Daily Content Archive

(as of Friday, September 15, 2023)
Word of the Day

magnanimous

Definition:(adjective) Courageously noble in mind and heart.
Synonyms:greathearted
Usage: Then he imagined how, after the attack, Bogdanich would come up to him as he lay wounded and would magnanimously extend the hand of reconciliation.
Daily Grammar Lesson

Interrogative Adjectives

English has three interrogative adjectives: "what," "which," and "whose." They are called "interrogative" because they are usually used to ask questions. How can they be differentiated from interrogative pronouns? More...
Article of the Day

The Silk Road

According to legend, the secrets of sericulture and reeling from the cocoon were developed in China by 2640 BCE. By the 1st and 2nd centuries CE, silk fabrics were being imported to Rome and Greece and sold for exorbitant prices. Trade in silk became so prevalent that the ancient trade routes between China and the Mediterranean, spanning about 4,000 miles, have been dubbed the Silk Road. How did Mongols use silk as armor in battle? More...
This Day in History

Tragedy at Opening of Liverpool and Manchester Railway (1830)

In 1830, festivities were held to mark the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the world's first inter-city passenger railway. Unfortunately, the celebration turned tragic when William Huskisson, the Member of Parliament for Liverpool, got off the train to speak with the Duke of Wellington during a temporary stop and was fatally injured by an oncoming train. He thus became the world's first railway passenger to be killed by a train. How fast did these trains initially travel? More...
Today's Birthday

Titus Oates (1649)

Oates was an Anglican priest whose whole career was marked with intrigue and scandal. In 1678, he invented the story of the Popish Plot, a fictitious Jesuit conspiracy to kill Charles II and place his Catholic brother James—later James II—on the throne. Oates's testimony resulted in a frenzy of anti-Catholic hatred throughout England, and caused more than 30 people to be executed. He was finally convicted of perjury and imprisoned in 1685. Who conspired with Oates to invent the plot? More...
Quotation of the Day
In reality, of course, life rushes from within, not from without. There is no work of art so big or so beautiful that it was not once all contained in some youthful body, like this one which lay on the floor in the moonlight, pulsing with ardor and anticipation.

Willa Cather (1873-1947)

Idiom of the Day

have (a) skeleton(s) in (one's)/the closet

To have (an) embarrassing, unpleasant, damaging, or incriminating secret(s) from one's past. Primarily heard in US. More...
Today's Holiday

Costa Rica Independence Day (2023)

On this day in 1821, Costa Rica achieved independence after having been ruled by Spain since the early 1500s. El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua also declared independence from Spain on September 15, 1821. On the evening of September 14, the president traditionally lights a torch representing liberty in the old capital city of Cartago and, on Independence Day, gives a speech to schoolchildren. There are more speeches and dancing in San José, the modern capital. More...
Word Trivia

Today's topic: tube

canyon - Gets its name from Spanish canon, "tube." More...

catheter - A tube inserted for withdrawing bodily fluids, it comes from Greek kathienai, "send or let down." More...

fuse - Comes from Italian fuso, "spindle," from Latin fusus, "spindle," as it originally referred to the casing or tube filled with combustible matter. More...

piping - Icing applied from a tube with a nozzle. More...

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