prickly fruit used for pickling; also : a pickle made from this fruit

b : the slender annual vine (Cucumis anguria) of the gourd family that bears gherkins

2: the immature fruit of the cucumber especially when used for pickling
~~
West Indian gherkin:

First Known Use: 1661

Example

It was salad with cheese and meat that was topped with slivers of gherkins.
—
susan selasky, sacbee.com, "Tiny cornichons are big addition to salads and sauces," 30 May 2017

Etymology

Dutch gurken, plural of gurk cucumber, ultimately from Middle Greek agouros

prettygoodword.livejournal.com

Another theme week over in my main journal: aminals (as the resident preschooler sometimes still calls them). Continuing that --

steenbok (STAIN-bok, incorrectly STEEN-bok) - n., a small grasslands antelope (Raphicerus campestris) of southern and eastern Africa.

Also sometimes called steinbok or steinbuck, first used in English around 1770 or so. In Dutch and German, the name refers to the ibex (mountain goat, the name meaning "stone buck"), but for some reason the Afrikaner settlers applied the name to this small, short-haired, tawny, grasslands critter. It's a danged cute one, too. Ears!

We saw three steenboks, five springboks, and an eland, plus a lazy leopard in a tree.

---L.

prettygoodword.livejournal.com

marlinspike or marlinespike or marlingspike (MAHR-lin-spaik) - n., (Nautical) a pointed metal spike used to manipulate the strands of rope or cable when knotting and splicing.

A marlinspike with a lanyard (thanks, Wikimedia Commons)

Originally, a spike used while marling a cable, that is, wrapping twine (the marline) around a larger ropes to form protective whippings. Also used to separate strands of laid rope when splicing or forming eyes, to loosen tight knots, and as a handle for hauling small ropes (which get attached using a, wait for it, marlinspike hitch).

Thus, also, Marlinspike Hall in the Tintin books (in the English translations, anyway).

First recorded in the 1570s, and like a lot of nautical terminology from that time, it comes from Dutch. Well, the spike part doesn't (from Old Norse spīkr, nail, or other Germanic cognates), but the marling part does: Middle Dutch marlijn, small cord, from marlen, to fasten/secure (a sail), probably a frequentative of Middle Dutch maren, to tie/moor.

The attack came so suddenly that only a few sailors had gotten their cutlasses, and the rest had to make do with belaying pins and marlinspikes.

---L.

theidolhands.livejournal.com

fir·kin [ˈfɜːkɪn]:
origin: [1400's] Middle Dutch; vierde= fourth + kin meaning 1/4 of a unit.

Quality-checking a firkin of butter.

noun
1. You know what sounds better than a barrel of beer? A firkin of beer. Well, if you're a word geek anyway. You may have firkins of various liquids though, and butter, and fish!

2. A specific measurement, John 2:6; clay vase (an Amphora) = measurement for approx. 8 7/8 gallons of liquid; the measurement for a Hebrew bath.

ersatz-read.livejournal.com

I missed last week, so I'll do two words this week.

blickey (blĭk′ē), noun
1. A tin dinner pail.
2. A hands-free container to assist with picking berries.

Both appear to be regional North American terms; not sure how much they're in use generally. I ran across definition #2 in Samuel Thayer's The Forager's Harvest, then found definition #1 online.
A blickey for berries is easily fashioned from a gallon jug with the top cut off, or any similar container; a belt can be passed through the handle of the gallon jug, or holes can be made at the corners of the container, for a couple lengths of twine to tie around one's waist.

Etymology: possibly diminutive of Dutch word blik, a can or tin.

patois (pă-twä′) noun
1. An unwritten regional dialect of a language; rural or provincial speech.
2. The special jargon of a particular group.

Etymology: possibly from old French patoier, to handle awkwardly.

"Stop shifting the crosshairs to my ironic urban patois just because your relationship with your father is to' up from the flo' up." - Rick and Morty, season 2 episode 3 ("Auto Erotic Assimilation")

prettygoodword.livejournal.com

clinquant (KLING-kuhnt) - adj., glittering with or as with tinsel. n., imitation gold leaf, false glitter, tinsel.

