3 Paws Saloon Attic

iconoclast \ahy-KON-uh-klast\, noun:

a person who attacks cherished beliefs or institutions as foolish or wrong

In the end, Miles characterizes Zappa, for better or worse, as "an iconoclast in the male tradition of Neal Cassady, Hunter S. Thompson, William S. Burroughs, Ken Kesey, Allen Ginsberg, Lenny Bruce and the early Norman Mailer."
-- Carmela Ciuraru, LA Times, 2004-11-15

Al-Mutawa's decision to attend Tufts was also somewhat random - he followed the footsteps of a cousin - and, once there, he resumed his status as an iconoclast.
-- Jake Halpern, Boston Globe, 2007-10-14

by 1596, from French iconoclaste, from Middle Latin iconoclastes, from Late Greek eikonoklastes, from eikon "image" + klastes "breaker," from klan "to break." Originally the word referred those in the Eastern Church in 8th and 9th centuries whose mobs of followers destroyed icons and other religious objects on the grounds that they were idols. Extended sense of "one who attacks orthodox beliefs or institutions" is first attested 1842.

narcolepsy \NAHR-kuh-lep-see\, noun:

a disorder characterized by uncontrollable bouts of sleepiness during the daytime, occasional loss of muscle power and paralysis, and hallucinations during sleep

This story of Sleeping Beauty centers on the independent, headstrong Briar Rose, a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty who suffers a persistent and seemingly incurable case of narcolepsy.
-- Denver Post, 2008-02-08

Biologically speaking, sleep loss has been shown to increase inflammatory responses, which may underlie pathological sleepiness in sleep apnea and narcolepsy disturb our metabolism, increase the risk of cardiovascular problems and decrease our life span.
-- Sara Mednick, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 2007-02-22

by 1880, from French narcolepsie, coined 1880 by physician Jean-Baptiste-Édouard Gélineau (1859-1928) from combining form of Greek narke "numbness, stupor" + lepsis "an attack, seizure."

magnanimous \mag-NAN-uh-muhs\, adjective:

1. noble in mind or soul; free from mean or petty feelings or acts
2. showing a generous spirit; generous in forgiving

But an even greater responsibility falls on Obama as the nominee. Losers have to be gracious, but winners have to be magnanimous.
-- Michael Tomasky, The Guardian, 2008-06-02

From the architect's point of view, the ideal project is not one with a magnanimous absent client. It is one with a magnanimous thoughtful client.
-- Witold Rybczynski, The Atlantic, 2002-09-01

Ever the confident, magnanimous Leo, this August-born collector found it impossible to resist the black marble mantel flanked by muscular plaster lions.
-- Elana Ashanti Jefferson, Denver Post, 2007-12-07

by 1547 from Latin magnanimus "having a great soul," from magnus "great" + animus "soul, spirit." Probably a loan-translation of Greek megalopsychos "high-souled, generous" (Aristotle) or megathymus "great-hearted."

pandiculation \pan-dik-yuh-LEY-shuhn\, noun:

an instinctive stretching, as on awakening or while yawning

"Pandiculate for Health! Grow Tall! Get Well! Be Young!" Exuberant ads like this, running in health-fad magazines since 1914, have proclaimed the virtues of a spine-stretching device called the "Pandiculator."
-- Time, 1942-04-12

by 1611 from French pandiculation from Latin pandiculari "to stretch oneself" and French suffix -ion.

sallow \SAL-oh\, adjective:

having a sickly, yellowish color

"After several days of flying in space, the astronauts may look wan and sallow, so medical staff will put make-up on them to make them look ruddy," the newspaper said.
-- The Sydney Morning Herald, 2005-10-17

Actually, Thompson looked old and sallow, as he faced the cameras for a few seconds before hopping into a waiting GMC Envoy.
-- The Washington Post, 2007-04-19

Old English salo "dusky, dark," from Proto Germanic *salwa-, from Proto Indo-European base *sal- "dirty, gray."

talisman \TAL-is-muhn, TAL-iz-muhn\, noun:

1. an object, such as a ring, engraved with figures supposed to have magic power; charm
2. anything that seems to produce extraordinary results

Cheadle, who is one of the film's producers as well as its star, is deployed like an ethical talisman to show viewers that this movie is not like those other terrorist flicks.
-- Philip Kennicott, The Washington Post, 2008-08-29

Included, almost as a talisman, is the 1905 painting of Two Harlequins, one of the few survivors of the Thannhauser Paris collection.
-- Time, 1965-05-07

by 1599, from French talisman, in part via Arabic tilsam (pl. tilsaman), a Greek loan-word; in part directly from Byzantine Greek telesma "talisman, religious rite, payment," earlier "consecration, ceremony," originally "completion," from telein "perform (religious rites), pay (tax), fulfill," from telos "completion, end, tax."

unconscionable \uhn-KON-shuh-nuh-buhl\, adjective:

1. not influenced or guided by conscience
2. very great

Hastert also took aim at the rich pay package for Exxon Mobil Corp.'s retired chief executive, which he called "unconscionable."
-- Steven Mufson and Timothy Dwyer, The Washington Post, 2006-04-22

