Daily Content Archive

(as of Saturday, March 6, 2021)
Word of the Day

ailment

Definition:(noun) An often persistent bodily disorder or disease; a cause for complaining.
Synonyms:complaint, ill
Usage: She pretended that she was always well now, and concealed her ailments so craftily that we had to probe for them.
Daily Grammar Lesson

Using Adverbial Prepositional Phrases

Adverbial prepositional phrases that modify adjectives and adverbs can be difficult to identify because the adjectives and adverbs are usually paired with verbs. Remember that these prepositional phrases always follow the adjective or adverb and will contain information specific to the adjective and adverb. What is the prepositional phrase in the following sentence? "I was delighted with the results." More...
Article of the Day

Plum Island Animal Disease Center

Though it is located just off the coast of heavily populated Long Island, New York, Plum Island has no sizable civilian population of its own. Any wild mammal found there is killed on sight. That is because the island is home to a federal research center that investigates animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease and swine fever. Fueling public imagination about the island, several unidentified animal carcasses have washed up on nearby beaches—including what notable "monster" in 2008? More...
This Day in History

Nasir Khusraw Embarks on Seven-Year Middle East Journey (1046)

Khusraw, a Persian poet, philosopher, scholar, and traveler, is considered one of the great writers of Persian literature. His most famous work is the Safarnama, an account of his seven-year journey through the Islamic world, during which time he made pilgrimages to the holy shrines of Mecca and Medina and visited many cities, including Jerusalem and Cairo. The work stands out as the most authentic account of the Islamic world at that time. He traversed what distance in those seven years? More...
Today's Birthday

Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac (1619)

Cyrano de Bergerac was a French writer and freethinker who satirized the customs and beliefs of his time. He wrote two romances about visits to the moon that are classics of early modern science fiction and inspired later writers such as Jonathan Swift. His swaggering personality, evinced by the many duels he fought over insults to his unusually large nose, was romanticized by Edmond Rostand in the verse drama Cyrano de Bergerac. How much of the play is an accurate reflection of his life? More...
Quotation of the Day
I have outlived certain desires. I have lost friends, some by death...others through sheer inability to cross the street. I am not so gifted as at one time seemed likely.

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

Idiom of the Day

not have all day

To be in a rush; to not have much or any time to spare. Usually used in the present tense. More...
Today's Holiday

Feast of Excited Insects (2024)

Known as Gyeongchip in Korea and as Ching Che in China, the Feast of Excited Insects marks the transition from winter to spring. It is the day when the insects are said to come back to life after hibernating all winter. In China, it is the day when "the dragon raises his head," summoning the insects back to life, and people perform various rituals designed to prepare for the onslaught. In Korea, this is one of 24 days in the lunar calendar that marks the beginning of a new season. Farmers prepare their fields and begin planting their barley, cabbage, and other vegetables. More...
Word Trivia

Today's topic: stare

extant - Comes from Latin ex-, "out," and stare, "to stand," and means "currently or actually in existence." More...

stare - Its etymological notion is "fixity" or "rigidity," from a Germanic base meaning "be rigid." More...

gaure - To stare in astonishment. More...

gorgonize - To stare at with a petrifying look. More...

June '24
SMTWTFS
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30      
March '24
SMTWTFS
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31      
December '23
SMTWTFS
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31      
July '23
SMTWTFS
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031     
April '23
SMTWTFS
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30      
February '23
SMTWTFS
   1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728    
October '22
SMTWTFS
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031     
July '22
SMTWTFS
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31      
February '22
SMTWTFS
  12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728     
January '22
SMTWTFS
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031     
October '21
SMTWTFS
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31      
May '21
SMTWTFS
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031     
February '21
SMTWTFS
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28      
January '21
SMTWTFS
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31      
August '20
SMTWTFS
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031     
May '20
SMTWTFS
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31      
June '19
SMTWTFS
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30      
March '19
SMTWTFS
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31      
February '19
SMTWTFS
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
2425262728  
December '18
SMTWTFS
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031     
September '18
SMTWTFS
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30      
February '18
SMTWTFS
    123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728   
December '17
SMTWTFS
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31      
July '17
SMTWTFS
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031     
April '17
SMTWTFS
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30      
February '17
SMTWTFS
   1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728