Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, November 21, 2023)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
exacta
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
Idioms that End with PrepositionsIdioms that end with prepositions are typically phrasal verbs and consist of a verb followed by a preposition, a particle, or a particle with a preposition. What are the most common prepositions found at the end of prepositional idioms? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 OlfactionThe organs of smell are confined to a small area in the roof of the nasal cavity. Olfactory cells are stimulated when certain molecules reach them, and nerve fibers extend from these receptor cells to the olfactory bulb in the human brain. Smell is one of our most subtle senses, amplifying the sense of taste and detecting tens of thousands of distinct scents. Odor information is easily stored in long-term memory and has strong connections to emotional memory. Why might this be? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 Mayflower Compact Signed (1620)The decision to settle outside the boundaries of established colonial government rather than within Virginia territory, as originally planned, led some Mayflower passengers to assert that they would not be bound by laws. Concerned Pilgrim leaders drafted a compact providing for the temporary government of the colony. The 41 adult male signers agreed to combine themselves into a "civil Body Politick" that would enact "just and equal laws" that were made for the "general good" of what? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Voltaire (1694)Voltaire was the pseudonym of French philosopher and writer François-Marie Arouet. One of the towering geniuses in literary and intellectual history, Voltaire was a prolific writer who authored tragedies, poems, and works on philosophical and moral problems, including Lettres philosophiques and Candide, a satire on philosophical optimism. During his lifetime, he was twice imprisoned in the Bastille and, in 1726, was exiled to England. How did Voltaire create his pen name? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 Towns are excrescences, gray fluxions, where men, hurrying to find one another, have lost themselves.E. M. Forster (1879-1970) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
have the world by the tail— To be very successful, contented, and happy in life. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
 Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (2023)The Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary was first celebrated by the Greeks in about the 8th century and was not adopted by the Roman Catholic Church until the later Middle Ages; no one is quite sure when this festival was first introduced. As related in the apocryphal Book of James, it commemorates the presentation of the three-year-old Mary in the Temple to consecrate her to the service of God. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: refrainballade - A verse or poem made up of three stanzas of equal length with a recurrent line or refrain at the end of each of the stanzas. More... condone - From Latin condonare, "refrain from punishing," it does not mean "approve of, endorse"; it means "let something pass without interference even though you probably disapprove," or "pardon, forgive, overlook." More... burden, refrain, chorus - The burden is the main theme or gist of a speech, book, or argument—or the refrain or chorus of a song. More... deport - The earliest sense of deport was "bear with; refrain." More... | |