THE U.S. SUPREME Court on Wednesday executed an unconscionable U-turn on abortion, upholding a restrictive federal law that is virtually indistinguishable from a Nebraska statute it struck down only seven years ago.
-- LA Times, 2007-04-19

by 1570, "showing no regard for conscience," from un- (1) + now rare conscionable "conscientious" (1549), from conscioned "having a conscience."

wanton \WON-tn\, adjective;
The plural is faunas or faunae.:

1. reckless, heartless, or malicious; without reason or excuse
2. not moral; lewd, lascivious

"Such (a) stand and attitude are leading to the grave, wanton violation of all the north-south agreements," the report said.
-- Kwang-Tae Kim, Denver Post, 2008-11-11

Ram raiders have smashed through the main admissions area of Royal North Shore Hospital, stealing the contents of an ATM and assaulting a man, in a rampage police have called "wanton bloody destruction".
-- Dylan Welch, The Sydney Morning Herald, 2008-11-11

c 1300, wan-towen, from Middle English privative prefix wan- "wanting, lacking" (from Old English wan "wanting") + togen/teon "to train, discipline;" literally "to pull, draw," from Proto Germanic *teuhan. The basic notion perhaps is "ill-bred, poorly brought up."

acclaim \uh-KLEYM\, verb:

1. to welcome with loud approval; praise highly
2. a shout or show of approval

A day after abandoning his proposal to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, Gov. Eliot Spitzer won the kind of wide acclaim from elected officials that he could not win for the proposal itself.
-- Nicholas Confessore and Raymond Hernandez, New York Times, 2007-11-15

H. Igor Ansoff, a retired educator and author whose visionary theories on strategic business manage-ment inspired worldwide acclaim died Sunday in Escondido.
-- Jack Williams, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 2002-07-16

c 1320 from Latin acclamare "to shout" from medieval Latin acclamare "to claim."

chaff \chaf\, noun, verb:

1. the stiff strawlike part of grains such as wheat, oats, rye
2. to make good-natured fun of someone
3. worthless material; detritus

Chaff is separated from the grain by threshing.

It's hard to separate the chaff from the wheat sometimes.

The kids chaffed the exchange student for her mistakes in grammar.

c 1000, Old English ceaf, from Proto-Germanic *kaf-, *kef-. Chaffinch (Fringilla cælebs) is Old English ceaffinc

virtuoso \vur-choo-OH-soh\, noun, adjective;
pl. virtuosos, virtuosi:

1. a person skilled in the techniques of an art, esp. playing a musical instrument; by extension, a person with a cultivated appreciation of artistry
2. showing mastery in artistic skills

They applauded the virtuoso's performance.

Her virtuoso singing landed her a free graduate education at Yale.

c. 1651, from Italian virtuoso, from Late Latin virtuosus. The meaning "person with great skill" (as in music) is first attested 1743.

toady \TOH-dee\, noun, verb:

1. a fawning flatterer; humble dependent
2. to attempt to gain favor by fawning or being servile

The freshman was the senior's toady even though many made fun of her.

They came backstage and toadied to the actor.

c 1690 for noun, possibly shortened from toad-eater "fawning flatterer," originally referring to the assistant of a charlatan, who ate a toad (believed to be poisonous) to enable his master to display his skill in expelling the poison. The verb is recorded from 1827.

pinchbeck \PINCH-bek\, noun, adjective:

1. an alloy of zinc and copper used to imitate gold in jewelry-making; by extension, something counterfeit; an imitation
2. not genuine; fake

Watch out for the pinchbeck on the auction site.

We laughed at the pinchbeck heroism in the movie.

by 1734, named for Christopher Pinchbeck (c1670-1732), London watchmaker, who developed the alloy

consternation \kon-ster-NEY-shuhn\, noun:

sudden dread or paralyzing terror

To our consternation, the phone rang just as we were about to leave.

by 1611, from French consternation, from Latin consternationem, from consternare "overcome, confuse, dismay," from com- intensive prefix + sternare "throw down"

qualitative \KWOL-i-tey-tiv\, adjective:

concerned with quality or qualities

Firstly, it was woefully underfunded. Secondly, by making testing the end-all be-all of educational performance, we ignored the more qualitative dimensions of education, which help a child expand and become a whole person.
-- Rep. Dennis Kucinich, The Washington Post, 2007-10-18

Many agencies are abandoning the painstaking analysis of reams of statistical information - called quantitative research - in favor of one-on-one and group interviews, or qualitative research.
-- Randall Rothenburg, New York Times, 1969-04-06

by 1607 from Latin qualitativus "concerned with quality" from classical Latin qualitas "quality" and -ive suffix.

ellipsis \i-LIP-sis\, noun:

three dots used to show an omission in writing or printing; the omission of a word or words in text

These efforts are to no avail, however, because the author can't leave anything unsaid, any ellipsis gaping: sooner or later someone will say what everything means, and maybe more than once.
-- Frank Rich, Arthur Miller's 'Danger: Memory!', New York Times, February 9, 1987

Mr. Gabler postulates the skip of an eye from one ellipsis to another, leading to the omission of several lines -- the longest omission in the book.
-- Richard Ellmann, Finally, the Last Word on 'Ulysses': The Ideal Text, and Portable Too, New York Times, June 15, 1986

by 1570, from Latin ellipsis, from Greek elleipsis "a falling short, defect, ellipse," from elleipein "to fall short, leave out," from en- "in" + leipein "to leave." Grammatical sense first recorded 1612.