Out and about

Today, a non-exhaustive list of the most interesting nouns (substantives) that can be created out of the word "out"

• Outbound
• Outbreak
• Outburst
• Outcomes
• Outfit
• Outgoing
• Outlast
• Outlaw
• Outlet
• Outline
• Outlook
• Outpost
• Output
• Outreach
• Outrun
• Outset
• Outshine
• Outside
• Outskirts
• Outspoken - outspokenness
• Outward
• Outwit

And, as an extra-jab of words, two adjectives with "out":

• outspokenness
• outstanding

And nooooow : find the best definition for each of them!
Good luck!

5 May 2010

Words of the day:


to dawdle:
intransitive verb, pejorative, regular.
To walk very slowly.

to dawdle over something
Related article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8662249.stm (a man stops the traffic by pressing repeatedly on the pedestrian crossing button and dawdling on the pellican crossing - to protest against big trucks going through his little town)

to drown
transitive verb, regular.
The action of dying in water

First meaning: to be drown / to drown oneself.
Abstract meaning: I will drown myself in coffee! (My manager, this morning, via SMS)

Europeana - Search results

Europeana - Search results

Europeana - Homepage

Europeana - Homepage

To keep pace with / to give rise to discontent

It's quite hard to keep pace with the increasing demand for our lovely Jabs of the day: if ever a day we skipped to post the expected daily new term, I know we'd risk to give rise to big discontent within our loyal readers.

To keep pace with smthg: to strive to move/progress in line with something else.

To give rise to discontent: to provoke/let negative feelings arise in someone.

hocus pocus

It's the name of a famous French hip-hop band, it's also a strange English word meaning :

trick, shrewdness

Context : someone making clever plans shows "shrewdness" ; he is able to find simple solutions in a spontaneous and clever way, he has some tricks in mind that he can use to solve problems. You can have tricks in various situation such as : cooking, mechanics, computing...

WHIM/TO BE AT THE BECK AND CALL

"I can't stand this life; run here and there, bring me a coffee, buy me cigarettes: I'm basically at the whim of my boss!!"
-"Well, It's normal at work to be at the beck and call of somebody.. But listen, if you could turn over a new leaf, what else would you do, as the whim takes you?"
"Hmm, let me think.. purely on a whim, I think I'd take up a belly dance course!"
"I'd rather see you snowed under work than watching your belly floating. You'd have to find yourself a new sexbuddy."
"oooooh, It was just a whim! I am not serious, mate!"

WHIM : a sudden desire or idea, especially one that can not be explained.
TO BE AT THE BECK AND CALL OF SOMEBODY : to be always available to satisfy somebody's needs and do whatever someone's ask.