#510 flotsam

flotsam- wreckage from a ship found floating, as opposed to jetsam which has been thrown out

C16 from Anglo-French floteson, from floter to float

And I’d argue that his ability to nose out a story and piece it together from all the flotsam and jetsam is just what we’ve been missing in national journalism.

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#509 flora

flora- all the plant life of a given place or time; a descriptive list of such plants, often including a key for identification

C18 from New Latin, from Latin Flora goddess of flowers, from flos flower

The flora is distinct from that on adjacent uplands.

fauna- all the animal life

from Late Latin Fauna, a goddess, sister of Faunus

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#508 flippant

flippant- marked by inappropriate levity; frivolous or offhand; impertinent; saucy

C17 from flip

flippancy, flippantly

There are levels to him that rise and fall as his emotions do, yet underneath the flippant is a deep guy with a good heart.

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#507 flimflam

flimflam- nonsense; rubbish; foolishness; a deception; trick; swindle

-C16 Scandinavian origin; compare Old Norse flim mockery; Norwegian flire to giggle

But plenty rely on our collective naiveté, distraction, shortsightedness and high stress levels when pushing their flimflam.

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#506 flibbertigibbet

flibbertigibbet- an irresponsible, silly, or gossipy person

C15 of uncertain origin

Shakespeare apparently saw a devilish aspect to a gossipy chatterer; he used "flibbertigibbet".

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#505 flaunt

flaunt- to display (possessions, oneself) ostentatiously; show off; to wave or cause to wave freely; flutter

- C16 Scandinavian, Norwegian flanta to wander about

To flaunt is to make an ostentatious or defiant display: She flaunted her beauty.

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#504 flatter

flatter- to praise insincerely, especially in order to win favour or reward; to show to advantage; to make to appear more attractive than in reality; to play upon or gratify the vanity of a person

C13 Old French flater to lick, fawn upon

This success flattered himself to believe he was a champion.

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#503 flamboyant

flamboyant- elaborate or extravagant; florid; showy; rich or brilliant in colour; resplendent

C19 from French: flaming, from flamboyer to flame

But there are many reasons I don't bother with regular book reviews, even as I indulge in flamboyant movie coverage.

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#502 flair

flair- natural ability; talent; aptitude; instinctive discernment; perceptiveness; stylishness or elegance

C19 from French, literally: sense of smell from Old French: scent, from Latin fragrare to smell sweet

Investigative flair is seen as a sign of eccentricity.

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#501 flagon

flagon- a large bottle of wine, cider...; a vessel having a handle, spout, and narrow neck

C15 from Old French flascon, from Late Latin flasco, probably of Germanic origin- flask

That was when the youth appeared, with a flagon of wine and three cups.

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#500 flagellate

flagellate- to whip; scourge; flog

C16 from Latin flagellare to whip,

flagellant

Conservatives gleefully seized upon this to once again flagellate academia for its liberal bias.

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#499 firmament

firmament- the expanse of the sky; heavens

C13 from Late Latin firmamentum sky (considered as fixed upon the earth), from Latin: prop, support, from firmare to make firm

It's interesting that the medieval concept of the sky as static and fixed is seen with the etymology of firmament.

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#498 finesse

finesse- elegant skill in style or performance; subtlety and tact in handling difficult situations...

C15 from Old French, from fin fine, delicate

The Kirov singers are often ragged but what they lack in finesse or sheer lyrical beauty they more than make up for with gusto.

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#497 filibuster

filibuster- the process or an instance of obstructing legislation by means of long speeches and other delaying tactics

C16 from Spanish filibustero, from French flibustier, probably from Dutch vrijbuiter pirate, literally: one plundering freely

Some have long argued that the legislative filibuster should go because of its role in obstructing progressive legislation.

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#496 filch

filch- verb- to steal or take surreptitiously in small amounts; pilfer

C16 filchen to steal, attack, perhaps from Old English gefylce band of men

filcher- noun

The clergy converted the simple teachings of Jesus into an engine for enslaving mankind ... to filch wealth and power to themselves.

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#495 fiesta

fiesta- a religious festival or celebration, especially on a saint's day; a holiday or carnival

- Spanish, from Latin festa, plural of festum festival

When it came to leaving, I noticed that a core group of people stayed behind to chat and a certain fiesta-air replaced the neutrally attentive atmosphere of the session.