As an adjective, there is a connotation of being garishly decked -- showy but false finery. Originally, both in English and French, it meant true golden, as in gold coins clinking (sound word borrowed in both languages from Dutch) -- thus Shakespeare: "To-day the French, / All clinquant, all in gold, like heathen gods, / Shone down the English." Eventually, though, it shifted to the fake gold of tinsel. Regardless, the sound that underlies it has been completely lost -- it's a purely visual quality, something I have to remind myself.

The Governor's audience hall was clinquant with its black and white floor, long mirrors, and a single gilded center-table.

theidolhands.livejournal.com

snol·ly·gos·ter [snŏl′ē-gästə(r)]:
origin: [1900's] Pennsylvania Dutch → High German; snallygaster= mythical creature that attacks poultry and children.

noun
A person more interested in personal gain than the cause or principles they claim to represent -- an amoral person using shrewdness to gain trust; a con man.

Current Mood: accomplished

theidolhands.livejournal.com

cat·kin [ˈkatkən]:
origin: [1570s] Dutch; katteken= "kitten"

noun
Botanical. Have you ever seen a pussy willow branch? Those fluffy, fur-like blossoms are referred to as "catkins"; oblong & cylindric growths occur in many plant families, usually have no visible petals, and contain only one sex on their branch, although not all of them are downy.

Other examples: hazel, oak, birch, mulberry.

won·der·wall [ˈwəndərˈwôl]:
origin: [1968] British; slang, invented, likely from a film directed by Richard Balducci (not a 1995 Oasis song).

adjective
1. Infatuation; someone who preoccupies all your thoughts or is your everything -- based off the song "Wonderwall", by the British band Oasis. However, Noel Matthews, guitarist & songwriter, states that to him the meaning was: "It’s a song about an imaginary friend who’s gonna come and save you from yourself.”

2. According to Urban Dictionary: A barrier that divides reality & the fantastical, ideally with at least one peep hole that allows the viewer to see through to the other side (to your dreams or obsession).

3. There is also a film & soundtrack with the same name, circa: 1968; alas, strangely, this did not spring up initially during research, although it clearly influenced the second definition -- as the plot revolves around a hermit-like scientist (Oscar Collins) obsessed with peeping on a couple next door, as he's become infatuated with & endlessly daydreams about the female who models.

That actually adds a rather creepy notion to the word!

theidolhands.livejournal.com

mist·pouf·fer [mɪst-puːffər]:
origin: Netherlands & Belgium; mist= "fog" + pouffer= "pistol"

noun
"Skyquake"; an unexplained phenomena where thundering, rumbling, sonic sound waves, and canon-fire explosive type sounds that echo loudly in the air for the length of blocks and cities (despite a lack of clouds or storms).

These strange sounds are believed to be organic in origin as they have been reported since ancient civilizations on Earth, although wether it is created by falling meteorites, or earthquakes, gas escaping the Earth, or dramatic changes in temperature is unknown. While skyquakes are particularly prominent near countries surrounded by water, the phenomena happens around the globe, coming to be known by various names -- including "Seneca guns" in New York, and "uminari" = rumbling of the sea in Japan, and "retumbos" = echo via the Spanish language & the Philippines.

Current Music: latin @ the vatican

ersatz-read.livejournal.com

polder (pōl′dər), noun
An area of low-lying land reclaimed from a body of water.

Most common in Netherlands, where many areas of low-lying land are surrounded by dikes keeping the water out.

Etymology: Dutch

trellia-chan.livejournal.com

brabble: [brab-uh l]

verb: To argue stubbornly over petty things

noun: Noisy, quarrelsome chatter.

Origin: 1490-1500, Dutch, brabbelen to quarrel or jabber

"The two children brabbled over who would get to drink out of the blue cup at dinnertime." (Something I did with my cousin when we were little)

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Word of the Day!

Entries tagged with dutch

Sunday Word: Iceblink

Sunday Word: Bedizen

Throwback Thursday: Animalcule

Wednesday Word: Woonerf

Sunday Word: Caterwaul

Sunday Word: Dunderhead

Sunday Word: Balderdash

Friday word: Lunting

Thursday word: lunt

Friday word: Gherkin

Thursday word: steenbok

Thursday word: marlinspike

Sunday Word: Firkin

Monday words: blickey and patois

Thursday word: clinquant

Sunday Word: Snollygoster

Sunday Word: Catkin & Wonderwall

Saturday Word: Mistpouffer

Monday word: polder

Wednesday word: brabble

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