Friday, December 31, 2010

#365 draught

draught or U.S. draft- a current of air; an act of pulling a load; a portion of liquid to be drunk; beer, wine stored in bulk

C14 from Old Norse drahtr, of Germanic origin; related to draw

There is an interesting distinction between the two spellings of draught.

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Thursday, December 30, 2010

#364 dram

dram- one sixteenth of an ounce; also called drachma; a small amount of an alcoholic drink

- C15 from Old French dragme, from Latin dragma, from Greek drakhme

Friar Laurence said to Romeo, "Here's a dram of poison, soon speeding gear to take you away."

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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

#363 Draconian

Draconian/draconian- of, or relating to Draco or his code of laws; harsh

The crisis is then used as an excuse to bring in draconian measures to close the door to the most needy and vulnerable.

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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

#362 dour

dour- sullen; hard or obstinate

C14 Latin durus- hard

The gray people, as a friend of mine called the dour-looking youths of the downtown arts crowd, stuffed into the room on old folding chairs and splintering benches, everyone stepping carefully amid broken floorboards and keeping one wary eye on the wires and pipes hanging from the ceiling.

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Monday, December 27, 2010

#361 doughty

doughty- adj. - hardy, resolute, doughtiness, noun; doughtily adverb

-Old English dohtig: related to Old High German toht worth, Middle Dutch duchtich strong, Greek tukhe luck

Whatever your taste in cover art, if doughty heroes and gargantuan monsters sounds like your kind of thing, why not give the book a try?

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Sunday, December 26, 2010

#360 dossier

dossier- a collection of papers containing information on a particular subject or person

C19 from French: a file with a label on the back, from dos back, from Latin dorsum

Many private dossiers were exposed to the world at WikiLeaks.

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Saturday, December 25, 2010

#359 dopamine

dopamine- a chemical found in the brain that acts as a neurotransmitter and is an intermediate compound in the synthesis of noradrenaline

Varying levels of dopamine and endorphins in the brain affect our moods and behaviour.

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