51吃瓜 of the Day
orbicular
adjective
like an orb; circular; ringlike; spherical; rounded.
More about orbicular
The uncommon adjective orbicular ultimately comes from the rare Late Latin adjective 辞谤产颈肠耻濒腻谤颈蝉 鈥渃ircular, orbicular,鈥� which occurs in zoological and botanical texts. 翱谤产颈肠耻濒腻谤颈蝉 is a derivative of orbiculus 鈥渟mall disk or ring, small wheel or pulley.鈥� Orbiculus is a diminutive of the noun orbis 鈥渞ing, disk, hoop, millstone, table, tabletop (i.e., a two-dimensional figure), sphere, ball, globe (i.e., describing a heavenly body).鈥� In English, orbicular is about as restricted in usage as it is in Latin, occurring in anatomy, physiology, botany, and zoology. Orbicular entered English in the 15th century.
how is orbicular used?
The whole orbicular World hangs by a golden chain from that part of the battlements of Heaven whence the angels fell.
What would be thought of a zoologist who should describe the feet of the web-footed birds as orbicular disks, divided to a great or less extent?
welp
interjection
Nonstandard.
an informal variant of well聽used to indicate disappointment, resignation, or acceptance at the beginning of an utterance: Welp, this might not work out for us after all.
More about welp
The etymological explanation of welp is accurate, if wonky: welp is a form of well as an isolated or emphatic utterance, with an excrescent p representing closing of the lips, creating an unreleased labial stop, as also in nope, yep, and yup. Excrescent consonants are pretty common: the usual one in English is t, as in amongst, midst, and whilst. Excrescent t also occurs in ancient Greek and Sanskrit. German Sekt 鈥渃hampagne鈥� derives from French vin sec 鈥渄ry wine鈥� and shows the same excrescent t. Welp is first recorded in English in the mid-1940s but doubtless has been around far longer.
how is welp used?
Pitt smiles and bluntly states, 鈥淭here is no future.鈥� Welp.
Knowing that I鈥檒l get to retire is such a 鈥淏itter Sweet Symphony.鈥� Welp, time for another day of answering e-mails.
hibernaculum
noun
winter quarters, as of a hibernating animal.
More about hibernaculum
Hibernaculum comes directly from Latin 丑墨产别谤苍腻肠耻濒耻尘, a derivative of the adjective 丑墨产别谤苍耻蝉 鈥渨intry,鈥� itself a derivative of hiems 鈥渨inter.鈥� Nowadays hibernaculum is restricted pretty much to zoology, especially referring to the winter quarters of a hibernating animal (some students of Latin may recall reading about Julius Caesar leading his troops to safety, if not comfort, into their 丑墨产别谤苍腻肠耻濒补 鈥渨inter quarters鈥�). The inflectional stem of hiems is hiem-, which is close to Sanskrit hima– in 丑颈尘腻濒补测补 鈥渁bode of snow,鈥� a compound of 丑颈尘谩– 鈥渟now鈥� and 腻濒补测补 鈥渄welling, abode.鈥� Hibernaculum entered English in the late 17th century.
how is hibernaculum used?
It retires to its hibernaculum when the cold weather has fairly set in, and comes generally out in early Spring.
The bears spent the winter in a hibernaculum鈥攂asically a big box.