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#494 fidelity

fidelity- devotion to duties, obligation, faithfulness; loyalty or devotion, as to a person or cause; faithfulness;

C15 from Latin fidelitas from fidelis faithful, from fides faith, loyalty

His fidelity to the company and his camaraderie among his colleagues earned him praise at retirement.

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#493 fickle

fickle- changeable in purpose, affections; capricious

Old English ficol deceitful; related to fician to wheedle, befician to deceive

How many people does that happen to in the so-called fickle word of fashion.

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#492 fey

fey- interested in or believing in the supernatura; whimsical; attuned to the supernatural; clairvoyant; visionary; chiefly Scottish- fated to die; doomed; in a state of high spirits to presage death

Old English faege marked out for death; related to Old Norse feigr doomed, Old High German feigi

Having just listened to the wonderful music, I was off in fey realms of beauty and magic.

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#491 feudalism

feudalism- the legal and social system that evolved in W. Europe in the 8th and 9th centuries, in which vassals were protected and maintained by their lords, usually through the granting of fiefs, and were required to serve under them in war

C17 from Medieval Latin feodum, of Germanic origin, fee

America has no roots in feudalism, no notion of inherited orders of society, no instinct for deference or regard for nobility.

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#490 fettle

fettle- to remove irregularities from a cast component; to put a finishing touch to; state of health, spirits, as in in fine fettle

C14 fetled girded up, from Old English fetel belt

I foolishly left the information brochures at home and had to fettle up something rough-and-ready on my iPad.

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#489 festoon

festoon- a decorative chain of flowers, ribbons, etc., suspended in loops; garland; a carved or painted representation of this

C17 from French feston, from Italian festone ornament for a feast, from festa feast

Transforming Park Avenue into a fanciful garden, Will Ryman's 38 sculptures of rose blossoms towering as high as 25 feet, complimented by 20 individual scattered rose petals, will festoon Park Avenue Mall between 57th and 67th Streets in the artist's inaugural public art exhibition.

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#488 fervent

fervent- intensely passionate; ardent: a fervent desire to change society

Archaic or poetic- boiling, burning, or glowing: fervent heat

C14 from Latin fervere to boil, glow

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#487 ferly

ferly- wonderful; strange; marvellous; fearful; terrible

Old English faerlic sudden

Fra 'witches and warlocks," I solemnly intoned, "fra 'wurricoos and evil speerits, and fra' a 'ferly things that wheep and gang bump in the nicht, Guid Lord deliver us!

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#486 felicity

felicity- happiness, joy; a cause of happiness; an appropriate expression or style

C17 from Latin felicitas happiness, from felix happy

felicitous- well chosen, apt, possessing an agreeable style

Its (writing) force, its felicity is in its reach toward the ineffable (too sacred to be uttered). ~Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize acceptance speech

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#485 fecundity

fecundity- fertility; fruitfulness; intellectual fruitfulness; creativity

fecundate- verb- to make fruitful; to fertilize; impregnate

C17 from Latin fecundare to fertilize

The driving force behind all this fecundity is a terrible pressure I also must consider, the pressure of birth and growth, the pressure that squeezes out the egg and bursts the pupa, that hungers and lusts and drives the creature relentlessly toward its own death.

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#484 feckless

feckless- feeble; weak; ineffectual; irresponsible

C16 from obsolete feck value, effect + less

He can't seem to sort out his life and family problems, and overindulges in feckless drink and drug binges.

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#483 faux pas

faux pas- a social blunder or indiscretion

C17 from French false step

This faux pas might be likened to the Queen of England's saying in an address before Welsh miners, "As we here in England well know.

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#482 Faust

Faust- German legend: a magician and alchemist who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge and power

Faustian- adj.

Goethe (1790) accomplished the transformation of Faust from a common necromancer and conjurer into a personification of humanity, tempted and disquieted, but at length groping its way to the light.

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#481 fatuous

fatuous- complacently or inanely foolish

C17 from Latin fatuus; related to fatiscere to gape

Gore has that most annoying of characteristics of those on the Left, namely a fatuous belief that they are motivated by selfless regard for the planet, while everyone in business is motivated by a complete disregard for what is environmentally responsible.

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#480 fastidious

fastidious- very critical; hard to please; excessively particular from details; exceedingly delicate; easily disgusted

C15 from Latin fastidiosus scornful, from fastidium loathing, from fastus pride+taedium weariness

After Ray died, their bed became a nest of quilts, manuscripts and galley proofs, from which the solitary, once fastidious woman watched junky late-night television.

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